A poor county in southern China, prone to natural disasters, forced villages to hand over their irrigation subsidies to finance a multimillion-dollar temple to attract tourists, state media reported on Monday. Xinhua county in Hunan province hoped to raise 14 million yuan a year from the temple -- projected to cost 50 million yuan ($7.8 million) -- from ticket sales and other tourist activities, but the project stopped after the cash ran out, China National Radio said.
The county government demanded villages "donate" money starting in 2010, with each village forced to give between 6,000 and 10,000 yuan depending on their size, it added.
The money was deducted from irrigation subsidies which were supposed to help overcome the effects of frequent floods and droughts. Village officials were threatened with having their salaries confiscated if they did not comply, the report said.
Despite the strongarm tactics, the project is still 30 million yuan short, and building work on the temple has been suspended. The report did not say if any officials have been punished.
Chinese media often report on lavish spending schemes by governments in poor parts of the country, which go on extravagant office buildings or other vanity projects which have little hope of recouping their costs or benefiting residents.
Calls to end such wasteful spending have apparently had little effect. Such scandals have only bred more resentment in rural areas which already seethe over corruption, pollution and illegal land grabs, prompting thousands of protests annually.
($1 = 6.389 Chinese Yuan)
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Arkansas' hillbilly image resonates into 21st century
The image of barefoot mountain hillbillies has made many Arkansans cringe for decades. But it's a hard one to shake -- even though the state produced a two-term president in Bill Clinton, a famous author in John Grisham, and one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs in Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.
This weekend, in conjunction with the Old State House Museum exhibit "Arkansas Arkansaw: A State And Its Reputation," academics addressed the ongoing inferiority complex the state has always suffered, thanks to hillbilly lore.
"Arkansans understand the slights, the insecurities, and that it has always been us versus them, and the 'them' are laughing at us," said Brooks Blevins, a professor at Missouri State University who guest-curated the exhibit.
"And sometimes we use it to our advantage."
Blevins, an Arkansas native, is also the author of "Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State."
The exhibit follows how Arkansas earned its backwoods reputation, starting in the 18th century, and continuing even after Clinton became president.
After all, Clinton was dubbed "Bubba" by some, which resulted in redneck jokes and souvenirs, such as Bubba Hot Sauce.
Because of its location as a gateway to the Wild West, Arkansas didn't luck into the romantic Southern moonlight-and-magnolia image. Rather, it became known as a rough crossroads where people -- and outlaws -- hid in the mountains, married cousins and sold moonshine.
When George W. Featherstonhaugh, the first U.S. government geologist, visited Arkansas in the 1830s, he described the territory as a place filled with criminals and gamblers.
He wrote that one woman he met "chewed tobacco, she smoked a pipe, she drank whiskey, and cursed and swore as heartily as any backwoodsman, all at the same time."
UNFLATTERING
That unflattering image continued in literature, art and song, starting with the 19th Century fiddling tune, "The Arkansas Traveler," said Robert Cochran, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's chair of American Studies. The song depicts a hillbilly too stupid to fix his roof in a rainstorm.
The 1936 Cole Porter song, "The Ozarks Are Calling," perpetuates "the stereotype of squalor," he said.
Even as late as the 1970s, songs like "They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas," by Tony Joe White, referred to corn meal suppers, dirt roads, and a poor jailer who may have let Satan go in exchange for a bribe.
"Most popular songs about Arkansas are not positive," Cochran said. "These were commercial popular artists, wanting to make record sales, and they found the way to do it was make fun of Arkansas."
Other rural states like West Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama have similar image problems, Cochran said. And Georgia may never shake the images from "Deliverance."
But Arkansas has gotten an especially bum rap thanks to its own perpetuation of and profit from the hillbilly image, Cohen said.
In 1968, the amusement park, Dogpatch, opened in the state, capitalizing on the hillbilly image from Al Capp's popular "Li'l Abner" comic strip, with rides and souvenirs like corncob pipes and moonshine jugs. The park closed in 1993.
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, continued to drive a pick-up truck and wear overalls long after he became a multimillionaire.
In 1992, a popular cartoon drawn by Arkansan George Fisher depicted the Clintons moving from Arkansas to the White House in a battered pick-up stacked with their belongings.
Even today, the Ozark School District in northwest Arkansas has a hillbilly, with overalls and a shotgun, for its mascot.
While Blevins said it's time for the state to move beyond its image, Cochran fears it will remain.
"The stereotype is durable," he said. "I think it is with us. It's part of our heritage and we capitalize on it."
Indeed, Arkansas still does.
On October 8, Clinton, Arkansas, hosts its first annual Redneck Olympics with wheelbarrow races, seed spitting and redneck horseshoes.
And what is "redneck horseshoes," exactly?
Throwing a toilet seat at a stake.
This weekend, in conjunction with the Old State House Museum exhibit "Arkansas Arkansaw: A State And Its Reputation," academics addressed the ongoing inferiority complex the state has always suffered, thanks to hillbilly lore.
"Arkansans understand the slights, the insecurities, and that it has always been us versus them, and the 'them' are laughing at us," said Brooks Blevins, a professor at Missouri State University who guest-curated the exhibit.
"And sometimes we use it to our advantage."
Blevins, an Arkansas native, is also the author of "Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State."
The exhibit follows how Arkansas earned its backwoods reputation, starting in the 18th century, and continuing even after Clinton became president.
After all, Clinton was dubbed "Bubba" by some, which resulted in redneck jokes and souvenirs, such as Bubba Hot Sauce.
Because of its location as a gateway to the Wild West, Arkansas didn't luck into the romantic Southern moonlight-and-magnolia image. Rather, it became known as a rough crossroads where people -- and outlaws -- hid in the mountains, married cousins and sold moonshine.
When George W. Featherstonhaugh, the first U.S. government geologist, visited Arkansas in the 1830s, he described the territory as a place filled with criminals and gamblers.
He wrote that one woman he met "chewed tobacco, she smoked a pipe, she drank whiskey, and cursed and swore as heartily as any backwoodsman, all at the same time."
UNFLATTERING
That unflattering image continued in literature, art and song, starting with the 19th Century fiddling tune, "The Arkansas Traveler," said Robert Cochran, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's chair of American Studies. The song depicts a hillbilly too stupid to fix his roof in a rainstorm.
The 1936 Cole Porter song, "The Ozarks Are Calling," perpetuates "the stereotype of squalor," he said.
Even as late as the 1970s, songs like "They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas," by Tony Joe White, referred to corn meal suppers, dirt roads, and a poor jailer who may have let Satan go in exchange for a bribe.
"Most popular songs about Arkansas are not positive," Cochran said. "These were commercial popular artists, wanting to make record sales, and they found the way to do it was make fun of Arkansas."
Other rural states like West Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama have similar image problems, Cochran said. And Georgia may never shake the images from "Deliverance."
But Arkansas has gotten an especially bum rap thanks to its own perpetuation of and profit from the hillbilly image, Cohen said.
In 1968, the amusement park, Dogpatch, opened in the state, capitalizing on the hillbilly image from Al Capp's popular "Li'l Abner" comic strip, with rides and souvenirs like corncob pipes and moonshine jugs. The park closed in 1993.
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, continued to drive a pick-up truck and wear overalls long after he became a multimillionaire.
In 1992, a popular cartoon drawn by Arkansan George Fisher depicted the Clintons moving from Arkansas to the White House in a battered pick-up stacked with their belongings.
Even today, the Ozark School District in northwest Arkansas has a hillbilly, with overalls and a shotgun, for its mascot.
While Blevins said it's time for the state to move beyond its image, Cochran fears it will remain.
"The stereotype is durable," he said. "I think it is with us. It's part of our heritage and we capitalize on it."
Indeed, Arkansas still does.
On October 8, Clinton, Arkansas, hosts its first annual Redneck Olympics with wheelbarrow races, seed spitting and redneck horseshoes.
And what is "redneck horseshoes," exactly?
Throwing a toilet seat at a stake.
Elmo and Harry Potter among top 20 holiday toys
A dancing and singing Sesame Street character and a Harry Potter-based DVD game could be the top toys during the 2011 holiday season, according to an industry guide released on Monday. Let's Rock Elmo and Scene it? Harry Potter: The Complete Cinematic Journey are two of the favorites that have made the list of the 20 hottest toys compiled by the Toy Insider to help shoppers find the perfect present for children.
"The list tries to take some of the stress out of shopping," said Laurie Schacht, co-publisher of the Toy Insider. "We don't want the toys to end up at the bottom of the closet. We look for toys that engage the children fully."
Industry insiders and experts spent almost a year sorting through the thousands of choices to compile the list. All 20 toys were released within the last year.
Schacht said the biggest toy trend this year is social games that promote face-to-face interaction between children and their parents such as the Redakai Championship Tin, which is recommended for six to eight-year-old children and uses trading cards with 3-D and animation features.
"It's about getting people together," Schacht said. "We are also looking at social networks, apps and video games."
Angry Birds Plush toys, which are expected to be a hit for children six to eight years old, are based on the popular cell phone app Angry Birds.
Educational learning is another big trend with Leapfrog's Leappad, a learning tablet designed specifically for children aged three to five, among the favorite toys for that age group. olds. It includes a built-in camera and video recorder.
"This is learning where they have so much fun, they don't even notice it," Schacht explained.
Pop culture references also found their way onto the list with a toy called Justin Bieber Rockin' Tour Bus and Concert Stage, which enables young girls, aged six to eight, to pretend they are on tour with the popular teen idol.
Scene it? Harry Potter: The Complete Cinematic Journey, which is suggested for children nine years and older allows fans of the J.K. Rowling series to test their knowledge of the eight movies.
Another favorite for that age group is uDraw Game Tablet that lets users paint, draw and color and comes with an art-based video game.
For younger children Pocoyo Swiggletracks, which enables toddlers to create their own car tracks, is another predicted favorite.
Plasmabike, which does not need training wheels, and Chuggington Interactive Railways are predicted hits for the three to five year olds.
The full edition of the guide includes 110 toys recommendations from 80 different manufacturers.
"Money is hard for everyone these days and for whatever parents are willing to spend, we want to give them options."
"The list tries to take some of the stress out of shopping," said Laurie Schacht, co-publisher of the Toy Insider. "We don't want the toys to end up at the bottom of the closet. We look for toys that engage the children fully."
Industry insiders and experts spent almost a year sorting through the thousands of choices to compile the list. All 20 toys were released within the last year.
Schacht said the biggest toy trend this year is social games that promote face-to-face interaction between children and their parents such as the Redakai Championship Tin, which is recommended for six to eight-year-old children and uses trading cards with 3-D and animation features.
"It's about getting people together," Schacht said. "We are also looking at social networks, apps and video games."
Angry Birds Plush toys, which are expected to be a hit for children six to eight years old, are based on the popular cell phone app Angry Birds.
Educational learning is another big trend with Leapfrog's Leappad, a learning tablet designed specifically for children aged three to five, among the favorite toys for that age group. olds. It includes a built-in camera and video recorder.
"This is learning where they have so much fun, they don't even notice it," Schacht explained.
Pop culture references also found their way onto the list with a toy called Justin Bieber Rockin' Tour Bus and Concert Stage, which enables young girls, aged six to eight, to pretend they are on tour with the popular teen idol.
Scene it? Harry Potter: The Complete Cinematic Journey, which is suggested for children nine years and older allows fans of the J.K. Rowling series to test their knowledge of the eight movies.
Another favorite for that age group is uDraw Game Tablet that lets users paint, draw and color and comes with an art-based video game.
For younger children Pocoyo Swiggletracks, which enables toddlers to create their own car tracks, is another predicted favorite.
Plasmabike, which does not need training wheels, and Chuggington Interactive Railways are predicted hits for the three to five year olds.
The full edition of the guide includes 110 toys recommendations from 80 different manufacturers.
"Money is hard for everyone these days and for whatever parents are willing to spend, we want to give them options."
Porn magnate funds $1 million quest to embarrass Perry
Pornographic magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million on Thursday to anyone with proof of "an illicit sexual liaison" involving leading Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry. The offer by the politically left-leaning Flynt targeting Perry was similar to past efforts by the Hustler magazine founder to embarrass public figures he dislikes.
Los Angeles-based Larry Flynt Productions, which publishes Hustler, said it bought full-page advertisements in the weekly editions of the U.S. satirical tabloid The Onion and the Austin Chronicle, a Texas alternative paper, seeking evidence of any Perry peccadilloes.
"I've been doing this for 35 years," Flynt said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "We've found running these ads were very successful in finding sources to come forward."
A copy of the most recent ad circulated to the media by Flynt's company read, "Have you had a gay or straight sexual encounter with Governor Rick Perry?"
"Can you provide documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with the governor? Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine will pay you up to $1 million if we choose to publish your verified story and use your material."
Perry headed into a Republican candidate debate on Thursday ranked as the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, according to recent public opinion polls.
A USA Today/Gallup poll released this week found Perry ahead of one-time Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, with 31 percent favoring him to 24 percent for Romney among Republican likely voters.
A spokesman for Perry could not be reached for comment about the Flynt offer.
In 1999, then-incoming U.S. House Speaker Robert Livingston resigned after Flynt claimed to have uncovered evidence of an extramarital affair by the Louisiana Republican.
Flynt had bought a full-page newspaper advertisement offering $1 million for evidence of sexual dalliances by congressional Republicans, who were seeking to impeach then-President Bill Clinton over allegations that he had lied under oath about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Flynt in 2007 made a separate $1 million offer for evidence of illicit sexual encounters by high-ranking lawmakers, but that ended less dramatically than his 1998 offer.
Los Angeles-based Larry Flynt Productions, which publishes Hustler, said it bought full-page advertisements in the weekly editions of the U.S. satirical tabloid The Onion and the Austin Chronicle, a Texas alternative paper, seeking evidence of any Perry peccadilloes.
"I've been doing this for 35 years," Flynt said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "We've found running these ads were very successful in finding sources to come forward."
A copy of the most recent ad circulated to the media by Flynt's company read, "Have you had a gay or straight sexual encounter with Governor Rick Perry?"
"Can you provide documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with the governor? Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine will pay you up to $1 million if we choose to publish your verified story and use your material."
Perry headed into a Republican candidate debate on Thursday ranked as the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, according to recent public opinion polls.
A USA Today/Gallup poll released this week found Perry ahead of one-time Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, with 31 percent favoring him to 24 percent for Romney among Republican likely voters.
A spokesman for Perry could not be reached for comment about the Flynt offer.
In 1999, then-incoming U.S. House Speaker Robert Livingston resigned after Flynt claimed to have uncovered evidence of an extramarital affair by the Louisiana Republican.
Flynt had bought a full-page newspaper advertisement offering $1 million for evidence of sexual dalliances by congressional Republicans, who were seeking to impeach then-President Bill Clinton over allegations that he had lied under oath about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Flynt in 2007 made a separate $1 million offer for evidence of illicit sexual encounters by high-ranking lawmakers, but that ended less dramatically than his 1998 offer.
'Toe Suck Fairy' arrested on new charges
A man known in Arkansas as the "Toe Suck Fairy" for a series of 1990s assaults directed at women's feet was arrested after he struck again more than a decade later, police said. Michael Robert Wyatt, 50, was arrested on Monday after two women identified him from a photo line-up as "the man who approached them in local stores commenting on their feet and asking to suck their toes," said LaTresha Woodruff, spokeswoman for the Conway Police Department.
One of the women described the man as having "really messed up toes."
Earlier in the month an 83-year-old woman told police she was sitting in a chair in front of her apartment when a man approached her. He took off one of her shoes and began sucking her toes, police said.
In the 1990s, Wyatt was convicted and even served time in prison for his obsession.
He had pretended to be a podiatrist in order to fondle and suck a Conway, Arkansas, woman's toes at a clothing store.
And, he was convicted in 1991 of making threats for telling a convenience store clerk that he wanted to cut off her feet and suck her toes while she bled to death. For that, he was sentence to four years in state prison, but served just over a year.
In 1999, Wyatt was arrested again, police said, after asking a woman in a northwest Arkansas Walmart if she wanted him to amputate her feet and showing her pictures of women with no feet.
Wyatt was picked up at his home in Vilonia, about 15 miles from Conway, where three incidents have been reported in the past few weeks. Conway is about 30 miles north of Little Rock.
One of the women described the man as having "really messed up toes."
Earlier in the month an 83-year-old woman told police she was sitting in a chair in front of her apartment when a man approached her. He took off one of her shoes and began sucking her toes, police said.
In the 1990s, Wyatt was convicted and even served time in prison for his obsession.
He had pretended to be a podiatrist in order to fondle and suck a Conway, Arkansas, woman's toes at a clothing store.
And, he was convicted in 1991 of making threats for telling a convenience store clerk that he wanted to cut off her feet and suck her toes while she bled to death. For that, he was sentence to four years in state prison, but served just over a year.
In 1999, Wyatt was arrested again, police said, after asking a woman in a northwest Arkansas Walmart if she wanted him to amputate her feet and showing her pictures of women with no feet.
Wyatt was picked up at his home in Vilonia, about 15 miles from Conway, where three incidents have been reported in the past few weeks. Conway is about 30 miles north of Little Rock.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
ONLY IN AMERICA...........
- Only in America........... do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.
- Only in America........... do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
- Only in America........... do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.
- Only in America........... do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
- Only in America........... do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: "Poli" in Latin meaning "many" and "tics" meaning "bloodsucking creatures".
- Only in America........... do we have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
- Only in America........... do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
- Only in America........... do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.
DON'T GET OLD
I decided to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the hall table. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trashcan under the table, and notice that the trashcan is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find the bottle of coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye -- they need to be watered. I set the coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, we will be looking for the remote, but nobody will remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm bottle of coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still onlyone check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find the bottle of coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye -- they need to be watered. I set the coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, we will be looking for the remote, but nobody will remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm bottle of coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still onlyone check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
Porn magnate funds $1 million quest to embarrass Perry
Pornographic magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million on Thursday to anyone with proof of "an illicit sexual liaison" involving leading Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry. The offer by the politically left-leaning Flynt targeting Perry was similar to past efforts by the Hustler magazine founder to embarrass public figures he dislikes.
Los Angeles-based Larry Flynt Productions, which publishes Hustler, said it bought full-page advertisements in the weekly editions of the U.S. satirical tabloid The Onion and the Austin Chronicle, a Texas alternative paper, seeking evidence of any Perry peccadilloes.
"I've been doing this for 35 years," Flynt said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "We've found running these ads were very successful in finding sources to come forward."
A copy of the most recent ad circulated to the media by Flynt's company read, "Have you had a gay or straight sexual encounter with Governor Rick Perry?"
"Can you provide documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with the governor? Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine will pay you up to $1 million if we choose to publish your verified story and use your material."
Perry headed into a Republican candidate debate on Thursday ranked as the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, according to recent public opinion polls.
A USA Today/Gallup poll released this week found Perry ahead of one-time Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, with 31 percent favoring him to 24 percent for Romney among Republican likely voters.
A spokesman for Perry could not be reached for comment about the Flynt offer.
In 1999, then-incoming U.S. House Speaker Robert Livingston resigned after Flynt claimed to have uncovered evidence of an extramarital affair by the Louisiana Republican.
Flynt had bought a full-page newspaper advertisement offering $1 million for evidence of sexual dalliances by congressional Republicans, who were seeking to impeach then-President Bill Clinton over allegations that he had lied under oath about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Flynt in 2007 made a separate $1 million offer for evidence of illicit sexual encounters by high-ranking lawmakers, but that ended less dramatically than his 1998 offer.
Los Angeles-based Larry Flynt Productions, which publishes Hustler, said it bought full-page advertisements in the weekly editions of the U.S. satirical tabloid The Onion and the Austin Chronicle, a Texas alternative paper, seeking evidence of any Perry peccadilloes.
"I've been doing this for 35 years," Flynt said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "We've found running these ads were very successful in finding sources to come forward."
A copy of the most recent ad circulated to the media by Flynt's company read, "Have you had a gay or straight sexual encounter with Governor Rick Perry?"
"Can you provide documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with the governor? Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine will pay you up to $1 million if we choose to publish your verified story and use your material."
Perry headed into a Republican candidate debate on Thursday ranked as the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, according to recent public opinion polls.
A USA Today/Gallup poll released this week found Perry ahead of one-time Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, with 31 percent favoring him to 24 percent for Romney among Republican likely voters.
A spokesman for Perry could not be reached for comment about the Flynt offer.
In 1999, then-incoming U.S. House Speaker Robert Livingston resigned after Flynt claimed to have uncovered evidence of an extramarital affair by the Louisiana Republican.
Flynt had bought a full-page newspaper advertisement offering $1 million for evidence of sexual dalliances by congressional Republicans, who were seeking to impeach then-President Bill Clinton over allegations that he had lied under oath about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Flynt in 2007 made a separate $1 million offer for evidence of illicit sexual encounters by high-ranking lawmakers, but that ended less dramatically than his 1998 offer.
Texas kills fancy last meal requests on death row
The Texas prison system on Thursday abolished the time-honored tradition of offering an opulent last meal to condemned inmates before their executions, saying they would get standard prison fare instead. "Enough is enough," state Senator John Whitmire wrote on Thursday to prison officials, prompting the move. "It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It's a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim."
The letter was in apparent response to the dinner requested, but not eaten, by white supremacist Lawrence Brewer before he was put to death on Wednesday night for a notorious 1998 killing in which James Byrd Jr., a black man, was dragged behind a truck for several miles.
Brewer requested an elaborate meal that included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover's pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks.
When it arrived around 4 p.m. at Brewer's cell, he declined it all, telling prison officials he was not hungry.
Whitmire, who chairs the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, threatened legislation if the prison system did not end the practice, which rarely results in the inmate getting exactly what is requested anyway.
Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, replied that Whitmire's concerns were valid and the practice would halt immediately.
The prisoners will be served "the same meal served to other offenders," Livingston's statement said.
Most states that have the death penalty allow last-meal requests, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Some allow the inmate to choose from a menu, others have cost restrictions or say they must be ordered locally.
Anti-death penalty activists were not bothered by the Texas move, saying the tradition always made the prison system look more merciful than it is.
"I am totally opposed to capital punishment, but I certainly don't understand the logic of a last meal, and the way it's turned into such a show," said Jim Harrington, who heads the Texas Civil Rights Project, .
Texas executes four times more inmates than the rest of the nation, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, and last meals ordered by inmates have run the gamut.
James Edward Smith, who was executed in Texas in 1990, requested "a lump of dirt." Odell Barnes, executed in 2000, requested "justice, equality and world peace."
The letter was in apparent response to the dinner requested, but not eaten, by white supremacist Lawrence Brewer before he was put to death on Wednesday night for a notorious 1998 killing in which James Byrd Jr., a black man, was dragged behind a truck for several miles.
Brewer requested an elaborate meal that included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover's pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks.
When it arrived around 4 p.m. at Brewer's cell, he declined it all, telling prison officials he was not hungry.
Whitmire, who chairs the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, threatened legislation if the prison system did not end the practice, which rarely results in the inmate getting exactly what is requested anyway.
Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, replied that Whitmire's concerns were valid and the practice would halt immediately.
The prisoners will be served "the same meal served to other offenders," Livingston's statement said.
Most states that have the death penalty allow last-meal requests, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Some allow the inmate to choose from a menu, others have cost restrictions or say they must be ordered locally.
Anti-death penalty activists were not bothered by the Texas move, saying the tradition always made the prison system look more merciful than it is.
"I am totally opposed to capital punishment, but I certainly don't understand the logic of a last meal, and the way it's turned into such a show," said Jim Harrington, who heads the Texas Civil Rights Project, .
Texas executes four times more inmates than the rest of the nation, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, and last meals ordered by inmates have run the gamut.
James Edward Smith, who was executed in Texas in 1990, requested "a lump of dirt." Odell Barnes, executed in 2000, requested "justice, equality and world peace."
Library lifts 1906 ban on Mark Twain book
A Mark Twain book with nude illustrations, added to a Massachusetts public library after a century-old ban was lifted, was plucked from the shelf within hours on Thursday.
Trustees of the Charlton Public Library lifted the 1906 ban earlier this week of "Eve's Diary," Twain's satirical version of the Adam and Eve story, said Cheryl Hansen, the library's director.
Two paperback copies were made available at the library in central Massachusetts on Thursday and, within hours, one of them was in a reader's hands, she said.
"I think there'll be a lot of interest in taking it out," Hansen added, saying the unanimous vote to lift the ban came just in time for Banned Books Week, which begins on Saturday.
A library trustee learned about the ban from a local newspaper article and last year tracked down a first edition of the book, which will be on display through next week, she said.
The book, published in 1906, was banned when the library's then-trustees took issue with illustrations by Lester Ralph that showed Eve naked. Adam appears covered up in the pictures, she said.
"They're not what we would consider inflammatory at all, and I'm even surprised they were considered (inflammatory) then," Hansen said.
But the spare illustrations were controversial enough for the library to ban the book, prompting Twain to write dismissively in a letter the following year that "nobody attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library."
Hansen said she bought two paperback copies of the book, which were listed in the library's catalog on Wednesday and put into circulation on Thursday morning.
Trustees of the Charlton Public Library lifted the 1906 ban earlier this week of "Eve's Diary," Twain's satirical version of the Adam and Eve story, said Cheryl Hansen, the library's director.
Two paperback copies were made available at the library in central Massachusetts on Thursday and, within hours, one of them was in a reader's hands, she said.
"I think there'll be a lot of interest in taking it out," Hansen added, saying the unanimous vote to lift the ban came just in time for Banned Books Week, which begins on Saturday.
A library trustee learned about the ban from a local newspaper article and last year tracked down a first edition of the book, which will be on display through next week, she said.
The book, published in 1906, was banned when the library's then-trustees took issue with illustrations by Lester Ralph that showed Eve naked. Adam appears covered up in the pictures, she said.
"They're not what we would consider inflammatory at all, and I'm even surprised they were considered (inflammatory) then," Hansen said.
But the spare illustrations were controversial enough for the library to ban the book, prompting Twain to write dismissively in a letter the following year that "nobody attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library."
Hansen said she bought two paperback copies of the book, which were listed in the library's catalog on Wednesday and put into circulation on Thursday morning.
Boy finds 30-year-old human fingers in jar
A French schoolboy has dug up a glass jar containing severed human fingers preserved in alcohol which police believe may belong to a local carpenter who lost four digits in an accident 30 years ago. The boy, aged seven, made the gruesome discovery on Monday when he was playing behind the gymnasium of his school in Chilly-Mazarin, just south of Paris, and noticed a jar poking out of the earth, a police spokeswoman said.
He dug out the liquid-filled jar and saw the partially decomposed fingers inside.
"With time the jar must have risen to the surface and the fingers were found in well-preserved condition," the police spokeswoman said.
The boy's father called local police, who set out to track down the origin of the severed digits.
Following local media reports on the story, police received a telephone a call from a person whose grandfather, a woodworker, used to live near the gymnasium and lost four of his
fingers 30 years ago in a work accident.
At the time, his fingers could not be surgically reattached so the carpenter put them in a jar full of alcohol and buried them near his home, the police spokeswoman said.
The carpenter, who is still alive, has since moved away, and police were trying to contact him on Wednesday.
He dug out the liquid-filled jar and saw the partially decomposed fingers inside.
"With time the jar must have risen to the surface and the fingers were found in well-preserved condition," the police spokeswoman said.
The boy's father called local police, who set out to track down the origin of the severed digits.
Following local media reports on the story, police received a telephone a call from a person whose grandfather, a woodworker, used to live near the gymnasium and lost four of his
fingers 30 years ago in a work accident.
At the time, his fingers could not be surgically reattached so the carpenter put them in a jar full of alcohol and buried them near his home, the police spokeswoman said.
The carpenter, who is still alive, has since moved away, and police were trying to contact him on Wednesday.
Arkansas' lost moon rock found in Clinton's files
For years, Arkansas historians have searched for a valuable lunar rock from the Apollo 17 mission, one of the moon rocks NASA presented to each state in the 1970s.
While other states also continue to dig for the rocks that came to be known as the Goodwill Moon Rocks, the mystery in Arkansas was solved Wednesday -- sort of -- when an archivist discovered it in former President Bill Clinton's gubernatorial papers.
Still up in the air is how the moon rock got there.
Bobby Roberts, director of the Central Arkansas Library System, told Reuters the archivist opened a box previously archived as "Arkansas flag plaque." The tiny flag was also sent to space, Roberts said. The rock was inside.
"The moon rock, which is in a plastic container, had fallen off the plaque," Roberts said. "The archivist immediately knew what he had discovered."
Other states such as New Jersey and Alaska have also misplaced their Goodwill rocks, which some experts estimate could be worth millions of dollars.
Some states have found theirs in recent years, including Colorado, where former Governor John Vanderhoof confessed in 2010 he had the rock in his personal collection and agreed to give it back to the state.
Roberts, who worked for Clinton when he was governor, said the moon rock was presented to Governor David Pryor in 1976. He could only speculate about how Clinton ended up with it.
Roberts' theory is that when Clinton became governor in 1978, Pryor left the plaque in the office. When Clinton lost re-election in 1980, everything in his office was packed up and stored.
"Ironically, I moved those papers out," Roberts said. "I'm a historian and I never saw that plaque."
The Butler Center for Arkansas History and Genealogy, which is part of the library system, acquired the Clinton papers in 2004. The papers, photographs and memorabilia are contained in 2,000 boxes.
"We will talk to the Clinton Foundation and the Governor's office and determine where it should be," Roberts said. "It should definitely be in a museum."
Roberts said that the moon rock, which is now in a safe, will be re-attached to the plaque.
While other states also continue to dig for the rocks that came to be known as the Goodwill Moon Rocks, the mystery in Arkansas was solved Wednesday -- sort of -- when an archivist discovered it in former President Bill Clinton's gubernatorial papers.
Still up in the air is how the moon rock got there.
Bobby Roberts, director of the Central Arkansas Library System, told Reuters the archivist opened a box previously archived as "Arkansas flag plaque." The tiny flag was also sent to space, Roberts said. The rock was inside.
"The moon rock, which is in a plastic container, had fallen off the plaque," Roberts said. "The archivist immediately knew what he had discovered."
Other states such as New Jersey and Alaska have also misplaced their Goodwill rocks, which some experts estimate could be worth millions of dollars.
Some states have found theirs in recent years, including Colorado, where former Governor John Vanderhoof confessed in 2010 he had the rock in his personal collection and agreed to give it back to the state.
Roberts, who worked for Clinton when he was governor, said the moon rock was presented to Governor David Pryor in 1976. He could only speculate about how Clinton ended up with it.
Roberts' theory is that when Clinton became governor in 1978, Pryor left the plaque in the office. When Clinton lost re-election in 1980, everything in his office was packed up and stored.
"Ironically, I moved those papers out," Roberts said. "I'm a historian and I never saw that plaque."
The Butler Center for Arkansas History and Genealogy, which is part of the library system, acquired the Clinton papers in 2004. The papers, photographs and memorabilia are contained in 2,000 boxes.
"We will talk to the Clinton Foundation and the Governor's office and determine where it should be," Roberts said. "It should definitely be in a museum."
Roberts said that the moon rock, which is now in a safe, will be re-attached to the plaque.
Two plead not guilty to harassing Palin attorney
A Pennsylvania father and son pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to federal charges they harassed an attorney for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in phone calls authorities say followed their similar badgering of Palin herself. Shawn Christy, 19, and his father Craig Christy, 47, entered their pleas during an appearance in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska.
The two are accused of making hundreds of harassing and threatening calls in early August to Fairbanks attorney John Tiemessen, who represents Palin and her family, and to workers at Tiemessen's law firm.
The calls were laced with profanities, and Shawn Christy also used repeated anti-Semitic slurs, an affidavit filed in the case said.
Shawn and Craig Christy were each charged with a single count of making harassing interstate telephone calls, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by a year of supervised release, Assistant U.S. Attorney Retta-Rae Randall said.
At the hearing on Wednesday, Federal Magistrate Judge Deborah Smith set a trial date of November 21.
The father and son, arrested last month in Pennsylvania, appeared separately in court in yellow jail suits and handcuffs. A hearing to determine potential bail conditions for the two men was set for Monday.
Both men were already the subject of restraining orders issued by a state court over repeated telephone calls that authorities say they made to Palin, her parents and a longtime Wasilla friend, Kristan Cole.
Palin first won a restraining order against Shawn Christy last year. In a court hearing this year, she described the teen as being obsessed with her and said he made sexual threats.
In May, the state court issued a new restraining order against Shawn Christy and a similar order against Craig Christy over calls he made to the Palin camp.
Those orders restricting the pair from contacting Palin, her family and friends remain in effect, Randall said at Wednesday's arraignment.
The two are accused of making hundreds of harassing and threatening calls in early August to Fairbanks attorney John Tiemessen, who represents Palin and her family, and to workers at Tiemessen's law firm.
The calls were laced with profanities, and Shawn Christy also used repeated anti-Semitic slurs, an affidavit filed in the case said.
Shawn and Craig Christy were each charged with a single count of making harassing interstate telephone calls, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by a year of supervised release, Assistant U.S. Attorney Retta-Rae Randall said.
At the hearing on Wednesday, Federal Magistrate Judge Deborah Smith set a trial date of November 21.
The father and son, arrested last month in Pennsylvania, appeared separately in court in yellow jail suits and handcuffs. A hearing to determine potential bail conditions for the two men was set for Monday.
Both men were already the subject of restraining orders issued by a state court over repeated telephone calls that authorities say they made to Palin, her parents and a longtime Wasilla friend, Kristan Cole.
Palin first won a restraining order against Shawn Christy last year. In a court hearing this year, she described the teen as being obsessed with her and said he made sexual threats.
In May, the state court issued a new restraining order against Shawn Christy and a similar order against Craig Christy over calls he made to the Palin camp.
Those orders restricting the pair from contacting Palin, her family and friends remain in effect, Randall said at Wednesday's arraignment.
$16 muffins lead to review of meeting expenses
President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered federal agencies to review expenses for conferences after an embarrassing report revealed the Justice Department served $16 muffins at a 2009 gathering. Office of Management and Budget chief Jack Lew directed agency heads to conduct a thorough review of how taxpayer dollars are being spent on conferences.
Under the directive, a deputy secretary or other senior agency official will have to approve conference-related expenses while the review is underway.
A report by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General on Tuesday said the agency spent $121 million on conferences over two years, exceeding its own spending limits.
Some of the spending appeared to be "extravagant and wasteful," the audit said.
"We found the Department spent $16 on each of the 250 muffins served at an August 2009 legal conference in Washington," the report said.
The audit focused only on 10 conferences held during the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years.
Other examples of waste reported were snacks at $32 per person, $10 brownies, $8.00 coffee, and nearly $600,000 for event planning services for five conferences.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole said on Wednesday the Justice Department took steps in 2009 to curb wasteful or excessive spending for conferences.
"At the beginning of this year, the attorney general issued a memo ordering the reduction of spending, including the suspension of all nonessential conferences," Cole said in a statement.
Vice President Joe Biden, who leads the administration's effort to cut waste at federal agencies, last week asked Cabinet secretaries to do more to end unnecessary spending.
He said he expects a progress report from agency heads at their next meeting in December, including "what they are doing to get on top of conference-related expenses."
"Every day, middle-class families are making tough choices to make ends meet," Biden said in a statement.
"It is our responsibility to make sure that their taxpayer dollars are not wasted."
Under the directive, a deputy secretary or other senior agency official will have to approve conference-related expenses while the review is underway.
A report by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General on Tuesday said the agency spent $121 million on conferences over two years, exceeding its own spending limits.
Some of the spending appeared to be "extravagant and wasteful," the audit said.
"We found the Department spent $16 on each of the 250 muffins served at an August 2009 legal conference in Washington," the report said.
The audit focused only on 10 conferences held during the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years.
Other examples of waste reported were snacks at $32 per person, $10 brownies, $8.00 coffee, and nearly $600,000 for event planning services for five conferences.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole said on Wednesday the Justice Department took steps in 2009 to curb wasteful or excessive spending for conferences.
"At the beginning of this year, the attorney general issued a memo ordering the reduction of spending, including the suspension of all nonessential conferences," Cole said in a statement.
Vice President Joe Biden, who leads the administration's effort to cut waste at federal agencies, last week asked Cabinet secretaries to do more to end unnecessary spending.
He said he expects a progress report from agency heads at their next meeting in December, including "what they are doing to get on top of conference-related expenses."
"Every day, middle-class families are making tough choices to make ends meet," Biden said in a statement.
"It is our responsibility to make sure that their taxpayer dollars are not wasted."
Man wins dumpling eating contest, then dies
A 77-year-old Ukrainian man won a jar full of sour cream for coming first in a dumpling eating contest and then promptly died, local media reported on Wednesday. Ivan Mendel ate 10 dumplings in half a minute to win first place and a one-liter jar of sour cream in the contest held in the town of Tokmak in the southeastern Zaporizhya region on September 18, Fakty I Kommentarii newspaper said.
Shortly afterwards, Mendel became unwell and died, according to local news websites.
Dumplings, called "vareniki" in the former Soviet republic, are a staple of Ukrainian cuisine and are often stuffed with a range of fillings from mushrooms to cherries.
Shortly afterwards, Mendel became unwell and died, according to local news websites.
Dumplings, called "vareniki" in the former Soviet republic, are a staple of Ukrainian cuisine and are often stuffed with a range of fillings from mushrooms to cherries.
Man sues Starbucks over restroom camera
A U.S. man is suing Starbucks Coffee Co after his 5-year-old daughter allegedly found a video camera pointed at the toilet in a bathroom in one of their cafes. William Yockey, of Virginia, is asking for $1 million in the civil suit on four counts, including breach of privacy, his lawyer, Hank Schlosberg, told Reuters on Tuesday.
Yockey and his daughter went into a Starbucks in downtown Washington to use the restroom during an April sightseeing trip, he said.
After using the unisex toilet, the girl discovered a digital video camera hidden in the U-shaped drain pipe under the sink. The camera was aimed at the toilet and recording, Schlosberg said.
"The little girl was very upset and the father was irate," he said.
Yockey contacted the manager, who called police.
The incident is at least the third involving a camera in a Starbucks bathroom this year.
A man was arrested in May for placing a camera in a California Starbucks and recording at least 40 women. A man was arrested in June for putting a camera in a Florida Starbucks.
Starbucks spokesman Alan Hilowitz said: "We take our obligation to provide a safe environment for our customers and our employees very, very seriously."
Such incidents as the alleged camera placement were "extremely, extremely rare" given that the company has 17,000 stores in the United States, he said.
Yockey and his daughter went into a Starbucks in downtown Washington to use the restroom during an April sightseeing trip, he said.
After using the unisex toilet, the girl discovered a digital video camera hidden in the U-shaped drain pipe under the sink. The camera was aimed at the toilet and recording, Schlosberg said.
"The little girl was very upset and the father was irate," he said.
Yockey contacted the manager, who called police.
The incident is at least the third involving a camera in a Starbucks bathroom this year.
A man was arrested in May for placing a camera in a California Starbucks and recording at least 40 women. A man was arrested in June for putting a camera in a Florida Starbucks.
Starbucks spokesman Alan Hilowitz said: "We take our obligation to provide a safe environment for our customers and our employees very, very seriously."
Such incidents as the alleged camera placement were "extremely, extremely rare" given that the company has 17,000 stores in the United States, he said.
"Royal wedding," "winning" deemed top TV words
"Royal wedding" and "winning" (as in Charlie Sheen's catch-phrase) were the two most used phrases on television in 2011, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
The rantings of the former "Two and A Half Men" actor beat "Arab Spring" and Simon Cowell's "The X Factor" singing show when it came to dominating TV screens in the official 2010-11 U.S. TV season, the Global Language Monitor said.
"This is apparently shaping up to be the Year of Kate (Middleton). She has come to dominate the small screen through her engagement, her fashion choices and most of all her royal wedding," said Paul JJ Payack, president of Global Language Monitor.
Middleton's April wedding to Britain's Prince William was watched by millions of people around the world and generated massive media attention.
But Sheen wasn't far behind. The comedy star embarked on a series of bizarre interviews, videos and even a nationwide tour after being fired in March from what was the highest-paid acting job on U.S. television.
"Winning" was one of his favorite phrases, followed closely by "tiger blood" and bragging about his various "goddesses," or live-in girlfriends.
A more subdued Sheen admitted last week he was out of control and making jokes that he never believed in. In an appearance at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, an apparently sincere Sheen wished his revamped TV show well.
Rounding out the 2011 top TV words were "Oprah", whose talk show ended after 25 years; "Fukushima", the epicenter of the Japanese quake, tsunami and nuclear power catastrophe; "9/11", "Obama-vision", "Chicago-style politics" and "Zombies".
The Texas-based Global Language Monitor uses a math formula to track the frequency of words and phrases in print, electronic and social media.
Last year's top Teleword was "Spillcam" after the live feed of the ruptured deep sea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.
The rantings of the former "Two and A Half Men" actor beat "Arab Spring" and Simon Cowell's "The X Factor" singing show when it came to dominating TV screens in the official 2010-11 U.S. TV season, the Global Language Monitor said.
"This is apparently shaping up to be the Year of Kate (Middleton). She has come to dominate the small screen through her engagement, her fashion choices and most of all her royal wedding," said Paul JJ Payack, president of Global Language Monitor.
Middleton's April wedding to Britain's Prince William was watched by millions of people around the world and generated massive media attention.
But Sheen wasn't far behind. The comedy star embarked on a series of bizarre interviews, videos and even a nationwide tour after being fired in March from what was the highest-paid acting job on U.S. television.
"Winning" was one of his favorite phrases, followed closely by "tiger blood" and bragging about his various "goddesses," or live-in girlfriends.
A more subdued Sheen admitted last week he was out of control and making jokes that he never believed in. In an appearance at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, an apparently sincere Sheen wished his revamped TV show well.
Rounding out the 2011 top TV words were "Oprah", whose talk show ended after 25 years; "Fukushima", the epicenter of the Japanese quake, tsunami and nuclear power catastrophe; "9/11", "Obama-vision", "Chicago-style politics" and "Zombies".
The Texas-based Global Language Monitor uses a math formula to track the frequency of words and phrases in print, electronic and social media.
Last year's top Teleword was "Spillcam" after the live feed of the ruptured deep sea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.
$16 muffins, $8 coffee served in U.S. Justice audit
As the U.S. government grapples to find ways to trim the bloated federal deficit, a new report suggests officials might start with cutting out $16 muffins and $10 cookies. "We found the Department (of Justice) spent $16 on each of the 250 muffins served at an August 2009 legal conference in Washington," said a DOJ Office of Inspector General report released on Tuesday.
The DOJ spent $121 million on conferences in fiscal 2008 and 2009, which exceeded its own spending limits and appeared to be extravagant and wasteful, according to the report that examined 10 conferences held during that period.
The review turned up the expensive muffins, which came from the Capital Hilton Hotel just blocks from the White House, as well as cookies and brownies that cost almost $10 each.
The department spent $32 per person on snacks of Cracker Jack, popcorn, and candy bars and coffee that cost $8.24 per cup at another conference, the report said.
The DOJ also spent nearly $600,000 for event planning services for five conferences, the document said.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said most of the gathering were held when there were no strict limits on food and beverage costs, adding the DOJ had taken steps since 2009 "to ensure that these problems do not occur again."
Word of the agency's extravagant spending drew a swift response from Capitol Hill.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee which has oversight of the Justice Department, said the report was a blueprint for the first cuts that should be made by the "super committee" searching for at least $1.2 trillion in savings.
"Sixteen dollar muffins and $600,000 for event planning services are what make Americans cynical about government and why they are demanding change," Grassley said in a statement. "People are outraged, and rightly so."
The DOJ spent $121 million on conferences in fiscal 2008 and 2009, which exceeded its own spending limits and appeared to be extravagant and wasteful, according to the report that examined 10 conferences held during that period.
The review turned up the expensive muffins, which came from the Capital Hilton Hotel just blocks from the White House, as well as cookies and brownies that cost almost $10 each.
The department spent $32 per person on snacks of Cracker Jack, popcorn, and candy bars and coffee that cost $8.24 per cup at another conference, the report said.
The DOJ also spent nearly $600,000 for event planning services for five conferences, the document said.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said most of the gathering were held when there were no strict limits on food and beverage costs, adding the DOJ had taken steps since 2009 "to ensure that these problems do not occur again."
Word of the agency's extravagant spending drew a swift response from Capitol Hill.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee which has oversight of the Justice Department, said the report was a blueprint for the first cuts that should be made by the "super committee" searching for at least $1.2 trillion in savings.
"Sixteen dollar muffins and $600,000 for event planning services are what make Americans cynical about government and why they are demanding change," Grassley said in a statement. "People are outraged, and rightly so."
Aussie TV in trouble over PM comedy sex scene
Australia's national broadcaster faced calls for a review of funding on Tuesday over a television comedy scene with a fictional Prime Minister Julia Gillard draped in a national flag after having sex on her office floor. Conservative opposition lawmakers said the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had overstepped good taste with a scene in which actors playing Gillard and her partner Tim Mathieson cuddled naked and used the flag -- with its historic ties to Britain and Australia's Queen Elizabeth -- as a sheet.
"Having sex in the prime minister's office under the Australian flag is the last straw for me. It is sick. I'm offended and we should take a stand," one lawmaker who could not be named told a closed door meeting of MPs, a conservative spokesman told a press briefing.
Another MP called for a rethink of taxpayer funding for the ABC, saying the program degraded the office of prime minister, currently held by center-left Labor rival Gillard, while monarchists said the use of the flag was disrespectful.
"I think a bit more discretion when using the flag is appropriate, even when you are trying to make a joke," Australians for Constitutional Monarch head David Flint told Australian media.
Commenters on newspaper websites were also upset with the show "At Home With Julia," which is based around the fictional home life of the country's first female leader.
"Rude, negative, abusive, disrespectful and now grubby," a viewer named Andrea Moore wrote in The Australian national newspaper's website.
Gillard herself has laughed off controversy over the satire, but a government protocol officer said the national flag, with its stars and Britain's Union Jack in one corner, should not have been shown lying on the ground.
An ABC spokesman for the program said Gillard had only been shown in a "very gentle, tender scene."
"If it's okay for others to drape themselves in our flag for all manner of occasions, I really don't see why it can't be draped over our prime minister as a symbol of love," the spokesman said.
"Having sex in the prime minister's office under the Australian flag is the last straw for me. It is sick. I'm offended and we should take a stand," one lawmaker who could not be named told a closed door meeting of MPs, a conservative spokesman told a press briefing.
Another MP called for a rethink of taxpayer funding for the ABC, saying the program degraded the office of prime minister, currently held by center-left Labor rival Gillard, while monarchists said the use of the flag was disrespectful.
"I think a bit more discretion when using the flag is appropriate, even when you are trying to make a joke," Australians for Constitutional Monarch head David Flint told Australian media.
Commenters on newspaper websites were also upset with the show "At Home With Julia," which is based around the fictional home life of the country's first female leader.
"Rude, negative, abusive, disrespectful and now grubby," a viewer named Andrea Moore wrote in The Australian national newspaper's website.
Gillard herself has laughed off controversy over the satire, but a government protocol officer said the national flag, with its stars and Britain's Union Jack in one corner, should not have been shown lying on the ground.
An ABC spokesman for the program said Gillard had only been shown in a "very gentle, tender scene."
"If it's okay for others to drape themselves in our flag for all manner of occasions, I really don't see why it can't be draped over our prime minister as a symbol of love," the spokesman said.
Local school board ends ban on Slaughterhouse Five
A school board in southwest Missouri on Monday restored two books it had banned from public schools for being contrary to teachings in the Bible.
The Republic School Board voted 6-0 to make the two books - "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Twenty Boy Summer" - available to students for independent reading as long as they are kept in a secure section of the school library.
Only parents or guardians can check them out.
Under a policy the board adopted in July, teachers still cannot make the books required reading nor read them aloud in school. The old policy had removed the books from the school altogether.
The novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a satirical account of the bombing of Dresden, Germany, during World War II. Some people object to violence, language and sexual material in the book.
"Twenty Boy Summer," by Sarah Ockler, is about young people and sexual relationships.
Area resident Wesley Scroggins, a Missouri State University associate business professor, objected to those books and other materials he said "create false conceptions of American history and government and or that teach principles contrary to Biblical morality and truth."
Several anti-censorship organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, sharply criticized the book ban, which received national attention.
In August, The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis offered up to 150 copies of "Slaughterhouse-Five" to any Republic students who wanted to read it.
The Republic School Board voted 6-0 to make the two books - "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Twenty Boy Summer" - available to students for independent reading as long as they are kept in a secure section of the school library.
Only parents or guardians can check them out.
Under a policy the board adopted in July, teachers still cannot make the books required reading nor read them aloud in school. The old policy had removed the books from the school altogether.
The novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a satirical account of the bombing of Dresden, Germany, during World War II. Some people object to violence, language and sexual material in the book.
"Twenty Boy Summer," by Sarah Ockler, is about young people and sexual relationships.
Area resident Wesley Scroggins, a Missouri State University associate business professor, objected to those books and other materials he said "create false conceptions of American history and government and or that teach principles contrary to Biblical morality and truth."
Several anti-censorship organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, sharply criticized the book ban, which received national attention.
In August, The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis offered up to 150 copies of "Slaughterhouse-Five" to any Republic students who wanted to read it.
China suspends popular talent show for "exceeding time limits"
China has ordered a popular television talent show off the air for a year after it exceeded broadcasting time limits, replacing it with programs that "promote moral ethics" such as public safety and housework tips, state media said on Monday.
Episodes of talent show Super Girl, akin to American Idol or the X Factor, were supposed only to run for a maximum of 90 minutes, according to rules set in 2007, but sometimes exceeded the limit, the China Daily reported.
Hunan Satellite Television, which produces Super Girl, has agreed to follow the broadcast regulator's ruling to remove the show and replace it with public service programing, the newspaper quoted deputy editor-in-chief Li Hao as saying.
"Instead, the channel will air programs that promote moral ethics and public safety and provide practical information for house work," Li said.
"I believe the reason that forced the administration to 'regulate' this program is that some television hosts in the program made inappropriate comments and some did not dress properly," Jin Yong of China Communication University, told the paper.
"The style might have offended some older viewers."
China routinely censors anything it considers politically sensitive or offensive, from songs to films, in contrast to the stirring patriotism fare it promotes on mainstream stations, though widespread piracy means bans are often easy to skirt via bootlegged DVDs or on the Internet.
Super Boy, another singing contest, was ordered in 2007 to show only "healthy and ethically inspiring songs," avoid "gossip" and not show "bad taste" scenes of screaming fans or tearful losing contestants, the China Daily said.
In a statement on its website (http://www.sarft.gov.cn/), the regulator said it had also suspended a television station in northern China for showing programs which showed disrespect toward an elderly parent and magnified family conflict.
Episodes of talent show Super Girl, akin to American Idol or the X Factor, were supposed only to run for a maximum of 90 minutes, according to rules set in 2007, but sometimes exceeded the limit, the China Daily reported.
Hunan Satellite Television, which produces Super Girl, has agreed to follow the broadcast regulator's ruling to remove the show and replace it with public service programing, the newspaper quoted deputy editor-in-chief Li Hao as saying.
"Instead, the channel will air programs that promote moral ethics and public safety and provide practical information for house work," Li said.
"I believe the reason that forced the administration to 'regulate' this program is that some television hosts in the program made inappropriate comments and some did not dress properly," Jin Yong of China Communication University, told the paper.
"The style might have offended some older viewers."
China routinely censors anything it considers politically sensitive or offensive, from songs to films, in contrast to the stirring patriotism fare it promotes on mainstream stations, though widespread piracy means bans are often easy to skirt via bootlegged DVDs or on the Internet.
Super Boy, another singing contest, was ordered in 2007 to show only "healthy and ethically inspiring songs," avoid "gossip" and not show "bad taste" scenes of screaming fans or tearful losing contestants, the China Daily said.
In a statement on its website (http://www.sarft.gov.cn/), the regulator said it had also suspended a television station in northern China for showing programs which showed disrespect toward an elderly parent and magnified family conflict.
PETA to launch porn site in name of animal rights
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, no stranger to attention-grabbing campaigns featuring nude women, plans to launch a pornography website in the name of animal rights. The nonprofit organization, whose controversial campaigns draw criticism from women's rights groups, said it hopes to raise awareness of veganism through a mix of pornography and graphic footage of animal suffering.
"We're hoping to reach a whole new audience of people, some of whom will be shocked by graphic images that maybe they didn't anticipate seeing when they went to the PETA triple-X site," said Lindsay Rajt, PETA's associate director of campaigns.
PETA has been accused of campaigning for animal rights at the cost of exploiting women. A Facebook group, Real Women Against PETA, was launched after the organization paid for a billboard showing an obese woman with the message: "Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber. Go Vegetarian."
Another critical Facebook group is called, "Vegans (and Vegetarians) Against PETA."
"PETA is extremely disingenuous," said Jennifer Pozner, executive director of the New York-based advocacy group Women In Media & News. "They have consistently used active sexism as their marketing strategy to garner attention. Their use of sexism has gotten more extreme and more degrading.
"This may be in their minds the only thing left at their disposal to lower the bar," she said.
PETA has filed paperwork to launch its pornography site when the controversial new .xxx domain becomes active in early December. While many nonprofits and corporations are scrambling to protect their website names from being hijacked by a pornographer slapping on a .xxx domain, PETA is embracing the new domain as just another way to conduct business.
"We try to use every outlet that we can to speak up for animals," Rajt said. "We anticipated that this new triple-X domain name would be a hot topic and we immediately decided to use it and take advantage of it to try to promote the animal rights message."
Jill Dolan, director of the program in gender and sexuality studies at Princeton University, was critical of the PETA campaigns.
"Exploiting porn to get people's juices going seems lame; exploiting pornographic images only of women to make their point is retrograde and misogynist," Dolan said in an email. "Come on, PETA. Don't be Neanderthals."
Rajt denied that PETA has been insensitive to women.
"Our demonstrators, the models, all chose to participate in our campaigns... It's not a very feminist thing to do to turn to women and tell them whether or not they can use their voices, their bodies to express their voice."
Visitors to the X-rated site will initially be presented with pornographic content as well as images from PETA's salacious ads and campaigns, Rajt said. Those images will be followed by pictures and video shot undercover of the mistreatment of animals. The site will also include links to vegetarian and vegan -- using no animal products -- starter kits as well as recipes.
PETA's ad campaigns have featured adult film stars Sasha Grey, Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson. In 2008, the organization's YouTube account was temporarily shut down after showing racy videos of celebrities and others posing nude.
"When people first visit the site, it will be very enticing and once they go just a little bit deeper, that's when they'll be confronted with images that we hope will make them stop and think and get them talking and hopefully encourage them to make a lifestyle change to a plant-based diet," Rajt said.
"We're hoping to reach a whole new audience of people, some of whom will be shocked by graphic images that maybe they didn't anticipate seeing when they went to the PETA triple-X site," said Lindsay Rajt, PETA's associate director of campaigns.
PETA has been accused of campaigning for animal rights at the cost of exploiting women. A Facebook group, Real Women Against PETA, was launched after the organization paid for a billboard showing an obese woman with the message: "Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber. Go Vegetarian."
Another critical Facebook group is called, "Vegans (and Vegetarians) Against PETA."
"PETA is extremely disingenuous," said Jennifer Pozner, executive director of the New York-based advocacy group Women In Media & News. "They have consistently used active sexism as their marketing strategy to garner attention. Their use of sexism has gotten more extreme and more degrading.
"This may be in their minds the only thing left at their disposal to lower the bar," she said.
PETA has filed paperwork to launch its pornography site when the controversial new .xxx domain becomes active in early December. While many nonprofits and corporations are scrambling to protect their website names from being hijacked by a pornographer slapping on a .xxx domain, PETA is embracing the new domain as just another way to conduct business.
"We try to use every outlet that we can to speak up for animals," Rajt said. "We anticipated that this new triple-X domain name would be a hot topic and we immediately decided to use it and take advantage of it to try to promote the animal rights message."
Jill Dolan, director of the program in gender and sexuality studies at Princeton University, was critical of the PETA campaigns.
"Exploiting porn to get people's juices going seems lame; exploiting pornographic images only of women to make their point is retrograde and misogynist," Dolan said in an email. "Come on, PETA. Don't be Neanderthals."
Rajt denied that PETA has been insensitive to women.
"Our demonstrators, the models, all chose to participate in our campaigns... It's not a very feminist thing to do to turn to women and tell them whether or not they can use their voices, their bodies to express their voice."
Visitors to the X-rated site will initially be presented with pornographic content as well as images from PETA's salacious ads and campaigns, Rajt said. Those images will be followed by pictures and video shot undercover of the mistreatment of animals. The site will also include links to vegetarian and vegan -- using no animal products -- starter kits as well as recipes.
PETA's ad campaigns have featured adult film stars Sasha Grey, Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson. In 2008, the organization's YouTube account was temporarily shut down after showing racy videos of celebrities and others posing nude.
"When people first visit the site, it will be very enticing and once they go just a little bit deeper, that's when they'll be confronted with images that we hope will make them stop and think and get them talking and hopefully encourage them to make a lifestyle change to a plant-based diet," Rajt said.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Pro - Active Steps To Take As A Hurricane Approaches
Science hasn't figured out a viable way to neutralize hurricanes, so it is in your best interest to be ready. And while hurricanes rarely score a direct hit on the Delaware Valley (notwithstanding last month's Irene), even a skirting blow can cause flooding, wind damage, electrical outages and property damage. Developing a household disaster plan can alleviate anxiety during a highly stressful time. These tips can help.
Remote destination identification
Identify where you will go if you're given an order to evacuate. Ask family or friends outside the impacted area for permission to lodge with them until the storm passes. You can also consider renting a hotel room or staying at an official shelter. Because roads may be impassable, microwave relay towers damaged and electricity out, have maps ready to help you navigate to your destination. Keep phone numbers of your destination handy.
Designate a distant "family contact."
Often after a disaster hits, long distance is more available than local calling, even with cell phones. Ask a friend in a far-away location to act as a family contact. You call him to let him know your status, and your extended family can call him to find out your latest. Make sure that extended family members have your contact's phone number.
Hold a family meeting
Convene your family and discuss the reasons behind disaster preparation. Explain to young children the dangers that fire, severe weather and earthquakes pose, and the need to evacuate. Don't scare them, emphasizing the "better safe than sorry" truism. Share responsibilities and allocate preparation tasks as the hurricane nears. Plan how to care for your pets.
Locate important papers/documents
Gather birth certificates, insurance policies, proof of residence, social security cards, drivers licinses, tax records, marriage and birth certificates, wills, deeds and photographs of your house. Place them in waterproof sleeves or storage bags. Take them with you when you evacuate, or keep them in an elevated spot (to avoid flooding damage) if you stay.
Verify your hurricane survival kit is up-to-date
A hurricane survival kit should contain five primary components : water and non-perishable food for the family for at least three days, first aid supplies, clothing and bedding, and tools and emergency supplies. Each family member should be allocated a gallon of water per day, with half reserved for drinking and half reserved for other purposes. The water should be kept in plastic containers.
Have a portable, battery-powered radio, flashlight, extra batteries, writing utensils and can opener readily available. Keep other items you would most likely need during an evacuation in an easy-to-carry container (e.g. covered trash container, a camping backpack, duffle bag, or plastic, lidded storage box). The National Hurricane Center provides a detailed list on its website (http://hurricanesafety.org/prepare/)
Minimize electrical, chemical and fire risks
Survey your home and remove those risks that could further damage your property during a hurricane. Unplug non-essential electronics. Remove and gather extension cords. If possible, shut down circuit breakers. Move hazardous chemicals and flammable materials away from heat sources. Discard used rags and newspapers. Seal combustible materials in cans or jars. Place up high, if possible.
Miscellaneous tasks
These last few recommendations may seem obvious, but are often overlooked in the haste of evacuation.
Remote destination identification
Identify where you will go if you're given an order to evacuate. Ask family or friends outside the impacted area for permission to lodge with them until the storm passes. You can also consider renting a hotel room or staying at an official shelter. Because roads may be impassable, microwave relay towers damaged and electricity out, have maps ready to help you navigate to your destination. Keep phone numbers of your destination handy.
Designate a distant "family contact."
Often after a disaster hits, long distance is more available than local calling, even with cell phones. Ask a friend in a far-away location to act as a family contact. You call him to let him know your status, and your extended family can call him to find out your latest. Make sure that extended family members have your contact's phone number.
Hold a family meeting
Convene your family and discuss the reasons behind disaster preparation. Explain to young children the dangers that fire, severe weather and earthquakes pose, and the need to evacuate. Don't scare them, emphasizing the "better safe than sorry" truism. Share responsibilities and allocate preparation tasks as the hurricane nears. Plan how to care for your pets.
Locate important papers/documents
Gather birth certificates, insurance policies, proof of residence, social security cards, drivers licinses, tax records, marriage and birth certificates, wills, deeds and photographs of your house. Place them in waterproof sleeves or storage bags. Take them with you when you evacuate, or keep them in an elevated spot (to avoid flooding damage) if you stay.
Verify your hurricane survival kit is up-to-date
A hurricane survival kit should contain five primary components : water and non-perishable food for the family for at least three days, first aid supplies, clothing and bedding, and tools and emergency supplies. Each family member should be allocated a gallon of water per day, with half reserved for drinking and half reserved for other purposes. The water should be kept in plastic containers.
Have a portable, battery-powered radio, flashlight, extra batteries, writing utensils and can opener readily available. Keep other items you would most likely need during an evacuation in an easy-to-carry container (e.g. covered trash container, a camping backpack, duffle bag, or plastic, lidded storage box). The National Hurricane Center provides a detailed list on its website (http://hurricanesafety.org/prepare/)
Minimize electrical, chemical and fire risks
Survey your home and remove those risks that could further damage your property during a hurricane. Unplug non-essential electronics. Remove and gather extension cords. If possible, shut down circuit breakers. Move hazardous chemicals and flammable materials away from heat sources. Discard used rags and newspapers. Seal combustible materials in cans or jars. Place up high, if possible.
Miscellaneous tasks
These last few recommendations may seem obvious, but are often overlooked in the haste of evacuation.
- Get to the bank or ATM and supply yourself with cash, early. A rush by evacuees can empty ATM reservoirs. Banks can close early. Retail credit and debit card systems can go down during severe weather.
- Keep your car's gas tank filled. The rush of evacuees can cause long lines at gas stations, delaying evacuation, and can even empty pumps.
- If your home is in direct line of the hurricane, buy 5/8" marine plywood and board up your windows. Taping the windows won't prevent them from breaking.
- Turn your refrigerator and freezer to their coldest settings so that food will last longer should the power go out. If possible, stock both compartments. Storing more food in the box and refraining from frequent openings sustains the cold longer.
- Fill your bathtubs ---- and other large containers ----- to make sure you have a supply of water for cleaning and toilet flushing. This is in addition to your supply of drinking water.
- Any outdoor property that could be swept into the air, becoming a projectile, should be gathered, stored and secured.
POP QUIZ (IT'S IN THE MAIL)
With the postmaster general calling for "radical" changes in mail delivery ----- such as the ending of Saturday service ---- let's look back at the history of the U.S. Postal Service.
1. In what year did the Continental Congress appoint Benjamin Franklin the first postmaster general?
a) 1770
b) 1775
c) 1780
d) 1785
2. True or False: In the early years of postal service, it was the receiver who paid for delivery.
3. These two founding fathers appeared on the first U.S. Stamps.
a) Benjamin Franklin and George Washington
b) George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
c) George Washington Thomas Jefferson
d) Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
4. In what year were those first two stamps issued?
a) 1802
b) 1824
c) 1847
d) 1863
5. What did those first stamps cost?
a) 1 cent and 2 cents
b) 2 cents and 3 cents
c) 3 cents and 5 cents
d) 5 cents and 10 cents
6. The first Pony Express service was a 2,000-mile trek from this city to Sacramento, Calif.
a) Philladelphia
b) Washington
c) Cleveland
d) St. Joseph, Mo.
7. About how long did it take for Pony Express riders to travel 2,000 miles?
a) Five days
b) Ten days
c) Thirteen days
d) Thirty days
8. The Inscription on the James Farley Post Office building in New York ---"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" --- comes from whom?
a) Marcus Aurelius
b) Socrates
c) Herodotus
d) Plato
9. True or False : The U.S. Postal Service once experimented with delivering mail by cruise missile.
10. Earle L. Ovington is credited with the first official air mail delivery ---- from Garden City to Mineola, N.Y. ---- in 1911. Which famous inventor did Ovington work for?
a) Thomas Edison
b) Orville Wright
c) Alexander Graham Bell
d) Cyrus McCormick
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. b ; 2. True ; 3. a ; 4. c ; 5. d ; 6. d ; 7. b ; 8. c ; 9. True ; 10. a
1. In what year did the Continental Congress appoint Benjamin Franklin the first postmaster general?
a) 1770
b) 1775
c) 1780
d) 1785
2. True or False: In the early years of postal service, it was the receiver who paid for delivery.
3. These two founding fathers appeared on the first U.S. Stamps.
a) Benjamin Franklin and George Washington
b) George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
c) George Washington Thomas Jefferson
d) Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
4. In what year were those first two stamps issued?
a) 1802
b) 1824
c) 1847
d) 1863
5. What did those first stamps cost?
a) 1 cent and 2 cents
b) 2 cents and 3 cents
c) 3 cents and 5 cents
d) 5 cents and 10 cents
6. The first Pony Express service was a 2,000-mile trek from this city to Sacramento, Calif.
a) Philladelphia
b) Washington
c) Cleveland
d) St. Joseph, Mo.
7. About how long did it take for Pony Express riders to travel 2,000 miles?
a) Five days
b) Ten days
c) Thirteen days
d) Thirty days
8. The Inscription on the James Farley Post Office building in New York ---"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" --- comes from whom?
a) Marcus Aurelius
b) Socrates
c) Herodotus
d) Plato
9. True or False : The U.S. Postal Service once experimented with delivering mail by cruise missile.
10. Earle L. Ovington is credited with the first official air mail delivery ---- from Garden City to Mineola, N.Y. ---- in 1911. Which famous inventor did Ovington work for?
a) Thomas Edison
b) Orville Wright
c) Alexander Graham Bell
d) Cyrus McCormick
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. b ; 2. True ; 3. a ; 4. c ; 5. d ; 6. d ; 7. b ; 8. c ; 9. True ; 10. a
F. Y. I.
Really Big-hearted
The average giraffe's heart weighs 25 pounds, is 2 feet long and has walls up to 3 inches thick.
Drink Up
Penguins can drink sea water without a problem because special glands in their bodies can separate salt from water.
The Film Files
The Germans considered 1943's "Casablanca" a propaganda film and made it illegal to show in German theaters during World War 2.
Still on the Books
In Des Plaines, Ill., wheelbarrows with for-sale signs may not be chained to trees.
Did You Know?
Eggplants are actually fruits and classified botanically as berries.
Quotable
by Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun and teacher
"The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new."
The average giraffe's heart weighs 25 pounds, is 2 feet long and has walls up to 3 inches thick.
Drink Up
Penguins can drink sea water without a problem because special glands in their bodies can separate salt from water.
The Film Files
The Germans considered 1943's "Casablanca" a propaganda film and made it illegal to show in German theaters during World War 2.
Still on the Books
In Des Plaines, Ill., wheelbarrows with for-sale signs may not be chained to trees.
Did You Know?
Eggplants are actually fruits and classified botanically as berries.
Quotable
by Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun and teacher
"The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new."
Alphabetically
IF THIS TEXT WERE ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY, WHAT WOULD THE 13TH WORD BE?
With the single exception of Homer, there, is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can depise Shakespeare when I measure my mind against his. It would positively be a relief to me to dig him up and throw stones at him.
-George Bernard Shaw
With the single exception of Homer, there, is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can depise Shakespeare when I measure my mind against his. It would positively be a relief to me to dig him up and throw stones at him.
-George Bernard Shaw
AND TO CELEBRATE THE START OF SCHOOL
- In elementary school, many a true word is spoken in guess.
- A high school is an educational institution full of schoolboys who are sure they know more than their parents.
- The money that is saved on schools this year will be spent on jails ten years later.
- The first time many of us realize that a little learning is a dangerous thing is when we bring home a poor report card.
- Laugh, and the class laughs with you, but you stay after school alone.
SHORTER WORDS
Can you find seven shorter words that compose the long one below?
For Example,
Intergenerational
Is made up of in, gene, ratio, era, ration, etc.
..........Diplomatically............
For Example,
Intergenerational
Is made up of in, gene, ratio, era, ration, etc.
..........Diplomatically............
OK, SO YOU KNOW THE DAYS OF THE MONTH
But did you know September is also "claimed" as a designated month for these other groups?
Classical Music Month
Hispanic Heritage Month
Fall Hat Month
International Square Dancing Month
National Blueberry Popsicle Month
National Courtesy Month
National Piano Month
Chicken Month
Baby Safety Month
Little League Month
Honey Month
Self Improvement Month
Better Breakfast Month
Classical Music Month
Hispanic Heritage Month
Fall Hat Month
International Square Dancing Month
National Blueberry Popsicle Month
National Courtesy Month
National Piano Month
Chicken Month
Baby Safety Month
Little League Month
Honey Month
Self Improvement Month
Better Breakfast Month
Judge blocks Florida law gagging doctors' gun talk
A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Florida law limiting what doctors can say about guns to their patients, saying it violated free speech protections under the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke granted a preliminary injunction preventing the state and Governor Rick Scott, a Tea Party-backed Republican and former healthcare executive, from enforcing the Firearm Owners' Privacy Act with immediate effect.
The law took effect in June and was believed to be the first of its kind in the country. Florida has some of the most liberal firearms laws anywhere in the United States and vigorously protects private gun ownership.
With all but a few exceptions, the Florida law barred doctors from questioning their patients about guns in their homes or from having discussions with them about firearms safety.
Gun rights supporters had argued that such questioning from doctors violated their right to privacy.
But in her written argument granting the injunction, Cooke reasoned that the law also "chilled" free speech.
"This case concerns one of our Constitution's most precious rights -- the freedom of speech," she said.
"The law curtails practitioners' ability to inquire about whether patients own firearms and burdens their ability to deliver a firearm safety message to patients," Cooke said.
"The Firearm Owners' Privacy Act thus implicates practitioners' First Amendment rights of free speech," she said. Just as importantly, Cooke said the law "implicates patients' freedom to receive information about firearms safety, which the First Amendment protects."
'OUTRAGEOUS AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL'
Attorneys with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence were among those who pushed for the ruling blocking the Florida gag law, and the Washington-based group called the decision a breakthrough in efforts to limit the risks posed by firearms.
"We are pleased that the court has blocked the gun lobby's outrageous and unconstitutional attempt to stop doctors from warning about the severe risks posed by guns in the home," Dennis Henigan, acting president of the Brady Center, said in a statement.
"With more than 4,000 children and teens shot in gun accidents every year, it is crucial that doctors be able to warn parents that guns in the home pose a serious risk of injury or death," he said.
Plaintiffs in the case included the Florida chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
In her ruling, Cooke noted those groups published practice guidelines and policy statements recommending that doctors routinely provide counseling and guidance on the prevention of injuries, including automotive safety and firearms safety.
"Information regarding firearm ownership is not sacrosanct," Cooke wrote in her ruling. "Federal and state statues heavily regulate firearm ownership, possession and sale and require firearm owners to provide personal information in certain circumstances."
Opponents of the law said it subjected healthcare providers to possible sanctions, including fines and loss of license, if they discussed or recorded information in a patient's chart about firearms safety that a medical board later determined to be irrelevant or "unnecessarily harassing."
The law took effect in June and was believed to be the first of its kind in the country. Florida has some of the most liberal firearms laws anywhere in the United States and vigorously protects private gun ownership.
With all but a few exceptions, the Florida law barred doctors from questioning their patients about guns in their homes or from having discussions with them about firearms safety.
Gun rights supporters had argued that such questioning from doctors violated their right to privacy.
But in her written argument granting the injunction, Cooke reasoned that the law also "chilled" free speech.
"This case concerns one of our Constitution's most precious rights -- the freedom of speech," she said.
"The law curtails practitioners' ability to inquire about whether patients own firearms and burdens their ability to deliver a firearm safety message to patients," Cooke said.
"The Firearm Owners' Privacy Act thus implicates practitioners' First Amendment rights of free speech," she said. Just as importantly, Cooke said the law "implicates patients' freedom to receive information about firearms safety, which the First Amendment protects."
'OUTRAGEOUS AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL'
Attorneys with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence were among those who pushed for the ruling blocking the Florida gag law, and the Washington-based group called the decision a breakthrough in efforts to limit the risks posed by firearms.
"We are pleased that the court has blocked the gun lobby's outrageous and unconstitutional attempt to stop doctors from warning about the severe risks posed by guns in the home," Dennis Henigan, acting president of the Brady Center, said in a statement.
"With more than 4,000 children and teens shot in gun accidents every year, it is crucial that doctors be able to warn parents that guns in the home pose a serious risk of injury or death," he said.
Plaintiffs in the case included the Florida chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
In her ruling, Cooke noted those groups published practice guidelines and policy statements recommending that doctors routinely provide counseling and guidance on the prevention of injuries, including automotive safety and firearms safety.
"Information regarding firearm ownership is not sacrosanct," Cooke wrote in her ruling. "Federal and state statues heavily regulate firearm ownership, possession and sale and require firearm owners to provide personal information in certain circumstances."
Opponents of the law said it subjected healthcare providers to possible sanctions, including fines and loss of license, if they discussed or recorded information in a patient's chart about firearms safety that a medical board later determined to be irrelevant or "unnecessarily harassing."
Snakes in underwear smuggler fined $400
A Brazilian man who was caught at Miami airport trying to smuggle seven baby pythons and three baby tortoises concealed in his underwear and pockets was fined $400 by a U.S. judge on Wednesday.
Simon Turola Borges, 30, who had been detained since August 25, pled guilty to smuggling and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz to time served, two years of supervised release, and a $400 fine. He was ordered to be deported.
Prosecutors said Borges initially denied having anything hidden in his pants when Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at the airport pulled him aside for a further search after he went through a body scanner while preparing to board a flight to Brazil last month.
"Subsequently, he was asked to empty his cargo pants pockets, and he removed two hatchling pythons tightly wrapped in nylon pantyhose," prosecutors said in a statement.
When he was asked to remove any foreign objects from his groin area "Borges pulled his underwear away from his body and removed two nylon pantyhose containing numerous snakes and tortoises," the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida added in the statement.
The seized live animals, all hatchlings just weeks old, consisted of three Ball Pythons, three Carpet Pythons, one Children's Python, one Indian Star Tortoise and two Leopard Tortoises, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
All of the creatures are protected under the CITES convention that restricts trade in animal species without special permits.
The judge ordered that the fine should go to the Miami Science Museum to help protect reptile species.
Simon Turola Borges, 30, who had been detained since August 25, pled guilty to smuggling and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz to time served, two years of supervised release, and a $400 fine. He was ordered to be deported.
Prosecutors said Borges initially denied having anything hidden in his pants when Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at the airport pulled him aside for a further search after he went through a body scanner while preparing to board a flight to Brazil last month.
"Subsequently, he was asked to empty his cargo pants pockets, and he removed two hatchling pythons tightly wrapped in nylon pantyhose," prosecutors said in a statement.
When he was asked to remove any foreign objects from his groin area "Borges pulled his underwear away from his body and removed two nylon pantyhose containing numerous snakes and tortoises," the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida added in the statement.
The seized live animals, all hatchlings just weeks old, consisted of three Ball Pythons, three Carpet Pythons, one Children's Python, one Indian Star Tortoise and two Leopard Tortoises, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
All of the creatures are protected under the CITES convention that restricts trade in animal species without special permits.
The judge ordered that the fine should go to the Miami Science Museum to help protect reptile species.
Robot to attempt Hawaii triathlon
After scaling the cliff walls of the Grand Canyon and driving the Le Mans racetrack for 24 hours, a tiny Japanese robot is set for a new challenge -- Hawaii's grueling Ironman Triathlon course.
Fitted with three different bodies and three rechargeable batteries, the hand-sized "Evolta" from electronics firm Panasonic will swim, bicycle and run its way through one of the world's toughest triathlon routes, the company said on Thursday.
"This is very tough even for a sportsman, but I think it is worth a challenge," said Tomotaka Takahashi, who created the green-and-white toy-like robot.
"The robot will encounter a lot of hardships on its way, but I hope it will overcome them all and succeed in the end."
The robot will have to swim, run and bike for a total of approximately 230 km. The time given to complete the task is one week or 168 hours, which is ten times longer than it would take a sportsman.
"Evolta's height is just one-tenth of a grown man, so we figured out that it would take it 10 times more time," Takahashi added.
Of the three bodies, which include one mounted on a tiny bicycle and another in a round hoop with a supporting rear wheel, the 51-cm (20 inch) high swimming robot -- mounted on a curved, fin-like blade with its arms stretched out -- presented special challenges.
"I had to think of the ways to make it water-proof and protect it from mold as much as possible," Takahashi said.
The batteries the robot bears on its back, which go on sale in Japan on Oct 21, can be recharged up to 1,800 times by being placed on a recharger pad.
The triathlon challenge begins on Oct 24 and will continue non-stop for seven days and nights. The actual Ironman World Championship takes place in early October.
Among its other achievements, Evolta has also walked the 500 km from Tokyo to the old Japanese capital of Kyoto.
Fitted with three different bodies and three rechargeable batteries, the hand-sized "Evolta" from electronics firm Panasonic will swim, bicycle and run its way through one of the world's toughest triathlon routes, the company said on Thursday.
"This is very tough even for a sportsman, but I think it is worth a challenge," said Tomotaka Takahashi, who created the green-and-white toy-like robot.
"The robot will encounter a lot of hardships on its way, but I hope it will overcome them all and succeed in the end."
The robot will have to swim, run and bike for a total of approximately 230 km. The time given to complete the task is one week or 168 hours, which is ten times longer than it would take a sportsman.
"Evolta's height is just one-tenth of a grown man, so we figured out that it would take it 10 times more time," Takahashi added.
Of the three bodies, which include one mounted on a tiny bicycle and another in a round hoop with a supporting rear wheel, the 51-cm (20 inch) high swimming robot -- mounted on a curved, fin-like blade with its arms stretched out -- presented special challenges.
"I had to think of the ways to make it water-proof and protect it from mold as much as possible," Takahashi said.
The batteries the robot bears on its back, which go on sale in Japan on Oct 21, can be recharged up to 1,800 times by being placed on a recharger pad.
The triathlon challenge begins on Oct 24 and will continue non-stop for seven days and nights. The actual Ironman World Championship takes place in early October.
Among its other achievements, Evolta has also walked the 500 km from Tokyo to the old Japanese capital of Kyoto.
Bystanders rescue motorcycle driver trapped under burning car
A group of construction workers, students and other bystanders turned into a ragtag team of first responders to save the life of a motorcyclist trapped underneath a burning car in Logan, Utah.
The incident occurred Monday morning on a street near Utah State University and was captured on video.
Sgt. Jason Olsen of the Logan police was the first officer on the scene.
He was about to motion to a fellow responding officer to grab a jack when, "I realized that these citizens had already organized and were just going to manually lift (the car) up."
The crash occurred when a BMW pulled out of a parking lot and in front of the motorcyclist. Jeff Curtis, assistant chief of Logan police, said the motorcyclist tried to avoid the car, which resulted in him laying the motorcycle down.
After crashing, gas spilled out of the motorcycle and ignited, engulfing both the motorcycle and the front end of the car in flames, Curtis said. The motorcyclist became lodged underneath the burning vehicle.
The video shows several startled bystanders looking under the BMW as flames leap into the air.
The crowd quickly grows to include a man in a suit, construction workers wearing hard hats, a woman in sandals and a young man carrying a backpack, the video shows. After one person in the group tries to pick up the blazing car, the crowd joins in and lifts the 4,000-pound vehicle.
"I do remember one gentleman saying, 'We need everybody to come and help lift,' and that's when everybody ran over," Olsen recalled.
One of the bystanders drags the fallen motorcyclist's limp body from under the vehicle, the video shows.
The motorcyclist was identified as 21-year-old Brandon Wright from Logan. He was rushed to a hospital and was in stable condition after surgery Monday evening, Curtis said. The driver of the car was not seriously injured.
Police are now looking for the Good Samaritans to recognize them at a city council meeting for their actions.
It was a "life-saving move that the Logan Police Department does not want to go unnoticed," Curtis said.
The area where Wright crashed is highly trafficked, Olsen said.
"I think had this accident happened in a suburban area we wouldn't have gotten that kind of response -- we would have never had that kind of manpower," he said.
He added: "It speaks volumes to what people will do in a tragic situation to help another person out."
The incident occurred Monday morning on a street near Utah State University and was captured on video.
Sgt. Jason Olsen of the Logan police was the first officer on the scene.
He was about to motion to a fellow responding officer to grab a jack when, "I realized that these citizens had already organized and were just going to manually lift (the car) up."
The crash occurred when a BMW pulled out of a parking lot and in front of the motorcyclist. Jeff Curtis, assistant chief of Logan police, said the motorcyclist tried to avoid the car, which resulted in him laying the motorcycle down.
After crashing, gas spilled out of the motorcycle and ignited, engulfing both the motorcycle and the front end of the car in flames, Curtis said. The motorcyclist became lodged underneath the burning vehicle.
The video shows several startled bystanders looking under the BMW as flames leap into the air.
The crowd quickly grows to include a man in a suit, construction workers wearing hard hats, a woman in sandals and a young man carrying a backpack, the video shows. After one person in the group tries to pick up the blazing car, the crowd joins in and lifts the 4,000-pound vehicle.
"I do remember one gentleman saying, 'We need everybody to come and help lift,' and that's when everybody ran over," Olsen recalled.
One of the bystanders drags the fallen motorcyclist's limp body from under the vehicle, the video shows.
The motorcyclist was identified as 21-year-old Brandon Wright from Logan. He was rushed to a hospital and was in stable condition after surgery Monday evening, Curtis said. The driver of the car was not seriously injured.
Police are now looking for the Good Samaritans to recognize them at a city council meeting for their actions.
It was a "life-saving move that the Logan Police Department does not want to go unnoticed," Curtis said.
The area where Wright crashed is highly trafficked, Olsen said.
"I think had this accident happened in a suburban area we wouldn't have gotten that kind of response -- we would have never had that kind of manpower," he said.
He added: "It speaks volumes to what people will do in a tragic situation to help another person out."
Poe Museum Nevermore?
Of all the U.S. cities that claim a connection to the troubled author Edgar Allan Poe, Baltimore likes to think its case is strongest. Poe's family is from Baltimore, his literary career began in the city, he died a mysterious death at a Baltimore hospital and his body was buried here in 1849.
But the city may soon lose a key physical connection to Poe. The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, where the writer lived for four years in the early 1800s, is in danger of closing next year, due to budget cutbacks by the city.
"Everyone is tightening their belt," said Jeff Jerome, the museum's curator and only employee, who also works for the city's planning department.
Cash-strapped Baltimore stopped funding the museum's $85,000 budget two years ago. It now operates on funds raised privately over recent years.
A feasibility study, to be completed by December, will explore ways to make the museum self-sustaining. More likely than not, the museum will close at the end of June 2012.
Since the building is historically preserved, it will remain standing.
The museum is as modest as Poe's living conditions when, as a poor man in his 20s, he shared the home at 203 North Amity Street with his aunt, grandmother and two cousins. One of those cousins, Virginia, would later become his wife.
Located in a public housing complex in West Baltimore, the museum is removed from Baltimore's touristy Inner Harbor.
"This place can't close," Jerome said as he stood in the museum's lobby, formerly Poe's parlor. "It would be an embarrassment to the city to have thousands of people come to the city to see a boarded-up house."
Poe lived in Baltimore from 1832 to 1835 before his literary life began to blossom. Today, his influence is undeniable among genres he made popular -- detective fiction and psychological horror -- which are embodied in films and literature. He is featured in two upcoming films, "The Raven" starring John Cusack and "Twixt" directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
About 5,000 visitors per year from as far away as China travel to the museum to simply stand in the same quarters that once housed Poe. The museum features his tiny attic bedroom with only enough room for a bed, a chair and a wash table. It is stocked with general Poe memorabilia, like portraits and his original obituary.
Baltimore, located between historically significant cities such as Philadelphia and Washington, has embraced its strange literary icon.
About $10,000 to benefit the museum has been raised through sales of a local artist's prints, called "The Raven: Forevermore." A local diner's fund-raising campaign is modeled after the "Pennies for Poe" campaign held 150 years ago to pay for Poe's burial.
On a quiet neighborhood corner in East Baltimore sits the Annabel Lee Tavern, a Poe-themed restaurant named after the final poem he wrote, which offers "The Raven Lager" and "Annabel Lee chicken salad" on its menu.
Baltimore has had to fend off challenges to Poe's legacy from other cities. Poe wrote some of his best work, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," in Philadelphia. He lived in Richmond more than any other city. And his greatest financial success occurred in New York City.
Those cities feature Poe museums or historical sites where he once lived. The National Park Service operates the Philadelphia house, the Bronx County Historical Society operates the house there, which is undergoing renovation, and, in Richmond, the Poe Foundation operates The Museum of Edgar Allan Poe.
Despite the competition, the Poe community is not reveling in the Baltimore museum's struggles; it is sympathetic.
"It would be really devastating," said Chris Semtner, curator of the Richmond Poe Museum. "Poe is America's Shakespeare, he put American culture on the map. It would be like closing Mount Vernon or closing Monticello."
But the city may soon lose a key physical connection to Poe. The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, where the writer lived for four years in the early 1800s, is in danger of closing next year, due to budget cutbacks by the city.
"Everyone is tightening their belt," said Jeff Jerome, the museum's curator and only employee, who also works for the city's planning department.
Cash-strapped Baltimore stopped funding the museum's $85,000 budget two years ago. It now operates on funds raised privately over recent years.
A feasibility study, to be completed by December, will explore ways to make the museum self-sustaining. More likely than not, the museum will close at the end of June 2012.
Since the building is historically preserved, it will remain standing.
The museum is as modest as Poe's living conditions when, as a poor man in his 20s, he shared the home at 203 North Amity Street with his aunt, grandmother and two cousins. One of those cousins, Virginia, would later become his wife.
Located in a public housing complex in West Baltimore, the museum is removed from Baltimore's touristy Inner Harbor.
"This place can't close," Jerome said as he stood in the museum's lobby, formerly Poe's parlor. "It would be an embarrassment to the city to have thousands of people come to the city to see a boarded-up house."
Poe lived in Baltimore from 1832 to 1835 before his literary life began to blossom. Today, his influence is undeniable among genres he made popular -- detective fiction and psychological horror -- which are embodied in films and literature. He is featured in two upcoming films, "The Raven" starring John Cusack and "Twixt" directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
About 5,000 visitors per year from as far away as China travel to the museum to simply stand in the same quarters that once housed Poe. The museum features his tiny attic bedroom with only enough room for a bed, a chair and a wash table. It is stocked with general Poe memorabilia, like portraits and his original obituary.
Baltimore, located between historically significant cities such as Philadelphia and Washington, has embraced its strange literary icon.
About $10,000 to benefit the museum has been raised through sales of a local artist's prints, called "The Raven: Forevermore." A local diner's fund-raising campaign is modeled after the "Pennies for Poe" campaign held 150 years ago to pay for Poe's burial.
On a quiet neighborhood corner in East Baltimore sits the Annabel Lee Tavern, a Poe-themed restaurant named after the final poem he wrote, which offers "The Raven Lager" and "Annabel Lee chicken salad" on its menu.
Baltimore has had to fend off challenges to Poe's legacy from other cities. Poe wrote some of his best work, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," in Philadelphia. He lived in Richmond more than any other city. And his greatest financial success occurred in New York City.
Those cities feature Poe museums or historical sites where he once lived. The National Park Service operates the Philadelphia house, the Bronx County Historical Society operates the house there, which is undergoing renovation, and, in Richmond, the Poe Foundation operates The Museum of Edgar Allan Poe.
Despite the competition, the Poe community is not reveling in the Baltimore museum's struggles; it is sympathetic.
"It would be really devastating," said Chris Semtner, curator of the Richmond Poe Museum. "Poe is America's Shakespeare, he put American culture on the map. It would be like closing Mount Vernon or closing Monticello."
General's son crashes into wall of outrage
A celebrity army general and his fast-driving son have become the target of Chinese public ire about the privileges of the political elite after the son hit and beat up a couple and then scoffed at bystanders about calling the police. Li Tianyi, the teenage son of People's Liberation Army general Li Shuangjiang, a singer known for belting out patriotic songs for television shows and official events, careened a souped-up BMW into another car in Beijing last week, and since then the outrage has not stopped.
The younger Li and a friend driving another high-end car then jumped out and roughed up the couple in the other car, and shouted "Who dares call 110?" at alarmed onlookers, the Chinese emergency number used to summon police, media reported.
Li Senior and Junior have become the latest target of angry complaints that the sons and daughters of China's privileged Communist Party elite can scoff at the law because of their family influence.
"How could be a boy so arrogant, so unconscionable?!," one commenter, Pu Zhenghuan, said on Sina.com's popular Chinese microblogging site.
"You have a powerful father, so you can do anything you like? No one can dial the police," another, Hong Can, said on the same website.
Last year, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to six years in jail after he ran over a student in a university in northern China and shouted "Sue me if you dare. My father is Li Gang!" He was arrested and punished after an online uproar started by students at the university.
Li Gang was a deputy police chief in the province, and since then his son's warning has become a byword for the reluctance of officials to confront powerful families.
Li, the 15-year-old son of the general, had no driver's license, according to the Beijing News, and his friend, Su Nan, drove a car with number plates that indicated it had high-level privileges. Police are often reluctant to confront cars with such official plates, although these turned out to be fake, according to some news reports.
The two youths were detained by police on charges of "stirring up trouble." Many comments on China's internet, however, have demanded harsh punishment for the two.
Pedestrians and ordinary drivers in Beijing and other Chinese cities often gripe about privileged drivers in cars with government and army number plates who flout the usual rules.
Li Shuangjiang, 72, the army general, has apologised for his son's actions and promised to make amends to the couple who were attacked.
The younger Li and a friend driving another high-end car then jumped out and roughed up the couple in the other car, and shouted "Who dares call 110?" at alarmed onlookers, the Chinese emergency number used to summon police, media reported.
Li Senior and Junior have become the latest target of angry complaints that the sons and daughters of China's privileged Communist Party elite can scoff at the law because of their family influence.
"How could be a boy so arrogant, so unconscionable?!," one commenter, Pu Zhenghuan, said on Sina.com's popular Chinese microblogging site.
"You have a powerful father, so you can do anything you like? No one can dial the police," another, Hong Can, said on the same website.
Last year, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to six years in jail after he ran over a student in a university in northern China and shouted "Sue me if you dare. My father is Li Gang!" He was arrested and punished after an online uproar started by students at the university.
Li Gang was a deputy police chief in the province, and since then his son's warning has become a byword for the reluctance of officials to confront powerful families.
Li, the 15-year-old son of the general, had no driver's license, according to the Beijing News, and his friend, Su Nan, drove a car with number plates that indicated it had high-level privileges. Police are often reluctant to confront cars with such official plates, although these turned out to be fake, according to some news reports.
The two youths were detained by police on charges of "stirring up trouble." Many comments on China's internet, however, have demanded harsh punishment for the two.
Pedestrians and ordinary drivers in Beijing and other Chinese cities often gripe about privileged drivers in cars with government and army number plates who flout the usual rules.
Li Shuangjiang, 72, the army general, has apologised for his son's actions and promised to make amends to the couple who were attacked.
Banning half-naked men, love triangles on TV
Iran has banned TV programs showing half-naked men and love triangles, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday, in the latest sign of a conservative crackdown on media in the Islamic state. It was not clear what prompted the ban -- Iran TV, which has a monopoly in the country, dedicates large parts of its schedule to religious shows and announcements from the government.
But viewers were gripped a few years ago by a locally-produced soap opera called Forbidden Fruit which told the tale of an old man who decided to leave his wife after falling in love with a young girl.
"Based on a new instruction, the broadcasting of programs that show tempting love triangles is banned," Fars said.
Exceptions would be made for shows that explicitly condemned such entanglements, it added.
"Showing half-naked men in Iranian and foreign productions is also banned," the report said, adding that producers were urged not to show "unnecessary mingling" between the sexes.
The statement did not say how the restrictions on partially-clothed men would affect Iran TV's sports coverage.
Since the 1979 revolution brought strict Islamic law to Iran, TV shows and films have had to comply with religious values by avoiding scenes that show intimate relations between men and women or flout Islamic dress codes for women.
The restrictions have pushed many Iranians to turn to illegal satellite channels for uncensored entertainment and international news.
Iran outlawed satellite dishes in the mid-1990s, saying it wanted to curb what it called Western efforts to corrupt its population through the spread of immoral programs.
The ban was largely ignored under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor Mohammad Khatami who tried to increase social freedoms after he was elected in 1997.
But hard-liners pressed for renewed restrictions after Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 and Iranian police launched a new crackdown on satellite dishes earlier this year.
Iran's hardline rulers often accuse the United States and other Western countries of seeking to overthrow clerical rule through a "soft" or "velvet" revolution with the help of intellectuals, websites and satellite channels.
Earlier this year, local media reported Iran had also banned programs showing how to cook western dishes.
But viewers were gripped a few years ago by a locally-produced soap opera called Forbidden Fruit which told the tale of an old man who decided to leave his wife after falling in love with a young girl.
"Based on a new instruction, the broadcasting of programs that show tempting love triangles is banned," Fars said.
Exceptions would be made for shows that explicitly condemned such entanglements, it added.
"Showing half-naked men in Iranian and foreign productions is also banned," the report said, adding that producers were urged not to show "unnecessary mingling" between the sexes.
The statement did not say how the restrictions on partially-clothed men would affect Iran TV's sports coverage.
Since the 1979 revolution brought strict Islamic law to Iran, TV shows and films have had to comply with religious values by avoiding scenes that show intimate relations between men and women or flout Islamic dress codes for women.
The restrictions have pushed many Iranians to turn to illegal satellite channels for uncensored entertainment and international news.
Iran outlawed satellite dishes in the mid-1990s, saying it wanted to curb what it called Western efforts to corrupt its population through the spread of immoral programs.
The ban was largely ignored under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor Mohammad Khatami who tried to increase social freedoms after he was elected in 1997.
But hard-liners pressed for renewed restrictions after Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 and Iranian police launched a new crackdown on satellite dishes earlier this year.
Iran's hardline rulers often accuse the United States and other Western countries of seeking to overthrow clerical rule through a "soft" or "velvet" revolution with the help of intellectuals, websites and satellite channels.
Earlier this year, local media reported Iran had also banned programs showing how to cook western dishes.
More bling for your ring with solid gold phone
It doesn't do email, the internet, have a camera, games or GPS navigation, but a new mobile phone from Denmark is literally solid gold. Danish retailer Aesir said it hopes to sell its $57,400, limited-edition 18-carat gold phones to Moscow's fashion-forward elite. The phone, which took three years to develop, is "not a play thing," company founder Thomas Jensen said, sipping a gin and tonic on the roof top of one of Moscow's premier hotels.
It features no extra applications: No email, games, camera or GPS navigation, but its target clients are the ultra-wealthy, who have staff to manage their calendars and chauffeur them around town.
"It's a collector's item. People are used to collecting, say, watches, while designer phones is a practically empty niche," Jensen told Reuters.
The firm says it will design a new phone every 18 months and produce no more than 5,000 of its classic model, sold for 42,000 euros in gold and 7,250 euros ($9,867) in stainless steel.
"Moscow is becoming a booming contemporary art city. At first people here had only money but now they have style. Their spending is more intellectual and sophisticated," said Mathias Rajani, Aesir's chief commercial officer.
Several of Denmark's richest families, including the owners of toymaker Lego, invested in the developing the blocky, streamline phones, designed by Yeves Behar.
Luxury market analysts see Aesir's designs as an alternative to high-end, gem-encrusted mobiles by Nokia's British mobile subsidiary Vertu, costing from $6,500 to $72,500.
Russia's ultra-rich may well plunk down thousands to flaunt Aesir's gold mobiles, art-market investment expert Natalia Legotina said.
But she doubted the phones would become collector's items.
"It could find a place in the Russian market but definitely not in the cultural elite circles, which favor new smart-phone models," said Legotina, the Moscow representative of British consultancy Art Market Research.
"It will interest Russian Oligarchs and their girlfriends as well as businessmen whose social circles demand accessories that act as class indicators," she said.
Aesir, which is rolling out models in Cyrillic and Chinese, generated buzz with its glitzy promotion in Moscow last week.
"This phone is amazing - the innovations behind it are also great," said Russian tycoon Vadim Dymov, who owns a meat-packing plants in Moscow and has several conceptual art projects.
It features no extra applications: No email, games, camera or GPS navigation, but its target clients are the ultra-wealthy, who have staff to manage their calendars and chauffeur them around town.
"It's a collector's item. People are used to collecting, say, watches, while designer phones is a practically empty niche," Jensen told Reuters.
The firm says it will design a new phone every 18 months and produce no more than 5,000 of its classic model, sold for 42,000 euros in gold and 7,250 euros ($9,867) in stainless steel.
"Moscow is becoming a booming contemporary art city. At first people here had only money but now they have style. Their spending is more intellectual and sophisticated," said Mathias Rajani, Aesir's chief commercial officer.
Several of Denmark's richest families, including the owners of toymaker Lego, invested in the developing the blocky, streamline phones, designed by Yeves Behar.
Luxury market analysts see Aesir's designs as an alternative to high-end, gem-encrusted mobiles by Nokia's British mobile subsidiary Vertu, costing from $6,500 to $72,500.
Russia's ultra-rich may well plunk down thousands to flaunt Aesir's gold mobiles, art-market investment expert Natalia Legotina said.
But she doubted the phones would become collector's items.
"It could find a place in the Russian market but definitely not in the cultural elite circles, which favor new smart-phone models," said Legotina, the Moscow representative of British consultancy Art Market Research.
"It will interest Russian Oligarchs and their girlfriends as well as businessmen whose social circles demand accessories that act as class indicators," she said.
Aesir, which is rolling out models in Cyrillic and Chinese, generated buzz with its glitzy promotion in Moscow last week.
"This phone is amazing - the innovations behind it are also great," said Russian tycoon Vadim Dymov, who owns a meat-packing plants in Moscow and has several conceptual art projects.
Amish men jailed for not displaying buggy safety signs
Eight members of a traditional Amish sect were behind bars on Tuesday after refusing to pay fines for failure to display orange-red safety triangles on their horse-drawn buggies. The eight were being held in the Graves County Jail, serving sentences ranging between three and 10 days for failing to pay the fines on religious grounds.
Graves District Judge Deborah Hawkins ordered the men jailed Monday in Mayfield, about 200 miles from Louisville in western Kentucky. The defendants contend that paying the fines would amount to complying with a law that violates their religious restrictions against wearing or displaying bright colors or relying upon man-made symbols for their safety.
Graves County Jailer Randy Haley said Tuesday that the men brought Bibles with them when they reported to jail late Monday night and were given dark-colored jumpsuits and sandals to wear instead of the standard orange coveralls. All were placed together in a large holding cell, Haley said.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals denied an appeal of the men's misdemeanor convictions in June. The case has been appealed to the state Supreme Court, which has not ruled on whether it will hear the case.
Dozens of Amish people and supporters were on hand as Hawkins handed down the sentences, which varied depending on the amount of unpaid fines and court costs. A ninth defendant was ordered to jail initially but the sentence was lifted when a friend paid so the man could care for an ailing son who has cerebral palsy.
All of the defendants are members of a traditional Amish group known as the Old Order of Swartzentruber. Other Amish groups in Kentucky do comply with the requirements to display the safety signs on the rear of their buggies.
"We're certainly disappointed that the judge chose to go forward," the men's lawyer, William Sharp, said in an interview Tuesday. "... We thought it was unnecessary to do so until the cases had been conclusively resolved one way or another by the Kentucky Supreme Court."
Sharp, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in Louisville, said he filed the appeal with the Supreme Court on June 30. Explaining her decision to go forward with the sentencing, Hawkins said she had 44 cases involving the same charge on her docket Monday.
"It's time we move forward," she said.
Graves District Judge Deborah Hawkins ordered the men jailed Monday in Mayfield, about 200 miles from Louisville in western Kentucky. The defendants contend that paying the fines would amount to complying with a law that violates their religious restrictions against wearing or displaying bright colors or relying upon man-made symbols for their safety.
Graves County Jailer Randy Haley said Tuesday that the men brought Bibles with them when they reported to jail late Monday night and were given dark-colored jumpsuits and sandals to wear instead of the standard orange coveralls. All were placed together in a large holding cell, Haley said.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals denied an appeal of the men's misdemeanor convictions in June. The case has been appealed to the state Supreme Court, which has not ruled on whether it will hear the case.
Dozens of Amish people and supporters were on hand as Hawkins handed down the sentences, which varied depending on the amount of unpaid fines and court costs. A ninth defendant was ordered to jail initially but the sentence was lifted when a friend paid so the man could care for an ailing son who has cerebral palsy.
All of the defendants are members of a traditional Amish group known as the Old Order of Swartzentruber. Other Amish groups in Kentucky do comply with the requirements to display the safety signs on the rear of their buggies.
"We're certainly disappointed that the judge chose to go forward," the men's lawyer, William Sharp, said in an interview Tuesday. "... We thought it was unnecessary to do so until the cases had been conclusively resolved one way or another by the Kentucky Supreme Court."
Sharp, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in Louisville, said he filed the appeal with the Supreme Court on June 30. Explaining her decision to go forward with the sentencing, Hawkins said she had 44 cases involving the same charge on her docket Monday.
"It's time we move forward," she said.
Trucker on cell phone at time of crash that killed 11
The truck driver involved in a 2010 Kentucky crash that killed 11 people was on his cell phone when the accident occurred, federal officials said on Tuesday, and they called for a national ban barring commercial drivers from calling or texting behind the wheel. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said Kenneth Laymon, the 45-year-old driver of the truck, had just initiated a call when his vehicle and the 53-foot-long trailer it was hauling crossed a median on Interstate 65 near Munfordville, Kentucky and plowed into a van carrying 12 people.
Laymon and 10 people in the van died in the March 26, 2010 incident. Two children in the van, who were strapped into child restraint seats, sustained minor injuries.
The NTSB recommended that the U.S. Department of Transportation publish regulations prohibiting cellular telephone and texting by commercial drivers except in emergencies.
That recommendation will now be sent on to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the arm of the DOT that regulates the trucking industry., as well as the transportation departments of all 50 states.
Laymon and 10 people in the van died in the March 26, 2010 incident. Two children in the van, who were strapped into child restraint seats, sustained minor injuries.
The NTSB recommended that the U.S. Department of Transportation publish regulations prohibiting cellular telephone and texting by commercial drivers except in emergencies.
That recommendation will now be sent on to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the arm of the DOT that regulates the trucking industry., as well as the transportation departments of all 50 states.
Gumby attempted robbery suspect surrenders to San Diego police
Gumby's bandit days appear to be over. A man named Jacob Kiss, 19, told police in San Diego on Tuesday that he is the person who dressed as the green animated character Gumby, entered a California 7-Eleven store this month and had an encounter with the store clerk that investigators later described as an attempted robbery, police said.
The suspect in the September 5 incident had claimed to be armed and demanded money, but left the store after the clerk dismissed him as a jokester, they said.
Surveillance video from the store was widely broadcast in news reports after the encounter between the Gumby-clad man and the store clerk, which made headlines as police searched for the suspect and his getaway driver.
Kiss brought the full-body Gumby costume with him to police headquarters when he turned himself in, and was accompanied by an alleged cohort named Jason Giramma, 19, who apparently drove away from the store with Kiss that day, San Diego police spokesman Detective Gary Hassen said.
Investigators questioned Kiss and Giramma, took down their statements and confiscated the slanty-headed Gumby costume before releasing the pair, Hassen said.
Police plan to give the evidence to the local District Attorney's Office for possible prosecution.
Gumby, a green humanoid figure who looks like an elastic stick of gum with limbs, was created in the 1950s by the late Art Clokey and his wife, Ruth.
The suspect in the September 5 incident had claimed to be armed and demanded money, but left the store after the clerk dismissed him as a jokester, they said.
Surveillance video from the store was widely broadcast in news reports after the encounter between the Gumby-clad man and the store clerk, which made headlines as police searched for the suspect and his getaway driver.
Kiss brought the full-body Gumby costume with him to police headquarters when he turned himself in, and was accompanied by an alleged cohort named Jason Giramma, 19, who apparently drove away from the store with Kiss that day, San Diego police spokesman Detective Gary Hassen said.
Investigators questioned Kiss and Giramma, took down their statements and confiscated the slanty-headed Gumby costume before releasing the pair, Hassen said.
Police plan to give the evidence to the local District Attorney's Office for possible prosecution.
Gumby, a green humanoid figure who looks like an elastic stick of gum with limbs, was created in the 1950s by the late Art Clokey and his wife, Ruth.
Ordinance would cover naked bottoms
In the San Francisco Bay area where tolerance is king, it is a rare politician willing to clamp down on citizens who let it all hang out.
But San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener stepped into that position earlier this week when he introduced an ordinance that would require nudists to cover their seats in public places and wear clothes in restaurants.
Public nudity, he explains, is legal in San Francisco and in recent years a group known informally as Naked Guys have shown unbridled enthusiasm for appearing in the nude.
"I see it pretty regularly, and unfortunately there are nudists who are not doing what they should," Wiener told Reuters.
The nudists, who expose themselves most often in the city's famous gay neighborhood, the Castro District, have got Wiener and others worrying about public health.
"I'm not a health expert, but I believe sitting nude in a public place is not sanitary," he said. "Would you want to sit on a seat where someone had been sitting naked? I think most people would say, 'No.'"
Wiener, who represents the Castro neighborhood, said he hears from merchants who fear the public displays may drive away customers, hurting the business' bottom lines.
That's particularly true in restaurants. He acknowledged that he has not seen any research establishing a health risk. "But when you have your orifices exposed in an eating establishment, a lot of people don't like it," he said.
California does have legislation against indecent exposure. But the law is lenient enough that it has barely affected San Francisco's current coterie of flaunters.
Weiner's proposed ordinance will next be assigned to a committee, and Wiener expects a public hearing within months. Clothing required.
But San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener stepped into that position earlier this week when he introduced an ordinance that would require nudists to cover their seats in public places and wear clothes in restaurants.
Public nudity, he explains, is legal in San Francisco and in recent years a group known informally as Naked Guys have shown unbridled enthusiasm for appearing in the nude.
"I see it pretty regularly, and unfortunately there are nudists who are not doing what they should," Wiener told Reuters.
The nudists, who expose themselves most often in the city's famous gay neighborhood, the Castro District, have got Wiener and others worrying about public health.
"I'm not a health expert, but I believe sitting nude in a public place is not sanitary," he said. "Would you want to sit on a seat where someone had been sitting naked? I think most people would say, 'No.'"
Wiener, who represents the Castro neighborhood, said he hears from merchants who fear the public displays may drive away customers, hurting the business' bottom lines.
That's particularly true in restaurants. He acknowledged that he has not seen any research establishing a health risk. "But when you have your orifices exposed in an eating establishment, a lot of people don't like it," he said.
California does have legislation against indecent exposure. But the law is lenient enough that it has barely affected San Francisco's current coterie of flaunters.
Weiner's proposed ordinance will next be assigned to a committee, and Wiener expects a public hearing within months. Clothing required.
Baby suckles directly from cow for milk
An 18-month-old Cambodian boy who has suckled milk directly from a cow daily for more than a month is in fine health, the child's grandfather said. The boy, Tha Sophat, made international headlines after his grandfather revealed he had been feeding himself directly from a cow since July when a storm destroyed his home storm and his parents left for Thailand to find work.
After he stopped breast-feeding from his mother, the boy became ill, said the 46-year-old grandfather.
The boy watched a calf nurse from its mother, and began to do the same thing, feeding directly from the cow each day, Um Oeung added. When the grandfather pulled him away, the boy cried, so he let him continue, Um Oeung told Reuters.
Neighbors and local officials in the village of Pheas in Siem Reap province, about 315 km (195 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, say they are not happy about the nursing.
"They blame me and have told me not to allow him to suckle from the cow anymore. They say the boy will be ashamed when he grows up and that he will be naughty," he said on Sunday.
Since Saturday, he has limited the suckling to once a day.
"His health is fine, he is strong and he doesn't have diarrhea," said Um Oeung
After he stopped breast-feeding from his mother, the boy became ill, said the 46-year-old grandfather.
The boy watched a calf nurse from its mother, and began to do the same thing, feeding directly from the cow each day, Um Oeung added. When the grandfather pulled him away, the boy cried, so he let him continue, Um Oeung told Reuters.
Neighbors and local officials in the village of Pheas in Siem Reap province, about 315 km (195 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, say they are not happy about the nursing.
"They blame me and have told me not to allow him to suckle from the cow anymore. They say the boy will be ashamed when he grows up and that he will be naughty," he said on Sunday.
Since Saturday, he has limited the suckling to once a day.
"His health is fine, he is strong and he doesn't have diarrhea," said Um Oeung
Woman bites elderly man in "vampire" attack
A Florida woman who allegedly claimed to be a vampire has been charged with battery after violently biting a man in a wheelchair on his face and arms, police said on Friday. Milton Ellis, 69, told police in St. Petersburg, Florida, that he and Josephine Smith, 22, met on the street and went to the porch of a vacant restaurant to get out of the rain. He said he fell asleep in his motorized wheelchair and woke up to find Smith on top of him.
Ellis told authorities that she said, "I'm a vampire. I am going to eat you" and then began to bite him.
According to a police affidavit, Ellis was bitten on his arm and lips, leaving him bloody before he was able to escape and call police. He was later treated with stitches at a local hospital and released.
After arriving at the scene, police said they found Smith bloody and half-naked nearby, but that she had no memory of what happened and did not identify herself as a vampire, St. Petersburg Police spokesman Mike Puetz said.
Smith, who was arrested early on Thursday, is currently being held in detention with bail set at $50,000.
Ellis told authorities that she said, "I'm a vampire. I am going to eat you" and then began to bite him.
According to a police affidavit, Ellis was bitten on his arm and lips, leaving him bloody before he was able to escape and call police. He was later treated with stitches at a local hospital and released.
After arriving at the scene, police said they found Smith bloody and half-naked nearby, but that she had no memory of what happened and did not identify herself as a vampire, St. Petersburg Police spokesman Mike Puetz said.
Smith, who was arrested early on Thursday, is currently being held in detention with bail set at $50,000.
Smoking marijuana not linked to obesity: study
Anybody who's smoked marijuana knows about "the munchies," that desire to eat everything within reach. But a study from France has found that, surprisingly, pot smokers are actually less likely than non-smokers to pack on weight. Using data covering more than 50,000 U.S. adults, researchers headed by Yann Le Strat, a psychiatrist at the Louis-Mourier Hospital in Colombes, France, found that roughly 14 percent to 17 percent of the people reporting that they smoked pot at least three days per week were obese.
That compared with a 22 to 25 percent obesity rate among people who said they had not used pot in the past 12 months.
"Initially, we thought we made a mistake," said Le Strat, adding that he and co-author Bernard Le Foll checked the results several times to make sure they were correct.
"This is only a preliminary result. It doesn't mean that marijuana does actually help you lose weight, but perhaps there is a component that does."
The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, included two surveys of U.S. adults -- one covering 43,000 people, the other about 9,300 respondents. Both had been conducted by branches of the U.S. National Institutes of Health between 2001 and 2009.
The larger of the surveys found that 14 percent of pot smokers were obese compared to 22 percent who didn't smoke pot. Similarly, the smaller survey found 17 percent of pot smokers to be obese compared to 25 percent of non-smokers.
Of all respondents to both surveys, between four percent and seven percent said they smoked pot at least three times a week.
Whether or not they smoked cigarettes as well had no influence on the obesity findings, though the researchers did not look at whether diet and exercise habits were different in pot smokers and non-smokers.
According to another recent survey, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, pot use is on the rise in the United States. Almost 16 million U.S. residents used marijuana in 2010, an increase from about 15 million in 2007.
Scientists have researched the role of various molecules within marijuana smoke that produce the high feeling, block pain, and may underlie the hunger for food typically provoked by pot use.
Cannabinoids, molecules similar to natural signaling chemicals in the body, are believed to be key to stimulating appetite -- so much so that in 2006, a drug called Rimonabant, designed to work against cannabinoids, was developed.
Rimonabant was approved in more than 30 countries, but not in the United States, for the treatment of obesity. But the drug was pulled off shelves two years later because of an increased risk of suicide among its users.
Whether cannabinoids are the only appetite stimulants in pot smoke, or whether other chemicals might account for the effect, remains to be seen, the researchers say.
Other experts said the results didn't surprise them.
"There's no evidence that repeated marijuana use can increase body weight," said Vincenzo Di Marzo, professor at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry in Pozzuoli, Italy, who was not part of the study.
He warned that the study does not show that smoking pot helps you lose weight, but that it could be a starting point for future research.
Le Strat echoed this view and warned against experimenting with pot as a diet aid.
"I see people living with marijuana dependence. I hope people don't interpret the results to mean that if they use marijuana, they'll lose weight," he added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/mQOCXt
That compared with a 22 to 25 percent obesity rate among people who said they had not used pot in the past 12 months.
"Initially, we thought we made a mistake," said Le Strat, adding that he and co-author Bernard Le Foll checked the results several times to make sure they were correct.
"This is only a preliminary result. It doesn't mean that marijuana does actually help you lose weight, but perhaps there is a component that does."
The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, included two surveys of U.S. adults -- one covering 43,000 people, the other about 9,300 respondents. Both had been conducted by branches of the U.S. National Institutes of Health between 2001 and 2009.
The larger of the surveys found that 14 percent of pot smokers were obese compared to 22 percent who didn't smoke pot. Similarly, the smaller survey found 17 percent of pot smokers to be obese compared to 25 percent of non-smokers.
Of all respondents to both surveys, between four percent and seven percent said they smoked pot at least three times a week.
Whether or not they smoked cigarettes as well had no influence on the obesity findings, though the researchers did not look at whether diet and exercise habits were different in pot smokers and non-smokers.
According to another recent survey, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, pot use is on the rise in the United States. Almost 16 million U.S. residents used marijuana in 2010, an increase from about 15 million in 2007.
Scientists have researched the role of various molecules within marijuana smoke that produce the high feeling, block pain, and may underlie the hunger for food typically provoked by pot use.
Cannabinoids, molecules similar to natural signaling chemicals in the body, are believed to be key to stimulating appetite -- so much so that in 2006, a drug called Rimonabant, designed to work against cannabinoids, was developed.
Rimonabant was approved in more than 30 countries, but not in the United States, for the treatment of obesity. But the drug was pulled off shelves two years later because of an increased risk of suicide among its users.
Whether cannabinoids are the only appetite stimulants in pot smoke, or whether other chemicals might account for the effect, remains to be seen, the researchers say.
Other experts said the results didn't surprise them.
"There's no evidence that repeated marijuana use can increase body weight," said Vincenzo Di Marzo, professor at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry in Pozzuoli, Italy, who was not part of the study.
He warned that the study does not show that smoking pot helps you lose weight, but that it could be a starting point for future research.
Le Strat echoed this view and warned against experimenting with pot as a diet aid.
"I see people living with marijuana dependence. I hope people don't interpret the results to mean that if they use marijuana, they'll lose weight," he added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/mQOCXt
Saturday, September 10, 2011
POP QUIZ (TELETHON'S YEARS OF SENDING IN THE CLOWN)
This year is the first since 1966 that comedian Jerry Lewis, 85, is not the host of the Labor Day telethon to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
See what you remember from Lewis' 45 years with the effort.
1. Since the show began, its opening theme has been "Smile," from this Charlie Chaplin film.
a) City Lights
b) The Gold Rush
c) Modern Times
d) The Kid
2. The 1966 telethon was held at this hotel in New York City.
a) Chelsea
b) Americana
c) Plaza
d) Algonquin
3. The informal group of hundreds of TV stations that carried the event is known as this.
a) The Love Network
b) The Love Connection
c) The Love Boat
d) Jerry's Kids
4. What year did the telethon move to Los Vegas?
a) 1968
b) 1973
c) 1982
d) 1990
5. A highlight of the 1976 show was the reunion of Lewis and his former partner, Dean Martin.
Who arranged the reunion?
a) Sammy Davis Jr.
b) Henry Kissinger
c) Bob Hope
d) Frank Sinatra
6. Who was the cohost for the first five years, before Ed McMahon took on the job?
a) Ryan Seacrest
b) Larry King
c) Johnny Olson
d) John Tesh
7. In what year did the telethon first break the million-dollar mark?
a) 1966
b) 1970
c) 1975
d) 1978
8. Who was the first corporate sponsor?
a) Esso
b) Coca-Cola
c) 7-Eleven
d) 7Up
9. This song was played regularly from 1970 for tote-board updates.
a) "All You Need Is Love"
b) "What the World Needs Now Is Love"
c) "Let Your Love Flow"
d) "Love Will Keep Us Together"
10. And finally ---a drum roll, please ---- the closing theme sung by Lewis each year, "You'll Never Walk Alone," is from this Broadway Musical.
a) My Fair Lady
b) Fiddler on the Roof
c) Carousel
d) Man of La Mancha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. a ; 4. b ; 5. d ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. b ; 10. c
See what you remember from Lewis' 45 years with the effort.
1. Since the show began, its opening theme has been "Smile," from this Charlie Chaplin film.
a) City Lights
b) The Gold Rush
c) Modern Times
d) The Kid
2. The 1966 telethon was held at this hotel in New York City.
a) Chelsea
b) Americana
c) Plaza
d) Algonquin
3. The informal group of hundreds of TV stations that carried the event is known as this.
a) The Love Network
b) The Love Connection
c) The Love Boat
d) Jerry's Kids
4. What year did the telethon move to Los Vegas?
a) 1968
b) 1973
c) 1982
d) 1990
5. A highlight of the 1976 show was the reunion of Lewis and his former partner, Dean Martin.
Who arranged the reunion?
a) Sammy Davis Jr.
b) Henry Kissinger
c) Bob Hope
d) Frank Sinatra
6. Who was the cohost for the first five years, before Ed McMahon took on the job?
a) Ryan Seacrest
b) Larry King
c) Johnny Olson
d) John Tesh
7. In what year did the telethon first break the million-dollar mark?
a) 1966
b) 1970
c) 1975
d) 1978
8. Who was the first corporate sponsor?
a) Esso
b) Coca-Cola
c) 7-Eleven
d) 7Up
9. This song was played regularly from 1970 for tote-board updates.
a) "All You Need Is Love"
b) "What the World Needs Now Is Love"
c) "Let Your Love Flow"
d) "Love Will Keep Us Together"
10. And finally ---a drum roll, please ---- the closing theme sung by Lewis each year, "You'll Never Walk Alone," is from this Broadway Musical.
a) My Fair Lady
b) Fiddler on the Roof
c) Carousel
d) Man of La Mancha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. a ; 4. b ; 5. d ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. b ; 10. c
F. Y. I.
Long Shot
Archer fish can squirt 6-to 15-foot long jets of water from their mouths, knocking down their mouths, knocking down their insect prey usually on the first shot.
Table Tidbits
Carrots, which originated in present-day Afghanistan, were originally purple.
Actually Said
by basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece
"I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to."
Growth Spurt
Lizards can regrow their tails if they become damaged.
Still on the Books
In Tennessee, whales are the only game allowed to be shot from a moving automobile.
Snooze Fans
Armadillos, sloths and opossums spend 80 percent of their lives sleeping or dozing.
Archer fish can squirt 6-to 15-foot long jets of water from their mouths, knocking down their mouths, knocking down their insect prey usually on the first shot.
Table Tidbits
Carrots, which originated in present-day Afghanistan, were originally purple.
Actually Said
by basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece
"I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to."
Growth Spurt
Lizards can regrow their tails if they become damaged.
Still on the Books
In Tennessee, whales are the only game allowed to be shot from a moving automobile.
Snooze Fans
Armadillos, sloths and opossums spend 80 percent of their lives sleeping or dozing.
Vampire fans to sail off Alaska coast next year
Hundreds of vampire enthusiasts will sail Alaska's fabled Inside Passage in a summer 2012 cruise tailored to their interests that combines gazing at glaciers with a late-night costume ball, organizers said on Thursday.
The "Vamps at Sea" cruise is scheduled for late June, which is a time of near-constant daylight in the far north.
"They've got curtains and they can block everything out -- so it can be as dark as we want it," said organizer Linda Wolf, president of Los Angeles-based agency Cruises Cruises Cruises Inc, who is herself a fan of the vampire genre.
Cruise groups have been organized around myriad interests, with everyone from bird lovers to marathon runners getting their own boat trips.
Still, the Vamps at Sea cruise promises to be special, said Buckwheat Donahue, executive director of the convention and visitors bureau in Skagway, a historic gold rush town that is on most cruise itineraries.
"This is going to be fun," Donahue said. "I can't imagine what people are going to be dressed like coming off the boat."
The group will sail on a Holland America ship, the Zuiderdam, and will hit the usual ports of call such as Juneau, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan.
But there will be other special features, including a late-night costume ball, a scavenger hunt and a vampire talent show, Wolf said. There is also a literary angle to the cruise, with vampire-genre authors scheduled to speak, including a relative of the late "Dracula" writer Bram Stoker, according to the cruise website.
Themed cruises and organized cruise groups are becoming increasingly popular, Donahue said.
The "Vamps at Sea" cruise is scheduled for late June, which is a time of near-constant daylight in the far north.
"They've got curtains and they can block everything out -- so it can be as dark as we want it," said organizer Linda Wolf, president of Los Angeles-based agency Cruises Cruises Cruises Inc, who is herself a fan of the vampire genre.
Cruise groups have been organized around myriad interests, with everyone from bird lovers to marathon runners getting their own boat trips.
Still, the Vamps at Sea cruise promises to be special, said Buckwheat Donahue, executive director of the convention and visitors bureau in Skagway, a historic gold rush town that is on most cruise itineraries.
"This is going to be fun," Donahue said. "I can't imagine what people are going to be dressed like coming off the boat."
The group will sail on a Holland America ship, the Zuiderdam, and will hit the usual ports of call such as Juneau, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan.
But there will be other special features, including a late-night costume ball, a scavenger hunt and a vampire talent show, Wolf said. There is also a literary angle to the cruise, with vampire-genre authors scheduled to speak, including a relative of the late "Dracula" writer Bram Stoker, according to the cruise website.
Themed cruises and organized cruise groups are becoming increasingly popular, Donahue said.
Forgotten mooncakes spark bomb scare
Police in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung mobilized the bomb squad after a suspicious package was found in a subway station toilet, only to find it contained nothing more dangerous than mooncakes. A cleaner called police to report the package left on top of a waste bin Saturday. Part of the station, known for its stained glass ceiling, was cordoned off and explosives experts were called in.
TV pictures showed a police officer in a full protective suit entering the toilet carrying specialist equipment while other officers waited outside with more gear.
The officer then emerged carrying a bright blue cardboard box full of mooncakes, pastries with sweet fillings traditionally eaten at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
"It was x-rayed first to see what it was and whether there was any chemical or electrical reaction," local police station chief Cheng Ming-chung told TV.
"Someone must have put it down to use the toilet and forgotten it when they left," he said, adding that the police would continue to investigate.
TV pictures showed a police officer in a full protective suit entering the toilet carrying specialist equipment while other officers waited outside with more gear.
The officer then emerged carrying a bright blue cardboard box full of mooncakes, pastries with sweet fillings traditionally eaten at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
"It was x-rayed first to see what it was and whether there was any chemical or electrical reaction," local police station chief Cheng Ming-chung told TV.
"Someone must have put it down to use the toilet and forgotten it when they left," he said, adding that the police would continue to investigate.
The world still thinks Americans are "coolest": poll
They may be witnessing their global superpower influence decline in the face of challenges from other emerging players on the world stage, but Americans have been voted the world's "coolest nationality" in an international poll. Social networking site Badoo.com (http://www.badoo.com/) asked 30,000 people across 15 countries to name the coolest nationality and also found that the Spanish were considered the coolest Europeans, Brazilians the coolest Latin Americans and Belgians the globe's least cool nationality.
"We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism," says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."
Of course, not all Americans are cool far from it. Some like Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Depp and Quentin Tarantino are way cooler than others.
Americans, however, are the dudes who invented cool and who still embody it in many fields from music to movies and TV to technology.
"America," says Price, "boasts the world's coolest leader, Obama; the coolest rappers, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg; and the coolest man in technology, Steve Jobs of Apple, the man who even made geeks cool."
Brazilians are ranked the second coolest nationality in the Badoo poll and the coolest Latin Americans, ahead of Mexicans and Argentinians. The Spanish, in third place, are the coolest Europeans.
The French are voted cooler than the British, and Canadians cooler than the Belgians. This may come as a relief for Canadians, who are sometimes viewed as chronically uncool.
Or, as Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian politician, once put it: "Paris, Texas stands as a metaphor for broken dreams; Paris, Saskatchewan just sounds ridiculous."
THE 10 COOLEST NATIONALITIES FIVE LEAST COOLEST
1. Americans 1. Belgians
2. Brazilians 2. Poles
3. Spanish 3. Turks
4. Italians 4. Canadians
5. French 5. Germans
6. British
7. Dutch
8. Mexicans
9. Argentinians
10. Russians
"We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism," says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."
Of course, not all Americans are cool far from it. Some like Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Depp and Quentin Tarantino are way cooler than others.
Americans, however, are the dudes who invented cool and who still embody it in many fields from music to movies and TV to technology.
"America," says Price, "boasts the world's coolest leader, Obama; the coolest rappers, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg; and the coolest man in technology, Steve Jobs of Apple, the man who even made geeks cool."
Brazilians are ranked the second coolest nationality in the Badoo poll and the coolest Latin Americans, ahead of Mexicans and Argentinians. The Spanish, in third place, are the coolest Europeans.
The French are voted cooler than the British, and Canadians cooler than the Belgians. This may come as a relief for Canadians, who are sometimes viewed as chronically uncool.
Or, as Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian politician, once put it: "Paris, Texas stands as a metaphor for broken dreams; Paris, Saskatchewan just sounds ridiculous."
THE 10 COOLEST NATIONALITIES FIVE LEAST COOLEST
1. Americans 1. Belgians
2. Brazilians 2. Poles
3. Spanish 3. Turks
4. Italians 4. Canadians
5. French 5. Germans
6. British
7. Dutch
8. Mexicans
9. Argentinians
10. Russians
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