Quotations about Statistics

The following is from The Income Team Blog and was gathered by Steven;

The average human has one breast and one testicle.  ~Des McHale

Torture numbers, and they’ll confess to anything.  ~Gregg Easterbrook in The New Republic

69.8% of all statistics are made up.  ~Author Unknown

Statistics are like bikinis.  What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.  ~Aaron Levenstein

Say you were standing with one foot in the oven and one foot in an ice bucket.  According to the percentage people, you should be perfectly comfortable.  ~Bobby Bragan, 1963

Statistics can be made to prove anything - even the truth.  ~Author Unknown

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.  ~Author Unknown

Lottery:  A tax on people who are bad at math.  ~Author Unknown

He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts - for support rather than for illumination.  ~Andrew Lang

Do not put your faith in what statistics say until you have carefully considered what they do not say.  ~William W. Watt

Then there is the man who drowned crossing a stream with an average depth of six inches.  ~W.I.E. Gates

There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up.  ~Rex Stout, Death of a Doxy

I always find that statistics are hard to swallow and impossible to digest.  The only one I can ever remember is that if all the people who go to sleep in church were laid end to end they would be a lot more comfortable.  ~Mrs. Robert A. Taft

There’s more here.

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'Suit & tie' jailbreak guy caught

By LARRY CELONA, PHILIP MESSING and LAURA ITALIANO

“An inmate who casually walked out of a Manhattan courthouse posing as a lawyer was nabbed last night, as new details emerged indicating a correction officer's stunning breach of protocol could have allowed the escape.

Ronald Tackman, 56, was arrested as he got off a bus near a friend's house in Washington Heights just before 9 p.m. sources said.

Officers received a tip he'd be in the area, and he was arrested without incident.

Earlier yesterday, sources revealed that on Wednesday, a guard removed Tackman's handcuffs and those of eight other arrivals from Rikers Island as they stood in the 12th-floor hallway at 100 Centre Street.” Click here to read the rest at The New York Post.

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Dwarves found 'theme park' commune to escape bullying

A community of dwarves has set up its own village to escape discrimination from normal sized people.

Everyone in the mountain commune in Kunming, southern China, must be under 4ft 3 ins tall and they run their own police force and fire brigade from their 120 residents.

Now the group has turned itself into a tourist attraction by building mushroom houses and living and dressing like fairy tale characters.

"As small people we are used to being pushed around and exploited by big people. But here there aren't any big people and everything we do is for us," said spokesman Fu Tien.

The idea of housing dwarves in special compounds would be anathema in the West, and the village has sparked fierce debates among expats living in China.

"When I first heard this I pictured myself obscure freak shows from a hundred years back," wrote one commenter on the GoKunming website. "Pay the entrance fee and you can watch these people perform."

But others said that it was the dwarves' best chance of employment given the surplus of labor in China.

"We might feel aghast at treating humans this way but this is the best way the Chinese government can deal with the situation right now," wrote Tonyaod.

"Go back a hundred years or so in our culture and we will see that we did the same thing à la the freakshows and the circus."

Photo and story via The Telegraph

Technorati Tags: dwarves,freakshows

Farmer's daughter disarms terrorist and shoots him dead with AK47

An Indian farmer’s daughter disarmed a terrorist leader who broke into her home, attacked him with an axe and shot him dead with his own gun.

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi

Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother in Jammu and Kashmir when three gunmen, believed to be Pakistani militants, forced their way in and demanded food and beds for the night.

Their house in Shahdra Sharief, Rajouri district, is about 20 miles from the ceasefire line between Indian and Pakistani forces.

It is close to dense forests known as hiding places for fighters from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack last November.

Militants often demand food and lodging in nearby villages.

When they forced their way into Miss Kausar’s home, her father Noor Mohammad refused their demands and was attacked.

His daughter was hiding under a bed when she heard him crying as the gunmen thrashed him with sticks. According to police, she ran towards her father’s attacker and struck him with an axe. As he collapsed, she snatched his AK47 and shot him dead.

She also shot and wounded another militant as he made his escape.

Police have hailed the woman’s bravery.

They said she would be nominated for the president’s gallantry award.

She may also receive a £4,000 reward if, as police believe, the dead terrorist is confirmed as Uzafa Shah, a wanted Pakistani LeT commander who had been active in the area for the past four years.

Supt Shafqat Watali said Miss Kausar’s reaction was “a rude shock” for the militants. “Normally they get king-like treatment but this was totally unexpected,” he said.

Miss Kausar said she had never fired an assault rifle before but had seen it in films and could not stand by while her father was being hurt. “I couldn’t bear my father’s humiliation. If I’d failed to kill him, they would have killed us,” she said

Text and story via The Telegraph

Technorati Tags: militants,ak 47,pakistan

Cannibals, presidential alien abduction, and clowns in space

By Lili Ladaga

On the menu for the latest edition of Weird Science: Cosmic cannibals, a presidential alien abduction and clowns in space. Bon appétit!

You gonna eat that? The Andromeda galaxy, our nearest neighbor in space, turns out to have a nasty appetite. Using a telescope scan, astronomers have found evidence of Andromeda's galactic meals. From the AP:

"What we're seeing right now are the signs of cannibalism," said study lead author Alan McConnachie of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, British Columbia. "We're finding things that have been destroyed ... partly digested remains."

Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way, is next on Andromeda's snack list. John Dubinksi, co-author of the project, says the two galaxies are headed toward each other at a rate of 75 miles per second. But not to worry: We won't be dinner for another few billion years.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

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• herzberg institute of astrophysics
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PHOTO: M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
Credit and Copyright: Jason Ware

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Trouble getting up in the morning?

The best morning alarm in the world is a sneaky elbow in the ribs – but if you are a singleton or have a partner even more sleepy-headed than yourself, you will be the owner of a digital waking assistant, better known as an alarm clock.

The first thing you want to do with your alarm clock when it starts warbling is, of course, batter it to a pulp. (You’re only human). This alarm – called Smash – encourages such “percussive maintenance” by having the switch buried underneath a deformable top. Hammer it with your fist and blessed tranquility will return. Go to WebUrbanist to see more alarm clocks.

(Image via: Hometone)

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Desert Rats and other Folk

“Clearly I remember it was in early December of 1983, when I met an old Desert Rat named Harry who took a liking to me. 
He lived in Wonder Valley
and was a WWII veteran naval captain whose name was Harry Malley.
We drank ouzo on his back porch watching the sun slowly slip into bloody orange hues on hot desert nights when he turned the clock back with his tales of tanker ships and whales.
One day Harry walked into a dream and forgot who and where he was.
And all the doctors and his two friends, Ralph and I, watched his brain slowly die.
In the end there was no one.
Only one sister who lived in Greece and who sent back any correspondence from him unopened, unloved…
Years of sad letters left behind unopened never told the story why A mystery about Harry.

Poor old Harry, who to everyone’s amazement left behind over a million dollars in three banks!
I sometimes wonder why Harry was so alone and why he had to die
by his own hand with a gun Ralph and I
didn’t know he had.
So damn sad.
A lonely old man who built a house that had a circular hall
who also must have had a story he didn’t want to share
and by pulling that trigger he no longer had to care.”

Dave Stancliff 

-excerpt from my unpublished book - “Desert Rats and other Folk” 

ABOVE PHOTO: Old Gold by Alan Brown

Accepting Emptiness

´All form is empty´. These words of the Buddha are not a philosophy. It is not some sort of postmodern credo avant la lettre, meant to show that there is no meaning, no value or purpose in life; that in the end there is only a mere nothing as life is concerned.

The Sunyata, the Emptiness, which is at the center of the Buddhistic doctrine, is often not adequately understood.

It is not a pessimistic or fatalistic doctrine, coined by a depressed mind prone to heavy drinking and on the verge of suicide. No, it is the total and deep experience of a very healthy consciousness. For Sunyata is one of the deepest realizations of meditative consciousness. It is what we all experience when we close our eyes and study the interiority of life.

Click here to read the rest at Home Planet

Scientists say plutonium shortage could stall space exploration

by NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE

NASA is running out of the special kind of plutonium needed to power deep space probes, worrying planetary scientists who say the USA urgently needs to restart production of plutonium-238.

But it's unclear whether Congress will provide the $30 million that the administration requested earlier this year for the Department of Energy to get a new program going.

Nuclear weapons use plutonium-239, but NASA depends on something quite different: plutonium-238. A marshmallow-sized pellet of plutonium-238, encased in metal, gives off a lot of heat. Click here to read the rest at npr.

Technorati Tags: plutonium shortage,space travel,department of energy,nuclear weapons,NASA,congress

Food for thought: the 20 FUNNIEST RESTAURANT PUN NAMES

Posted by Jillian Madison of Food Network Humor

Click here to see the other 18 “punny”names!

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Secrets of the brain: The grey matter that makes us who we are

From shyness and moral judgment to creativity and sexual preference, a fascinating new book shows how our personalities and human traits are written on our brains. Jeremy Laurance reports

The brain is our most complex but least understood organ. We can name its parts but our knowledge of what each part does, or how, is rudimentary. In The Brain Book, journalist Rita Carter has assembled what is known about the nerve centre of each individual and explains with the aid of images and graphics its structure, function and disorders. Click here to read the rest at The Independent

Related articles

• By 2040 you will be able to upload your brain...
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Iran flips off the world

Iran missile test by J.D. Crowe, Mobile Register

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Spider Wranglers Weave One-Of-A-Kind Tapestry

by CHRISTOPHER JOYCE

This week in New York, the American Museum of Natural History unveiled something never before seen: an 11-by-4-foot tapestry made completely of spider silk.

Weavers in Madagascar took four years to make it, and the museum says there's no other like it in the world.

A stunning golden tapestry woven from spider silk is unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City after four years of work — and the help of more than 1 million spiders.

i

Photo by R. Mickens/AMNH

It's now in a glass case at the museum. The color is a radiant gold — the natural color of the golden orb-weaving spider, from the Nephilagenus, one that's found in several parts of the world.

Simon Peers, a textile maker who lives in Madagascar, conceived the project. Weaving spider silk is not traditional there; a French missionary dreamed it up over a century ago but failed at it. The only known spider silk tapestry was shown in Paris in 1900 but then disappeared. Click here to read the rest at npr

PHOTO ABOVE: by Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley

Two Nephila madagascariensis spiders that were used to create the golden tapestry.

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5 Things the Corporate Media Don't Want You to Know About Cannabis

Recent scientific reports suggest that pot doesn't destroy your brain, that it doesn't cause lung damage like tobacco -- but you won't hear it in the corporate media.

Writing in the journal Science nearly four decades ago, New York State University sociologist Erich Goode documented the media's complicity in maintaining cannabis prohibition.

He observed: "[T]ests and experiments purporting to demonstrate the ravages of marijuana consumption receive enormous attention from the media, and their findings become accepted as fact by the public. But when careful refutations of such research are published, or when later findings contradict the original pathological findings, they tend to be ignored or dismissed."

A glimpse of today's mainstream media landscape indicates that little has changed -- with news outlets continuing to, at best, underreport the publication of scientific studies that undermine the federal government's longstanding pot propaganda and, at worst, ignore them all together.

Here are five recent stories the mainstream media doesn't want you to know about pot: Click here to read the rest at AlterNet.

Technorati Tags: marijuana,tabacco companies,cancer studies,propaganda

History shows why we should get out of Afghanistan

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 09/27/2009 01:30:17 AM PDT

Here we are. A country immersed in other nations' affairs for all the wrong reasons. We're deeply mired in wars with no clear-cut exit plan from either country we invaded, and now occupy. What happened to learning from history?

Remember Vietnam? The obvious similarity seems to escape our politicians and military. Historians agree that Vietnam shouldn't have happened and someone should have reined in McNamara before he led our military and country into the quicksand.

There are men and women in our military who remember helping the Taliban fight the Russians during their decade-long occupation of Afghanistan. We looked upon the Taliban as nationalists back then, people fighting for their freedom.

To prove we haven't learned our history lesson, we invaded Afghanistan and chased the Taliban out, calling them terrorists. They let our enemy Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qa'eda terrorists train there. Our politicians needed some measure of revenge for the 9/11 attack to show Americans, and the world, that we would not tolerate international terrorists. Click here to read the rest.

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Medical pot proposal erases compassion

L.A. needs to regulate pot dispensaries, but this plan goes too far.

By Sandy Banks

“She didn't know whether she'd have the nerve to speak. But Judy Bowen signed the list and took a seat amid the pot smokers and growers, the lawyers and doctors, the Rastafarians and AIDS patients crowded into the Los Angeles City Council hearing room.
And when her turn came, she gripped her cane, made her way to the microphone and joined a chorus of would-be lawbreakers, there to fight a proposed ordinance that would ban the sale of medical marijuana in Los Angeles.
Bowen showed up at the council hearing because renegade marijuana shops have become the scourge of neighborhoods like hers in South Carthay, where a dozen storefront dispensaries have sprouted along Pico Boulevard between La Cienega and La Brea.” Click here to read the rest of the story at The LA Times.

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Judo For Junkies…

A new, and highly controversial treatment for people who are addicted to things, is sweeping the country.

Judo For Junkies is knocking the bejeezus out of people with no self- control. Got hang-ups? See Judo For Junkies - coming in a side street near you soon!

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Pointless research: silly science hopefully coming to a stop…

By Tom Chivers

The government has unveiled plans to allocate research funding according to how much “impact” the research has.

The plans have come under fire from academics, who say that curiosity-driven, speculative research has led to some of the most important breakthroughs in scientific history, including penicillin, relativity theory and the theory of evolution.

More than that, though, it might bring an end to the quirky, sometimes daft, sometimes weirdly inspired research that brings harmless entertainment and occasional enlightenment to armchair buffoons and science nerds everywhere.

Below, take a look at some of the best.

Chinstrap penguins can squirt poo up to 40cm, winner, Fluid Dynamics, 2005
"Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh -- Calculations on Avian Defecation", Polar Biology, 2003

Rather sweetly, the researchers end their conclusions by saying: “Whether the bird deliberately chooses the direction into which it decides to expel its feces or whether this depends on the direction from which the wind blows at the time of evacuation are questions that need to be addressed on another expedition to Antarctica.” No doubt governments will be falling over themselves to fund that trip.

Click here to read more silly science projects from the Telegraph

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42 college/school-related viewers have checked in during the last 24 hours

Worldwide:

Derwentside College-Durham, United Kingdom; University of Newcastle Upon Tyne-United Kingdom; New Brunswick Department of Education-Dalhousie, Canada; Toronto District School Board-Canada; Alberta College of Art & Design-Canada; Durham District School Board-Whitby, Ontario, Canada; Fernandez College of Arts & Technology-Bulacan, Davao Del Sur, Philippines.

Across the USA:

 University of Massachusetts-Amherst; University of Wisconsin-Menomonie; Stamford Public Schools-Connecticut; Merrimack Education Center-Brockton, Massachusetts; People’s Academy-Morrisville, Vermont; Mason Consolidated Schools-Temperance,Michigan; Iowa State University-Ames; Claremore Public School-Coweta, Oklahoma; Broward County Public Schools-Sanford, Florida; Kentucky Department of Education-Owensboro; Washington School Information Processing Corporation-Valley; Austin Independent School District-Texas; University of Illinois At Chicago; San Diego County Office of Education-Poway, California; Utah Education Network-Monument Valley; Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina; High Desert Education Service District-Sisters, Oregon; Purdue University Calumet-Hammond, Indiana; Los Alamos Public Schools-New Mexico; San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools-Upland, California; State University of New Yory At Stony Brook; King’s County Office of Education, Fresno, California; University of Maryland-Hyattsville; Georgia Department of Education-Zebulon; Gwinnett County Public Schools-Lawrenceville, Georgia; North Carolina Research & Education Network-Concord; Georgia Perimeter College-Decatur; Maine Libraries/Department of Education-Turner; Colleges of the Fenway-Boston, Massachusetts; Osseo School District-Minneapolis, Minnesota; Lincoln Intermediate-Unit 12-Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Montclair State University-New Jersey; and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education-Lexington.

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Obama charges Iran with hiding nuclear plant

By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

PITTSBURGH — President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France revealed this morning that Iran has been building an underground nuclear fuel enrichment facility for years without informing international inspectors.

The revelation, coming as world leaders began meetings here on the global economic crisis, was sure to put new pressure on Iran to come clean about its nuclear ambitions at a meeting next week or risk tough sanctions.

"The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program," Obama said. "Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow."

Two senior administration officials confirmed the existence of the secret facility to USA TODAY early this morning. It was first reported by The New York Times. Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy then accused Iran of repeated efforts to hide its nuclear sites, including this one south of Tehran.

Click here to read the rest.

PHOTO: Obama with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, right, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy leave the stage after making a joint statement on Iran's nuclear facility. Photo by Charles Dharapak, AP

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Mysterious Crop Circles appear in Arcata

Pilots flying over the Pifferini Ranch have recently reported seeing these mysterious crop circles. It’s a first on the north coast where we seldom see UFOs (it’s either too foggy or raining too hard). This stark evidence isn’t as sinister as it may appear however…

Check out upcoming editions of The Times-Standard to get the story.

Photo taken by Richard R. Stancliff (my eldest son)

Technorati Tags: crop circles,arcata,Pifferini Ranch

Census worker murdered - ‘Fed’ scrawled on his chest

 Was Bill Sparkman a victim of an anti-government killer? His mother thinks she knows what happened, but is waiting to see what the FBI come up with.

MANCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drew on years of experience for a warning: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment. Click here to read the rest at USA Today/ AP Photo

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There are some things you can’t hide…

R.J. Matson, NY, The New York Observer and Roll Call
Visit RJ -- E-Mail RJ

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Obama to world: Don't expect America to fix it all

 President Obama takes a calm, some say humble, approach to dealing with other nations. He’s trying to get the respect back for America that many countries lost under President Bush’s disastrous direction.

Will a more respectful approach make a difference? Who knows? It’s too early to tell after nine months in office.

The idea of mutual respect seems like a good place to start to me.

By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent –

“President Barack Obama challenged world leaders Wednesday to shoulder more of the globe's critical burdens, promising a newly cooperative partner in America but sternly warning they can no longer castigate the U.S. as a go-it-alone bully while still demanding it cure all ills.

"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," said Obama in put-up-or-shut-up comments before a packed U.N. General Assembly hall. "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges." Read the rest here.

Photo and text via Associated Press

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LEGO Artworks by Nathan Sawaya

1. Heartfelt

Some artists use paint, others bronze – But for Nathan Sawaya he chooses to build his awe-inspiring art out of toy building blocks. LEGO® bricks to be exact. The former corporate lawyer quit his job in 2001 to focus on becoming the world’s foremost LEGO artist.

With more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his New York studio, Sawaya’s sculptures take many forms.

Sawaya’s art is currently touring North American museums in a show titled, The Art of the Brick. It’s the only exhibition focusing exclusively on LEGO as an art medium. The creations, constructed from nearly one million pieces, were built from standard bricks beginning as early as 2002. More information on the tour, dates and locations can be found here.

A full-time freelance artist, Sawaya accepts commissions from individuals, corporations, and … well just about anyone with a good idea! He’s also available to design and build custom creations at events, photo shoots and conventions.

So let Sawaya know what you have in mind, he says, that there are literally no limits to what he can create out of LEGO.

Go to Bored Panda and see the rest.

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Are you ‘tire’d of the same old playgrounds?

Playgrounds have come a long way since the early days of hot, steel slides and open-backed infant swings.

Safety is a big issue on today’s playgrounds, but so is imagination and ingenuity.

Take a look at some of the many unusually cool designs popping up around the world.

 Nishi-Rokugo – Tokyo, Japan

In Japanese, Nishi-Rokugo means Tire Park. The Kawasaki plants are located not far away, so it’s possible they donated the 3,000 tires that make up the dinosaurs, monsters, bridges, slides, swings, and all the loose ones there for kids to stack and hop on.

Here’s nine more parks thanks to Funster

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People with 'no religion' gaining on major denominations

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Americans who don't identify with any religion are now 15% of the USA, but trends in a new study shows they could one day surpass the nation's largest denominations — including Catholics, now 24% of the nation.

American Nones: Profile of the No Religion Population, to be released today by Trinity College, finds this faith-free group already includes nearly 19% of U.S. men and 12% of women. Of these, 35% say they were Catholic at age 12. Click here to read the rest.

FAITH & REASON: What's your religious path: Any, many, one or none?

Here’s a related article from MailOnline:

We've given up on churchgoing, but not on Christianity
by STEVE DOUGHTY

Two in three of us never go to church, it has emerged.

Just one in ten attends a service every week, meaning most of the population only turn up for baptisms, weddings or funerals.

Britain has not, however, lost its faith.

More than half of us are still happy to describe ourselves as Christians, according to the survey by the charity Tearfund.

And around three million say they would only need the slightest encouragement to darken a church's door more frequently.

Read more here

Technorati Tags: christians,catholics,faith,church attendance

Spider-Man lookalike lizard is latest exotic pet craze

A lizard that looks startlingly like Spider-Man - Mwanza flat-headed rock agama - has become the latest fashionable pet.

By Tom Chivers

The vivid red-and-blue coloring is almost uncannily like that of the Marvel superhero, and comic book fans have been flocking to exotic pet shops to snap them up.

Agamas like the Spider-Lizard, as it has become known make good pets, as they become tame and docile if handled regularly. However, they require specialist equipment in the UK to maintain their temperature.

It can grow up to a foot long, and the squeamish may find it a problem to feed – a balanced diet for an agama includes locusts, crickets, mealworms and waxworms.

Native to Kenya, the rock agama (Agama mwanzae) is unable to throw webs, but can change color – the brightly colored males will change brown at night or if frightened. They can also run on their hind legs, and – like Spidey – can scale vertical walls.

Credit: The Telegraph

Technorati Tags: lizards,rock agama,pets,spider man

The illitterate minority speaks out

 

These pictures say it all. Prejudice is still prevalent, and illiteracy is rampant in protests today.

Click here to see more signs at Dribbleglass.com

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Current economy could use a Depression Glass success

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 09/20/2009 01:27:09 AM PDT

Collecting memorabilia of any kind during this dreary economy may seem a crazy idea at first, but it has its merits.

During the Great Depression, Americans from all walks of life collected Depression Glass. It was inexpensive to make and was given away in promotions. Today you can get surprising prices for that glass.

By using “pressed” glass techniques, manufacturers were able save money and turn out a larger volume compared to hand-blown or cut glass production methods. The process involved pouring molten glass into molds of various patterns and pressing it to assume the shape of the mold.

The early patterns were etched, but hobnail glass, which first appeared in 1930, was the first real “hit.” Like families in today's tough times, during the Depression people spent what money they had on necessities like food. Shoppers could get free pieces of Depression Glass in boxes of oats and other foodstuffs.

The people who marketed Depression Glass sold it at an amazing variety of stores and sales outlets at affordable prices. Even the lower classes were able to enjoy attractive glassware.

Depression Glass came in a wide range of colors. You could collect it free by going to gas stations or signing up for bank accounts. Those early marketers didn't leave a stone unturned.

Some historians have even gone so far as to say the popularity of Depression Glass helped stimulate demand for consumer goods and household purchases, helping the country emerge from hard times.

Click here to read the rest at The Times-Standard.

Technorati Tags: depression glass,hobnail glass,comic books

Deaf puppy learns sign language

A tiny eight week old puppy is learning sign language in Australia after it was discovered that she is profoundly deaf.

Pixie the border collie is currently being taught to recognise hand commands by trainer Liz Grewal in Coffs Harbour.

Liz has been an owner of deaf dogs for six years and so far she has taught the clever youngster to sit, drop and come forth.

"Dogs understand your body language, your hand gestures, they read all of that. They know," Liz comments.

"Consistency is the key to training any dog but you have to emphasise it more with a deaf dog. You've to train them in a different way, they train quicker than a hearing dog as there are no noise distractions."

In order to get the attention of her four deaf dogs, one of the techniques that Liz uses is to squirt them with a little water bottle.

She adds: "I want these dogs to have a fantastic life, and I know they can do it."

Credit: Ananova

Technorati Tags: deaf dog,sign language

Scientist say sprinkling tomatoes with pee is the key

Gardeners keen to boost their crop of tomatoes may be surprised to learn they can turn to an unusual and free source of fertilizer.

Allotment growers can enrich the soil and therefore their plants using their own wee, according to a new study.

Scientists discovered the unusual addition made crops up to four times larger.

A team of Finnish researchers found that sprinkling tomatoes with human urine mixed with wood ash was the ultimate eco-friendly fertilizer.

It worked just as well with cucumber, corn, cabbage and other crops.

Although scientists have previously tested urine on plants, this is the first one to mix it with wood ash.

Read more: at the dailymail

Technorati Tags: tomatoes,human urine,fertilizer

Insane killer escapes on field trip to county fair!

Authorities searched by air and land today for a criminally insane killer who escaped during a mental hospital field trip to a county fair that has infuriated residents and officials around Washington.

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS

Associated Press Writer

SPOKANE, Wash. —

Authorities searched by air and land Friday for a criminally insane killer who escaped during a mental hospital field trip to a county fair that has infuriated residents and officials around Washington.

Authorities have said they believe Phillip Arnold Paul is heading to the Sunnyside area, where his parents and many siblings live. The Spokane County Sheriff's Office launched a helicopter on Friday in the search, and the public was urged to call 911 if Paul is spotted.

"He is in a bad mental state," his brother, Tom Paul, told The Associated Press. "Why would they load him on a bus and take him to a fair?" Click here to read the rest at The Seattle Times. 

Technorati Tags: insane killers,spokan washington,mental hospital for criminally insane

Values Voters Attendees Don't Appreciate The Media Coverage

I was listening to the summit organizers apologies just minutes ago on MSNBC.

They knew the treatment of the reporter didn’t reflect well on the Republican Party. And for good reason. My take is that people who try to chase the media away are afraid of something getting out. Simple as that. People like this woman don’t do conservatives any favors.

“While reporting this afternoon from the floor of the Values Voter Summit, MSNBC reporter Brian Mooar was heckled by several audience members who said he was being rude and disrespectful.

Mooar was giving a live broadcast as Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) was speaking to a crowd of about 2,000. A woman in white gets up and yells something at him, which is inaudible.

"Somebody here is not liking what we're talking about," Mooar said as he was about to sign off.

Then, a man came up to him. "You're being rude," he said.

Mooar countered: "We were invited guests."

"Too bad," the audience member said. "You're being rude."

Then another man came over.

"Would you mind? This is about the rudest thing you can do," he said, trying to take Mooar's microphone. "You are rude to do this in front of the public."

At that point several security guards came over and escorted the man out, but left the woman, who continued asking Mooar to leave. "I came here to listen, not to be disrupted," she said.

Even after someone was escorted out, another angry attendee came up and said something to Mooar that the mic didn't pick up.

The summit officials "didn't organize it very well," said anchor Norah O'Donnell, "because they didn't seem to put the press in a way that you could do reporting on what's going on and not be harassed."

To View the Video click here at TPM

Technorati Tags: conservatives,conservative summit

The 300 pound gorilla in the room…

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner, Washington, D.C.
E-Mail Nate. Visit Nate's Locher Award winning college cartoons

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Examining the fear of a Black President

The president reminds Glenn Beck, and those who identify with his neo-white nationalism, of the lie of their own professed superiority. The pride with which this segment of society has rallied the troops around its shared sense of whiteness reveals that their skin color is the one true object of pledged allegiance and determinant of professed patriotism.

By Jonathan L. Walton

...in Obama’s America the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, “Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on,” and, of course, everybody says the white kid deserved it, he was born a racist, he’s white.Newsweek magazine told us this. We know that white students are destroying civility on buses, white students destroying civility in classrooms all over America, white congressmen destroying civility in the House of Representatives. —Rush Limbaugh,
Sept. 15, 2009

Ever the statesman, and often candid to a political fault, President Jimmy Carter asserted this week that much of the animosity directed toward President Barack Obama is “based on the fact that he is a black man.”

A lifelong Southerner, Carter acknowledged that the inclination of racism still exists, and that “it has bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.”

Click here to read the rest at religion dispatches.

Technorati Tags: racism,obama,right-wing extremists,rush limbaugh,african-americans,jimmy carter

Meet Dr. Whippy – and be happy!

Dr. Whippy is a machine which proffers soft scoop ice cream according to the perceived unhappiness level of the customer.

Employing a voice-stress analysis of the user’s answers to specific questions, varying degrees of unhappiness are measured and the counteractive quantity of ice cream is dispensed: The more unhappy you are, the more ice cream you need!

Credits: DashnDem

Technorati Tags: ice cream machine

My first car was a 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne, and the story behind it might interest you…

When I was a senior(1968)at Azusa High School, I bought a White 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne from my Dad. I loved the “Three-on-a-Tree shifter,” and it’s economical V-6 engine. It had plenty of power, but it was no muscle car.

I took it out-of-state several times, and put a lot of miles on it before going into the Army in 1969. When I came home from Vietnam in 1970, the car was up on blocks and the tires were gone. I had left it at my Mom and Dad’s house. My Dad let my cousin (who had been kicked out of his house) use it, and stay with them so he could get a job and find a place of his own.

He did a job alright. Blew about every gasket the car had and fried the engine! It only took him about a year, while I was tromping around in the jungles of Vietnam to accomplish this act of destruction.

I was so glad to be back in the good ol USA I never got mad at him, and wrote it off. I’d learned a few things about prioritization in my young life and understood it wasn’t worth getting mad over.

He is no longer alive, and I’m glad that I reacted the way I did when I saw my car on those concrete blocks and knew he was the culprit. He went on to become an ordained minister, and had his own church in Oregon.

He did a lot of good, and sometimes told people the story of how he ruined my car and how I didn’t get angry with him. That made me feel good, like maybe I had done at least one thing right when I first came back into civilization.

He died playing basketball with some of the church’s youth. He was a big man, and died of a massive heart attack that dropped him like a tree! I was told he died instantly. Life is full of lessons, and I’m sure there’s many more I’ll learn before checking out for the final time.

Technorati Tags: 1963 chevrolet biscayne

 

New health proposal is industry's favorite so far

This story this morning, paints a pretty positive picture. If you read the whole article however, you’ll see this plan is not acceptable to everyone. Democrats that wanted a public option, didn’t get it. During the presidential campaign last year Obama promised voters change in the health care industry, in particular a public option.

It looks like business as usual, as the health care industry monopoly has got their way again. It’s pretty hard to compete with the millions of dollars that health care lobbyists have been pouring into the right political pockets. Add false rumors that we’ll become socialists if we go with a public option, and you have the recipe for ripping common Americans off again.

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

“The latest health overhaul plan circulating on Capitol Hill gives health insurers, drug makers and large employers reasons to heave sighs of relief, sparing them the higher costs and more burdensome rules included in other Democratic-written alternatives.

Industry players that have already struck bargains with President Barack Obama's administration and leading Democrats to help pay for revamping the health system saw most of those deals left intact — and in some cases sweetened — in the $856 billion proposal unveiled Wednesday by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the Finance Committee chairman.” Click here to read the whole story at AP (Photo-Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D- Mont. leaves his health care news conference on via AP) 

Technorati Tags: health care,obama advisors,senator max baucus,lobbyists,public option

Czar’s in question: why the name & the controversy?

Two Views: The First

 

Czar is a nick name, not a job title

By David Phillips

“With the spin by the right wing media on the use of the word "Czar", a certain demographic of our country now believes people are actually holding jobs in the White House that have the title "Czar" in their job description.

The right-wing talking heads play gloomy music while talking about Obama's "Czar‘s" and equating the job to Russia, or more to the point, communism.
That's right Fox News Channel wants you to think that Obama is hiring communists, socialists, Stalinists and all the other "ists" to work for him as a “Czar“.
Sean Hannity recently said of Obama‘s advisers that “they were unconfirmed, un-vetted and a shadow government“, in “The Land of the Czars“. Click here to read the rest the Examiner.com.

The Second View:

Senators Express Concern With Number of Czars in Administration

In a letter to the President,
Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, questioned the number of "czars" within the Executive Office. In the letter, Senator Collins expresses concern that the growing number of czars may be undermining the constitutional oversight responsibilities of Congress.The letter was also signed by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Kit Bond (R-MO), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Bob Bennett (R-UT).

The full text of the letter is here via Reuters

Technorati Tags: czars,obama advisors,congress,constitional oversight,staninists,socialists,communists

Following the signs of a so-called ‘civilized’ society’s collapse…

What’s going on in American society?

Why is there so many cases of public outbursts, aka calling president Obama a “liar” before the joint houses? 

Do they seem like reasonable people to you? How much of a role does the first African-American president play in the growing dementia? The so-called “birthers” are a good example of the growing demonization of our president. Teabaggers carrying signs depicting the president as a monkey, Hitler, a witch doctor, and other racist epitaphs, don’t strike me as a good example of Americans getting their point across in a sane manner.

Former president Jimmy Carter thinks racism has “bubbled to the surface” because of his election. What are your thoughts? According to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, there’s been a huge increase of hate blogs and people joining right-wing groups dedicated to getting a black man out of office- by whatever means. Here’s some theories for your consideration:

Snippet via the LA Times:

“So maybe it's not swine flu, but the nation seems to have come down with a serious case of impulse control disorder.Many Americans have found themselves asking what is going on. To some, it's not a coincidence but rather the manifestation of a deepening social dysfunction.
"It's extremely regrettable, but not shocking," said Pepper Schwartz, a University of Washington sociologist. "And there is a viral element to it. It's like Malcolm Gladwell's book 'The Tipping Point.' You get to a critical mass of something and it spreads like wildfire."
Theories for the behavior abound.
Some say it reflects a general collapse of manners, rooted in the anti-authoritarian strains of the late 1960s. Some offer a psychological explanation: that such outbursts reveal the person beneath the mask of a public persona. Some see an element of racial animus at work.
And one etiquette authority offered an uncomplicated explanation, in particular for West: He just wanted attention.” Click here to read the rest.

Snippet from The Chicago Tribune:

“Responding to an audience question at a town hall at his presidential center in Atlanta, Carter said Tuesday that Joe Wilson's outburst (calling the president a liar) was also rooted in fears of a black president.
"I think it's based on racism," Carter said. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."

Technorati Tags: jimmy carter,racism,President Obama,Joe Wilson

 

In my defense: take a moment and read this…

My column “Let’s face it, no one will take the high road to gun control” has caused controversy.

There’s some things I’d like to clear up. See below (submitted to the Times-Standard Forum this morning):

“It’s interesting to see the fear and hatred in this thread.
Some negative comments have been legitimate, and put forth in a civil way. Many others are just people with knee-jerk reactions to the word “gun control.”
Why am I under siege? Let’s look at the accusations.
People are calling me a liar because I said “I’ve seen no signs of new gun control legislation since Obama was elected.” Fact - no gun control laws have been enacted yet. Someone mentioned AB 962, which is lying on the floor in the California Senate. Take a moment and really look at the chances of that bill passing. The NRA is tapping it’s paid-for politicians to put pressure on it. Don’t hold your breath, if you think that’s going to pass. Would anyone else care to show me a gun control bill that stands a chance of passing anywhere? Now that would be interesting. We could see how the NRA stifles any dissent.
Speaking of the NRA. Most readers glossed over one of the main points in the column. The NRAs omnipotent power to control politicians on both sides of the aisle. Who wants to intelligently discuss that without getting so emotionally involved that you have to call me names?
The 2009 June GAO Report on Firearms Trafficking has been battered about. Let’s take a look at it; a common attack on this report has come from a right-wing blog called “NewsBusters.” They challenge the US Secretaries statements that 90 percent of the weapons come from Mexico. Fair enough. Some wanted to know if I read the 84 page report. I did, without bias eyes. A few people pointed out that the ICE and ATF reports said only 17 percent of weapons recovered from cartel-related crime scenes in Mexico actually originate in the U.S. They’re right. One section did mention this. Now think about this statement: weapons recovered in Mexico (not at the border or from the Mexican mafia and cartels)...just some figures put together by a corrupt Mexican government. The U.S. secretary challenged that assertion by saying there were sampling issues in the report. In other words, it’s what they (Mexican government) said, and what our U.S Secretary said. Who are you going to believe? I think there’s a problem there.
Perhaps my biggest crime was a semantical error. I said “machine gun” instead of “assault rifle.” That immediately made me a liar to those with an agenda. I wish I could take that wording back, but it was a mistake and I can live with that.
I know that I should have been more specific about laws constricting sales of “assault rifles.” By using M-16s, AK 47s, and Uzi’s, I opened the doors for someone looking to discredit this column. I should have been more careful in my wording. I do know about the laws people have been bringing up regarding automatic weapons/assault weapons. A simple change or wording would have eliminated that onrush of information. Was I wrong to be concerned over “assault” weapons? I don’t think so, but some people don’t even want to see that discussion come up. So be it.
Claiming that I’m using the race card when talking about the spike of guns sales and ammunition since Obama ran for office last years, is another agenda-driven opinion. Anyone that really cares about the facts can check FBI reports, secret service reports. There are other sources, but if I give them then I’ll be no better than my critics, because they are coming from an agenda-driven sources. I have never written about gun control. It’s not something I’ve crusaded for in the past. Claiming I’m a messenger on behalf of liberal nut cases, is ridiculous and I defy anyone to ever find an article where I addressed this before.
The biggest issue, from what I’ve read of the comments, is the following statement by me “It’s no secret that automatic weapons are so easy to buy that American gun dealers supply the Mexican cartels with 90 percent of the weapons they use to terrorize people on both sides of the border” I already addressed the 90 percent thing. The other part that has riled up some people is my assertion that “it’s easy to get automatic weapons.” I should have added,“If you really want them.”
I should have noted that there are plenty of laws in place restricting gun dealers from selling automatic weapons, but there are still loopholes in the system that allow criminals and others to get them. Otherwise, where are these clowns getting the weapons? To suggest it’s just a tiny population of bad boys who get these weapons is inaccurate. Plenty of “honest Americans” have them (some buying them before the 1986 ban). Where they end up is anyone’s guess.
What I didn’t see much discussion on were the main points of the article. The NRA owns all of our politicians. Gun sales are up for many reasons. I suggested that the gun and ammunition industry are thriving in this these hard times.
I hope this helps those who have open minds.

 I know it won’t make a difference to those who have set agendas, and who will continue to peck away in order to obscure the main messages of my column.
Thanks for reading this.

Technorati Tags: gun control,NRA,automatic weapons,assault weapons,mexican cartels,gun and ammunition industry