But when the Fletcher family went for a pre-Christmas treat at the Manor Restaurant in Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, they were disappointed with their meal.

Marilyn Fletcher, 57, sent a letter complaining of slow service and poor food, in a lunch which cost £127 for four.

But she was left astonished by the restaurants response. Simon Offen, the catering manager, emailed her to say he disputed her version of events after he had "watched and listened with interest to the video recording of her table".

Mrs Fletcher was horrified that the meal had been recorded on CCTV cameras, and said her family found it "extremely disturbing" and felt "outrage at the invasion of our privacy".

In a letter to the National Trusts director-general, Dame Fiona Reynolds, she asked: "Does the National Trust condone recording, watching and listening to private conversations at customers tables in National Trust restaurants?"

A pork-laden, unaffordable ?stimulus? package isn?t the only technique Dems will employ to finish off the American economy so that socialism can be imposed. They are also working closely with their financiers in the lawsuit industry to loot the capitalist system into insolvency:

Democrats are planning to kick off the legislative portion of the 111th Congress as early as today with two big donations to one of their most loyal retainers: the plaintiffs bar. Higher labor costs will result from a pair of bills designed to create new lawsuit possibilities in cases of alleged wage discrimination.

For the tort bar, this is pure gold. It would create a new legal business in digging up ancient workplace grievances. This would also be made easier by the bill?s new definition of discrimination. Companies could be sued not merely for outright discrimination but for unintentional acts that result in pay disparities.

Due to a combination of high energy prices, a strong dollar and competition from overseas, manufacturers have been manhandled for most of this decade -- and ground zero for the loss of factory jobs is Michigan. Its crumbling auto industry explains a large part of the states nation-leading unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. Around the state, and across the country, the states automakers have had to close plants and showrooms, cut back workers hours and reduce wages as consumers appetite for new cars dwindles along with their job security.

But the manufacturing slowdown has gone far beyond the industrial Midwest. South Carolinas jobless rate has reached 8.4 percent, the third-highest, as it struggles to replace lost textile and apparel manufacturing jobs with the type of high-tech industries that North Carolina has been able to attract.

The newly sworn-in Democratic Representative from New York?s 29th District, Eric Massa, has apparently made a fuel of himself? and of those that elected him. And the amusing thing is he did it on the way to his swearing in ceremony. No waiting to actually take office for Massa. No, this man thinks BIG!

No problem, thought the erstwhile greenie from Corning. If one hydrogen fuel cell car is good, why not get two for the trip? So, that?s just what he did. Once Massa got to Harrisburg, he hopped out of the spent green wonder and into the waiting second tech-wow-mobile to finish his trip to the Capitol steps.

Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, a radical Marxist who openly supports Hamas and the 9/11 hijackers, is seen once again in this CNN video about the death of a ?freelance cameraman?s? brother in Gaza ? and the footage in the hospital room was very likely staged for propaganda effect.

A closer view of the scene in the hospital room is here at CNN: Toll of conflict strikes home as cameraman finds brother dead - CNN.com.

LGF reader ?Last Mohican,? a doctor, makes a strong case that this is an obvious fake.

(Jan. 10 update: A few people seem to have missed the point of this satirical post. It is a counterpoint to Al Gore?s use of ?millions of tons? when talking about CO2 emissions. I?m pointing out that relative to the total atmosphere, millions of tons of CO2 is miniscule. And even a 50% increase in a very small number [the CO2 content of the atmosphere] is still a very small number.)

Now that there have been 50 full years of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration monitoring at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, I thought January1, 2009 would be an appropriate time to take a nostalgic look back.

The body passed Fridays resolution "recognising Israels right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza" by 390 votes to five.

In 2004, the body voted to support a statement by George Bush, the US president, that it was "unrealistic" to expect Israel to return completely to its pre-1967 borders.

First part of video shows Hamas killing wedding party because they were singing.

Update by Howie: And right on time to go along with this is news that Hamas has been murdering any Palestinian opposition to Hamas during the fighting. Fatah members mostly.

Germanys star weatherman was forced to share the limelight with a pet cat when it wandered onto set in the middle of a prime-time broadcast.

Joerg Kachelmann was just about to start telling the Fatherland to wrap-up warm on the coldest night of the year when a shadow with an extended tail passed by the bottom of the screen.

Purring for attention and obviously not going to give up easily, Herr Kachelmann was left with little option but to scoop up Lupin into his arms and give the broadcast cradling his purring pal.

Kachelmann had just started his two-minute forecast after the news on Tuesday when the cat appeared.

After nibbling at Kachelmanns beard, Lupin pointed his paw at the weather map where the temperatures were sliding the most.

"I dont know how he got into the studio," Kachelmann said, adding Lupin belonged to a weather studio colleague who was out of town.

"I know the English have a saying about raining cats and dogs but unfortunately I couldnt make that joke in Germany."

Digital photography is an extremely popular hobby today and certainly a wonder of modern technology. Unlike years ago, today it only takes the push of a button and a minute or two later you have your prints. The days of having to purchase film, take the entire roll in for developing, and pay before seeing the results is long gone. With a digital camera, memory card, batteries, accessories and practice, you are prepared to capture beautiful images and moments. Many people with an entrepreneurial spirit and a love of photography have learned the art of capturing eye-catching scenery, subjects or unforgettable moments and discovered ways to turn digital photography into a money making business.

Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter Are Married

Update: Jan. 9, 5:25pm: This afternoon, Jennifer hit up a gift lounge hosted by Access Hollywood at Sofitel L.A. and showed off her new ring. As you can see from the photo now posted below, the couple likes to keep things sweet and simple...

Dexter and his sister have gotten hitched!

"They were married outdoors in Big Sur, California," Craig Bankey tells us. Jennifer carried a bouquet of white roses with her grandfathers wedding band attached.

Eyewitnesses interviewed by McClatchy correspondents, along with Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, described gruesome scenes in and near Gaza City.

Stolen by the Nazis: The tragic tale of 12,000 blue-eyed blond children taken by the SS to create an Aryan super-race

By Andrew Malone
Last updated at 11:43 PM on 09th January 2009

With blond hair and striking blue eyes, the toddler attracted admiring glances from other mothers growing up in the Crimea.

But Folker Heineckes looks also proved a curse: they brought him to the attention of Heinrich Himmler, the psychopathic head of the German SS and architect of a plan to populate the world with the Aryan master race.

Obsessed with his experiments to breed pure white chickens while running a poultry farm before World War II, Himmler was intent on doing the same with humans after rising to the very top of the Nazi hierarchy.

WASHINGTON ? President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran?s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran?s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.

White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before Mr. Bush left office. But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran?s major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country?s only known uranium enrichment plant is located.

A Sikh woman sued the Internal Revenue Service this week, alleging that the IRS violated her religious freedom by prohibiting her from wearing a small ceremonial knife to her job as a revenue agent.

The IRS banned the kirpan as a so-called dangerous weapon, even though the government allows hundreds of sharp scissors, letter openers, knives and box cutters in the Mickey Leland Federal Building in downtown Houston, where Tagore worked, Newar said.

Speaking out two years after being embroiled in a gay sex scandal, former evangelical pastor Ted Haggard said Friday his sexual identity is complex and cant be put into "stereotypical boxes," but that his relationship with his wife is stronger than ever.

"I am guilty. I am responsible," Haggard, 52, said Friday in a phone interview. "I got off track, and I am deeply sorry and I repent ... Im moving along in a positive direction."

A CAMPAIGN to rename fish as ?sea kittens? in order to improve their image has been ridiculed by the Federal Opposition.

The website features images of fish with cats? whiskers and ears. (Hat Tip: Stop the ACLU )

The logic of these idiots eludes me.

?Is a sense of the complementary nature, a sense of the inextricable dance of opposites?

It is jeanetic

It appears that once again, the Land of the Rising Sun has taken something completely normal and made it into hot anime chicks.  This phenomenon is called ?Moe? and it actually means taking inanimate objects and making them into female characters.  In this case, it sort of makes sense because it?s intended to help you learn The Periodic Table of Elements.

What better to make you remember Sodium than a sexy girl baking bread?  Ok, so maybe that one doesn?t make a whole lot of sense, but you get the point.  Normally the elements are hard to mentally characterize, especially as you climb to the higher numbers.  Give each one a little ?personality? and voila, you?ve got yourself a boobtastic mnemonic.

Magnesium here seems to have more than a little of that personality.  I guess you can remember that the element is very reactive when burned?  Anyway, each page has extra info about the elements and who discovered them.  What will they think of next?

To compensate for its smaller size, the Lifestyle PC boasts a higher-resolution screen. Shortcut buttons let users zoom in and out while viewing documents and Web pages.

A 140-year-old, 20-pound lobster confined 10 days in a tank inside New York restaurant is going to be freed, after PETAs request to release the ancient crustacean on Saturday Kennebunkport, Maine.

Thats what a Manhattan lobster got Friday, when the 20-pound crustacean named George was caught off the coast of Canada about two weeks ago and bought for $100 and become restaurant mascot, said Keith Valenti, restaurant manager.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is applauding and huge "Thank You" to City Crab and Seafood for allowing the old-timer to live out his days in freedom.

PARIS: Signs are mounting that the conflict in Gaza is starting to spill over into violence in Europes towns and cities, with assaults against Jews and arson attacks on Jewish congregations in France, Sweden and Britain.

Assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, on Monday night.

A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, also was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said a police spokesman, Leif Nilsson. Neighbors alerted rescue services before the fire took hold.

In Denmark, a 27-year-old Dane born in Lebanon of Palestinian parents is alleged to have wounded two young Israelis last week by opening fire with a handgun in a shooting that the police suspect could be linked to the Gaza crisis.

The London police are investigating the attack, in which suspects splashed flammable liquid on the door and set it on fire.

40 years ago, science fiction writer James R. Berry predicted what the future would look like on November 18th, 2008 ? today. His piece for a 1968 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, "40 Years in the Future," made some impressive guesses, from flat-screen televisions to video conferencing. He also made a few understandable missteps: pollution-free air in cities, house paint thats always pristine, and ? pardon me, ladies ? the idea that women would still do little more than use a computer to plan recipes.

Obama wants to invoke God during inauguration oath

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama will invoke God when he takes the oath of office January 20, despite a lawsuit filed by atheist and non-religious groups, according to an attorney for Chief Justice John Roberts, who will administer the oath.

The groups have sued in federal court to block any mention of God during the inaugural ceremonies. Roberts was among those named in the suit.

However, Obama wishes to conclude the oath with the phrase "so help me God," Jeffrey Minear, an attorney and administrative assistant for Roberts, told a federal court in documents Friday.

The Constitution mandates the exact language to be used in the 35-word oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Robert Fisk?s World: Wherever I go, I hear the same tired Middle East comparisons

In Ireland, my favourite journalistic justification for this bloodbath came from my old mate Kevin Myers. "The death toll from Gaza is, of course, shocking, dreadful, unspeakable," he mourned. "Though it does not compare with the death toll amongst Israelis if Hamas had its way." Get it? The massacre in Gaza is justified because Hamas would have done the same if they could, even though they didnt do it because they couldnt. It took Fintan OToole, The Irish Timess resident philosopher-in-chief, to speak the unspeakable. "When does the mandate of victimhood expire?" he asked. "At what point does the Nazi genocide of Europes Jews cease to excuse the state of Israel from the demands of international law and of common humanity?"

To the long list of reasons you should be glad youre not an ant, add this: Youd have to forget about having sex. Youd also have to forget about even trying. Sneak off for a little insectile assignation and the others members of the colony would know immediately ? and attack you for it. Entomologists have long known this was the practice in the ant world, but what they didnt know is the forensic science that allows the community to uncover the crime. Now, thanks to a study in the current issue of Cell Biology, they do.

Two leaders of a controversial religious sect in Bountiful, B.C. have been arrested and charged with polygamy.

Winston Blackmore and James Oler were arrested Wednesday, B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal confirmed.

Winston Blackmore the religious leader of the polygamous community of Bountiful located near Creston, B.C., shares a laugh with six of his daughters and some of his grand children Monday, April 21, 2008. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Two previous legal opinions have said that polygamy charges might be thrown out under a Charter of Rights challenge.

"Ive always disagreed with that," Oppal said of using freedom of religion to defend the practice of polygamy.

Oppal said that in 2005, when he was appointed attorney general he was concerned about polygamy in Bountiful "because of the exploitation of women and children."

In June 2008, Oppal appointed a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of abuse at Bountiful.

The Great Lakes dominate this true-colour satellite image made available by NASA.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- A U.S. report says dozens of foreign species could spread across the Great Lakes in coming years and cause significant damage to the environment and economy, despite policies designed to keep them out.

It identified 30 non-native species that pose a medium or high risk of reaching the lakes, and 28 others that already have a foothold and could disperse widely.

Among them are fish such as the tench ("doctor fish"), the monkey goby and the blueback herring.

Exotic species are one of the biggest ecological threats to the United States largest surface freshwater system.

At least 185 are known to have a presence in the Great Lakes, although the report says just 13 have done extensive harm to the aquatic environment and the regional economy.

"These findings support the need for detection and monitoring efforts at those ports believed to be at greatest risk," the report said.

My current work, The Pink and Blue Projects are the topic of my thesis. This project explores the trends in cultural preferences and the differences in the tastes of children (and their parents) from diverse cultures, ethnic groups as well as gender socialization and identity. The work also raises other issues, such as the relationship between gender and consumerism, urbanization, the globalization of consumerism and the new capitalism.

14 Percent of U.S. Adults Cant Read

About 14 percent of U.S. adults wont be reading this article. Well, okay, most people wont read it, given all the words that are published these days to help us understand and navigate the increasingly complex world.

But about 1 in 7 cant read it. Theyre illiterate.

Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this week show that some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose literacy skill. That means they cant read a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle of pills.

ProLiteracy also estimates:

NEW YORK - Older adults might want to take an interest in their grandchildrens video games, if early research on the brain benefits of gaming is correct.

In a study of 40 adults in their 60s and 70s, researchers found that those who learned to play a strategy-heavy video game improved their scores on a number of tests of cognitive function.

Men and women who trained in the game for about a month showed gains in tests of memory, reasoning and the ability to "multi-task."

The study included 40 older adults who were randomly assigned to either the video-game group or a comparison group that received no training in the game. Over 1 month, the gamer group spent about 23 hours training in "Rise of Nations," an off-the-shelf video game where players seek world domination.

Ruling the world, the game group learned, requires a complex set of tasks, including military strategy, building cities, managing economies and feeding people.

The interstitial quality of money as it travels from person to person is the point of departure for "My Money, My Currency". THis ongoing project chronicles my struggle and relationship with money. It also explores the ethical, political, and aesthetic questions that surround notions of agency and currency.

Fresh Air from WHYY, November 3, 2008 · Tina Feys impersonation of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin helped draw record audiences to Saturday Night Live this fall. Now, the former head writer for SNL opens up about politics, satire and her Emmy Award-winning sitcom, 30 Rock.

The recipient of five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, Fey also wrote and starred in Baby Mama and wrote and co-starred in Mean Girls.

In Fort Lauderdale, Palestinian supporters sneer at Jews, ?You need a big oven, that?s what you need!?

In Amsterdam, the crowd shouts, ?Hamas, Hamas! Jews to the gas!?

In Toulouse, a synagogue is firebombed; in Bordeaux, two kosher butchers are attacked; at the Auber RER train station, a Jewish man is savagely assaulted by 20 youths taunting, ?Palestine will kill the Jews;? in Villiers-le-Bel, a Jewish schoolgirl is brutally beaten by a gang jeering, ?Jews must die.?

From the National Council of Resistance to Iran website:

Is the recession hitting people hard?  The following eBay auction makes this author think so.  A 45-year-old atheist man from California is imploring bidders to bid on a unique item.   The winner will pay to have eBay user emeryemery neutered.  The auction, which is currently at $6, will only come to fruition if the final amount is higher than the price of his vasectomy.  ?Pickup only? is the only method of delivery.  

The seller explains his decision thus; ?[I]f you are an [Aryan] or a religious zealot, a socially conscious liberal or a really ugly guy who wants to level the playing field if only by one, then place a bid for the right to stop me [from procreating].?  The auction already has 14 bids.  Will religious individuals bid to make one fewer offspring of an atheist?  Will the general public ?take matters into its own hands??

Shark myths

• Swim in a group.
• Don?t wear shiny jewellery or brightly coloured clothing
• Don?t enter the water if you?re bleeding.

Berry Gordy was the founder of Motown

Berry Gordys former home was turned into Motowns Detroit HQ

Barrett Strong scored Motowns first hit with Money (Thats What I Want) in 1959

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles in 1967

Jimmy Ruffin, whose brother David was in the Temptations

David Ruffin after he left the Temptations. Not everyone can pull off the fur collar and plastic specs look

Teena Marie

Grapeseed Extract Kills 76% of Leukemia Cancer Cells in 24 Hours

Now THATS what I call a freaking cake. This massive firebreathing bitch was made for some Dungeon & Dragoners for a very special feast. A feast which included, but was not limited to: mozzarella sticks and corn dogs (see gallery after jump). Now thats what I call eating like a king. Or a handsome prince! HIYO. Anyway, this amazing piece of delicious was made by Mikes Amazing Cakes. Now who else here gets the feeling Mike sold his soul to an evil sorcerer to be granted the gift of cake? You think it was worth it? I personally wouldnt want to spend eternity being force-fed cake with my asshole sewn shut, but, you know, thats just me.

Hit the jump for the gallery and a link to an even more massive Flickr stream.

UN Wants to Know If War Crimes Were Committed in Gaza

    Gaza City, Gaza Strip - The U.N. high commissioner for human rights Friday called for an investigation of possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza as local residents told more gruesome tales about Israeli troops neglecting wounded civilians and the killing of unarmed Palestinians.

    High Commissioner Navi Pillay noted the case of four boys who were rescued Wednesday by the International Committee of the Red Cross from the side of their dead mother in a dwelling 100 yards from an Israeli military post. The Red Cross called the incident "shocking," and Pillay told the BBC that it "had all the elements of what constitutes a war crime."

    Eyewitnesses interviewed by McClatchy correspondents, along with Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, described gruesome scenes in and near Gaza City.

While betraying trust is never good for a relationship, the results show that early violations can be particularly devastating, and plant seeds of doubt that may never go away, said Robert Lount, co-author of the study and assistant professor of management and human resources at Ohio State University?s Fisher College of Business.

?First impressions matter when you want to build a lasting trust,? Lount said.

?If you get off on the wrong foot, the relationship may never be completely right again.  It?s easier to rebuild trust after a breach if you already have a strong relationship.?

While the importance of first impressions may seem obvious, Lount said there is still a common theme in popular culture that suggests many great relationships start off badly.

?Our results fly in the face of this Hollywood notion of hating someone at first sight but then developing a wonderful, passionate relationship,? he said.  ?The likelihood of that happening in real life is pretty low.?

In the past week, I?ve twice been close enough to Dick Cheney to kick him in the shins.

The vamoosing Vice has no apologies about turning America into a country that tortured; indeed, he denies it ever happened. ?Torture,? he told Barnes, ?that word gets thrown around with great abandon.?

Asked last week by Mark Knoller of CBS Radio in one of his exit interviews to name the ?biggest mis-impression? people had about him, Cheney replied with a laugh, ?That I?m actually a warm, lovable sort.?

The fact that Cheney is now putting all the blame for all the messes squarely on W. shows once more how the bureaucratic master outmaneuvers his younger partner.

Even on his way out, Vice is still on top.

24

Sutherland was seen starring in "Mirrors," a remake of "Into the Mirror." In 2006, he appeared in "I Trust You to Kill Me," a rockumentary following Ironworks Rocco DeLuca and the Burden, in addition to "The Sentinel" opposite Michael Douglas and Kim Basinger. In 2004, he co-starred with Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke in the feature film "Taking Lives" and narrated "NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience."

The 90-minute flight by a Continental Boeing 737-800 went better than expected, a spokesperson said.

Wednesdays test is the latest in a series of demonstration flights by the aviation industry, which hopes to be using biofuels within five years.

Continental Airlines chief executive Larry Kellner described the biofuel as a "drop-in fuel", which meant that no modification to the aircraft or its engines was required.

Children in Gaza facing health epidemics, warns World Health Organization

Its the kids who are suffering the most in Gaza, according to officials with the World Health Organization.

Rampant diarrhea is spreading like a virus through the crowded territory because much of the water supply is polluted, and drinking water is hard to come by, the group said.

The despondent dads words were echoed across the territory, where 1.4 million Palestinians live cheek by jowl, 56% of them children.

"The doctors told me not to allow the children to drink water from the tap," said Muhammad Abu Eisheh, 37, as he searched in vain through the Neusarat camp for water for his three thirsty children.

Polio, measles and hepatitis are also threatening trapped Palestinian children because doctors have stopped vaccinating kids, health officials warned.

The action shows how Congress, working with President-elect Barack Obama, intends to make a swift, sharp break with civil rights policies of the Bush administration.

The House passed two related bills on Friday. One, approved 247 to 171, would give workers more time to file lawsuits claiming job discrimination.

Californias sevenfold increase in autism cannot be explained by changes in doctors diagnoses and most likely is due to environmental exposures, University of California scientists reported Thursday.

The scientists who authored the new study advocate a nationwide shift in autism research to focus on potential factors in the environment that babies and fetuses are exposed to, including pesticides, viruses and chemicals in household products.

More than 3,000 new cases of autism were reported in California in 2006, compared with 205 in 1990. In 1990, 6.2 of every 10,000 children born in the state were diagnosed with autism by the age of five, compared with 42.5 in 10,000 born in 2001, according to the study, published in the journal Epidemiology. The numbers have continued to rise since then.

Joy of Sex, Revised From Top to Bottom

The Hairy Man -- skinny, skeezy, looks like a lost member of Jethro Tull? -- must have represented some male ideal at some point, but that is a memory we have repressed. The big toe was surely never the "magnificent erotic organ" it was made out to be.

Yet something about "The Joy of Sex" resonated with people -- or at least reached them, parked as it was on the New York Times bestseller list for years after its 1972 release. It went directly from shelf to nightstand drawer, where kids found it and went "eww."

The 6.1-magnitude quake on Thursday at Poas Volcano National Park north of the capital, San Jose, caused landslides to block roads and damage buildings.

Red Cross officials now say 19 people have died, with others still believed to buried by landslides.

At least 40 people are still missing, and hundreds have sought refuge.

The quake, reported to be on of the strongest to hit Costa Rica in 150 years, was felt across the country and knocked down homes in San Jose.

Rescuers at the worst-affected areas, in the mountainous central highlands, ferried tourists away from shattered restaurants and looked for local residents lost in the rubble.

"We passed places where cars were buried and it stank of bodies," survivor Esteban Godoy, 36, told Reuters.

I haven?t ever found any great writing on that wonderful and often unappreciated art form, the insult.

There are two kinds of insult. ?I was bored by your book? is one kind. ?Your book? Once I put it down, I couldn?t pick it up,? is the other.

Although both are insults, only one is witty. Or, at least, funny. I suppose we should reserve the accolade ?wit? for the very highest practitioners of the art ? Parker, Wilde, Shaw, Twain, Kaufman, Levant, Marx et al. Some would include Rickles. (As when Sinatra entered a club while Don was onstage. Rickles: ?Make yourself comfortable, Frank, hit somebody.?)

While on the subject, I believe it was writer/critic Clive James who is said to have remarked, when a man punched Sinatra in the face one night outside the stage door, ?That?s the first time the fan hit the . . . .?

If there is a Top Ten list of insults, Churchill?s most famous one would be at least number three. It is, of course, the well-known exchange between Sir Winston and an irate lady MP.

Sampling of the global press

Indeed, the chorus for a New World Order is being heard around the world. 

• Africa: Time for a new world order
  
• Australia: We need a new world health order
  
• Canada: A new world order rising? 
• China: Hu urges revamp of finance system
• India: Plotting Indias route in the new world order
• Japan: New financial order will emerge from crisis
• Malaysia: Groups to call for new world order
• Quatar: Islam to emerge as the new world order

Fatal police shooting posted on YouTube

In one piece of footage, Grant is seen kneeling and holding up his hands before being pushed to the floor. Despite the shouts of protests from onlookers on the train, one officer ? later identified as 27-year-old Johannes Mehserle ? takes out his gun and shoots Grant in the back as he lies face down on the platform. Passengers cry out in disbelief before the doors of the carriage close seconds later.

Google Street View helps track down kidnapped child

The global market meltdown has created losses for those who agreed to shift their contributions from a government severance payment plan to private funds meant to yield higher returns. Anger is rising both at the state, which promoted the change, and money managers such as UniCredit SpA and Arca Previdenza, which stood to profit.

    "The president of the republic and the prime minister are still consulting, but I assure you that the government of nation unity will soon take form," he declared.

Horizon reveals MiniPak charger at CES 2009

the worlds first eco-friendly, low cost, and high performance alternative to conventional batteries.

The first hydrogen powered mobile phone charger, the MiniPak - which is suitable to charge mobile phones, MP3s, PDAs, gaming and GPS devices - is a newly developed high-capacity solid hydrogen battery.

The long-lasting cartridge doesn?t contain any mercury, lead or cadmium and can be re-used hundreds of times. And Horizon claim it?s the ?world?s first eco-friendly, low cost, and high performance alternative to conventional batteries?.

In terms of refills, the press pack indicates that you can purchase 2 packs or 6 packs. Even more interesting, the company is planning a home refueling station for 2010. Of course, pricing is currently unavailable ? so we?ll be left guessing until we catch up with the future. Still, great to see such products emerging.

A video diary of Prince Harry making racist remarks and mocking his grandmother, the Queen, while on army duty has led to a royal apology and demands for a racism inquiry.

The prince, who is third in line to the throne, made the comments in footage shot while training as an officer at the Sandhurst military academy in 2006, a year after being forced to make a public apology for wearing a Nazi swastika at a fancy dress party.

In the film, the 24-year-old prince calls an officer from the Pakistani army, who was on the course with him, "our little Paki friend", and when he sees another officer cadet wearing a camouflage veil, exclaims: "Fuck me, you look like a raghead."

He also mocks the Queen ? the commander-in-chief of the British army ? during a pretend mobile phone call. "Ive got to go, got to go, he says while being filmed pretending to finish a call to her. "Send my love to the corgis. Send my love to the corgis and Grandpa. God save you ... yeah, thats great."

They left the corporate cocoon to blossom

Thats the formula millions of American workers used for years to map their career trajectory. Conventional wisdom advised workers to land a job with a big company and retire with generous benefits.

But theres a new breed of worker who is making that formula seem as quaint as a VHS tape. They are the ultimate risk-takers -- they leave large, successful companies to pursue their own dreams even though the economy is reeling.

Those who leave the security of corporate life should not do it without research and a plan, some say.

Rhim, the retirement planning consultant, says he knew the IRS would soon change the retirement plans for nonprofit groups. He knew his expertise would be in demand.

All the careful planning, though, didnt remove his fear, Rhim says. But he discovered something remarkable. Once he committed to leaving, doors suddenly opened for him: People materialized to help him and amazing coincidences led to business opportunities.

All the fuss at the meeting centered on something called Ubuntu and a man named Mark Shuttleworth, the charismatic 35-year-old billionaire from South Africa who functions as the spiritual and financial leader of this coding clan.

Created just over four years ago, Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) has emerged as the fastest-growing and most celebrated version of the Linux operating system, which competes with Windows primarily through its low, low price: $0.

Milky Way Galaxy Suddenly Much Bigger, Heavier

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

For decades, astronomers thought when it came to the major galaxies in Earths cosmic neighborhood, our Milky Way was a weak sister to the larger Andromeda. Not anymore.

That difference means a lot, said study author Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

Thats not necessarily good news. A bigger Milky Way means that it could be crashing violently into the neighboring Andromeda galaxy sooner than predicted ? though still billions of years from now.

They made a map of those stars, not just in the locations where they were first seen, but in the third dimension of time ? something Reid said hasnt been done before.

FAIL - Owned Pictures

An iPhone worth £1.6 million, made of solid 18 carat yellow gold, white gold, rose gold with a white gold border, encrusted with 138 brilliant cut diamonds, and a home button made of a rare 6.6 carat diamond. Does the ring tone go bling bling?

Jin Linlin shows why she holds the world hula hoop record with this remarkable display at a party in Haian, China

Farmer Wu Yulu drives a rickshaw pulled by his self-made walking robot near his home in a village on the outskirts of Beijing

Nick and Clina Hopwood and their son Tom walk along the beach at Sandbanks in Poole where the sea froze

A boy attempts to retrieve his football from a frozen fountain in Trafalgar Square, London

Spiders webs are covered in frost in Godewaersvelde, northern France

A cormorant carries a fish in its mouth on the river Spree in Berlin

A boy performs a fire-eating stunt during an Ashura procession in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad

?The Hamas founding covenant explicitly calls for the extermination of all Jews. Hitler never made total extermination an official plank of the the Nazi party platform. (see Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov?s article in the February 2, 2004 issue of The New Republic. He points to the extermiationist 7th article of the founding Hamas covenanat which cites the Hadith (saying of the prophet). Here is a translation of the Hadith in a deeply disturbing summary of Hamas? exterminationist anti-semitism by the Brown University scholar Andrew Bostom:

?The Prophet, Allah?s prayer and peace be upon him, says: ?The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: ?Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,? except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.? (Sahih Muslim, Book 41, Number 6985)

In trying to figure out how we can defeat sex trafficking, a starting point is to think like a brothel owner.

Sexual slavery is like any other business: raise the operating costs, create a risk of jail, and the human traffickers will quite sensibly shift to some other trade. If the Obama administration treats 21st-century slavery as a top priority, we can push many of the traffickers to quit in disgust and switch to stealing motorcycles instead.

The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.

Ice cores, ocean sediment cores, the geologic record, and studies of ancient plant and animal populations all demonstrate a regular cyclic pattern of Ice Age glacial maximums which each last about 100,000 years, separated by intervening warm interglacials, each lasting about 12,000 years.

Part one of this list took you from Joan of Arc to The Chronicles of Narnia. We hope you enjoy the recommendations that follow.

Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly with his song

Watch the video

The protest against Israel?s attacks on Gaza saw one police officer knocked unconscious and two others receive facial injuries, a police spokesman said.

An initially peaceful demonstration ended with a group of protesters facing mounted riot police throwing missiles and smashing windows on Kensington High Street near the Israeli Embassy. Riot officers from the Metropolitan Police force charged at the group of mainly young men.

About 300 police in full riot gear had surrounded a similar-sized group of protesters pushing them up the street. Three people were arrested, police said.

New & Future Cars: Tesla Builds a 4-Door

The worlds largest crossword has been built on the side of a tower block in Ukraine.

The puzzle is more than 100ft high and fills the entire external wall of the residential building in the city of Lvov.

Clues to the crossword are scattered around the citys major landmarks and attractions including parks, fountains, and theatres.

Visitors are encouraged to collect and decipher all the clues during their weekend strolls, giving them a chance to exercise their brains as well as their legs.

Although the crossword ? which is 19 squares across and 34 squares high ? is far too big to be filled in by hand, the artists responsible have come up with an intriguing way of displaying the answers.

When night falls, fluorescent letters placed inside every square are turned on, revealing the complete solution in a light glow.

It is hoped that puzzlers will gather outside the tower block every night to see if their own answers were correct.

Bushs one last blow to environment

Crying a river would be a brilliant thing if you cried these plush tears from Singapore-based brand Mimipong which allow you to ?hug your sorrow.? They?re much-needed in this time of economic doom and gloom.

They say hugging your tears will help in the times that we are down in the dumps. Is it just me, or can anyone else think of something less cheerful to hug than a tear? The really nice touch that does make them a perfect present in such a situation, however, is that they have a large tag where you can add an inspiring message.

Cute.

Are You just a Brain or Are You Consciousness?

Want to End the Violence in Gaza? Boycott Israel.

By Naomi Klein, The Nation. Posted January 9, 2009.

 Its time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

In July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just that. They called on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era." The campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions -- BDS for short -- was born.

Too many Americans have succumbed to the propaganda that the market is inherently evil and fraught with excesses fueled by "capitalistic greed" and that such systemic corruption has led to our economic woes. Only large-scale government intervention can rescue us from this pernicious system.

We have swallowed the fearmongering admonitions of public officials who insist that even apart from the moral question of picking winners and losers, our government must bail out "essential" segments of the economy, such as the automobile industry, lest the entire economy be doomed for extinction. Indeed, this word "essential" has proved to be an essential tool for the left in these difficult times.

True conservatives out there -- however many remain -- must not forget the ominous words of Obamas chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who said: "Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste. They are opportunities to do big things."

?Dried red chilli peppers (I do at least one stir-fry a week and like them hotter than everyone else, so I fry them black in plenty of oil for and use both the oil and the chillis throughout the week).

?Phyllo dough and puff pastry to turn leftovers into elegant meals, tarts and pot pies.

Record snow during December in Oshkosh spawned a lot of conversation that?s kept the hot stove weather league going this winter.

A 6 a.m. wake-up call. Afternoon drills in military bearing and formations. And a grueling regime of push-ups and leg lifts before the 9:30 p.m. lights-out.

Here, on a military base outside Beijing, a progressive Chinese psychologist, Tao Ran, has established a treatment center for a distinctly 21st-century malady.

The center is an experiment in treating "non-material" addictions ? others include work-, shop- and sex-aholism ? that are booming along with Chinas rapid modernization, says Dr. Tao.

"The problem is getting worse," says Tao. "[Internet addicts] cant adjust to school and society, so they try to escape their difficulties and avoid problems. They lack self-confidence and often dont have the courage to continue their lives."

Close to half of Google?s 20,000 employees use a slightly modified version of Ubuntu, playfully called Goobuntu.

The Macedonian education department relies on Ubuntu, providing 180,000 copies of the operating system to children, while the Spanish school system has 195,000 Ubuntu desktops. In France, the National Assembly and the Gendarmerie Nationale, the military police force, rely on Ubuntu for a combined 80,000 PCs. ?The word ?free? was very important,? said Rudy Salles, vice president of the assembly, noting that it allowed the legislature to abandon Microsoft.

?I always thought that open source is a very important socioeconomic movement,? Mr. Russo said.

Atlantis resort is built on the famous man-made Palm Island in Dubai and the grand opening ceremony was held on September 24. The guest can choose the view of the Arabian gulf and The Palm Jumeirah or floor-to-ceiling windows looking into the Ambassador Lagoon with exotic marine life right at their window.

Culture Shock May Explain Similarity Between Humans

Ever since researchers discovered in the 1970s that humans lacked the genetic variation expected of our population size, they have proposed that our ancestors went through a big squeeze: Volcanic eruptions, disease, or climate change created a population "bottleneck" that reduced the number of breeding adults to about 10,000 sometime in the past 100,000 years. But new genetic studies of ancient DNA from Neandertals have found that they and the last ancestor they shared with humans, about 600,000 years ago, also lacked much genetic variation, which would require at least three dramatic bottlenecks--an improbable scenario. Meanwhile, other studies have found that language differences restricted gene flow in recent times in Europe, suggesting that cultural barriers might have limited genetic diversity more consistently than occasional local bottlenecks.

Officials said the storm started when some diplomats used the reply all function to respond to a blank e-mail sent recently to many people on the departments global address list.

Most demanded to be removed from the list while others used reply all to tell their co-workers, in often less than diplomatic language, to stop responding to the entire group, the officials said.

Some then compounded the problem by trying to recall their initial replies, which generated another round of messages to the group, they said.

He said the result was "effectively a denial of service as e-mail queues, especially between posts, back up while processing the extra volume of e-mails."

Its not magic, but rather the latest game from toy maker Mattel, which allows players to move a ball around an obstacle course by using just their powers of concentration.

Focusing on the ball causes a fan in the base of the game -- called Mind Flex -- to start up and lift the ball on a gentle stream of air. Break your concentration and the ball descends.

Once a player has the ball in the air they need to try to weave it through hoops, towers and other obstacles.

"Its a mind-eye coordination game," said Mattels Tim Sheridan. "As you relax youll find that the ball drops."

Mind Flex relies on EEG technology to measure brain wave activity through a headset equipped with sensors for the forehead and earlobes.

FOX News airs Most Important Interview on Earth