Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Paws & Claws ~ April 28, 2012 ~ Save the Frogs Day

It's never too late to start

but it's always too early to quit.

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2012 April
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.
Meteor Over Crater Lake
Image Credit & Copyright: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography)
Explanation: Did you see it? One of the more common questions during a meteor shower occurs because the time it takes for a meteor to flash is typically less than the time it takes for a head to turn. Possibly, though, the glory of seeing bright meteors shoot across and knowing that they were once small pebbles on another world might make it all worthwhile, even if your observing partner(s) could not share in every particular experience. Peaking over the past few days, a dark moonless sky allowed the Lyrids meteor shower to exhibit as many as 30 visible meteors per hour from some locations. A bright Lyrid meteor streaks above picturesque Crater Lake in Oregon, USA, in the above composite of nine exposures taken last week. Snow covers the foreground, while the majestic central band of our home galaxy arches well behind the serene lake. Other meteor showers this year include the Perseids in mid-August and the Leonids in mid-November, both expected to also dodge the glare of a bright Moon in 2012.
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"With every passing hour
our solar system comes forty-three thousand miles closer to globular cluster 13 in the constellation Hercules,
and still there are some misfits who continue to insist that there is no such thing as progress."
--Ransom K. Ferm
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2012 AprilSee Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
A Dangerous Sunrise on Gliese 876d
Illustration Credit & Copyright: Inga Nielsen (Hamburg Obs., Gate to Nowhere)
Explanation: On planet Gliese 876d, sunrises might be dangerous. Although nobody really knows what conditions are like on this close-in planet orbiting variable red dwarf star Gliese 876, the above artistic illustration gives one impression. With an orbit well inside Mercury and a mass several times that of Earth, Gliese 876d might rotate so slowly that dramatic differences exist between night and day. Gliese 876d is imagined above showing significant volcanism, possibly caused by gravitational tides flexing and internally heating the planet, and possibly more volatile during the day. The rising red dwarf star shows expected stellar magnetic activity which includes dramatic and violent prominences. In the sky above, a hypothetical moon has its thin atmosphere blown away by the red dwarf's stellar wind. Gliese 876d excites the imagination partly because it is one of the few extrasolar planets known to be in or near to the habitable zone of its parent star.
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2012 April See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Sutter's Mill Meteorite
Image Credit P. Jenniskens (SETI Institute) and Eric James (NASA Ames)
Explanation: Last Sunday's bright fireball meteor falling through skies over California and Nevada produced sonic booms over a broad area around 7:51 am. Estimates indicate the meteor was about the size of a minivan. Astronomer Peter Jenniskens subsequently recovered these fragments of a crushed 4 gram meteorite, the second find from this meteor fall, in the parking lot of the Henningsen-Lotus state park, not far from Sutter's Mill. This is now known as the Sutter's Mill Meteorite, the location famous for its association with the California Gold Rush. The meteorite may well be astronomer's gold too, thought to be a rare CM type carbonaceous chondrite, a type rich in organic compounds and similar to the Murchison Meteorite. To trace the meteor's orbit, details of its breakup, and aid in locating more fragements, scientists are also searching for video records. Security cameras across a wide area could have accidently captured the fireball event near 7:51 am PDT on April 22; e.g. California (SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, near Redding) and Nevada (Reno area, Tonopah), even in southern parts of Oregon and near Salt Lake City in Utah. If you have video footage of the event, please use the contact information here.
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Rex Barker here with, "Caring for The Seasons"
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly, so he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no, it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.
If you give up when it's winter,
you will miss the promise of your spring,
the beauty of your summer,
fulfillment of your fall.

This is Rex Barker reminding you: don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season. Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to follow.

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Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica – where do they go?
Wonder no more ! ! !
It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintain a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.
If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into, and buried.
The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:
“Freeze a jolly good fellow.”
“Freeze a jolly good fellow.”
Then, they kick him in the ice hole.
You really didn’t believe that I know anything about penguins, did you?
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Marijuana: A Second Look at a Drug of Isolation Booklet (1987)
http://laughingsquid.com/marijuana-a-second-look-at-a-drug-of-isolation-booklet-1987/
For 4/20, I thought it would be fun to share images from the heavily-illustrated Marijuana: A Second Look at a Drug of Isolation, an anti-drug booklet published in 1987 by Krames Communications. All of the booklet’s unintentionally humorous images can be found at my Flickr page.By on April 20, 2012
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Byrdie stops traffic at LaGuardia Airport – Byrdie the puppy
Man gets down to business trying to lure back pooch that escaped from its crate at LaGuardia Airport Wednesday.
The dog was finally collared after about 10 frustrating minutes during which plane traffic at the usually jammed airport was shut down.The pooch, a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, named Byrdie, bolted as she was being loaded on to a Delta flight to Memphis, according to Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico.
Flights were resumed – Byrdie and her person continued on to Memphis.
Thanks, Ed
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A mother and daughter are sitting down over afternoon tea. The mother wants to show her daughter that she's a hip parent and tries to get her daughter to open up and talk about dating boys and what it's like for her.
Mom: So....now that you have started dating, what's it like getting intimate with young men?
Daughter: Oh you know how it is, boys are always insensitive and never care if intimacy isn't working for me.
Mom: How?
Daughter: Oh, stuff....
Mom: Really now, you can trust me. I think that its important for mothers and daughters to talk about these matters...
Daughter: I don't know.....
Mom: Now don't forget, I was a teenager once and I can remember what dating boys was like for me, believe I remember
Daughter: Really?
Mom: Really...
Daughter: Ok, for starters, how did you get their cum out of your eyes?
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Today’s a great day for us to say “thank you” for your ongoing and generous support of National Wildlife Federation.
Your dedication to wildlife and wild places is doing a world of good for Mother Earth.
That’s why we want to share this delightful vintage PSA with you.
I know you’ll enjoy watching Jim Henson’s Muppets figure out fun ways to inspire people to reduce, reuse and recycle.
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Native American 10 Commandments:

The earth is our mother, care for her
Honor all your relations
Open your heart and soul to the Great Spirit
All life is sacred; treat all beings with respect
Take from the Earth what is needed and nothing more
Do what needs to be done for the good of all
Give constant thanks to the Great Spirit for each new day
Speak the truth; but only of the good in others
Follow the rhythms of nature; rise and retire with the sun
Enjoy life's journey, but leave no tracks...♥ ~
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Vanilla and vanillin

In an article about artificial vs. natural flavors, Edible Geography discusses the history of vanilla - While cinnamon in the United States is a government-sanctioned imposter, plain old vanilla is, surprisingly enough, a relatively recent addition to the American flavourscape. In addition to Chase’s fake fruit syrups, the mid-nineteenth century saw vanilla replace rosewater in creams, jellies, puddings, cakes, pies, cookies, sodas, and more, in just a few decades. This wholesale taste takeover came about as the result of the accidental discovery, in 1842, of a method for artificially pollinating the vanilla orchid — which in turn led to natural vanilla extract becoming cheap enough to be ubiquitous.

That price has continued to drop as vanilla — America’s favourite ice-cream flavour by a significant margin — can now be made in any number of ways, some of which have stretched the boundaries of U.S. FDA definitions of “natural,” and “artificial” flavouring It seems straightforward, initially: Natural vanilla flavour must be extracted from chopped up vanilla beans... Artificial vanilla flavour consists of nature-identical vanillin (the chemical that gives vanilla its characteristic flavour) that is made from something other than vanilla beans — typically wood pulp, as a by-product of the paper industry, although it can sometimes be derived from coal tar.

However, just to add a further twist, vanillin can also be made by using a particular bacteria to ferment the ferulic acid found in corn and wheat bran, and, because the FDA has determined that a flavour is “natural” if it is derived from edible sources and made using physical, microbiological, or enzymatic means analogous to a normal cooking process, this ferulic vanillin (which is chemically identical to the wood pulp and coal tar vanillin) is considered a natural flavouring — although (the FDA has ruled, after extensive consultation) it is not a natural vanilla flavour, because it doesn’t come from vanilla beans.- and notes in passing that vanillin has been synthesized from cow dung (by FDA ruling an artificial, not natural flavour).

Pure, true vanilla is "the second most expensive spice after saffron" (because extracting it from the seed pods is so labor intensive). So what we're eating is vanillin, not true vanilla.
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Helen Thomas’ husband departs for war, 1917:
After breakfast, while he showed me where his account books were and what each was for, I listened calmly, and unbelievingly he kissed me when I said I, too, would keep accounts. ‘And here are my poems. I’ve copied them all out in this book for you, and the last of all is for you. I wrote it last night, but don’t read it now … It’s still freezing. The ground is like iron, and more snow has fallen. The children will come to the station with me; and now I must be off.’
We were alone in my room. He took me in his arms, holding me tightly to him, his face white, his eyes full of a fear I had never seen before. My arms were round his neck. ‘Beloved, I love you,’ was all I could say. ‘Jenny, Jenny, Jenny,’ he said, ‘remember that, whatever happens, all is well between us for ever and ever.’ And hand in hand we went downstairs and out to the children, who were playing in the snow.
A thick mist hung everywhere, and there was no sound except, far away in the valley, a train shunting. I stood at the gate watching him go; he turned back to wave until the mist and the hill hid him. I heard his old call coming up to me: ‘Coo-ee!’ he called. ‘Coo-ee!’ I answered, keeping my voice strong to call again. Again through the muffled air came his ‘Coo-ee’. And again went my answer like an echo. ‘Coo-ee’ came fainter next time with the hill between us, but my ‘Coo-ee’ went out of my lungs strong to pierce to him as he strode away from me. ‘Coo-ee!’ So faint now, it might be only my own call flung back from the thick air and muffling snow. I put my hands up to my mouth to make a trumpet, but no sound came. Panic seized me, and I ran through the mist and the snow to the top of the hill, and stood there a moment dumbly, with straining eyes and ears. There was nothing but the mist and the snow and the silence of death.
Then with leaden feet which stumbled in a sudden darkness that overwhelmed me I groped my way back to the empty house.
He was killed shortly after arriving in France. From her memoir World Without End, 1931.
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Do Roman paramedics refer to IV’s as “4′s”?
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
When someone asks you, “A penny for your thoughts,” and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It’s just stale bread to begin with.
Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?
If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
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"Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died." - Steven Wright
"Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content." - Louis L'Amour

"Magnificent promises are always to be suspected." - Theodore Parker

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Random Facts:
Only 2% of high school couples end up married and not divorcing.

Men in a relationship lie twice as often as women do.
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How to Build Pillow Forts
Forget everything you know about how to build pillow forts!
Matt Richtel of The New York Times consulted with experts - architects and engineers - to discover the secret of building legendary pillow forts that your kids will talk about in awe and reverence to their own children:
“The first thing you do is test the building materials,” instructed Michael Lepech, 32. He’s an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, an expert in bendable concrete, a winner of sand castle contests and someone who does not build his pillow forts just any which way. He makes them with his nephews, William, 8, and Andrew, 5, first going around the house gathering materials, separating heavy from light. That way, he said, they can learn about and follow the most basic design principle: heavy stuff on the bottom, the lightest on the top. “We also get to talk about tension and compression,” he said, though he avoids technical terms. “We talk about pushing and pulling.” His big innovation is using blankets to wrap two large cushions so that they create a large wall panel that can stand on its edge. In fact, he creates several such panels. Then he uses another blanket or sheet to attach adjoining panels, in effect connecting the walls of the fort. Professor Lepech impressed his nephews with a tent that reached eight feet high, tall enough for them to stand a toy basketball hoop inside.
Commence building forthwith after reading the article: Link (Image: John Kuczala for The New York Times) - via Metafilter
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Cow Walks Up to McDonald’s Drive Through Window
Darcy the cow of Brush, Colorado was in a cannibalistic mood (we all get that way sometimes, right?), so she hopped the fence and hoofed it half a mile to a McDonald’s. She walked up to the drive through window, to the amusement of the workers. Police informed the owners, who brought her back home. Link
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Casey at the Bat
During a baseball game in Mudville, Casey was Mudville's lead-off batter. There were no substitutions or changes in the batting order of the nine Mudville men throughout the nine-inning game. It turned out that Casey came to bat in every inning.

What is the least number of runs Mudville could have scored?

Answer: Zero. In the first inning Casey and the next two batters walk and the next three strike out. In the second inning, the first three walk again, which brings Casey back to bat. But each runner is caught off base by the pitcher, so Casey is back at the plahttp://www.naughtybits.us/2012/04/25/whacking-bear/te at the start of the third inning. This pattern is now repeated until the game ends with no joy in Mudville, even though the mighty Casey never once strikes out.
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The World’s Tallest Waterslide Shoots You into a Pool at 65 MPH
The ride only lasts four or five seconds, but you’ll never forget it. The Insano at Beach Park in Porto das Dunas, Brazil has a 134 foot drop. It holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest waterslide in the world.
Pro tip: make sure that your swimming suit is firmly secured to your body.
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Whacking Bear
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Deluged with mail after his discovery of the double helix, Francis Crick began sending a printed card in response to invitations:
crick demurral
He modeled it on a similar one made by Edmund Wilson:
wilson demurral
In 1976 freelance writer Betty Eppes managed to talk to J.D. Salinger for 20 minutes. “He said he didn’t believe in giving autographs. It was a meaningless gesture. He told me never to sign my name for anyone else. It was all right for actors and actresses to sign their names, because all they had to give were their faces and names. But it was different with writers. They had their work to give. Therefore, it was cheap to give autographs. He said, Don’t you ever do it! No self-respecting writer should ever do it.”
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or…. What Dad’s Do When Mom’s Away
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Tooth fairy
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PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
2012 EVENT SCHEDULE
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"The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be." -Paul Valery

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." -Douglas Adams
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Who Is Mad?
The Caterpillar believes that he and the Lizard are both mad.

Who is mad, the Caterpillar, the Lizard or both?
Answer: If the Caterpillar were sane, it would be false that he and the Lizard were both mad. Hence, if the Caterpillar were sane he would not have made the false statement. Therefore, the Caterpillar must be mad. Since he is mad, his belief is wrong, so it is not true that both are mad. So the other one (the Lizard) must be sane. Therefore, the Caterpillar is mad and the Lizard is sane.

Logic
A Missouri farmer passed away and left 17 mules to his three sons. The instructions left in the will said that the oldest boy was to get one-half, the second oldest one-third, and the youngest one-ninth. The three sons, recognizing the difficulty of dividing 17 mules into these fractions, began to argue.
Their uncle heard about the argument, hitched up his mule and drove out to settle the matter. He added his mule to the 17, making 18. The oldest therefore got one-half, or nine, the second oldest got one-third, or six, and the youngest son got one-ninth, or two. Adding up 9, 6 and 2 equals 17. The uncle, having settled the argument, hitched up his mule and drove home.
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I've never had a new car before. All of my past vehicles have been used... or really used. Since our purchase the transition has been a bit difficult because I am unfamiliar with new car etiquette. Ya see, when you get a new car (I just went all Bill Cosby for a second) you can't eat Jell-O pudding in it. Okay, when you get a new car apparently there are rules you must follow when driving or riding in the vehicle. Rules such as... you can't eat in it, you can't drink in it, you can't wear dirty shoes and or clothes in it, you can't transport animals (dry or wet) in it, and you certainly can't fart in it. Bummer, right?

I really think that people avoid such activities in order to preserve that wonderful "new car smell", because nothing says new car like "new car smell". That scent is the key to convincing yourself, but more importantly, others that your recent wheeled acquisition is indeed just off of the lot. The longer that captivating fragrance clings to the interior of that automobile you will be the topic of conversation and the envy of those around you. Hey, don't you think that "new car smell" would make a great cologne of perfume?

I guess there's not much I can do to get used to the car but cruise around hungry, thirsty, clean and full of gas. Well, I guess we'll just have to figure out who has the better gas mileage. I really hope it's the car.
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More money than Good Sense?
The economy continues its turmoil. Employment is sluggish, debt is up, enrollment for supplemental nutrition assistance (food stamps) is at its highest ever and home prices have dropped for six straight months. Things are so bad that one California couple spent a meager $5,000 on a wedding. For their dogs.
Dog wedding
But despite the budget affair, more than 100 friends and crazy people met at the clubhouse at the Palm Desert Resort Country Club to watch the bride, Scruffy, walk down a faux grass carpet aisle to her groom, Snickers, who waited under a flower decorated trellis.
The wedding -- thrown by the mother of the bride, Ernie Rubin, and the groom's mother, Ann Carter -- was complete with a wedding cake, open bar, reception and "priest" performing the vows.
In lieu of gifts, Rubin and Carter asked for donations to benefit the Orphan Pet Oasis Humane Society of the Desert in North Palm Springs. "In planning this event Ernie and Ann wanted to make sure that a charity was involved and they felt strongly about what we do at the society," said society representative and guest Jennifer Hamilton.
Of course, every bride wants to look her best on her wedding day -- Scruffy included. Rubin dressed Scruffy in a custom couture dress, leash and veil. Snickers donned a doggie tuxedo designed by Spoiled Dog Design.
"I hope this will enlighten people who take on a pet to realize that they are more than just an animal, they are a lifetime toddler," one guest commented.
Originally the two canines wanted just an small, intimate wedding, but once word of the upcoming pup-tials got out, Rubin and Carter were flooded with requests to attend.
After the ceremony was over and the priest announced, 'You may now sniff the bride's ass,' the happy husband and wife spent the afternoon chasing each other, and snacking on dog treats while their owners and two legged guests danced and mingled.
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Q: What do you get when you cross a vampire and a teacher?
A: A lot of blood tests.

Q: Did you hear about the alligators that joined the FBI?
A: They became investi-gators.

Q: What is a mouse's favorite game?
A: Hide and Squeak.

Q: What did the hamburger name his daughter?
A: Patty.
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Many cities adopt a “sister city” across the pond. These matchups between the New World and the Old World serve as a sort of cultural exchange. People in the village of Dull, in Perthshire, Scotland, have shown their sense of humor by seeking out a partnership with the Oregon logging town of Boring.
Elizabeth Leighton, from Grandtully in Highland Perthshire, came up with the scheme to form the partnership between two of the world’s least “exciting” communities when she was on a cycling holiday. She passed through Boring and thought it would be an ideal partnership with the community of Dull. She sent an email to her friend Emma Burtles, who lives in Dull, and got in touch with Steve Bates, who chairs the Boring Community Planning Organisation. Community councillor Marjorie Keddie said: “It might seem like a joke, but this could have real benefits for Dull. Everyone has been smiling at the prospect of the very eye-catching road sign this will inevitably require.” Warning: linked story has autoplay video. Link -via reddit
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Perfect Posters For Walter Bishop

Fringe scientist Walter Bishop might just be one of the most dangerous scientists on TV. Fortunately, these great warning signs should help let people know just what they’re up against when entering the doctor’s lab. Link Via io9
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The following number is the only one of its kind: 8,549,176,320. Can you figure out what is so special about it?

It's the only(?) number that has all the digits arranged in alphabetical order.
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Daffynitions

1. ARBITRATOR: A cook that leaves Arby’s to work at McDonalds
2. AVOIDABLE: What a bullfighter tries to do
3. BERNADETTE: The act of torching a mortgage
4. BURGLARIZE: What a crook sees with
5. CONTROL: A short, ugly inmate6. COUNTERFEITERS: Workers who put together kitchen cabinets
7. ECLIPSE: What an English barber does for a living
8. EYEDROPPER: A clumsy ophthalmologist
9. HEROES: What a guy in a boat does
10. LEFTBANK: What the robber did when his bag was full of money
11. MISTY: How golfers create divots
12. PARADOX: Two physicians!!
13. PARASITES: What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower
14. PHARMACIST: A helper on the farm
15. POLARIZE: What penguins see with
16. PRIMATE: Removing your spouse from in front of the TV!!
17. RELIEF: What trees do in the spring
18. RUBBERNECK: What you do to relax your wife
19. SELFISH: What the owner of a seafood store does
20. SUDAFED: Brought litigation against a government official
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Darth vs. You
What happens when you pit Darth Vader against a 21-century Terran fanboy? Well, you can see it turns out a bit different from the movie. This is the trailer for the Star Wars Kinect game. -via Boing Boing
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The Forbes Fictional 15
Forbes has announced its annual ranking of the world’s richest fictional characters. They say the collective fortunes of those ranked at the top have surged tremendously over the past year.
On top of the list is the ancient red-golden dragon Smaug, known by hobbits and dwarves across Middle Earth as “Smaug the Tremendous” and “Smaug the Unassessably Wealthy.” Smaug’s personal fortune jumped 16% from last year to $62 billion after wyrm watchers crafted a more detailed analysis of his massive hoard of coins, jewels and antiques.
In case you’d like to skip the slideshow, here is the list:
1. Smaug
2. Flintheart Glomgold
3. Carlisle Cullen
4. Jed Clampett
5. Tony Stark
6. Richie Rich
7. Charles Foster Kane
8. Bruce Wayne
9. Forrest Gump
10. Mr. Monopoly
11. Lisbeth Salander
12. Tywin Lannister
13. C. Montgomery Burns
14. Robert Crawley
15. Jo Bennett
Scrooge McDuck and Santa Claus, who topped the list in previous years, are nowhere to be seen.
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Woman Killed Man By Squeezing His Testicles
This has probably got to be the most painful way to die, at least for us guys:
On April 19, a female scooter rider killed a man by squeezing his testicles during a parking dispute, in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China.
The 41-year-old woman rode on her scooter to an elementary school in Meilan District, Haikou City to pick up her child. When she wanted to pack her scooter in front of a shop, she was rejected by the shop owner, a 42-year-old male.
The two parties soon fell into a quarrel, and then a physical confrontation. The furious woman called her husband and brother to come help her, which resulted in a more violent fist fight.
During the fight, the middle aged woman manged to grab the man’s testicles, and squeezed them until he finally collapsed on the ground. The man was immediately rushed to hospital, but unfortunately died there despite of efforts.
Link | Image from China News 24
See also: 30 Strangest Deaths in History, a Neatorama classic
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QUOTE: "I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value."

HINT: (1877-1964), German born Swiss novelist and poet. Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946.

ANSWER: Hermann Hesse.
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RANDOM TIDBITS

The title of the Paul Simon 1972 hit single "Mother and Child Reunion" was adopted from the name of a chicken-and-egg dish he spotted on the menu of Say Eng Look, a Chinese restaurant in the Chinatown section of New York City.

In China, "pork" is synonymous with "meat." The Chinese do eat beef, but because cattle are more valued as work animals, most of their dishes are made with swine.

Chop suey is strictly an American concoction. Chinese immigrants who worked on the railways would cook together whatever vegetables and meat they had available. The name comes from the Mandarin phrase "tsa sui," which means "mixed pieces."

When 110 different players claimed second prize in the March 30, 2005, Powerball drawing, lottery officials suspected some type of fraud. However, it turned out that all those winners had played numbers they'd found in fortune cookies.

During the Chou dynasty, China struggled to feed its people. What little forestation the area had was cleared for agricultural purposes. Traditional Chinese cuisine evolved in reaction to the wood shortage; because baking and boiling would take too long (and thus too much firewood), food was cut into small pieces and quickly stir-fried.

The cardboard cartons with metal handles that we associate with Chinese food carryout were originally used as oyster pails along the Eastern seaboard. In the 1940s, the burgeoning Chinese restaurant market discovered that the oyster pails made convenient and distinctive containers for their carryout wares.
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Fortune - Dirty Harryhttp://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=12049
When Dirty Harry is writing your fortune you will not be so lucky.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So geeks, how many among those have you earned? :)
[Source: Pleated-Jeans]
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OMG! Seeing Admiral Ackbar sing totally made my day. Best music video EVER.
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Have you ever wondered where “Ye Olde” spelling comes from? Today, Minute Physics unravels this thorny linguistic issue. Check it out! [MinutePhysics]
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Purple Crab
Scientists at the Seckenberg Research Institute in Germany and De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines, have discovered four new species of crab in the island nation, including this very colorful Insulamon palawanense crab.
I'm not ashamed to admit that the first thought that entered my mind was, "I wonder how it tastes."
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This is the web right now - The Oatmeal
Jump to a section: Instagram | Google+ | Valve | Draw Something | Kickstarter | Yahoo | Google Glasses
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In 1946 an American doctor named Jones was tried in Ohio for performing six illegal abortions (State v. Jones, 80 Ohio App. 269). In one of the six cases, the only evidence was the testimony of the woman herself, Jacquelin Harris. But under Ohio law, the recipient of an abortion was an accomplice to the crime, and the unsupported testimony of an accomplice was suspect and insufficient for a conviction.
This means trouble:
  • The prosecution can argue that if the doctor is guilty then he should be convicted, and that if he’s innocent then the woman is not an accomplice and her testimony is sufficient to convict him. Either way, he should be convicted.
  • The defense can argue that if the doctor is innocent then he should be acquitted, and that if he’s guilty then the woman is his accomplice, which makes her testimony insufficient for a conviction. Either way, he should be acquitted.
“This puts the jury in a position of returning a self-annulling verdict,” writes Peter Suber in The Paradox of Self-Amendment. “If they find Jones guilty, then they must find that Harris was his accomplice, then they must find her evidence against Jones insufficient, then they must acquit Jones. But if they find Jones innocent, then they must (at least may) find Harris’ evidence legally sufficient, then they must (at least may) convict Jones.”
Jones was found guilty, ironically because, as an accused party, he was presumed innocent, and so the witness was presumed not to be an accomplice. “This led to the remarkable situation that the testimony was admissible and could lead to a conviction,” writes Michael Clark in Paradoxes From A to Z, “notwithstanding the fact that the conviction undermined the probative value of the testimony.”
See Turnabout.
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Norma Jeane Dougherty (1945)


A nice photo of the former Norma Jean Mortensen Baker after her marriage to James Dougherty. At the time this photo was taken at Capistrano Mission, she would have been working in a munitions factory, spraying airplane parts with fire retardant and inspecting parachutes. Little did she know what life held in store for her.
Photo credit Andre De Dienes, via Robs Webstek.
Born: June 1, 1926 = 19 years old
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From a presentation given at the 16th National Congress of the American Copy Editors Society: In some ways, Althoff said, working at Hustler was like working at any other magazine, dealing with page layouts and production deadlines. Larry Flynt Publications had what he called a “conservative corporate environment.”..
“Images of a salacious nature have always included words,” he said. Those words may appear in headlines, captions and story text. That’s why, he said, porn needs editing like anything else.
Hustler’s stylebook is similar to others, Althoff said, offering guidance to writers and editors at the magazine on word choice for its readers. Among those at Hustler:
— blow job vs. blowjob
— porno vs. porn
— phone-sex vs. phone sex
— girl next door vs. girl-next-door
— cover babe vs. coverbabe
In each of these examples, Hustler prefers the latter usage. On occasion, the magazine would update its stylebook. For example, it now uses “hos” rather than “ho’s.”.. Regardless of the type of content, Althoff said, it’s important for editors to keep in mind how language evolves. “The English language is very elastic,” Althoff said. “Change it if you need to.”
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http://youtu.be/wa1gWKN9xf4
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On July 3, 1863, 20-year-old Pennsylvania seamstress Ginnie Wade was kneading dough in her sister’s kitchen when a bullet pierced the door behind her and passed through her heart, killing her instantly.
She was the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg.
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Motto heartening, inspiring,
Framed above my pretty desk,
Never Shelley, Keats, or Byring
Penned a phrase so picturesque!
But in me no inspiration
Rides my low and prosy brow –
All I think of is vacation
When I see that lucubration:
http://books.google.com/books?id=7lNLAAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
When I see another sentence
Framed upon a brother’s wall,
Resolution and repentance
Do not flood o’er me at all
As I read that nugatory
Counsel written years ago,
Only when one comes to borry
Do I heed that ancient story:
http://books.google.com/books?id=7lNLAAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Mottoes flat and mottoes silly,
Proverbs void of point or wit,
“KEEP A-PLUGGIN’ WHEN IT’S HILLY!”
“LIFE’S A TIGER: CONQUER IT!”
Office mottoes make me weary
And of all the bromide bunch
There is only one I seri-
Ously like, and that’s the cheery:
http://books.google.com/books?id=7lNLAAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
– Franklin Pierce Adams, Tobogganning on Parnassus, 1913
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“A propos of dreams, is it not a strange thing if writers of fiction never dream of their own creations; recollecting, I suppose, even in their dreams, that they have no real existence? I never dream of any of my own characters, and I feel it is so impossible that I would wager Scott never did of his, real as they are.”
– Charles Dickens, letter to C.C. Felton, Sept. 1, 1843
“Only a few isolated figures in letters stand out as real; Sir Roger de Coverley, I suppose, Mr. Pickwick certainly, and, of course, Sherlock Holmes … Such characters, I mean, as create a real illusion; so that a man attaining Heaven might look round him and say, ‘And now, where’s Pickwick? Oh, no, I forgot; of course, he’s only a character in a book.’”
– Ronald Knox, “A Ramble in Barsetshire,” Essays in Satire, 1928
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Wear black clothes in the summer?

That counterintuitive recommendation comes from The Straight Dope, via io9: We're all encouraged to wear white in summer, since white clothing is supposed to keep us cool — but it doesn't. In fact, black clothing is the best way to keep cool in the heat. It's basic physics. And biology... This means that white clothing reflects a great deal of wavelengths of energy coming in. This means it should reflect the sun's rays back, instead of letting them cook us. And that's perfectly correct.
Except that this explanation is also incomplete. Heat is not just coming in off of the sun. It's also coming off a person's own, sweating, warm-blooded, mammalian body, which is a lot closer than the sun is. When all that body heat hits the white clothing covering it, it gets reflected right back towards the body. When we wear white, we cook ourselves.
The best color to keep cool in the heat, it turns out, is to wear black. Black absorbs everything coming in from the sun, sure. But black also absorbs energy from the body instead of reflecting it back.I think this is oversimplified and perhaps misleading, but there is additional discussion re wind and atmospheric conditions at the link, though apparently no discussion of hot sunny days vs hot cloudy days.
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3D Printed Darth Vader Lamp Shade

What could possibly make a lampshade shaped like Darth Vader even geekier? Why, printing it out with a 3d printer, of course! Created by Zairy Zin (cool name!), this is one honey of a honeycombed helmet, and it sports an equally rich pricetag ($585). Maybe, if all goes well, Zairy will release the 3d file (for a fee) to the hungry Star Wars addicts across the globe who’d love to make this Darth Vader lamp right at home in their module. Link –via Nerd Approved
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Furry Thief Can’t Win
The video title calls him a ferret, but commenters called him a short-tailed weasel, a white weasel, an ermine, and a “smelly meat slinky.” Whatever the little guy is, he’s having a hard time getting out the door with his big stolen roll! -via Buzzfeed
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How Taco Conquered America
Do you love tacos? Then you'd love this: Carolina Miranda of NPR's All Things Considered went on a little food adventure with Gustavo Arellano, whose book Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America explained the evolution of the taco in American culinary life.
But where did the recipe for the Taco Bell taco come from? Arellano says he has figured it out — and the answer can be found in San Bernardino. "Here, we're at the intersection of old Route 66, now called Mount Vernon, and Sixth Street," Arellano says. Here stands Mitla Cafe, a family diner that has been serving up Mexican food since 1937. Mitla's crunchy tacos are strangely familiar: crispy, stuffed with ground beef, iceberg lettuce and a pile of yellow cheese. Irene Montaño is the cafe's owner. Her in-laws started the business. "Glen Bell had his hamburger stand across the street," Montano says, "and he used to come over here and talk to my father-in-law and ask him how to make tacos and how they did different things — but especially the tacos." Link
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Punish the evildoers
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Horse trainer Honza Bláha was born in the Czech Republic in 1977. He teaches Natural Horsemanship, the philosophy of working with horses by appealing to their instincts and herd instincts. It involves communication techniques derived from wild horse observation in order to build a partnership that closely resembles the relationships that exist between horses.
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Seemingly dry and never ending deserts own much more than dry sand and lack of life and desire to live. Deserts are a beautiful part of the earth and conceal many deep mysteries. A collection of interesting, unusual and beautiful pictures of deserts around the world.
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SubWars
The animated short SubWars warns us to respect our elders, because that old man on the subway just might be a Jedi master. Directed by Sean Soong. Contains plenty of cartoon gore. -via The Daily What Geek
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Oh yes… I know that feeling very well. How about you guys? :)
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Tricking
I have trouble enough just walking down the street, so I'm doubly impressed with this sports of youngsters today called Tricking (apparently it has roots in Martial Arts). Watch it as practiced by Brandon McCuien and wonder, "How did he not break his neck?"
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via CubicleBot
I guess they can't just call it 'floor exercise' like the women do in the olympics,
that would be too sissy? copycatting?
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Man charged with felony for stealing soda --*
NAPLES, Fla. - After leaving a Naples, Fla., McDonald's without paying for a cup of soda, Mark Abaire, 52, is in hot water, facing a felony theft charge, police say. Abaire walked into the restaurant around 10 p.m. Thursday and asked the employee at the counter if he could have a cup for water. When he was given one, he went to the soda fountain and filled it with soda instead, then left to sit outside. A manager told police he asked Abaire to pay for the soda and he refused, and then remained on the premises after being asked to leave. He then cursed at the manager, prompting them to call the police. Due to previous petty theft convictions, what would have been a misdemeanor petty theft charge was escalated to a felony, which could earn Abaire up to five years in jail and a $5,000 fine. He also faces charges of trespassing and disorderly intoxication, the Daily News (Naples, Fla.) reported.
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I would like to share a story with you. Enjoy and see what parts you relate to . . .
Each night, the little spider at my front gate works busily, weaving his web to catch his morning breakfast. He is diligent and hard-working, he studied design and construction, and he makes a fine web.
But every morning, I break his web apart as I pass through to collect my morning newspaper. I'm sure the spider sees the destruction and whines, "Why does this always happen to me? I work as hard as any other spider I know. I'm so unlucky! It's not fair!"
The spider in at my gate isn't unlucky - he has just chosen the wrong location for his business. Apparently, he didn't have the advice of a good real estate agent who could have told him the three most important rules: Location, location, location!
Other spiders chose the right real estate, but then just sit there and chant, "I'm catching lots of flies, I'm catching lots of flies..." But they don't build a web to catch them, so all the flies just zoom on by. Then they complain, "Those silly affirmations never work!"
Like spiders, we all have blind spots that keep us from attaining our goals, from having all the clients we want, and from making all the money we desire. We need help us see the holes in our programs, devise the remedies to fix them, and practice our new choices until they become our new habits.
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Strawberry Shortcake Snake
Strawberry Shortcake Snake
Ever wonder how many seeds sit on a typical strawberry? Two hundred, to be exact. But even more impressive is the amount of vitamin C strawberries pack. One serving, which equals about eight medium berries, provides 130 percent of our bodies' daily requirement.

Whether you're choosing a cartonful at the grocery store or picking your own at a farm, look for bright-red color, a sheen and fresh-looking leaves. And serve them at room temperature for the best flavor.

With plenty of strawberries fresh from the patch, summer is no time to scale back on dessert, particularly if one of these shortcake snakes winds up on your plate. Your kids will get a kick out of helping to shape the shortcake into curvy bodies and embellishing the strawberry heads with candy eyes and forked tongues.
Ingredients
SHORTCAKE BISCUITS:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup margarine (1 stick)
  • 1 cup milk
STRAWBERRY FILLING:
  • 1 quart strawberries
  • 4 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING:
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
GARNISHES:
  • 4 whole strawberries
  • Green fruit leather
  • Mini chocolate chips or M&M's
Instructions
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut in the margarine with a pastry cutter. Or use a vegetable grater to grate the stick into the mixing bowl and let your kids take turns blending the margarine into the dry ingredients with their fingertips. Once the dough is crumbly, slowly stir in the milk.
Turn out the dough onto a floured working surface and gently roll or pat the dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle (it should measure about 6 x 8 inches). For the best results, handle the dough as little as possible.
Slice the rectangle into four 1-1/2- x 8-inch strips. Place the strips on an ungreased baking sheet, then let your child mold and curve them into S shapes that resemble snakes. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown. Transfer the baked shortcakes to a wire rack (a parent's job) and let cool. Carefully slice the cooled shortcakes in half lengthwise or split them with a fork and then set aside.
Wash the strawberries and let your kids select four to use for the snakes' heads. Slice the rest of the berries lengthwise into a mixing bowl. Toss with the confectioners' sugar and let stand while you prepare the whipped cream.
Combine the whipping cream and confectioners' sugar in a chilled bowl and beat with an electric or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
Just before serving, arrange berries on the bottom half of each shortcake, then cover with the shortcake top. Spread on whipped cream and add a layer of sliced strawberry "scales."
For the snakes' heads, cut mouth openings in the tips of the whole berries and place one at the end of each shortcake. Press a pair of mini chocolate chip or M&M's eyes into the sides of each head and add a forked tongue cut from green fruit leather. Serves 4.
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Alternate Uses for Peanut Butter

* Feed large globs of it to your dog for cheap entertainment.
* Mix it with egg whites and ammonia to see if it takes out stains.
* Plug holes in your paneling walls.
* Save it up so you will have plenty during your retirement years.
* Make "Cream of Peanut Butter" soup.
* Put it in the bell of your brass instrument to make interesting new sounds.
* Coat the lower half of your bicycle with it. Ride around town so everyone will think you were riding in the mud.
* Two words: eye shadow.
* Let it dry out and use it as silly putty.
* New Olympic Event: PB Swimming.
* Use it as "heavy" ammo for your Super Soaker 11000.
* See how much of it your vacuum cleaner can handle.
* One word: Gargle.
* No shaving cream? No problem!
* Get that tan you always wanted.
* Color it. Use it in place of Play-Doh.
* Get out your alchemy set and try to turn it into gold.

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Shipping department mistake of the day!
Workers at the corporate office of BJ Wholesale Club in Massachusetts got a ghastly surprise on Friday when they received a package containing a dismembered woman’s torso.
Westborough police said the torso, sent from New Jersey, was supposed to end up at a medical research facility in Florida, but had been mislabeled…
Sgt. Glenn McLeod told the newspaper that workers didn’t open the box.
They saw the packing list and immediately told a supervisor. “They saw it was medical research and they knew it was not for them,” McLeod said.
Officials at BJ’s and the medical facility eventually got in contact and arranged to have the torso shipped to Florida.
Eeouugh!
Thanks Ed ~ any receiving departments I have seen would have opened it anyway, lol
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The fundamental assumption that the United States retains the right and obligation to intervene in the Third World in any way it ultimately deems necessary, including military, remains an article of faith among the people who guide both political parties.
--Gabriel Kolko, Confronting the Third World, p296
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We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order, a world where the rule of law, not the rule of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the U.N.'s founders. --President George H. Bush 1991
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Recently a guy in Paris nearly got away with stealing several paintings from the Louvre. However, after planning the crime, getting in and out passed security, he was captured only 2 blocks away when his van ran out of gas. When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied: "I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh."
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QUOTE: "There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval."

HINT: (1863-1952), philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.

ANSWER: George Santayana.
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I got an email today ~ subject line:
Get National Geographic Traveler today plus 2 FREE maps!
How did they know I was a maphead?
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If you're going to confront sex and death at a museum, you might as well do it naked...
With one big bet, an art-loving professional gambler has made the Australian island into the world's most surprising new cultural destination Read More »
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It’s no secret that I’m a fashionista. For as much time as I spend reading comics and saving space, I waste equal amounts scoping out the latest fashion trends. The idea that being a nerd somehow means you’re stuck wearing baggie comic book tees (which I usually turn into dresses) and raggedy jeans is an age old stereotype. The chic geek of today’s world combines power with pizazz. One of my favorite fashion blogs I follow is looking MARVELous on Tumblr. Check out some of these comic inspired themed outfits! Would you wear any of these?
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Think Fast
"Girl with a Pearl Earring" is often referred to as "the Mona Lisa of the North." Who is the artist that created the painting?
Rembrandt van Rijn
Vincent Van Gogh
Frans Hals
Johannes Vermeer
Think Fast Answer: Johannes Vermeer) Johannes Vermeer painted "Girl with a Pearl Earring" in 1665.
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The sexual success of the male spotted bowerbird depends on his gardening skills. In his patch of forest, where he displays to mates, he cultivates a small fruiting shrub called the ‘bush tomato’, with purple flowers and green fruit.
It’s not clear if his actions are deliberate or inadvertent, but it is clear that he doesn’t eat the fruit. The plant is there to provide him with decorations, to make his boudoir that much more enticing to a female. Aside from humans, the spotted bowerbird is the only other animal that grows a plant for purposes other than food.
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RANDOM TIDBITS

"Don't pull down the blinds! I feel fine. I want the sunlight to greet me." -Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor and sex symbol.

"Either the wallpaper goes, or I do." -Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and writer.

"Nothing but death." -the response of Jane Austen, English writer, when asked "Is there anything you require?"

"I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis." -Humphrey Bogart, American actor.

"I just wish I had time for one more bowl of chili." -Kit Carson, American frontiersman.

"I'm bored with it all." -Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, before slipping into a coma and dying nine days later.

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"Health experts have named Mississippi the fattest state in the Union. The state bird of Mississippi? The fried chicken." -Jay Leno


"This week in New Zealand, a man who lost his wedding ring in the ocean found it in the water over a year later. The man says the most amazing thing about the story is that his wife fell for it." -Conan O'Brien


"Philadelphia has a new plan to ticket pedestrians who text without looking up while they walk. As opposed to the previous punishment: lamp posts." -Jimmy Fallon

The tourist in London climbed into a cab and noticed by the license that his cab driver's name was "Winston Churchill." Trying to make conversation, he said, "I see your name is Winston Churchill."
The driver simply said, "Yep. That's my moniker."
The passenger, not willing to give up yet on some banter said, "That's a pretty famous name."
The driver responded with: "As well it should be too. I've been driving a cab here for over thirty years."
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Col
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Ever wonder what medical personnel scribble on those clipboards attached to the foot of the bed?
Here are some incredible comments taken from hospital charts:
"The patient refused autopsy."
"The patient has no previous history of suicides."
"She has had no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night."
"She is numb from her toes down."
"Patient has two teenage children but no other abnormalities."
"Discharge status: Alive but without my permission."
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This college girl comes back to the dorm after spending all day hiking in the wilderness with her boyfriend. After her shower she's toweling off when her roommate notices her ass all bruised up black and blue. "Good heavens! What happened to you? You're all bruised up."
She replied, "Well, you know how it goes, just got caught between a rock and a hard-on..."
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The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
~ Thomas Paine

Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.
--Eric Hoffer

If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent.
--Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
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I bet your one of the few people in your neck o0f the woods who know what A petosky stone is!!!!!
Nike creates limited-edition 'Petoskey Stone Dunk' shoe inspired by Great Lakes
www.mlive.com
A Grand Rapids retailer has collaborated with footwear giant Nike for the shoe that goes on sale April 28.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/04/grand_rapids_retailer_releases.html
Premier chose the popular Dunk Low SB model – an old school basketball style from the 1980s – as its canvas for the shoe that has been dubbed the “Petoskey Stone Dunk.”
Inspired by the state stone, the leather is embossed with distinctive Petoskey stone pattern.
The sole is a translucent deep blue that transforms into a bright crystal blue when light hits it – similar to the way “sun shines on our Great Lakes” says its designers.
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Healthy Living from Health.com

HEALTH'S 2012 BEAUTY AWARDS ARE IN!
Make your hair shine, skin glow, and teeth sparkle a little brighter with the help of these 35 beauty must-haves. Bonus: You can enter for a chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree!http://health.chtah.net/a/tBPmD36BFYNexB8h43ICFNC1EI4/hlth28
ANGRY? DO's AND DON'TS
Yes, you can keep cool under pressurehttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBPmD36BFYNexB8h43ICFNC1EI4/hlth27

GLUTEN-FREE RECIPES
Tasty meals that won't upset your stomachhttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBPmD36BFYNexB8h43ICFNC1EI4/hlth29

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QUOTE: "The power of imagination makes us infinite."

HINT: Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States.

ANSWER: John Muir.
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RANDOM TIDBITS

A favorite cheerleading tune, the video for Toni Basil's number one hit song "Mickey" included real-life cheerleaders. Toni's uniform was real as well; the "LVH" patch stood for Las Vegas High, where she was on the squad in the early 1960s.

Many of the stunts performed in the 2000 film Bring It On, including the fly-overs and the basket tosses with head-over-heels rotation, are illegal in competitions at the high school level because of safety concerns.

The first organized chant that occurred during a football game at Princeton in the 1880s:
Rah, Rah, Rah!
Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!
Sis, Sis, Sis!
Boom, Boom, Boom!
Aaaah! Princeton,
Princeton, Princeton!

The Washington Redskins cheerleaders are the oldest active cheerleading organization in the NFL. The First Ladies of Football made their debut as the Redskinettes on September 30, 1962.

Cheerleading was an all-male sport until World War II summoned the fittest men overseas. When the war ended, co-ed squads became the norm, as the teams could perform more dramatic stunts using the lighter-weight female cheerleaders.

The quintessential cheerleading jump, the Herkie, was invented by and named for Lawrence Herkimer. Herkimer developed the move, which features the right arm thrust upward and one leg bent behind, in order to gain more height in his jumps while serving on the Southern Methodist University cheerleading squad.
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Cheer-leading Bloopers
Here's a compilation of cheerleading accidents and band bloopers. Some of them are just plain funny.

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Husband: Do you know that on an average women says between 10,000 to 35,000 words a day?
Wife: Yes, that's because they have to repeat everything often to men.
Husband: What?
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A phone call came to a school.
Caller: Jennifer M. can't come to school today.
School Secretary: Alright, but what's the relation between you and the student?
Caller: This is my mother speaking.
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Q: What do you do if a blonde throws a grenade at you?
A: Pull the pin and throw it back.

Q: Why did the blonde throw bread crumbs down the toilet?
A: To feed the toilet duck!
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Random Facts:

Unlike many other fishes, seahorses swim upright, and their eyes can move independently.

The female seahorses deposits up to 1,500 eggs in the male's pouch, which they are supposed to carry until fully developed, tiny seahorses are emerged. Seahorses never nurture their young after birth, leaving them susceptible to predators.
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Passion of Christ play + sloppy acting = Darwin Award candidate
with one comment
Just before he stepped off the edge
A Brazilian actor died after accidentally hanging himself during the play “The Passion of the Christ…”
Tiago Klimeck, 27, was one of the actors from a local theater company taking part in an independent production of the play April 6 in the city of Itarare. Klimeck died Sunday after spending more than two weeks in a medically induced coma due to extensive brain injuries from a prolonged lack of oxygen after accidentally hanging himself, according to the Hospital Santa Casa de Misericordia, in the neighboring city of Itapeva.
…Klimeck, in the role of Judas Iscariot, hangs himself as described in the Bible in the book of Matthew. Klimeck wore a harness under his robe during the play, according to CNN affiliate TV Record.
Police investigator Jose Victor Bassetti told the news station this was the third year the local fire department let the theater company borrow the harness for the play and that Klimeck was not supervised because he knew how to use the equipment. The harness, along with the rope used in the play, are now being analyzed at the Criminal Institute of Sorocaba.
Uh, obviously, he wasn’t as competent at using the safety harness as he thought, eh?
Thanks, Ed ~ 'Someone' has a sense of humor
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How to Make a Human Arabesque. TEDxSummit
www.youtube.com
Watch “The power of x” — the astonishing, shot-in-one-take opening film for TEDxSummit — and then see how it was made.
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You should always try to make it fun!
Sense of humor at work
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Baseball Fan Has Caught 5,800 Balls in the Stands
Zach Hample is a ballhawk: someone who tries to catch baseballs hit or thrown out into the stands.
But that doesn’t say enough. Zach Hample is the ultimate, professional ballhawk. He’s caught more than 5,800 of them because he studies the layout of ballparks, the stand-throwing habits of particular players, and ways of presenting himself so that players will find him appealing. Hample is a master of his craft, and he’s passed on his knowledge by writing a book to enlighten those who wish to become effective ballhawks. Link | Hample’s Website
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Nothing Says Love Like Chewed-Up Body Parts
It's flowers and diamonds for us humans, but the gift that will get male nursery-web spiders some lovin' from potential mates is chewed-up body parts. Ah, love! Nothing says love like chewed-up body parts—at least for nursery-web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis). In some populations of these European arachnids, females won't mate with males unless the suitors present a gift of dead insects wrapped in silk. Males carry their bundles as they search for mates ...
Link See also: 30 Strangest Animal Mating Habits, a Neatorama classic!
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An Unusual Way To Crack An Egg
Artist Duane Keiser demonstrates a rather unusual way to crack an egg in this video entitled Yolk, from his A Painting A Day series of online videos. Duane’s painting series might be just what you need to fill that void left behind by Bob Ross’ death years ago, and this little fluffy egg video is a great place to start your new painting show obsession.
Now grab your brushes and palette and paint the yolk outta that egg! –via Ology
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Meet Meow, All 39 Pounds of Him.

You may say to yourself, after taking a look at the cat named Meow above, that the 39-lb feline is the fattest cat in the world. From The Los Angeles Times: The orange and white tabby was recently brought into the Santa Fe, N.M., animal shelter tipping the scales at 39 pounds. The 2-year-old feline is so fat he barely fit into his animal carrier, and he can’t play for very long, because the extra weight makes him lose his breath easily. His feline weight roughly translates into a human weight of more than 600 pounds. Meow has already gotten caught in his share of cat house doors -- as if all of his nine lives are rolled into one rotund furry feline body. Link Neatoramanaut please, we'd reply. Slim here would only clock in at number 10 in Neatorama's famous list of the Top 15 Amazingly Fat Cats.
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Hopefully, Now Accepted by AP Stylebook
Hopefully, this bit of news won't upset you language purists too much: the Associated Press Stylebook has just affirmed that they've approved the use of "hopefully" ... via (gasp!) Twitter, no less:“We now support the modern usage of hopefully,” the tweet said. “It is hoped, we hope.” Previously, the only accepted meaning was: “In a hopeful manner.” As in, “?‘Surely you are joking,’ the grammarian said hopefully.” This is no joking matter. “We batted this around, as we do a lot of things, and it just seemed like a logical thing to change,” says David Minthorn, the deputy standards editor of the Associated Press. “We’re realists over at the AP. You just can’t fight it.” Link
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MIT Students Play Tetris On The Side Of A Building
The bad thing about attending MIT is the cost of tuition and living expenses adds up to approximately $55,000 a year. The good thing is you can blow off a little steam once in a while by playing the video game Tetris-on the side of a building!
Student gamers gently hacked the controls of the Green Building on campus and put on a dazzling light show while playing a grand scale version of Tetris. I hope they played like champs, because if not the whole neighborhood now knows how bad they are at the popular puzzle game. Now that’s what I call putting your college degree to work for you! –via Nerd Bastards
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Your name was given to us by a spouse or family member who is concerned about your internet addiction. At Internetaholics Anonymous, we can help.
Yes, you–we’re talking to you. You, looking at this screen for hours on end, online. You, bleary eyed. You, an addict. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Been outside? Know what day of the week it is? Have you checked downstairs to see if your family still lives with you?
We’re a non-profit society of recovering addicts like yourself that provides support and counselling through weekly (off-line) meetings designed to help you cope with your problem.
We feature a twelve-step recovery program and in extreme cases, interventions. Although it is our firm belief that you are never “cured,” you most certainly can recover.
We have designed a brief checklist to determine if you are an addict. Do you:
1) Have twitches of the hand when you walk by your terminal?
2) Check e-mail more than five times a day?
3) Spend more time chatting than eating or sleeping?
4) Surf aimlessly with no direction, if only to be online?
5) Leave your name and information at countless sites if only to hope you’ll receive a reply one day from a company you’ll never do business with anyway?
6) Log on before important personal habits, such as meal preparation, hygiene or bodily functions?
7) Have red, swollen eyes that hang halfway out of your head?
8)Spend hours online on a holiday from work, where you’d usually be griping about your carpal tunnel syndrome?
9) See smoke arising from your computer or laptop?
10) All of the above?
If you answered yes to four or more questions (or chose #10), you have a problem. Please call us at Internetaholics Anonymous at:
1-800-LOGOFFNOWFORPETE’SSAKE
We’re here, we’re free, and we’re confidential. The first step to recovery is admission that you have a problem.
Call us today. That is, if you can power off to free up your phone line
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  1. In a footrace you overtake the person in second place. What position are you now in?
  2. A clock costs $10 plus half its cost. What does it cost?
  3. A month begins on Friday and ends on Friday. What month is it?
  4. What’s the next letter in this sequence? W T N L I T _
  5. The 22nd and 24th U.S. presidents had the same mother and father but were not brothers. How?
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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (Germany), 500 previously unpublished fairy tales were discovered. The tales, which date to the 1800s, originally were collected by a historian named Franz Xaver von Schonwerth, “a contemporary of the Grimm brothers.” Now selected tales have been introduced to the world in a book published by Erika Eichenseer, a cultural curator in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz.
Eichenseer says the fairy tales aren’t just for kids: “Their main purpose was to help young adults on their path to adulthood, showing them that dangers and challenges can be overcome through virtue, prudence and courage.”
Clearly, as evidenced by one tale of a maiden who escapes a witch by transforming herself into a pond. The witch then lies on her stomach and drinks all the water, swallowing the young girl, who uses a knife to cut her way out of the witch.
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IKEA Cardboard Camera
This cardboard digital camera by IKEA was given away last week to members of the press during the 2012 Fuorisalone, a design expo in Milan. According to IT Gizmodo, the camera can hold up to 40 photos on internal memory, has a USB connector, and will soon be in IKEA stores.
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For those of us who love corn on the cob, this is an absolute must see! No mess to preparing it, no silks to try to brush out of the corn, it comes out clean.
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Jon left for a two day business trip to Chicago. He was only a few blocks away from his house when he realized he'd left his
plane ticket on top of his dresser. He turned around and headed back to the house. He quietly entered the door, walked into the kitchen. He saw his wife washing the breakfast dishes, wearing her skimpiest negligee.
She looked so good that he tiptoed up behind her, reached out, and squeezed her left tit.
"Leave only one quart of milk," she said. "Jon won't be here for breakfast tomorrow."
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid. -- Han Solo

"Might does not make right. But it sure makes what is." - Edward Abbey
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Stairs incorporating a wheelchair/bicycle ramp


Clever design, or safety hazard? The arguments are discussed at Reddit.
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1 in 10 Men Prefer iPad to Girlfriends
That's what one recent poll of bachelors discovered: The research found that 11% of bachelors would rather own the popular Apple gadget than gain a new love interest. And 3% said they would happily leave a current partner if they were rewarded with the tablet device, the poll of 600 people by online casino RoxyPalace.com found. Link
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Robotics Pavilion at Expo 2012
Robots are set to take over at Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea! The theme for the Expo is “The Living Ocean and Coast,” but technology will be on display everywhere at the Expo beginning May 12. After all, robots work in the ocean, too! Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory will be well represented, with dozens of cutting-edge robots. Read more about the robots at Expo 2012 at Plastic Pals. Link
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She: What are you thinking about?
He: The same thing you’re thinking about.
She: You’re very vulgar.
(From Intelligent Jokes, by Sion Rubi, 2004.)
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How To Make Yourself Smarter
The N-Back Game
If you do lots of push-ups, you get stronger - but if you do a lot of mental exercises, do you get smarter?
For most of human history, it's accepted that you're either born smart or (sadly) not and that there's no amount of Sudoku that will make you smarter (sure you can be more knowledgable - say by educating yourself, but not intrinsically more intelligent). But that common wisdom may be wrong: studies show that you can increase your smarts by improving your memory through certain types of games.
... in 2008, [Susan] Jaeggi turned one of these tests of working memory into a training task for building it up, in the same way that push-ups can be used both as a measure of physical fitness and as a strength-building task. “We see attention and working memory as the cardiovascular function of the brain,” Jaeggi says.“If you train your attention and working memory, you increase your basic cognitive skills that help you for many different complex tasks.”
Jaeggi’s study has been widely influential. Since its publication, others have achieved results similar to Jaeggi’s not only in elementary-school children but also in preschoolers, college students and the elderly. The training tasks generally require only 15 to 25 minutes of work per day, five days a week, and have been found to improve scores on tests of fluid intelligence in as little as four weeks. Follow-up studies linking that improvement to real-world gains in schooling and job performance are just getting under way. But already, people with disorders including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (A.D.H.D.) and traumatic brain injury have seen benefits from training. Gains can persist for up to eight months after treatment. Dan Hurley of The New York Times reports: Link
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Your Infinite Painting
Your Infinite Painting is another project by Philipp Lenssen. On a white canvas, draw and explore infinitely – sit back, relax, and give it a try. Refresh for another go. Kinda fun! via
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Most hated baby names Is yours on the list?
Stop taking this picture! I mean it!
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Imagine (Book)
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"No, the best way to prepare is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and I fished out listings of their operating system." -- Bill Gates
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A man was called to witness that a couple had been making love in a park.
The witness: They were fucking your honor
The judge: Could the witness put it in a more Sheakspearian way:
The witness: The park was Dark but caused no fear
Until tiny sounds came to my ear
There was this couple on the ground there
and his balls were dangling in the air
and you know his what was in her you know where
If that wasn't fucking your Honor I wasn't there
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Hug an idiot
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A World-Class Joke
You may have read the story about the Chinese re-release of the movie Titanic. The nude scene was cut from the 3D version because of fears that Chinese men would reach out and try to grab Kate Winslet’s, um, assets. James Cameron even talked about it on TV. But there was one part of the story that was missing -it wasn’t true. The original source was a satirical blog post that went viral and along the way lost its “fake” tag before it was picked up by major news outlet worldwide.
This particular report exploded like a bomb to spread everywhere. At first, it was limited only to the Chinese-language Internet. More recently, it has appeared among foreign media. I just watched a clip of director James Cameron being interviewed on a talk show during which he said: “They were afraid that the Chinese men will reach out to touch the screen.” When Cameron emphasized that “This is true,” I knew that this is one of the most successful fake stories in recent years. Although this report is so popular that I cannot even believe that I was the one who made it up, the truth is that facts are facts and lies are lies. And the truth is that this report was the result of a spoof created out of boredom by a person who is about to graduate from university. Liu Haorui, the original blogger, tells how it happened. Link -via Metafilter
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People say: "The early bird catches the worm"

I say that: "The early worm was caught by the bird"
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Why can't Miss Piggy count to 70?

- Because she gets a frog stuck in her throat at 69.
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Till Death …
The law in a certain village requires that any wife who can prove that her husband has been unfaithful must shoot him before sundown on the same day. Every wife reasons perfectly, and all the wives know this. Further, every wife knows instantly when another’s husband has been unfaithful but never whether her own is.
One day the mayor announces that there is at least one unfaithful husband in the village. In fact there are 40 unfaithful husbands, but the wives do not know this. What happens?
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“Last night Mr. Creston Clarke played King Lear at the Tabor Grand. All through the five acts of that Shakespearean tragedy he played the King as though under momentary apprehension that someone else was about to play the Ace.” — Eugene Field, Denver Tribune, c. 1880
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Death is one of two things...
Either it is annihilation,
and the dead have no consciousness of anything;
or as we are told, it is really a change:
a migration of the soul from one place to another.
~ Socrates
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An illegal immigrant picks up a hooker. “Hey, how much you charge for da hour, sister?”, he asks.
“$ 100″, she replies.
In broken English, he says, “Do you do immigrant style?”
“No”, she says.
“I pay you $200 to do immigrant style.”
“No”, she says, not knowing what immigrant style is.
“I pay you $300.”
“No”, she says.
“I pay you $400.”
“No”, she says.
So finally he says, ”OK, I pay $1,000 to do immigrant style.”
She thinks, “Well, I’ve been in the game for over 10 years now.. I’ve had every kind of request from weirdos from every part of the world. How bad could immigrant style be?”
So she agrees and has sex with him.. Finally, after several hours, they finish. Exhausted, the hooker turns to him and says, “Hey, I was expecting something perverted and disgusting.But that was ok. So, what exactly is immigrant style?”
The illegal immigrant replies, “You send bill to Government.”
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Trees for Arbor Day 2012
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Runny oops
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What is the best full house? Suppose you are playing poker and a genie offers to arrange the deal so that you receive the full house of your choice. What hand should you specify?
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Celebrate National Park Week with beautiful images of U.S. parks and recreation areas.
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Pictures: Nature Yields New Ideas for Energy and Efficiency
A bull kelp forest in a strong current
Long strands of bull kelp ripple beneath the surface of churning coastal waters, drawing fuel from the sun and, perhaps, pointing out a better way for humanity to capture and use energy.
Seaweed is just one of the innovations of nature from which engineers are drawing inspiration as they seek to design energy systems that are cleaner and more efficient. In plants—the engines of photosynthesis—and in creatures as small as insects and as large as whales, advocates of "biomimicry" are looking for systems that can help humanity better meet the challenge of fueling civilization sustainably.
Whale Bumps for Power
The bumps on a humpback whale's flipper, are on the "wrong" side. Physicists are familiar with bumps on the trailing edges of wings or fins, but here they are found on the leading edge. That led Dr. Frank E. Fish, a biologist at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, to try to design a fan blade that moved air as efficiently as a whale's flippers move the animal through water. The result was WhalePower, a Toronto-based company that designs blades for fans, turbines, and more, inspired by a whale's bumps.
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Wildlife Ranching - Conserving America's Wildlife
By doing everything that county agents might consider wrong, this rancher has doubled his beef production. Learn how he stimulated his entire ranch and the ecosystem around it.
I like to send this video because it is so important to realize that there are alternative ways of doing things; of exploiting the environment in a way that is both productive and sustainable. Environmentalists, maybe some of the more extreme ones, like to take aim at the cattle industry. The energy it takes to produce beef, the environmental impact of ranches and the cattle themselves, but there is another way. One couple, at least, have found a way to make ranching not only environmentally healthy, but also profitable.
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From the Smithsonian: [We] throw around Deep Time estimates, framed in millions of years, so often that it’s easy to become inured to the wider context of life’s history...
Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus and their neighbors roamed western North America about 150 million years ago. This slice of time falls in the latter portion of the Jurassic. The traditional representatives of the latest Cretaceous scene—Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops—did not evolve until about 67 million years ago. By themselves, these dates are just labels, but think of them falling along evolution’s timeline. About 83 million years separated Apatosaurus from Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus from Triceratops. The so-called Age of Mammals—which began when the non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out—has been going on for about 66 million years.
Less time separates us from Tyrannosaurus rex than separated T. rex from Stegosaurus.
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Magnifying The Universe
If you love "The Power of Ten," then don't miss this: Magnifying the Universe, a Flash interactive infographic that illustrates the scale of 100 objects in the observable universe ranging from galaxies to insects.
To fully capture the awe of the vastly different sizes of the Pillars of Creation, Andromeda, the sun, elephants and HIV, you really need to see images, not just illustrations of these items. Stunningly enough, the Cat's Eye Nebula is surprising similar to coated vesicles, showing that even though the nebula is more than 40,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times larger, many things are similar in our universe.
We hope you have a blast magnifying the universe, know that each time you zoom in a depth, you're magnifying the universe 10x ... and every time you zoom out, the bigger objects are 1/10th of their prior size. If you zoom from the biggest object, The Observable Universe (8.8 x 10E26 ... or 880,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000m across), all the way down to the hydrogen atom's proton nucleus (1.7 x 10E-15 ... or 0.0000000000000017m across), you will have zoomed in over 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000x! Unbelievable isn't it? Our universe really is immensely massive and surprisingly small.
Number Sleuth: Link
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Fashion & Technology in the '60s
As the calendar turned to 1960, many new changes were taking place. The first laser was invented, polio vaccines were now taken orally and Yeager broke the sound barrier.
Watch a nostalgic video that shows the fashions and technology of the 1960s. We have come a long way folks!
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US Space Race
The sixties was the decade of glory regarding the space race as we went from Mercury to Apollo and man's first steps on the moon. This exciting video clip captures the excitement and drama of those years. http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=6247
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"It's now the law in Southern California that police must screen all adult films to make sure condoms are being used, which explains the LAPD's new motto, "To protect and perv." -Conan O'Brien
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The team at Meetup HQ camped out by the window to catch a glimpse of the Shuttle Enterprise as it flew by.
398361_10150771633904588_8026914587_9375049_1682695639_n.jpg 547989_10150771641889588_8026914587_9375082_1183649714_n.jpg

Tom, one of the original 2 event organizers for my favorite meetup group, Anyone Can Join,
was interviewed for a dating site recently.
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They say one of the best ways to meet someone for dating is through mutual interests. One of the best ways to meet others with like interests these days is via MeetUp groups.
The great thing about MeetUps is that you can find or start one no matter where you live or what your interests are. Or, you can do what our guest today did—start a MeetUp for anyone. Tom Deus and a friend started the “Anyone Can Join” MeetUp group in Portland, OR. The group has close to 3,000 members and plenty of activities to choose from—live music, dancing, hiking, happy hours, football games and open mic nights.
We spoke with Tom Deus about the “Anyone Can Join” MeetUp group and how MeetUps are changing the world of dating.
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Meetup groups recently celebrated 10 years of existence. They were hatched after 9/11 ~ when New Yorkers got outside, learned who their neighbors were, and decided to create neighborhood groups.
This is one of the GOOD things that came out of the 9/11 tragedy.
I am now an event organizer for this group, Anyone Can Join. I host events in my area that I enjoy: booksignings, tours, Science Pubs, etc
With over 3,000 members and over 1,000 past meetups held, we are one of the more successful meetup groups. We do everything from OMSI Science Pubs talks, Booksignings, tours: Japanese Gardens, Breweries, artists' workshops, concerts, pub crawls, game nights, movie nights, lazer tag, camping, hiking, walking, movies, etc, etc, etc...
Although I belong to other specialty meetups (Tea & Mystery: 1 meeting a month, Glass Half Full: 1 meeting a month, Sailing in Portland (after foot heals), Hiking in Portland (after foot heals), Einstein's Genius, FUN, Fabulous & Flourishing for the Next Fifty, Comeback Sports, City Repair, etc.... Anyone Can Join is my 'home group', where I know a lot of people (now), do many events with and where I am also an event organizer.
I became an event organizer by accident: I had suggested some places/events that sounded like fun: places I was going to go to anyway. Heather (one of the event organizers & unofficial photographer) made me an event organizer.
My first event, the Star Wars Book Signing at the local Powell's (no relation) Books, was attended by .... just me and about 150-200 other Star Wars Geeks. I took pics, posted them, and 'rated' the event as great, the venue as great, and shrugged it off.
The next event I listed turned out better:
Booksigning of Ken Jennings (of Jeopardy! fame) new book, Maphead: 8 'Anyones' amid about 150 other map freaks.
And my upcoming events are well-signed-up-for:
OMSI Science pub: How Geckos Stick and Why We Care, next Monday, 18 signed up
Bonsai Society Exhibition at the Portland Japanese Garden, Private Tour limited to 20 people; full with a waiting list of 5
OMSI Science pub: "The Cheese Stands Alone: The Science Behind Oregon’s Artisan Cheeses" ~ 9 signed up so far
The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service ~ Booksigning ~ 8 signed up so far
Jeanne (Ursa)
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An article from earlier this year:
Meetup.com: 10+ years organizing thousands of groups
and another
Dear ACJers, (Aug 24, 2011)
When Darren and Tom started this group in September 2009, I don't know that they really knew what would happen next. But I don't think either of them expected that in just under two years the group would grow to over 2,100 members and hold 1,000 events, a milestone that was hit this evening with the Tryon Creek Hike led by Gary.
In the last 23 months, among many other fun events, we have shared meals ranging from breakfast to dessert, sang (karaoke), danced, skated, bowled and found our inner children with both indoor and outdoor games.
We have given back to the community by volunteering over 700 hours at the Food Bank, building a bridge and restoring trails at the Audubon Society, plunging into the Columbia River (some of us more than once!), raising money for cancer research, answering phones at OPB and sending care packages to troops stationed overseas.
We've painted pottery, visited the art museum, read and discussed some of the Classics, viewed documentaries and have enjoyed movies under the stars. We've explored the area with urban and photo walks, hikes, day and weekend trips and we've discovered that yes, there are bats in the Ape Caves.
Most importantly, we've formed friendships with people who might not otherwise be a part of our lives.
A huge thank you to all the organizers for their hard work in planning such great events. And to everyone for making this such a successful and awesome group to be a part of.
I hope to see you at an event soon,
Heather
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Fellow Meetuppers, (Sept 9, 2011)

I don't write to our whole community often, but this week is special because it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many people don't know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.
Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought local community doesn't matter much if we've got the internet and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I hoped they wouldn't bother me.
When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they'd normally ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being neighborly.
A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet -- and grow local communities?
We didn't know if it would work. Most people thought it was a crazy idea -- especially because terrorism is designed to make people distrust one another. A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months after 9/11.
Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it's working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups, Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups... a wild variety of 100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common -- except one thing.
Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to neighbors. And what often happens next is still amazing to me. They grow businesses and bands together, they teach and motivate each other, they babysit each other's kids and find other ways to work together. They have fun and find solace together. They make friends and form powerful community. It's powerful stuff.
It's a wonderful revolution in local community, and it's thanks to everyone who shows up.
Meetups aren't about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it weren't for 9/11. 9/11 didn't make us too scared to go outside or talk to strangers. 9/11 didn't rip us apart. No, we're building new
community together!!!!
The towers fell, but we rise up. And we're just getting started with these Meetups.

Scott Heiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ)
Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup
New York City
September 2011
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I am sharing this with you ~ because meetups really helped me through a very difficult time. Now, the people I have met through meetups are my friends, my fellow explorers...
Jeanne
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The State Beverage Quiz
About half of the states of the USA have official state beverages. The Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss today will only ask you about nine of them, but who knows this kind of stuff? I only knew which state two of the drinks went with, but got four right by the luck of guessing. I hope you can do better! Link
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The Ten Biggest Alpha Males in TV History
Unreality magazine posted a list of ten alpha males on TV. Mainly,all the shows are from the past ten years or so. Where is Marshall Dillon? Where is J.R. Ewing? Where is Napoleon Solo? Arthur Fonzarelli? Tony Soprano? Thomas Magnum? Anyway, the list at Unreality is a good one insofar as recent TV is concerned. Go take a look and you may find a show you’ll want to start watching. But who else would you include from older TV shows? Link
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White Killer Whale
Scientists off the coast of Kamchatka have spotted the first confirmed white adult orca. The white killer whale appears to be healthy. The only white orcas seen before have been juveniles.
The sightings were made during a research cruise off Kamchatka by a group of Russian scientists and students, co-led by Erich Hoyt, the long-time orca scientist, conservationist and author who is now a senior research fellow with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
“We’ve seen another two white orcas in Russia but they’ve been young, whereas this is the first time we’ve seen a mature adult,” he told BBC News. “It has the full two-metre-high dorsal fin of a mature male, which means it’s at least 16 years old – in fact the fin is somewhat ragged, so it might be a bit older.”
Orcas mature around the age of 15, and males can live to 50 or 60 years old, though 30 is more commonplace. “Iceberg seems to be fully socialised; we know that these fish-eating orcas stay with their mothers for life, and as far as we can see he’s right behind his mother with presumably his brothers next to him,” said Dr Hoyt. The cause of his unusual pigmentation is not known. They didn’t name the orca Moby Dick as you would expect, but instead it is called Iceberg, perhaps because of the recent anniversary of the Titanic incident. Link -via reddit
(Image credit: E. Lazareva/Far East Russia Orcas Project)
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How to Make an Apple Puzzle
Wanna learn how to cut an apple so your kids will think you’re some kind of genius? Head over to NeatoBambino for the full instructions. Link
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Music From Nature
Musician and sound engineer Diego Stocco was commissioned by Burt’s Bees to make a song for Earth Day by editing together sounds from nature. The result is very catchy! Link -Thanks Diego!
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Click to enlarge
Earth_humans
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“Did You Put Any Thought into This?”
Two guys are trying to move a honey bee colony without any specialized equipment. One is calm and confident; the other is nervous and uncertain. Judging from the conversation, they’ve been in situations like this before: “They’re not stinging you. Have you been stung yet?” “You also said the skunk wouldn’t spray me either!” -via Nerdcore
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Play Indie Game Rambo: Last Blood
Indie video games are often strange, simplistic, and frequently laugh out loud funny. Rambo: Last Blood manages to be all three, and it plays out like a short story told with very simple controls and lots of pixels.
Join John Rambo on his last mission in this fun indie game full of machismo, redemption and lots of hugs!
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“A propos of dreams, is it not a strange thing if writers of fiction never dream of their own creations; recollecting, I suppose, even in their dreams, that they have no real existence? I never dream of any of my own characters, and I feel it is so impossible that I would wager Scott never did of his, real as they are.”
– Charles Dickens, letter to C.C. Felton, Sept. 1, 1843
“Only a few isolated figures in letters stand out as real; Sir Roger de Coverley, I suppose, Mr. Pickwick certainly, and, of course, Sherlock Holmes … Such characters, I mean, as create a real illusion; so that a man attaining Heaven might look round him and say, ‘And now, where’s Pickwick? Oh, no, I forgot; of course, he’s only a character in a book.’”
– Ronald Knox, “A Ramble in Barsetshire,” Essays in Satire, 1928
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Feedback for HANDJOB! [Official Commercial]
This is not a joke. I saw this commercial on television once. I forget what channel it was on – probably one of the business channels like Bloomberg TV since that’s what I usually leave on as background white noise in the living room during the day. Whenever I pass through, I can see the latest news on the crawl.
Only saw it once – and forgot about it. Until my favorite outré commentator on life included it in this week’s Paws and Claws newsletter.
Thanks, Ursarodinia
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Ou`tre´
Out of the common course or limits; extravagant{2}; bizarre; outlandish
outre - conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
Damn, Ed ~ you always find ways to make me smile
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A Real Life Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
I’m not sure how old this little critter is or if it has meant a rat who will become its sensei in time, but even if he’s not a teenager or a ninja, he’s certainly a mutant already. Personally, I’d rather watch him run around than watch the new Michael Bay movie. Link
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Strange but True: Earth Is Not Round
If Earth is a blue marble, it’s certainly not one you’d want to depend on in the chalk circle. Instead of being a sphere, it’s actually far more irregular (and not just the mountains, duh). Charles Q. Choi lays out lots of oddities about our lumpy planet at SciAm.
Here’s some tidbits:
  • Earth is actually an oblate spheroid, bigger at the equator than at the poles.
  • Gravity is unevenly distributed around Earth, which looks something like this when you draw it.
  • Areas of the crust and mantle are still rising up to a centimeter a year after being crushed beneath the weight of glaciers during the ice age.
I hope that the Earth doesn’t feel self-conscious, though. Because we all have our imperfections. And this lumpy ball of dirt and magma is the only home we have.
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7 Downsides to Being Left-Handed
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/125008
Why so few people are left-handed
http://theweek.com/article/index/227350/why-so-few-people-are-left-handed
Right-handers have long accounted for 90 percent of the population, and scientists may have figured out why
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Finger Painting
http://www.photopumpkin.com/photo-blog/finger-painting/
Thanks Phlax
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Meanwhile, at a Russian Walmart
… or it’s equivalent.
http://youtu.be/zIK7wqmI7YE
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Yoga Workout
http://youtu.be/ciKoF9d1xww
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Let Me Show You How Your Pussy Works
Musician Brian McKnight writes an adult song.
http://youtu.be/-GbPL4B-7F8
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Booty Shakers
http://youtu.be/T92FvrMzjBs
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Parenting win.
Could this be our future with robots?
Asteroid mining mission revealed by Planetary Resources, Inc.
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belgard
n. a sweet or loving look
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Bridal Suite…
Every year on their wedding anniversary my boss, Woody, and his wife celebrated by staying at the same resort hotel. On their 25th anniversary they booked their usual room. But when the hotel’s bell captain escorted them upstairs, they were in for a big surprise. “There must be some mistake,” Woody said. “This looks like the bridal suite.”
“It’s okay,” the bell captain reassured him. “If I put you in the ballroom, that doesn’t mean you have to dance.”
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Curve Ball
http://books.google.com/books?id=y6oRAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
An astronomical oddity, from the Sidereal Messenger, June 1890: On the evening of April 25th, 1889, at about 8:30 p.m., I was examining Saturn with a power of about 180 on a 4 1/8-inch achromatic by Brashear, when, much to my surprise, I found the shadow of the globe on the rings curved the wrong way, i.e. from the globe, as shown in the following drawing. Thinking my eyes might be deceiving me I called my wife, and without telling her what I had seen, requested her to describe the shape of the shadow. She described the shadow as having its right hand edge curved away from the planet.
I wrote to Professor Comstock of the Washburn Observatory about it, and was informed by him that while my observation of Saturn was unusual, it was far from being unprecedented; that the same appearance was observed in 1875 with the 26-inch achromatic at Washington, and that Webb, in ‘Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes,’ says: ‘The outline of this shadow has often been found curved the wrong way for its perspective.’ Professor Comstock also adds, ‘I do not know that any satisfactory explanation for this anomaly has ever been given.’
William Corliss notes a flurry of similar observations between 1886 and 1914. I think this must have been explained by now, but I haven’t been able to find a source.
(Jenks, Aldro; “On the Reversed Curvature of the Shadow on Saturn’s Rings,” Sidereal Messenger, 9:255, 1890.)
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Trivia Tidbit: Apple’s cash reserves would fill 50 Olympic swimming pools with dollar bills.
If you’re curious about the calculation, it’s actually pretty simple. A dollar bill (according to Wolfram Alpha) has a volume of 0.06943 cubic inches. An Olympic-sized swimming pool has a volume of 152,064,000 cubic inches. Divide the pool by the money and you come up with 2,190,177,157 bills needed to fill a swimming pool. Take Apple’s cash position — roughly $110 billion — and divide by that number of bills and voila, you get 50.22 pools. via
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The Piggy Bank
You have 100 coins totaling $5.00. They consist of pennies, dimes, and half dollars. How many of each are there?
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Secret of Making McDonald’s French Fries Revealed
Love McDonald's Frency fries and wish you could make some at home? Chef David Myers of Comme Ca restaurant in Los Angeles has cracked the secret: [David Myers] says the key to making a perfect, consistent, McDonald's-style fry is in the advance preparation. The cut potatoes need to be soaked for at least two hours before cooking which pulls out excess starch and ensures the crispiest product. Also, Myers recommends that, "you have plenty of paper towels, a lined sheet pan, and have your oil ready to go." Link - via Fark
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Cinco de Mayo Piñata Cookies

These colorful piñata cookies are as tasty as the candy inside them! Color the dough, roll it out in layers, bake, cut, build the hollow burro, fill with candy, and be sure to take pictures before they are eaten. Sandra Denneler has the complete recipe and instructions at SheKnows. Link -via Boing Boing~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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"According to a new study, ladies and gentlemen, you can improve your memory by watching less TV, doing crossword puzzles, eating more fish. I can't remember all that." --Dave Letterman

"The Megamillions story is getting interested. The married couple in their 60s who won the Megamillions lottery says they giggled about it for hours, and by giggle they mean nervously plotted to murder each other." -Conan O'Brien
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Famous Movie Quotes (The First Drafts)

The Godfather: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse. Well, he can refuse it, of course. I just know that if someone were to make me an offer like this, I'd jump all over it. But who am I to impose my feelings on someone else?"

The Terminator: "I'll be back. Do you need anything while I'm out?"

Dirty Harry: "You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? I ask myself that every day, and you know what? I feel so very lucky. Loving family, steady work..."

Taxi Driver: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Sorry, it looked like you were talkin' to me. My mistake." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bob hadn't been to a class reunion in twenty years. When he walked into this latest one, he thought he recognized a woman over in the corner, so he approached her and extended his hand in greeting, saying, "You look like Helen Brown."
"Well," the woman snapped back, "you don't look so great in blue, either!"
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Portland On The Web: CNN, Princeton Review, Le Monde & More

The French continued their love affair with Portland this week with another glowing article in Le Monde. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact we can't keep our clothes on, even at the airport. Everyone knows the French love nudity. Here's a round up of what the internet said about Portland this week.
Le Monde: Portland, l'antre des artistes
CNN: Oregon man says naked airport protest was about free speech
Sustainable Oregon: Portland, Oregon: Doing it right
OregonLive: Portland abuzz over hosting coffee's biggest event
Statesman Journal: Portland markets its solar-powered toilets
Portland Mercury: Portland Jeweler Wins First Place in International Designer Jewelry Competition
Princeton Review: Portland State University and the University of Portland are two of America's 322 "Green Colleges
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Flowchart: Should I Accept That Friend Request?
http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6756465/flowchart-should-i-accept-that-friend-request
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10 Things We've Learned About the Earth Since Last Earth Day
We recap the most surprising, awe-inspiring and alarming things that we have learned about the Earth and the environment since last year's holiday Read More »
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Think Fast
What was the first wildlife refuge formed in the U.S.?
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland
(Think Fast Answer: Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida) President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island as the first wildlife refuge in 1903. Today there are 556 national wildlife refuges covering more than 150 million acres of federal land.
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“The biggest lie about memory is that it feels true“. Excellent Jonah Lehrer piece on eyewitness mistakes & fixing them
Little boy lost finds his mother using Google Earth. Touching.
Getting drunk on stars – a wonderful video about the maths of drawing stars
A list of 173 climate change myths and concise summaries of what science has to say about them + links
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Rotobooth, A Rotary Phone Photobooth
Rotobooth is a photobooth that uses a vintage rotary phone as its interface. The user dials their mobile number using the rotary phone, then the photobooth takes their photo, uploads it to Flickr, and texts them the photo link. The Rotobooth uses the Twilio API to send text messages—for more info on the project see this interview with Rotobooth team members Chris Bell, Liangjie Xia, and Mike Kelberman on the Twilio blog.
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Polar bear origins revised – they’re older and more distinct than we thought
It looked like we had the polar bear’s origin story nailed down. Genetic studies suggested that between 111 and 166 thousand years ago, a group of brown bears, possibly from Ireland, split off from their kin. In a blink of geological time, they adapted to the cold of the Arctic, and became the polar bears we know and worry about. Fossils supported this story: the oldest polar bear bone is between 110 and 130 thousand years old.
But according to Frank Hailer at the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, this story is wrong in two important ways. First, the polar bear aren’t just a branch of the brown bear family tree. They’re a separate lineage in their own right. Second, they around four times older than anyone had thought, arising around 600 thousand years ago.
If this new vision is right, the bear’s journey to polar dominance wasn’t a speedy sprint, but a more leisurely stroll. As a species, polar bears have seen many ice ages. Rather than being a symbol of extraordinarily fast evolution, they’ve actually had plenty of time to adapt to life in the freezer.
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Superhero Film Alphabet Quizzes Your Superheroes in Film Knowledge
http://laughingsquid.com/superhero-film-alphabet-quizzes-your-superheroes-in-film-knowledge/
Graphic designer Stephen Wildish has released Superhero Film Alphabet, the latest poster in his ongoing movie quiz series. All of his challenging film alphabets to date have been posted on our site and cards, prints and posters of the alphabets are available for purchase.
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Man Drove 111 mph To Have Sex
When police stopped Zachary P. Ramirez, 21, for speeding, he's got a rather unique reason: File this under "Excuses Traffic Cops Don't Hear Every Day." A Chicago-area man who allegedly was clocked driving 111 mph through a 45 mph forest preserve told a patrol officer he was in a hurry to “try to go have sex with a girl he liked.” 111 mph (that's 178 km per hour for those of you on metric)! It's not an excuse for speeding, but us guys understand. After all, she might change her mind if he took his time ... Link
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Wow! A cringeworthy new G-spot study came out this week, based on an autopsy of an 80+ year old woman. Read Dr Petra’s incisive post, but specifcally, read the conflict of interest bit half-way down
Fascinating. The Chinese characters for epilepsy are changing to reduce stigma.
Not Knowing Is the Key to Science – a great interview with Stuart Firestein
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Oz Passport – Pocket Notebook
Getting to Oz used to be quite an ordeal (traveling by tornadoes ain’t what it used to be!), but if your travel brings you to places that made you realize you aren’t in Kansas anymore, you need this Oz Passport Pocket Notebook to keep a journal.
It’s also great as a convenient to-do list (1. Visit Emerald City, 2. Find Wizard) and the perfect gift for any Wizard of Oz fans.
Link | See all Wizard of Oz items. See also:
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Metal Insect Sculptures by Elizabeth Goluch
Elizabeth’s lifelike insect and spider sculptures incorporate metal, gold, silver, enamel, and a little slice of steampunk. You are highly advised to check out her website to see all the amazing details I couldnt post here, as most of her clockwork bugs have movable parts and secret compartments that reveal hidden flourishes (the Dragonfly, for instance, hides a dragon beneath its wings while the ladybug houses a tiny house inside of it. SO GO LOOKS). (via: lostateminor)
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See all the Earth’s traffic — road, air, and ship – are featured in this very cool video of the globe.
Feeling nostalgic? How about playing Minesweeper?History of Space Photography exhibition.
A very interesting article on the dark side of Facebook memes
From the cute to the strange: the Nudibranch Blue Dragon.
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Hoard of Celtic coins found in Switzerland

Details from The History Blog: A hoard of almost 300 silver Celtic coins has been unearthed in the village of Füllinsdorf, near Basel in northwest Switzerland. They were found by a private individual who was working as a scout for the canton archaeological department. He recovered a number of coins that were just barely buried in a few centimeters of soil, and then he alerted the official archaeologist. They found the 293 silver coins spread over an area of about 538 square feet, all of them just under the surface. It’s by far the largest number of Celtic coins ever found in Switzerland... The coins are of a type known as a quinarius, a small silver piece worth half of a denarius. When Rome first issued the denomination in 211 B.C., it was called a quinarius because it was worth five asses (the equivalent of 5 pounds in brass coin). When they were reissued in 101 B.C., they were still worth half a denarius, but monetary reform made the denarius worth 16 asses so the quinarii were now worth eight... Roman quinarii had a helmeted figure of Pallas, later Victory, on the obverse, and the Dioscuri (divine twins Castor and Pollux) on horseback on the reverse. The Celtic version also has a helmeted victory on the obverse, but done in Celtic style and a single Celtic horse on the reverse.
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Two blondes were walking through the woods and they came to some tracks.
The first blonde said "These look like deer tracks."
The other said, "No, they look like moose tracks."
They argued and argued and were still arguing when the train hit them.
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A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit.-- In the August 1993 issue, page 9, of PS magazine, the Army's magazine of preventive maintenance
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5th Ave Frogger, Hacked Arcade Game Based on Real-Time NYC Traffic
http://laughingsquid.com/5th-ave-frogger-hacked-arcade-game-based-on-real-time-nyc-traffic/
5th Ave Frogger is a hacked version of the classic video game Frogger that captures the positions of cars on 5th Avenue in New York City and maps them into the game in real-time (video). The game was developed by art director Tyler DeAngelo. He recently set up the game by 5th Avenue so pedestrians could give it a try.
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Kangaroos have three vaginas
We interrupt your regularly scheduled news programming to bring you this wonderful piece of trivia about kangaroo genitals.
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A beautiful ad. May 13Boss thinks he's unstoppable...
Good guy gas station employee.
Neil deGrasse Tyson answers a second grader's question.
That was a close call.

Legally blind Rachael leaves the coaches and audience speechless...
Best engine sound on a silent electrical scooter.
Evacuated Tube Transport could take you around the world in just 6 hours.
Drool machine.
Just some tigers at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park.
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Captain J. A. Hadfield: "This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men."
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Life and Limbs
An old philosophical friend of mine was grown, from experience, very cautious in this particular, and carefully avoided any intimacy with [captious, overcritical] people. He had, like other philosophers, a thermometer to show him the heat of the weather, and a barometer to mark when it was likely to prove good or bad; but there being no instrument invented to discover, at first sight, this unpleasing disposition in a person, he, for that purpose, made use of his legs; one of which was remarkably handsome, the other, by some accident, crooked and deformed. If a stranger, at first interview, regarded his ugly leg more than his handsome one, he doubted him — if he spoke of it, and took no notice of the handsome leg, that was sufficient to determine my philosopher to have no farther acquaintance with him. Every body has not this two-legged instrument; but every one, with a little attention, may observe signs of that carping, fault-finding disposition, and take the same resolution of avoiding the acquaintance of those infected with it. I therefore advise those critical, querulous, discontented, unhappy people — if they wish to be respected and beloved by others, and happy in themselves, they should leave off looking at the ugly leg. – Benjamin Franklin, 1780
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Lovely logical paradox (or not) about the infiniteness of universes
Lovely Atlantic photo gallery of water on our world
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Be the first to like this post
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As you may or may not know, it is the male seahorse that incubates the eggs and then gives birth.
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Guess The Web Browser
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/04/21/guess-the-web-browser/
firefox, chrome, opera, safari and IE
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David wong – Electric Rain
http://youtu.be/vrwmxxMRCwk
Electric Violin cover of the Slash song Electric Rain.
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A man walks into a shoe store... and tries on a pair of shoes.
"How do they feel?" asks the sales clerk.
"Well ... they feel a bit tight." replies the man.
The assistant promptly bends down and has a look at the shoes and the mans feet.
"Try pulling the tongue out." offers the clerk.
Nath theyth sthill feelth a bith tighth." He says.
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Larry's barn burned down, and Susan, his wife, called the insurance company ...
Susan: We had that barn insured for fifty thousand and I want my money.
Agent: Whoa there just a minute, Susan; it doesn't work quite like that. We will ascertain the value of the old barn and provide you with a new one of comparable worth.
Susan, after a pause: I'd like to cancel the policy on my husband.
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Film Reel Of The Brave Empire State Building Window Washers
http://youtu.be/d8Qe07A7DFw
This film reel from the British Pathe digital archive is called Panefull Business, and it showcases the brave window cleaners who kept the Empire State Building nice and shiny circa 1938.
It’ll make you appreciate your day job, unless you’re an adrenaline junky and would enjoy hanging around 1200 feet above the ground all day! –via TDW
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Street Songs: The Hits of Sesame Street Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader.
The Annals of Improbable Research Oxydative Stress, and how it contributed to the fall of the Third Reich.
Mental_floss magazine gave us 10 Secrets from the Wonderful World of Disney.
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The Secrets Of Field Sobriety Tests
Have you been drinking tonight, sir? Oh. Crap. If you're in a car, that's not a question you want to hear from a man in uniform. And if the answer is yes, you're in for the worst pop quiz of your life: the field sobriety test. You should not drive drunk. The goal of this piece is not to show you how to beat a field sobriety test. In most cases, no amount of preparation can help you anyway. But they make for one hell of a drinking game. Try 'em out for yourself, from the comfort and jail-free safety of you own home. May the best drunk win!
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Ducklings in a Pool
http://youtu.be/hpz9USr1RHg
The heated pool seemed like such a nice place to take a family swim, but when mama got out, the ducklings found they were too short to make the leap! Then modern technology, er, furniture saved the day. -via The Daily What
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A Giant Spider Prepares To Dine On A Snake
http://youtu.be/wd_U6obb9Ps
Budding naturalists should take note of what this video demonstrates-a spider’s killer instinct shouldn’t be taken for granted, and they’ll gladly wrap up a meal that may take them a month to polish off just for the sake of convenience.
Please note that you shouldn’t put your hand anywhere near those big old spiders you see as you’re traipsing through the jungle, because spiders don’t take kindly to tomfoolery!
And if you’re feeling for the snake right about now just think of it like this-he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got caught up in the never ending gang war we call the food chain.–via Obvious Winner
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The television, that insidious beast, that Medusa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little... - Ray Bradbury
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"Eddie Moto, Hunchback of Midvale Community College. In charge of dismissal bell." -- The Far Side
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Star Wars, As Recreated by My Little Pony
http://youtu.be/aYk1DgaeZC8
As we already know, Star Wars is heavily derivative of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (or the reverse, I forget which). Animator Jacob Kitts brings us the original trilogy as it was meant to be.
Best of all, he presents the correct Han/Greedo shooting order. -via io9
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Inside DC Comics
If it’s not the coolest place to work ever, it sure looks that way! Buzzfeed has a photographic tour of DC Comics New York City headquarters, where you see comic art and toys everywhere you turn. Link
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Naked Vermont Governor Almost Eaten by Bears
As you might expect, Gov. Peter Shumlin was naked:“Real Vermont boys don’t wear pajamas,” he said — meaning he was naked. He told WDEV radio host Mark Johnson he was wearing as much as the bears were.
He saw four bears looting his bird feeders. Naturally, he ran outside to challenge them. They backed off, and Shumlin took down the bird feeders to bring them inside. That’s when the bears charged him: He went back outside to get the other two feeders. The bears appeared unhappy to have their food source taken away. This was especially true of the largest bear, Shumlin said. “He just booked it for the porch,” Shumlin recalled. The governor took the two feeders and made a beeline for his door, with what Shumlin called the papa bear in hot pursuit. “When I opened the door, he was on the porch and five feet from the door,” Shumlin said. “I screamed through that door. I didn’t know if the bear was coming through.”
Why did the bears attack? A wildlife warden explained: The sow might have been aggressive because it perceived the governor as a threat to her cubs. To be fair, if a naked man yelled at my kids, I’d get upset, too.
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The modest young lass had just purchased some lingerie and asked if she might have the sentence, "If you can read this you're too damn close" embroidered on her panties and bra. "Yes Madame," said the clerk. "I'm quite certain that could be done. Would you prefer block or script letters?" "Braille," she replied.
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Holy Musical B@tman! Is Taking Gotham City By Storm
If you like your musicals cheesy and superhero themed, then you’re gonna love Holy Musical B@tman, an extremely entertaining show from Team Starkid that features catchy tunes, goofy villains and an Underoos clad Batman with a heart full of vengeance. Loosely based on Tim Burton’s version of the Caped Crusader, it’s darkly comedic musical theater at its finest, and you can watch the whole thing, ten minutes at a time, for free on the YouTubes.
(gently NSFW due to coarse language) –via Comics Alliance
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“If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power
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Lewis Carroll demonstrates a problem with voting by simple majority:
carroll simple majority
Four candidates are ranked by each of 11 electors, and each elector votes for his first choice. “Here A is considered best by three of the electors, and second by all the rest. It seems clear that he ought to be elected; and yet, by the above method, B would be the clear winner — a candidate who is considered worst by seven of the electors!”
“It is a matter for the deepest regret that Dodgson never completed the book he planned to write on this subject,” writes Michael Dummett. “Such was the lucidity of his exposition and mastery of this topic that it seems possible that, had he published it, the political history of Britain would have been significantly different.”
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National Anthem Fenway Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhcZRFcjbhw
It was Disability Awareness day and the folks at Fenway did a lot of great things for kids with challenges..here is one who sang and when he got nervous the Fenway Faithful helped him out
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quaker_Gun2.jpg
That’s not a gun, it’s a log painted black. Both sides in the Civil War used “Quaker guns” to frighten the enemy in order to buy time. “We were confronted by a mammoth gun that threatened to blow the Union clear over the north pole,” remembered one Indiana volunteer in 1894. “The mammoth gun proved afterward to be a log that had been mounted and painted to resemble a columbiad.”
Two further Civil War oddities:
Each side, improbably, had a general named Henry H. Sibley. Henry Hastings Sibley (left) spent most of the war protecting settlements from the Sioux on the western frontier. He went on to become the first governor of Minnesota. His counterpart, Henry Hopkins Sibley, also served in the west, leading the Confederate States Army in the New Mexico Territory. The two never faced one another.
In July 1863 Union general Edward H. Hobson captured most of Confederate general John Hunt Morgan’s forces at the Battle of Buffington Island in Ohio. Undaunted, Morgan tunneled out of prison and returned the favor, capturing Hobson and about 750 men one year later near Cynthiana, Ky.
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In the ongoing battle between geek and nerd, one must take sides, but how can this be done without a solid argument for both personas? We here at Masters In IT (a mix of nerds and geeks) decided that it's time to lay all the cards on the table to determine which is better and answer the question some fear to know: Are you a geek, or a nerd?
History:
The terms geek and nerd may sometimes seem synonymous, but they have very different roots in history:
Nerd: This term was coined from Dr. Seuss in 1954 in a line that read "A nerkle, a nerd, and a seersucker too!" - So really nerkle and seersucker are synonymous with nerd
Geek: While used as a derogatory term originally, the word "geek" gained popularity in the circus. Circus performers that performed amazing feats were Geeks
Nerd Traits:
  • Extreme interest or fascination with academics
  • Introverted
  • Socially Inept
  • Diverse and sometimes impractical skillets due to broad interests in games, movies, science, computers, etc.
  • A PC
  • Interest might include: Battlestar Galactica (BSG), LARPing, SecondLife, Physics, Chess, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Computer programming

Likely nerd jobs:

  • Rocket scientist
  • Reclusive and renowned professor
  • Computer programmer
  • Engineer
  • IT professional
  • Inventor
  • Or work at a video store

Nerd Talk:

You know you're talking to a nerd when they insert obscure references into a sentence:
"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't."
"I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code."
"The box said 'Requires Windows 95 or better' so I installed LINUX."
Nerd Love: nerds marry other nerds, it's the natural state of the universe."

Geek Traits:

  • Someone with a specifc niche interest/lifestyle that they have become the expert on
  • A fan of gadgets
  • An early adopter
  • A Mac
  • Wears ironic t-shirts
  • Can be pretentious and longwinded
  • Knowledge can range from mundane to "living encyclopedia" status
  • Interests might include gaming, film (both artsy and anything Will Ferrel stars in), collecting, gadgets/tech, computing, coding, hacking, techno music, screen printing, etc.

Likely geek jobs:

  • Web design/development
  • IT professional
  • Marketer
  • Graphic designer
  • Game designer/developer
  • Barista at an indie coffee shop
  • Entrepreneur
  • Record store
  • Bartender

Geek Talk:

You know you're talking to a geek when they remind you of their "hip" lifestyle by discussing their "cool" habits or dropping pop culture references:
"There's nothing like kicking it to some crunchy bass while enjoying a good Malbec"
"60% of the time it works all the time"
[while pulling out their iPhone] "Let me pull out my pocket iPad"
Geek Love: geeks can fall for and marry non-geeks

Factoids/Stats:

  • 17% of Americans identify as geeks
  • 65% of video game designers identify as geeks
  • 50% of technology engineers identify as geeks
  • 37% of bloggers identify as geeks
  • 87% of people prefer the word "geek" over "nerd"
  • 66% of millennials think "geek" is a compliment
  • 45% of people believe geeks are early adopters
  • 31% of people believe geeks have a higher chance of being successful
  • On average, self-identifed geeks have a better view of themselves than others view geeks
  • 41% of people would be comfortable called a geek while only 24% would be comfortable called a nerd
  • A geek would rather be called a geek over a hipster (23% are OK with being called hipster while 41% are OK with being called a geek)
In the ongoing battle between geek and nerd, one must take sides. But how can this be done without a solid argument for both personas? It's time to determine wich is better and answer the question some fear to know: Are you a geek, or a nerd?
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The 48 Laws of Power
The 48 Laws of Power is a 1998 book by Robert Greene. Greene takes elements from writers such as Niccolò Machiavelli and Sun Tzu to come up with his 48 laws of power. Here are a few:
  1. Never outshine the master ...
  2. Conceal your intentions.
  3. So much depends on reputation. Guard it with your life.
  4. Re-create yourself.
  5. Never appear perfect.
  6. Always leave them wanting more.
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“There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power
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“A Prince asked the dying spanish statesman, "Does your Excellency forgive all your enemies?" "I do not have to forgive all my enemies," answered the stateman, "I have had them all shot.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power
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Somebody's boring me. I think it's me.
I have the oldest typewriter in the world. It types in pencil.

Earn cash in your spare time... blackmail friends.

"Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings." ~ Ed Gardner.
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Leonard Nimoy to Shuttle Enterprise: ‘Live Long and Prosper’ in NYC Is there no end to the wonderfulness of the Enterprise’s trip to NYC today? I mean, you couldn’t plan a picture like this. Nimoy was on hand to welcome the shuttle to NYC, where he recounted that Star Trek fans convinced President Gerald Ford to change the then-Constitution’s name to Enterprise. (via Scientific American, photo by Tariq Malik - Space.com)
Is there no end to the wonderfulness of the Enterprise’s trip to NYC today? I mean, you couldn’t plan a picture like this.
Nimoy was on hand to welcome the shuttle to NYC, where he recounted that Star Trek fans convinced President Gerald Ford to change the then-Constitution’s name to Enterprise.
(via Scientific American, photo by Tariq Malik - Space.com)
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The Anthropocene is a recent and informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems. Welcome to the Anthropocene is a journey through the last 250 years of our history, from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the Rio+20 Summit. The video shows all roads, air, and shipping routes on the planet.
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ex-genius: NEWS: Space Shuttle Enterprise completes historic flyover of New York City on the back of a modified 747 before delivery to the intrepid museum. This is totally an actual photograph of what actually happened. Ok, scratch the photos I had up earlier and the dozens more floating around. This wins everything.
NEWS: Space Shuttle Enterprise completes historic flyover of New York City on the back of a modified 747 before delivery to the intrepid museum. This is totally an actual photograph of what actually happened.
Ok, scratch the photos I had up earlier and the dozens more floating around.
This wins everything.
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MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. — One of the world’s most prolific bootleggers of Hollywood DVDs loves his morning farina. He has spent eight years churning out hundreds of thousands of copies of “The Hangover,” “Gran Torino” and other first-run movies from his small Long Island apartment to ship overseas.
“Big Hy” — his handle among many loyal customers — would almost certainly be cast as Hollywood Enemy No. 1 but for a few details. He is actually Hyman Strachman, a 92-year-old, 5-foot-5 World War II veteran trying to stay busy after the death of his wife. And he has sent every one of his copied DVDs, almost 4,000 boxes of them to date, free to American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With the United States military presence in those regions dwindling, Big Hy Strachman will live on in many soldiers’ hearts as one of the war’s more shadowy heroes.
“It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it,” Mr. Strachman said, acknowledging that his actions violated copyright law.
“If I were younger,” he added, “maybe I’d be spending time in the hoosegow.”
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Everyone knows all about dolphins and whales, and even dolphins that pretend to be whales. But there are over 100 species of marine mammals in the world, and most of them have as much cool stuff going for them as any old Moby Dick.
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Know This:
  • Turns out, dads suffer from postpartum just as often as moms.
  • Thirty-one Republican men voted against the Violence Against Women Act — here they are.
  • It soon will be legal in Egypt for a husband to have sex with his dead wife within six hours of her death.
  • Several TSA agents at LAX have been arrested on drug trafficking charges for allowing drugs through airport screeners.
  • A student has been kicked out of conservative Christian Bob Jones University for watching Glee.
  • Mein Kampf will be published in German for the first time since World War II.
A Victoria’s Secret catalog from 1979 has surfaced — how times have changed.
Heads up: Saturday is both Obscura Day and World Record Day.
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This is not a GIF -


- even though it appears to move. I found this at Mighty Optical Illusions, where the explanation offered was that it "has something to do with microsaccades."

The same explanation was offered at Discover Magazine for this image:
As you’ll notice, the circles seem to rotate in response to where you look at the illusion. So Macknik and his colleagues tracked the movement of people’s eyes as they gazed at two of these wheels on a computer screen. Their subjects kept a finger pressed on a button, lifting it whenever they seemed to see the wheels move.

Macnick and his colleagues found a tight correlation between the onset of the illusion and a kind of involuntary movement our eyes make, known as microsaccades. Even when we’re staring at a still object, our eyes keep darting around. These movements, called microsaccades, help us compensate for a peculiar property of the eye: if we stare at an object for too long, the signals each photoreceptor sends to the brain become weaker. Microsaccades refresh the photoreceptors with a different input and breath new life into our perception.More at the link, via The Dish.
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Running Around The World
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The Raven Trailer: John Cusack Gets Into Edgar Allan Poe's Gory Lore
If you're at all familiar with the work of Edgar Allan Poe, then you know just how dark and twisted the 19th-century writer could be. With that in mind, it's no surprise that the trailer for the The Raven looks mysterious and gruesome — it centers on a serial killer that gets inspiration from Poe's various tales. Naturally, the detective that's investigating (Luke Evans) immediately points a finger at Edgar himself (John Cusack). When Edgar asserts his innocence, he gets sucked into the murderer's sordid game that eventually targets Edgar's love (Alice Eve) to be the subject of one of Edgar's stories.
Loved this movie ~
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It's a Bear! It's a Cat! It's Neither!

Baby Bearcats Singapore Zoo Night Safari!
Despite having a body like a small bear and a face similar to a cat, the secretive Bearcat is actually a member of the civet family, more closely related to Mongooses and Meerkats (and true civets of course). These baby Bearcats, also known as Binturongs, were born at the Wild Reserves Singapore's Night Safari on January 26.
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NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed mysterious kilometer-sized objects that punch through Saturn’s chaotic and ever-changing F ring, leaving trails of ice behind them. The objects pierce the planet’s thin ring at a gentle speed of just two meters per second, and then drag glittering ice particles out into space. The trails are typically 40 to 180 kilometers long. Astronomers are calling the ice trails “mini-jets.”
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How to make a "naked egg"


Soak a raw egg in vinegar, where the acetic acid will dissolve the calcium in the shell. A series of photos are posted at Izismile without credit to the source*. Exploratorium has a discussion with some details of the process.

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Steve Jobs’s Dream to Become Willy Wonka
According to Ken Segall, the author of Insanely Simple: The Obsession that Drives Apple’s Success, Steve Jobs devised an outlandish scheme to promote the iMac. Jobs would dress as Willy Wonka from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and give a lucky winner a tour of Apple’s facilities: Steve’s idea was to do a Willy Wonka with it. Just as Wonka did in the movie, Steve wanted to put a golden certificate representing the millionth iMac inside the box of one iMac, and publicize that fact. Whoever opened the lucky iMac box would be refunded the purchase price and be flown to Cupertino, where he or she (and, presumably, the accompanying family) would be taken on a tour of the Apple campus. Steve had already instructed his internal creative group to design a prototype golden certificate, which he shared with us. But the killer was that Steve wanted to go all out on this. He wanted to meet the lucky winner in full Willy Wonka garb. Yes, complete with top hat and tails. Link -via Super Punch
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Polar Bear Doing a Handstand
This polar bear does a handstand underwater. Why? Because he can, and the humans watching him probably can’t.
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A Peek Into Neverland
Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch went into foreclosure a few years ago, and was sold off in pieces. But before that happened, urban explorers Scott Haefner and Jonathan Haeber sneaked in to document the amusement park in photographs for posterity. See 25 pictures from their night in Neverland at Environmental Graffiti. Link
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A Brief History of International Symbols
We’ve all learned to recognize the international symbols for restrooms, if nothing else, but you probably know a lot of them. But where did they come from in the first place? Rob Lammle at mental_floss takes you back to Vienna in the 1920s for the real origins of the “pictograms” we see every day. Link
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The floating house that was used as MacGyver’s home in seasons 3-6 of the TV series MacGyver is for sale. The 1200 square foot house is not a houseboat, but is meant to be at least semi-permanently docked. It has two sleeping lofts and one and a half baths. The home is moored on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and the buyer can take immediate possession.
Link to eBay listing.Link to owner’s site.Link to more pictures.
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A giant rat species last seen 37 years ago and feared extinct has been seen again on the Philippines island of Dinagat.
Crateromys australis, or the Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat, belongs to a family of tree-dwelling, leaf-eating rats found only in the Philippines and growing up to 2.5 feet long.
Each of the six cloud rat species is threatened or endangered, but the Dinagat is especially rare: The last time it was sighted was also the first time it was sighted, and several expeditions launched during the past decade to find another Dinagat came home empty-handed. It is officially considered critically endangered and possibly extinct.
Early in January, Czech researchers with the Tarsius Project, a conservation organization devoted to saving the the rare Philippine tarsier, happened across the elusive rodent by accident.
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14 Essential Talking Points for the Constitution Enthusiast
Because you never know when you’ll need to impress Ruth Bader-Ginsberg
1. In an early draft, a Senate committee requested that the president respectfully be referred to as “His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of Their Liberties.” (Or, for short, HHTPOTUSOAPOTL.)
2. In a move that confirmed the framers’ genius, the idea was canned quickly by the House of Representatives.
3. The lovely penmanship you see on the original parchment came from the hand of an assistant clerk named Jacob Shallus. He received $30 for his troubles.
4. At 4,343 words including the signatures, the United States Constitution is one of the shortest constitutions of any major government in the world.
5. India’s constitution consists of more than 117,000 words, roughly 25 times longer.
6. At the age of 81, Ben Franklin was the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
7. Franklin also made the best entrances. The elderly statesman traveled to and from the State House in a sedan chair, carried by four prisoners from Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Jail.
8. The framers nearly spared us the feeling of constantly being in an election cycle; they almost made the presidency a seven-year term.
9. Then again, it could be worse. The delegates also considered a three-year term. In the end, they chose to split the difference between the Senate (six years) and the House (two years).
10. It’s not easy to add an amendment to the Constitution. More than 12,000 amendments have been proposed since 1789, but only 27 have made it all the way through the approval process. That’s a success rate of just one in 450!
11. Believe it or not, there’s an amendment from 1789 still pending. The measure was intended to specify how the House of Representatives should grow as the country’s population grows. Because there was no expiration date on it, it’s still eligible for ratification.
12. Of course, sometimes it pays for an amendment to be patient. Article II was 203 years old when it was finally confirmed in 1992. Today it’s the 27th Amendment, which delays congressional pay raises until the next session. basically, a Congressman can’t say, “I could really use a new house. Let’s give ourselves a pay raise, effective Friday.”
13. Only two Constitution signers went on to become President of the United States: George Washington and James Madison.
14. Don’t strain your eyes looking for Thomas Jefferson’s signature. He was serving as the U.S. Ambassador to France at the time.
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The article above, written by Stacy Conradt, is from the January-February 2012 issue of mental_floss magazine. Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!
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Most of these are characters where you know part of their name but you didn’t know their whole names. Some are the real names of famous people.
  • Mr. T‘s name is Laurence Tureaud.
  • Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. (Ken’s last name is Carson.)
  • Snuffleupagus has a first name—Aloysius.
  • In the Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty’s real name is Patricia Reichardt.
  • The real name of Monopoly mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags is Milburn Pennybags.
  • The policeman in Monopoly is Officer Edgar Mallory.
  • On Night Court, Nostradamus Shannon was better known as Bull.
  • Sting (the wrestler) is Steven Borden.
  • Sting (the singer) was born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner.
  • The Michelin Man’s name is Bibendum.
  • On Gilligan’s Island, Jonas Grumby was simply called The Skipper.
  • Staying on Gilligan’s Island, The Professorwas Roy Hinkley.
  • Cap’n Crunch’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch.
  • The unkempt Shaggy of Scooby-Doo fame has a rather proper real name—Norville Rogers.
  • Mr. Clean has a first name—”Veritably.” from a “Give Mr. Clean a First Name” promotion in 1962.
  • MacGyver‘s first name was Angus.
  • ALF‘s real name was Gordon Shumway.
  • The patient in the classic game Operation is Cavity Sam.
  • In the game Clue you are in the mansion of Mr Boddy.
  • The true identity of The Lone Ranger was John Reid.
  • Chandler‘s middle name on Friends is Muriel.
  • On The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis the “G” in Maynard G. Krebs stood for ‘Walter’. As Maynard explained it, “Mother didn’t spell too good”.
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She sloooowly makes progress.
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Artificial Toilet Testing, uh, Material
The people of MaP (Maximum Performance) are devoted to one goal: improving the design of flush toilets. In order to effectively test toilets, they need a material that accurately simulates human-delivered content. Their research led them to create 350 gram segments of soybean paste, which are dropped into a toilet from an appropriate level and location.
Link -via Nerdcore | Photo: MaP
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CHICAGO — A prominent U.S. Catholic nuns group said Thursday that it was “stunned” that the Vatican reprimanded it for spending too much time on poverty and social-justice concerns and not enough on condemning abortion and gay marriage.
In a stinging report on Wednesday, the Vatican said the Leadership Conference of Women Religious had been “silent on the right to life” and had failed to make the “Biblical view of family life and human sexuality” a central plank in its agenda.
A few famous nuns:?In light of the Vatican’s action on Wednesday, here is a list of nuns who have become known in the broader world. Two of the Americans listed have been canonized.
It also reprimanded American nuns for expressing positions on political issues that differed, at times, from views held by U.S. bishops. Public disagreement with the bishops — “who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals” — is unacceptable, the report said.
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Snowflakes are stunning examples of natural beauty and testaments to the exacting laws of physics.
Thankfully, almost anyone can rapidly grow delicate ice crystals with a soda bottle, some string, a block of dry ice and a little luck. But reproducing the same crystalline growth of a snowflake, time after time after time, is a challenge typically reserved for scientists with a laboratory full of expensive equipment.
Biochemist Linden Gledhill, who works for GlaxoSmithKline by day and experiments in his photography workshop by night, has made a hobby of tackling tough natural subjects with do-it-yourself engineering. Lately he's been toying with manufacturing snowflakes in his basement.
In 2010 the Downingtown, Pennsylvania-based photographer posted his photos of natural snowflakes to Flickr, attracting the attention of Jason Tozer, a professional photographer in the UK. When Tozer asked Gledhill if he could build a snowflake-growing machine for an electronic music video, Gledhill couldn't resist.
"I'd already stalked an ice crystal research group for years when he asked, so it was an easy decision," Gledhill said. "It's incredible to see these things grow, and I wanted to pull it off myself."
Gledhill said he's not wealthy person, nor does the electronic music artist -- Ryan Teague -- have much money sitting around. So Gledhill rigged a device using tossed-out parts from work and junk from his basement, including an old electric camping cooler.
In this gallery, take a tour inside Gledhill's custom-designed icebox.
Time-Lapse Ice Crystal Growth
Gledhill said his snowflake grower could always use a few improvements, but his early time-lapse photography tests shown here are nonetheless captivating. Each second represents about 20 minutes of elapsed time.
<< Previous | Next >>
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Wallaby Twins! A Rare and Welcome Surprise For Blackpool Zoo

Keepers at Blackpool Zoo in the UK thought they were seeing double when they spotted an extremely rare set of Red-necked Wallaby twins! The two tiny joeys, which were first noticed by specialist keepers at the zoo a week ago, belong to a three-year-old Red-necked wallaby mom. They will remain in her pouch for around ten months, after which they will be officially recognised as being ‘born’.
Multiple births are so infrequent that the zoo’s Animal Manager, Peter Dillingham, has never personally witnessed twins sharing one pouch during his 39 year career. Although Peter has heard of twins a couple of times in the almost four decades he's been working with these animals, he has never actually seen any. They are thought to be the only ones in the UK and Europe at this time.
He said: “It is absolutely fantastic to finally see twins in one pouch and it has caused a real stir amongst staff and visitors here in Blackpool Zoo. It isn’t uncommon for wallabies to be pregnant and caring for two other ‘joeys’ at a time, one out of the pouch, one in the pouch. As soon as the one inside the pouch leaves another jelly bean sized baby makes its way through the birth canal and latches onto an internal teat until it is big enough to be seen.But to have two at the same time is very rare and we are looking forward to seeing them grow over the coming months.”
Twins 2 (1)
April 22 will mark Earth Day worldwide, an event now in its 42nd year and observed in 175 countries. The original grass-roots environmental action helped spur the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act in the United States. Gathered here are images of our planet's environment, efforts to utilize renewable alternative sources of energy, and the effects of different forms of pollution. -- Lane Turner and Leanne Burden Seidel (35 photos total)
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http://youtu.be/yBddBASsDJQ
Beerbulance
In 2011, Atlanta-based Red Brick Brewing created a campaign centered around the Beerbulance, a sort-of ambulance that could be called out for a “beermergency.” The campaign was designed by Josh Robinson who states on Behance, “What started as a simple van wrap became an Atlanta icon.” From what I can tell, if you are in the Atlanta area, it is still possible to contact the Beerbulance in times of beermergencies.
If you’re experiencing a beermergency, don’t dawdle. Tweet #beerbulance to @redbrickbrewing, and we’ll dispatch our lead-footed Beerbulance drivers. Remember to include your emergency and to geo-tag your tweet. And stay calm. Beer is near
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Harriet Quimby (1875 - 1912) was an early American aviator. In 1911 she was awarded a U.S. pilot's certificate by the Aero Club of America, becoming the first woman to gain a pilot's license in the United States. On 16 April 1912, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
However, her remarkable achievement was overlooked by a great deal of the media - they had other things on their mind that day. On any normal day she would have made front page news and been lauded by the press. But on 15 April, the day before her flight, a certain RMS Titanic had sunk. Quimby's groundbreaking flight was lucky if it got a mention.
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What can you say about The Simpsons? The incredible animated series is currently in its 23rd season! The Simpsons has given us dozens of clever, original characters. Every Simpsons fan has his or her favorite character. Let's take a look at the original, real-life inspirations behind several characters on The Simpsons.
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A lot of stress? Need to calm down? Enjoy a guided relaxation break.
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The sentiment expressed in Murphy's Law, 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong,' has probably been around as long as there have been things to go wrong. The law's name supposedly stems from an attempt to use new measurement devices developed by the eponymous Edward Murphy. The phrase was coined in adverse reaction to something Murphy said when his devices failed to perform and was eventually cast into its present form prior to a press conference some months later.
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Gun carrying man ends stabbing spree at Salt Lake grocery store
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith's store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith's employee Dorothy Espinoza says, "He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people."

Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. "There is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms."

Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. "A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith's grabbed him."

By the time officers arrived the suspect had been subdued by employees and shoppers. Police had high praise for gun carrying man who ended the hysteria. Lt. Brian Purvis said, "This was a volatile situation that could have gotten worse. We can only assume from what we saw it could have gotten worse. He was definitely in the right place at the right time."

Dozens of other shoppers, who too could have become victims, are also thankful for the gun carrying man. And many, like Danylle Julian, are still in shock from the experience. "Scary actually. Really scary. Five minutes before I walk out to my car. It could have been me."

Police say right now they have no idea what caused the suspect to go on the dangerous rampage. (We will update as soon as we learn new information.)

So far, police have not released the names of the suspect, the victims or the man who pulled the gun.
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The newlyweds had decided to take Amtrak's "Car Train" to Florida, so they would have the mobility of being able to use their own vehicle on the honeymoon. They settled into one of the train's upper berths together and cuddled. As the nite progressed, the new bride was heard to say quite excitedly a number of times, "I just can't believe that we're finally married Kenny."
After about the 3rd time in five minutes, a voice came out of the dark, "God dammit Kenny !!! Will you please convince her so's we can all get some sleep ???"
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TOP TEN PROPOSED NEW DOMAINS
Earlier this week, Gregory Nemitz and a handful of space enthusiasts proposed creating special domains, including ".luna" and ".moon," for Web sites based on the moon. He wasn't kidding:

And one of our "Ten laws the Net needs" involves a special ".xxx" domain for pornographic sites. But why stop there? Here are some new proposed domains, and what you can expect from the sites in them:

10. ".trek"--contains audio files of William Shatner 9. ".bill"--Microsoft has bought this company 8. ".love"--for people who would rather cuddle 7. ".slow"--based in a distant country with no T3 lines 6. ".geek"--assumes you know what all the acronyms mean 5. ".404"--we stopped maintaining our servers in 1996 4. ".y2k"--contains theories about the end of the world 3. ".burn"--huge multimedia files will crash your computer 2. ".*"--contains allegations about President Clinton's sex life 1. ".duh"--explains, in detail, stuff you already know
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Life is a constant balancing act, especially if you're a tightrope walker. The best athletes make treading a circus high wire or a low-hanging slackline look effortless, but they're actually juggling complex challenges of perception and motor control.
Now researchers have constructed a mathematical explanation of how such nimble acrobats remain upright. Their calculations point to a theoretical 'sweet spot,' or optimal conditions for a person to balance on a line with minimal effort. Such a model may help scientists better understand how the brain and body work together to pull off difficult tasks.
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‘Pregnant Man’ Thomas Beatie Separates From Wife

gty thomas beatie jp 111031 wblog Pregnant Man Thomas Beatie Separates From Wife
Thomas Beatie, the female-to-male transgender who caused controversy in 2007 when he became pregnant, has separated from his wife of nine years, according to People magazine.
Beatie, who has had three children with wife Nancy, announced the separation during a taping of CBS’ “The Doctors.”
“Like all marriages, we have our ups and downs, and we’re going through a rough patch right now. At the moment, we’re separated,” Beatie said on the show, according to People magazine.
Also during the taping, Beatie revealed that he had the final female-to-male gender reassignment surgery, People reports.
“Nancy hasn’t seen the new me yet,” Beatie, 38, says.
Beatie, who was born female in 1974 and named Tracy Lagondino, had sex-reassignment surgery in 2002 and legally changed from female to male in Hawaii. But Beatie had never undergone “bottom” surgery, known as phalloplasty, to create an artificial penis, until now. He also left his female reproductive organs in place and said the decision to bear children came after his wife, Nancy, found out she could not.
Beatie first made headlines in 2007 when he appeared in photos, bearded with a pregnant belly. He was then known as “the world’s first pregnant man.”
Beatie’s three children, daughter Susan and sons Austin and Jensen, were all born between June 2008 and July 2010 through artificial insemination using donor sperm.
In October, Beatie, Nancy, and their three children appeared on another episode of “The Doctors” in which Beatie revealed he was considering a hysterectomy.
The new episode of “The Doctors” airs Monday, May 7.
Another Oregon Weird-O
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Joe Smith: How to use a paper towel
You use paper towels to dry your hands every day, but chances are, you're doing it wrong. In this enlightening and funny short talk at TEDxConcordiaUPortland, Joe Smith reveals the trick to perfect paper towel technique.
Joe Smith is an active figure in the Oregon community and a powerful advocate for proper paper towel use. Full bio »
Why you should listen to him:
R.P. Joe Smith served as District Attorney for Umatilla County and is the former chair of the Oregon Democratic Party. He was the Executive Assistant to the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and held a short interim position in the Oregon House of Representatives. An active lawyer in a private practice, he once famously ran for the position of Oregon Attorney General without soliciting a single contribution over $99.99.
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Frogs Need Our Help, So Hop to It!
Put out a wet welcome mat for nature’s choir in your yard and beyond

KERMIT THE FROG once sang, “It isn’t easy being green.” Although then he was lamenting that he blended in too much with his environment, he might be grateful today for this camouflage, as it just isn’t easy being a frog. Frogs are among the more than 1,800 amphibian species that are threatened and the at least 168 amphibian species that have gone extinct in just the last two decades. Threats to them include habitat loss, water pollution, climate change, disease and invasive species.
Many states are hosting Save the Frogs Day events on April 28 to help raise awareness of frogs’ troubles and funds for amphibian conservation. NWF is a partner of Save the Frogs Day and is cosponsoring two events: Seattle’s 5K Fun Run and Walk and Yosemite National Park’s Save the Frogs Day.
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G-spot spotted
You thought a woman's clitoris was hard to find, the mysterious G-spot has been a bugaboo for men for decades. Is it real? Does it exist? Or is it a ploy for women to make men feel sexually inept and inadequate? Finally, one Florida gynecologist contends that he has finally found it.
By means of dissection, Dr. Adam Ostrzenski said, he located the elusive source of female sexual satisfaction deep within the vagina. Ostrzenski said he performed the layer-by-layer vaginal dissection on the cadaver of an 83-year-old woman.
The existence of the G-spot is a matter of intense debate. Part of the controversy is that - unlike the clitoris - the G-spot has never been seen or felt as a distinct structure. Although many women have reported sexual pleasure stemming from the anterior (frontal) part of the vagina, nobody could document a more precise source or describe its size and appearance.
Ostrzenski said the structure uncovered in the study had three distinct sections, sat at a 35-degree angle inside the urethra, and "has a bluish, grape-like appearance." If Ostrzenski and others can consistently reproduce the discovery, he said, "it may absolutely change our view of how the orgasm is created; it will change the understanding of sexual function. It may help in the treatment of the dysfunctional aspect of sex."
We can only hope he provides some detailed instructions on how to find it.
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Rapper's statue a reminder to scoop poop --*
WROCLAW, Poland - A Polish rapper had a giant sculpture of a dog's feces installed in a patch of grass to remind residents to pick up after their pets. Lukasz Rostkowski, 30, aka L.U.C, had the bronze statue installed on a patch of grass Tuesday next to Dominican Square in the southwestern city of Wroclaw, Polskie Radio reported Thursday. Rostkowski told the Gazeta Wyborcza he hopes the statue will serve as a reminder to locals to clean up after their dogs. "Every year, dog messes pop up quicker than snowdrops," the rapper said. "Our action is a bit of fun."
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The husband finally wised up to the fact that his wife was less than faithful. He hired a private investigator to follow her and in
less than a week, had all the information that he needed on the "other man". The husband convinced himself that his would still be a loving and trustworthy marriage had not this S.O.B. come onto the scene. Being a man of the 90's and all, he decided to handle the matter in what he judged to be sophisticated and business-like manner. He sent the following e-mail to his wife's lover:

Sir,
It has been brought to my attention that for some time now you have been carrying on an affair with my wife. So that we may settle this matter in an intelligent fashion, please be at my office at 3 PM on Friday next.

The "other man" was highly amused by the husband's formal manner and sent off the following reply at once:

Dear Sir,
I have received a copy of your mass mailing this morning. You may be advised that I will attend the scheduled conference in your Office's auditorium.
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A sixth grade class is doing some spelling drills. The teacher asks Tommy if he can spell 'before.' He stands up and says,
"Before, B-E-P-H-O-R."
The teacher says, "No, that's wrong. Can anyone else spell before?"
Another little boy stands up and says, "Before, B-E-F-O-O-R."
Again the teacher says, "No, that's wrong." The teacher asks, "Little Johnny, can you spell 'before'?"
Little Johnny stands up and says, "Before, B-E-F-O-R-E."
"Excellent Johnny, now can you use it in a sentence?"
Little Johnny says, "That's easy. Two plus two be fore."
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James Cameron and Investors Seek to Lasso and Mine an Asteroid
Apr 24, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
The filmmaker is joining Google and Microsoft execs in a venture to mine asteroids for commercial use that would ‘add trillions to global GDP.’ But while lassoing an asteroid could be big business, it might just be a wild ride into space.
A group of high-tech billionaires are looking to scout asteroids for precious metals, mine them, and send the resources back to earth.
The venture, called Planetary Resources Incorporated, includes investors like—shocker—self-styled explorer and blockbuster director James Cameron. Planetary Resources has two goals: to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP and ensure prosperity, while helping pave the way for human settlement of space.
Planetary Resources is backed by Google cofounder Larry Page; Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt; Peter Diamandis, who funds the entrepreneurial X Prize; Eric Anderson, a former NASA Mars missions manager; Ram Shiram, a Google director and venture capitalist; former Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi; and Ross Perot Jr., son of the tech businessman and onetime presidential candidate, Ross Perot.

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Asteroid mining venture backed by James Cameron, Google CEO Larry Page
(AP) WASHINGTON - A group of high-tech tycoons wants to mine nearby asteroids, hoping to turn science fiction into real profits.
The mega-million dollar plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals like platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. One of the company founders predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020.
The inaugural step, to be achieved in the next 18 to 24 months, would be launching the first in a series of private telescopes that would search for rich asteroid targets.
Several scientists not involved in the project said they were simultaneously thrilled and skeptical, calling the plan daring, difficult - and highly expensive. They struggle to see how it could be cost-effective, even with platinum and gold worth nearly $1,600 an ounce. An upcoming NASA mission to return just 2 ounces (60 grams) of an asteroid to Earth will cost about $1 billion.
But the entrepreneurs announcing the project Tuesday in Seattle have a track record of making big money off ventures into space. Company founders Eric Anderson and Peter Diamandis pioneered the idea of selling rides into space to tourists and, Diamandis' company offers "weightless" airplane flights.
Investors and advisers to the new company, Planetary Resources Inc. of Seattle, include Google CEO Larry Page and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and explorer and filmmaker James Cameron.
The mining, fuel processing and later refueling would all be done without humans, Anderson said.
"It is the stuff of science fiction, but like in so many other areas of science fiction, it's possible to begin the process of making them reality," said former astronaut Thomas Jones, an adviser to the company.
Planetary Resources
Planetary Resources is bringing the natural resources of space within humanity’s economic sphere of influence, propelling our future into the 21st century and beyond. Water from asteroids will fuel the in-space economy, and rare metals will increase Earth’s GDP.
"Unmanned spacecraft to land on asteroid and automagically mine for gold, rare earth minerals."
From Ed
automagically? I like the magic angle ~
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Rule #1. Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase “it’s not fair” 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule #1.
Rule #2. The real world won’t care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It’ll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it’s not fair. (See Rule No. 1)
Rule #3. Sorry, you won’t make $50,000 a year right out of high school. And you won’t be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn’t have a Gap label.
Rule #4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he is not going ask you how feel about it.
Rule #5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren’t embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Fifty Cent all weekend.
Rule #6. It’s not your parents’ fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of “It’s my life,” and “You’re not the boss of me,” and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it’s on your dime. Don’t whine about it or you’ll sound like a baby boomer.
Rule #7. Before you were born your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents’ generation try delousing the closet in your bedroom.
Rule #8. Life is not divided into semesters, and you don’t get summers off. Nor even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don’t get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on.
Rule #9. Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be perky or as polite as Jennifer Aniston.
Rule #10. Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.
Rule #11. Enjoy this while you can. Sure, parents are a pain, school’s a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you’ll realize how wonderful it was to be kid. Maybe you should start now.
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Hasidic Saying: "To worry is a sin. Only one sort of worry is permissible; to worry because one worries."
Things are more like they are now than they ever were before. - Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Condom Modelling Rejection
TROJAN CONDOM COMPANY
6969 Slippery Root Drive
Droptrouser, NC 22269


Dear John Doe,

We regret to inform you that we have rejected your application to model and represent our product, TROJAN CONDOMS.

Although your general appearance is not displeasing, our Board of Directors feels that your wearing of our product in the advertisement does not portray a positive, romantic image for our product. A loose baggy and wrinkled condom is NOT considered romantic.

We did admire your efforts to try and firm it up by using Polygrip, but even then it slipped off before we could get the photographs taken. We would like to note, however, that yours is the first we've seen that looked like a bicycle grip.

We appreciate your interest and thank you for your time. We will retain your application for future consideration, if by chance we decide that there is a market for micro-mini condoms.

We send greetings and our deepest sympathy.
Yours very truly,
Burley Dick, President
TROJAN CONDOM COMPANY, INC.
VD/abc

P.S. Remember our slogans:

Cover your stump before you hump.
Don't be silly, protect your Willie.
Never deck her with an unwrapped pecker.
Before you attack her, wrap your whacker.
If you're not going to sack it, go home and whack it!
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Ursa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One-ness is the wisdom of every True Spiritual Path
 
 
 
 
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