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Welcome to Page One . Read a hodge-podge of off-beat information and stories. Around the corner, around the world, around the clock, we bring you the important stuff you need to read. |
  The Tea Party Express III: Just Vote Them Out! TourJoin us for the biggest Tea Party Express national tour to date. Starting March 27, 2010 with a Mega Rally in Searchlight, NV (hometown to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) we will take this message across the nation all the way to the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 15th:
“You, the politicians in Washington, have failed We The People with your bailouts, out-of-control deficit spending, government takeovers of sectors of the economy, Cap & Trade, government-run health care, and higher taxes! If you thought we were just going to quietly go away, or that this tea party movement would be just a passing fad, you were mistaken. We’re taking our country back!” Join us from March 27th to April 15th, 2010 as we tell Congress and the White House: “Enough!” |
The US architect took 44 days and 4,051 decks of cards to create a replica of a Las Vegas-style strip in the world’s biggest casino. Crowds watched in awe as the last of the 218,792 cards was yesterday placed on a model of The Venetian hotel in Macau south-east Asia. He had earlier completed the Plaza and Sands hotel to break his own Guinness World Record for stacking free-standing cards. ‘This has been the most ambitious project I have undertaken to date,’ Mr Berg said. Please click here to read more.
The two-minute clip,
displayed on a video screen above a main road
south of the Kremlin, caused midnight
traffic jams and a frenzy of excitement across the Russian blogosphere
as videos of cars slowing to look at it were posted online.
Police said the hacker gained control of the screen by breaking into an online company's server in the volatile southern region of Chechnya as 'he didn't think the police would go looking for him there.'
'(The hacker) is a highly-educated, temporarily unemployed and extremely advanced Internet user,' police said. 'The scandalous film was the talk of the town.' Click here to read more.
TIGER'S WIFE CHASES HIM WITH GOLF CLUB
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There are plenty of vivid details from the car
crash that sent
Tiger Woods to the hospital:
His SUV hit a fire hydrant and a tree; his lips
were cut and he had blood in his mouth; his wife
smashed a rear window with a golf club to get
him out; he briefly lost consciousness.
There are also plenty of questions, among them:
Where was he going at 2:25 a.m. Friday? Why was there no word from the Woods' camp for nearly 13 hours after the accident? Police hope Woods can answer some of them Saturday. Apparently, TMZ is answering a number of questions. We're told he said his wife had confronted him about reports that he was seeing another woman. The argument got heated and, according to our source, she scratched his face up. We're told it was then Woods beat a hasty retreat for his SUV -- but according to our source, Woods says his wife followed behind with a golf club. As Tiger drove away, she struck the vehicle several times with the club. We're told Woods became "distracted," thought the vehicle was stopped, and looked to see what had happened. At that point the SUV hit the fire hydrant and then hit a tree.
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Rachel Uchitel Claims Affair
with Tiger Woods Asked at an evening news conference if the couple could have been arguing, Saylor said he had no knowledge of that. The couple, married five years, have two children. The accident came two days after the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York night club hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters. The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by the AP. "I resent my reputation is getting completely blasted in the media," she said during a telephone interview late Friday. "Everyone is assuming I came out and said this. This is not a story I have anything to do with." Uchitel said she was in Melbourne two weeks ago with clients and never saw Woods the entire time she was there. Tiger's Alleged Mistress: I Never Saw His Putter Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/28/tiger-woods-rachel-uchitel-enquirer-mistress/#ixzz0YBc3Lz8T Here's a shot of Tiger (not out of the) Woods' home. |
Will space tourism stays be possible in just a
couple of years? A Spanish company has said that their
Galactic Suite Space Resort orbiting
hotel will open in 2012. The company is offering a three-night stay for
€3 million. It sounds exorbitant but that price does include an
eight-week training course on a tropical island and the travel on a
rocket to reach the hotel which will float 280 miles above the earth.
The company says that they already have 43 reservations.
The Independent reports
that "an anonymous billionaire space enthusiast"
has given the company more than €2 billion to finance the hotel. The
hotel will rotate the earth 15 times per day offering a trip around the
world in just 80 minutes. The modular space habitat willl be built
around a central docking platform. Each pod has a window at the base and
tourists will be experiencing weightlessness during their stay.
Check out the website
Forget the Taj Mahal or Empire State Building. He chose the Brent Bravo North Sea oil rig.
John Major was still prime minister when Mr Reynolds began in 1994 and he has spent 32,000 hours creating what is now officially the world's biggest matchstick model.
Apart from costing him £5,000 in wood and glue, it has left things a bit strained in the Reynolds household. The model weighs a tonne, is 3.6m (12ft) tall and 6.4m (21ft) long and at one stage had to be split into 14 sections. 'It just started as a bit of a hobby but I guess it got out of hand,' said retired oil rig engineer Mr Reynolds, 51. 'People sit in front of the television for five or six hours a night but I get bored, so I'd just nip off for a few hours here and there to work on it.
'It's good fun and keeps the grey matter working. 'I've had a few museums contact me to say they want to buy it and there's even been an offer from Hollywood.' Wife Julie, 49, is less effusive. 'I am absolutely sick to death at the sight of a matchstick but I think there is still more to come, unfortunately,' she said from their Southampton home.
'But at least I know where he is and what he's doing, so I'd rather have him there than down the pub.'
It beats
the previous
A 6-year-old boy climbed into a homemade balloon aircraft in Colorado and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy as the balloon hurtled through the air. The bizarre scene played out live on television and prompted fears that the flying saucer-shaped balloon would crash with the young child inside. The balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times.
Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department told CNN the balloon was owned by the boy's parents. “We'll just have to respond the best we can,” Ms. Davis said. “This is a first and we'll do what we need to do.” The Colorado Army National Guard was preparing to launch an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter to help in the response effort, said Capt. Michael Odgers. It wasn't immediately clear what role the helicopter would play.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar. Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said the device had the potential to rise to 3,000 metres. Sheriff's officials last saw the device floating south of Milliken, which is about 64 kilometres north of Denver.
“We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning,” said neighbour Lisa Eklund. Additional details about the child and the balloon were not immediately available. “By the time I saw it, it traveled pretty fast,” Ms. Eklund said.
Additional details about the child and the balloon were not verified, but reports indicated that his father is Richard Heene, a self-described “science detective” who chases storms for a documentary series and radio show. (this later was determined to be a hoax and charges have been filed. Just a publicity stunt)
In a scene eerily reminiscent of a scene from alien-invasion film Independence Day, a luminous ring-shaped cloud was spotted hovering over Moscow last week.
"Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west – this is how the effect was produced," said a local meteorologist.
Awestruck Muscovites captured on film the pale gold halo ' that took up position over the city's Western District on Wednesday. However, local meteorologists rejected any theories of the supernatural, calling it an optical effect. "This is purely an optical effect, although it does look impressive. If you look closer, you can see sun rays coming through that cloud. Most likely, the sun was setting when the video was being made," he added.
Some environmentalists blamed pollution for the cloud, but weathermen were quick to reject the idea. "The phenomenon has nothing to do with industrial emissions," said one. "They could not produce such an effect against the background of the current weather conditions."
"If something happens, there is the smog effect, but it appears only when the weather is quiet for a long time. The wind in Moscow has been quite strong recently."
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A
tree frog ripped apart by a lawnmower has been stitched back together
after undergoing life-saving surgery in Australia. The unfortunate
amphibian was given emergency anaesthetic and operated on by doctors in
the Northern Territory.
According to Ark Animal Hospital vet Stephen Cutter the green tree frog
had its back sliced open by the mower's blades."It was a pretty horrific
injury," he told the Northern Territory News.
click here to read more
Paul Hoggard never got the chance to build sandcastles as a child - but he's made up for it in a really big way now he's older. For the past ten years, the 43-year-old has been a professional sand artist and has just finished one of his most impressive creations - a fortress bigger than three double-decker buses. About 300 tonnes of sand went into making the fairytale castle which measures 8m (26ft) high and almost 24m (80ft) wide.
Employees of a Pennsylvania pet store expecting a shipment of tropical fish and saltwater got the body of a deceased Santee man instead. Mark Arabia owns the Pets Plus store in northeast Philadelphia, where the mix-up was discovered yesterday. Arabia said he learned the body was that of Jon Kenoyer, a retired rural postal carrier who died Friday of early onset Alzheimer's disease.
The body was supposed to go to the LifeQuest Anatomical research laboratory in Allentown, a 70-mile drive from Philadelphia. Kenoyer's widow, Mary, said the family decided to donate the body to LifeQuest in the hopes of finding a way to beat Alzheimer's, which claimed her husband despite his being in excellent health and maintaining good health habits.
“We have no idea why he even got it, or got it early. Everything they say you're supposed to do, he did, and it made no difference,” Mary Kenoyer said. Once the lab has finished its research, the remains will be cremated and returned to the family, which plans to scatter them at sea, Mary Kenoyer said.
Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways Inc. released a statement saying the air cargo problem was caused by a “verbal miscommunication between a delivery driver and the cargo representative.” The airline said it was deeply sorry.
Mary Kenoyer urged other families to make similar donations to medical science to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's, and not to let her experience discourage them. “This is a fantastic program, and I don't want people not to do this because a mistake was made,” she said.
As for the fish meant for the pet shop, they were shipped in three boxes. Kenoyer's body was shipped in a wooden coffin wrapped Arabia said the fish were left at the airport and probably died.
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David Phillips makes art from recycled beer cans. A Plymouth, England property developer crippled by the credit crunch has discovered a new career in the art world – thanks to recycled beer cans.
Inspired by watching the sea crashing on to rocks near his Wembury home, David Phillips, 43, cuts up the cans and uses the metal to make the waves in his art stand off the canvas. click here to read story
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Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009
The method attempts to disrupt the crocodiles' 'homing' ability.
They got the idea from researchers at Mexico's Crocodile Museum in Chiapas, who reported in a biology newsletter they had some success with the method.
The method attempts to disrupt the crocodiles' 'homing' ability.
They got the idea from researchers at Mexico's Crocodile Museum in Chiapas, who reported in a biology newsletter they had some success with the method.
'We said, "Hey, we might as well give this a try,"' said Lindsey Hord, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's crocodile response coordinator. The Mexican researchers say they have successfully used the technique to permanently relocate 20 of the reptiles since 2004. Crocodiles are notoriously territorial, and when biologists move them away from urban areas to new homes in the wild, they often head straight back to the place where they were captured.
Scientists believe they rely in part on the Earth's magnetic fields to navigate, and that taping magnets to both sides of their heads disorients them. 'They're just taped on temporarily,' Hord noted. 'We just put the magnets on when they're captured and since they don't know where we take them, they're lost. The hope would be that they stay where we take them to.' (click here to read more)
Such popular sites, also including the likes of MySpace and Twitter, are putting users in danger by reducing levels of face-to-face contact, according to psychologist Dr Aric Sigman.
He believes this could have biological effects, altering the way genes work, and upsetting immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries.
Dr Sigman spells out his warning in the latest issue of Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology. He maintains that social networking sites have played a significant role in people becoming more isolated. He said: "Social networking is the internet's biggest growth area, particular among young children. "A quarter of British children have a laptop or computer in their room by the age of five and they have their own social networking sites, like the BBC's myCBBC. It's causing huge changes."
Research suggests the number of hours people spend interacting face-to-face has fallen dramatically since 1987 as electronic media use has increased. Interacting "in person" had affects on the body not seen when writing emails, Dr Sigman claimed.
"When we are 'really' with people different things happen," he said. "It's probably an evolutionary mechanism that recognises the benefits of us being together geographically Levels of hormones such as the "cuddle chemical" oxytocin, which promotes bonding, altered according to whether people were in close contact or not. "Much of it isn't understood, but there does seem to be a difference between 'real presence' and the virtual variety," Dr Sigman added.
Dr Sigman said 209 "socially regulated" genes had been identified, including ones involved in the immune system, cell proliferation and responses to stress. Their activity may account for higher rates of inflammatory disease and other health problems seen in socially isolated individuals.
Electronic media was also undermining the ability of children and young people to learn vital social skills and read body language, said Dr Sigman. He added: "Social networking sites should allow us to embellish our social lives, but what we find is very different. The tail is wagging the dog."
The man with the world's longest ear hair
Radhakant was crowned the official Guinness world record holder for the longest ear hair back in 2003, when his aural fronds were an already-impressive 13.2cm long. But that didn't stop him pursuing his goal of ever-longer hair on his ears.
After several more years of carefully cultivating and caring for the ear-hair, Radhakant's tufts now stretch an astonishing 25cm. He is now waiting for Guinness adjudicators to confirm that he has set a new high, hairy bar for his chosen field
Radhakant, from Uttar Pradesh in northern India, acknowledges that his wife has, at times, wished that he would cut his ear hair off - but he says that she has agreed to let him keep it, as it is a source of pride. His 25-year-old son is already displaying signs of growing similar ear-hair - although only time will tell if the son can eventually take the place of the father, standing triumphant atop the pinnacle of human ear-hair achievement.
Casinos warned: An iPhone app created to count cards
LAS VEGAS — Nevada gambling regulators have warned casinos about a card-counting program for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch that can illegally help players beat the house in blackjack
Next time you want to hit the blackjack tables in Vegas you may want to
check your iPhone is off and out of site before some burly bouncer
throws you out on the Strip, or worse confiscates your trendy $300
Smartphone. Turns out the gig is up for those that used a special
program that illegally worked out how to count cards.
Counting-cards, a
technique used to predict the value of the card using probabilities, is
not illegal in Nevada when using the old gray matter between your ears,
however using a program, or any device used to record the cards or
predict the value of the next card is.
Anyone that saw the move '21' with Kevin Spacey portraying the now
famous card counting club at MIT will appreciate that the Casinos are
less than happy with such counting techniques. Apparently, according to
a report by AP, the Nevada gaming Board was tipped off by regulators in
California when some of the Indian card-playing houses found some
customers using the program on iPhones and iTouch devices.
Just how anyone thought they could get away with constantly referring to
their touchscreen smartphone whilst seated at a card table and not draw
suspicion is beyond me. Not only is this activity potentially dangerous
to your health it is a felony.
You have been warned.
Apparently the application is not
the highly advanced version many might suspect, such as having the
iPhone sticking out of too short a pocket, then using the camera to
image the cards, identify them with built-in recognition algorithms and
broadcasting back via an earwig transmitter which moves to make. Not at
all. Except for the ability to operate in a stealth mode (with the
screen turned off), its overall four modes of operation appear to be
part of a straight-forward application requiring manual input to be
useful - something dealers and casino security will pick up on in short
order.
The program is
available at iTunes and is only $2.99
James Bond phone-watch to hit UK this year
Mobile network Orange confirmed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona today that it will offer the LG Touch Watch across Europe. The phone is a first in mobile technology – and will evoke memories of James Bond talking into his sleeve to surreptitiously organise his next spy rendez-vous.
Pair arrested for eating iguana on Facebook
Vanessa Starr Palm, 23, of Illinois and Alexander Daniel Rust, 24, of Indiana, were arrested last Monday after pictures of the two having an iguana feast in the islands were posted on the social networking website.
According to police the pictures showed them "catching an iguana, parts of an iguana on a grill, two men eating the iguana pieces, and a man and a woman cleaning what appears to be undersized conch
The two were arrested on the Fisheries Regulations and the Wild Animal Protection Act.
The photos ended up in the hands of Bahamian authorities, who tracked down the suspects and arrested them, the article said. The iguanas are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The peckish pair could also fall foul of American federal law that links with the Bahamas.
here's a recipe appropriate for the moment:
Woman breaks world's longest fingernails in car crash
A woman recognised for having the world's longest fingernails has broken them in a car accident.
Lee Redmond, whose fingernails had measured approximately 8.5 metres in total, was hospitalised after being thrown from a car during a crash in Salt Lake City, Utah, the county sheriff's department said. She is reported to have sustained serious injuries in the accident.
Redmond's fingernails, which had not been cut in 30 years, were listed in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2006
Michael Jackson Suffering From Flesh-Eating Disease?
Plymouth Rock Movie Studios
Heading for Hollywood?
Plymouth to open Plymouth Rock Studios
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (WWLP) -
Massachusetts is one step closer to having its own "Hollywood." The
state's environmental chief has cleared the way for a proposed movie
studio in Plymouth to move to the design and permitting phase.
Massachusetts Environmental Affairs Secretary granted
Plymouth Rock Studios
a final waiver to build an access road and related
infrastructure. Plymouth Rock Studios is expected to include 14 sound
stages, a 10-acre back lot, and a theater on a 242-acre site. Supporters
say the project is expected to generate more than 2-thousand jobs and
develop into a unique tourist attraction.
WWLP news link
Plymouth Rock Studios has
struck a deal to buy Waverly Oaks Golf Club as the site for what it says
will be a world-class movie and television production campus. A formal
announcement was expected today . “This is a beautiful site and
completely different from anything in Los Angeles County,” Plymouth Rock
Studios founder David Kirkpatrick said. “That’s what we were looking
for, a habitat different from Los Angeles County.”
Patriot Ledger news link
Japan as a country never stops amazing us. I am sure you have heard of, or seen the “Nyotaimori” (literally means female body plate), where the restaurant serves sushi and sashimi on a naked woman’s body.
If that is not weird enough , Japan has just invented another way of eating, where a “body” is made from food and placed on an operating table, much as though in a hospital. You can operate anyway and anywhere you want by cutting open the body and eating what you find inside. The body will actually bleed as you cut it and the intestines and organs inside are completely editable. It’s a banquet of Cannibalism. (more)
Jan 6. Rules on lead threatened to hurt those who create handcrafted items.
Dec. 24, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO — The makers of handcrafted toys received some holiday hope Wednesday with support from a federal agency for proposed exemptions from strict lead-testing regulations they feared could put them out of business. Last year's discovery of lead paint in mass-market toys prompted the government to pass new safety rules requiring testing and labeling that mom-and-pop workshops and retailers said they could not afford. As a February deadline for complying with the law loomed, toy makers who use materials such as unfinished wood, organic cotton and beeswax sought exemptions from the rules. (continue) To get more info.... Google HR4040
Jan 6. The Mavericks Surfing Competition
PILLAR POINT - Now, as winter again descends on the West Coast of California, we turn our attention back to the anticipation game, and eagerly await the stormy Pacific Ocean's re-awakening for the 2009 Contest Season. When those perfect Contest conditions--a menacing swell originating in the Gulf of Alaska that brings with it waves up to 50 feet tall--strike again, Contest Director, Jeff Clark will once again notify "The 24" that It's On. And when he does, the world's best will have a mere 24 hours to prepare themselves to face extreme conditions, the thunderous waves, and each other. (to continue story and read more about this world-famous competition, click here)
Interesting website provides a lot of info about 'ripoffs' etc. Ripoff Report. Over the past ten years, Ripoff Report has provided the media with news story material along with victim information for on camera interviews with employee insiders and those victimized. We have work with every major network, nationally and locally, including shows like 20/ 20, Dateline, 48 hours, Inside Edition, and 60 Minutes, CNN and every major local station network affiliate across the US. We have also assisted every major newspaper and magazine from around the world including The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Newsday, and The Los Angeles Times. Many informative videos.
Michael Ferraresi
The Arizona Republic
November 23, 2008
Officer David Callister parks his patrol car under a shady interstate overpass, angling his cameras to target a flurry of passing traffic. Then he waits. Infrared units mounted to the front of Callister’s vehicle scan the license plates of a Casa Grande firefighter, an Ohio State football fan and everyone else who drives past as he hunts for stolen vehicles.
Every plate is photographed, time-stamped,
labeled on a GPS map and automatically logged into an Arizona Department
of Public Safety database. An electronic voice alerts Callister to stolen
vehicles within seconds after they pass, giving him the ability to make
quick arrests.
Callister is among the growing number of Arizona officers who use cameras to scan thousands of plates on a daily basis, sweeping parking lots and highways to recover stolen vehicles faster than ever before.
Read article
What to Watch: Oregon is using this same
technology to track the number of miles motorists drive on Oregon roads
so citizens can be tracked [and TAXED] by the mile.
STORY HERE