Saturday, June 16, 2012

Paws & Claws ~ June 16, 2012 ~ Father's Day Weekend


When you are trying to create a version of yourself that will one day make you happy,
half the battle is know your insides — know your pleasures.
And the other half is to know your outsides — to find allies, partners, mentors.
You don’t become yourself by yourself.
You become you, boosted on others’ shoulders, buoyed by others’ smiles.
You may be a singular person, but your success will always be plural.”
NPR and Radiolab’s Robert Krulwich, in his commencement address to the College of the Atlantic.
It’s about designing your life, getting up when you’re knocked down, and learning for life. It’s called “The Chumbawamba Principle”. Read the whole thing.
It’s simply wonderful. ~ http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/
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2012 June 16 See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available.
APOD Turns 17
Image Credit & Copyright: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: The first APOD appeared seventeen years ago today, on 1995 June 16. Although garnering only 14 page views on that day, we are proud to estimate that APOD has now served over one billion space-related images over the last 1.7 decades. That early beginning, along with a nearly unchanging format, has allowed APOD to be a consistent and familiar site on a web frequently filled with change. Many people don't know, though, that APOD is now translated daily into many major languages and featured on social media sites and smartphone applications. We again thank our readers and NASA for their continued support, as well as the folks who created the great pictures -- many times with considerable effort -- that APOD has been fortunate enough to feature over the years. Many can be contacted by following links found in the credit line under the image. Today's birthday collage includes numerous galaxies captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
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2012 June
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
A Venus Transit Over the Baltic Sea
Image Credit & Copyright: Jens Hackmann

Explanation: Waiting years and traveling kilometers -- all to get a shot like this. And even with all of this planning, a good bit of luck was helpful. As the Sun rose over the Baltic Sea last Wednesday as seen from Fehmarn Island in northern Germany, photographer Jens Hackmann was ready for the very unusual black dot of Venus to appear superimposed. Less expected was the textures of clouds and haze that would taint different levels of the Sun various shades of red. And possibly the luckiest gift of all was a flicker of a rare green flash at the very top of the Sun. The above image is, of course, just one of many spectacular pictures taken last week of the last transit of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun for the next 105 years.
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2012 June See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Two New Hubble-Quality Telescopes Gifted to NASA
Credit: NASA

Explanation: What if you were given a new Hubble telescope for free? How about two? The astronomical community is abuzz with just this opportunity as the US National Reconnaissance Office has unexpectedly transferred ownership of two space-qualified Hubble-quality telescopes to NASA. The usefulness of these telescopes in addressing existing science priorities has begun, but preliminary indications hold that even one of these telescope could be extremely useful in searching for extrasolar planets as well as distant galaxies and supernovas that could better explore the nature of dark energy. Although they start out as free, making even one telescope operational and fitting it with useful cameras would be quite expensive, so NASA is being decidedly careful about how to fit these new telescopes into its existing budget. Pictured above, the original Hubble Space Telescope floats high above the Earth during a servicing mission in 2002.
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Rex Barker here with "Happiness is Very Personal
This is a true story. Some years ago the following exchange was broadcast on an Open University sociology TV program.
An interviewer was talking to production-line worker in a biscuit factory. The dialogue went like this:
Interviewer: How long have you worked here?
Production Lady: Since I left school - about 15 years.
Interviewer: What do you do?
Production Lady: I take packets of biscuits off the conveyor belt and put them into cardboard boxes.
Interviewer: Have you always done the same job?
Production Lady: Yes.
Interviewer: Do you enjoy it?
Production Lady: Oooh Yes, it's great, everyone is so nice and friendly, we have a good laugh.
Interviewer (with a hint of disbelief): Really? Don't you find it a bit boring?
Production Lady: Oh no, sometimes they change the biscuits...
This is Rex Barker, reminding you not to assume that what motivates you is what motivate others. It is also important to recognize that sources of happiness may vary widely between people.
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Let’s go out and play.
“What drew me to the topic of space exploration was not the heroics and adventure stories,” Roach writes in her introduction of Packing for Mars, “but the very human and sometimes absurd struggles behind them.” and adds at the end of her introduction, “Space doesn’t just encompass the sublime and the ridiculous. It erases the line between.”
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"An aquarium in the U.K. claims that it has the world's first vegetarian shark. Either that or they're playing a really mean prank on Nigel the tank cleaner." -Jimmy Fallon
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A friend and her husband were participating in a blood drive, and as part of the prescreening process, an elderly volunteer was asking some questions. "Have you ever paid for sex?" the woman asked my friend's husband sweetly.
Glancing wearily over at his wife, trying to calm a new baby and tend to the other children milling around her, he sighed, "Every time."
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Dangling from a crane in the Turkish capital of Ankara, the world has its new record-breaking doner kebab, weighing in at 1,198 kilograms.
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Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 92:
Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 92: GZA is working on a new album called ‘Dark Matter’, and he’s collaborating with none other than Neil deGrasse Tyson. GZA had this to say: “I don’t think people have ever really been in touch with science. They’re drawn to it, but they don’t know why they’re drawn to it. For example, you may be blown away by the structure of something, like a soccer ball or a geodesic dome, with its hexagonal shapes. Or how you can take a strand of hair and can get someone’s whole drug history. They’re different forms of science, but it’s still science.” From the planets to the oceans, GZA plans to cover the gamut of raw science. I can’t wait. Seriously. Give it to me now. (via WSJ.com)
GZA is working on a new album called ‘Dark Matter’, and he’s collaborating with none other than Neil deGrasse Tyson. GZA had this to say:
“I don’t think people have ever really been in touch with science. They’re drawn to it, but they don’t know why they’re drawn to it. For example, you may be blown away by the structure of something, like a soccer ball or a geodesic dome, with its hexagonal shapes. Or how you can take a strand of hair and can get someone’s whole drug history. They’re different forms of science, but it’s still science.”
From the planets to the oceans, GZA plans to cover the gamut of raw science. I can’t wait. Seriously. Give it to me now.
(via WSJ.com)
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A fun look at the units that underly our number system. (via TED-Ed)
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How the Tasmanian Tiger Became the 20th Century’s Dodo. Hunters got £1 for every thylacine shot until they were all gone, forever.
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Whenever there’s a human activity, someone will make a sport out of it. WikiWars is a race through Wikipedia to connect two unrelated terms, and it is quite competitive.
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Between 1910 and 1913, surgeon George Levick traveled with Robert Scott through Antarctica on a mission to reach the South Pole. Along the way, Scott's team recorded their observations of Antarctica and its wildlife, observations that were later published in scientific journals. At least, most of the observations were published. Some of Levick's notes ended up being left out of the official journals, only printed in pamphlet form, like some kind of academic Tijuana Bible.
The reason: Those notes were full of Levick's horrified documentation of depraved penguin sex acts—tales so unfit for polite society that Levick actually wrote most of them in Greek, rather than English.
Recently rediscovered and translated, these notes have now been published for the first time in the journal Polar Record. The excerpts printed on the LiveScience site read like something from an addendum to Heart of Darkness.
"This afternoon I saw a most extraordinary site [sic]. A Penguin was actually engaged in sodomy upon the body of a dead white throated bird of its own species. The act occurred a full minute, the position taken up by the cock differing in no respect from that of ordinary copulation, and the whole act was gone through down to the final depression of the cloaca."
In another entry, this one written in English on Dec. 6 of that year, he wrote: "I saw another act of astonishing depravity today. A hen which had been in some way badly injured in the hindquarters was crawling painfully along on her belly. I was just wondering whether I ought to kill her or not, when a cock noticed her in passing, and went up to her. After a short inspection he deliberately raped her, she being quite unable to resist him."
Levick described penguins that waddled about the colony's outskirts terrorizing any straying chicks as "little knots of hooligans" in his pamphlet. "The crimes which they commit are such as to find no place in this book, but it is interesting indeed to note that, when nature intends them to find employment, these birds, like men, degenerate in idleness."
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Nik Wallenda completes tightrope walk across Niagara Falls

Mark Blinch / Reuters
Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda walks the high wire from the U.S. side to the Canadian side over the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario, June 15, 2012.
Reuters reports: Nik Wallenda, a member of the famed "Flying Wallendas" family of aerialists, completed a historic tightrope crossing through the mist over Niagara Falls Gorge on Friday, stepping from a two-inch (5 cm) cable onto safe ground in Canada to wild cheers from onlookers.
Wallenda made the walk from the U.S. side of the falls to the Canadian side, a journey of 1,800 feet (550 meters) over treacherous waters and rocks, in a little more than 25 minutes.
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The flashing wristbands (xylobands) passed out by Coldplay for their recent concert -
have been turning themselves back on again - days later.
Coldplay Mylo Xyloto wristband comes back to life.
Xylobands™ are a new unique marketing product.
Fans are welcome to keep their Xyloband as a souvenir - the bands are radio controlled and cannot be reactivated, so we would advise that you remove the batteries and dispose of them responsibly at your local recycling point.
HaHa ~ the techies figured 2 ways to make them work: replaying a recording of the concert's opening song or inserting a paper clip into a small hole in the case of the wristband.
Coldplay Xylobands (Pink And Red) Work With A Paperclip
Coldplay Xyloband Comes Back To Life - "Is There Anybody Out There"?
Thanks, Ed
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Tide 'Here's to Dad's who share the load'
Here’s our salute to all the Dads who share the load. Share it with your favorite Dad.
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Missed by only that much…
Prosecutors plan to look at the case of a Detroit-area man who accidentally shot himself in the groin while adjusting a handgun tucked in his pants…
The unidentified Southfield, Mich., man was working for an heating and air-conditioning company at a job site in Birmingham this week when his .40-caliber Glock pistol went off accidentally.
Deputy Police Chief Mark Clemence told the Detroit Free Press the worker had a permit for the weapon, but the city prosecutor was going to review the matter.
Despite the possibility of criminal charges, Clemence told the newspaper the outcome could have been worse for the victim, who was taken to the hospital by a co-worker.
“Your femoral artery runs down there,” Clemence said. “It could have been a lot worse. It’s a big bullet; you’re not talking a small bullet.”
Yes, there are a few other bits and pieces he may have managed to lop off, as well. The bullet went through his penis and lodged in his thigh – according to other sources.
Thanks, ED ~ love the pic!
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Jeanne ~ Too bad he missed, eh?

Ed ~ Well, he may have missed the storage reservoir - but, the applicator tool surely is permanently bent. :-]
Jeanne ~ LMAO ~ That comment goes in paws *evil grin*
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"Hey, guess who's gay? Green Lantern. His superpower is decorating on a budget." --David Letterman
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Pigs Aren’t The Only Ones That Wallow In Mud
And while pigs are pretty cute when they get dirty, baby elephants are even more precious.
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I am really happy that io9 used a picture of Viserys from “Game of Thrones” as the header for 10 weirdest ways that ancient rulers died, because even though his creations are fictional, George R. R. Martin is really good at coming up with unique ways to end people.http://io9.com/5907578/10-weirdest-ways-that-ancient-rulers-died
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Factory balls asks you to figure out how to modify each ball to produce the target object posted on the brown box. It has 14 levels that start off easy and get harder as you advance.
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Why We Have Personal Space


Image: WebHamster/Wikimedia Commons
Feel icky when someone gets too close? Blame your brain! Turns out, the amygdala, the brain region that governs fear, is activated when someone "invades" your personal space:
According to [Caltech psychology and neuroscience professor Ralph Adolphs], we begin to develop our individual sense of personal space around age 3 or 4, and the sizes of our bubbles cement themselves by adolescence. In research published in the journal Nature in 2009, Adolphs and his colleagues determined that the bubbles are constructed and monitored by the amygdala, the brain region involved in fear. "The amygdala is activated when you invade people's personal space," he told Life's Little Mysteries. "This probably reflects the strong emotional response when somebody gets too close to us. We confirmed this in a rare patient with lesions to this brain structure: she felt entirely comfortable no matter how close somebody got to her, and had no apparent personal space." Futhermore, he said, abnormal development of the amygdala may also explain why people with autism have difficulties maintaining a normal social distance to other people. Life's Little Mysteries has the post: Link
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Kitten vs. Bunny
The cutest wrestling match ever occurs when a kitten goes up against a bunny rabbit. I’d call the rabbit as the winner, but both seemed to enjoy the tussle. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
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A puzzle by Angelo Lewis, writing as “Professor Hoffman” in 1893:
A man went into a shop in New York and purchased goods to the amount of 34 cents. When he came to pay, he found that he had only a dollar, a three-cent piece, and a two-cent piece. The tradesman had only a half- and a quarter-dollar. A third man, who chanced to be in the shop, was asked if he could assist, but he proved to have only two dimes, a five-cent piece, a two-cent piece, and a one-cent piece. With this assistance, however, the shopkeeper managed to give change. How did he do it?
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The dialogue in this news clip about the "toddlers and tiaras" trend is predictable, banal, and not very informative to the extent that I wound up muting it. But the behavior of the child is interesting. Perhaps she's just a normal five-year-old girl acting up when she sees a camera or monitor. Or maybe she's been in a few too many pageants...
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Transgender Tax Enforcers
Forget straight-laced tax agents trying to intimidate you into paying taxes. That just won't work with hardened tax evaders of Pakistan, so they've come up with an alternative method: send in the transgender enforcers!
Armed with a bundle of paperwork, the 32-year-old raps on the gate of a mansion while a truck full of guards and tax officials remains at a distance.
The householder grins nervously at Nargis, who is a ''hijra'' - a member of Pakistan's increasingly assertive transgender community. With a sheepish look to see whether anyone is watching from the street, the owner meekly accepts a bill for outstanding property tax and municipal fees.
Given his effusive promises to pay, there is no need for what Qazi Aftab, the local head of tax collection, calls ''the nuclear option'' - clapping, shouting and generally making a scene. ''Because of the neighbours they get very embarrassed,'' he said. ''Usually just one minute of shouting is enough and then they pay up.''
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As I Mature

I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.

I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just assholes.

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

I've learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes, After that you better have a huge schlong.

I've learned that you can keep vomiting, long after you think you're finished.

I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.

I've learned that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades, and there had better be a lot of money to take its place!

I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one of your kids did it.

I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon, and all the less important ones just never go away.
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"A new survey found that half of all American employees have faked a sick day. While the other half have just lied on a survey." -Jimmy Fallon
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"A newspaper is a thing that people used to read. It's like a website, but all the information is from yesterday." -Craig Ferguson~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There has been a lot of talk about conserving energy. Like keeping the thermostat down in the winter. Using low energy bulbs. Turning off lights. Using less gas. It made me realize, my dad was like the first environmentalist. He would walk around the house yelling, 'turn off those lights! Turn the heat down!' He was green before his time." -Jay Leno
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Fascinating Illustrations By Anatoly Fomenko
Russian mathematician Anatoly Fomenko creates illustrations which are both expressions of mathematical concepts and visual depictions of his innermost thoughts and emotions.
With razor sharp use of perspective, abstract imagery and many shades of gray, Anatoly’s works are at once amazing and confounding, and would look right at home on the cover of a Pink Floyd album.
You can take your eyes on a long, strange trip through Anatoly’s works at the Juxtapoz link below, and try not to get lost in there! Link –via Juxtapoz
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The 10 Weirdest Thefts Ever
Imagine looking out at your front yard one day and realizing your lawn is missing. That’s just what happened to Denise Thompson: It was where her four children and two dogs played, and where she drank coffee on sunny mornings. Then someone stole it. They didn’t even leave a note. Thompson and her children went away to visit her husband one morning. They returned to their Kilkenny neighborhood home. The family entered through the back door and everything seemed fine. Then Thompson opened the blinds on the large picture window in the front room. Oh my God, she thought, where is my grass?
She went outside to the swath of ugly, brown dirt that had replaced her lawn. She thought there might be a note to explain an accident, like when someone dings your car in the mall parking lot. There were no clues. Thompson canvassed neighbors and several reported a white truck and trailer parked at her house. No one thought it was suspicious. Just another landscaping job.
And believe it or not, that’s not even the weirdest theft story on this list! Link
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As I serviced an alarm system at a jewelry store recently, the saleswoman let me know that the store was having a 20 percent off sale.
"I bet your girlfriend would love it if you bought her something." she suggested.
"I don't have a girlfriend," I answered.
"No girlfriend? Why not?"
"My wife won't let me."
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QUOTE: "You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one."

HINT: (1818-1894), English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fraser's Magazine.

ANSWER: James A. Froude.
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The Fall of Gaddafi and The Rise of the Desert Locust

Photo: Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
The fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya has an unforeseen consequence: the rise of the desert locusts.
Life's Little Mysteries explains: "The fall of Gaddafi was an enormous factor, to be honest," said Keith Cressman, FAO senior locust forecasting officer, according to the Financial Times. "It depleted the Libyans' capacity to monitor and respond as they normally would." Desert locust swarms formed in Libya and Algeria in mid-May after abundant rainfall facilitated growth of vegetation on which they feed. However, insecurity along the Libya-Algeria border — a consequence of the uprising — has prevented affected areas from being sprayed. Gaddafi's regime tightly controlled the country's locust population, regularly sending convoys of survey and pest control vehicles into the desert areas where locusts breed, Cressman said. Libyan convoys even came to the aid of other African countries facing locust infestations. "But now they are the ones needing help," he said. Link
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Lessons from America’s Greatest Prankster
Hoax master Alan Abel has been fooling reporters and hoodwinking the public for more than 50 years. Here, he reveals a few of his tricks.
Most careers aren’t launched by the sight of a cow and a bull copulating in the middle of a road. But Alan Abel doesn’t have a typical gig. One day in 1957, the aspiring jazz drummer was driving to a show in Texas when he got caught in a rural traffic jam. The cause of the snarl: a cow and a bull engaging in some very public relations. Abel didn’t think twice about the bovine display, but the expression of moral outrage on other motorists’ faces fascinated him.
By the time Abel reached his destination, he’d decided to launch the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals. Under the war cry “A nude horse is a rude horse,” SINA strove to create a more moral society through clothing mammals. Two years later, with the help of actor Buck Henry (who posed as the group’s president), Abel bamboozled the media into thinking SINA was a real activist group. Even the networks were fooled -Walter Cronkite covered the story for CBS News.
SINA was just the first of Abel’s many stunts. For the past half century, the prankster has made a career out of giving Americans “a kick in the intellect.”
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RANDOM TIDBITS

Sterilizing the arm prior to administering a lethal injection may seem odd, but there is always the chance of a last-minute stay of execution. Officials want to take all necessary precautions to prevent infection "just in case."

Saddam Hussein's last meal, per his request, was boiled chicken and rice. Along with that, he drank several cups of hot water mixed with honey, a childhood favorite of his.

In 1846, the state of Michigan became the first English-speaking government entity in the world to ban the death penalty.

Ruth Snyder wasn't the first woman to die in the electric chair, but she was one of the most memorable, thanks to a photograph on the front page of The New York Daily News. Thomas Howard had smuggled a tiny camera into the viewing area and snapped a picture at the moment Snyder was executed.

The Manson Family members who participated in the Tate-LaBianca murders were all sentenced to death. However, in 1972, California declared the death penalty to be unconstitutional, so their sentences were commuted to life in prison.

Gary Gilmore signed an organ donor card while on Death Row. Within hours of his execution by firing squad, two patients received his corneas.
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Random Facts:

Though it may seem that termites enjoy all wood, they will bypass ebony, a dense black wood yeileded from various tropical trees in Southeast Asia.

The wood of ebony sinks in water because it is so dense. It is the wood of choice for the black keys on pianos.
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Smuggled Pangolins Saved From Being Eaten
Thai officials rescued 171 pangolins, described by some as "walking pine cone," in Thailand. The shy and defenseless animals are hunted for their meat and their scales which are used in Chinese medicine.
Phaedra Singelis of MSNBC's Photo Blog has the story and pics: Link
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Sex Circuit of a Male Fruit Fly

Image: Vanessa Ruta
Hello, Drosophila ladies! The good news is that scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered the secret of what makes male fruit flies go crazy for you.
The bad news is that it's a gene that trigger their sex circuit, a four-neuron circuit in the male fruit fly brain, that release the male courtship behavior. In fact, once the circuit is triggered, a male fruit fly will mate with just about anything, including a decapitated female: Fruit fly courtship is so highly stylized and repetitive, it is as instantly recognizable as the knee jerk or Achilles reflex. A male lines himself up behind a female and then chases her, licking her and tapping her with his forelegs while vibrating his wings to sing to her. If she responds to these blandishments, the male attempts to mount her. (To hear the song, click here.) Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have found a gene that seems to unleash the courtship ritual. Males missing this gene are capable of courtship; they just have trouble getting started. This lackadaisical behavior is remarkable because males are usually “highly sexed,” to the point that they will court and mount “perfumed dummies,” decapitated females coated in waxy pheromones. Link
Previously on Neatorama: 30 Strangest Animal Mating Habits
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Online Comic Series – Romantically Apocalyptic
If you like your comic strips darkly comedic with a dash of dystopia and a wickedly cool graphic style then you have to check out Alexiuss Vitaly’s online series Romantically Apocalyptic. It chronicles Zee Captain and his Second In Command as they make their way across the post apocalyptic ruins of a massive cityscape, looking for love and inspiration as to just what they’re supposed to be doing. So stay indoors this summer and let Zee Captain take your mind on a tour of humanity’s hilariously bleak future. Link
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Conserving water by only washing full loads and saving energy by using cold water instead of hot are not the only ways you can be environmentally conscious in the laundry room.
See how you can keep some of those harmful chemicals out of the environment.

* Detergents. Components such as colorants really aren't necessary - they are often just there to make them pleasing to the eye as you pour them out. Fragrances are of particular concern as companies often aren't required to detail what these are comprised of. Just about every supermarket these days offers "earth friendly" detergents and usually you'll find they are quite a bit cheaper too due to the no-frills, low active chemical approach - yet they can be just as effective.

* If you need a bit of extra punch to your wash in terms of bleaching, consider adding a 1/2 cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle. By the way, a teaspoon of lemon juice thrown into your wash can also help your clothes to smell fresher.

* Other more environmentally friendly alternatives to brightening are a half cup of baking soda thrown into the wash, or half a cup of borax.
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Today it is there to trip you up but it will torture you tomorrow.

Yet it is also there to ease the pain, when you are lost in grief and sorrow.

What is it?


ANSWER: Alcohol.
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QUOTE: "I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself."

HINT: (1901-1992), German-American actress and singer.

ANSWER: Marlene Dietrich.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/37996583811@N01/6211204316/
Visitors to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London can see a plaque commemorating the location in which John Watson first met Sherlock Holmes. The occasion of Holmes and Watson’s meeting there led Tokyo’s Sherlock Holmes Appreciation Society to contribute £650 to the “Save Bart’s Campaign” in 2006.
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RANDOM TIDBITS

The first recorded occurrence of the melody that we now sing as "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits" is in an 1899 song by Charles Hale, called "At a Darktown Cakewalk." In 1914, Jimmie Monaco and Joe McCarthy released a song called "Bum-Diddle-De-Um-Bum, That's It!" utilizing those familiar seven notes.

"Chopsticks" was published in London in 1877 under the name "The Celebrated Chop Waltz." A 16-year-old girl named Euphemia Allen wrote the song, which has nothing to do with Chinese eating utensils. The song was intended to be played by "chopping" at the keys with the pinky fingers of both hands.

The pipe organ that we associate with circus clowns is actually called "Entrance of the Gladiators" and was written in 1897 by the Czech composer Julius Fucik.

"Hava Nagila" started out as a wordless tune that was hummed by the Hasidim of Sadigora in what is now the Ukraine. At the turn of the 20th century, a Latvian cantor wrote lyrics to the tune, based on text found in Psalm 118:24.

Werner Thomas is the man behind the infamous Chicken Dance. A Swiss accordionist and restauranteur, Thomas wrote a tune called "Der Ententanz" ("The Duck Dance") in his spare time after watching the ducks and geese that gathered outside his diner.

The lyrics to "Happy Birthday to You" are copyrighted, and any public performance would require a royalty payment.
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Chopsticks - Liberace
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=11794
Even if you are not a fan of classical music, you will still recognize this celebrated waltz for the piano written back in 1877. But as Liberace points out, he was the only one to play this piece in Carnegie Hall.
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Watching Return of the Jedi in Production
Jeff Broz and a group of his teenage friends went out to the desert where George Lucas was filming Return of the Jedi and recorded what they saw. Thirty years later, we are all jealous! -via The Daily What Geek
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Two visitors at Rotterdam Zoo have captured the moment a polar bear almost shatters a submerged pane of glass in his enclosure with a rock.
The two men, filming the side of the bear’s enclosure, capture the animal swimming around before they are caught by surprise as a rock thunders against the glass.
Fortunately for the men, the pane was strong enough not to shatter. The arctic beast has been relocated to a different pen while the glass is repaired.
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Bald Cypress trees are known for their amazing heights and the size of their diameters, yet there is an aspect of the Bald Cypress, a bizarre scientific outgrowth, which has perplexed people for centuries. The Cypress Knees have a function that is unknown. They are found in wet, swamping areas, usually in muddy soil, and they surround the trees on all sides. Some people believe these fascinating towers provide oxygen to the tree's roots.
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David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square’s worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the ocean.
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I went to a new grocery store this morning and there was a bit of confusion...

When I was ready to pay for my groceries, the cashier said, “Strip down facing me.”

Making a mental note to complain to my congressman about Homeland Security running amok, I did just as she had instructed.

When the women's hysterical shrieking and security alarms finally subsided, I found out that she was referring to my credit card.

I have been asked to shop elsewhere in the future...
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The Ravens that Protect the Monarchy
Did you know the Tower of London is home to not only the Beef Eaters but also six ravens that are said to bring good luck to the monarchy? Well, technically there are seven right now, but that’s only because there are supposed to be six in place at all times so this way they have a spare. So what happens when the ravens are gone? One of the most difficult times for the Monarchy was just after World War II. The raven population was down to just one — a raven named Grip. Most of the birds apparently flew the coop, it is believed, due to the disruption of the Blitz as the Germans bombed London relentlessly. It is rumored that one of the ravens was kidnapped. It seemed that perhaps the legend of the ravens could be true.
Sure it’s probably just coincidence, but when a good luck charm works out for around 700 years, you tend to not want to test how effective it is. Link
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“Men do not desire merely to be rich, but to be richer than other men.” — John Stuart Mill
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Jerusalem Syndrome: How to Psychoanalyze a Messiah
What do you do when someone suddenly decides that they're the next messiah? Jerusalem Syndrome is a fairly well-known phenomenon. It happens when otherwise normal people suddenly become sure they're the chosen one — often while they're visiting Jerusalem. And there are actual specialists in this particular medical area. Find out how they treat the many Jesuses (Jesi?) they encounter.
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The Big Wooden Ball Project by Mike Leuis.
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The world reacting to a new perspective: Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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14 secure jobs with a high percentage of workers age 55-plus
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"A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself."
--Guildenstern, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
For several years I've been watching Jamie D. Grant's Send Wonder project to both great amazement and joy.
Grant, a fabulous magician, has systematically stumbled into a way to place a sealed pack of cards into a completely unaltered milk-bottle; but he didn't stop there. Grant also started leaving the bottles in random locations around his hometown of Vancouver B.C. simply asking the people who find them to identify when and where they found the prize (which they are welcome to keep). A project he calls "Send Wonder".
Having zero artistic talent, however, I focused on what I know and love- magic. Via a series of events that will never be replicated in my lifetime I'm sure, I stumbled upon a way of getting a sealed deck of cards inside a milk bottle, without altering the glass whatsoever. And, with that, the "Anything Is Possible" bottle was born.
The photo below is of a special deck of White Lions cards, part of a limited edition series Jamie did with magician David Blaine. Over the years Jamie's incredible bottles have found their way around the world, they sit in Eastern European bars, on the desks of celebrities and in the most awesome palace of prestidigitation -- the Magic Castle (of which I am also a member).
I encourage you to keep an eye out for his bottles, they seem to pop-up everywhere.
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Not a lot of research has been done on lucid dreaming, but new devices are now helping people influence what's going on in their heads while they sleep
The German chemist helped feed the world. Then he developed the first chemical weapons used in battle
The power of the synthesizing mind and the building blocks of combinatorial creativity
Ambergris, the subject of a new book, "is aromatic— both woody and floral. The smell reminds me of leaf litter on a forest floor"
Q and A Quickies

Q: What do you call a Lobster that doesn't share?
A: Shellfish.

Q: What's green, healthy to eat and likes to shake its' hips?
A: Elvis Parsley.
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Worst Pun Ever!

Historians have recently discovered that Annie Oakley, famed sharp-shooter of the Old West, had a sister.
The sister, Carrie, gained some renown in her day as a singer in various saloons throughout the West, but it was not until after her death that she was very widely known.
Today, countless bars are dedicated to Carrie Oakley.
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More Q and A Quickies

Q: Why did the pony have a sore throat?
A: Because he was a little horse.

Q: What kinds of songs do planets like to sing?
A: Nep-tunes!
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Giant Tortoises End Marriage After 115 Years
They've been together since ... well, since before any of us are alive, actually - but 115 years apparently is long enough. The century-old marriage between giant tortoises Bibi and Poldi in the Happ Reptile Zoo in Klagenfurt, Austria, is on the rocks:
The world's oldest animal marriage looks set to have turtley ended after an incredible 115 years when the two Giant Turtles at an Austrian zoo refused to share their cage anymore. Zoo management have called in animal experts to try and give the pair counselling - feeding them romantic good mood food and trying to get them to join in joint games - but so far without effect. Zoo boss Helga Happ said: "We get the feeling they can't stand the sight of each other anymore."
Link - via MSN Now
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6 Summer Bunk Bed Rooms
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Why do elephants live in herds?
To get a wholesale reduction on the shoes with yellow soles.
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Dmitry Samal offers a range of pixelated sunglasses (top left), priced $150 or so. Triple Optic has a similar design (top right), which are almost as cool ... and just $10.
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A Short History of Medicine


I have an earache...


2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.


1000 A.D. - That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.


1850 A.D. - That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.


1940 A.D. - That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.


1985 A.D. - That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.


2000 A.D. - That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.
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Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his Bachelor's Degree and the women gets her Master.
"Only Lawyers and mental defectives are automatically exempt for jury duty." -- George Bernard Shaw
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"I can fit the whole thing in my mouth, but I can't blow it while it's in there..."
-- Sarah O'Brien, in reference to her pitch pipe
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http://youtu.be/TROd29XFHY0
The precarious tightrope walk otherwise known as “turning a Microsoft developer event into something fun” has claimed a victim.
This time, it’s a Scandanavian Microsoft contractor who just couldn’t find a good rhyme for the word genius in putting together a little dance number at the software giant’s Norwegian Developer’s Conference, held in Oslo this past week.
Microsoft posted an apology to its Windows Azure YouTube channel after a video of the routine was posted to YouTube, saying it “involved inappropriate and offensive elements and vulgar language.”
“We apologize to our customers and our partners and are actively looking into the matter,” the company added.
Left unmentioned is the fact that it was just embarassingly lame.
The routine is the kind of thing you see all too often at these technology parties: Loud music with a disembodied voice rapping goofy lyrics while a half-dozen women in shorts dance in front of a roomful of bemused Norweigian software geeks, who have each paid about $1,500 to attend the three-day event…
On the teleprompter, genius is misspelled “genious” and the words “(or vagina)” are added below “penis” in the spirit of gender equality.
If you feel the need to enter Microsoft’s demented twilight zone – the video is at the bottom of this WIRED article. Just click the link above.
Thanks, Ed
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Based in Toronto, Canada, the Underground Peepshow is a “series of nerd-themed burlesque events taking place at the Toronto Underground Cinema.” Their most recent event was “Super Smash Burlesque”, where burlesque & vaudevillian-like performers took the stage as various video game characters.
(**As it is a burlesque show, please watch with caution.**)
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Swumanoid: Robot That Swims Like a Human
Think you'd be safe on the water when the Robocalypse happens, humans? Think again: ... researchers Chung Changhyun and Motomu Nakashima at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a robot that can faithfully reproduce a swimmer’s whole-body motion while measuring water resistance. [...] To create the robot, the researchers first performed a 3D body scan of a real person. A 1/2 scale model was built using 3D printed parts. The robot was then outfitted with 20 water-proof motors, and programmed the necessary motions to reproduce realistic crawl, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, and even dog paddling and treading water.
Plastic Pals has the post: Link
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P’Zolo by Pizza Hut
What do you get when you combine pizza with sub sandwich? Neatoramanauts, meet the P'zolos, the newest creation from Pizza Hut (who also brought you the hot dog stuffed crust pizza, pigs in a blanket pizza, and cheeseburger pizza).
It's aimed at rival Subway:
The chain’s new product, officially launched this week, comes in Meat Trio, Italian Steak and Buffalo Chicken and looks like a cross between a sub, a roll and a Costco-style chicken bake. Each comes with either ranch or marinara dipping sauce and sell for $3 ($5 for two). Pizza Hut’s bid for sandwich domination involves transforming a pair of Chicago Red Line subway trains into giant P’Zolos and handing out freebies to passengers on Thursday. They’re calling it — natch — a “Subway Takeover.” Subtle, they’re not. Then again, the P’Zolos’ creators also say they’re “rescuing sandwich-lovers from the doldrums of cold cuts.” “It's more than a sandwich,” crows Kurt Kane, Pizza Hut’s chief marketing officer. “It's a new flavor creation that is leaving the sub category behind."
Tiffany Hsu of The Los Angeles Times has the story: Link
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Circuit Board Business Card
Engineer Cody Shaw wanted a business card that stands out, so he built one out of a tiny circuit board.
Cody explains:
I saw everyone had nice, professional looking business cards, and I needed something to springboard myself into PCB design and manufacture. One and one came together, and this idea came about. There were quite a few idea revisions in my mind before I actually got around to spinning the PCB. Microcontroller? Basic LED’s? No circuitry at all? Finally I got the idea of using a 555 timer (after seeing something about worldwide 555 timer competitions on the EEVBlog) that would be outputting a clock to LED’s, which would flash depending on some external interaction to the timer.
Link - via Mashable
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How to Car Camp in a Toyota Prius
Earlier this year, we posted a report of a camper conversion kit for the Prius, but it was a permanent alteration that cost USD $40,000. Now a removable tent extension has been developed by Habitents.
Habitents doesn’t use any poles and is able to roll up small enough to store in your glove compartment – also something you don’t get with a regular tent. It basically hangs off your hatchback with a couple of simple tie-downs, so it sets up easily.
A photo at the Gizmag source shows a view of the interior; the price of USD$90 could be recouped by avoiding one night in a hotel or motel. The manufacturers have a patent pending that would apply to other hatchback vehicles. Link.
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A few weeks ago, NBC’s “Community” aired a special episode where the characters all became 8-bit versions of themselves. Well, one fan became so inspired, he has created an actual, 8-bit game! It’s still in the beta-testing stage, but you can download a version of it and even offer feedback here. [Via Nerd Bastards]
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Lightning Over Greece

Zeus must've been really angry! Photographer Chris Kotsiopoulos (previously on Neatorama) took this photo sequence of 70 lightning over Ikaria Island, Greece: Fire in the sky! This is a photo sequence containing 70 lightning, taken at Ikaria island during a severe thunderstorm that took place the night of the total lunar eclipse at June 15, 2011. In order to make the sequence, I set the camera to a tripod taking 20 second shots continuously. After 83 minutes I ended up with approximately 90 lightning shots. I had to exclude around 20 because the photo condensed so much that didn't look nice. Also, in many shots I have captured more than one lightning. I believe that the number of actual lightning captured that night is more than 100.I do landscape photography since 2006 and this is my lightning personal record! The previous is this one with 42 lightning captured. Link
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Damn good thing the passengers got out.
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ATM
If you can suffer from “tiny button syndrome” as I do, you might be able to relate to this short and silly animation by Rikke Asbjoern, who made it for the Cartoon Network. -via Everlasting Blort
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A Saudi city known for its ultraconservatism has created its own version of the “Arabs Got Talent” television reality show, but with no music and women banned from taking part.
Instead, competitors will be permitted to perform religious chants, recite poems and engage in sports events.
The contest is being held north of the capital in the city of Buraydah, known as a centre for Wahhabism – a strict interpretation of Islam that is followed in the desert kingdom.
“Buraydah’s Got Talent” is the title of the contest which will abide by the strict rules of segregation between the sexes, meaning it is not open to women…
The Saudi version, organised by the internet Buraydah Forum, will take place in the open air before a jury comprising a poet, a television producer and TV presenters, Al-Hayat newspaper reported, quoting forum supervisor Jalawi al-Shukair.
Sounds as relevant as a Fundamentalist Christian version of Carl Sagan’s COSMOS.
Thanks, ED
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Respect existence
or
Expect resistance
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A passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials.
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50 Tips To Be Frugal
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Trivia Tidbits: Facts About Coffee: New Yorkers drink almost 7 times more coffee than other cities in the US. *** The lethal dose of caffeine is roughly 100 cups of coffee. *** The French philosopher Voltaire is said to have drank 50 cups of coffee a day. *** Hawaii is the only US state that commercially grows coffee. *** Coffee beans are actually the pit of a berry, which makes them a fruit. *** And lastly, Teddy Roosevelt is and was the greatest American coffee drinker, consuming a gallon a day. A few more coffee facts here
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Why the cat hates you
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Ferropolis, 'the city of iron' is a museum - opened in 1995 - of old huge industrial machines in Gräfenhainichen, a city near Dessau, Germany. It's an open air museum which contains machines from the mid-twentieth century. They can measure to 30 meters high, 120 meters long and weigh up to 1980 tons. As skeletons of huge extinct dinosaurs, these derelict machines seem finally resting in a graveyard of obsolete technology.
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Birch Aquarium at Scripps is the public exploration center for the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the aquarium features more than 60 habitats of fishes and invertebrates from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico and beyond. Explore an amazing diversity of fish and invertebrates that make their home within the kelp forest, a crucial ocean ecosystem. The High Definition Kelp Cam lets you take a dive without getting wet. Discover leopard sharks, garibaldi, eels, barracuda, giant sea bass, and more within this two-story, 70,000-gallon tank.
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Neal Stephenson and the good folks at the Subutai Corporation are looking to raise $500,000 on Kickstarter to fund CLANG, a rich, detailed and faithful swordfighting game. I've heard tell of the Stephenson swordfighting practice sessions, and particularly of the incredible swordfighters in his orbit. The idea of a game that is as faithful to the sport as its creator is fascinating.
In the last couple of years, affordable new gear has come on the market that makes it possible to move, and control a swordfighter's actions, in a much more intuitive way than pulling a plastic trigger or pounding a key on a keyboard. So it's time to step back, dump the tired conventions that have grown up around trigger-based sword games, and build something that will enable players to inhabit the mind, body, and world of a real swordfighter.
CLANG will begin with the Queen of Weapons: the two-handed longsword used in Europe during late medieval and early renaissance times. This is a well-documented style that has enjoyed a revival in recent years thanks to the efforts of scholars and martial artists worldwide.
At first, it'll be a PC arena game based on one-on-one dueling (which is a relatively simple and attainable goal; we don't want to mess this up by overreaching). Dueling, however, is only the tip of the sword blade. During the past few years, we have been developing a rich world, brimming with all manner of adventure tales waiting to be written--and to be played. In conjunction with 47 North, Amazon.com's new science fiction publishing house, we've already begun publishing some of those stories, and we have plenty more in the hopper. Once we get CLANG off the ground we intend to weave game and story content together in a way that'll enhance both the playing and the reading experience.
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How to drive properly
How to drive properly
I’m guilty of driving in the left lane sometime. I used to do it regularly, but I’m getting better at not driving there.
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As we get older we sometimes begin to doubt our ability to “make a difference” in the world. It is at these times that our hopes are boosted by the remarkable achievements of other “seniors” who have found the courage to take on challenges that would make many of us wither.
Harold Schlumberg is such a person:
“I’ve often been asked, ‘What do you do now that you’re retired?’

Well…I’m fortunate to have a chemical engineering background and one of the things I enjoy most is converting beer, wine and whiskey into urine.

It’s rewarding, uplifting, satisfying and fulfilling. I do it every day and I really enjoy it.”
Harold should be an inspiration to us all.
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The Paramount Picture
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Paramount Pictures, photographer Art Streiber assembled 116 movie stars into one picture. Shown here is just a section of the picture that appears in the July issue of Vanity Fair. You can mouseover the full, larger image at Vanity Fair to see the names. Link -via Buzzfeed
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10 Bets You Will Never Lose
http://youtu.be/oaR3TJjNUE8
These tricks from Richard Wiseman look really neat, but you may have to go back and watch some of them over a couple of times to get them straight. I would advise playing these tricks on your friends one at a time, or your friend may end up completely shattered. -via Breakfast Links
Previously: More Bets You Can’t Lose
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What’s in a name? Apparently, a lot more than you (or I) ever thought there was. Here’s what his pet name for you really means…..
Darling — Depends on how he says it. If he stresses the first syllable, then he’s probably done something wrong or wants money.
Dear — Probably a leftover from his parents. Expect him to wear woolly cardigans, smoke a pipe and prefer a mug of Ovaltine to lager.
Sweetheart — If it’s said patronizingly, it’s not so sweet. But when uttered in earnest, it may send your own sweet heart aflutter.
Babe — Not to be confused with the film of the same name. Check for flares or signs that he’s a 70s throwback. He’s a bit of a medallion man. Chances are he’s got his initials on his chunky ring. Leave immediately if he tries to sell you a second-hand car.
Baby doll — This type of man will probably require you to wear transparent frilly nighties even in the dead of winter. He doesn’t want you to grow up, and obviously can’t deal with real women.
Princess — Never trust a man who calls you princess. You may think you’re being treated like royalty, but beware of Prince Charmings – they may be secretly plotting your over- throw.
Sexy — Fine if you’re sexy. If you’re not, who cares? He probably thinks you are anyway!!
My girlfriend — He’s honest, open and probably glad to have you around. The next thing you know he’ll be using your name!
The wife — If you’re married then he probably thinks he owns you. If you’re not, he probably thinks you act like his wife, in which case, he thinks he owns you.
My other half — You complete the set – he’s only half a man without you. But it may make you feel as though you are losing your identity somewhere.
The missus — See The Wife.
My partner — He’s right on. Probably likes eating tofu and hugging trees.
My significant other — He’s even more right on. Probably thinks it’s cruel to eat tofu and that trees need their own space.
She who must be obeyed — He thinks you’re a nag, but probably doesn’t lift a finger around the house.
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Super Gory Mario Bros.
In the age of gory video games, good ol' Mario just looks so ... dowdy. Well, no more! Frantisek Vaclavek of Blumasters updated Super Mario Bros. by adding a little bit (okay a lot) of blood and gore.
Check it out over at Walyou: Link [embedded YouTube]
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Happy birthday to all of us! It’s Meetup’s tenth birthday!


Ten years ago this month, Meetup was born.
People thought we were crazy, but 76 million RSVPs later, it turns out we're all a little crazy.
Meetup Groups worldwide: 103,761
Meetup Group memberships: 16,043,571
New Meetup Groups last month:5,989
I am an event organizer in a meetup group of 3,256 people.
We have had 1,515 meetups so far (I have only been to 38 events with this group).
And there are 32 upcoming meetups on our schedule as of today.
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The Myths and Marvels of Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is the highest-altitude navigable lake on earth. It spans two countries and thousands of years of civilization. In fact, those who live there consider it the birthplace of the Incas. Read more about this fabled lake and see gorgeous pictures at Environmental Graffiti. Link
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"Hey, I read about a McDonald's in California that was built with mostly recycled synthetic material. Which is ironic because recycled synthetic material is also the main ingredient in a McRib." -Jimmy Fallon
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You may know that the primary colors are red, blue and yellow and that they can't be made from mixing any colors. But there are a few colors that you've never heard of or maybe haven't even seen. Like malachite, gamboge, falu red or razzmatazz.
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Now You Know It Anyway (in Dutch: Nu ken je het toch al) is a short children's animation made by studio Polder Animation. At a sunny flea market, Robin tries to sell her own made-up stories. As she tells one of her stories with increasing confidence to a potential customer, all the main characters come alive and anxiously listen in. The animation is in Dutch with English subtitles.
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A young man, hired by a supermarket, reported for his first day of work. The manager greeted him with a warm handshake and a smile, gave him a broom and said, "Your first job will be to sweep out the store."

"But I'm a college graduate." the young man replied indignantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that," said the manager. "Here, give me the broom, I'll show you how."
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Why do priests wear shorts in the shower?
They don't like to look down on the unemployed.
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Ever hear of the redneck who thought that "Manual Labor" was the new Mexican President?
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The first thing I do after opening a bar of Ivory soap is to scrape off the .0056 part that's impure.
I mean, who wants to wash themselves with that crap?
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"Once you get people laughing, they're listening and you can tell them almost anything"
--HERB GARDNER
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Karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can, using only their hands and feet, make some of the worst movies in the history of the world.-- Dave Barry
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If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you're probably heading the wrong way.
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The bustard's a fortuitous fowl,
Who has but small reason to growl.
He avoids illigitemacy
By the simple expediency
Of the use of an alternate vowel.
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A woman's charm is her strength,
A man's strength is his charm. -- Anon --
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Game of Bucks? (Gang of Drones)

The House of Starbucks invites you to enjoy a cool mead because, after all, summer is coming.
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The Hubble Space Telescope shows that we're on a collision course with the nearby Andromeda galaxy—and set to crash in about 4 billion years

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Ask Smithsonian
Q: Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune are gas planets, meaning they have no solid surface. So what is at their cores?
— Cho Meir, Takoma Park, Maryland

A: The cores of gas planets are made up of elements like silicon and iron. While scientists sometimes refer to those cores as "rocky" or "metallic," they are speaking metaphorically. The gas planets have masses much larger than Earth's, and as a result the pressures at their cores exceed millions of atmospheres (the sea-level pressure we are used to). Those pressures compress the elements into forms with very different properties from those we know.
— Dimitar Sasselov, Astrophysicist Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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"A lot of accidents are caused by bikers who don't have a feel for the road, like the dentists and accountants that take Harleys out on the weekend." -Craig Ferguson
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Healthy Living from Health.com

BEAT THE TOP SUMMER HEALTH HAZARDS
http://health.chtah.net/a/tBP2M1mBFYNexB8jem$CFNC1EYN/top23
Don't let outdoor dangers spoil your warm-weather fun! Find out what poison ivy looks like, the best ways to avoid bug bites, and more in our summer-safety guide.

SKINCARE SECRETS OF THE STARShttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBP2M1mBFYNexB8jem$CFNC1EYN/top24
How to age-proof your skin like a celebrity

DOWNSIZED DELICIOUSNESShttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBP2M1mBFYNexB8jem$CFNC1EYN/top25
11 bite-sized meals with big flavor

GET TONED IN 7 MINUTES FLAThttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBP2M1mBFYNexB8jem$CFNC1EYN/top26
That's all the time you need to get in shape
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One of Sigmund Freud's early patients rushed out into an Austrian afternoon on her way to meet her best friend at a
coffee house. Over Cappuccino and Viennese pastries, she suddenly burst out crying.
Her friend begged her to share what was wrong.
"Oh, it's just terrible," she wailed. "Today the doctor told me I'm in love with my father, and. . .and. . .and you know, he's a
married man!"
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"People around the world think America is the coolest country. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an explosion to walk away from while I put on sunglasses in slow motion." -Jimmy Kimmel~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


It's Time... for...
sexyclock.jpg

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Portland On The Web: NBC, Yahoo News, Taipei Times & More

Imbibing Portlanders rejoiced this week as a new pilot program in NE Portland allowed them to purchase their wine, beer and liquor all in one place. The news arrived just in time for Portland's #1 summer sport: outdoor drinking. Portland's child population became a little scarier this week with enrollment increases in archery programs, because preparing your child for a murderous, dystopian future is just good parenting (Thanks, Hunger Games).

And finally, we can't use Portland's crappy economy as an excuse to sit around and drink all day instead of job hunting anymore with increases in employment and predicted job growth. Here's a roundup of what the internet had to say about our fair city this week (Photo Credit to The Oregonian's Doug Beghtel):

KATU: NE Portland liquor store part of pilot program to sell beer and wine
OregonLive: Interest in archery programs is sky-high in Portland
Taipei Times: Kaohsiung delegation arrives in Portland
OregonLive: Photo essay: Portland Then & Now
Yahoo Finance: 8 cities with surprising job growth
MSNBC: States with the fastest growing economies
RACC: Arts and Economic Prosperity Report
Plunderathon: Pirates vs Lawyers, Drinks, Games & More
Portland's keeping it unusual this weekend with the annual Plunderathon this Saturday. The meeting point is the Skidmore fountain at noon, just like it has been for 168 previous years. Activities include disliking lawyers, wearing pirate gear, drinking, plundering, games, and more drinking. Have a good time!
More Info: Portland Plunderathon | Pirates vs Lawyers, Drinks, Games, Free
Portland Naked Bike Ride & Pedalpalooza
Portland’s gigantic annual bike festival Pedalpalooza continues to build as the largest event, the World Naked Bike Ride is this Saturday night. There are currently over 270 events on the Pedalpalooza website and probably around a 50 for just this weekend. We went through and found around 20 events that look to be good, well attended, or should be interesting including. More Info: Pedalpalooza: Portland Bike Event Picks June 14-17 | Naked Bike Rides, Star Wars vs Star Trek, Zombie Apocalypse, & More

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Tesla versus Edison – let the lightning round begin.
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Everyone knows I'm a stickler for good spelling. So, when an associate e-mailed technical documents asking me to "decifer" them, I had to set him straight.
I wrote, "Decipher is spelled with a ph, not an f. In case you've forgotten, spell checker comes free with your software."
A minute later, I got this reply, "Mine must be dephective."
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Once we rid ourselves of traditional thinking we can get on with creating the future.~ James Bertrand
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Tasty Little Bugs


Cherry tomatoes and black olives make really cute lady bugs. Base is made up of sliced bagettes, cream cheese, smoked salmon and flat leafed parsley. Sprinkle ground black pepper on tomato and using a toothpick dot some cream cheese on the olives for the eyes.
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This a part of the picture
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Friends of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Bosque del Apache translates as "Woods of the Apache." Native Americans often camped at this river-side forest, and the area was occupied by Pueblo Peoples for centuries before the Spanish explorers established the Camino Real (the Royal Road from Mexico City to Santa Fe) in the sixteenth century. The Camino Real ran right through the present-day Refuge.
Read About the 10 Million Year Old Fossil Discovered at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Paleontologists from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science have confirmed the fossil is from an oreodont, an extinct group of hoofed ungulates that were unique to North America and lived during the Miocene era between 10 and 15 million years ago.
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Top 4 Tips for Attracting Hummingbirds
You can attract these amazing feathered friends to your yard or garden .Just provide the essential elements wildlife
need for survival — food, water, shelter and places to raise young. Here are four helpful tips to create a welcoming haven
for hummingbirds!

1. Hang a feeder.
Offer sugar water in a hummingbird feeder by mixing one part sugar to four parts boiling water. Change the water frequently, even if no birds seem to be visiting. The “nectar” can spoil quickly, sending a hummer away no matter how hungry it is. Replace the solution every five to seven days during the cooler months, and as often as every two days in the summer.

2. Make sure your flowers are a favorite.
Plant annuals and perennials with different blooming periods. You’ll have a steady supply of flowers in your yard from early spring until fall to attract hummingbirds and keep them there. Red and tubular flowers are a favorite, but also consider native honeysuckles, most varieties of sages or salvia, and many types of columbine.

3. Leaving some insects can be beneficial.
While many people think hummingbirds feed only on nectar, the birds feed their young a diet made up almost entirely
of small insects. In addition, adult birds need regular doses of protein from mosquitoes, spiders, thrips, gnats and
other arthropods.

4. Don’t forget water.
If you have a birdbath, place a couple of flat rocks in it to give the tiny birds a chance to bathe. Running water seems to be
a magnet to hummers — they will even fly through the spray of a sprinkler.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Greens, Eggs, and Ham Mug

Our eggs aren't green... but the delicious veggies in this recipe are!
We will eat them from a mug, we will eat them with a pug...

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped spinach leaves
2/3 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1 oz. (about 2 slices) extra-lean ham, chopped
1 wedge The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss cheese
1 tbsp. chopped scallions
Optional seasonings: salt and black pepper

Directions:
In a large microwave-safe mug sprayed with nonstick spray, microwave spinach for 45 seconds, or until wilted.
Blot away excess liquid. Add egg substitute, stir, and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.
Mix in ham and cheese wedge, breaking the wedge into pieces as you add it. Microwave for another 1 1/2 minutes, or until set. Sprinkle with scallions and eat up!
MAKES 1 SERVING
Entire recipe: 154 calories, 2.5g fat, 813mg sodium, 6g carbs, 1g fiber, 3.5g sugars, 23.5g protein - PointsPlus® value 3*
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7 Tiny Books That Packed a Big Punch
1. Common Sense by Thomas Paine (52 pages)
2. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (72 pages)
3. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (82 pages)
4. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (26 pages)
5. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (52 pages)
6. The Art of War by Sun Tzu (68 pages)
7. Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (54 pages)
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Wedding drama
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The Oldest Known Recording of a US President’s Voice
Benjamin Harrison was President of the United States from 1889-1893. In the first year of his presidency, he recorded the following statement onto an Edison phonograph wax cylinder:
As president of the United States, I was present at the first Pan-American congress in Washington D.C. I believe that with God’s help, our two countries shall continue to live side-by-side in peace and prosperity.
This is the earliest known recording of a US President. You can listen to it at the link.
Link -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: Library of Congress
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Student Caught with 35 ft-long Cheat Sheet
There's cheating, and then there's this Borat-style stunt from a student in Kazakhstan: A high school student has been expelled after being caught with a 35ft (11 metres) long crib sheet wrapped around his body during his university entrance exam in Kazakhstan. [...] Under his shirt they found a chain of computer print-outs containing 25,000 potential answers to the exam's five topics of maths, history, Russian, Kazhak, and another subject of the student's choice.
Link - via Arbroath
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There's a lot has been said 'bout the breast---
Like how nicely they feel when they're pressed.
But when push comes to shove,
In this business of love,
Its "twats" 'tween the legs that is best.
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IT does smell like FISH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgvKhBR4vMI
Female human diver gets uncomfortably close to an aroused male .
Another Dolphin Attack
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6 Utterly Insane Video Games
If you’re like me, you think that Katamari is pretty crazy, but these 6 games make Katamari look like the suburban housewife of video games. Take, for example, LSD: Bumping into anything or anyone will cause the screen to fade and teleport you to another random place. After a while, you might start seeing the same places again, so the game keeps it interesting by doing things like replacing doors with women’s faces or filling the walls with eyes that slowly follow you as you walk past.
Believe it or not, that’s not the craziest one on this list either. Link
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blaguer
n. one who talks pretentiously
blatteroon
n. a senseless babbler or boaster
perissology
n. needless abundance of words
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Photo of a Bee Sting in Progress
No, bees have not developed 2-inch long stingers. That’s abdominal tissue trailing behind the bee as it leaves the scene of the crime. Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California at Davis snapped this amazing one-in-a-million shot.
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Taco Bell Opening Hoax Devastated Alaskan Town
No chalupa for you, Bethel, Alaska! The town in bush Alaska (pop. 6,000) was reeling at the revelation that a Taco Bell opening was just a cruel, cruel hoax:
It was some unique form of tundra humor at work, apparently, that led to the fliers posted on various local bulletin boards, promising an opening in time for Bethel’s annual Independence Day parade and offering employment. “We got excited, because we don’t have any fast food chains out here, and the idea of Taco Bell coming in? And they were going to be here for the 4thof July?” Chamber of Commerce director Bonnie Bradbury said in an interview. “You bring a McDonald’s or a KFC, people will go crazy out here,” said Tatiana Dotdot, who works at the local AC store, the rambling supermarket that sells everything from diapers to all-terrain vehicles, as long as it can be brought in on a barge or a plane. Link
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I think my favourite part is that Call Me Maybe is the soundtrack. ;)
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Bloopers Agility Helsinki 2008
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Could You Get A DUI On This Thing?
What happens when you mix the sociability and alcoholism of a bar with the exercise and safety-hazards of a bike? Well, you get the awesome Cycle Pub. Best of all, it’s not actually as dangerous as it sounds since only one (sober) person actually drives and everyone else just pedals to provide momentum. For those interested in taking in the scenes while throwing back a few beers, the cycle pub is booking tours in Boise, Idaho, Bend, Oregon and Carson City and Reno, Nevada. Link Via Visit Bend (It was in Portland a little while ago)
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Today's Lesson
*The SNAP/Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed The Animals." This is because the animals may grow dependent on handouts and not learn to take care of themselves.
p.s... OR JUST TOO DAMN LAZY!
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Denis the Cat Burglar
Denis the Cat Burglar Newman loves to collect things, like the neighbor’s laundry from clotheslines. In this security video, you can see him bringing home his ill-gotten gains, over and over. Neighbors in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, know where to go to claim missing items. Denis was a shelter kitten, and lends his criminal fame to the organization Homeless Car Rescue Bedfordshire. Link -via Arbroath
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Beyond Meat — woo hoo!
A new brand of plant-based protein food that promises to look, feel, taste and act like chicken meat has hit the stores in the US with a promise to offer a tasty alternative to animal-based food. Beyond Meat is the brainchild of Ethan Brown, an entrepreneur who was brought up on a dairy farm in Maryland USA, whose first-hand experience with animal agriculture led him to adopt a vegan lifestyle. Frustrated with the options available, he decided to search for a better plant-based, processed vegan option to replace meat.
His mission to decrease the number of animals slaughtered for food with innovative plant protein led him to cross paths with Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff at the University of Missouri. Together they developed a process that has been licensed exclusively from that university. Beyond Meat’s processing plant is more like a laboratory than a kitchen…where different ingredients based on soy, pea, carrot and gluten-free flour, among others, undergo a cooking and cooling process before strips of the stuff come out of customized equipment…
Beyond Meat is not the first attempt to mimic meat with plant ingredients…But Ethan Brown’s offering is the first one to hit the market with this level of mimetic power, designed to win over to the vegan lifestyle those who appreciate the texture of meat.
Well. I’d be willing to give it a try if it resulted in savings over meat. Whole Foods in northern California is supposed to be in stock this week. If anyone gets to try it – let me know how you feel about it.
Sounds like something I would try too, Thanks, Ed
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Game of Thrones Put George W. Bush’s Head on a Spike


Oops! The creators of the Game of Thrones on HBO were caught using a likeness of George W. Bush as a decapitated head on a spike.
Gizmodo wrote:
If you keep your eyes peeled when King Joffrey takes Sansa Stark to gaze upon the spiked head of her dead father around 12 minutes in, you'll notice that one of the heads looks slightly familiar. Show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explained in their DVD commentary (from Season 1, episode 10) that the decapitated head is actually George Bush. This was discovered by redditor SidIncognito.
Game of Thrones producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss acknowledged it:
What happened was this: we use a lot of prosthetic body parts on the show: heads, arms, etc. We can't afford to have these all made from scratch, especially in scenes where we need a lot of them, so we rent them in bulk. After the scene was already shot, someone pointed out that one of the heads looked like George W. Bush.In the DVD commentary, we mentioned this, though we should not have. We meant no disrespect to the former President and apologize if anything we said or did suggested otherwise. Link | Reddit Link
I just saw this episode the other night ~ and I saw it ~ cool!
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10 Bizarre Schools Around The Country
Parents in Manhattan are complaining about the lack of structure at a school founded by the Blue Man Group. You’d think they would have checked out the curriculum before handing over the tuition -what did they think a school run by the Blue Man Group would be like? But that’s just one school. If you’ve got the money, you can go to a school without books, without classes, or without rules. Or you can attend a more traditional but strangely specialized school. One from this list that fascinated me was the FDNY High School For Fire And Life Safety. This school doesn’t just have fire drills — it prepares students for a career in fire safety. The Brooklyn high school is run by the Fire Department of New York.
Each school is linked for more information in this list of ten from Buzzfeed. Link
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Incredible photography. Just sit back and watch
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The infamous case of baby Azaria Chamberlain who vanished in the Australian desert some 30 years ago could be near closure as a new inquest heard a dingo likely took the infant. Azaria disappeared from a tent in the desert near Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in 1980, in a case which gripped the world and sparked decades of debate in Australia over whether her mother Lindy was responsible for the baby's death. The case has been the subject of three previous inquests and a trial which saw Lindy Chamberlain jailed, but evidence to the fourth inquest suggests that attacks by dingoes on humans are frequent and sometimes fatal.
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Deep in the Caucasus region, where Western Asia and Eastern Europe meet, the small country of Georgia has a number of surprises. Not least is the Katskhi Pillar, a 130 feet high limestone monolith. Even more surprising than the monolith itself, however, is the fact that there is a church on its apex. It is not a large church by any means - space alone demands its diminutive size. The church - or more likely a hermitage - was made in the 9th or 10th century and lay abandoned from the thirteenth century onwards. Surprisingly, there are no records of the monolith being climbed after it was deserted until as late as 1944.
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As scientists and concerned citizens, we applaud the recent trend towards legislation which requires the prominent placing of warnings on products that present hazards to the general public. Yet we must also offer the cautionary thought that such warnings, however well-intentioned, merely scratch the surface of what is really necessary in this important area. This is especially true in light of the findings of 20th century quantum physics.

We therefore propose that the following list of warnings appears on every product offered for sale in the United States.

WARNING: This Product Warps Space and Time in Its Vicinity.

CAUTION: The Mass of This Product Contains the Energy Equivalent of 85 Million Tons of TNT per Net Ounce of Weight.

HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE: This Product Contains Minute Electrically Charged Particles Moving at Velocities in Excess of Five Hundred Million Miles Per Hour.

CONSUMER NOTICE: Because of the "Uncertainty Principle," It Is Impossible for the Consumer to Find Out at the Same Time Both Precisely Where This Product Is and How Fast It Is Moving. (Note: This one is optional on the grounds that Heisenburg was never quite sure that his principle was correct)

ADVISORY: There is an Extremely Small but Nonzero Chance That, Through a Process Know as "Tunneling," This Product May Spontaneously Disappear from Its Present Location and Reappear at Any Random Place in the Universe, Including Your Neighbor's Domicile. The Manufacturer Will Not Be Responsible for Damages or Inconvenience That May Result.

ATTENTION: Despite Any Other Listing of Product Contents Found Hereon, the Consumer is Advised That, in Actuality, This Product Consists Of 99.999999999% Empty Space.

PLEASE NOTE: Some Quantum Physics Theories Suggest That When the Consumer Is Not Directly Observing This Product, It May Cease to Exist or Will Exist Only in a Vague and Undetermined State. HEALTH WARNING: Care Should Be Taken When Lifting This Product, Since Its Mass, and Thus Its Weight, Is Dependent on Its Velocity Relative to the User.
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Yohio: Japanese Doll Singer is Actually a Dude

Meet Yohio, a singer of the Japanese band Seremedy. The anime-inspired look and fancy costumes aren't the only unusual thing about the pop star: Yohio is actually a 16-year-old Swedish boy!
Oddity Central has the story and video clip of Yohio's solo performance (despite the appearance, he actually sings in a man's voice): Born in a family of musicians, Yohio was a part of a visual kei band called Seremedy, at the age of 14. They were so successful that after making appearances at a few conventions, they were signed by Nintone Records/Universal Music Japan. Yohio’s look became so popular in Nippon that this year he launched his own solo album, “Reach the Sky”. The young musician, who describes himself as a ”bishounen” (beautiful young boy), became interested in Japan when he was just a 10-year-old by watching anime. He started learning the language, following Japanese blogs and even keeping up with celebrities on sites like Twitter. Now, he’s performing in front of thousands of Japanese fans who love both his looks and his music. Link
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When our client's dog lapped up anti-freeze, the veterinarian I work for ordered a unique treatment: an IV drip mixing fluids with vodka. "Go buy the cheapest bottle you can find," he told me.
At the liquor store, I was uneasy buying a liter of cheap booze at ten o'clock in the morning, and I felt compelled to explain things to the clerk. "Believe it or not," I said, "this is for a sick dog."
As I was leaving, the next customer plunked down two bottles of muscatel and announced, "These are for my cats."
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We seek frictionless communication because it's more expedient; less threatening to our temperaments and egos. But just as friction is used to sharpen a blade, so it can be used to sharpen one's thinking.--Jaffer Ali, from 'A Critical Discourse'

The myth of objective journalism has been torn asunder by tens of thousands of citizen journalists who share more with W.E.B DuBois, I.F. Stone and Frederick Douglass than they do with mainstream reporters who feign objectivity. --Jaffer Ali,from 'Advocacy Journalism - Back to the Future'

A simple business principle suggests that scaling choice before you have figured out how to monetize what you have is a recipe for disaster. --Jaffer Ali, Entrepreneur, from 'Am I Right'
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The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.~ Vincent Van Gogh
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QUOTE: "The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it."

HINT: (1892-1973), American writer, novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the U.S. in 1931 and 1932.

ANSWER: Pearl S. Buck.
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RANDOM TIDBITS

Sammy Davis, Jr., Sandy Duncan, and Peter Falk all had or have one glass eye. Davis lost an eye in an automobile accident, while Duncan and Falk had theirs removed due to cancer.

Prior to the discovery of anesthetic eye drops in 1884, cataract surgery was performed under general anesthesia, which made it all the more risky. Interestingly enough, the active ingredient in those first numbing eye drops was cocaine.

In 1962, David Bowie got into a schoolyard fight over a girl. A punch in the eye from George Underwood resulted in a paralyzed pupil for Bowie, which is why the singer's eyes appear to be two different colors.

If the white your eye can be seen over the top and bottom of your iris, the colored part of your eye, the doctor will immediately suspect thyroid problems. The excess hormones produced cause the tissue behind the eye to swell, which causes the eyeball to protrude.

Your eyes are set back further in your head than your forehead or your cheeks so that if you receive a blow to the eye, your brow and cheekbone will take the brunt of the impact.

Allan Pinkerton opened the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago in 1850. He and his employees specialized in covert, undercover work, and the company's logo, an unblinking eye with the motto "We Never Sleep," inspired the term "private eye."
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New iphone
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There was a young man from Nantucket
Took a pig in a thicket to fuck it.
Said the pig, "Oh, I'm queer,
Get away from my rear. . .
Come around to the front and I'll suck it."
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Your PMS Plan of Attack
Don't sit and stare at your calendar in fear as the week of your period draws near. Here, we give you the tools to ease your PMS symptoms with natural remedies. Bonus: You probably have most of these things in your kitchen already.
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'Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a TON of CHIT.'
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Please write all complaints legibly in this space []

"Don't blow smoke up my ass.. you'll ruin my autopsy." William Parrish

If you don't have time to do it right, when are you gonna have the time to do it over?
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease." Thomas A. Edison
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Q: What do men and pantyhose have in common?

A: They either cling, run or don't fit right in the crotch!
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Ten senators are about to enter Congress when a barrage of snowballs knocks off their tophats. Each retrieves a hat at random. What is the probability that exactly nine of them receive their own hats?
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Right-to-die movement continues to gain as the world ages
Right-to-die activists hope more countries will allow assisted suicide or euthanasia in coming years as the world population ages…
“We have seen over the last 20 years a general migration of positivity towards this being a just cause,” Ted Goodwin, the American president of the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies, told a news conference in Zurich on Tuesday.
Goodwin was speaking as representatives of 55 right-to-die societies from around the world gathered for a three-day congress to mark the 30th anniversary of Exit, a Swiss group which provides lethal drugs to help the terminally ill die.
Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since 1942, if performed by a non-physician who has no direct interest in the death. Euthanasia, or “mercy killing”, is legal only in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the U.S. state of Oregon…
He said ageing societies meant that half of medical costs are now falling in the last three to six months of life on care that does not change the trajectory of a disease…
A rise in terminally ill foreigners – particularly from Germany, France and Britain – travelling to Switzerland to commit suicide have prompted calls in recent years for the country to tighten its liberal laws.
But in 2010, voters in Zurich overwhelmingly rejected proposed bans on assisted suicide and “suicide tourism”, and in 2011, the national government decided against imposing new limits on assisted suicide.
Goodwin said the examples of Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium and Oregon had not shown any noteworthy abuse. “Ours is a mission of compassion, of generosity. We know that no-one is more vulnerable than those who are dying and those dying in pain,” he said. “Society can provide protection for vulnerable individuals.”
Exit President Saskia Frei said the practice was carefully monitored by the Swiss authorities: “There is no death which is as closely investigated as assisted suicide,” she said.
Opponents of death with dignity generally are speaking for one-or-another religion. They have a perfect right to their beliefs – and I have a perfect right not to be forced to live by their religious rules.

As long as the United States – excepting Oregon – continues to maintain such inhumanity, I reserve the right to defy that law.
Thanks, Ed ~ I planned ahead *eg*
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Larry the parrot dials an imaginary phone number, rambles a little, then starts laughing.
We can only understand about half of what he's saying but that's what makes it so funny. This must be what we sound like to him.
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Epic Talking Parrot Cusses Up a Storm
Loki brings you the trials and tribulations of being an African Grey Parrot in this short film. He begins in his happy place but finds himself conflicted there in the middle for a bit. Then, he shows acceptance by deeming himself a "good boy."
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Einstein, amazing bird!!!he talks like a human being!!!
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Shocking Stocking
Stocking climber
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Beautiful Prosthetic Legs
An industrial designer and an orthopedic surgeon realized that prosthetic legs don’t have to be dull, ordinary and plastic. They could be extraordinary expressions of personal body art. So they founded Bespoke Innovations, a firm which designs and produces fairings that fit over pre-existing prosthetic legs. They’re modular, so owners can swap out fairings to fit the fashion needs of different occasions. Check out their gallery at the link. Link -via The Breda Fallacy
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Terrible fate awaits hooligans at Euros
FROM testicle-biting police dogs to sonic cannons capable of inducing involuntary urination, Polish anti-hooligan squads are ready for Euro 2012.
The English-language Krakow Post newspaper asserted in an editorial that local law enforcement agencies were prepared to tackle any hooligan threat at England's southern Poland base camp.
"The Polish police are going to come down on troublemakers like a bag full of anvils and you don't want to be there when it happens," the paper warned.
"Krakow has a long history of hooligan violence - the local police have seen it all before and they will ruin your day if you try it on.
"These lads' mums and dads rioted under Soviet machine guns - a few chairs thrown by beered-up fans is not going to intimidate them.
"Do not expect softly, softly police tactics.
"Poland's anti-hooligan squads are armed with: Shotguns firing baton rounds that probably won't kill you as long as you're 30m away, a truck-mounted water cannon affectionately known as ‘the typhoon', a high-tech sonic cannon that can make you wet yourself on its lowest setting, dogs trained to bite you directly in the testicles."
English fans are not expected to arrive in Krakow in significant numbers, with England's Group D games all taking place in Ukraine.
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Ninja Kitty Is Ready to Climb
We’ve seen plenty of ninja cats before, but this one is seriously amazing in his stealth skills.
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This isn’t that hard!
I wonder how she made it all the way to the garage in the first place.
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The Swiss Army Tampon – A survival tool
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Yes, our time has finally come. The bullies can now know the terror they so like to instil as we wield our powers of technology to deliver far more frightening threats than a man with muscles could ever terrorise us with! Muahahaha.
P.S. I have no idea how to hack into a Facebook account. Dang.
[Source: The Joy of Tech]
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Trivia Tidbit: Actor James Woods was so shaken by by a flight he took from Boston to Los Angeles about a month before the September 11 attacks that he told a flight attendant and authorities of his suspicions when he landed. Woods was in first class and the only other passengers in the section were four men who appeared to be Middle Eastern in origin.
During the entire 6–hour flight, Woods noticed the men neither ate nor drank. They talked to each other in whispers and did not read or sleep. On September 12, Woods called the FBI to tell investigators about his experience. He was interviewed by agents on September 13.

News reports indicate that at least some of the 19 hijackers who took over four flights on September 11, 2001 made “dry runs” several weeks in advance, taking cross-country flights. Link
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1. Creed has sold more records in the U.S. than Jimi Hendrix
2. Led Zepplin, R.E.M. and Depeche Mode have never had a number one single. Rihanna has had 10
3. Ke$ha’s “Tik-Tok” has sold more copies than any Beatles single ever.
4. Flo Rida’s “Low” has sold 8 million copies – the same as The Beatles “Hey Jude”
5. The Black Eyed Peas “Ive got a feeling” is more popular than any Simon & Garfunkel or Elvis song.
6. Celine Dion’s “Falling Into You” sold more copies than any Queen, Nirvana, or Bruce Springsteen record.
7. Same with Shania Twain’s “Come On Over”
8. Katy Perry holds the same record as Michael Jackson for most number one singles from an album.
9. Barbra Streisand has sold more records (140 million) than Pearl Jam, Johnny Cash, and Tom Petty combined.
10. People actually bought Billy Ray Cyrus’ album “Some Gave All…” 20 million people. More than any Bob Marley album.
11. The cast of “Glee” has had more songs chart than the Beatles.
12. Justin Beiber exists.
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I was leaning over the little league bleachers watching our team strike out, when somebody mentioned that Sunday is Father's Day.
"To me it's always been like 'anti-father's day,'" I said.
"What do you mean?" one guy asked.
"Well, I play golf every Sunday at 6:30 am. Then I come home, shower, eat and take a nap. When I wake it's usually time to head to the store to buy some steaks and start preparing for my famous Sunday barbeque. Then we eat, jump in the car, buy some sweets and head to my folks' for a visit.
"However, on Father's Day I have to skip golf, get ready early, smile when they give me my gift, which last year was a plastic cup with a ball in it to mix my Metamucil in, and do whatever shit my goofy-assed kids have planned for the day. No golf, no nap, no BBQ, no laziness.
"But this year I'm free! My wife is loading up the family truckster and taking the kids to visit her kin in the bayou. I'm playing 36!"
One quiet guy whispered, "You're so lucky. I wish my wife would leave me."
And his wife turned around and gave him the evil eye.

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"Father's Day is Sunday. Father's Day is the day we congratulate dad by getting mom drunk on wine coolers and getting him a bottle of cologne he doesn't wear." -Jimmy Kimmel
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Roger had set a double date for himself and his friend Tony. Roger said, "Tony, I'll give you first choice. Let me tell you what the girls are like. Sandra has kind of a dumpy figure and is plain-looking, but she gives an incredible blowjob. Suzie is pretty and has a great pair of legs, which she shows off by wearing high heels all the time."
"Say no more," interrupted Tony. "I'll go for head over heels anytime."
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"A 93-year-old woman and a 100-year-old man have become the world's oldest newlyweds. After a brief honeymoon, they plan to reside in heaven." -Craig Ferguson
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Dave was staring sadly into his beer and sighed heavily.
"What's up Dave?" asked the bartender. "It's not like you to be so down in the mouth."
"It's my five-year-old son," the man replied.
"Don't tell me, he's in trouble for fighting in school? My boy's just the same. Forget about it; it happens to boys that age," said the bartender, sympathetically.
"I only wish it was that," answered Dave, "but it's much worse. The little bastard has got our 16-year-old baby sitter pregnant."
"That's impossible!" gasped the bartender.
"No it's not," said Dave. "The sneak went and stuck a pin in all my condoms."
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"For the first time ever, more than half of all senior citizens in the U.S. are using the Internet. Yeah, I read that when my grandma sent the entire story to me in the subject line of an email." -Jimmy Fallon


"The World Economic Forum, which ranks economies, moved the United States down to 5th place. Switzerland came in 1st place. I guess those little army knives are selling like crazy." -Jimmy Kimmel


"I tried to make money as a kid. I had a lemonade stand for about six weeks. I made no money. I had to burn it down and collect insurance." --Brian Kiley
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“Terms of approbation and eulogy in American dialect speech,” compiled by Elsie Warnock for Dialect Notes, 1913:
  • angeliferous
  • cavascacious
  • flambustious
  • flippercanorious
  • grandacious
  • grandificent
  • grandilious
  • humgumptious
  • magnolious
  • rapteriferous
  • roritorious
  • scrumbotious
  • sniptious
  • spinortic
  • spondiculous
  • superumdifferous
  • swellelegant
“The facetious terms ‘gobsloptious,’ ‘gobersloptious,’ ‘globsloptious’ and ‘supergobsloptious,’ ‘superglobsloptious,’ ‘superglobbersloptious,’ and ‘supergobosnoptious’ seem to be variant forms differing because of the desire of one person to outdo another in the force of his terms of eulogy.”
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four in three
Can a square be inscribed in any triangle?
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Two Jewish businessmen meet in the street.
"Well, Morrie, how's your warehouse business going?"
. "Oy vey, Abraham, it's not going so good, we had a flood last week."
"So, Morrie," whispers Abraham "How do you start a flood?".
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Girlfriend Tech Support E-mail

I am currently running the latest version of GirlFriend and I've been having some problems lately. I've been running the same version of DrinkingBuddies 1.0 forever as my primary application, and all the GirlFriend releases I've tried have always conflicted with it. I hear that DrinkingBuddies won't crash if GirlFriend is run in background mode and the sound is turned off. But I'm embarrassed to say I can't find the switch to turn the sound off. I just run them separately, and it works okay.

Girlfriend also seems to have a problem co-existing with my Fishing 97 program, often trying to abort Fishing 97 with some sort of timing incompatibility. I probably should have stayed with GirlFriend 1.0, but I thought I might see better performance from GirlFriend 2.0. After months of conflicts and other problems, I consulted a friend who has had experience with GirlFriend 2.0. He said I probably didn't have enough cache to run GirlFriend 2.0, and eventually it would require a Token Ring to run properly. He was right - as soon as I purged my cache, it uninstalled itself.

Shortly after that, I installed GirlFriend 3.0 beta. All the bugs were supposed to be gone, but the first time I used it, it gave me a virus anyway. I had to clean out my whole system and shut down for a while. I very cautiously upgraded to GirlFriend 4.0. This time I used a SCSI probe first and also installed a virus protection program. It worked okay for a while until I discovered that GirlFriend 1.0 was still in my system. I tried running GirlFriend 1.0 again with GirlFriend 4.0 still installed, but GirlFriend 4.0 has a feature I didn't know about that automatically senses the presence of any other version of GirlFriend and communicates with it in some way, which results in the immediate removal of both versions.

The version I have now works pretty well, but there are still some problems. Like all versions of GirlFriend, it is written in some obscure language I can't understand, much less reprogram. Frankly I think there is too much attention paid to the look and feel rather than the desired functionality. Also, to get the best connections with your hardware, you usually have to use gold-plated contacts. And I've never liked how GirlFriend is totally "object-oriented."

A year ago, a friend of mine upgraded his version of GirlFriend to GirlFriendPlus 1.0, which is a Terminate and Stay Resident version of GirlFriend. He discovered that GirlFriendPlus 1.0 expires within a year if you don't upgrade to Fiancee 1.0. So he did, but soon after that, he had to upgrade to Wife 1.0 which he describes as a huge resource hog. It has taken up all his space, so he can't load anything else. One of the primary reasons he decided to go with Wife 1.0 was because it came bundled with FreeSexPlus. Well, it turns out the resource allocation module of Wife 1.0 sometimes prohibits access to FreeSexPlus, particularly the new Plug-Ins he wanted to try. On top of that, Wife 1.0 must be running on a well warmed-up system before he can do anything. Although he did not ask for it, Wife 1.0 came with MotherInLaw which has an automatic pop-up feature he can't turn off. I told him to try installing Mistress 1.0, but he said he heard if you try to run it without first uninstalling Wife 1.0, Wife 1.0 will delete MSMoney files before doing the uninstall itself. Then Mistress 1.0 won't install anyway because of insufficient resources.

Any Ideas???
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Competitive high school students are taking prescription drugs to give them an edge in grades. They might get ahead in the scholarship race, but the price they may pay later is dreadfully high.
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There are really only two situations where you should eat packaged meals with a multi-year shelf life: If you're traveling through space, or waiting out the apocalypse in an underground shelter. Other than that, you should never eat anything from a can, pouch or factory-sealed container -- and if you have to zap that packaged meal with microwave radiation to heat it up, you've taken an already bad meal and made it even worse.
Bon Appetit!!
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YouTuber mrandspi brought these 3-week-old kittens home from the animal shelter where he volunteers for a quick bath. This is what “less than thrilled” sounds like.
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2. Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.
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RAY BRADBURY: Jump!
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The first tribe guy with sneakers
Never mind the sneakers ~ check out the guy on the left's 'tube'
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There was the cartoon showing two people fighting over a cow. One was pulling the cow by the tail; the other was pulling on the horns. Underneath was a lawyer milking the cow.
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"If you let that sort of thing go on, your bread and butter will be cut right out from under your feet."
- Former British foreign minister Ernest Bevin
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Making snowmen is a popular way for children to entertain themselves during the winter months. It's a great winter tradition. Two giant snowballs, some lumps of coal and a strategically (or comically) placed carrot - and that's usually about it. However, some people have taken their snow sculpture skills to the next level.
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Cool way to display a fire extinguisher.
Diving-extinguisher
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Turns Out You Can Judge a Woman By Her Shoes
You're not supposed to judge a man before you walk a mile in his shoes, but that apparently that proverb doesn't apply to women: In a study conducted at the University of Kansas, people were able to accurately judge demographic and personality traits of complete strangers simply by looking at their most frequently worn shoes. It turns out 90 percent of a person's characteristics can be determined just by examining the style, cost, color and condition of their footwear. Link
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$20 Fine for Profanity
Don't you dare swear in Middleborough, Massachusetts! The town got fed up with profanity and is now fighting back: The residents of Middleborough, Massachusetts, have had enough of this *#%@&! And on Monday night they voted to make those who curse put their money where their potty mouths are - to the sum of $20, that is. Police in the town of 22,000 will be writing tickets bearing fines in that amount to those who foul its public places with profanity after residents voted 183-50 Monday night that they were mad as *#%@& and weren't going to take it anymore. Link
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Cats Meet Furby
A herd of cats encounter a functional Furby, and are not sure how they should proceed to eat it. -via Arbroath
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Spider’s Secret to Being a Great Lover AND a Great Fighter: Self-Castration
Men, are you a lover and not a fighter? That's just an excuse - because as the malabar spider males show, you can be both. All you have to do is snap your ... *shudder* oh, I can't even finish that sentence. Instead, let Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science tell you the story: To become both a lover and a fighter, the male spider Nephilengys malabarensis snaps off his penis inside his partner while they have sex. He becomes better at fending off other males who try to mate with her, because his now-lightened body can fight for longer without tiring. And while he’s playing the guardian, his detached genitals can continue pumping sperm into the female. Through self-castration, he gets more stamina, and he gets more stamina. Link
Previously on Neatorama: 30 Strangest Animal Mating Habits
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ANTHONY HOWE
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"Despite it's clever disguise the aperture to the right is not actually a window, but is a fire exit. _So_ if you want it open, please light this waste-paper bin so we aren't breaking the law, and the fire brigade will open it for you." -- Paul Gardner-Stephen
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"Major System (also called the phonetic number system, phonetic mnemonic system, or Herigone's mnemonic system)"
The process involves substituting consonants for numbers and thereby creating words. The first 25 key words are as follows: 1 tea, 2 Noah, 3 May, 4 ray, 5 law, 6 Shaw, (author) 7 key, 8 fee, 9 bay, 10 tease, 11 tot, 12 tan, 13 team, 14 tar, 15 tale, 16 touch, 17 tack, 18 taffy, 19 tap, 20 niece, 21 net, 22 noon, 23 name, 24 Nero, 25 nail...
The full list of words and the details of the system are available at Good Memory Secrets.
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Lord Sauron Wants You!
There are two sides of every story and here’s the other side to the Lord of the Rings. Still think your beloved hobbits, wizards and elves are heroes? Think again! Via io9
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The Quest To Save The Lars Homestead
This set piece is called the Lars Homestead, and Star Wars fans across the galaxy were shocked to hear that it had fallen into disrepair. Out of nowhere, a band of geeks appeared, hell bent on saving it from certain doom, with the interwebs lending a monetary hand via the Save The Lars Homestead Campaign. What will happen to this iconic set piece? Who donated money to help keep this structure looking good? And how do the residents of Tunisia feel about this geek preservation campaign? Find out when the guys behind the project put out a book and DVD, with all the profits going to the preservation of the Homestead, right? *wink* Link
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"American Beer is a lot like making love in a row boat -- It's F**king close to water!" -Monty Python's Eric Idle
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At a concert over the weekend in Istanbul, 53 year-old Madonna flashed her right breast on stage.
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The phone rings, and the wife answers.

What she hears, after a bit of heavy breathing. is a man’s voice saying, "I bet you have a tight asshole with no hair"

Woman replies, "Yes, he's watching TV. Who shall I say is calling?"
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Letter to the Times, June 17, 1978:
Sir,
It is not only dates that make nice patterns of numbers. Some years ago I was bringing a Destroyer home from the Far East and was required to report my position twice a day.
One evening, I saw that we would be passing close to where the Greenwich Meridian cuts the Equator so arranged to arrive there dead on midnight. Once there I altered course to due North and stopped engines so my position signal read:
At 0000 my position Latitude 00°00′N, Longitude 00°00′E. Course 000°. Speed 0.
I had considered saying I was Nowhere but thought (probably correctly) that Their Lordships would not be amused.
Yours faithfully,
Claud Dickens
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In October 1864, a score of young men drifted into St. Albans, a little Vermont town just south of the Canadian border. They arrived in small groups by train and coach, took rooms in local hotels, and began to pass time around town, observing the daily routines of the citizens.
On October 19, they simultaneously held up three local banks. There they revealed themselves to be Confederate soldiers, and as they collected the money they required the bank officers to take an oath of fealty to the South. Then they made off across the border. “They must have either had a guide who was acquainted with the road or had made a personal examination,” wrote one investigator, “because there were places in the road where strangers would have gone the wrong way, but they made no mistake.”
In all, the raiders made off with $208,000, about $3.2 million in today’s dollars. They were apprehended, but the Canadian authorities refused to extradite them, and their leader, Bennett Young, traveled in Europe until it was safe to return to Kentucky after the war. His exploit became the northernmost land action in the Civil War.
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Club of a Hundred Years Old Ladies
Russian women who are 100 years old now lived under the Czar, through the Revolution, endured World Wars I and II, suffered under Stalin, remember the Cold War, experienced glasnost, and now tell us what they think. English Russia has a translation of an article from Russian Esquire, with portraits and stories of seven centenarians, including Sarra Isaakovna Prinyakina:
I do not remember the revolution quite well. News didn’t reach Siberia fast. We could not understand what was happening. A White ataman came to our village, we thought it was a revolutioner and all went outside to welcome him. But were only whipped. When I grew older I moved to sister in Ulan-Ude. There I got married with one guy and had a daughter. But he went to the front and never came back. I worked as a horse. Lived in a dugout, took care of cattle, fleeced, carried potatoes for 25 km away.. We had no bread and we ate only potatoes, it made children sick. But that was nothing. One man with his son, evacuated from Leningrad, lived nearby, they ate leather and glue. Link -via Metafilter
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Turf Blister
Okay, can someone explain what happened there? I think someone hid a water bed under the grass. That or some weird water pocket (I guess that's the same thing, huh?)
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube, turn down your speaker though] - via The Daily What
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For that freshen up feeling…
After dick mints
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I thought this video was a comedy sketch or parody when I first started watching it. Had to stop and check - it actually was an American "reality" television show.
The show followed 12 engaged women competing for the wedding of their dreams and their dream plastic surgery procedure. Each woman had a plastic surgery wishlist, and the winner of each week's wedding-themed challenge would win one plastic surgery procedure from her list.
Knowing that, I just couldn't keep watching the clip.
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Living Stem Cells Survive in Corpse 17 Days After Death
How long do stem cells in your body last after death? New research by histologist and neuropathologist Fabrice Chrétien shows that stem cells can last much longer without oxygen and nutrients than previously thought:
Apparently the stem cells were able survive in the total absence of oxygen. "These cells are so resistant to extreme and deleterious conditions that they stay alive up to 17 days after death," Chrétien said. [...]
These stem cells in both dead mice and human corpses were dormant when discovered, with extraordinarily reduced metabolic activity, marking the first time scientists have found that stem cells were capable of such dormancy. The researchers suspect that chemicals given off after death, or the low levels of oxygen or nutrients in corpses, or a combination of all these factors, could have sent the stem cells into dormancy, helping them survive for weeks. Link
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Young Republican Girls Pool Party
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Hovercat
George is an awesome Hovercat in the new ads for the ASPCA. Get yourself an awesome cat during their Adopt a Shelter Cat Month. Link -via Buzzfeed
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The Birth of UNIVAC
The Birth of UNIVAC UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer in the United States. Without it, we wouldn’t have our precious little MacBooks or iPads. Well, now that I think about it, some other Americans surely would have built a commercial computer if they hadn’t. So we would still have our gadgets, but it would be in a parallel universe and maybe in that universe having a Dell is like the coolest thing you can have and there’s a Zune in every pocket of every pair of parachute pants. Anyway, the first UNIVersal Automatic Computer was delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau and dedicated on June 14, 1951. It’s the same computer later predicted the 1952 presidential election for Eisenhower. It cost over $1 million, used 5,200 vacuum tubes, weighed 13 tons and could do a mere 1,905 operations per second. Pictured above, Rear Admiral/Badass Grace Hopper at the controls of UNIVAC I.
UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer in the United States. Without it, we wouldn’t have our precious little MacBooks or iPads.
Well, now that I think about it, some other Americans surely would have built a commercial computer if they hadn’t. So we would still have our gadgets, but it would be in a parallel universe and maybe in that universe having a Dell is like the coolest thing you can have and there’s a Zune in every pocket of every pair of parachute pants.
Anyway, the first UNIVersal Automatic Computer was delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau and dedicated on June 14, 1951. It’s the same computer later predicted the 1952 presidential election for Eisenhower.
It cost over $1 million, used 5,200 vacuum tubes, weighed 13 tons and could do a mere 1,905 operations per second.
Pictured above, Rear Admiral/Badass Grace Hopper at the controls of UNIVAC I.
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Pick your nose online? Well, just tweeze the hair, OK? This was so nonsensical that everyone loved it. Some folks say there is something satisfying about plucking nose hairs, and artist Jogchem Niemandsverdriet gives you a way to do that without the anticipated pain. Oh yeah, he has a lot of other weird stuff online for you.

Games are getting more sophisticated by the day, but if you’ve got an idea that is simple to comprehend but hard to master, you’ve got a classic. The Red Square game will drive you crazy no matter how many times you try it. All you need to do is survive. Hold the red square and avoid being hit by the blue squares. I usually last about ten seconds, but I have to go back and try again a few times.

Warning: this link may make you lose track of time. The Zoomquilt is a beautiful example of infinite zoom, constructed in 2004 as a collaborative art project. Since then, The Zoomquilt 2 has been added. After you click start, use your mouse and mouse button to zoom in at your own speed. Or out.

The Jean-Paul Sartre Cookbook was originally published in a Portland alternative newspaper in 1987, but survives for everyone everywhere to read on the internet. It never would have reached such a wide audience otherwise.

Need some sound effects for your life? Instants is a soundboard that has everything you could possibly use to punctuate your conversations.Since the sheer size of the collection makes it slower to load and more difficult to use than it was a couple of years ago. But now they have subgroupings, and the effects I used most are in the “Real Life!” category, which I would recommend to anyone. Warning: if you don’t recognize the label, the sound effect may turn out to be NSFW.

Daft Hands is a 2007 performance piece by Austin Hall to the song “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by Daft Punk. The original video now has 53 million views, but comments indicate that people still see it for the first time every day. This video inspired other versions and parodies, particularly on the comedy theme of “Daft Bodies.” The original hands video was done in one take with no special effects.

If you like that song, you’ll love the iDaft. It’s a sound board constructed from the parts of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” Punching the buttons makes you feel like you have some musical talent even if you don’t.
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How scholars viewed the extent of the world in 43 CE, from this amazing collection of early maps and atlases, which are all stunningly awesome and totally wrong.
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It’s Not Easy Making Lions
Getting pregnant is a real chore for the King of the Beasts (or his mates, actually). …typical mating bouts last for up to four days, involving between 20 and 40 sex sessions per day. In fact, it’s estimated that for every cub that survives past the age of one year, its mother had to mate three thousand times. But that’s tame compared to what some animals go through! This story is just part of the list 11 Utterly Bizarre Animal Mating Rituals at Oddee. Link
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New Device Converts Sign Language to Audible Speech
joshbyard: New Device Converts Sign Language to Audible Speech Students at the University of Houston designed a device called MyVoice, which uses a video camera to capture a person’s sign language movements. It also contains a small video monitor, a microphone and a speaker. Software processes the images and determines what was said, and then translates the word or phrase into speech, which is transmitted through an electronic voice. It also works backward, capturing a person’s spoken words and projecting the appropriate hand sign onto the monitor. Students sampled a database of images to train their software to recognize the hand signs, according to a UH news release. The team used between 200 and 300 images per sign. (via Video Device Reads American Sign Language and Translates It Into Audible English | Popular Science) Take that, Siri!
Students at the University of Houston designed a device called MyVoice, which uses a video camera to capture a person’s sign language movements. It also contains a small video monitor, a microphone and a speaker. Software processes the images and determines what was said, and then translates the word or phrase into speech, which is transmitted through an electronic voice.
It also works backward, capturing a person’s spoken words and projecting the appropriate hand sign onto the monitor. Students sampled a database of images to train their software to recognize the hand signs, according to a UH news release. The team used between 200 and 300 images per sign.
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Hey everybody! I’m very excited to announce this project. Please give it a follow and join me and my friends in what we hope could be one of the largest citizen science/art projects ever.
We’ll show you how to build a cheap pinhole camera, step-by-step, so you can capture the Sun’s path. We’ll show you how to mount them, and then how to develop them after a few months.
Our goal is to make collect solargraphs between the solstices (June 21-Dec 21). It doesn’t matter where you live, everyone can do it! Help us spread the word and reblog!
Can’t wait to get started :)
We’re very excited to announce what we think could be one of the largest and most interesting global citizen science/art projects ever. We hope you’ll join us. We’ll have more details in the coming days, but here’s a brief introduction:
(Please follow and join us!! More at the link)
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Think Woodchips Are Scraps?
Artist Sergey Bobkov might get you to reconsider when you see his amazing artworks that have been created with woodchips: Sergey Bobkov uses a self-developed technique to keep the chips from crumbling, soaking the woodchips in water for a number of days, which then makes them flexible enough to sculpt. He primarily works with cembra pine, but will use other wood as occasion demands, including Siberian cedar. Each piece takes about six months to complete. The statues themselves are a work of pure passion, and Bobkov has refused to sell any of his pieces, despite any number of generous offers. Six months of work for something you’ll never sell? That’s a lot of dedication to your art. Link Via BuzzFeed
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Random Facts: There are roughly 250,000 sweat glands on a pair of feet. Swear glands in the feet produce as much as half a pint of moisture each day.

The First shoes were invented 5,000,000 years ago during the Ice Age and were made from animal skins. The Romans were the first to construct left and right shoes. Before that, shoes could be worn on either foot.
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The board of directors of the Nobel Foundation has announced a cut in the prize money to be awarded to 2012 laureates in view of bad investment decisions in the past and to safeguard the economic base of the prestigious prizes. At its meeting this week, the board set the amount of the 2012 Nobel Prizes at Swedish Krona 8.0 million per prize, amounting to a lowering of the prize sum by 20 per cent.

"The Nobel Foundation regards this as a necessary measure in order to avoid an undermining of its capital in a long-term perspective...Another part of the picture is that during the past decade, the average return on the Foundation's capital has fallen short of the overall sum of all Nobel Prizes and operating expenses", the Foundation said in a press release...

The costs of the Nobel Foundation's central administration and the Nobel festivities are also being reviewed.
From Rediff News.
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7-Eleven Double Big Gulp Slimmin’ Down to 150% of Human Stomach Capacity
Two years ago, we told you that the 64-ounce 7-Eleven Double Big Gulp is actually twice as large as the average human stomach. Well, 7-Eleven is slimming it down to a 50-ounce size (still 150% of human stomach capacity) ... not out of concern about America's growing waistline, but because the drink was too large for cup holders in most cars! Link
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bb1.jpg

Sandhil Crane call
Sandhill Crane Mating Dance


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An explanation from the Smithsonian's Food and Think blog:
In the early 20th century, Americans were highly concerned with the purity of their food supply. In the case of bread, hand-kneading was suddenly seen as a possible source of contamination... Mass-produced bread, on the other hand, seemed safe. It was made in shining factories, mechanically mixed, government regulated. It was individually wrapped...
But factory breads were also incredibly soft... “Softness,” Borrow-Strain writes, “had become customers’ proxy for freshness, and savvy bakery scientists turned their minds to engineering even more squeezable loaves. As a result of the drive toward softer bread, industry observers noted that modern loaves had become almost impossible to slice neatly at home.” The solution had to be mechanical slicing.

Factory-sliced bread was born on July 6, 1928 at Missouri’s Chillicothe Baking Company. While retailers would slice bread at the point of sale, the idea of pre-sliced bread was a novelty... The bakery saw a 2,000 percent increase in sales, and mechanical slicing quickly swept the nation.
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The Golden Hour Calculator
Photographers and cinematographers know that the first and last hours of sunlight during the day have a special quality of light—these hours are known as the golden hour. The Golden Hour Calculator is a web and iPhone app that calculates the golden hour based on the user’s location. The calculator was created by Roger Moffatt.
photo by David Iliff
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A farmer was milking his cow. He was just starting to get a good rhythm going when a bug flew into the barn and started circling his head.
Suddenly, the bug flew into the cow's ear. The farmer didn't think much about it, until the bug squirted out into his bucket.
It went in one ear and out the udder.
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Math class
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A list of restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, travel deals and other types of offers giving various discounts with different age requirements. I was actually surprised to see how many there are and how some of them start at the young age of 50 .This list may not only be useful for you, but for your friends and family, too.
YOU must ASK for your discount !
Partial List:

RESTAURANTS:
Ben & Jerry’s: 10% off (60+)
Burger King: 10% off (60+)
Denny’s: 10% off, 20% off for AARP members ( 55 +)
Jack in the Box: up to 20% off ( 55+)
Subway: 10% off (60+)
RETAIL & APPAREL :
Goodwill: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Kmart: 20% off ( 50+)
Rite Aid: 10% off on Tuesdays & 10% off prescriptions
The Salvation Army Thrift Stores: up to 50% off ( 55+)
GROCERY :Albertson’s: 10% off first Wednesday of each month ( 55 +)
Rail:Amtrak: 15% off (62+)Car Rental:Alamo Car Rental: up to 25% off for AARP members
Avis: up to 25% off for AARP members Best Western: 10% off ( 55 +)
Budget Rental Cars: 10% off; up to 20% off for AARP members ( 50+)
Enterprise Rent-A-Car: 5% off for AARP members
Hertz: up to 25% off for AARP members Holiday Inn: 10%-30% off depending on location (62+)
National Rent-A-Car: up to 30% off for AARP members
Over Night Accommodations:
Comfort Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Econo Lodge: 20%-30% off (60+)
Hyatt Hotels: 25%-50% off (62+)
Marriott Hotels: 15% off (62+)
Quality Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)ACTIVITIES & ENTERTAINMENT : AMC Theaters: up to 30% off ( 55 +)
Cinemark/Century Theaters: up to 35% off
U.S. National Parks: $10 lifetime pass; 50% off additional services including camping (62+)
NOW, go out there and claim your discounts – - – and remember — YOU must ASK for your discount — no ask, no discount.
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Unusual Animal Friends
A slideshow of the different interspecies relationships between animals.
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Macaw - can't wait to shower
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Great green macaw hatching. (Macaw Sanctuary El Manantial)
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Snowball (TM) on Animal Planets Most Outrageous Animals
Snowball (TM) and Stevie Nicks
Snowball (TM) in Taco Bell commercial
Snowball (TM) - First Overseas Commercial
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Solo-cup
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Q and A Quickies --*

Q: Did you hear about the psychic midget who escaped from jail?
A: He became a Small Medium At Large.

Q: What did the curtain say to the wall?
A: I'm tired of hanging around all day.

Q: What's The Difference Between A Bad Golfer And A Bad Skydiver?
A: A Bad Golfer Goes, Whack, Dang while a Bad Skydiver goes Dang! Whack!

Q: What do you call a song sung in an automobile?
A: A cartoon.
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Have you heard about this ground-breaking, little piece of legislation? Indiana has become the first state to allow citizens to shoot law enforcement officers. I mean, not for sport or anything, but in very specific circumstances.

The new law allows residents to use force, including deadly force, against public servants or law enforcement officers, who unlawfully enter their homes. It was signed by Republican Governor Mitch Daniels in March.

The first of its kind in the United States, the law was adopted after the state Supreme Court went too far in one of its rulings last year, according to supporters.

The case in question involved a man who assaulted an officer during a domestic violence call. The court ruled that there was "no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers."

The National Rifle Association lobbied for the new law, arguing that the court decision had legalized police to commit unjustified entries.

Now, I have expressed my opinions on police more than once in this publication. I am a cautious supporter of law enforcement. While I understand and appreciate the need to investigate and punish crime and keep public order and safety, I also do not like having armed people around who have the authority to shoot me if they like, or harass, arrest, extort or intimidate me.

I do not believe that wearing a badge gives a criminal legal authority.
So it becomes a question of the safety of public servants versus the sanctity and authority of the Fourth Amendment.

Like the NRA put it, the old law legalized police to commit unjustified entries. While the president of the Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police said, "This is a recipe for disaster. It just puts a bounty on our heads."

Tough question. Who is right?
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This floor is stained concrete !


I've never seen anything like this before, and I think it's beautiful. The guys who did it have posted an album of the process at imgur, and discuss the technique in a Reddit thread. Some excerpts:
  1. If properly cared for, this floor will last forever. It requires a mop on wax every 6 months in the high traffic areas.
  2. Total cost for materials only was right around $500. Labor was free!
  3. To get the lines, we laid down 1/2" masking tape and sprayed the stain over. When the tape was removed, the natural concrete color was left.
  4. I can't remember the name or brand of sealer and acid stain we used, but will try and dig it up.
  5. This floor is just like any other tile or ceramic floor. It is hard, but stays cool in the summer. Very easy to clean. When we do mop, it's just with a mild soap and water solution.
  6. This is an acid stain. They have many other types of concrete dyes, stains, and pigments available in all sorts of colors. Acid stain will actually react with the concrete and etch itself in. Once everything was stained, we applied the urethane sealer followed by a coat of wax.
  7. We only used one color of stain, brown. The dark areas are full strength and the light area are diluted with water 1:1.
  8. For anyone wanting to do this, I suggest doing countless hours of research. A simple search on google for 'acid stain concrete' will get you all the information you will ever need. Not all concrete can just be stained. If the concrete is in rough shape the results will not be appealing. Some concrete will even require an overcoat of a thin layer of concrete in in bad shape...

    Remember prepping is EVERYTHING. If using existing concrete. Clean, scrub, mop, vacuum, dry- do this 4 times. And when you think it's clean enough, do it one more time. Fix and repair any holes or defects you do not want to show up also. If prepped correctly, staining is easy and takes no time at all. Just google 'acid stain concrete' or words of the sort and there are 100's of forums and websites to help you pick the best materials and tutorials on how to go about this project.
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Bear knocks over peeing Swede on camera
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2012/06/12/Bear-knocks-over-peeing-Swede-on-camera/UPI-96981339519253/
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A 61-year-old Swedish man who was relieving himself in the woods was caught on tape being knocked over by a bear chasing an elk. Ola Akesson said he left his summer cabin in the Angraan nature reserve to urinate in a stream Sunday night when he spotted a baby elk on the opposite side of the water, The Local.se reported Tuesday. "I called to my wife to get out the iPad to film the elk, when all of a sudden she screamed that there was a bear behind me," Akesson said. "I turned around and there was a huge bear right beside me -- maybe half a meter away, I could have reached out and touched it -- but I didn't even have time to think." Akesson was knocked to the ground and the bear, which the couple said they believe was after the elk, barreled into the waterside dock before scrambling back into the woods.
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Outhouse Bear Attack
A Manitoba man survived a bear attack, which started off while he was just taking care of some personal business.
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"I was always taught to respect my elders and I've now reached the age when I don't have anybody to respect."
- George Burns
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Top 10 reasons women were dumped on What Went Wrong

1. I'm not ready for a relationship
2. Bad hygiene
3. I don't feel like I'm a priority
4. Too much fighting
5. Your sex drive is too low
6. Lack of punctuality
7. There's someone else
8. Bad kisser
9. I don't see a future with you
10. Too hairy
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Fox and sheep
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Mushroom Pod House Architect Was Inspired By Queen Anne’s Lace
Pittsford, New York is home to the Mushroom House, a unique retro-modern property consisting of towering pod rooms designed by architect James H. Johnson. According to Johnson’s website, he was inspired to design this house by looking at “a stem of Queen Anne’s lace in a Coke bottle”. The home was built in 1971, is over 4,100 square feet, and has an on-site waterfall. The Mushroom House recently sold but a full image gallery of this gorgeous property is available to view.
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90,775 dominoes topple over the course of 8 minutes in this video recorded in April at the TDT 2012 domino event in Austria.
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It's only human nature after all
If a fellow puts a girl against the wall
And puts his inclination
Into her accomodation
To increase the population
Of the rising generation---
Why, it's only human natrue after all.
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A little town had a high birth rate that had attracted the attention of the sociologists at the state university. They wrote a grant proposal; got a huge chunk of money; hired a few additional sociologists, anthropologist and a family planning and birth control specialist; moved to town; rented offices; set up their computers; got squared away; and began designing their questionnaires and such. While the staff was busy getting ready for their big research effort, the project director decided to go to the local drugstore for a cup of coffee. He sat down at the counter, ordered his coffee, and while he was drinking it, he told the druggist what his purpose was in town, then asked him if he had any idea why the birth rate was so high.
"Sure," said the druggist. "Every morning the six o'clock train comes through here and blows for the crossing. It wakes everybody up, and, well, it's too late to go back to sleep, and it's too early to get up."
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Safest Way to Drive
Peter Ludwig, a caver from Austria who is appalled by American driving habits, offers the following advice:The probability of being involved in a traffic accident is directlyproportional to time spent on the road. Driving fast decreases one's exposure.One third of traffic accidents are caused by drunk drivers; two thirdsare caused by non-drunk drivers.
Therefore, the safest way to drive is drunk and VERY fast.
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Why, oh why, does this happen to me?
How did I end up stuck in this tree?
The ground down below looks so far away,
That if I would fall it would take me all day
To hit the ground, with a thud and a thunk.
And knowing my luck I'd land on a skunk.
So here I will sit 'til my dying day.
Or maybe, at least, 'til that bear goes away.
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Ursa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

































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