Surfer stands on Great White Shark, apple allergies, and report asks where Pentagon money is going

  Good Morning Humboldt County!

What a great day! Are you ready for a cup of coffee and a few stories to get your day going? Grab a chair and stay awhile:

Oregon surfer tells of standing on Great White

Doug Niblack was trying to catch another wave before going to work, when his longboard hit something hard as rock off the Oregon Coast and he suddenly found himself standing on the back of a thrashing great white shark.

Looking down, he could see a dorsal fin in front of his feet as he stood on what he described as 10 feet of back as wide as his surfboard and as black as his own Neoprene wetsuit. A tail thrashed back and forth and the water churned around him like a depth charge went off. "It was pretty terrifying just seeing the shape emerge out of nothing and just being under me," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "And the fin coming out of the water. It was just like the movies."

When an apple allergy suddenly appears

Imagine this: You take a bite of a crisp fall apple and notice your lips feel a little itchy. An odd sensation, but you ignore it and take another bite. Now your tongue is itchy too. After another bite, the itch spreads to your throat. As you swallow the apple, your throat starts to swell. The weird thing is, you're not allergic to apples; you've eaten them all your life. So what's up?

“I like to call oral allergy syndrome 'the cocktail party allergy,” says Dr. Chris Webber, an allergy/immunology specialist based in Denver, Colorado. “It is surprisingly common among people who have seasonal allergies, but (the sufferers) think there's something strange about (themselves) and never bring it up to doctors or friends. But if you bring it up at a social event, you find it is very, very common.”

Report: Pentagon doesn't know where the money is going

The Defense Department, which has promised to publish a reliable account of how it spends its money by 2017, has discovered that its financial ledgers are in worse shape than expected and that it will have to spend billions of dollars in the coming years to make its financial accounting credible, the Center for Public Integrity reported Thursday.

Photo - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. He was joined by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen.

Time to walk on down the road…

Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace

For more mind-blowing photographs like this one go here.                             quote by Eugene O'Neill

Can you name any place in the world where someone can get two pensions for the same job?

There are many factors contributing to our Depression (screw that recession crap!) but when I see excesses like this labor leader is up to in Chicago (He’s expected to receive pension payments of nearly $500,000 a year) I gotta shake my head in wonder and disgust.

The Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV, which obtained information about union pension benefits during a joint investigation, said at least eight union officials in Chicago were eligible for what were described as inflated city pensions on top of union pensions for the same period of employment.

To rub salt into this corrupt little tale, Chicago and Illinois are facing financial trouble, in part due to pension shortfalls. I guess we know why now. Pigs can pop up anywhere.

Blackberry outages, Booty Bus impounded, and Navajos seek exemption for Grand Canyon flights

         Good Morning Humboldt County

I really love Autumn, and today’s another beautiful Autumn day here. C’mon in and grab a cup of coffee. Make yourself comfortable while checking out this trio of stories selected for your reading edification.

BlackBerry outages spread to North America

Sporadic outages of BlackBerry messaging and email service spread to the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday, as problems stretched into the third day for Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. U.S. Twitter users were reporting that their BlackBerrys weren't getting email on Wednesday morning. In Canada, spokesman Mark Langton of the carrier Bell confirmed that some of its BlackBerry subscribers were experiencing problems.

"A minority of BlackBerry users at all Canadian carriers are affected," he said in an email. "We understand the issue will be corrected this morning." The widespread problems added to the woes of Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian company that makes the phones. It's struggling with slowing sales and a tablet that's been a dud. Its shares are approaching a five-year low.

On Tuesday, RIM said a crucial link in its infrastructure had failed, and a backup didn't work either. It said it was now working to get through a backlog of traffic. "The resolution of this service issue is our Number One priority right now and we are working night and day to restore all BlackBerry services to normal levels," the company said Wednesday. More here.

Detroit police impound 'Booty' bus strip club

Detroit police have impounded a party bus they say operated as a strip club for reveling football fans at a popular tailgating spot. The Detroit News and WDIV-TV report that the "Booty Lounge" bus was parked Monday near Ford Field, where the Lions played the Chicago Bears.

Police say it was cited for not having a state safety inspection and because the driver didn't have a commercial license. The bus was parked earlier Monday outside a bar in the Eastern Market area. Bus operator Joe Parsons agreed to move it at the request of police and said he planned to park out of town.

But it was discovered later by police on a city street near Ford Field. Parsons said Detroit has no ordinance against "mobile entertainment clubs."

Navajos seek exemption for Grand Canyon flights

An American Indian tribe whose reservation borders the Grand Canyon wants to boost its economy by giving tourists an aerial view of the massive gorge.

Nearly 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon each year, and some undoubtedly take a highway that runs through Navajo Nation communities.

Navajo lawmaker Walter Phelps sees potential in that number. He has sponsored legislation in the Tribal Council that asks the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service to exempt air tour operators flying to or from the reservation from having to use valuable allocations required for commercial air tours at the Grand Canyon, similar to what the Hualapai Tribe has.

Time to walk on down the road…

American companies hitting it out of the ball park on profitability

Watching the baseball world series – even if it’s not your team – is fun. There’s something exciting about watching a home run.

For two straight years American companies have been hitting it out of the ball park on profitability even as the economy has struggled to grow and create jobs faster. Profits being reported for the three months ended Sept. 31 (according to Standard & Poor’s index) are expected to show another home run: double digit earnings growth.

That’s hard to reconcile when I look around this country and watch the 99%ers growing protest against Wall Street and banks greed. Like baseball, there’s two teams: the Have’s and the Have Nots.

As I watch the Rangers and the Tigers go at it in Game 3 tonight, I’m going to be wondering about how those other teams series is going to end. Play ball!

Shades of ‘Rocky,’ NBA cancels first 2 weeks of season, and vision problems follow 'stealth recall' of contact lenses

                    Good Morning Humboldt County!

Help yourself to a cup of steaming coffee and pull up a chair and relax for a bit. I’ve got an eclectic mix of stories for your viewing pleasure today. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Exonerated of murder, boxer makes his debut at 52

The television crew had him up at dawn doing the Rocky fandango, dashing up the 72 stone steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and dancing around in triumph like another over-the-hill, underdog pugilist who had made it big.

Cliché or not, it is hard not to imagine the familiar trumpet score along with the thwock, thwock, thwock of fists on punching bags as Dewey Bozella trains for one of the least likely boxing matches in history.

After 26 years in New York State prisons, and two years after he was exonerated of murder, Mr. Bozella will make his professional boxing debut on Saturday in Los Angeles, at age 52, on the undercard of the light-heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins. (A mere 46 himself, Mr. Hopkins became the oldest fighter to win a major world championship this May.)

Some very good games lost to lockout. Thanks a lot, guys.

With the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season, 100 NBA games went down the drain.

Hang an asterisk on this season — these are games commissioner David Stern said are gone. He said there is no chance of making them up. But what games are we now going to miss?

How about a great opening-night doubleheader — the Chicago Bulls heading into Dallas on the night the Mavericks raised the banner. Then a battle of generations as the Oklahoma City Thunder faced the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers’ second game was to have Chris Paul come in and test Kobe Bryant. Not any more. How about the Miami Heat vs. the New York Knicks? Gone. The Orlando Magic taking on the Heat? Gone.The Bulls start their annual circus trip Nov. 13 — when the circus comes to the United Center and the Bulls are kicked out of the arena for weeks. Which means that if the owners and players figure this out in the next couple weeks and the season starts Nov. 15, the Bulls will be on the road for the first chunk of it.

The more likely scenario is that more games will get canceled and the entire trip will get wiped out. The league is going to do it in two-week increments — it’s more painful for fans that way. And this is going to be a lot more painful before it ends. - Kurt Helin Oct 11, 2011, 9:23 AM EDT.

Torn corneas, vision problems follow 'stealth recall' of contact lenses

Amid growing reports of eye problems ranging from blurry vision to torn corneas, federal health officials are threatening to issue a public warning about recalled contact lenses manufactured by CooperVision Inc. and sold widely at stores such as Costco, Wal-Mart and LensCrafters.

The Fairport, N.Y., firm has yet to heed a request from the federal Food and Drug Administration to broaden notification of problems with certain lots of its Avaira Toric contact lenses, which were recalled quietly in August because of unidentified “residue.” “Absent prompt and adequate communication by CooperVision, the FDA may independently share its concerns about Avaira Toric contact lenses,” FDA spokeswoman Morgan Liscinsky said in an e-mail.

But for at least a dozen consumers who indicated to msnbc.com they have suffered impaired vision, excruciating pain or landed in emergency rooms after wearing the contacts launched in April and recalled in August, such notice is long overdue. “It is very frustrating that they’re not more vocal about it and that the FDA hasn’t warned more people,” said Mellisa Cotton, 40, of Atlanta, who said she suffered two corneal abrasions this summer after wearing Avaira Toric contact lenses.

Time to walk on down the road…

What Happened to Columbus Day?

In Manhattan this morning, it was 70 degrees and sunny, and a fresh breeze rustled the elm trees in the park as the Explainer hustled to the office. It’s bad enough having to work on a perfect autumn day. But it’s downright galling when that perfect day also happens to be a federal holiday. When did Columbus Day become just another Monday?

In the early 1990s when Congress planned a “Quincentennial Jubilee” in 1992 to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ Oct. 12 landing on the Bahamas. The festivities were to have sent a replica Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria sailing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge in a fatuous re-enactment of the Italian explorer’s “discovery of America,” but Native American leaders joined with liberals and environmentalists to protest the celebration.

Corporate sponsors never materialized, and the voyage was canceled. The same year, Berkeley, Calif., renamed the holiday “Indigenous People’s Day” in recognition of the civilizations that were nearly wiped out in the centuries following Columbus’ arrival. In most other places, Columbus Day simply withered over the years, with the political controversy serving as cover for employers to deny workers a paid vacation day.                             

Perhaps the holiday’s lowest moment since 1992 came in 2009, at the height of the recession. That’s the year Baltimore and Philadelphia canceled their long-running Columbus Day parades and California dropped the holiday as a paid day off for government workers—citing budget woes, not ethical misgivings.

Federal workers and the employees of 24 states still get the holiday, but they’re now in the minority. Even the Explainer's parents, school administrators in Ohio’s capital city, are at work today. When a place called Columbus stops celebrating Columbus Day, it’s clear the holiday is out of favor.

Those who chafe at being required to work on one of the nation’s 10 federal holidays can take some solace knowing that it didn’t even exist until 1907. That’s when Italian-Americans in Denver convinced the state of Colorado to declare Columbus Day a holiday, partly in celebration of their heritage. The Knights of Columbus successfully lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt to make it a federal holiday in the 1930s.

Today, Italian-American groups still hold Columbus Day marches in several cities, including Denver, where they are routinely attended by angry protesters.

First ran in Slate             image source

Special stupid robbers collection for a Monday morning

            Good Morning Humboldt County!

It’s a little wet outside this morning and I’ll bet a cup of hot coffee will warm you up. Grab a cup and join me this morning in this special Robber Fail collection of stories:

   Police say man robbed bank, then went for pizza

Arizona authorities say they have arrested a man who robbed a Yuma bank then went and spent some of the stolen money on beer and pizza at a nearby restaurant. Yuma police say 56-year-old Henry Elmer has been booked into county jail on a variety of robbery and theft-related charges.

Officers responded to a robbery call at the main branch of the Wells Fargo Bank across from the Yuma Police Station around 1:30 p.m. Saturday. A man reportedly entered the bank, produced a box-cutter knife and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Police say Elmer then went to a nearby restaurant, ordered beer and a couple of slices of pizza and paid with some of the bank's money. Police say they located Elmer before the meal was served. It's unclear whether he has a lawyer, yet.

       Minn. woman accused of robbing home to buy porn

Authorities say an 18-year-old Minnesota woman admitted to investigators that she broke into a neighbor's home three times looking for items she could fence to feed her porn addiction.

Anoka County sheriff's investigators say the neighbor called to report he had surveillance footage of Amanda Rose Owens sneaking into his East Bethel home through a dog door.The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (http://bit.ly/oXEskf ) that the neighbor set up the camera after $300 and several items were stolen.

Investigators say Owens admitted she had broken in three times. She said she need money so she could pay for 20 to 30 pornographic DVDs she bought. Owens was charged Wednesday with second-degree burglary. She does not have a listed phone number and it wasn't clear Saturday if she had an attorney.

Some crimes sound a little too dumb to be true. Like, something from a Disney Channel show. Except criminal activity involves prisons and money instead of hideous outfits and even worse acting….

Robber leaves bribe bucket and comes back for it

According to Local 12, one man in Cincinnati isn’t exactly main character material.  He broke into a potato chip plant, and proceeded to steal a computer disk, vehicle titles, a whole book of payroll checks, and other business papers. He then left a note for the company president demanding that $22,000 be left in a bucket for him, or else he would “expose personal matters of employees” and burn everything he had stolen. The president called the police, of course, who set up a bucket filled with convincingly fake cash, as well as surveillance material. They spotted the crook dragging the bucket away with a fishing pole…and arrested him in the forest, all tangled up in the fishing line. Aaaand…scene!

Time to walk on down the road…

As It Stands– ‘American Uprising’ – an ongoing demonstration for equality

                    
    “There’s something happinin here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.”
   Lyrics from “Stop Hey What’s that Sound” by Buffalo Springfield.

    By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
   Trees across America change colors as Autumn settles in and winds of discontent swirl down Wall Street. They carry the voices of an ever-increasing number of protestors camped out at Zuccotti Park and on sidewalks.
   Over 700 protestors were arrested for blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge last weekend. People chanted, “We are the 99 percent!” Thousands of protestors gathered at Foley Square midweek and were joined by union activists in a march to Zuccotti Park.
   Their signs condemned the corporations, the banks, the speculators, the government, the wars, and the wealthy minority who rule like robber barons of old. They shouted epithets and chanted “F*** the Fed!” Signs proclaimed, "Tax Wall Street" and "Make Jobs Not Cuts."

   This ongoing demonstration has become known on Twitter (and recently by the mainstream media) as #OccupyWallStreet. It began in July with the launch of a simple campaign website calling for a march and a sit-in at the New York Stock Exchange.
   The call to protest came from anti-consumerist magazine AdBusters on September 17th, and people haven’t stopped coming. Over the past three weeks, demonstrations have addressed various issues, including police brutality, union busting and the economy.
   Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this protest - which has extended to other states - is the lack of a central leadership. We’re witnessing a true grass roots movement. I’ve read  where protestors said they were inspired by the so-called “Arab Uprising.”
   The Wall Street Journal reported similar protests sprouting up across the country in cities including Chicago, Pittsburg and Los Angeles. Over 60 smaller cities throughout the country have had turnouts supporting the movement. Students at Humboldt State University, in Arcata, joined other students throughout California in voicing their concerns.

  Several hundred people marched around the financial district in San Francisco, their angry voices joining the New York protestors, "They got bailed out, we got sold out" and "Join our ranks, stop the banks."
   I hope the politicians are paying attention because no amount of rhetoric will satisfy the millions of Americans suffering through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
  The majority of Americans are angry with our government and the power of the wealthy minority. This blacklash has no leaders, but the overall message is clear; things have to change. People can’t stand the inequalities in our system of government any longer.
   The mainstream media has reluctantly reported the Wall Street protests, and others that are springing up everywhere thanks to social medias like FaceBook and Twitter. I’ve followed this “American Uprising” from the start, and the thing that impresses me is the unity among strangers.
   I can’t help thinking about the sixties when protestors spoke out against the Vietnam War and a corrupt government. They made a difference. They showed if the majority of Americans banded together and let their voices be heard, they could make a difference.

   If the Republicans and the Democrats have any brains at all, they better pay heed to what’s happening in the streets. The winds of discontent are blowing and show no signs of letting up.

   The protests have been peaceful for the most part. People are arrested and ticketed. It’s important to look at who the protestors are. The core of our democracy - the middle class. Of course the poor are protesting too. They always have by virtue of their position in life. Their voices are seldom heard. There’s no Super PACs (Political Action Committees) for the poor.
   A fire has been started by the people. Not by a PAC (financed by the wealthy) and claiming to be for the people like the Tea Party. No, this a very real uprising among common Americans fed up with the powers that be. It’ll be impossible for the mainstream media to vilify any one person and call them responsible for the rebellion that is sweeping the cities.

   Despite that, expect negative reports about the protestors. Expect stories about liberals gone wild and lazy hippies having a heyday. Expect conservative attacks that revile those protesting Americans on Wall Street and Main Street USA. Above all, expect the demonstrators to continue to gather in growing numbers.
   More than the color of the leaves is changing this autumn. Common Americans are finding their voice. The working class. The people who bear the brunt of taxes while the corporations and the wealthy cheat. Everyday people. People who work long hours for low pay and practically no benefits.
  Common people who have a dream of equality. Who think all Americans should have health care and seniors shouldn’t have to fear for their social security benefits or be used as pawns in politics.
   The politicians who don’t respond to this groundswell of discontent will harvest what they sow when they come up for re-election. This is a campaign year. This is also the year the people have decided to fight back.       
   As the bitter winds of autumn carry the protests, they threaten sleet and snow as the protests grow. Angry voices ride the winds of change, unafraid of the establishment that has failed them so miserably. Their ranks continue to swell.
    As It Stands, can you hear them? The voices ringing out across the land?

Things people say: Ordinary people can be drop dead funny

Human speech is directly responsible for almost every thought and emotion we have throughout life's journey. The complexity of language and the complex messages we use it to communicate leave the possibilities wide open for just about anything. Among other things, people can say things that are funny. We pay good money to see comedians say funny things, and a lot of them come through. But due to the nature of the human comic sense, the deliberateness of a comedian can dilute the potential for humor.The humor here is, for the most part, unrehearsed and unintentional:

Accident Reports - Accident insurance claim forms ask for a brief statement about how the accident happened. The combination of the finger pointing instinct and the small spaces provided on the forms can lead to some curiously phrased explanations:

• "A pedestrian hit me and went under my car."
• "The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention."
• "I had been learning to drive with power steering. I turned the wheel to what I thought was enough and found myself in a different direction going the opposite way."
• "Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have."
• "I thought my window was down; but found it was up when I put my hand through it."
• "No one was to blame for the accident, but it never would have happened if the other driver had been alert."
• "The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him."
• "I saw the slow-moving, sad-faced old gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my car."
• "I had been driving for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident."
• "I was taking my canary to the hospital. It got loose in the car and flew out the window. The next thing I saw was his rear end, and there was a crash."
• "I was backing my car out of the driveway in the usual manner when it was struck by the other car in the same place where it had been struck several times before."
• "The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth."

More Slips and Gaffes -

• Excuse Letters -- Letters from parents to teachers, excusing their children from school.
• Courtroom Quotations -- Lawyers take ridiculous steps to be thorough.
• Resume Quotations -- Unwise statements made on resumes and cover letters.
• Patient Charts -- Doctors' remarks on patient charts.
• Church Bulletins -- Unfortunately phrased announcements in church bulletins.
• Classified Ads -- Classified ads that don't necessarily say what they were intended to.
• News Reports -- Newspapers, radio, and television garble news reports.
• Restaurants -- Blundered lines, signs, and menus at restaurants.
• Spoonerisms -- Quotes with words with sitched swounds.
• Words Without Thought -- Bungling the English language.
• The Language Barrier -- When learning English, sometimes being close is still very far away.
• Fortune Cookies -- Bizarre lines taken from actual fortune cookies.

Things Kids Say -

• Kids' Ideas About Love -- 5 to 10 year olds expound on love and marriage.
• Kids' Ideas About Science -- 5th and 6th graders illustrate scientific principles for the layman.
• Kid Quotes -- Young children make hilarious observations.
• Exams and Papers -- 7th through 12th graders give creative wrong answers to exams.
• Classroom Discussion -- Quotes from college kids, spoken during classroom discussions.

Can’t get enough? Go here for Questions, Suggestions, and Complaints – Stupidity - Famous People

World Zombie Day, a ‘fantastical exoskeleton,’ and Dutch coffee shops face curbs on cannabis

Good Morning Humboldt County!

Another day in paradise! It’s beautiful out there so don’t spend too much time reading my offerings this morning. Grab a quick cup of coffee and check out what’s happening in this crazy world we live in:

Join the shambling masses for World Zombie Day

Think zombies milling around Wall Street are a weird, one-time anomaly?

Think again: With World Zombie Day on Saturday, legions of the undead will moan, march and munch on brains in cities across the country. The event was founded in 2008 by Mark Menold, who knows his way around the creepy side of life as Professor Emcee Square, the host (and producer) of “The It’s Alive! Show,” a horror-themed TV program on WGBN in Pittsburgh.

The 'fantastical' exoskeleton that could help patients walk again

A breakthrough study involving monkeys could one day help quadriplegics move and feel again. Here's a quick guide

It might sound like science fiction, but a new experiment very much rooted in reality may help quadriplegics move on their own again — with the aid of robotic exoskeletons. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center attached electrodes to the brains of two monkeys, and trained them to move objects on a computer screen by commanding a virtual arm simply with their minds. Plus, electric sensations could be sent back through the electrodes, convincing the monkeys' brains that they "felt" different textures. The findings, reported in Nature, may have repercussions for people crippled by paralysis.

Dutch coffee shops face new curbs on cannabis sale

- Coffee shops in the Netherlands were left wondering on Saturday how to comply with restrictions announced by the Dutch government on the sale of "strong" cannabis, saying enforcement would be difficult given the laws on production.

The Netherlands is famous for its liberal soft drugs policies. A Dutch citizen can grow a maximum of five cannabis plants at home for personal use but large-scale production and transport is a crime.

On Friday, the coalition government said it would seek to ban what it considered to be highly potent forms of cannabis -- known as "skunk" -- placing them in the same category as hard drugs such as heroin or cocaine. But the industry said the guidelines were not clear enough.

Time to walk on down the road…