Irie in Anguilla

Putting Things in Perspective

2008-07-23T09:12:00.001-07:00

A father passing by his son’s bedroom, was astonished to see the bed
was nicely made, and that everything was picked up and tidy.
Then, he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow. It was addressed,

‘Dad.’

With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the
letter, with trembling hands.

Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing to you. I had to
elope with my new girlfriend, because I wanted to avoid a scene with
Mum and you.

I’ve been finding real passion with Stacy, and she is so nice, but I
knew you would not approve of her, because of all her piercings’,
tattoos, her tight Motorcycle clothes, and because she is so much
older than I am.

But it’s not only the passion, Dad. She’s pregnant.
Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods, and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t, really
hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it for ourselves, and trading it with
the other people in the commune, for all the cocaine and
ecstasy we want.

In the meantime, we’ll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS, so
Stacy can get better. She sure deserves it!

Don’t worry Dad, I’m 15, and I know how to take care of myself.
Someday, I’m sure we’ll be back to visit, so you can get to know
your many grandchildren.

Love, your son, Joshua.

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Jason’s house.
I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in
life than the School report that’s on the kitchen table.

FAIL

2008-07-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

NINJA!!!

2008-07-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Worlds Most Crowded Swimmimg Pool!

2008-07-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

This Soldier Is Too Funny!

2008-07-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

Woman Crashes Car, Tries To Buy Six-pack.

2008-07-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

NORWALK - A 74-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Sunday after crashing her Cadillac through the front window of a convenience store, authorities said.

Lynne Rice crashed her 1988 Cadillac into the front window of Joe's Food Mart, 10641 E. Imperial Highway, at 6:10 p.m., causing about $8,000 in damage, said Lt. Jenny Ha of the Norwalk Sheriff's Station.

The crash apparently didn't slow her down.

After plowing halfway through the store, Rice got out of the car, walked over to the cooler and pulled out a six-pack of Budweiser, said the store owner, who gave only his last name, Awada.

"I don't know how she managed to walk," Awada said.

Rice went up to the counter to make her purchase, but when the cashier refused to sell to her, she allegedly pushed him, Awada said.

The cashier called 911 and police arrived minutes later.

No one was injured, but Rice was transported to a hospital for a pre-existing medical condition, Ha said.

She was later arrested for suspicion of DUI, Ha said.

Rice stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 112 pounds, according to her Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department online booking sheet.

She was booked at the Norwalk Sheriff's Station and released late Sunday on a $15,000 bail.

Awada, who has owned the store for 18 years, said the crash destroyed two 6-foot-wide panels of glass. The store was still open for business Monday he said. He wasn't shocked he said there was a similar accident last year.

War Dough

2008-07-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Money down the tube: Wars have cost $700B since 9/11.

A new Congressional Research Service report says the U.S. government has spent about $700 billion on "military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans' health care for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks."

The report covers the "global war on terrorism," known as GWOT, and the government's pre- and post-invasion operations in Iraq. About 75% of that money has been devoted to the war in Iraq, according to CRS estimates contained a report republished by the Federation of American Scientists.

That works out to about $2,326 for every person in the country. Too bad we can't choose how we'd like our tax dollars to be spent -- or, more accurately, our future tax dollars.

I'll bet very few would choose to spend money destroying and then rebuilding an oil-rich country -- and killing lots of innocent people in the process. But our law-makers know what's best for us.

A Bra Story

2008-06-30T05:50:00.000-07:00

Morning Edition, June 27, 2008 · As a young woman, Betty Jenkins received a gift from her mother that was meant to attract the attention of young men. But as Jenkins, who is now 94, tells her niece, the attention she got wasn't the kind she was expecting.

"I was very skinny, and I didn't have any curves. I guess my mother got kind of worried, because she didn't think I had enough boyfriends," Jenkins said.

The gift was an inflatable bra that was designed to enhance its wearer's figure. A straw-like tube was used to inflate pads in the cups.

"I was real excited, so I blew and blew to about [size] 32," Jenkins said.

But things didn't go smoothly during a plane trip in South America. The plane was flying near the Andes Mountains when Jenkins began to feel pressure and sensed there was a problem.

It turned out the cabin was not pressurized, and the bra was expanding.

"As the thing got bigger, I tried to stand up," Jenkins said, "and I couldn't see my feet."

The instructions said that the bra's pads could be inflated up to a size 48.

"I thought, 'What would happen if it goes beyond 48?'" Jenkins recalled.

"I found out what happened," she said. "It blew out."

Only one of the cups burst, Jenkins said. But the noise was loud enough to seize the attention of everyone on the plane.

"The co-pilot came into the cabin with a gun, wondering what had happened. The men all pointed to me."

Jenkins then tried to explain in Spanish what she could hardly explain in English, "that part of your anatomy just blew up."

The plane made an emergency landing, and Jenkins was handed over to the police. She was ordered to strip, as the officers looked for what they assumed could only be a bomb.

After she showed the officers the hole in her bra, Jenkins was allowed back on the plane and her trip continued.

"A month later, I got a bill from the airline for $400," Jenkins said, "for an unscheduled stop."

Her mother enjoyed the story so much that she kept the broken bra. Her mother died in 1967. As for the bra, Jenkins says she no longer has it.

Produced for Morning Edition by Nadia Reiman. The senior producer for StoryCorps is Michael Garofalo.

Children share clubhouse with strippers

2008-06-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Parents are flooding a Colorado golf course with complaints and other arrangements are being made for future events after children in a youth golf league were exposed to an "adult" event for patrons of a Denver strip club and dozens of the strippers who work there.

"I cannot tell you the girls didn't flash out there," Evelyn Koch, the manager of the Eagle Trace golf course, told KUSA-Television in Denver.

The situation developed this week when members of the Gold Crown Junior Golf Association, ages 7-12, were trying to finish up a tournament at the course in Broomfield. Before their event was completed, however, limousines carrying participants and strippers for the Shotgun Willie's Golf Tournament started arriving.

"When I walked into the club house to look for my girls, I saw a woman straddling a male at a dining table," a mother told the station. She asked not to be identified, but contacted the station after the story first was reported because she was concerned Eagle Trace officials were minimizing what happened.

On their way home, the mother reported, her children asked, "Mom, why is she only wearing underwear?" and "Mom, why are the girls wearing white and why do the men have water guns?"

The station reported there was disagreement over how the conflict happened.

Koch reported she told Gold Crown its youth event would precede the adult event. Gold Crown Golf Coordinator Jim Hunt denied that.

In an e-mail to parents of the young golfers, he apologized for the "inappropriate behavior in the clubhouse."

"Unbeknownst to us, the Eagle Trace management decided to schedule a second event which included 'adult entertainment' in their restaurant during our youth event, and they did not consult with our staff nor inform us that this would happen," he wrote. "Had we known this type of event was taking place, our staff would have made sure no children were allowed in the restaurant area.

"This type of activity is totally unacceptable around our programming and we do not condone the type of behavior your children may have witnessed today," he wrote.

He said "alternate arrangements" are being made for remaining events on June 30, July 14 and July 21.

Broomfield police said neighbors' later complaints prompted them to break up the event that had strippers serving as caddies to strip club patrons.

Koch said it was a simple matter of "mistiming." She told the station the exotic dancers should not have been in the clubhouse with the children.

Dustin Moser, a golf instructor, said there was nothing "inappropriate" while the children and strippers were in the clubhouse together.

That happened later, he told the station.

"There was a handful of girls that got a little out of control," he said, and several were scolded for "top-dropping."

Shotgun Willies boasts about its risqué events. Its website carries the warning: "Shotgun Willie's provides entertainment for adults only, and may not be politically correct, so if you are under 18, or a pansy a-- left liberal, or a right-wing bible thumper who might be offended by our humor, DO NOT open this site!"

McCain calls Carter a 'lousy president'

2008-06-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

McCain delivered a tough assessment of Carter.

(CNN) — John McCain directed his trademark straight talk toward a former president, flatly calling Jimmy Carter a "lousy" commander in chief.

The Arizona senator has long attempted to portray Barack Obama's policies as in the mold of Carter's, though the Republican has previously held back criticizing Carter so directly.

But in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun published Friday, McCain was decidedly more blunt than he has been in the past. McCain, who is a proponent of nuclear reprocessing, was asked why he thought Carter was against the process when he was president.

"Yes, because Carter was a lousy president," McCain quipped. "This is the same guy who kissed Brezhnev."

McCain's comments are in reference to the now famous moment when Carter and then Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev kissed after signing the SALT II treaty in 1979. Both the agreement and the kiss were widely panned by Republicans.

Carter himself largely stayed on the sidelines during the prolonged Democratic primary race, refusing to publicly back a candidate. Though he had long dropped several hints that he was a supporter of Barack Obama and he formally endorsed the Illinois senator shortly after he tied up the nomination.

Watch: Jimmy Carter sounds off

Date palm from ancient Israel springs to life

2008-06-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

A Judean date palm, long extinct, has been "brought back to life" by scientists who unearthed a 2,000 year-old seed of the plant and germinated it. A healthy 4-foot-tall seedling, named Methuselah after the oldest living man in the Bible, now holds the record for the oldest germinated seed.

The seed itself, perhaps the last link to the vast date palm forests that once grew in the Jordan River valley, was first discovered in 1965, as archaeologists excavated the ancient Israel site of Masada. Seeds discovered at the site were put into storage for 40 years.

Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Brock Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem, then recruited Dr. Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies to help revive the dormant seeds, in hopes of discovering some of the plant's medicinal properties mentioned in historical writings.

In 2005, the date palm now known as Methuselah was planted and sprouted. After it germinated, fragments of the seed shell clinging to the roots were carbon dated, placing the age of the date seeds sometime between 60 B.C. and A.D. 95, about the age expected for a seed that could have survived the famed attack on the Masada fortress described by the ancient historian Josephus.

Following the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Roman forces, a group of Jewish zealots retreated to the mountaintop fortress of Masada, a nearly impregnable palace originally built for Herod the Great. These resistors to Roman rule withstood siege from Caesar's army until A.D. 73, when, according to Josephus, the nearly 1,000 people bunkered there burned their remaining stores (all but one food stash, to demonstrate that they weren't starving to death) and committed mass suicide.

The discovery of these date seeds from Masada at about the same time period leads to some intriguing historical speculation.

"These people were eating these dates up on the mountain and looking down at the Roman camp, knowing that they were going to die soon, and spitting out the pits," Sallon said. "Maybe here is one of those pits."

According to researchers in the journal Science, Methuselah's rebirth breaks the record for oldest germinated seed, previously held by a 1,300-year-old Chinese lotus plant.

Now, Sallon and her colleagues hope to both learn from the record-breaker and restore it to its native region.

"We try to reintroduce those plants back into the environment," Sallon said in a podcast interview that accompanied her study of Methuselah. "So we're interested not only in the plants that grow in the Middle East now but the ones that used to grow here, like the ancient date, which was known in history not only as a source of delicious dates and a very important food, but also as a medicine."

Repopulating the date to Israel may have to wait, however, while Sallon watches Methuselah to see if "he" is a he or a she. Date palms differ by sex, but which sex Methuselah proves to be won't be discernable until the tree is 6 or 7 years old. If female, it could produce fruit for replanting. If male, more seeds from Masada may need to be germinated.

"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct," Sallon told the Associated Press. "Raising the dead is very difficult, so it's better to preserve them before they become extinct."

Sneakers and shoes for Miniature Horses

2008-06-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Too Cute

Because of the popularity of Guide Horses, service horses and emotional support horses, there has been a increasing demand for sneaker and shoes for miniature hoses.

This is a design for an all-purpose sneaker for miniature horses. As demand grows, this design for all-purpose shoes for miniature horse may be the most popular.

This manufacturer proposed high-performance sneakers for miniature horses, hoping to target miniature horses that exercise regularly.

Miniature Horse Boots - Western Footwear

This design for miniature horse boots was proposed by a by a Taiwan manufacturer.

The high length protects the lower legs, but some Guide Horse users felt that the decorative spurs were a bit over-the-top.

Casual shoes for Miniature Horses

Some manufacturers proposed a line of casual shoes for miniature horses.

This fluffy sneaker design was proposed for casual miniature horse shoes in the design of a slipper.

Miniature Horse Shoes - Dress shoes

Some miniature guide horse owners have created custom horse shoes for formal occasions, as modeled here by a Guide Horse from Florida:

2008-06-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

Phrases
I'd Rather
Not Be Used
at My Funeral.

BY HARRY BURT

- - - -

"autoerotic asphyxiation"

"found by cadaver dogs"

"hopped up on goofballs"

"minutes from rescue"

"prehensile tail"

Why Most Women Don't Like Sports

2008-06-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Water Beds For Cows!!!

2008-06-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

Happy cows make make more milk! I'm a big milk drinker so "YAY"!

The Dual Chamber Waterbed from Advanced Comfort Technology, Inc. offers diary cows considerably more comfort than a standard cow mat or conventional cow bedding. Dual Chamber Waterbeds are the only man-made bed surface that allows the cow’s skin to float on the stall surface. This floating characteristic cushions the cow’s pressure points – the knees, hocks and the udder – and it helps prevent the development of lesions and sores more typically found with stationary, non-moving surfaces. The Dual Chamber Waterbed therefore provides for a much more comfortable and a much healthier animal.

The Dual Chamber Waterbed also features design characteristics which help keep the cows’ stalls more sanitary and less labor intensive for the typical dairy operator. Once filled, the Dual Chamber Waterbed takes on a convex shape which inherently forces milk, water and urine to flow off the sides of the bed. Urine and leaking milk are not allowed to pool on the bed surface, thus keeping the bed dry and free from bacteria promoting moisture. The dry bed surface keeps the cow’s udders dray and promotes further health benefits to the cow, such as reduced occurrences of mastitis and reduced somatic cell count.

Also, because the Dual Chamber Waterbed’s convex shape keeps the bed surface dry, the Waterbed requires little to no additional bedding to absorb moisture. This result provides the dairy with not only a reduced cost in bedding that must be constantly changed, but it also saves the dairy in reduced labor costs to change the bedding.

The Dual Chamber Waterbed offers cows the most comfortable bedding option, while providing the maximum amount of benefits to both the cow and the dairy. For more in depth discussion of the features and benefits of the Dual Chamber Waterbed, please continue reading on our Features and FAQs pages.

How War Increases Our Vocabulary

2008-06-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

Almost every aspect of war spawns new words, and, over time, many of them slip into everyday use. Sometimes, they even become downright peaceful in the process. For instance, triumph used to mean a victory ceremony for Roman conquerors, and skedaddle signified retreat during the Civil War. And if you’re ever had a snafu ("Situation Normal: All F’d Up"), then you owe a debt to the WWI soldiers who invented the acronym to describe
the trenches. With each passing conflict, the list of pacified war words gets longer and longer.

Undermine: If your colleagues constantly undermine you, just be glad they aren’t doing so in the traditional sense. Undermine, a word that dates back to the 14th century, was once a military term for digging a clandestine passage under a building to sneak up on the enemy. The term quickly turned metaphorical, but in Shakespeare’s day, its literal meaning was still commonly known. He even played with it in All’s Well That Ends Well, when the maiden Helena asks a soldier if there’s a way to safeguard her virginity. He replies, "There is none: man, sitting down before you, will undermine you, and blow you up."

Fleabag: Starting in the 1830s, a fleabag was a soldier’s bed. Although the word fleabag now seems wedded to hotel, it can be applied more broadly, as in the 1958 example from the Oxford English Dictionary, "God, how I hated Paris! Paris was one big flea-bag."

Basket case: Today, a basket case is simply a neurotic person, but during WWI, it meant a living soldier who had lost all his limbs and was brought home in a basket. The United States military denies that real baskets were ever used to carry soldiers. Regardless, the original meaning of the word is still gruesome.

Flak: Celebrities catch a lot of flak for idiotic behavior, but contemporary flak isn’t what it used to be. When the term originated in the 1930s, it was short for fliegerabwehrkanome, the German word for anti-aircraft guns. After a generation, the meaning shifted so that catching flak now means absorbing criticism instead of cannon fire.

Gung ho: You may be gung ho about collecting stamps, playing solitaire, or other individual pursuits, but originally, the term was more applicable to teams. The U.S. Marine first used it as a slogan during World War II, after General Evans Carlson adapted the Chinese kung ho, which means "work in harmony." While the teamwork element of the definition has faded, the enthusiasm bit has certainly remained.

Fobbit, hillbilly armor, and IED: The war in Iraq is contributing its own new expressions. A popular word on the rise is fobbit, a term that combines FOB (forward operating base) with hobbit. The word is a derogatory term for soldiers who stay too close to base and help themselves to three square meals a day. Another expression gaining steam is hillbilly armor, a term for the scraps used to bulletproof vehicles.

Some words have already entered civilian life. IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, refer to the homemade bombs created by terrorists and insurgents. A recent GQ article about inappropriate office-party behavior used it like this: "The workplace minefield is hard enough to negotiate without planting your own IEDs." So, what are the chances any of these new words will stick around? Who knows? The only thing that’s certain is that as long as there are new wars, new words will crop up, too.

The article above, written by Mark Peters, appeared in the Scatterbrained section of the May - June 2008 issue of mental_floss magazine.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/

How To Torment Telemarketers With One Word!!!

2008-06-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

My Papa does stuff like this! Too Funny!

The Next Mike Tyson

2008-06-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

His name is Pretty Boy Bam Bam. He is five years old.....

Bush Begins Using New Currency

2008-06-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

The mighty US Dollar isn't worth much these days so Good Ole Bush is trying something new!

Turnip Shortage Solved?

2008-06-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

If you're getting worried about the shortage of turnips, this is encouraging: Martian soil could grow turnips, Phoenix finds.

Some Martian dirt has the same basic chemistry as garden soil, a new analysis from the Phoenix lander suggests. The find widens the range of organisms that might be able to live on Mars.

Although the analysis is not yet complete, the lander has already found trace levels of nutrients like magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride. Although these ingredients were known to exist in Martian soil, until now no one was sure whether they would be soluble in water and thus potentially available for life.

The encouraging result came from a test of soil excavated from the top few centimetres of a region called Wonderland at the lander's site in the northern plains of Mars. The sample was delivered on Wednesday to the lander's wet chemistry laboratory in the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument.

In addition to detecting soluble nutrients, MECA also found the sample to be fairly alkaline, with a pH of 8 or 9. This level of alkalinity is common for many Earth soils, and myriad bacteria and plants, including vegetables like asparagus and turnips, can thrive at such a pH.
I cant wait to see what My kin folk in Georgia that farm have to say about this...

Note: The turnips shown here were grown on Earth. It will probably be 7-10 months before Martian turnips are available in grocery stores.

via J-Walk blog

Food Prices

2008-06-27T12:43:00.001-07:00

The Price of Food: 2007 vs. 2008

This is from the Cattle Network, so the prices are wholesale for farmers. But the real story is the change from a year ago. The post also has prices for livestock, fruits, and vegetables. Lemons are up 155%! Looks like we will be eating fewer lentils and lemons and more tangerines and bacon. Bacon? Yes, bacon is the only meat that has decreased in price! Mmm… bacon. Link -via reddit

McCain’s To-Do List

2008-06-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

At Time: What Smart Republican Strategists Think Should Be on John McCain's To-Do List.

Nobody will read the article. They'll be too busy laughing at this funny image:

Supposedly, it's from iStockphoto, but I can't find it there. Maybe it was a special order.

1. Prove to your staff you can drive a message for more than one consecutive day.

2. Tell Americans what the one, key difference is between you and Obama. Don’t just tell them you are a man of honor who loves the environment and new and improved Duracell. Frame a choice.

3. Remember the campaign has got to be about the American people and what is best for their lives – not a celebration of your life or your patriotism.

4. Fake greater interest in non-foreign policy issues or, if it works better, go with your gut and just spend the campaign hammering Obama on national security.

5. Truly put one adviser in charge of your message, scheduling, advertising, etc. (Remember that “truly” part.)

6. Figure out if there are divisions within your campaign, and, if so, end them.

7. Take some risks, but make them smart on-message risks.

8. Make sure that overseas travel is really the best use of your time.

9. Never say “My friend(s)…” again.

10. Put someone on your staff with close ties to the media in charge of keeping all of the press coverage from being shaped by national polls.

11. Spend a day (or two) in New York meeting with the columnists, publishers, anchors, executive producers, and news division presidents you have known and have cultivated for more than two decades — and remind them why they have always liked and respected you. (a.k.a: rejuvenate the base)

12. And/but recognize that your relationship with the press is different now, and it can’t ever be again like it was in the old days.

13. Convey a sense of urgency and immediacy.

14. Recognize that gimmicks (summer gas tax holiday and new battery competition ) are seen as just that — gimmicks.

15. Remember that this is a democracy, not a meritocracy. The wise men don’t anoint; the voters elect. Speak to what concerns voters, don’t tell voters what their concerns should be. Stated another way: understand that Lee Hamilton, Warren Rudman, Joe Lieberman and Ken Duberstein are not going to pick the next president. The voters are.

16. Build a team with the best and brightest, regardless of whether they are “McCain people.” Stop letting loyalty to staffers who stuck with you through the hardest times slow the essential growth and development of your campaign structure

17. Avoid personalizing your disdain for Obama.

18. Get tough. America wants a fighter, not a wimp, to fight for its future.

19. Kick Washington in the nuts every day — not just President Bush.

20. Come up with ad themes that can carry forward — stop just cutting TV spots and start doing a campaign that has legs and fits together over the long term. (FYI - Obama has already taken “hope” and “change.”)

21. Consult experts to get your own brain around the reality on the ground, even if it conflicts with the Billy Budd-ish campaign finance/same day voter registration views you hold. Beyond Obama’s money advantage on TV, he is going to have 3,500 volunteer organizers on top of a 700-800 person staff vs. your 250 staffers with a weakened RNC/state party ground game. Time to come up with an organization that can look ahead with a coherent plan — the cult of personality campaign won’t to be enough to win.

22. Protect the McCain Brand at all costs – it is the only thing that gives you a chance to win!!

2008-06-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

200 Musicians play Creep W/ Weezer

2008-06-25T18:46:00.001-07:00

“Weezer performing Radiohead’s Creep at their Hootenanny in Portland with 200 invited local musicians and fans.”
Weezer cover Radiohead's Creep, live in Portland from Dave Allen on Vimeo.

Venus fly trap vs frog

2008-06-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

My Baby Graduated From Preschool!!!

2008-06-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

AHHH!

2008-06-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

I went to get a pedicure today and this was the view! Nice....

Snoop Dog Goes Country With Willie!!

2008-06-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Knowledge

2008-06-23T08:43:00.001-07:00

A stranger was seated next to a little girl on an airplane when the stranger turned to her and said,” Let’s talk. I’ve heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly, and said to the stranger, “What would you like to talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said the stranger, “How about nuclear power?” and he smiles.

“Oh” she said. “That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question… A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?”

The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don’t know shit.”

Taipei 101's Amazing 728-Ton Stabilising Ball

2008-06-23T08:37:00.001-07:00

The enormous steel ball you see in the photos and the video in this article is the world's largest 'tuned mass damper' and sits near the top of the world's largest completed skyscraper on earth, Taipei 101 in Taiwan.

The idea behind a tuned mass damper is quite simple: as a building sways (resulting from high winds, earthquakes etc.), its tuned mass damper, essentially a finely tuned and ridiculously heavy pendulum, will move in opposition to the structure's oscillations and minimise any movement.

COOL....THIS WHAT I WANT!!!!

2008-06-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

General Motors is lobbying for a $7,000 tax credit for buyers of the ~~$30,000~~ $40,000 2011 Chevy Volt — more than double that originally offered for Prius buyers. The automaker's arguing the credit should be based on battery capacity. "What we favor is actually a sliding scale depending on how much battery you have on board," said Jon Lauckner, GM VP for global program management. "When I talk about $6,000 to $7,000, we're talking about a battery that's at least two times the size of a typical conversion plug-in or even a plug-in hybrid that we would offer." Of course, since new Chevy products apparently now command 4 times their MSRP, we predict the Volt will cost $153,000 after the tax credit.

If congressional leaders agree to GM's recommendation, the Volt could have a "real" price to consumers closer to the originally reported $30,000. However, since GM is suggesting basing the tax credit not just on battery size, but also on the potential quantity of petroleum avoided, lawmakers could conceivably balk at the tax implications as more alternative fuel vehicles enter the market. In the meantime, we're going to stuff 30 batteries into the back of the Jalopnik Caprice and wait for our $21,000 check from the gubment, secure in the knowledge we're still creating the usual level of smug.

Bad Economy = Higher Necktie Sales!

2008-06-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Whodathunkit: credit crunch and economic woes in the UK had actually spurred a spike in necktie sales! And here’s why:

Richard Whitbread, marketing manager of Tie Rack, said: "Since the doom and gloom set in, sales of ties have picked up. We have seen a 10 per cent increase in sales over the last quarter.

"When people start to be more concerned about their jobs, they start to smarten up. Also a lot of people are looking for jobs at the moment."

We Need One OF These Here

2008-06-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

TURTLE MAN!!!! Thank God He Ain't From Ga....I'd Be Kin...

2008-06-23T06:34:00.001-07:00

I Love it when they call me big Poppa

2008-06-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

This kid is keeping the kids in check and the streets on lock.

Lil Iraqi Gangsta - Watch more free videos

Singing dog

2008-06-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

This dog hits high notes that only other dog's can hear

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Be Careful Who You Sleep With...

2008-06-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

2008-06-22T08:36:00.001-07:00