Cave Views

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2011-02-16T05:04:00.005-07:00

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Report: computer malware hit five sites in Iran

2011-02-13T13:06:00.001-07:00

From a report in the New York Times:

The Stuxnet software worm repeatedly sought to infect five industrial facilities in Iran over a 10-month period, a new report says, in what could be a clue into how it might have infected the Iranian uranium enrichment complex at Natanz.

The report, released Friday by Symantic, the Norton antivirus publishers, said there were three waves of attacks.

The team was able to chart the path of the infection because of an unusual feature in Stuxnet that recorded information on the location and type of each computer it infected which allowed the authors of Stuxnet to know if they had successfully reached their intended target.

By taking samples of Stuxnet they had collected from various computers, the researchers were able to build a model of the spread of the infection. They determined that 12,000 infections could be traced back to just five initial infection points.

More here.

WW11 Japanese mass grave on Iwo Jima

2011-02-13T09:53:00.001-07:00

Japanese officials bow at a mass grave site on Iwo Jima island on Dec. 14, 2010 where the remains of Japanese soldiers, who died in the battle for Iwo Jima, have been discovered.

In a rare visit to Iwo Jima, now known in Japan as Ioto , Japan's Prime Minister offered prayers at two recently discovered mass grave sites and vowed to find the more than 12,000 fallen soldiers whose bodies have yet to be recovered from the remote island where some of World War II's fiercest fighting took place.

Eeek! Rat delays flight from Seattle to Denver

2011-02-13T09:40:00.002-07:00

An Alaska Airlines jet was grounded after a rat was spotted running around the cabin Friday morning.

The rodent was discovered running around Flight 676 from Sea-Tac to Denver just before takeoff.

The plane immediately returned to the gate and passengers were put on a different plane, which left about 90 minutes later.

The plane has been taken out of service until an exterminator can make sure it's clean of rodents.

All rats without tickets will be taken off the plane.

Link

Giant penny made from 84,000 pennies

2011-02-12T15:59:00.003-07:00

A single mom in Michigan turned 84,000 pennies into a priceless work of art.

After going through a difficult period in which she was forced to pinch pennies, Wander Martich decided to create this massive 1-cent piece, which was recently acquired by Ripley's Believe It or Not.

The giant penny measures 8 feet in diameter and weighs approximately 1,200 pounds.

Weird swim gear at London's Tooting Bec lido

2011-02-12T15:39:00.002-07:00

Swimming at the Cold Water Championships isn't easy -- no bull.

Competitors put on wacky costumes, like these horns, before swimming laps in the frigid waters at the Tooting Bec lido in South London, England.

Reports indicate that the water was about 37 degrees during this year's event

Disable touchpad on your Toshiba laptop

2011-02-11T14:08:00.001-07:00

Tired of dealing with a "flying curser" while typing a document? This happens when your thumbs drag across the touchpad as you type sending the curser to a different part of the document - sometimes several lines away from where you were typing.

Even if you use the touchpad for everything else, the "flying curser" will drive you bonkers while typing a document.

If you use a USB mouse instead of the touchpad, a way to disable the touchpad is even more important.

Here is how to accopmplish it on a Toshiba: press two function keys simultaneously - the FN and F9 keys.

To restore use of the touchpad press the same two keys simultaneously.

(FN is next to the CTRL key on the lower left of keyboard)

Air Show disaster

2011-02-11T12:37:00.001-07:00

The pilot had no control over his aircraft at low level. It narrowly missed a crowd gathered for the air show before it slammed into four buildings.

One can only imagine the horror of the occupants inside the buildings.

For an amazing photo of the event click HERE.

Skiing moguls

2011-02-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

Deborah Scanzio of Italy competes in the women's moguls finals at the freestyle skiing world championships at Deer Valley near Park City, Utah.

Bumpity bump bump…

Is Director of National Intelligence watching CNN to get his info?

2011-02-11T10:53:00.002-07:00

Egyptian President Mubarak is out of power but where is he? Is he still in Cairo? At this point it is anyone's guess.

As Power Line's John Hinderaker writes:

Your guess, in fact, is probably as good as the CIA's. Based on recent revelations, it appears that the Director of National Intelligence (James Clapper - pictured below) is most likely watching CNN so that he can brief Congress on developments.

The Obama administration has gone out of its way to offer support for the Muslim Brotherhood's participation in the next government.

That is unpardonably obtuse, and if the administration has actually worked behind the scenes to support the ambitions of the Brotherhood, it is unpardonable, period.

Beyond that, the administration has put on a pathetic show throughout the Egyptian crisis. It has seemed that President Obama's principal object has been to give the appearance of being in the know and of having some control over events, when in fact the administration has generally been clueless and has been at best a bystander.

This accounts, I think, for the inconsistencies in the administration's position from day to day. As events shift, Obama shifts with them, like an irrelevant player who tries to get in front of a crowd so as to create the illusion that he is leading it.

This all reminds us of Jimmy Carter's handling of Iran.

As we have said before, Barack Obama is becoming Jimmy Carter even faster than Jimmy Carter became Jimmy Carter.

The Power Line report is here. Link here for our impression of Obama's clueless intel chief.

Mubarak resigns - Egyptian military now in power

2011-02-11T10:08:00.002-07:00

Egypt's Hosni Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military on after 29 years in power, bowing to a historic 18-day wave of pro-democracy demonstrations by hundreds of thousands. "The people ousted the president," chanted a crowd of tens of thousands outside his presidential palace in Cairo.

The photo above shows anti-government protesters, and Egyptian soldiers on top of their vehicles, make traditional Muslim Friday prayers at the continuing demonstration in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt.

Link

Rolling tires in the snow

2011-02-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

Firemen attend a cold-endurance training at the Changchun Culture Square in Changchun of Jilin Province, China.

The Al Gore - Keith Olbermann soap opera continues

2011-02-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

More on the Keith Olbermann Al Gore connection from the Hollywood Reporter:

Less than 24 hours after Keith Olbermann (above left) anchored his last edition of Countdown on Jan. 21, Al Gore (above right) placed a call to his friend inviting him to join Current TV.

A contract was quickly hammered out. But it was Gore who convinced Olbermann to join the network, say sources. The former vice president and co-founder of Current was a fan of Countdown where he had also been a guest in the past.

Current averaged 18,000 homes in primetime for fourth quarter 2010, lower than any other network measured by Nielsen.

From one commenter:

18,000?

That would be 11,000 people that fell asleep and rolled over on the remote control, 6,000 small children that were looking for Sponge Bob and just dropped the remote, 560 people in homes where they just turned on the TV and accidentally got this channel, 424 people with a really bad home work assignment, 15 people that work for Al Gore, and then there is Al himself.

Link

Clueless Intel chief retreats from Muslim Brotherhood secular claim

2011-02-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (pictured) is backing away from comments he made Thursday calling Egypt's branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement "largely secular."

A spokesman for Mr. Clapper quickly tried to explain away the gaff.

In these dangerous times a mistake of this magnitude by the National Intelligence Director can't be explained away.

In actual fact the Muslim Brotherhood uses the slogan, "Islam is the answer," and generally advocates for government in accordance with Islamic principles.

Link

Massive federal study shows no electronics fault in Toyota vehicles

2011-02-10T15:20:00.001-07:00

Lawmakers who made a lot of noise last year about alleged deadly malfunctions in Toyota vehicles didn’t have much to say on Wednesday as a clear winner has emerged in the federal government vs. Toyota fight. The winner is Toyota.

Shown above is a Toyota Venza crossover.

The federal government has been on a year-long vendetta against Toyota but the feds came up short.

The Obama administration is down on Toyota for two reasons. First, Toyota is the number one competitor to Government Motors alias General Motors. Second, many Toyotas are built in non-union plants.

An intensive 10 month investigation into possible causes of unintended acceleration in Toyota cars found no fault with the automaker's electronic throttle control systems, the Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.

So far there are three known causes of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles: improperly installed floor mats, sticky pedals, and driver error.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, "We enlisted the best and brightest engineers to study Toyota's electronics systems, and the verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas."

If the feds had found electronic problems in their massive federal study Toyota would have been forced to recall nearly every vehicle produced in the last several years nearly bankrupting the company.

"We believe this rigorous scientific analysis by some of America's foremost engineers should further reinforce confidence in the safety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles," Toyota's chief quality officer Steve St. Angelo said in a company statement.

Link

Labor Unions may be losing strength in economic hard times

2011-02-10T09:54:00.001-07:00

A report at the link below asks:

Is big labor losing muscle amid economic hard times?

Labor unions staged just 11 major work stoppages throughout the country in 2010, the second mildest spate of such strikes or lockouts in more than 60 years amid one of the toughest job markets in American history.

At a time when large amounts of unemployed Americans are searching for jobs, is not good time for organized labor to demand better compensation or working conditions.

Link

Child labor

2011-02-10T00:58:00.000-07:00

A seven-year-old girl holds her tools after finishing her work of breaking coal in a brick factory for the day on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Hotmail now has disposable e-mail addresses

2011-02-10T00:50:00.001-07:00

Microsoft's Hotmail service has added a new feature that lets you use an e-mail alias completely separate from your regular e-mail address that funnels directly into your main Hotmail account.

In true Microsoft style, the feature is impossible to find but if you hover over the "Inbox" link in Hotmail, a little gear icon will appear and you can create a new alias that way.

Aside from all the weird, tasteless, mind-numbingly awful stuff you can now secretly subscribe to, Microsoft's blog post points out a more mundane use.

Let's say you're in the market for a new car. There are a bunch of websites that will email you price quotes, sales alerts, etc. During your car search, these messages are helpful, but once you're done, they become clutter that can be difficult to stop. By using an alias on these websites instead of your main email address, you can avoid this. And when you're done, just turn the alias off, ensuring future unwanted messages that are sent to that alias don't land in your inbox.

Link here and here.

ObamaCare - what could go wrong?

2011-02-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

From a reader comment posted in our local newspaper:

ObamaCare was written mostly behind closed doors by a committee whose chairman didn't understand it and rammed through by a former Speaker of the House who said they had to pass the 2,000+ page bill so they would know what was in it.

Forced through the Senate at midnight on a weekend by lawmakers who hadn't read it, signed by a President who was a smoker, overseen by an obese Surgeon General, funded by a Secretary of the Treasury who hadn't paid his taxes when he got the job and financed by a country nearly broke.

What could possibly go wrong?

AL Gore and MSNBC in a brawl

2011-02-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

There is an LA Times report at the link below titled, Al Gore and MSNBC get in shoving match after Keith Olbermann's move to Current TV.

Al Gore, the Nobel laureate beloved by many liberals for his passionate espousal of environmental causes, has gotten into a dust-up with MSNBC, the cable-TV home of liberal opinion.

The fracas started Tuesday after Gore and other officials of Current TV, the network founded in 2005, announced they had nabbed former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann to lead a new nightly program starting later this spring. Olbermann will also become chief news officer of the low-rated Current, which has about 60 million subscribers in the U.S.

Hinting at the potential Current has despite its low viewership, the former vice president declared during a phone call with reporters, "We have more subscribers today than MSNBC had when Keith Olbermann began working for them" in 2003.

And so the mudslinging goes. Maybe we will pop some popcorn if this continues - the fight could get quite entertaining.

As one commenter wrote, get ready to be amused by the two biggest clowns in the 'news' industry -- the only thing missing is Chris Matthews and a dancing chimp on a rope.

It's coming down to IMSNBC and Al Gore fighting over what's left for them in the bottom of the barrel.

Link

Second blizzard in the heartland

2011-02-09T15:26:00.001-07:00

As if they hadn't had enough another strong blizzard howled through the nation's midsection Wednesday, piling up to 2 feet of new snow on parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas still struggling to clean up from last week's epic storm.

The blowing snow brought traffic to a halt, and the National Guard was summoned to rescue stranded motorists. Subzero wind chills forced ranchers to work desperately to protect their herds.

Link

This is a drill - This is a drill

2011-02-09T12:15:00.002-07:00

Indonesian flight attendants swim to safety during an aircraft emergency evacuation training in Jakarta.

Catholic Confession app for iPhone

2011-02-09T10:04:00.002-07:00

The Catholic Church has approved a 'Confessions' app for the iPhone.

A Catholic bishop in Indiana has, for the first time, given his official imprimatur -- or blessing, if you will -- to an iPhone/iPad app. "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" prepares people for the church ritual of confessing their sins to a priest.

Would the user actually be confessing to an iPhone?

No, this application was never designed as a substitute for Confession, it just prepares the user for the sacrament of confession so don't expect the iPhone to tell you how many "Hail Mary's" to say.

Link

Winter can't be all bad…

2011-02-09T01:23:00.002-07:00

A child enjoys snow tubing in Oregon.

Washington state man saving $1million in pennies

2011-02-09T01:19:00.001-07:00

A man in Mount Vernon, Washington is trying to raise $1 million - in pennies - to help needy families in his town.

Rand O'Donnell has already raised more than $4,000 for the "Mountain of Hope" fund.

Mr. O'Donnell recently used a wheelbarrow to deposit 56,600 pennies - $566 - at the North Coast Credit Union. The load weighed more than 300 pounds.

Link

Poll Americans think Obama would lose in 2012

2011-02-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

From a report at the link below:

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Tuesday, shows 51 percent of registered voters, and the same percentage of adult Americans, believe Obama will lose if he runs for re-election. 46 percent say he would win.

And more voters say, at the moment, they will vote against Obama.

Fully 51 percent say they definitely or probably will not vote for Obama, while 47 percent say they're predisposed to vote for him.

Independent voters would vote against Obama by a 44 percent to 53 percent margin, while he would win moderates by a much larger 55 percent to 45 percent margin.

Link

Keith Olbermann has new job on Al Gore's Channel

2011-02-09T01:09:00.001-07:00

Jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

Keith Olbermann (pictured) was suddenly fired from MSNBC and is now said to be moving to Al Gore's Current TV.

Might work for both Olbermann and Current.

I watched a program on Current TV once but then had to watch a rerun of Captain Kangaroo to get me out of the doldrums after watching uninspiring teens moping around complaining about the environment.

It was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

All in all this Olbermann and Current TV thing should be a perfect fit. It will be someone few like to watch going to a channel few like to watch.

Link

Snowman in NY China Town

2011-02-08T19:10:00.002-07:00

People walk past a giant snowman in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York.

Long Beach: Pull up saggy pants in respect for black history month

2011-02-08T15:00:00.004-07:00

Long Beach, California has two requests for teens: pull 'em up and keep 'em up.

Bishop William Ervin along with Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson are calling on black children and teens to “pull up their pants on their waist” as a sign of respect during Black History Month.
KNX Radio's Ron Kilgore reports their message to young men who wear their pants down around their knees is simple: “You can have the swag without the sag”.
Community leaders say the plan is not just to honor black history month, but may have legal benefits as well: sagging pants are often used for profiling purposes by law enforcement agencies.

Link
losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/02/03/long-beach-tells-teens-to-pick-up-saggy-pants/

Reminds us of the General Platt appearance on American Idol below:

Ground beef recalled for possible E. coli

2011-02-08T11:30:00.001-07:00

Another E. coli scare.

A California company has recalled more than 3,000 pounds of fresh ground beef patties and other packages of ground beef products that may be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria.

Some of the products may be frozen and in restaurant freezers.

E. coli can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and in severe cases, kidney failure. Babies, seniors and people with weak immune systems are the most susceptible.

Hmm…maybe this is a good time to go vegan -- or at least meatless.

Link

Need to cancel your AOL account? Good luck!

2011-02-08T00:39:00.001-07:00

We used AOL for a short time in the middle 1990's. Didn't like the inflexibility and the very long wait to get online as shown in the editorial cartoon below.

The AOL "walled garden" concept didn't allow for third-party apps. If you hated AOL e-mail, and many people did, you were out of luck.

When AOL said "you've got mail" - they meant AOL mail because nothing else would work.

Report: Conservative Democrats switch to GOP across the Deep South

2011-02-08T00:20:00.000-07:00

From the report at the link below:

Defections reflect the Democrats' drubbing in the midterm election and Republicans' consolidation of power in the South.

Since the midterm election, 24 state senators and representatives have made the switch in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

In some cases, the ramifications have been profound: In Louisiana, defecting Democrats gave Republicans a majority in the state House for the first time since Reconstruction; in Alabama, they delivered the GOP a House supermajority. Republicans have 65 votes to the Democrats' 39, enough to pass constitutional amendments over Democratic opposition.

Democrats may remain competitive in some parts of the South in 2012. The Democratic Party's announcement last week that it will hold its national convention in Charlotte, N.C., may help President Obama's chances in what has become a Southern swing state — and one that he narrowly won in 2008.

Many Democrats in the South were in the Democrat Party more out of habit and family tradition than out of any deeply held philosophical belief.

The tradition of being Democrat just because your parents and grandparents were, is starting to fade. After all, the Democrat Party of today is not your father's Democrat Party.

Although Ronald Reagan was not from the south, he was once a Democrat who famously said in 1962, "I didn't leave the Democrat Party. The Democrat Party left me."

Link

Al Sharpton hit with another tax lien

2011-02-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

From a New York Post report:

The Rev. Al Sharpton (pictured), who has vowed to clean up his fiscal house, has a new tax lien to pay.

Sharpton owes $359,973 to the IRS for 2009 personal income tax, according to documents on file with the city.

Public records show he owes a total of $3.7 million in city, state and federal taxes, including penalties, dating to 2002. But Sharpton's spokeswoman, Rachel Noerdlinger, said that he had paid back "well over seven figures" as part of agreements with the state and IRS and that the liens remained on the books as "a matter of bureaucracy."

What is meant by a matter of bureaucracy?

If the IRS went after him like they should, he and his attorneys would cry "racist."

Link

Riding the turnip wagon...

2011-02-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

A Pakistani man sits on the back of a vehicle loaded with vegetables in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Too many cooks spoil the broth? Tell Mayor Bloomberg

2011-02-07T13:56:00.002-07:00

When Mayor Bloomberg came into office there was just one executive cook at Gracie Mansion (pictured below), the official residence of the Mayor of New York City.

Today there are three chefs to make the VIP feasts - costing taxpayers a whopping $245,000 this year.

And despite the big spending cuts the mayor has ordered across every city agency -- too many cooks won't be spoiling the broth at the city-owned mansion.

According to figures revealed by the New York Daily News, his longest-serving man in the kitchen, Feliberto Estevez, picks up $97,000.

His pastry chef Jerry Montanez who was hired in 2007 is paid $68,000 while Jose Velazquez is on $80,000 after getting a $10,000 pay rise last July.

Last autumn, there were cutbacks in the police, fire and schools and there are more job losses to come across the board.

Although the 69-year-old billionaire Bloomberg prefers to live at his upper East Side townhouse, he does a lot of entertaining at Gracie Mansion.

More here.

Obama advisor thought 4-star general was a waiter

2011-02-07T13:43:00.002-07:00

At the link below CNN reports that the controversial Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett mistook four-star Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli -- the No. 2 general in the U.S. Army -- for a waiter and asked him for a glass of wine.

The charitable general excused her stupidity by saying "it could happen to anyone."

But doesn't this point out the incompetence of some of the people advising the president? A waiter wears four stars on each shoulder and a coat full of medals? C'mon, give me a break.

Wouldn't it have been rich if he had replied, "Ma'am, aren't you the lady on the syrup bottle? I'm sorry, I hardly recognized you," but of course he wouldn't have: he is an officer and a gentleman.

CNN's whitewashing of the incident is here.

Climbing the border fence at Tijuana

2011-02-07T09:02:00.002-07:00

Deported migrants climb a fence at the U.S.- Mexico border as they prepare for the 6th annual Marcha Migrante, or Migrant March in Tijuana, Mexico.

President Reagan remembered on 100th Birthday

2011-02-07T00:29:00.003-07:00

John McCain spent five and one half years in a prisoner of war camp in North Vietnam.

At the link below McCain writes about what he found when he returned home from Vietnam:

We came home to a country that had lost a war and the best sense of itself; a country beset by social and economic problems.

Assassinations, riots, scandals and contempt for political, religious and educational institutions gave the appearance that we had become a dysfunctional society.

Patriotism was sneered at. The military scorned. The great, robust, confident republic seemed exhausted.

Ronald Reagan believed differently.

He possessed an unshakable faith in America's greatness, past and future, that proved more durable than the prevailing political sentiments of the time.

We were a good country before Vietnam, and we are a good country after Vietnam. In all of history, you cannot find a better one. Of that, Ronald Reagan was supremely confident, and he became president to prove it.

He possessed an unshakable faith in America's greatness, past and future, that proved more durable than the prevailing political sentiments of the time.

We were a good country before Vietnam, and we are a good country after Vietnam. In all of history, you cannot find a better one. Of that, Ronald Reagan was supremely confident, and he became president to prove it.

Let us honor his memory by holding his faith as our own, and let us, too, tear down walls to freedom. That is what Americans do when they believe in themselves.

Link

Underemployed hits 19.2%

2011-02-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

Gallup Daily: U.S. employment shows:

Unemployed - 9.9%

Underemploued - 19.2%

Gallup's U.S. employment measures report the percentage of U.S. adults in the workforce, ages 18 and older, who are underemployed and unemployed, without seasonal adjustment.

"Underemployed" respondents are employed part time, but want to work full time, or they are unemployed.

"Unemployed" respondents are those within the underemployed group who are not employed, even for one hour a week, but are available and looking for work.

Link

NBC employee fired for posting 1994 'What is the Internet' video

2011-02-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

An NBC worker posted an old clip from the "Today" show.

In the clip Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel and Elizabeth Vargas are wondering, "What is the Internet anyway?"

Filmed in 1994, the clip features Gumbel demanding, with a befuddled expression: "What is the Internet anyway?" and Couric stumbling to define it as: "that massive computer network, the one that's becoming really big now."

In the clip, Gumbel also complains about e-mail addresses, particularly "that little mark with the 'a' and the ring around it."

NBC has fired the employee for posting the embarrassing yet hilarious clip.

The clip can be seen at the link below.

Link

Obama approval dropped 9% in last 7 days!

2011-02-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14

poll-feb-11.jpg

The president’s Approval Index ratings have fallen nine points since a week ago Monday as the crisis in Egypt unfolds.

This is a devastating drop in just one week. Don't look for this to be covered or even acknowledged by most of the media.

Lawsuit: New York Mets owners owe Madoff victims $300,000,000

2011-02-06T21:02:00.001-07:00

A previously sealed lawsuit made public last Friday says the owners of the New York Mets turned a blind eye to Bernard L. Madoff's massive fraud, reaping $300 million in false profits and using a large chunk to run the team.

The lawsuit claims the owners were so dependent on the disgraced financier's too-good-to-be-true returns that it "faced a severe and immediate liquidity crisis" when Madoff's crimes were revealed in 2009.

The lawsuit names Sterling Equities, along with its partners and family members, including Mets owner Fred Wilpon (pictured), team President Saul Katz and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon, the owner's son.

The complaint alleges the partnership "received approximately $300 million in fictitious profits" from hundreds of accounts opened with Madoff's firm. Of that, it says, $90 million of "other people's money" was withdrawn to cover day-to-day operations of the Mets.

As it turns out, Mets owner Fred Wilpon may have been a big loser in Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Link

Bernie Madoff's secret revealed…

2011-02-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Super Bowl commercials

2011-02-06T00:50:00.000-07:00

Super Bowl attendees face pat downs and long list of banned items

2011-02-06T00:48:00.004-07:00

Everyone entering the stadium must pass through a magnetometer, such as those used at airports, and get a patdown as part of the screening process.

NFL and federal authorities are limiting what fans can bring to Cowboys Stadium.

Small bags are allowed, but will be searched, and jackets will be X-rayed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Items fans can't bring into Cowboys Stadium:

Weapons, mace/pepper spray, fireworks

Camcorders, tripods, camera cases and binocular cases

Umbrellas, strollers

Grills, tents, poles, sticks

Banners, noisemakers, horns, beach balls, Frisbees, laser lights and pointers

Containers of any type, coolers of any size, backpacks

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Items fans can bring into Cowboys Stadium:

Small cameras and binoculars, but not camera cases and binocular cases

Small bags

Items purchased in Fan Plaza on Game Day

Link

String of failures found in Fort Hood attack

2011-02-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

From a report at the link below:

An extensive investigation by a Senate committee says the massacre at the U.S. Army Base at Fort Hood, Texas, in which 13 people were killed and 32 others were wounded should have been prevented, but a “string of failures” by the FBI and the Army allowed a “ticking time bomb” to open fire at a crowded deployment center in the worst domestic terrorism ambush since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee investigation, released Thursday by Chairman Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, and the ranking Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, says the FBI and the Army failed to act on evidence “in plain sight” that the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, had become an increasingly radicalized Muslim and was in communication with radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.

Much more here.

Global warming has become global weirding

2011-02-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

From a report in the Boston Herald:

Meet the global weirdos. They’re the ones telling you that all the snow outside is proof that it’s getting warmer. Only, they don’t call it “warming” anymore.

No, that was back in the “Earth has a fever” days. Back when Al Gore was predicting that the ice caps were melting, the polar bears were drowning and Manhattan would sink beneath 20 feet of water “in the near future.”

Is the "near future" past? Has Manhattan sunk beneath 20 feet of water? Boy, these guys really are weird.

The report goes on:

But then something happened. Since 1998, temperatures have been relatively flat.

We’ve got more polar bears than ever, and Manhattan is buried under snow.

For a planet-roasting crisis that threatened the human race with extinction, there doesn’t seem to be much actual warming.

That's when the chant became “climate change.” The liberals formerly known as “warmists” began predicting that we would experience fundamental changes in our weather.

Scientists at the University of East Anglia — the Harvard of climate change — said snow would be “a very rare and exciting event.” Children wouldn’t know what it was.

We all know how that turned out. Europe has had three winters in a row of snow and cold temperatures.

If the cold and snow in winter prove global warming why doesn't the heat in summer prove global cooling? These people will never admit they are wrong. They are accustomed to saying anything they want knowing 80% of the media will either quote their reports as factual or ignore their reports - as the American media did when they said children in the UK would grow up never seeing snow.

Link

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Cairo demonstrator with makeshift helmet

2011-02-05T15:42:00.003-07:00

An Egyptian anti-government demonstrator protects his head with a kitchen pot

Cars stranded on Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

2011-02-05T11:33:00.002-07:00

A scene from across America this week

2011-02-05T00:26:00.002-07:00

Thousands flock to rice paddy crop circle in Indonesia

2011-02-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

People gather to see the 70-meter-wide crop circle that appeared over last week in a rice field in Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Thousands of curious onlookers are flocked to central Indonesia to look at the facture which looks like an intricately designed flower following rumors it was formed by a UFO.

Masked model at Fashion Week

2011-02-04T20:32:00.003-07:00

A model wears a creation by Alexandre Herchcovitch during the Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Unusual style! Looks like the model is ready for "look like a bandit" day.

She would look right at home with the protesters on the streets of Cairo.

Cairo protesters - from camels to burka's

2011-02-04T14:54:00.003-07:00

Falling ice at Super Bowl site injures 7

2011-02-04T14:18:00.001-07:00

Seven people were injured -- one critically -- when ice fell from the roof of Cowboys Stadium this afternoon.

Five of the seven people were taken to area hospitals.

Photo shows the Cowboys Stadium surrounded by snow.

"The ice and snow melting off of the Cowboys Stadium roof has caused several sliding snow falls onto the plazas,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an e-mail sent to the Dallas Morning News.

The accident forced officials to shut all but one entrance to the stadium, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Link

Endless stream heading for US border

2011-02-04T10:54:00.002-07:00

Central American migrants ride on top of a northern bound train during their journey toward the U.S. border.

America crushed by snow and ice of Global Warming

2011-02-04T10:42:00.002-07:00

From a report at the first link below:

As the deadly two-day blizzard finally passes, huge swathes of America must now brace for more snow and ice over the next three days as a storm brewing in the South and Texas is projected to move north by Saturday, dumping even more snow on top of already record-setting accumulation totals.

Snow is expected to fall over parts of Texas with rain over Louisiana, which will turn to snow over the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. A separate snowstorm will blow over much of the West, just as Chicago is recovering from its most damaging snowstorm in decades.

This week's storm was so catastrophic that buildings were crushed under the weight of the ice and snow.

At the second link below Al Gore claims that this snow and ice is actually caused by 'global warming.'

Remember Al Gore? He is the so-called climate guru who refuses to debate his climate science. He won't allow reporters access to his climate lectures. He relies on the friendly liberal media to give him a pass without challenging his climate science.

At the third link below is a report about a climate scientist in the UK who claimed that Europe would soon not see snow again and that children would grow up not knowing what snow was like.

Didn't Al Gore and the UK climate scientist remember the warnings in the 1970's about a coming ice-age such as the Time Magazine warning about another ice age.

Links:

The "crushed by global warming snow and ice" report is here.

The Al Gore claim that this snow and ice is actually caused by man-made global warming is here.

The claim (with link) that "children in the UK would grow up never knowing what snow was like" is here.

The 1974 Time Magazine 'another ice age' report is here.

New York City smoking ban in parks and beaches

2011-02-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

Many believe the Big Apple has become a nanny state.

Smokers have just one message for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council members: butt out of our business.

"We’re outside. We should have freedom to smoke."

The smoking ban will cover 1,700 parks and 14 miles of public beaches plus boardwalks, marinas and pedestrian plazas.

Link

Obama's electric car hits roadblock:American car buyers

2011-02-04T00:36:00.000-07:00

CNN reports on a study that shows:

Barack Obama's goal of putting 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015 could run into a huge roadblock -- the American consumer.

Photo shows a Nissan Leaf getting a battery charge.

According to a report released by researchers at Indiana University, automakers are unlikely to manufacture enough cars to reach the president's goal because of a potential lack of buyer demand.

Nissan and General Motors, makers of the Leaf and Volt, respectively, already have the capacity to produce enough cars to meet the goal. Serious questions remain, however, about the level of desire among potential buyers worried about cost, ease of use and likely resale value.

If electrics are so good why not make state and local police drive them as a test to see how reliable they are and how their performance stacks up.

If they want the country to go green, start with all police vehicles switching to electrics to prove to everyone if they are reliable and robust enough.

Link

Reporters banned when Obama signed treaty with Russia

2011-02-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

The START nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia was promoted heavily by Barack Obama.

However, when it came to signing the document, the White House refused to allow reporters or TV cameras in the room.

Still photographers were the only representatives of the free press permitted to record the historic moment.

If this was a good treaty, it would have been signed in front of several dozen reporters and photographers with Pelosi, Reid and the Russian ambassador standing behind him.

One commenter wrote: "This START treaty with Russia is more like a surrender document. The signing would be more appropriate on a Russian battleship with Obama and our Joint Chiefs of Staff bowing to our new overlords."

From the report at the link below:

The White House Correspondents Association protested the White House’s decision to refuse to permit reporters access to the event, in addition to the dearth of press briefings since the crisis in Egypt began to unfold, a crisis in which President Obama continues to celebrate the great freedoms and openness enjoyed in this country.

No openness during the signing of the START treaty!

Something is very wrong when the President of the United States signs a document with an unfriendly foreign power behind closed doors!

Link

Credit card rates at record highs

2011-02-03T15:20:00.001-07:00

According to a CNN Money report credit card interest rates are now hovering near record highs, at an average rate of 14.72%. And if your credit is bad enough, you could even end up with a rate as high as 59.9% APR.

That's because while the CARD Act helped crack down on certain fees and requires more disclosures, it didn't cap every credit card holder's worst enemy: interest rates.

Sure, the new rules prevent banks from raising most interest rates retroactively, but there's no limit on the rates they can charge new customers.

Rates are going up because card issuers know that once you get a card they can't raise the rates, so they're raising rates at the start to ensure they get the revenue from that interest.

First Premier Bank offers a Gold MasterCard with a whopping 59.9% rate for those people with "less than perfect credit", according to its website. And that rate is actually down from the 79.9% rate it originally charged!

Some of the interest rates above are unconscionable. Breathtaking, actually.

Besides a couple of debit cards, we have two credit cards -- one Visa and one MasterCard. However we pay almost no interest on either of them.

There was a time several years ago when we had credit card balances but that was when interest was much lower. Now our Visa and MasterCard get paid off every month just as soon as the statement arrives.

Link

Playing chess amid Cairo turmoil

2011-02-03T10:14:00.001-07:00

Cowboys Stadium amid layer of ice

2011-02-03T00:21:00.002-07:00

This AP photo taken with a fisheye lens shows a layer of ice outside Cowboys Stadium during preparations for NFL football Super Bowl XLV.

Photo: walking to Cairo airport

2011-02-03T00:15:00.002-07:00

Tourists make their way to the Cairo airport.

Red lanterns for Chinese Lunar New Year

2011-02-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

A worker lays out newly made red lanterns to dry at a lantern factory in Jishan county, Shanxi province.

The lanterns are being prepared for New Year celebrations and the coming Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on February 3, 2011.

Newspaper for the iPad debuts

2011-02-03T00:08:00.000-07:00

Is Rupert Murdoch's newspaper for the iPad the future of journalism?

It's the only newspaper for the iPad only with a subscription cost of 99cents a year.

Described as the first subscription-based national daily news publication built from scratch specifically for the iPad, The Daily was unveiled Wednesday at a news conference in New York City, as a beaming News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch cradled the tablet on stage like a proud papa.

After first thanking Apple CEO Steve Jobs for being "a champion of The Daily from Day One,' the uber-publisher said the first iPad-only newspaper would be a game-changer for the news-seeking masses around the world.

Link

Get Internet access when your government shuts it down

2011-02-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

Internet access was cut off in Iran recently and now Egypt has cut off Internet service and mobile phone service for everyone in that country.

And now the Obama administration has put the 'kill switch' legislation back on the table.

A report at the first link below is titled, "As Egypt goes offline US gets internet 'kill switch' bill ready."

So what will you do when the federal government cuts off our access to the Internet?

A PCWorld report at the second link below offers suggestions and instructions in case Obama shuts down our Internet.

The report is titled, "Get Internet Access When Your Government Shuts It Down."

Link here and here.

Looks like the new teleprompter glasses just arrived

2011-02-02T12:50:00.002-07:00

Punxsutawney Phil predicts quick end to winter

2011-02-02T12:39:00.001-07:00

That fat rodent from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania predicts a quick end to winter.

No word if Punxsutawney Phil agreed to put that in writing.

Happy groundhog Day.

Link

Report: Police at Cairo airport demanding bribes

2011-02-02T10:35:00.002-07:00

From a report at the link below describing the scene at the Cairo airport:

Airport staff were scarce, food supplies were dwindling, flight information was non-existent -- and some policemen even demanded substantial bribes before allowing foreigners to board their planes.

Cairo Airport was in complete disarray, overwhelmed with over 18,000 stranded passengers, tourists said Tuesday as they detailed a litany of woes. As they spoke, dozens of evacuation planes arrived from all over the world to handle the surging exodus of foreigners and Egyptians amid growing anti-government protests in Cairo.

Much more here.

Yawn!

2011-02-02T00:29:00.000-07:00

A young lion yawns as it enjoys the warm sunlight at the zoo of Zurich, Switzerland

Did Obama sink ObamaCare in 2008?

2011-02-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

In the video below Obama is talking to Ellen DeGeneres comparing mandatory healthcare purchase to mandatory home buying.

Now the exact same thing is an integral part of his signature achievement - ObamaCare!

Gov. Brown cites Egypt to make case for tax hike

2011-02-02T00:11:00.000-07:00

Proving that he is a tax-and-spend liberal from the 'old school', Jerry Brown (pictured) is citing the unrest in Egypt the Mideast to make a case for his tax hikes.

Citing the pro-democracy unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, Gov. Jerry Brown called it “unconscionable” that GOP legislators are vowing to block his attempt to ask voters to extend tax hikes to balance the budget.

“When democratic ideals and calls for the right to vote are stirring the imagination of young people in Egypt and Tunisia and other parts of the world, we in California can’t say now is the time to block a vote of the people,” Brown said in his first State of the State address in nearly 30 years.

He said the budget has tough choices but that the people “have a right to vote” on the package.

Did he once mention that tough choices should be made to cut spending instead of raising taxes? How long before even more businesses and individuals leave California?

Link

Bill would require all South Dakota citizens to buy a gun!

2011-02-01T15:43:00.002-07:00

It's a good thing I wasn't having my morning coffee when I read the headline, shown above, in my old home town newspaper the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Some of the coffee may have spewed out of my nose ruining the newspaper!

Five South Dakota lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require any adult 21 or older to buy a firearm “sufficient to provide for their ordinary self-defense.”

As it turns out the sponsor of the bill knows it will never pass. He is forwarding the bill to make a point.

South Dakota State Republican Congressman Hal Wick (pictured) of Sioux Falls is sponsoring the bill and knows it will be killed. He said he is introducing it to prove a point that the federal health care reform mandate passed last year is unconstitutional.

If a law can force citizens to buy health care insurance, why can't a law force citizens to buy a firearm?

“Do I or the other cosponsors believe that the State of South Dakota can require citizens to buy firearms? Of course not. But at the same time, we do not believe the federal government can order every citizen to buy health insurance,” he said.

Link

Hitching a ride

2011-02-01T14:02:00.002-07:00

A lamb rides on the back of a motorcycle near Havana, Cuba.

Judge used Obama's own words against him

2011-02-01T13:57:00.002-07:00

The photo shows Obama signing ObamaCare into law in March, 2010 surrounded by many of the lawmakers who helped cram the 2,000+ page bill down Americans throats.

Federal Judge Roger Vinson struck down the entire health care law as unconstitutional on Monday.

In ruling against President Obama's health care law, federal Judge Roger Vinson used Mr. Obama's own position from the 2008 campaign against him, when the then-Illinois senator argued there were other ways to achieve reform short of requiring every American to purchase insurance.

The footnote was attached to the most critical part of Judge Vinson's ruling, in which he said the “principal dispute” in the case was not whether Congress has the power to tackle health care, but rather whether it has the power to compel individual citizens to purchase insurance.

The judge ruled that because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void.

Link

California governor Jerry Brown pushing tax hikes

2011-02-01T10:50:00.001-07:00

All during the campaign for Governor of California, Jerry Brown's opponent kept bringing up ways to cut spending. That was the one thing Meg Whitman kept harping on and outlining ways to get it done.

Californians instead listened to the bogus story of Whitman's illegal maid and elected the former tax-and-spend liberal Governor Jerry Brown (pictured).

On Monday Jerry Brown said Californians should decide whether they want to pay $12 billion more in taxes to help plug the state's massive budget shortfall.

Brown, who just started his third term after serving as California's governor in the 1970s and 1980s, has laid out a plan to solve the state's $25.4 billion budget shortfall that hinges on voters approving an extension of tax hikes first passed in 2009 to address an earlier shortfall.

That didn't take long. In less than one month he is back in Sacramento raising taxes.

Link

Lake effect ice

2011-02-01T00:19:00.002-07:00

There's lake-effect snow -- and now there's lake-effect ice.

A lighthouse in Cleveland has become encased in a thick layer of ice thanks to chilly temperatures and lake spray kicked up by a major storm on Lake Erie.

This photo shows the Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse almost entirely encased in ice.

The left was unprepared for ObamaCare ruling

2011-02-01T00:13:00.002-07:00

From a report at the link below:

Liberal pundits who have consulted liberal law professors about liberals' great achievement -- ObamaCare -- are pronouncing the ruling by Judge Roger Vinson to be much to do about nothing.

They call it " curious," "odd," or "unconventional."

These are complaints, not legal arguments. And they suggest that the left was totally unprepared for the constitutional attack on their beloved handiwork.

After all, the recent mocking by the left of conservatives' reverence for the Constitution suggests they are mystified that a 200-year old document could get in the way of their historic achievement. They are truly nonplussed, and so they vamp, not with reasoned analysis but with an outpouring of adjectives.

They truly were unprepared for the ruling.

Will they be equally unprepared for the verdict from the Supreme Court?

Link

Democrats bipartisan seating killed State of Union speech

2011-02-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

The Kumbayah "Coke with 2 straws date night" at the State of the Union speech was a bit much.

The bipartisan seating during the speech was a plan to hide the fact that Republicans outnumber Democrats during any joint-session seating.

As a result of the bipartisan seating Obama received subdued reaction at best.

There was even less excitement behind Obama as Biden fell asleep and Boehner looked like he had indigestion.

And we thought the speech was a failure because it was endlessly droning, pointless and predictable.

Details here.

Democrats claim Gov Kasich ignores blacks in cabinet hires

2011-01-31T20:36:00.003-07:00

The writer of the article at the link below is accusing the newly elected Republican Governor John Kasich (pictured) of ignoring blacks when selecting his cabinet.

One of the problems with the Democrat Party in recent years is the misguided conception that a disproportionate number of blacks should be appointed to prominent political positions.

Kasich has said he does not dwell on "metrics," such as race, and doesn't "look at things in terms of quotas." A spokesman said Kasich offered cabinet posts to two African Americans, but they declined.

Link

Federal judge strikes down ObamaCare law

2011-01-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

A federal judge in Florida struck down Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul as unconstitutional in the biggest legal challenge yet to the federal authority to enact the law.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, appointed to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan, ruled that the reform law's so-called individual mandate went too far in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty.

The judge said "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications."

Link

Looters pillage Egyptian antiquities warehouses searching for gold

2011-01-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

Looters have pillaged a number of warehouses containing ancient Egyptian artifacts, stealing and damaging some of them looking for gold and other treasures.

On Friday, looters broke into the Cairo museum, home to the world's greatest collection of Pharaonic treasures, smashing several statues and damaging two mummies, while police battled anti-government protesters on the streets.
The culture, monuments, temples and pyramids of ancient Egypt have left a lasting legacy on the world and are a major draw for the country's tourism industry.

Link

Trump: Mideast Explosion Could Destroy OPEC, Lower Oil Prices

2011-01-31T13:50:00.002-07:00

At the link below is a video interview with billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump (pictured) who lashes out at China, OPEC, Obama’s Middle East dealings, the president’s State of the Union address and more.

Trump claims that a complete Mideast explosion could destroy OPEC and lower oil prices.

Love him or hate him otherwise - Trump really does make a lot of sense in his interview.

Link

Report Obama swaps Iraq and Afghanistan

2011-01-31T13:29:00.001-07:00

Hit with a tough question about his administration’s policy in Afghanistan and Iraq last Thursday, Obama made a 'muddled mess' of his plans for withdrawing troops from the region.

Obama swapped “Iraq” for “Afghanistan” when he answered a question on YouTube about whether he still believes soldiers need to die in the wars there.

“As I said, we will be out of Afghanistan by the end of this year,” Obama said, a fairly significant misstatement of his administration’s Afghanistan policy, which doesn’t call for a troop withdrawal until 2014.

How can a President thread his way through the current Mideast crisis if he can't keep Iraq and Afghanistan straight in his mind?

Link

What could go wrong with an Internet kill switch?

2011-01-31T00:28:00.000-07:00

The Obama administration is considering an Internet kill switch.

Under the guise of protecting us from cyber crime terrorism, Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller sponsored a bill to give the president the right to “order the disconnection” of “critical infrastructure information systems or networks.”

That went nowhere, but now there’s Senate bill 3480, the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010. As its sponsor, Senator Joe Lieberman, told CNN, the bill will allow for the president to order Internet service providers to “disconnect the American Internet from all traffic coming in from another foreign country.”

But isn't this just another attempt, as Jay Rockefeller tried in 2009, at a government control grab. Take away computer interaction and you have much more control over the country.

It's not as simple as a 'kill switch' however.

The title of this report is,
What could go wrong with an Internet kill switch?

The answer is - plenty.

Turning off the Internet could shut down financial networks, and it wouldn't be easy to turn them back on.

Constructing such a switch would be extremely difficult. Borders are porous. Data packets originating in, say, Iran or China can enter the U.S. in many different ways—via satellite or submarine cable or packet radio, or routed through other countries. And packets can be “spoofed,” or assigned a forged IP address, which means there’s no foolproof method to be sure which packets are from home and which from abroad.

More here.

Food staples starting to run out in Egypt

2011-01-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

As discontent and resentment fuel demonstrations, there is one vital staple in short supply: food.

The 9-day unrest has paralyzed daily life in Egypt with many grocers closing shop and inconsistent food shipments.

Egyptian President Mubarak has ordered a curfew in Egypt to be extended from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Monday, further stifling normal life in the embattled nation.

Egyptian state-run Nile TV has set up a hotline for citizens to call in and report bread shortages. There has been no other indication of what the Egyptian government is doing to address the crisis.

Link

Report: as Egypt burns Obama parties

2011-01-30T16:51:00.002-07:00

As Egypt continues to burn... Islamic radicals escaped from prison, the Muslim Brotherhood joined Elbaradei on the street, and socialists continued to mobilize protests in Cairo... Barack Obama watched basketball and partied on Saturday.

As thirty years of United States Middle East strategy teeters on collapse, Barack Obama spent Saturday night at a going away party for David Axelrod who is leaving the administration to set up Obama's reelection campaign in Chicago.

But didn't Obama go around the Middle East bowing to Arab leaders?

And didn't he give a speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in June, 2009? That should have taken care of everything right?

Barack Obama's mention of "nearly seven million American Muslims" in the course of his rambling and complex six-thousand-word speech to the Muslim world from Cairo symbolized the whole message.

Jimmy Carter has gone down in history as the President who lost Iran.

Barack Obama will go down in history as the President who lost Egypt.

Link here and here.

Hillary Clinton's biggest problem dealing with leaders in the Middle East

2011-01-30T13:19:00.002-07:00

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Rep Kucinich settles out of court for olive pit incident

2011-01-30T13:05:00.001-07:00

When news hit the wires two days ago about the Dennis Kucinich (pictured) lawsuit because of an olive pit, the story failed to mention that the incident happened three years ago!

Before settling today, Kucinich was seeking $150,000 in damages, plus interest and costs, from Restaurant Associates, which manages the cafeteria, and three other businesses that stock and help run the operation.

The suit said that Kucinich “sustained serious and permanent dental and oral injuries requiring multiple surgery and oral procedures” and claims Kucinich has sustained other damages, “including significant pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment.”

Yes, yes - can't forget the "loss of enjoyment" part.

Link

Don Imus: Rachel Maddow is a coward gutless sniveling worm

2011-01-30T12:58:00.002-07:00

Don Imus

C'mon Imus, why don't you tell us what you really think?

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Don Imus slammed Rachel Maddow on his Fox Business Network show on Wednesday.

Imus took Maddow to task for not defending Keith Olbermann immediately after the news broke that he was fired from MSNBC.

Imus knew that Maddow owed her MSNBC job to Olbermann yet she turned her back on him when he was fired.

“Having nothing to do with her politics, she is a gutless coward and I’ll tell you why. . . . for this woman, who owed her job to him – she’s live there with Bill Maher, a lot of people watch that – terribly influential program – not to offer a defense of Olbermann, in spite of what you think about Olbermann, is unconscionable. . . she’s awful. She’s the worst kind of coward and gutless, sniveling worm.”

Facebook has new security mechanisms - Locking the barn after horses stolen?

2011-01-30T00:27:00.001-07:00

From a recent CNN report:

Facebook is adding new security features, which come after a pair of high-profile cracks in the site's defenses that surfaced this week.

You know it's bad when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had his public page on his website hacked this week.

Facebook is adding new security features, which come after a pair of high-profile cracks in the site's defenses that surfaced this week.

One new mechanism is called "social authentication." To combat spam and prevent strangers from weaseling into your account, the system will sometimes show the user a friend's headshot and ask to match a name to that face.

This multiple-choice photo quiz is a new take on a common Web system called Captcha.

Older methods show a graphic of squiggly letters and asks you to type those on the keyboard. It's used for verifying that a site's user is a human being and not a computer program looking to exploit systems.

More here.

Electric car cold weather shortcomings

2011-01-30T00:17:00.001-07:00

Something to think about before buying an electric car if you live in a cold climate:

All batteries deliver their power via a chemical reaction inside the battery that releases electrons.

When the temperature drops the chemical reactions happen more slowly and the battery cannot produce the same current that it can at room temperature. A change of ten degrees can sap 50% of a battery's output.

In some situations the chemical reactions will happen so slowly and give so little power that the battery will appear to be dead when in fact if it is warmed up it will go right back to normal output.

Photo shows a Chevy Volt charging.

Now, if the cars were cheaper than gas-powered cars of equal performance, these cold-weather risks might be acceptable. But electrics are substantially more expensive than cars of greater capability - and will be for years to come.

Why is it that 'greenies' continue to push one of the least green technologies available. The materials that make up the battery are toxic, the methods used to mine them are toxic, crashes will release spills that create environmental issues, and recycling the material will create vast new waste streams that can kill water sources.

My personal experience with electric vehicles? Several years ago I drove one nearly every weekend during the summer months and it got me from the 1st tee to the 18th green nearly every time without recharging.

There is a report at the second link below detailing a trip in an electric Mini Cooper from London to Edinburgh that took longer than a stagecoach did in the 1830's!

Link here and here.

Cars litter snowy road

2011-01-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Cars stuck in the snow litter the George Washington Parkway in McLean, Virginia, after a heavy snow storm blanketed the northeast.

Piano replaced by table for 2 on Biscayne Bay sandbar

2011-01-29T16:22:00.002-07:00

Will the Biscayne Bay sandbar now be a magnet for pranksters?

A baby grand piano was hauled away from a sandbar in Biscayne Bay Thursday, but it didn't take long before something else took its place.

On Friday morning, a table for two with tablecloth, a bottle of wine, roses and a man dressed as a chef standing next to it has replaced the piano on the sandbar in Biscayne Bay.

It's not known who is behind the latest prank on the bay. By noon, the new arrangement was gone, and it was unclear how it was removed or where it went.

Link

Photo: trudging across a frozen river in China

2011-01-29T00:29:00.002-07:00

A man walks across a frozen river in China's northeastern Liaoning province.

California mayor wants to broadcast bird songs

2011-01-29T00:24:00.001-07:00

R. Rex Parris the mayor of Lancaster, California has proposed the idea broadcasting bird sounds during his State of the City talk on Monday.

It may sound like a bird-brained idea, but the mayor of this Mojave Desert city wants to brighten the streets by broadcasting recorded bird songs.

The Antelope Valley Press says Parris wants to play the bird chatter from loudspeakers on Lancaster Boulevard. The mayor says there's science to show that listening to birdsong makes people happier.

Parris is known for his flamboyant ideas. Check this out:

He got a law passed giving the Southern California city the right to castrate pit bulls, ordered city officials to learn the Mandarin language in a bid to woo Chinese business, and riled some people by saying he was growing Lancaster into a Christian community.

We do like the bird song idea. Cirp, chirp.

Link

Dog guarding treasure found 2000 later

2011-01-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

The remains of a guard dog about the size of a German Shepherd has been found at the site of one of Britain’s most important Iron Age excavations.

Archaeologists have unearthed the skeleton of what is believed to be Britain’s oldest guard dog, which was sacrificed to protect a hoard of buried treasure.

He has lain underground for 2,000 years, loyally doing his duty.

It is believed an ancient tribe, the Corieltauvi, who lived in Britain before the Roman conquest, killed then buried the dog between AD1 and AD50 so its spirit could protect the stockpile.

Link

Remembering the Challenger disaster 25 years later

2011-01-28T12:21:00.001-07:00

(click on photo to enlarge)

An official portrait shows the STS-51L crewmembers. Back row (L to R): Mission Specialist, Ellison S. Onizuka, Teacher in Space Participant Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Greg Jarvis and Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik. Front row (L to R): Pilot Mike Smith, Commander, Dick Scobee and Mission Specialist, Ron McNair.

Video of Challenger disaster 25 years ago

2011-01-28T11:58:00.001-07:00

Mystery sandbar piano in 'photo of the day' photo shoot

2011-01-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

The mystery piano, found on a sandbar in Biscayne Bay, is used in a 'photo of the day' photo shoot before it was removed from the sandbar.