Fake doctors make house calls and rob naïve residents in Turkey

Turkish police donned white coats and stethoscopes to disguise themselves as doctors, then knocked on people's doors to see how easily they would fall for a confidence scam.

The undercover police officers told residents of the southeastern city of Gaziantep they were screening for high blood pressure and handed out pills, according to Turkish media.

They were alarmed when residents at 86 out of 100 households visited on Tuesday swallowed the pills immediately.

Police later returned to warn residents to be more cautious.

The police pills were harmless placebos. But a local gang had been using the same technique to give people heavy sedatives and then burgle them.

Turkish police in other provinces have also used novel methods to test citizens' gullibility.

Officers in Adana in southern Turkey last week called at houses, announcing through the intercom: "I am a burglar, please open the door."

Police said they were stunned at the number of people who opened the door, the Radikal daily newspaper reported.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; editing by Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Heavens) Image source

Brazilian Police To Wear Glasses That Scans Faces To Find Criminals

What do you want to bet we already have these scan glasses in the states?

I figure if the technology is going to be used publicly in Brazil then it’s been around for a while. Sure, they talk about testing the glasses, but I’ll bet they got a guarantee when they bought them from...hey wait a minute! Who did invent these advanced specs? There’s no indication in the story where the Brazilian cops got these goodies.

“In technology that is lifted straight from Robocop, Brazilian cops will be outfitted with glasses that can scan faces in a crowd and automatically pick out criminals. The glasses use advanced facial recognition technology that can scan 400 faces a second at 50 yards away.

Facial profiling! The glasses scans 46,000 biometric points on a person’s face and compares it against a criminal database. When the glasses find a bad guy (it’s actually a camera attached to the glasses), a red light pops up inside the glasses and alerts the officer on what to do.

The goal is to start using these Robocop glasses in test runs at crowded events (think soccer games and concerts) so police will be familiar with the technology come 2014 (when Rio de Janeiro hosts the World Cup). A big concern about the World Cup being in Brazil was the security, and if you saw Robocop, you’ll know he handled his share of bad guys with ease.” Source

Part II–The Montagnards were our allies against the NVA & VC

Going back 41 years ago to this same week in April…                                

                                          Part II – in a 3-part series of posts                                                               

                                                            By Dave Stancliff

Highway 22 overlooked the Song Ba River (photo below). To be more accurate, the Ba River as “Song” means river in Vietnamese. We called it the Song Ba River because that’s what someone wrote down on the maps we used. Maybe that someone liked the sound of “Song” and modified the real local name as Americans did so often during the war. Who cares right? My unit camped by this bridge for nearly a month.

   We had allies out in the jungle too. We were staying in the An Khe area along the West bank where some Montagnards lived (camp below right). They hated the NVA and the VC, so we became allies. The tribe that we had the most contact with was the Jarair. They were tough little nuts who were fierce fighters and who considered the Vietnamese their enemy from ancient times.

They also knew how to live off the land. They picked wild green onions, chopped bamboo shoots, and captured red ant nests using battery bags discarded by Americans. They’d take some of the rice they always carried with them and throw it into boiling hot water along with the green onions, bamboo shoots, and the red ants.

 The concoction wasn’t bad at all. Kind of a minty tasting. Much better than the fish head stew I once had in a Montagnard village like the one shown at the left. Pictured below is a heavily guarded Montagnard Base Camp.While we’re on the subject of local cuisine, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Vietnamese Centipede, an orange-legged terror that runs from four inches to eight inches long and has an attitude.
 A nearby South Korean unit, we called them ROKS, liked to eat those centipedes. They put them in with their foul-smelling kim che (which already smelled bad enough to gag a maggot). They also ate monkey brains, but I’m not going any further with this.

 There was a certain lizard there, about three feet long, that also figured into the local cuisine. I don’t know what it’s real name was, but we called them “Fuck You” lizards. They hung around trees and in the night you could hear them go: “Tik, tik, tik, phuk yu!” They really sounded like someone saying fuck you. If you listened long enough.

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A typical Montagnard fighter (below). They were fearless and loyal to Americans.

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 We’d tell the new guys that it was Charlie out there taunting them, and that generally got their attention so well they didn’t sleep. Saw a Fuck You lizard with a flashlight one night. It looked like a miniature dinosaur and hissed at me!

The next day I saw that lizard’s double draped across the back of a young Montagnard boy. He may have been Vietnamese. It’s hard to remember some details. It’s limp body spanned his shoulders and he smiled when I pointed at it.

“Numba one chop chop” he said.

Read Part III on Friday April 29th – “The Strangest Thing That Happened To Me in The Nam”

Oh, say can you see $1,515 for flag tank top?

What recession? People are paying outrageous prices for stuff like this.

A tank top designed to look like a ripped, burned and tattered American flag is a hot seller this spring.

And the $1,515 price tag isn’t the only thing kicking up controversy.

The trashed tank, from French design house Balmain, is besieged with holes that look like cigarette burns and is held together at its open sides with safety pins. Story Here

Slideshow: Ooh la odd! Crazy couture

Eating armadillos blamed for leprosy in the southern United States

The next time you decide to cuddle an armadillo, think again!

Scientists are saying these “hillybilly speedbumps” as they’re often called because they get run over a lot, will infect you with leprosy!

Disease likely spreads when people handle, eat the animals, which carry bacteria for disfiguring disease.

Going back 41 years ago to this same week in April

This is a Three-Part Post.                          Part One
                                                         By Dave Stancliff
   Forty-one years ago this month, this week, I was a combat engineer serving in the Republic of Vietnam. One year earlier, I was a high school student without a care in the world and eager to graduate so that I could get on with life. Be my own boss. You remember what that was like, don’t you?
  My squad’s mission was to sweep for mines on a two-lane dirt road laughingly referred to as Highway 22. We would get up at first light and haul our heavy mine-detection equipment out and take a stroll down that reddish dirt road until we finished, usually at noon.
   The VC, who watched our every move from hidey holes, enjoyed putting “Bouncing Betty’s” beneath piles of buffalo shit as they knew the odor offended our Western sensibilities. The hoped we’d pass over the putrid piles rather than bother disturbing them. I never saw the trick work, but heard it did somewhere else from guys in other units.
I can tell you that it was no fun probing for live bombs with a bayonet in a stinky mess. I got use to it however, as I got use to everything in that alien world somewhere in the Central Highlands that spring. How I managed remains a mystery to me today.

 Army units were assigned to provide us security and walked along behind us bristling with weapons as we did our job swinging those heavy mine detectors for hours at a time. Truck and tanks followed us in this daily routine.

We always had close ground-to-air-support. We could call in “Puff” the Magic Dragon, Spooky, Golf Ball, or Spectre, which were a bunch of assorted gunships made from AC-47s, C-123s, and C-130s.
Our security radioman could call those death-dealers in for a strike in a heartbeat. Charlie knew this and made it a habit not to wander around during the day. He just burrowed down into the ground and waited for darkness. Hoping that the mines he set during the night would kill some invaders during the day. Sometimes I imagined the enemy’s eyes following me. Patiently watching. Hoping to see me become a causality.It was a feeling we all had to get use to.

We were on constant alert for the many signs that could mean life or death. I found an old French anti-tank mine one day. Took off my earphones and handed my mine detector to my sergeant. I found it and that meant it was mine. The earth stopped as I carefully probed the spot and slowly traced around the perimeter of the pressure plate. Time was meaningless. Sweat poured off my brow as I strained to recognize what kind of mine I’d uncovered.
I recognized it even as the sergeant said “French make.” That meant it would take at least 500 pounds on the pressure plate to set it off. Excellent for mangling vehicles like American trucks. Once I disabled it I sat down and drank some water from my canteen. I felt like throwing up, but the sensation passed.

See Part Two – Thursday, April 27 - “The Montagnards were our allies.”

The Trump Train: Donald gloats over birth certificant release, now wants to see Obama’s school records

Donald keeps giving complete idiots and racists reason to hope.

After Obama released his birth certificate today Trump’s response was to gloat that he “was honored’ to see a response to his question. He then turned around and launched into a new attack and questioned the president’s school records. Recognizing his hand was called on the “Birther” insanity today, Trump stopped gloating long enough to became a “Grader.”

I’m sure he’ll be the guiding light for a lot of disillusioned racists who had dearly hoped to keep the birth controversy issue going on forever. But now they can point their pin heads in a new direction and pursue their pastime of discrediting the president in any way possible.   

Well, I want to see “Ferret with Mange Hair’s” obedience school transcripts for the ferret playing dead on his head (see photo)! 

Following Trump's analysis, how did George W. get into Harvard and Yale? Where are his records? How did Gerald Ford get into Michigan? How did Reagan get into anything above the 9th grade? We demand to see those records. Then, we want to see how Trump got into Penn, as well as his transcripts.

Let’s get one thing straight: Trump is an ego-driven narcissistic douchebag whose been pumping up the ratings on his silly-assed reality show and news organizations like MSNBC and Fox have happily carried his rantings for ratings. The clown even said he'd announce his intentions about running for president on the season finale!

When the “Grader” crap subsides, as it will, I expect Trump will come up with something equally ridiculous to get the public’s attention.

As It Stands, I can see it now: “F*cking magnets, how do they work?"

Time to end ‘sideshow’ - Obama to speak on birth certificate

This ought to shut up those “Birther” wackaloons. Now what are they going to do? The lie about his birth certificate has been sustaining the Tea Party and Republicans who can’t think of anything legitimate to go after Obama for.

White House spokesman handed out 'long-form' copies of certificate on Wednesday

President Barack Obama will speak to reporters at 9:45 a.m. ET Wednesday about the release of his birth certificate, NBC News reports.

White House press secretary Jay Carney handed out copies of the president’s “long form” birth certificate Wednesday morning, showing that he was born in Hawaii. Previously, only the president’s shorter form certificate had been made available, something that has spurred theories that Obama was not born in the United States.

White House officials have said the issue was settled long ago. But so-called "birthers" opposed to Obama have kept the issue alive. Potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently began questioning why Obama hadn't ensured the long form was released.

Carney says Obama felt the debate over his birthplace had become a "sideshow" that was bad for the country and political debate.

The "certificate of live birth" released Wednesday morning contained the signatures of the attending physician and the Local and State Registrars. It also contains the name of the hospital where Obama was born, Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital.

NBC News reports that the president requested the release of the birth certificate last week and that the White House counsel personally traveled to Hawaii to receive it.

The issue has continued to be part of the political dialogue despite a raft of evidence showing that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.  More Story Here

Lakers take over series with tough defense and renewed offense

The Lakers win tonight over the Hornets was a team affair…the way it should be: Andrew Bynum had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Pau Gasol added 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, and 4 assists. Kobe had 19 points. Fisher had 14 points. Ron Artest had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Shannon Brown played big off the bench with 8 points and lots of defensive hustle helping the Lakers take a 3-2 edge in the surprisingly competitive first round series.

The Lakers starters were all smiles as the final seconds ticked away in the 106-90 win at Staples Center. Game six goes back to New Orleans. photo source

A white boy can’t dance and psychologists act like this is news!

Apparently a team of psychs from Canada think they have stumbled upon something significant. I hate to pop their balloon, but most white boys can’t dance. Common knowledge. I’m a perfect example of – go ahead and say it – a stereotypical white boy who can’t dance! 

Excerpt:

“According to a team of University of Montreal psychologists, a 23-year-old Caucasian man, "Mathieu," is the first documented case of a person wholly unable to feel a musical beat or to move in time with it.”

I suspect the “A Team” from the University of Montreal didn’t visit any bars or other venues where people dance. I mean, how can they say this is the first documented case of the white boy syndrome? The truth has been out there for a long time. Just look at this photo! 

“The scientists report for an upcoming journal article that Mathieu sings in tune but merely flails with his body, bouncing up and down much more randomly than do people who are merely poor dancers.” [Science News, 3-26-11]

So let me get this straight…they compared their boy Mathieu with some people (Where did they find them? Excuse me sir, but are you a poor dancer?) who are “merely poor dancers” and came to the conclusion Mathieu is the missing link for white boys who have no rhythm. Hmmmmmmm….I’d say shaky science bunky!

photo source

Lawmakers increase fines for hand held phones & texting while driving – so what? A few extra bucks won’t make a difference

I can get in a car right now and drive down Central Avenue in McKinleyville and see someone talking on a hand held cell phone, or texting.

Guaranteed.

When are the lawmakers going to quit messing around and put some real teeth into stopping this problem?

I’ve talked with people who do this and they are completely unconcerned about paying a few bucks if caught. So far, none of the people I know that use hand held cell phones have been caught while driving. Friends and family included. It’s very frustrating to me because I take the danger very seriously, and would hate to be killed by another driver texting or talking on a hand held cell phone. I’m funny about things like that. Having survived combat in Vietnam and Cambodia, it would just suck to have some 17 year-old boy, or girl, take me out while gossiping with friends! 

  

Motorists who text or talk on hand-held phones face stiffer penalties under Senate measure

Lawmakers voted to raise the base fine from $20 to $50 for a first offense and from $50 to $100 for subsequent violations. The bill would also extend the ban to bicyclists.

“One taxpayer advocacy group questions whether the law has made the road safer, citing a study last year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. States that lack such a law also had fewer accidents, the study showed.

"It's essentially just a revenue-generating mechanism without improving public safety,'' said Matt Gray, a lobbyist for Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety.”  Photo source

Good Morning Humboldt County! Another Day in Paradise

As I slurp my Java this morning I see it’s been nothing but bad news for the Midwest. 'The town's gone': Seven dead as storm slams Arkansas  50 to 60 still are still unaccounted for in Vilonia; trail of destruction 15 miles long, three miles wide.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Emergency crews are preparing to search for dozens of people still missing early Tuesday before more forecast storms strike the area in the afternoon.

And it gets worse…

'Perfect storm' pounds central US, testing levees' limits

More than 1,000 homes evacuated in Missouri; Black River overruns barrier in 30 spots.

 

 

 

 

Members of the Missouri Highway Patrol set off by boat to patrol a flooded street and check for victims of a flash flood Monday, April 25, 2011, in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

While the words "skyrocketing" and "gas prices" often end up in the same sentence, "plummeting" and “gas prices” rarely occupy even the same paragraph. In a perfect free market, prices should float up and down with equal speed. But in our market, what goes up doesn't seem to come down, at least not at once.  What gives? Why gas prices go up much faster than they come down

On a more positive note Electric cars meet the real world 

Chevrolet has sold about 1,500 Volts as of the end of March, and the company says sales will be going nationwide by the end of the year. The company has been keeping track of Volt driving patterns through its OnStar network, and the data suggest that Volt owners are getting savvier about maximizing battery use and minimizing use of the car's gasoline-powered "range extender." During March, the average mileage between fill-ups went from 800 to 1,000 miles, Chevrolet reported last week.

Time for me to wander on down the road….

Pugs Gone Wild! A Potpourri of Precious Pugs Playing and Posing

My Pug, Millie (left) and I thought it would be fun to do a photo page of Pugs just being Pugs…

This Pug on the right looks a little sleepy, but game.

 

 How cute is this wall-eyed baby Pug reposing in his/her swivel chair?

I couldn’t resist this postcard on the right.

 

 Look at the smile on this proud Pug as he plays pony for this little Chinese girl!

The cuteness factor goes of the charts here!

Meet Mr. & Mrs. Pug, who just returned from a trip to Hawaii.

They both dug it there!

I’ll give you three guesses why I think the Pug on the left has a name like Princess…

This Pug who is celebrating another birthday looks kinda thoughtful about being a year older!

Now, don’t get the wrong idea about this little Pig Pug whose contemplating these remaining pizza crusts…

 

 

 

 

As all Pug lovers know…they are clowns when given the opportunity and some don’t even mind being dressed up. The Pug on the right looks okay playing Yoda, but the one on the left looks kinda peeved that he has to be Darth Vader!

The Pug in the swing looks a little concerned, but is gamely smiling and waiting for the photographer to pull the leash and (hopefully) gently rock him back and forth.

Pugs come in two colors.

 

With the exception of Millie, all these adorable Pugs can be found at Google Images Thanks for stopping by and viewing this Pug Potpourri!

 Pugs Rule!

Misaddressed marijuana goes to elderly Pennsylvania couple

“Police say an elderly Pennsylvania couple was the unintended recipient of a very seedy delivery: a five-pound brick of marijuana.”

What’s with the seeds? Doesn’t sound like grade A Buds to me.

“Police in Upper Darby, just outside Philadelphia, say the couple paid little attention to the package when it was delivered last week. Not recognizing the name, they left it on their porch, expecting it to be picked up.

When nobody claimed the package, the couple opened it to find what police say was $10,000 in high-grade marijuana.”

Again…what’s with the seeds? Sounds like a brick of Mexican pot to me. Hardly hi-grade.

“Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood tells the Delaware County Daily Times the couple gave the package to police, who determined the return address in Tollison, Ariz., was fake.”

Who would of guessed? A fake return address. How clever. Except for the fact that whoever sent it got the wrong address! Or, did they????

“Chitwood says the department sees about a half-dozen similar deliveries a year and can sometimes track down the sender.”

Those senders they do track down probably put their real return address on the package – giving at least one clue to the cops. They’re not the brightest bulbs in the marijuana grow!

Information from: Delaware County Daily Times, http://www.delcotimes.com

Monday morning meanderings …

Actually it’s almost Monday afternoon (11:45) a.m.) but I’m moving slowly this morning. As I slugged down some Joe and scanned the headlines I found this interesting tidbit: Alligator finds its way into woman's bathroom 

How did the gator get in there you ask? Apparently he went in the doggie door – all seven feet of him! Got a hunch that doggie door s going to get nailed shut.

As a Laker fan it was hard to watch the game last night as; It all went wrong for Lakers in 93-88 loss at New Orleans

What made this loss so bad is that Kobe injured his ankle and I can’t see him being 100% for Tuesday’s game at Staples Arena. If you look at the other top seeds in the West, they too are struggling to take down their less-favored opponents. The Year of the Great Upset? I sure hope not – at least in the Lakers case!

The Dodgers are really looking good as their run production has steadily increased in the last five games.

Andre Ethier (pictured here) extends his hitting streak to 21 games. The Dodgers have scored 38 runs in their last five games after averaging 3.2 in their first 18.

Dodgers defeat Cubs, 7-3, as run production continues to improve

As a Dodger fan (you probably guessed that or read it on my profile) I’m encouraged that the team is improving despite the problems with ownership and the league having to take over the running of the Dodger organization for monetary reasons.

In Yemen, female anti-government protesters are demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana.

Two demonstrators have been killed and dozens of others wounded in continued clashes between security forces and protesters. Photo by Muhammed Muheisen /AP

I’ll bet you didn’t even know that today is WORLD PENGUIN DAY! Don’t feel bad as I’m sure there are others out there that were unaware of this special day for our tuxedo clad birds worldwide. Make sure to hug a penguin today in case you see one.

 

In England and Australia today they are celebrating the ANZAC forces during WW II for their part in winning the war.

Today seems to be a day for a lot of memorial things and activities.

This morning on the “Good Morning America” show Mariah Carey (pictured here) sang for the masses in Times-Square.

That’s about all for now, I need to shuffle on down the road…

As It Stands: Ultimate survivors -- cats and their reputed 9 lives

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

There are reasons why people say cats have nine lives.

I suspect the phrase originated because cats have a surprising ability to survive adversity. Just about every cat owner has a story about how their feline got into trouble and survived.

Why nine lives, you ask? I wondered too so I did a little research and found University of Winnipeg English professor Mark Morton who offers three possibilities for picking the number nine:

“First, it's pretty clear it would have to be one of the many numbers that has traditional significance in Western culture, of which nine is among the most resonant.

“While seven, for example, is almost always positive and 13 is almost always negative, nine can have both positive and negative connotations: for example, cloud nine versus the nine rivers of hell. I think this may reflect our ambivalent cultural attitude toward the cat.

“Third, assonance often plays a role in such idioms. In this case, the long 'i' in both nine and lives functions as a near rhyme, as is even more clear in 'a stitch in time saves nine.'”

I was raised with cats. At a very early age, my mother made me go under the house to “rescue” our cat Tiger, an enormous orange tabby with an attitude, when he was fighting with another feline. This happened more times than I care to think about. I remember their glowing eyes and high pitched screeches practically paralyzed me as I crawled around trying to “rescue” that red devil!

Did I mention that Tiger and I weren't on the best of terms? He once ate my pet bird; a rescued sparrow I named Sammy. Memories of tossing rocks at fighting felines and hoping they'd cease combat in the moist darkness below my parent's house still send shivers down my spine.

Don't get me wrong. I love cats and have had a few, during 36 years of marriage, that were really special. Asia, a Siamese, was our family favorite. He lived 19 years before we had to put him down because he couldn't walk or see. Talk about a survivor.

When we lived in 29 Palms, Asia was attacked by a pack of coyotes. Somehow, he got outside when we went to bed (we were always careful to make sure he was inside as we knew coyotes were plentiful) and ran into a vicious pack of nocturnal desert predators.

My wife woke up when she heard “yipping” sounds outside our bedroom. She glanced out the window, opened the closet and grabbed my shotgun -- sans ammo -- because she couldn't reach high enough to get it, and charged outside screaming at the top of her lungs. I followed.

The coyotes were playing a game of hot potato with Asia. They were so startled they dropped him and ran away. We gently picked him up (he was in shock), and ran to the local veterinarian's house and woke him up. He put in more than one hundred stitches and told us it didn't look good for Asia.

We took Asia home, and after a couple of days he started eating and drinking again. One life less, he recovered and moved on. There was another situation, while we lived in La Quinta (another happy hunting ground for coyotes), when Asia got out and disappeared for several days.

I, my wife and our three sons, were heartbroken and gave him up as a goner. Then one night at 3 a.m. my wife heard a scratching and familiar meow. She got up and let Asia in, none the worse for wear. Her happy voice greeting Asia woke the rest of us, and we all danced around the house like idiots!

Asia was our last cat. As much as we loved him and his feline predecessors, my wife and I decided we were tired of cleaning up a cat box (the one big negative about having a cat). The kids were gone, and it was just the two of us.

About a year later, we got a Pug puppy. That's all she wrote. We're on our second Pug and wouldn't think of having any other pet. She brings the benefit of doing her “business” outside, and of being a great companion. As we all know, cats are pretty independent. Dogs tend to be better companions because they simply adore us, and don't want to be separated from us.

As It Stands, I still have a lot of respect for cats and can relate to their built-in ability to survive in tough situations.

WEBSITES CARRYING THIS COLUMN:

 PUGS Monthly

CatPedia - The Cat Encyclopedia

Enjoy your Saturday Night Live…

 

                     Black & White Photo                                            color photo

More U.S. Soldiers Killed Themselves Than Died in Combat in 2010

For the second year in a row, more American soldiers—both enlisted men and women and veterans—committed suicide than were killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Excluding accidents and illness, 462 soldiers died in combat, while 468 committed suicide. A difference of six isn't vast by any means, but the symbolism is significant and troubling. In 2009, there were 381 suicides by military personnel, a number that also exceeded the number of combat deaths.

"If you think you know the one thing that causes people to commit suicide, please let us know,” Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli told the Army Times, "because we don't know what it is."  Story Here

Check out this amazing time lapse video of Milky Way

Terje Sorgjerd, the photographer behind the viral video The Aurora, has done it again. Sogjerd captures the Milky Way over El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain.

Filmed between April 4 and April 11, 2011, the individual frames were shot using a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 17mm TSE, Canon 16-35mm II, Canon 24/1.4II, and Sigma 12-24mm.

GO HERE TO SEE VIDEO    Image via Vimeo screengrab

A poem by Ogen Nash…

The centipede was happy quite

Until a toad, in fun,

Said, "Pray, which leg goes after which When you begin to run?

That worked her mind to such a pitch,

She lay distracted in a ditch,

Considering how to run.