Thousands of marauding caterpillars trap car in silky web!

From Mail Online this morning....

"Most drivers would be delighted if their car came with a silk-lined interior.

Whether it's such an appealing prospect on the outside is another matter.

This is the sight that greeted one unlucky motorist when he returned to his vehicle in Rotterdam.

Under a giant silk cocoon created by an army of caterpillars, the shape of a Honda is just about visible.

The car was mistaken as food by spindle ermine larvae, which had already begun to strip a nearby tree of its leaves.

Spindle ermines weave silk webs to protect themselves from birds and wasps, allowing them to gorge on leaves for six weeks before transforming into butterflies."

Click here to read the rest.

image via Mail Online

Former interrogator shreds Cheney's theory on torture

From The Raw Story today...

By John Byrne

A 14-year military interrogator has undercut one of the key arguments posited by Vice President Dick Cheney in favor of the Bush Administration’s torture techniques and alleged that the use of torture has cost “hundreds if not thousands” of American lives.

The interrogator, who uses the name “Matthew Alexander,” says he oversaw more than 1,000 interrogations, conducting more than 300 in Iraq personally.

Click here for rest of story and video.

From Information Clearing House (news you won't get from CNN)

Read the following for historical perspective...

By Matthew Moore

MORE photographs have been leaked of Iraqi citizens tortured by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. Read more here. This article is three years old, but still bares reading for perspective today.

Top photo via Wikipedia Commons

Bottom photo via The Clearing House

Pre-game rituals and superstitions in our society

Illustration By Mike Curti

via USA Hockey

                     By Dave Stancliff
   It wasn’t unusual for me to throw up before game time when I was a freshman playing football. I was never sure if it was out of pure terror, or it was a good omen and I would run faster.
   Years later I read that Kareem Abdul Jabbar use to throw up before games because he was nervous. Anyone who ever watched him play however, would never have guessed it. He always seemed calm and in control on the court.
   When my Father and I watch the thoroughbred race horses, he always looks for the one who relieves itself in the paddock area while being shown off before the race. This ritual, he firmly believes, is a good sign.
    I was never much for rituals. Routine has always bored me. I have known some interesting people whose rituals were, to put it mildly, kinda crazy. One such person was in my squad in Vietnam. Every morning when he woke up the first thing he did was sharpen his (non-regulation) hunting knife!
   Guys would be washing their faces, shaving, drinking coffee, and other normal things while he sat cross-legged on the ground and carefully slid the whetstone over the razor sharp edges. You could call it his morning ritual.
  Baseball legend Wade Boggs, who played third base for the Boston Red Sox, always made sure to eat chicken before each game. He also wrote the Hebrew word “Chai” meaning “living” in the dirt before each at bat.
   Some athletes think that any sexual activity before an athletic event will hurt their performance. Mohammed Ali, thought that “when you don’t get sex for a while, you get mean and angry and it makes you a warrior.”
   He may have had something there. He’s still considered one of the greatest boxers ever. I think that when a person finds a routine that they are comfortable with, they should stick with it. It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s how it makes them feel.
   Karl Malone, basketball Hall of Famer, felt that wearing the same pair of sox for every game during the NBA season, gave him an edge. It might have, if smell counted for anything! Just joking of course, but I’ll bet that pair of socks had to be full of holes by the end of the season.
   According to an article in the Journal of Sports Behavior by Melissa Todd and Chris Brown, rituals and superstitions help “athletes cope with the uncertainty of sports competition.”
   The fear of wearing #13 on one’s uniform is a common superstition among all sports. I think if people believe it will bring bad luck, it will. There’s been exceptions to this superstition like Hall of Famer Dan Marino in football, and hoop legend Wilt Chamberlain.
   Daily rituals for people have always been around. The ancients felt sacrificing animals would bring them good luck. When I was very young, I had a neighbor who sacrificed snails by pouring salt on them. This ritual was usually performed when he was ticked-off with someone.
    As It Stands, I’m not really clear where the separation is between routine and rituals unless it’s when you make little clay figurines and stick pins in them, as opposed to puking before a game!

Burris on wiretap: 'Keep me in mind' for Senate seat

Burris and Blago in a tree,

can you spell conspiracy?

Burris and Blago in a tree,

Today here's what we see... 

From the Associated Press...

Sen. Roland Burris promised to "personally do something" for Rod Blagojevich's campaign fund while pressing for the then-Illinois governor to appoint him to President Obama's former Senate seat, according to a wiretap transcript released Tuesday.

"Tell Rod to keep me in mind for that seat, would ya?" Burris tells Robert Blagojevich, who headed his brother's campaign fund, in a Nov. 13 phone conversation secretly taped by the FBI.

Click here to read the rest.

image via AP in USA Today

I think everyone needs a SpudGun...don't you?

So you're having trouble getting that special someone a gift they'll always remember eh? Fear not, for the SpudGun promises to please people of all ages with a passion for propelling obstacles!

Joel Suprise says...

"I would like to welcome everyone to the internet's premiere website pertaining to spudguns and all other types of novelty launching devices. Branded "the center of the spudgun universe" by CBS news. Specializing in pneumatic and combustion-based launchers of ALL types, styles, sizes, and feature levels. Find out all you could ever want to know about has become a favorite weekend past time for people of all ages. Thank you for visiting and please enjoy your self while you're here."

image via the SpudGun Technology Center

Desert Solar Could Meet 25% of World’s Power Needs by 2050

From Solve Climate today...

By Stacy Feldman - May 26th, 2009

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants could meet 7 percent of the world's power needs by 2030 and 25 percent by 2050, according to a new report by Greenpeace, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and the International Energy Agency.

Such systems currently make up just 430 megawatts of generation capacity, or less than one half of one percent of electricity needs worldwide.

CSP "is about to step out of the shadow of other renewable technologies and can establish itself as the third biggest player in the sustainable power generation industry," the report's authors write.

Click here for the rest of the story.

image via Solve Climate

See 15 of the Most Bizarre Beard and Mustache competitors

 

From Oddee this morning...

Every two years, the owners of the world's most elaborate facial hair come together for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. From 1990, the championships feature competition in a variety of categories that include everything from the delicate Dali moustache to the outrageous full beard freestyle. This facial-hair celebration is open to everyone and spectators are welcome. On 2007, Brighton (UK) hosted the championships, and the City of Anchorage (Alaska, USA) will host the next one on 2009.
Meet some of the craziest beards and mustaches we've found at the championships.

Click here to see the rest of the facial hair photos.

photos via Oddee

Memorial Day 2009: Who will you remember today?

By Dave Stancliff
Who will you remember on this Memorial Day?
Your Father? Your Mother? Son or daughter? Aunt or Uncle? Grandfather? Or perhaps a cousin? How many of you had family members die in the military service?
Do you remember their smiles? Or the way they became special to you? Their humor? Their dreams? Their loving embrace? The softness of their touch? Or, when they use to take you fishing? All gone now. Just ghosts wearing uniforms.
Memorial Day has been set aside as a national day to remember those who served our country and who are not with us now. They come from generations past when Great-great-grandfather Lucius died fighting in the Civil War, and when your uncle Roger died in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
Memories of loved ones fighting and dying during WW I and WWII. Family albums keep your veterans enshrined. The older photos brown with age and sepia tones give you a glimpse into your family’s history. Uncles with medals, that you will never know, smile uncertainly from beneath helmets.
How fresh is this day to you? Have you recently lost a son or daughter in Iraq or Afghanistan? Did your twin brother die in a place you cannot pronounce? Do you pull out that photo of your mother when she left for her second tour in Iraq and never came back on Memorial Day?
The veterans from WWI are nearly gone now. WW II and Korean veterans are not far behind. Vietnam veteran’s numbers decrease every day. Young men and women still die fighting wars they don’t understand. Their memories still fresh in the 6:00 o’clock news.
Drape American flags from your house in honor of those who died serving their country. Go to the cemeteries and leave little flags there. Have parades and let there be kind words said. Gather in honor of those in your family, and in the nation, who wore uniforms and are no longer here. Gather for those that still wear uniforms, and hold them dear.
Take a moment and remember those loved ones and strangers that died defending this country. They died with your family members and they all became one. We all have someone that was a veteran once, even if it was in generations past. We are all Americans.
We are all a family in the name of freedom. We all believe in our right to say whatever we will. We have fought wars to defend all the rights we hold dear today. So when we have a special day set aside to recall those veterans who are no longer here, we owe it to ourselves to support their memory in some way.
You don’t have to join a parade. You don’t have to do anything to show people you care. But hopefully somewhere in your heart you will wish them well. Hopefully, you will understand that they all died, either during service to their country or years later, as heros.
Don’t let fashionable protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mar this Memorial Day. We gained our independence through their blood. We hold our freedoms today through their blood. Don’t judge them politically to pursue some negative agenda.
Let Memorial Day be a day of peace. Don’t play games with the dead. It’s a day to honor sacrifices. Don’t dirty their memories with your thoughtless words. Dust off that old photo of Grandfather in his funny saucer-like helmet and those leg wrappings.
Tell your son and daughter what a great guy he was. Smile and tell them a story. Make sure your grandson knows his dad was a good soldier and father. Keep the good memories alive. It’s a day when we recognize that freedom doesn’t come cheap. We honor those who paid the ultimate price without judging them. As a nation we honor their memory.
As It Stands, we owe our veterans much more than one day of recognition.

image via Google Images

As It Stands: Amazons, Ants, and the Battle of the Sexes

By Dave Stancliff

Once, a long time ago, there was a nation of women who were mighty warriors and didn’t need men.

They were reputed to have fought the men of Atlantis. These warriors were called Amazons and they disappeared many generations before the Trojan War. Still, their legend lives on into the 21st Century. 

  They worshiped the goddess Artemis, who was said to assume many forms. Today the image of the Amazons has morphed into a symbol for strong women bravely fighting breast cancer.

 Talk about change. I recently read an article titled “Rare All-Female Ant Society That Reproduces by Cloning Discovered” at the Impact Lab website. Now get this, there is (and I’m not making this up) a colony of Amazon ants, all female, who reproduce via cloning!

Click here for the rest of the column.

image via Aha! Jokes

Shock Jock Waterboarded. Now He Believes It’s Torture...

I just wish someone could get Cheney to lie down and get waterboarded! If it's not torture, then blood is not red. The Bush regime has resulted in worldwide attention to the fact that we were torturing people. Despite the Geneva Convention, Cheney and cohorts claim it kept the country safe and it was okay that they changed the rules. No one has ever proven torture works all the time. False confessions often come with pain. Think "witch hunts in Salem."

It's time we reclaim the high road and stop the practice of torture. It goes against most Americans ideals. There are many sophisticated drugs and things to get a person to talk without resorting to medieval torture. Yet Cheney defends it. I'll bet he's reincarnated from one of the torturers during the so-called Grand Inquisition in Europe!

From Donklephant ...

By Justin Gardner

Eric “Mancow” Muller is a fairly popular conservative/libertarian morning talk show host, and he didn’t think waterboarding was torture.

It took 6 seconds for him to change his mind:

Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,”Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”

“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said. “They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’ "

This is another thing I don’t get about arguments from the right…cutting off somebody’s head is MURDER. Torture is meant to make somebody suffer physical or emotional trauma. True, it could eventually lead to murder, but it’s not the same as killing somebody.

Next up, Sean Hannity? Actually, even though he said he’d do it, I doubt he will. Because he has to know by now that he wouldn’t last very long and would literally have to lie about how he felt. Nobody can beat this technique, and especially not rich, right wing talk show hosts.

By the way, if you want to watch the video of this, go here

Image via Donklephant

Newspaper industry struggling to survive in this depression

From News Cycle...

Here is a running tab of number of people who have lost their jobs in 2009 through job cuts at newspapers and wire services.

The vast majority reflects layoffs, but some are from buyouts offered by news organizations or jobs lost because of a newspaper ceasing operations.

In April, 1,381 people were laid off from newspapers in the United States. At least 3,943 people lost their jobs in newspapers in March.

Here is a list of the newspapers that cut 1,492 people in February. Here are the newspapers that reported 2,114 layoffs in January.

text via News Cycle Image via Google Images

Can a dog bowl start a fire? Test shows idea does hold water

From the Seattle Times...

By Maks Goldenshteyn

Turns out, blaming a fire on a dog water bowl isn't as goofy as it sounds.

A Bellevue Fire Department investigator said earlier this week that he suspects a house fire started when a partially filled glass bowl, resting in a wire stand on the home's deck, concentrated the sun's rays like a magnifying glass.

There was nothing else in that area of the house — no smokers, no electrical devices — that could have caused the fire. The blaze last Sunday destroyed the deck, badly burned the adjacent kitchen — and left some people wondering if the investigator was serious.

"People were trying to guess as to whether or not he had lost his mind," joked Lt. Eric Keenan, the Fire Department's community liaison officer.

So Keenan grabbed his old college physics book and started working out the scenario on paper.

"I thought, 'You know what, I think he's got something.' "

text and image via The Seattle Times

Interesting Marijuana Posters from the History of Medicine

  

 

all images via The History of Medicine

Staying home Memorial Day? Take a virtual tour of Pompeii instead!

By Michael S. Cole, M.D.

It is my opinion that Pompeii is the most important archeological site anywhere. Almost every other ancient urban site is simply the remains of a ghost town, long ago deserted by its citizens who carried away with them everything of value. Prior to the eruption of Vesuvius, Pompeii was a thriving city. Then it was buried with so little warning in 79 A.D. that Pompeii was literally frozen in time.

If we want to know details about what life was like in a Roman city during the first century, I think by studying Pompeii we can get the very best perspective with the least speculation. We can understand how the privileged rich man and the ordinary slave lived from day to day in the Roman Empire during the time when Christianity was beginning to spread throughout the Mediterranean. A better understanding of life in Pompeii, a city with both Roman and Greek influence, can help us to better understand many of the writings of the New Testament.

Click here to go on a virtual tour of Pompeii.

text and image via The Cole Family

Have scientists found the fabled 'missing link?'

Somehow I never figured the missing link to man would have a tail! Not being a scientific type myself, I don't fully understand why they feel this is the much talked about missing link. I'll go a step further...

I doubt if there is a missing link, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

From the Daily Mail...

By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 6:10 PM on 21st May 2009

Her name is Ida, she is three feet tall and if scientists are right, she could be a common ancestor of apes and monkeys - and you.

Researchers yesterday revealed the beautifully preserved remains of the lemur-like creature who died in a lake 47million years ago.

Scientists claim she is an important 'missing link' in mankind's family tree and will shed light on a crucial part of evolution.

Read the rest of the story here.

photo and text via the Daily Mail Online

Shirley and I recently spent a day at Glass Beach...

 

ATTENTION SEA GLASS COLLECTORS! THERE'S A WEB SITE FOR YOU! READ ON...

Shirley and I are grinning happily as our blogger buddy "Feather" takes this photo. Feather lives in Ft. Bragg, where Glass Beach is located, and has amassed a really impressive treasure trove of photos! She was also kind enough to show us the best spots to look! A lot of people go to the wrong areas and think the glass is all gone. Not so. You just have to know where to look. Link below...

Meet Feather at Sea Glass Lovers She took all of the photos shown here.

I enjoy looking for stuff and it was fun having Millie (right) along. It was a great day.

  

bb

LEVI VAN VELUW: he's growing with his landscape art

 

Levi van Veluw´s photo series are self-portraits, drawn and photographed by himself: a one-man-process. His works constitute elemental transfers; modifying the face as object; combining it with other stylistic elements to create a third visual object of great visual impact. The work you see therefore is not a portrait, but an information-rich image of colour, form, texture, and content. The image contains the history of a short creative process, with the artist shifting between the entities of subject and object.

Click here to read the rest.

Press Release and art via Levi van Veluw

Get a Grip on the Drip: Fast Food Bibs for Drivers!

  A few years back my wife was kidding about coming up with a bib for people who are driving and eating. We joked about it, but of course didn't do anything. She even made the comment, "I bet someone comes up with the idea and makes a mint." Well Shirley, you were right. I found some people who did come up with your idea. Oh well, I guess if you snooze you lose!

From Patent Storm...

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bib and, more specifically, to a bib with a pocket portion formed thereon to prevent food and drinks from spilling or falling onto the user's lap.
2. Description of Related Art
Eating and drinking while driving or riding in a car have become ever more common with the proliferation of fast food outlets and quick stop convenience stores. While this is convenient and time saving for most people, food and drink are often spilled while the vehicle is in motion causing substantial damage to people's clothing and to the interior of the automobile.

Click here to read the rest.

image and article via Patent Storm

From Eat Me Daily...

At first glance, The BeltzBib seems to solve one of life's major dilemmas: How do we keep our clothes clean while stuffing our faces with drive-thru while we're in the car? It goes so much further than the obvious solution of a mere bib — this being America, land of invention, land of fast food, and land of the automobile, a simple shirt covering won't do.

The BeltzBib, brilliant product that it is, has a built-in pouch to hold the food, and attaches to the seatbelt (safety first!) with Velcro to ensure the bib doesn't slip. Priced at a highly reasonable $13.95 (with free shipping no less), we can't decide if this yet another sign of the end-of-times or an important step in the evolution of snacking.

Click here to read the rest.

Jesse Ventura asks, 'If waterboarding is okay why don't we let the police use it?'

 Photo and text from the Raw Story...

 By David Edwards and Stephen Webster

 Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, making a guest appearance on ABC’s The View, gave co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck a lesson or two about the torture technique known as waterboarding.

Ventura, who underwent a barrage of torture techniques at the military Survival, Evade, Resist and Escape (SERE) school, confirmed for Hasselbeck that waterboarding is torture and not just an “enhanced interrogation technique.”

“If waterboarding is okay, why don’t we let our police do it to suspects to learn what they know?” he asked to a chorus of applause.

Click here for rest of the story.

Check out some cool movie posters made with Lego parts

There is seemingly no end to Lego creativity. Models, stop motion movies, amazing ads and art recreation…
And now, even movie posters are being recreated with that unique-tongue-in-cheek style you can only get with lego bricks and minifigs. For 20 more posters click here.

images and text from Speckyboy

What do you think about parents allowing an 8-year-old to change gender?

From the Associated Press...

Omaha couple to allow 8-year-old to live as a girl

A west Omaha couple says their 8-year-old son has asked for years to wear dresses and change his name, so they’re enrolling him in a new school where he can live openly as a girl.

The parents say their middle child is transgender, and he’s asked to be called a girl since age 4.
“One night she said, ’Every night when I go to bed, I pray my inside will match my outside. But it never happens,“’ the mother said, recalling a conversation with her child.

The family, which is not being identified to protect them from possible harm, met with therapists and gender experts before deciding to switch the child’s gender affiliation.
Ellie Hites, an Omaha therapist who’s worked with more than 200 transgender people in the city, says it’s healthier to live as one’s chosen gender when there’s a discrepancy with the biological gender.

“It’s like they arrive here with one biology but the mental set is counter to that,” she said.
Many of Hites’ transgender clients have suffered from nervous breakdowns, suicide attempts and deep depression because they’ve been forced to hide their true identity, she said.
As the 8-year-old explained: “It’s kind of like you’re trapped somewhere and you can’t get out.”
He’s been allowed to dress as a girl at home, but has had to dress and act as a boy in public. The family says that will soon change.

Read the rest here.

The Anonymous Hugging Wall for Social Facilitation & Mood Elevation

As part of the her ongoing series Methods & Apparati for Social Facilitation and Mood Elevation, Keetra Dean Dixon has created “The Anonymous Hugging Wall”. It is yet unclear if they come in deluxe form or what their cost may be.

Other parts of the series include the “Full Spectrum Optical Invigoration Unit, Psuedo Simile Guides, and the Colling Inhalation Aid (aka Fridgi-Poofs)”.

Story and text by The Laughing Squid

Audacity Vs. Reality: Jews and Arabs will never agree

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY...

Middle East: President Obama seeks a grand, unlikely reconciliation between Jews, Shiites and Sunnis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decidedly undreamy Mideast agenda is about survival.

---

Read More: Middle East & North Africa

---

In the Middle East of the early 21st century, the world is challenged by two big facts: one, a problem with no solution; the other, a problem it's been pretending isn't really there.

The first fact is the troubled co-existence of Israel with its hostile Muslim neighbors.

It's obvious that the Jewish state will never be accepted as legitimate by a large number of Arabs.

There will always be Muslim nations and armed organizations that will never accept its right to exist, and that would try to get rid of it.

Yet year after year we hear most of Western Europe, Third World nations and now apparently America insist that a Palestinian state is the key to a lasting Mid East peace.

Click here for the rest.

image via www.naiveabroad.com/

California Desalination Plant to Be Largest in Western Hemisphere

It looks like steps are being taken to meet California's water needs for the future. The new desalination facility is supposed to be done by election year (2012). This article by GREENBIZ.COM gives the particulars:

By GreenBiz Staff
Published May 18, 2009

The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board last week unanimously voted to begin work on a $300 million desalination facility to help meet the water needs of the region.

The reverse-osmosis desalination facility will be built by the Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources, and the company expects the facility to be online by the beginning of 2012. When it is fully operational, the plant will be able to produce 50 million gallons of drinking water every day, or about 10 percent of the region's water needs.
Poseidon is building the facility in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, and it is just the first of many such facilities in the works in California. The state is in the third year of a drought, and faces pressures on water supplies from a growing population and agricultural water needs.

Read the rest here.

(photo above - This desalination plant in Perth, Australia, will be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere when completed) photo by ABB.com

Oh yea...those were the good old days for us guys!

image via Fukung

An ill Wind: Parachutist reads the warning sign too late!

image via sharenator

Western Conference Finals next:Lakers finally close out tough Rockets

photo by Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Lakers center Andrew Bynum steals the ball from Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks, who was driving through the lane, in the first half today.

In a series that should never have gone to 7 games, the Lakers won when it counted this afternoon. Still unanswered; which Laker team will show up against the Denver Nuggets Tuesday night (6:00 p.m. California time) during the Western Conference Finals? Why did a seriously undermanned Houston team match up so well for so long? What Laker weaknesses were exposed? I've never seen a more erratic (okay chaotic) team than this seasons version of the Lakers. If you're into betting, leave the Lakers alone! They'll break your heart and wallet!

When a warning causes a political flap, America's enemies rejoice

FROM TODAY's Time-Standard...

Dave Stancliff

Posted: 05/17/2009 01:27:20 AM PDT

Politicians leaning left or right must learn how to cooperate to effectively fight the rising threat of extremists in our country.

A recent assessment report to law agencies, released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), warned that extremists in America are taking advantage of current events to recruit members.

This report has caused a lot of controversy, for all the wrong reasons.

Click here to read the rest of the column.

image via Google Images

Who wouldn't want to drink something called Coolpis?

FROM INVENTORSPOT we have...

The

Top Ten Weird and Bizarre Japanese Soft Drinks

By Steve Levingstein

Ahh, refreshing Coolpis... THE soft drink to offer guests - before removing their blindfolds.

Actually a Korean copy of the disturbingly named Calpis, Coolpis comes in Peach flavor and (stop reading now, if you can...) Kimchee flavor.

Kimchee, for those unacquainted, is a traditional Korean dish made from fermented cabbage and LOTS of red pepper.

Makes Peach flavored Coolpis almost appealing, doesn't it?

Anyone for a Calpis vs. Coolpis taste test? We could call it a pis-ing contest.

Stimulus money goes toward removing lethal lead paint in low income neighborhoods

I wrote this column Lead Exposure From House Paint Study Shows Ties With Criminality on October 19th, 2008.

In it, I talk about the poorer neighborhoods being the most affected by lead paint, and some surprising results from that exposure when it came to criminality. I discussed how the children were the main victims of lead in the home, and some the symptoms involved.This news article looks like a step is being taken in the right direction to combat this deadly lead exposure.

(From the Associated Press today)

     Nearly $100 million in federal stimulus money will go toward a program to remove lead- based paint and other health and safety hazards from low-income homes, Vice President Joe Biden announced Friday.
Biden announced the plan in the courtyard of an affordable-housing devel­opment operated by a community group that is getting $875,000 of that money to help identify and remove toxic paint and other health hazards from 225 Los Angeles homes.
      Biden said the program will immediately employ workers to do the lead­abatement work. He said it will also save the country millions in future health care costs that otherwise would be spent treating peo­ple suffering from neurolog­ical damage, slowed growth and other ailments connect­ed to growing up in contact with lead-based paint.
     “This is a real bang for the buck here,” he said. “You have people from this community filling good jobs, helping other fami­lies, helping children to stay healthy.”
South Los Angeles’ Esper­anza Community Housing Corp. was among 53 local programs in 20 states and Washington, D.C., getting grants through the U.S. De­partment of Housing and Urban Development to re­move lead-based paint and other hazards such as mold.

Image via leisureguy.files.wordpress.com

Chocolate, running shoes, and Spam sales are recession busters!

•   By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer –
•   Sat May 16, 12:27 pm ET

It's not all doom and gloom in the U.S. economy. Some products are bucking the recession and flying off store shelves.

Sales of chocolate and running shoes are up. Wine drinkers haven't stopped sipping; they just seem to be choosing cheaper vintages.

Gold coins are selling like hot cakes. So are gardening seeds. Tanning products are piling up in shopping carts; maybe more people are finding color in a bottle than from sun-worshipping on a faraway beach.

Strong sales of Spam, Dinty Moore stew and chili helped Hormel Foods Corp. post a 6 percent increase in first quarter sales in its grocery products unit.

Consumers have trimmed household budgets and postponed buying cars, major appliances and other big-ticket items. Yet they still are willing to shell out for small indulgences and goods that make life more comfortable at home, where they are spending more time.

Read the rest of the story here.

Photo via AP and is from a recent promo ad by Hormel Company.

The following links are being provided to you to so that you can track all information sources used in the article.

National Sporting Goods Association http://www.nsga.org

Information Resources Inc. http://www.infores.com

Mintel International http://www.mintel.com/

National Gardening Association http://www.garden.org

W. Atlee Burpee http://www.burpee.com

The Wine Institute http://www.wineinstitute.org

Enviorsell http://www.envirosell.com

Leo J. Shapiro & Associates http://www.ljs.com

 

More News From China: 'Love Land' is China's 1st-ever Sex Theme Park!

Things are sure changing in this communist country that once banned all forms of porn. It almost looks like their entering a "sexual revolution."

Westerners are flocking to China in record numbers. It must be the "new attitude" that Chinese have about Capitalism (once their sworn enemy).

From Most Emailed from Yahoo today.... 

Visitors try to get a glimpse of "Love Land", billed as China's first-ever sex theme park, in southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

The sex theme park is slated to open in October, but detractors hope the project will never see the light of day, as the exhibits of naked human sculptures, giant genitals and boasts a sex technique workshop is stirring up howls of protest.

(AFP)

A Strange Hen: Caught laying two eggs simultaneously!

FROM China Daily...

A chicken farmer named Mao Rui'an in Qingdao, Shandong province, is giving special attention to one of his chickens.

The unique hen is able to produce two eggs at the same time through two excretory openings. An expert said the hen probably has two separate reproductive systems.

He discovered the strange hen while he was giving vaccine shots to the chickens two months ago.

The lucky hen is enjoying a private henhouse and is fed with wheat seedlings instead of grass.

(Peninsula Metropolis Daily)

The Bilderbergers are back and they're still not talking...

Last year I wrote an article on this shadowy group of world leaders  -

'Shadow Government of the West' aka The Billderberg Group is the New World Order -

For Nolan Chart

Today From Haaratz.com

Are the people who 'really run the world' meeting this weekend?

By Adam Abrams

The Bilderberg Group, the topic of many conspiracy theories, is now meeting behind closed doors in Greece.

From today until May 17, approximately 150 of the most influential members of the world's elite will be meeting behind closed doors at a hotel in Greece. They are called the Bilderberg Group or the "Bilderbergers," and you have probably never heard of them.
The group, co-founded by Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, has been meeting in secret every year since 1954. This year, says the British broadsheet The Times, they are meeting at the Nafsika Astir Palace in Vouliagmeni.
The individuals at the meeting come from such power houses as Google and the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Senate and European royalty. Governments, the banking industry, big oil, media and even the world of academia are amongst the Bilderberg ranks.

Read the rest here.

Photo via Wikipedia commons. This is the Hotel de Bilderberg,

Oosterbeek, the Netherlands

- scene of the first Bilderberg Conference in 1954.

Pelosi's claim of ignorance sounds fishy to ex-Democrat

FROM Neo-Neocon...

About the author:

 Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely leaving the fold and becoming that dread thing: a neocon.

DOES ANYONE BELIEVE NANCY PELOSI? AND DOES IT MATTER?

"My answer to the first question is: nobody, not even Pelosi. Maybe especially not Pelosi. Her story on the waterboarding briefings has changed so many times, and is stated with such verbal hesitancy and telegraphing of prevarication, that even the commenter's on the liberal blogs I’ve visited don’t seem to think she’s telling the truth." Read the full column Does anyone believe Nancy Pelosi? And does it matter?

Things you should know about your rights on the web...

Are you interested in knowing what your rights are when it comes to Internet usage? Do you want to be kept informed of anything that may interfere with your First Amendment Rights on the web? Then here's a good link for you this morning:

FROM the Electronic Frontier Foundation...

EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit group of passionate people—lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries — who depend on your support to continue successfully defending your digital rights. Litigation is particularly expensive; because two-thirds of our budget comes from individual donors, every contribution is critical to helping EFF fight —and win—more cases.

Click here for the whole article.

image via Google Images

Here are some Links and Resources on Media Reform...

WARNING! This information is scary if you value free speech and oppose mind control...

FROM THE MEDIA REFORM INFORMATION CENTER...

"In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called "alarmist" for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly. In his 4th edition, published in 1992, he wrote "in the U.S., fewer than two dozen of these extraordinary creatures own and operate 90% of the mass media" -- controlling almost all of America's newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. He predicted then that eventually this number would fall to about half a dozen companies. This was greeted with skepticism at the time. When the 6th edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market. More than 1 in 4 Internet users in the U.S. now log in with AOL Time-Warner, the world's largest media corporation."

Read the rest of the story here.

Lost robot crosses city by asking directions!

FROM New Scientist...

Robots are getting better at finding their way around unknown areas, and making their own maps as they explore. But robots lost in urban areas don't need to rely on their own faculties to get from place to place, German roboticists have shown.

Their mobile robot simply rolls up to any humans nearby and asks for directions. By using that strategy, their robot has become one of the first to be properly let loose in the real world, not just carefully controlled environments.

Martin Buss's team at the Technical University of Munich dumped their mobile robot outside the university and instructed it to find its way to the Marienplatz in the center of Munich, some 1.5 kilometers away.

Click here for the rest of this story.

Wildlife Crew Finds Rare Albino Raccoon At Construction Site

FROM CITY NEWS...
It's not exactly one in a million - more like one in 500,000. But it's still a pretty rare sight. A Toronto wildlife company responding to a request for help has found a rare while albino raccoon at a construction site at Yonge and Eglinton.

The animal was one of a litter of five babies, and looks almost like a pig instead of one of the traditional "black masked bandits." It also lacked a striped tail.

How rare are the creatures? Brad Gates of Gates Wildlife Control, whose company was behind the discovery, says over the past 25 years, his people have only ever come across the phenomenon twice - the other time was in Mississauga. He estimates it's a 1-in-500,000 shot.

He tells CityNews.ca it's "a busy construction site" that's about to be sealed off and they needed to finally get rid of the raccoons. What happens to it now? It will be given back to its mother - arrangements are being made to trap her sometime on Monday night.

The entire family will then be "relocated" elsewhere in the area.

When asked if they won't just cause more problems for some other resident, Gates admits it's possible. But he says once a raccoon gets used to living in a city environment, it can't be sent back to the wild. He notes the mother will "teach the babies everything they need to know" to survive in the urban jungle.

Photo courtesy: Gates Wildlife Control

Scientific breakthrough proves there's water on Mars!

Credit & Copyright: Ellen Roper (GCC)