Saturday, April 9, 2011

As It Stands Takes a Peak at the Blogs of Humboldt County Sunday

Venture where no non-blogger has gone before in this Sunday’s Op-Ed section of the Times-Standard.

I take a look at the blogs that form our regional blogisphere, and share their stories.

Bloggers – don’t miss out on this dead-tree edition; you might be in it! It’ll make a great souvenir. Of course you can read it online at the T-S or here. Is the column controversial?

You’ll have to decide that.

 

Let’s take a look at some of the world’s most unusual Theme Parks

Performance at Gatorland Zoo, Les Cheveldayoff portrays Jesus at the Holy Land Experience & the Suoi Tien water park (© Stuart Pearce/agefotostock; John Raoux/AP; Alfred/SIPA)

When you think theme park, you think roller coasters and family fun. As for gas masks or watching a reenactment of the crucifixion? Not so much. But then you haven't checked out some of most unusual theme parks in the world yet.

Skip ahead to read about:

Gatorland

Dickens World

Tierra Santa

Article source

From Somalia to Sweden with love: man finds job training camels to accept riders

Swedish Camel trainer Ali Abdullah Hassan

Imagine Ali Abdullah Hassan's surprise when he emigrated from Somalia in 2007 and after working some odd jobs found secure permanent employment training and caring for a pack of camels.

Hassan's new home, of course, is Sweden, near Gyttorp, to be precise. The camels are a family, in fact, mother, father and son. Hassan is training them to carry riders and sings to them in Arabic. Source

User Alert - In spite of scam, Facebook not 'closing' today

Users on social networking site should not click on link seeking confirmation

Despite the best efforts of online scammers — and the dreams of its competitors — Facebook is not closing today.

A scam is currently spreading through Facebook, hitting accounts with a prophetic message that the social networking giant is shutting its doors, the security firm Sophos reported.

“Facebook is closing all accounts today. They can’t handle so many accounts,” the message reads. “Most of the old accounts are not active, so they are deleting everything.”

Then comes the bait: In order to make sure your account stays alive, the message informs users they must confirm they are active Facebook users, otherwise their account will be automatically trashed.

STORY HERE

Friday, April 8, 2011

Should we cheer because our government isn’t shutting down tonight, even though they’ve only come to a temporary agreement?

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Via Stumbleon

Volunteers help family after farmer dies sandbagging

Image: Son of farmer who died with volunteers

'This is just the Midwest attitude,' says man's son, 'it's all about helping people out'

I’m impressed by this show of concern among neighbors. It harkens back to the day when most Americans helped each other out without question. It’s good to know people are still willing to step up for others – especially strangers - during this miserable economy. This is the kind of thing America needs right now, more than ever.

Story Here

Earth to get very close look at a huge asteroid

Let’s hope we don’t have to divert this asteroid because someone’s off on their calculations. I’m reminded of those disaster movies where the hero’s are trying to shoot a monster asteroid down before the earth is destroyed.

Anyway, mark your calendars (November 8th, 2011) for an impressive and upcoming flyby of an asteroid that’s one of the larger potentially perilous space rocks in the heavens – in terms of smacking the Earth in the future.

Story Here

Thursday, April 7, 2011

What about Mom? LeBrons’ mother in trouble with law again

Police Okay…so everyone knows who LeBron James is right? He’s that famous basketball player with more endorsements than Tiger Woods. It seems his Mom has some problems with booze. Has his fame gone to her head?

She was arrested for DUI in Cleveland in 2006, and now she got herself arrested for slapping a valet at a swanky Miami hotel. No problem though, LaBron’s money will get the best lawyer available and they’ll probably turn this case around and sue the assault victim for getting in the way of her hand!

New Car Engine Sends Shock Waves Through Auto Industry

Wave-disk-278x225

This new engine sure sounds good to me, but I wonder if it will ever go on the market? Seems to me Big Oil might get nervous and put up some roadblocks.

Researchers at Michigan State University have built a prototype gasoline engine that requires no transmission, crankshaft, pistons, valves, fuel compression, cooling systems or fluids.

Their so-called Wave Disk Generator could greatly improve the efficiency of gas-electric hybrid automobiles and potentially decrease auto emissions up to 90 percent when compared with conventional combustion engines.

Story here

Relatives of George Washington selling collection of his artifacts

This article doesn’t explain why the family decided to sell these family keepsakes. It’s usually a matter of needing money, but not always. Washington memorabilia is extremely popular with presidential collectors and history buffs.

I don’t think I’ll be bidding on these items, they’re a little out of my range. For example, there’s a couple of books that are starting at $10,000 each, and you know the final price will be considerably higher. Do you want a piece of George Washington? Go to the link below to get the info:

Excerpt:

“Not only is such a sale by an old family unusual, those experts say, but the size of the collection and the variety of items provide a window on the life and times of both outsize and ordinary Americans in two pivotal centuries.” Story Here - Photo source

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Glenn Beck's show sinks in ratings, Fox gives him the boot

Glenn Beck

Well how about that? Someone finally realized Beck was a basketcase!

Sinking ratings, an ad boycott and a focus on conspiracies lead to its demise.

Completing a swift rise and fall from TV stardom, controversial host Glenn Beck will lose his once-popular Fox News show later this year, the network announced Wednesday. Story Here.

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...