It was so cold in Florida, freezing iguanas were seen falling out of trees!
In central and south Florida, farmers were trying to salvage citrus and vegetable crops by spraying them in protective layers of ice and covering them in plastic.
Arctic cold tightens grip on central, eastern US with freezing temps; Fla. farmers guard crops
My concern is that this move is going to enable a class system where the rich kids get good education and the poor go to underfunded schools. All children should be getting the same quality of education, and this move is going to change that.
Go here to read the whole story.
Even the best shows on Television have bad characters.
And like anything on the internet, this list has been made before. However, those other lists include characters such as Miss Piggy, Sam the Eagle, Animal (one of the BEST Muppets), and 
Blasphemy. So here is the real list of Muppets who suck.
1. Pepe the Prawn
What in the hell is this? He’s scary looking, that’s all, and he makes me not want to watch.
Go here to see the rest.
If we really saw what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be harder to embrace the myths propagated by our warmongering government.
“In Peter van Agtmael’s "2nd Tour Hope I don’t Die" and Lori Grinker’s "Afterwar: Veterans From a World in Conflict," two haunting books of war photographs, we see pictures of war which are almost always hidden from public view.
These pictures are shadows, for only those who go to and suffer from war can fully confront the visceral horror of it, but they are at least an attempt to unmask war’s savagery.”
Go here to read the rest.
This article first appeared on TruthDig.
Photo source greatdreams
Before its official opening, visitors stroll the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a major showcase for new entertainment technology. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press / January 4, 2010)
Pierre liked good wines and wasn’t afraid to go out and look for them.
He is known on the boulevard as a gentile- chicken with class.
Photo via Funny pics
Here’s a very good editorial by Wei Jingsheng, a prominent Chinese dissident who spent 18 years in Chinese prisons. China is a major trading partner with the US, so we ignore (aside from useless rhetoric) their human rights violations.
I call it “Dancing with the Devil” and when the music stops we all lose! China holds billions of dollars in American debt, and they can play that card anytime they feel like it.
Wei Jingsheng now lives in exile in Washington. He’s the chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition and president of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation.
Excerpt:
“Though diplomats from Germany and Australia were among the two dozen people allowed to observe the “public trial,” the fact that no one from the American embassy was admitted should be read as a particularly clear and open challenge to the US.We Chinese are intimately acquainted with this authoritarian arrogance.”
Go here to read the whole article.
Image source via cryptome.org
By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard
Posted: 01/03/2010 01:27:24 AM PST
While I was petting my pug and doing some online research the other day, I ran across an interesting item about an Iraqi war veteran who has a Psychiatric Service Dog to help with his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
A Colorado mailman made news recently, when he was allowed to bring his service dog along on his mail route. I'm not talking about an attack dog. There's a huge difference between them and service dogs. Paul Gernert of Colorado Springs was the first postal carrier in the country allowed to bring his Psychiatric Service Dog to work.
Go to The Times-Standard for the rest of the story.
Photo via bralexlabradors
UPDATE (Noon)
7 web sites that have picked up today’s column so far:
PetPedia -The Pet Encyclopedia (1/3/10 - Pet News)
Dogster – For the Love of Dogs
Well Bred Pets (under recent headlines 1/3/10)
North Coast Blogthing (under 1/3/10 Op-Ed)
Pubsub (under 1/3/10 stories of the day)
UPDATE (3:00 p.m.)
Petpress (Sun.Jan3)
A random dot autostereogram (left)encodes a 3D scene which can be "seen" with proper viewing technique.
An autostereogram is a single-image stereogram (SIS), designed to create the visual illusion of a three-dimensional (3D) scene from a two-dimensional image in the human brain. In order to perceive 3D shapes in these autostereograms, the brain must overcome the normally automatic coordination between focusing and vergence.
The simplest type of autostereogram consists of horizontally repeating patterns and is known as a wallpaper autostereogram. When viewed with proper vergence, the repeating patterns appear to float above or below the background. The Magic Eye books feature another type of autostereogram called a random dot autostereogram.
One such autostereogram is illustrated above left. In this type of autostereogram, every pixel in the image is computed from a pattern strip and a depth map. Usually, a hidden 3D scene emerges when the image is viewed with the correct vergence.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kobe did it again last night against the Kings. He took a last second buzzer beater – hit it – and won the game.
That’s the third time this year he’s done that. He also leads the league in scoring (just over 30 points per game) and is playing with a broken index finger and hyper extended elbow!
I’ve been a Laker fan since they moved to LA in 1961. Fair Warning: despite the fact this isn’t a sports blog, I’ll be making comments on the Laker’s activities every now and then.
Here’s a link to the LA Times article and video about last night’s game.
Photo via Sports Illustrated
In this file photo taken Dec. 15, 2009, Tina Derby sends text messages while driving in Concord, N.H. It will be harder to legally text while driving, eat fatty foods and light up in bars and restaurants under new laws that take effect across the country this year. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File) (Jim Cole, AP / December 15, 2009)
Go here to read the whole story.
Remember when President Barack Obama got sworn in? How about when pirates took a U.S. cargo ship captain captive? See these and more top moments that made headlines in 2009.
JAN 15: US Airways plane river landing
( Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images )
“Rescue boats float near a US Airways plane floating in the water after crashing into the Hudson River in the afternoon on January 15, 2009 in New York City. The Airbus 320 flight 1549 crashed shortly after take-off from LaGuardia Airport heading to Charlotte, North Carolina.”
“In my novel "Baked," I tell the story of a young underground botanist from Los Angeles -- a man inspired by Floyd Zaiger, inventor of the pluot -- and what happens when he wins the Cup and returns home to find himself caught in a tug of war between medical marijuana dispensaries who want an exclusive on his strain.” - Mark Haskell Smith
Go here to read the whole article.
Image titled “Cannabis Cup” by Jacob Thomas
Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard
Posted: 12/30/2009 01:27:11 AM PST
People still wander in a financial haze after the expensive holidays, with little time to rest or recover before the new year roars in with new days to celebrate and spend money.
Some experts say the economy is recovering, and they cite all kinds of startling statistics that only exist on paper. Very few have any relevance to reality.
Our reality in 2009 was grim. We drained another generation's blood with wars that cripple our economy and contribute to our crumbling infrastructure. They drag on, remnants of failed policies that we're still stubbornly trying to make work.
Go here to read the rest at The Times-Standard.
Excerpt from AlterNet:
“Me and the rest of my veterans' group talk about it all the time," he says. "Most of them also medicate with marijuana. If you asked any of us what, out of everything, was most effective in PTSD treatment, we would tell you marijuana." But the VA is a federal agency, so even in the 13 states where doctors are at liberty to suggest that patients try marijuana, they are prohibited from dispensing it.”
Power increases "moral hypocrisy," says Adam Galinsky, a behavioral psychologist at the Kellogg School of Management atNorthwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and co-author of a study published today in the journal Psychological Science. Go here to read the rest.
Check out this interesting list of the the best viral videos of the decade from Salon.com.
Since Salon.com is a news website and doesn't focus on humor, their top pick wouldn't jive on this site, though the "Yes We Can" video is certainly one of the best pieces of video content to ever be created for the Internet.
You might recognize several of the humorous viral video choices as they appeared on my Top 20 Viral Videos of All Time list. Consensus! Yay!
But guys, no Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama video? Oversight of the, uh, decade!
photo courtesy of Salon.com
“In a colossal screw-up, the gossip web site TMZ published a photo yesterday purporting to show John F. Kennedy frolicking on a yacht with a harem of naked women--except that the image actually appeared as part of a November 1967 Playboy photo spread, The Smoking Gun has learned.”
Go here to read the rest.
The No. 1 resolution for 2010 is about taking yourself outside your comfort zone, broadening your horizons and checking out a new corner of the world.
The quickest way to cure listlessness or boredom is to put yourself in the crosshairs of an adventure. Whether you have a dream destination in mind or you simply throw a dart at a map of the world, going somewhere new is the most important New Year’s resolution all men should make.
Even if you hate traveling, you can still do this. Visiting somewhere new can even include the restaurant you walk past every day, the local museum or the next town over.
If you need help finding a place to go to bring in 2010, check out our Top 10: 2010 New Year's Eve Destinations and if you need more convincing to go somewhere this year, read our Top 10: Reasons All Men Should Travel.
Go here to read the rest.
Note: The Times-Standard didn’t have this column Online yet this morning, so I’m running the whole thing here today.
Update: Someone really screwed up! My column isn’t even in the print edition.
By Dave Stancliff
People still wander in a financial haze after the expensive holidays, with little time to rest or recover before the new year roars in with new days to celebrate and spend money.
Some experts say the economy is recovering, and they cite all kinds of startling statistics that only exist on paper. Very few have any relevance to reality.
Our reality in 2009 was grim. We drained another generation’s blood with wars that cripple our economy and contribute to our crumbling infrastructure. They drag on, remnants of failed policies that we’re still stubbornly trying to make work.
Our politicians were so polarized this year that nothing meaningful was done for the common citizen who struggles to survive in this brutal economy. For Wall Street bankers it was a great year and they passed out fat bonuses to prove it.
This is the time of year when many of us look back upon the past year and wonder what the new one holds. On the days leading up to January 1st some of us make personal resolutions that will fade away like fog as the year progresses.
In fairness, lots of people have enough fortitude to keep the promises they make to themselves. These people are usually the successful ones, the makers and shakers, and this country was once chock full of them.
There was actually a time when we produced nearly all our needs, and didn’t have huge trade deficits. In the 1950s we were a manufacturing powerhouse and people were proud to own anything made here.
Those days are now faint memories with black-and-white photos as proof our country was once a major superpower without equal. I wonder, do history teachers talk about our pride back then, and how productive we were, and all the jobs that were available, in their classes now?
Today we have the so-called global economy, and our leaders tell us their vision of a one-world economy/society is good for us. I look around and see cheap manufactured goods from countries like China, our major trading partner in 2009, who delivered their latest rip-off in massive quantities; dry wall laced with toxic chemicals.
From what I have read and heard, the Chinese own billions in American debt. We must have bean-counters in Washington who live in fear that China will suddenly call in their markers. When their gamble with our money fails, will we all be speaking Chinese as a first language in ten years?
It’s not all bad news. Lots of good things happened in 2009. There were signs that Americans are ready to legalize marijuana. California will lead the way when that day comes. Several petitions are circulating for legalization to be on the ballot next year.
The polls point out that a majority of Californians are ready to end the prohibition of pot. Numerous studies show marijuana’s effectiveness in fighting multiple cancers. The American Medical Association asked the feds to ease up their assault on medical marijuana and to do more research into its medical applications.
I’ve read and seen some heart-warming stories this year about people-helping people. I have a new hero for my annual list. Her name is Betty Chin. If you don’t know about her, or what she has done for people over the years, take a moment and check out The 2009 Minerva Awards homepage online.
In October, Betty Chin was awarded this honor for her work with the homeless in Eureka. Betty has been quietly showing love, comfort, and basic humanity to people for many years now. She escaped from China during the Cultural Revolution in the late 60s, and has devoted her life to helping others. This woman walks-the-walk and talks-the-talk.
This year has gone by too fast for me. An old man’s complaint. We have a new president who has already disappointed me by sending more troops to Afghanistan.
It will take a lot of good men and women in the right places to get us out of these wars. It will take politicians who listen to the people who voted them in, rather than the lobbyists who currently poison our political system. It will also take a unified America to make any progress, whether it’s healthcare or warfare.
We should have term limits for all politicians. That scares them silly. They’d have to make their time in office more productive and less partisan, and they wouldn’t have to start campaigning for their next term halfway through their current term. We need to stop repeating the same mistakes and prioritizing the same failed policies, by the same people.
As It Stands, the new year traditionally represents change, and the hope that things will get better. I wish you a happy and a safe New Year!
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The environment Donald J. Trump grew up in was something out of a mob movie. His wealthy racist father gave him a " small loan " o...
