COMPRESSION stockings may not prevent deep-vein thrombosis and some may even increase the risk of developing it, an international study shows.

The study throws into doubt the widespread practice of people at risk of developing the blood clots wearing bandages while on planes or during hospital treatment, the researcher in charge of the Australian arm of the trial said.

Thigh-length stockings were not good at preventing DVT, and knee-length stockings might actually increase the risk of developing the condition, according to the study of more than 3000 stroke patients in nine countries, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

They also caused a number of side effects, such as skin-tears and blisters.

Compression stockings were widely used in patients recuperating in hospital after a stroke or major surgery, said Richard Lindley, a professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Sydney and the Australian co-ordinator of the study.

Largest offshore wind farm opens off Thanet in Kent

Do your toddlers dolls sufficiently suffer from bipolar disorder, severe depression, or an irrational fear of water? They can now! A German toy company named Paraplush has, for no understandable reason, unveiled a new line of stuffed animals with mental illnesses that even come packaged with a personalized medical history and treatment plan. To quote a child from South Park, "Dude, what the fuck is wrong with German people?" (Via Time)

Dont make your child insane >>

North Dakota lake swallows land and buildings

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. ? Its been called a slow-growing monster: a huge lake that has steadily expanded over the last 20 years, swallowing up thousands of acres, hundreds of buildings and at least two towns in its rising waters.

Devils Lake keeps getting larger because it has no natural river or stream to carry away excess rain and snowmelt. Now it has climbed within 6 feet of overflowing, raising fears that some downstream communities could be washed away if the water level isnt reduced.

And those worries are compounded by another problem: Scientists believe the pattern of heavy rain and snow that filled the basin is likely to continue for at least another decade.

"Its a slow-moving torture," said 72-year-old Joe Belford, a lifelong resident of Devils Lake and a county commissioner who spends most of his time seeking a way to control the flooding and money to pay for it.

At least 100, and perhaps as many as several hundred, Christian pastors on Sunday will speak out on biblical issues and the political candidates on the November election ballot in direct violation of Internal Revenue Service regulations.

Then theyll package up recordings or transcripts of their sermons and send them to the IRS, with a dare to the government agency to come after them for their comments.

"The IRS should not be used as a political tool to advance the agenda of radical groups bent on silencing the voice of the church and inhibiting religious freedom," Erik Stanley, also a senior counsel for the ADF, said. "It is ironic that a group with a name like Americans United for Separation of Church and State continues to exploit a scheme of massive government monitoring and surveillance of churches."

The BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico sent oil into wetlands frequented by migrating birds. In response, U.S. farmers are flooding fields as far north as Missouri to create alternative, untainted stopovers for birds heading south for the winter.

PEOPLE ARE TAKING SOME EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES IN HOPES THAT THE BIRDS WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE OTHER, UNTAINTED WETLANDS IN PLACE OF THEIR NORMAL SPOTS.

THE MASSIVE OIL SPILL IS DRAWING TOGETHER A WIDE GROUP OF SCIENTISTS, GOVERNMENT BIOLOGISTS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS, HUNTERS AND PRIVATE LANDOWNERS.

Criminals to be issued with flat pack prisons

The system has been imported from Sweden where every prisoner lives inside a space saving storage unit. ?The IKEA prison cells are a fantastic design,? said police inspector Kurt Wallander, ?you would be surprised at just how many hardened criminals can be stored away in one living room.?

The Opposition Liberals have stepped up their offensive on the federal government over newly released expenditure reports for this summers G8 and G20 summits, labelling its spending on the events an "orgy of excess."

The reports include details of $80 million spent on food and accommodation, more than $34 million on telecommunications and electronics and almost $17 million for vehicle rentals and transportation.

Government House leader John Baird replied that the Conservative government was proud of its achievements at the summits and that most of the expenditures were for providing security at the "unprecedented" back-to-back events.

Lucky Berliners! They have a Museum for Rescued Letters.

Just ahead of the Paris Motor Show, BMW has unveiled its new electric scooter prototype, the Mini Scooter E, which plugs in to a standard household electrical outlet and uses a smartphone for a key.

BMW unveiled the Mini scooter during London?s Fashion Week, leaving no doubt about their targeted trendy audience. As Autopia points out, the automaker brags that its scooter is ?spontaneous, flexible and CO₂-free.?

The scooter comes in three styles: A two-seater with the same color scheme as the Mini-E electric car; ?Mod,? a nod to British 1960s pop culture; and a single-seater ?purist? model. There are no concrete plans to actually build and sell them yet, however.

Thus, more emphasis should be placed on encouraging boy toddlers to ?use their words??instead of unruly behavior?to solve problems, says Claire Vallotton, assistant professor of child development at Michigan State University.

?It shouldn?t be chalked off as boys being boys,? Vallotton says. ?They need extra attention from child-care providers and teachers to help them build language skills and to use those skills to regulate their emotions and behavior.?

The study, which is the first to suggest language skills have a bigger impact on boys? self-regulation than on girls?, appears in the Journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly.

Should gay people be allowed to adopt? Let?s seriously consider where this leads

The answer is no, right? Because homosexuality is a sin. So that does not just include openly gay people, it means closeted gay people as well. You have to make sure people who appear to be straight and want to adopt children are not gay. This means scrutiny. You want to examine their lives for any hint of gayness. You will need to put them under surveillance, talk to everybody who knows them. Ask for any signs of it, and if there are, then they get no kids. If they can?t adopt, they probably should not be allowed to reproduce. Better safe than sorry, right? Preemptive action is always best, right? Better to keep that kid in the care of the state than to find out somewhere down the line that adoptive mommy or daddy has decided to come out of the closet and live an openly homosexual lifestyle.

Holy Frickin Reagan: Best Advertorial Youll See

Marketing research can give a business a picture of what kinds of new products and services may bring a profit. For products and services already available, marketing research can tell companies whether they are meeting their customers needs and expectations. By researching the answers to specific questions, small-business owners can learn whether they need to change their package design or tweak their delivery methods--and even whether they should consider offering additional services.

(CNSNews.com) - At the same time the public perceives the Republican Party becoming more conservative, more Americans are saying the party reflects their values and their attitude about the role of government, according to newly released Gallup polling data.

Fifty-four percent of Americans told Gallup they believed the GOP had indeed become more conservative since Obama took office, while only 40 percent said they did not believe the Republicans had become more conservative.

At the same time, the Republicans did better than the Democrats on the percentage of Americans who said the party represents their attitude about the role of government and their values. 

WASHINGTON ? The Federal Communications Commission is opening up unused airwaves between television channels for wireless broadband networks that will be more powerful and can reach farther than todays Wi-Fi hotspots.

The five-member FCC voted unanimously Thursday to allow the use of so-called "white spaces" in the broadcast TV spectrum to deliver broadband connections that can function like Wi-Fi networks on steroids. The agency is calling the new technology "super Wi-Fi" and hopes to see devices with the technology start to appear within a year.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said white spaces networks will serve as "a powerful platform for innovation," driving billions in industry investment.

Early risers might get the worm, but they would do well to get to bed early, too, or they might start missing that worm.

If youre among the millions who get up before dawn or worse, and arrive at work before dawn because your shift starts between 3:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., then chances are you dont get to bed early enough to make up the difference in sleep time. More than one in ten people occasionally wake up before sunrise to go to work. About two percent of people do it all the time. What time are these people going to bed? According to a new survey published in the journal Chronobiology International, early risers rarely go to sleep early enough. Those who report to work extremely early are sleeping less than five hours per night.

Today is National Punctuation Day ? we know its official because theres even a Web site dedicated to it ? and what better way to celebrate than with a little Electric Company. LLs guest spot on the reboot of the 1970s classic childrens show is a rapped explainer of the importance of punctuation. We highly suggest listening a few times while you make the official National Punctuation Day meatloaf. (Head over to nationalpunctuationday.com for the recipe.)

Now everyone go punctuate amongst yourselves  ? you might even learn something.

He appears to be enjoying a happy life married to his childhood sweetheart and the mother of his two children.

But he and Ola have traveled further than most -- from hate-filled neo-Nazism through the shock and anger of learning their heritage was Jewish to taking their place in the synagogue as Orthodox Jews.

At 18 they married and a few years later Ola was nagged by a conversation with her mother that she barely remembered -- something about Jewish roots.

While there she said she felt compelled to also check Pawels family history -- and he too came from a Jewish background.

Reeling from the news, she had to return home to her neo-Nazi husband and tell him of their Jewish heritage.

Over time, Pawels anger and confusion subsided and he approached Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich.

DoC calls for volunteers for whale refloat

Seven-year-old KokoPeta Botello helps keep a whale damp. Photo / NZPA

The Department of Conservation is calling for as many volunteers as it can get tomorrow to help refloat 24 pilot whales stranded on a remote Far North beach.

Today howling winds up to 100kmh hampered efforts to rescue 24 surviving whales at Spirits Bay, east of Cape Reinga.

The plan is move them 50km by truck to Rarawa Beach, on the east coast, and refloat them tomorrow.

The mammals are returned to the sea at Rarawa Bay after a 50km trip from Spirits Bay. Photo / Richard Robinson

About 7.30pm, rescuers tense expressions were replaced by whoops of delight as 21 pilot whales were refloated at Rarawa Bay in the Far North, 50km south of where they and about 50 others got into trouble at Spirits Bay on Wednesday.

Despite their loss, DoC operations manager Patrick Whaley said the rescuers were elated, knowing 14 whales had been saved.

UNs Gaza Flotilla Probe Finds Israeli Soldiers Committed "Willful Killing"

A United Nations Human Rights Council investigation concluded that the Israeli military broke international laws during a raid on a Turkish ship that was part of an aid flotilla trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

?There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health,? wrote the reports authors.

The council also found that Israel?s blockade of Gaza is ?unlawful? because of the humanitarian crisis, reports the BBC.

EVERY PROFESSION HAS A FEW BULLIES

We hear and read a lot about students being bullied at school. Are students the only ones that bully? Can a teacher or other member of the school staff be a bully?

Please be careful not to confuse positive effective classroom management techniques with bullying. There is a difference.

If you are an educator, are you a bully and possibly don?t know it? Take the bully self-test.

Not even the internet knows

Top 10 unanswerable questions (according to a study by search engine Ask Jeeves)

1. What is the meaning of life?

2. Is there a God?

3. Do blondes have more fun?

4. What is the best way to lose weight?

5. Is there anybody out there?

6. Who is the most famous person in the world?

7. What is love?

8. What is the secret to happiness?

9. Did Tony Soprano die?

10. How long will I live?

(Source: The Telegraph)

Krantiveer ? The Revolution 2010 Hindi Movie

Violent Video Games Increase Aggression Long After the Game Is Turned Off, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2010) ? Playing a violent video game can increase aggression, and when a player keeps thinking about the game, the potential for aggression can last for as long as 24 hours, according to a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science (published by SAGE).

Violent video game playing has long been known to increase aggression. This study, conducted by Brad Bushman of The Ohio State University and Bryan Gibson of Central Michigan University, shows that at least for men, ruminating about the game can increase the potency of the games tendency to lead to aggression long after the game has been turned off.

Custody battle for giant emerald

Dug up in Brazil in 2001 and tipping the scales at 840lb, the boulder-sized Bahia Emerald is one of the largest gems ever discovered.

Several people have laid claim to the hulking rock throughout the years, and a small army of lawyers will cram into a tiny courtroom where Superior Court Judge John A Kronstadt will review the case of the man who says he bought it first.

Tony Thomas has said he purchased the emerald from a Brazilian gem dealer for 60,000 US dollars (£38,000) shortly after it was excavated. Its worth has since been appraised at almost 400 million dollars (£255 million).

After he arranged to have it shipped home, Mr Thomas says he was tricked into believing the emerald was stolen so it could be sold to someone else for more money.

After it vanished, the rocks journey became muddled. At one point, it wound up in a warehouse in New Orleans which was flooded during Hurricane Katrina.

Nobody likes dust on a vinyl record right? The skipping, the popping, the scratching, etc. Well, what about dust in a vinyl record? Get ready for this. Andvinyly, a UK-based outfit, has this offer: after you die, you can have some of your cremated ashes pressed into a vinyl record. (A tagline on their website says, "Pressed for Time.")

There are many different packages available. You can choose your own music, or none at all. You could even put the audio from your very best Powerpoint presentation. Think of the possibilities!

Anyway, after the screw-in coffin post a while back, the Great Beyond has been on my mind, I guess. That, and Im a sucker for vinyl. So, I had an email exchange with someone at Andvinyly who goes by the online handle "The Undertaker." Heres our Q & A.

Katy Perrys Honkers -- Too Hot for Sesame Street

Your mom said a semi-truck would take off your hand if you stuck it out the car window, and the amusement park is rather vague as to the consequences of feet or hands escaping the car. Since the threat of the Large Hadron Collider destroying the universe through a manmade black hole has died down a bit, why not have a bit of fun? This video sticks the question, ?What would happen if you stuck your hand in the LHC?? to some of the world?s best minds.

Maj. Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse with 20 years of service, had sued to return to the Air Force Reserve. She was honorably discharged in July 2007 on the grounds that she had a six-year relationship with another woman, a civilian.

She was described in employee reports and by trial witnesses as an "exemplary officer" who was an effective leader, caring mentor, and skilled clinician. She had hid her homosexuality for years.

The judge found no compelling reason for her dismissal.

The resolution, approved by a 7-6 vote, says that multiple world history textbooks are tainted with views that demonize Christianity and favor Islam.

The resolution specifically criticizes three high school history textbooks that are no longer approved for use in Texas classrooms. It said the books, published in 1999, devoted many more lines to Islam than Christianity, and it criticized other texts for including "sanitized definitions of jihad?" and "patterns of pejoratives towards Christians."

Playing on fear

Cyoot Kitteh of teh Day: U Wantz a Peece o? Dis, Fluffeh?!

Kitteh Komic of teh Day: Way 2 Krush Kittehs Hopez n Dreemz!!!

Ooh, Mah Porez iz Sew Beyutifulz!

Cyoot Kitteh of teh Day: Iz Bored Wif Mai 2 iFones, Bring Meh Anudder!

Kitteh Komic of teh Day: Iz Alwais teh Goggie!

Ratzes Iz R Owr Friendz: I Haz a Warm fer U

Cyoot Kitteh of teh Day: Mai Feets, Dey Tayste Funneh

Cyoot Kitteh of teh Day: Ansel Catams

Kitteh Komic of teh Day: Come 2 teh Darkside; We haz Kittehs

Cheez News: Orphaned Otter Learns to Swim

This orphaned otter pup, Garaint, was found at a building site in Wales. Secret World Wildlife Rescue, founded by Pauline Kidner, is currently rehabilitating Garaint and teaching him how to swim.

Goggies R Owr Friends: Gud Friends Tell U Wen Ur Bref Stinkz

Cyoot Kittehs of teh Day: Groop Hugz!!!!

Cyoot Kitteh of teh Day: Iz Shy! Teehehehe!

Cyoot Kitteh of teh Day: Thinkin? While Iz Sleepin?

Following the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) this summer, a special election was called to serve out the remainder of his term in the Senate. The November contest will pit Gov. Joe Manchin (D) against perennial candidate John Raese (R). Recent polling has shown a competitive race in the Mountain State.

Yesterday, Raese appeared on the Matt Lewis show, a conservative talk radio program. When Lewis asked Raese about his background and his life experience, Raese offered this straight-faced response:

LEWIS: Tell us a little bit about you and your business experience and how you got here.

RAESE: I made my money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. I think that?s a great thing to do. I hope more people in this country have that opportunity as soon as we abolish inheritance tax in this country, which is a key part of my program.

Centuries before the invention of air conditioning, the Japanese had found a way to sleep peacefully on sweltering summer nights. When others might have been tossing and turning because of the heat, they would put their arms around a ?bamboo wife?-a long cylinder of bamboo basketwork. This simple device allowed air to pass around the sleeper?s body, guaranteeing a good night?s rest.

People have used, and still use, bamboo in thousands of surprising ways. Bamboo is one of the plant kingdom?s most extraordinary members. It is a giant grass that grows almost everywhere in the world except in Europe. It can be found in all kinds of terrain, from lowland plains to mountain slopes. Some species grow only a few inches high; others tower 100 feet or more. And bamboo grows at an amazing speed. A Japanese scientist recorded one stalk that grew nearly four feet in 24 hours.

2. I wish I didnt work so hard.

3. I wish Id had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

(CNN) -- A federal judge on Friday denied a stay of execution for a California man who raped and murdered a 15-year-old in 1981, but gave Albert Greenwood Brown a choice of whether to die by single injection or the states recently revised three-drug method.

Fogel noted that present litigation had nothing to do with "the wisdom or morality of the death penalty" but rather, the legal issue of whether the 56-year-old was entitled to a stay of execution.

On Perseverence:
After losing financial aid and student loans due to unit limitations, college student Brian Smith became homeless and took refuge, sleeping in the practice rooms of his music department.Throughout his struggle, he remained focused on his education by accumulating a 3.65 GPA at CSULB while balancing a heavy workload. His efforts were recognized Tuesday as he received $3,000 from the Hearst/CSU Trustees award, which is given to 23 students - one from each CSU campus. [more]

A vendor sells a copy of Los Angeles Times with an article on Bell city officials on Wednesday.

Reporters get threatened, dismissed or ignored all the time. Less common is the experience of Ruben Vives, a 31-year-old reporter for the Los Angeles Times, as he recently waded his way through a crowd to cover a city council meeting.

An older woman stopped him and demanded a hug.

"So I hug her," Vives recently recalled. "And she just says thank you so much, and she kisses my cheeks. And then she turns to everyone and says, This is Ruben -? this is the guy who broke the story!

"And then everyone is clapping and yelling and saying, Yeah! and taking pictures. It was just a bizarre thing to me."

The stories involve the small working-class city of Bell, Calif., less than a 20-minute drive southeast of downtown Los Angeles. This week, eight current and former city officials were arrested and charged with enriching themselves with public money. Major investigations are under way.

WHEN the French legislative assembly met for the first time, in October 1791, it organised itself in such a way that conservative members sat to the right and liberals sat to the left. Over the years, this arrangement became a metaphor for political views, with liberals being considered on the left of the political spectrum and conservatives being on the right. It seems, though, that these terms may be more than mere metaphor, for a study by Daniel Oppenheimer and Thomas Trail of Princeton University suggests that leaning left physically may cause an individual to lean that way mentally, too.

By 2050, 74 percent of the world?s population will live in urban environments, according to a UN study. Swedish appliance manufacturer Electrolux annually challenges industrial design students to invent home appliances for small domestic spaces. This years winners have just been announced, beating out an array of imagined household gadgets the Jetsons would envy.

Submissions addressed a wide range of household needs, from a closet that detects and removes clothing stains to a thought-controlled kitchen staffed by robots.

Mexican politician shot at veterinary clinic

(CNN) -- Attackers shot a mayor-elect at least five times at a veterinary clinic in a Mexican border state Friday night, officials said.

Ricardo Solis Manriquez was in critical condition at a local hospital after one of the bullets hit him in the head, said Carlos Gonzalez Estrada, a spokesman for the attorney generals office in Chihuahua.

Solis, the mayor-elect of the town of Gran Morelos, was scheduled to take office October 9.

The shooting was the latest in a string of attacks against elected officials in Mexico, where at least four mayors have been killed in the past two months.

A leading gubernatorial candidate also was killed in late June.

On Thursday, authorities said gunmen killed Prisciliano Rodriguez Salinas, the mayor of Doctor Gonzalez, a small town in the border state of Nuevo Leon.

60s Mods and Rockers

• 60s Mods
• 60s Fashion
• 60s Cars

The Mods attention to detail and obsession with style was the complete opposite to their arch rivals the Rockers love of motor cycles and leather jackets. The regional nature of fashion meant that the two tribes existed at the same time. The Mods mainly frequented central London or the centres of other large cities. The Rockers, whose roots were in the Teddy Boy gangs, occupied other towns or the outer ring road of London.

Rockers had an almost romantic liking for early Rock music. They wore black jeans and leather jackets, in the manner of Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953). They used grease on their hair, which was an evolution of the Teddy Boy look of the 50s. The Rockers though, rejected the Teds love of fashion and style. Teds, although violent, were also dandies. This element of the Ted style was taken up by the Mods rather than the Rockers.

Mods vs Rockers

John Kerry has a sinking feeling about the election in November, so he?s trying a new tactic to sway people to vote Democrat: Insulting their intelligence:

A testy U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blamed clueless voters with short attention spans for the uphill battle beleaguered Democrats are facing against Republicans across the nation.

?We have an electorate that doesn?t always pay that much attention to what?s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what?s happening,? Kerry told reporters after touring the Boston Medical Center yesterday.

If this doesn?t bump up Dem poll numbers, Kerry?s going to start riffing with the ?voters mommas are so fat?? jokes to see if that helps.

Not ?a? reason, or even ?the most important? reason, but THE reason. The Relationship Council must have declared it so.

?The philosophical answer boils down to the observation that it is mating that gives marriage its orientation toward children. An infertile couple can mate even if it cannot procreate. Two men or two women literally cannot mate.?

Got that? Marriage is for mating.

This view of marriage is not just false. It?s not just foolish. It?s inhumane.

Tea Party supporters and their candidates like to imagine themselves as insurgents, crashing the barricades of Washington to establish a new order of clean and frugal government. In earthbound reality, many of the people pulling the Tea Party?s strings are establishment Republican operatives and lobbyists. Some have made money off the party for years.

The group has spent nearly $1 million in an effort to replace Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic Senate leader. It spent nearly $350,000 to elect Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts. It is pouring money into Alaska to support Joe Miller?s Senate bid. And it has spent $250,000 in Delaware on behalf of Christine O?Donnell, now the Republican nominee for the United States Senate. Mr. Russo held a fund-raiser for Ms. O?Donnell and organized a rally.

TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) - A former U.S. Air Force flight nurse expelled from the military after revealing she is a lesbian was ordered reinstated by a federal judge on Friday in a closely watched court challenge to the militarys "Dont Ask, Dont Tell" policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union, representing Major Margaret Witt in contesting her dismissal, has said that if returned to the service, she would be the first person to lawfully serve openly in the U.S. military as a homosexual.

"She should be reinstated at the earliest possible moment," U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said as he spoke from the bench of his packed courtroom in Tacoma, Washington.

Air Force attorneys countered that military regulations, including the policy requiring gay service members to keep their homosexuality private, must be uniformly obeyed in order to maintain morale and order throughout the armed forces.

So Why Hasn?t Christine O?Donnell Stopped America From Having Sex Yet?

Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert testified before Congress today about immigration during a hearing called "Protecting Americas Harvest."

Colbert appeared with United Farm Workers (UFW) President Arturo S. Rodriguez before the House Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. In August, the comedian spent a day working at a corn and vegetable farm in New York state after Rodriguez appeared on his show to discuss UFWs "Take Our Jobs" campaign.

The effort is intended to debunk the theory that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs away from American citizens and highlight the fact the nations food supply is dependent on these farm workers.

The raising of the threat level to Great Britain from dissident Irish republicans is worrying, Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson has said.

Mr Robinson said the move underlined the need for adequate police resources to tackle the threat.

On Friday, Home Secretary Theresa May said the threat level had been raised from "moderate" to "substantial".

This meant a terror attack in mainland Britain was a "strong possibility".

Mr Robinson said dissident groups were trying to attract media attention.

"You have this group who clearly recognise that an incident in Great Britain will get very significantly more media coverage than it would if it was occurring in Northern Ireland," he said.

"This is about press coverage. They know theyre not going to advance their cause by it. Its just some micro groups wanting to advance their PR."

Jon Stewart Mocks Ahmadinejad?s Indignation Over Alleged Obama Rebuke

Diplomacy fever is in the air! That?s right, this week many of the world?s top diplomats, ambassadors and national leaders (elected or otherwise) have descended upon New York city for the United Nations General Assembly meeting. The Daily Show?s Jon Stewart took this as an occasion to make jokes, particularly at the expense of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who?s feelings appear to have been hurt because President Obama didn?t respond to a welcome letter he sent. Oh, then Ahmadinejad suggested to the General Assembly that 9/11 was an ?inside job.?

Vatican announces zero-tolerance approach to paedophilia publicity

Getting Mooned (Moonlighting)

There is no denying our enchantment with the moon. It is romanticized and demonized. It makes hearts flutter and turns men into deadly beasts who howl at it. Any way you look at it you have to admit the sky would be a much lonelier and less interesting place without it. We have walked upon its surface and yet it still has a magical feel. These images capture that magical quality, portraying the moon in ways you may not have thought or seen before. Next time you look up, take a moment to appreciate the moon and its beauty.

Peacehaven is a small coastal town of 13,000 people in the Lewes district of East Sussex, located 6 miles east of Brighton. From its cliff-top vantage point the town has stunning views of Friars Bay and the English Channel. At the base of the cliff is a substantial concrete sea defence and promenade built in stages between 1976-1996 to reduce the rate of cliff retreat. The robust defences protect the majority of the cliff, however the exposed foreshore is left unprotected and subjected to intensive erosion, and its here that Peacehaven earns its reputation for some of the most spectacular fossils in the UK.

Where to look for fossils?

What fossils might you find?

Since the early 19th century, the inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha ? a tiny volcanic island smack in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean ? have gone about their lives in quiet anonymity in what is commonly considered the most isolated community on the planet.

The population, consisting of 275 British citizens, is distinguished by only eight surnames and shares communal land, surviving only on subsistence farming (including potatoes and locally raised livestock), profits from the island?s lobster factory and the sale of collectible postage stamps.

Today, the island?s inhabitants and infrequent visitors enjoy a unique array of flora and fauna, including seabirds such as the Northern Rockhopper Penguin and the Atlantic Yellow-Nosed Albatross. Scientific expeditions are routinely commissioned to study the wildlife here and on other islands in the Tristan da Cunha chain

?Jamal, he?s a super-handsome guy and he comes in and he does a combination of things,? says personal trainer Jessica Waldman, 34 years old, talking about one of her favorite clients. ?He does 30 minutes of exercises that are core strengthening, and he?ll also do instability work.? That is, he?ll balance or power walk on an unstable surface to strengthen his back and stomach muscles. Then he does an obstacle course to limber up, or some endurance work on the treadmill.

And then he gets a treat.

After nearly six months of abstinence, he found himself inexplicably craving cocaine on the way home from work.

It happened that he had run into an old friend just outside his office with whom he had used drugs years earlier. Although he did not consciously associate the friend and the drugs, his brain had not forgotten, and the meeting touched off the urge to use again.

In short, recreational drugs like cocaine don?t just usurp the brain?s reward circuit; they have powerful effects on learning and memory.

Carolina Lobos, the 25-year-old daughter of trapped miner Franklin Lobos, told reporters the device seemed very small and confining when she first saw it. But after trying it out, she called it comfortable.

The capsule comes equipped with three tanks of compressed air that would provide 90 minutes of breathing, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said, noting the trip to the surface should only take 15 to 20 minutes.

In an emergency, such as the capsule getting jammed in the rescue hole, the bottom can be opened with levers inside so a miner can be lowered back down by cable, Manalich said.

Citizens Group Helps Uncover Alleged Rampant Voter Fraud in Houston

said. ?There was no one checking IDs, judges would vote for people that asked for help. It was fraud, and we watched like deer in the headlights.?

Their shared experience, she says, created ?True the Vote,? a citizen-based grassroots organization that began collecting publicly available voting data to prove that what they saw in their day at the polls was, indeed, happening -- and that it was happening everywhere. 

?It was a true Tea Party moment,? she remembers

When Catherine Engelbrecht and her friends sat down and started talking politics several years ago, they soon agreed that talking wasn?t enough. They wanted to do more. So when the 2008 election came around, ?about 50? of her friends volunteered to work at Houston?s polling places.

?What we saw shocked us,? she said. ?There was no one checking IDs, judges would vote for people that asked for help. It was fraud, and we watched like deer in the headlights.?

For the past two years, the public has been bombarded with statements to the effect that the Tea Party movement is supported by White Americans only.  This week, the PJTV/Pulse Opinion Research Tea Party Tracking Poll explodes this view.

With eight weeks of polling completed so far, this poll has collected a sufficient number of interviews with Black Likely Voters, to present the results with a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Fully one-third (35%) of Black Likely Voters nationwide interviewed during the time frame of the poll so far (August 2 ? September 19th, 2010) stated that they Strongly or Somewhat support the Tea Party movement, with 17% supporting it Strongly.

And a comparable number (32%) of Black Likely Voters nationwide stated that they were Very or Somewhat Likely to vote for a candidate who has the support of the Tea Party movement, with 14% saying they were Very Likely to do so.

And then theres concerns that the government money will have strings attached.

Highrise being inspected after fire leaves 1,200 homeless

The Fire Marshalls office is investigating a fire which engulfed a Wellesley St. highrise on Friday. The six alarm blaze, which firefighters struggled to put out well into the early morning, left about 1,200 residents without accomodations after the building was evacuated.

Toronto Fire has confirmed the blaze is now out. Investigators from Ontarios Office of the Fire Marshall are on the scene trying to assess the level of smoke and structural damage to the building, particularly on the 24th floor where the fire is believed to have started.

Officials scrambled to find overnight accommodations the residents. At least 14 people were hospitalized Friday night, including three children, one of them just a month old. Three of the injuries were described as very serious. Three firefighters were taken to hospital and as many as 10 were treated for heat exhaustion.

Mom Robs Bank, Picks Up Kids at School

The Carter-Obama Comparisons Grow

Comparisons between the Obama White House and the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter are increasingly being made?and by Democrats.

Walter Mondale, Mr. Carters vice president, told The New Yorker this week that anxious and angry voters in the late 1970s "just turned against us?same as with Obama." As the polls turned against his administration, Mr. Mondale recalled that Mr. Carter "began to lose confidence in his ability to move the public." Democrats on Capitol Hill are now saying this is happening to Mr. Obama.

?Mining?s Final Frontier? takes a golly-this-could-be-really-neato look at underwater mining. That?s right?underwater mining. As in smashing the seafloor to pieces, sucking it up, then filtering for precious metals. China and Canada are all over it like monkeys on an overturned trailer full of bananas as they, and many other nations line up to be the first to ?smash and suck? their way to their God-given share of the earth?s bounty.

When people talk about raising taxes on people "who make more than" a certain income they really mean that they are going to raise it ONLY on the income that comes in after a certain income is received, not on the persont entire income.

Here is how it really works. What happens is that the first $250K is taxed just like it has been, but anything that is made over $250K -- and only the amount over $250K -- is then taxed at the higher rate. The tax on the amount below $250K is not changed.

If it is 5% a person making $260K might pay an additional $500. Thats right, the proposed tax increase is approx. $42 a month on people making $260K, about $21,600 a month. Forty-four dollars out of twenty-one thousand. THIS is what all the right-wingers are screaming about. THIS is what all the Ayn Rand cultists are threatening to stop working over. THAT is how tax brackets work.

?Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,? Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada?s Salon Speakers series. ?He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.?

Today, Taleb said, ?total debt is higher than it was in 2008 and unemployment is worse.?

Governments globally need to cut debt and avoid bailing out struggling companies because that?s the only way they can shield their economies from the negative consequences of erroneous budget forecasts, Taleb said.

They analysed seeds from soybean and flax grown near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which exploded in 1986.

The team says that plants may have an innate ability to cope with radioactivity.

The study appears in the Environmental Science and Technology journal.

One of the researchers speculates that such mechanisms could trace back millions of years, when early life forms were exposed to higher levels of natural radiation.

If a disaster strikes, plants cannot move to better conditions - they either adapt, or die.

By the eighth century, with western Europe languishing in its dark ages, the Islamic empire covered an area larger in expanse than either the Roman empire at its height or all the lands conquered and ruled by Alexander the Great. So powerful and influential was this empire that, for a period stretching over 700 years, the international language of science was Arabic.

The teenage prince Mam?n would have known Baghdad at the height of its glory: a vast, beautiful city characterised by the domes and archways of its famously intricate Abbasid architecture. It had grown to become the worlds largest city just 50 years after the first brick was laid, with some estimates putting its population at more than 1 million.

the Book of Friendship

Human friendship poses a profound evolutionary puzzle. Close friends frequently help each other unconditionally, with little concern for past behaviors or future returns. But, such unconditional aid also puts one at risk of exploitation at the hands of false friends. Without commonly known checks on exploitation, such as tit-for-tat accounting, how do people manage to cultivate and maintain such bonds of unconditional aid?

one of the more interesting findings

Jake charged into the undergrowth and found sex beast ­Esmahil Adhami, 18, molesting a woman he had dragged into the trees. The gutsy hound lunged at the illegal immigrant and chased him off. He then ran back to his owner and led her to the young woman.

Jake, who has had no formal dog training, then stood guard for 10 minutes, barking at ­passers-by until police and the woman?s boyfriend arrived.

Police caught Adhami hours later and discovered he was in the country illegally after a failed asylum application.

When police arrested Anthony Graber for speeding on his motorbike, the 25-year-old probably did not see himself as an advocate for police accountability in the age of new media.

But Graber, a sergeant with the Maryland Air National Guard, is now facing 16 years in prison, not for dangerous driving, but for a Youtube video he posted after receiving a speeding ticket.

The video, filmed with a camera mounted on Grabers motorcycle helmet designed to record biking stunts rather than police abuse, shows a plain clothes officer jumping out of an unmarked car and pointing a pistol at the motorcyclist.

It does not portray the policeman in a positive light.

After he posted the video on Youtube, police raided Grabers home, seized computers and put him in jail.

Even though he had never been arrested before, Graber is being charged with illegal wiretapping and could face 16 years in jail.

On August 18, Lucy, a dog who was paralyzed in a car accident, became the first wheelchair-bound dog to ever reach the summit of Mount Washington?the tallest peak in the Northeastern United States.

This intrepid goggie uses a Walkin? Wheels dog wheelchair to get around. The device was donated to her in 2008 by HandicappedPets.com

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Paralyzed Goggie Climbs Mount Washington With Walkin? Wheels

Waiter, There?s Cat Hair in My Orange Juice

? and it?s still attached to the cat.

Archbishop of Canterbury backs gay bishops

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he has "no problem" with gay people being bishops as long as they stay celibate. Skip related content

Dr Rowan Williams signalled his personal support for the consecration of gay bishops in the Church of England.

But he said he would never endorse bishops in active homosexual relationships because of tradition and historical "standards" that require gay clergy to remain celibate.

His comments in a newspaper interview sparked accusations from equality campaigners that he was putting Church unity above the rights of gay and lesbian people.

He also risks deepening divisions within the Church of England and the wider Anglican communion.

Liberals are likely to be angered by the Archbishops insistence that celibacy must be compulsory for homosexual clergy but not for heterosexuals.

Conservatives would argue his stance puts him at odds with church teaching.

The War On Terror

Including the Twin Towers, the 911 plane routes, the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and more?

Space

Including the Moon, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the Mars Rover Route and more?

Depths

Including the Kola Superdeep Borehole and the Marianas Trench.

Ancient Worlds

Including The Great Wall of China, the first Olympic Marathon, the Pyramids of Giza and more?

Environmental Disasters

Including the Gulf Oil Spill, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Exxon Valdez and more?

Festivals and Spectacles

Including the Glastonbury festival, St Peter?s Basilica and Square, the Burning Man festival and more?

New Cars for 2011

Chevrolet Cruze

Fall 2010

Nissan Juke

Fall 2010

Ford Focus

Early 2011

Fiat 500

Early 2011

Scion iQ

Early 2011

Ford Fiesta

Available now

Mazda2

Available now

Mini Countryman

February 2011

Honda Odyssey

Fall 2010

Volkswagen Jetta

October 2010

Kia Optima

Fall 2010

Kia Sportage

Available now

Ford Explorer

Early 2011

New Hybrids

Of several new hybrid models, the Honda CR-Z and Lexus CT 200h are the only dedicated hybrids, with no conventional counterparts.

The CR-Z, now on sale, is a small two-seater for buyers who want sporty looks with their fuel economy. But an early drive shows that its not that sporty to drive or very fuel efficient for a hybrid. Pricing starts at $19,200.

The 200h, expected in early 2011, is a premium compact hatchback thats about the size of an Audi A3. Its hybrid powertrain is similar to the Prius, but its based on a Toyota Corolla version sold in other countries. Pricing is expected to start around $30,000.

Einstein first figured out that time moves at a different rate depending on how fast you?re moving, and depending on how close you are to a gravitational field. And scientists have already shown that time moves faster at higher elevations ? clocks on a rocket move slower than clocks on Earth, for instance. By this logic, astronauts are actually time travelers.

Now, scientists have shown this time difference in action on the smallest scales yet ? clocks move at different speeds on a staircase.

In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology explain that a one-foot difference in altitude between two clocks caused them to tick at slightly different rates. The optical clocks can even measure changes in the passage of time caused by a 20-mile-per-hour speed difference.

A concert today sponsored by the U.S. military and evangelical churches at the military base at Fort Bragg, N.C., has drawn protest from watchdog groups, who have called the event a violation of the constitution.

The "Rock the Fort" event, which is being put on by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is being criticized for targeting both military personnel and adults and children in the surrounding community for conversion to Christianity.

Fort Braggs chaplain, Col. David Hillis, sent a letter to area churches inviting congregations to the event and seeking volunteers and support.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has issued an action alert encouraging protests at the event while attorneys for Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a letter to Army officials asking for a halt of the event.

It Is Official: The US Is a Police State

On September 24, Jason Ditz reported on Antiwar.com that ?the FBI is confirming that this morning they began a number of raids against the homes of antiwar activists in Illinois, Minneapolis, Michigan, and North Carolina, claiming that they are ?seeking evidence relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism.??

Anti-war activist Mick Kelly whose home was raided, sees the FBI raids as harassment to intimidate those who organize war protests. I wonder if Kelly is underestimating the threat. The FBI?s own words clearly indicate that the federal police agency and the judges who signed the warrants do not regard antiwar protesters as Americans exercising their Constitutional rights, but as unpatriotic elements offering material support to terrorism.

2. Five thousand years ago Egyptian civilisation began. The territories along the River Nile shared the same language and culture and they united to form the first nation. Egyptian religion was concerned with life after death and dead bodies were preserved as mummies.

4. The Great Pyramid of Cheops was built between 4,000 and 3,000 BC. It took 100,000 men twenty years to construct using 2,300,000 huge, stone blocks which weighed an average of two tonnes each. Forty men were needed to manhandle each block into place. It is the tallest pyramid at 146 m (480 ft).

These days, Canadian mother of two Janis Ollson is known as the "miracle mom" after surviving an experimental surgery that literally cut her in two in order to remove cancerous bones from her midsection.

Suffering from a rare bone cancer known as chondrosarcoma, Ollson, then 31, was told by doctors in 2007 that her only chance for survival was to cut out the cancerous bone tissue in her pelvis, lower spine and left leg, a procedure that would literally leave her cut in half.

The surgery would sever even her good right leg from the top portion of her body and it was unknown whether surgeons could put her back together again.

But hope came in the form of a call from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Although the procedure had never been performed on a live patient, surgeons there were willing to try an experimental "pogo stick" rebuild that would use bone from her amputated leg to reattach her right leg closer to the center, at her spine.

Toddlers on drugs in Te Puke

Children as young as 4 are smoking pot while mothers use drugs to calm their grizzling babies.

The revelation comes after police raids in Te Puke, Western Bay of Plenty, where several people suspected of dealing drugs to schoolchildren were arrested.

Isobel Whelan, of Bay of Plenty District Health Board-funded Poupoua Charitable Trust, said the drug culture in some Te Puke families spanned generations and included toddlers.

"Lets face it, there are 4-year-olds who are users out there. I would suspect there are younger children as well," she said.

Whelan was also aware of mothers "medicating" teething babies with cannabis to stop them grizzling.

"Te Puke, unfortunately, has a problem and I dont think we are handling it the way we should," she said.

"I dont think the network of agencies in the community is solid enough to work together with police, social services. Its not cohesive. The agencies are missing the ball."

A Hard Stick to Beat: A Strange Life-and Stranger Uses

Centuries before the invention of air conditioning, the Japanese had found a way to sleep peacefully on sweltering summer nights. When others might have been tossing and turning because of the heat, they would put their arms around a ?bamboo wife?-a long cylinder of bamboo basketwork. This simple device allowed air to pass around the sleeper?s body, guaranteeing a good night?s rest.

Lindsay Lohan freed on $300,000 bail

Mean Girls star taken into custody after failing a drug test, a violation of her drug and alcohol probation

Lindsay Lohan was freed from a suburban Los Angeles jail late on Friday night, after posting $300,000 bail following a failed drug test.

Judge Elden Fox had initially ordered that Lohan be held without bail during a brief hearing on Friday morning, but this ruling was later overturned.

The actor is not entirely free. She will be required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor and stay away from establishments that primarily sell alcohol.

A testy U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blamed clueless voters with short attention spans for the uphill battle beleaguered Democrats are facing against Republicans across the nation.

?We have an electorate that doesn?t always pay that much attention to what?s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what?s happening,? Kerry told reporters after touring the Boston Medical Center yesterday.

Conservative political blogger William Jacobson, who writes Legal Insurrection, immediately pounced on Kerry?s comments, saying that attitude is why voters are looking to shake up Capitol Hill by electing upstart candidates such as U.S. Sen. Scott Brown.

?It just continues the Democrats? theme that the reason people are upset is because they don?t understand. They?re not smart enough. That sort of rhetoric just gets people even more upset,? said Jacobson.

New Rule: The next rich person who publicly complains about being vilified by the Obama administration must be publicly vilified by the Obama administration. Its so hard for one person to tell another person what constitutes being "rich", or what tax rate is "too much." But Ive done some math that indicates that, considering the hole this country is in, if you are earning more than a million dollars a year and are complaining about a 3.6% tax increase, then you are by definition a greedy asshole.

Heres a common problem: you land on a Web page you want to read, but dont have time to read right now. Sure, you could always bookmark it for later, but how will you remember to look at that bookmark?

A better bet is to e-mail yourself a link to that page so it stays on your radar. Enter Notes for Later, a clever bookmarklet that does just that.

After you sign up (which involves nothing more than supplying your e-mail address) and click the link in the confirmation e-mail, youll see two available Notes for Later bookmarklets you can add to your browsers favorites.

Facebook?s like pages, previously termed ?fan pages?, comprise of pages on the site representing artists, movies, and brands ? some officially managed, some not. Over time, they?ve become a popular way of expressing interest and showing support for one?s tastes, and conversely, for page managers to keep fans and interested users updated.

Stuxnet worm can take over systems that control industrial plants

TEHRAN, Iran ? Irans nuclear agency is trying to combat a complex computer worm that has affected industrial sites throughout the country and is capable of taking over power plants, Iranian media reports said.

The computer worm, dubbed Stuxnet, can take over systems that control the inner workings of industrial plants. Experts in Germany discovered the worm in July, and it has since shown up in a number of attacks ? primarily in Iran, Indonesia, India and the U.S.

The ISNA report said the malware had spread throughout Iran, but did not name specific sites affected. Foreign media reports have speculated the worm was aimed at disrupting Irans first nuclear power plant, which is to go online in October in the southern port city of Bushehr.

His message that God wants people to prosper has attracted celebrities, professional athletes and socialites, swelling the membership to 25,000. The church hosted four United States presidents for the funeral of Coretta Scott King in 2006.

But Bishop Long?s reputation and sprawling enterprises now stand threatened by a sex scandal.

The accusations are all the more explosive because Bishop Long styles himself a social conservative, rails against homosexuality and calls for a ban on same-sex marriage. His church even holds seminars promising to ?cure? homosexuals.

?When this comes out, it gives at least the perception of hypocrisy ? it?s like red meat to a lion, everyone?s pouncing on this story,? said the Rev. Timothy McDonald III, a friend of Bishop Long who heads the First Iconium Baptist Church. ?This is the issue: how can you be against homosexuality and you are allegedly participating in it? That is the epitome of hypocrisy.?

Scientists Seek To Unlock Key to Longer Lives

Sex Scandal Threatens a Georgia Pastor?s Empire

Bishop Eddie L. Long took New Birth Missionary Baptist Church from 300 members to 25,000.

LITHONIA, Ga. ? Over the last two decades, Bishop Eddie L. Long has built a religious and financial empire from scratch, transforming a small, faltering church into a modern cathedral with one of the largest and most influential congregations in the country.

Today, Bishop Long?s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church includes a multimillion-dollar network of charities and businesses, a private school and the Samson?s Health and Fitness Center, where he holds court and pumps iron with young people.

His message that God wants people to prosper has attracted celebrities, professional athletes and socialites, swelling the membership to 25,000. The church hosted four United States presidents for the funeral of Coretta Scott King in 2006.