COLUMNS
Home
The Sky is Falling
Code Pink
Homeland Insecurity
Fire & Brimstone
Nonsense
Occupied Kalifornia
Parallel Universe
Sci Tech
Human Zoo

Worksafe Color Codes

SPONSORS

Free Stuff
Sin City
rockbobster.com

The Food Aboard Pan Am

Once upon a time, about 50 years ago, travel by air was an elegant experience, a journey to be relished from start to finish.

The accommodations were luxurious, the service was superb, and the meals, served on fine china, were divine.

Just imagine dining on filet of sole with lobster sauce, prime ribs–rare, medium, or well done (your choice)–duckling, or shrimp, with all the trimmings including a glass of wine. If you were flying first class (the only way to travel!) caviar and a cocktail of your choice served before dinner. Dessert was special too, planned to feature a taste of the destination. On a trip to Hawaii, it might be macadamia nuts on ice cream; for England, Tipsy Pudding.

First-class dinner service was a 3-hour affair, recalls Barbara Braunstein, a former Pan Am stewardess. “The standard meal was seven courses, served on two-tiered carts set with linen and flowers,” she says. More

Police Arrest 'Frosty The Snowman' At Parade

Authorities in Chestertown, Md., said a fracas between police officers and "Frosty the Snowman" at an area holiday parade landed one costumed man in custody.

According to police, 52-year-old Kevin Michael Walsh, who was donning the "Frosty" suit, was arrested Saturday during the annual Christmas parade in Chestertown after he kicked at a police dog, The Star Democrat reported.

Walsh said he has participated in the parade in costume for the last 10 years and was stirred up only after his arrest, according to the publication.

The newspaper reported that Walsh was charged with assault and disorderly conduct and released on his own recognizance. There's no word if Walsh left the police station a jolly happy soul. More

'Tis the season, ye merry retailers, for shoplifting

As America's retail brands gear up to welcome hordes of holiday shoppers, here's a little something they might keep in mind: One in every 11 people who walk through the door are likely to walk out with at least one item he or she didn't pay for. Given that retailers are likely to lose $119 billion to shoplifters this year (1.45 percent of total sales), it's not surprising that the loss-prevention folks have studied this problem from every angle.

That's how we know only 3 percent of shoplifters are "professionals" who'll fence the goods, and most offenders are amateurs whose crimes are ones of opportunity.

"Seventy percent of shoplifters tell us they didn't plan to shoplift," says Barbara Staib, spokesperson for the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention. We also know that three-quarters of shoplifters aren't troubled teens; they're adults--most with jobs. And 35 percent of losses will happen with the help of a corrupt employee.

The scariest part? Shoplifting is up 6 percent compared to 2010--and many experts predict retailers will face record losses by year's end. "Our shrinkage rate is the highest it's been in five years," says Michael C. Creedon, North American vp of retail sales for ADT Commercial Security, who adds, "The economic environment has led to stealing for need-based purposes." Johnny Custer, director of field operations for Merchant Analytic Solutions, says, "Most shoplifters simply succumb to temptation. But add a sense of desperation because of the economy and holiday pressures, and you have the recipe for theft soup." More

Woman Gets Duped Into Buying Wooden Apple iPad for $180

In a new variation on the “brick in a box” scam, a South Carolina woman who thought she purchased an iPad from two men in a McDonald’s parking lot discovered yesterday that the purported tablet was actually “a piece of wood painted black with an Apple logo.”

According to a Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office report, Ashley McDowell, 22, told deputies that she was approached by two black males who claimed to have purchased iPads in bulk and were selling them for $300 apiece. After McDowell explained that she only had $180, the duo agreed to sell her the device at a cut rate.

But when McDowell drove home and opened the FedEx box containing the iPad, she instead discovered the wood with the Apple logo. The “screen”--which was framed with black tape--included replicas of iPad icons for Safari, mail, photos, and an iPod. It also had what cops described as a “Best Buy sales ticket.” More

It's Obama Fried Chicken! OFC pops up in China

Is Obama abandoning his bid for a second term in the White House and is giving Colonel Sanders a run for his money by opening a chain of fried chicken joints?

Now that's change you can't really believe in.

But in Beijing, China, a restaurant is actually calling itself OFC with a logo that looks alarmingly like the President dressed in the colonel's clothes.

The catchphrase underneath, apparently says 'We’re so cool, aren’t we?'

The Obama Fried Chicken could be a response to the U.S. filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization about Chinese tariffs on American chicken exports.

According to the New York Times, the tariffs affect an industry that employs about 300,000 people and range from 50 to 100 per cent, which means some Chinese importers paid as much as twice the price for American chicken. More

6 Mind Blowing Ways 'Starship Troopers' Predicted the Future

We really hope the war ends soon. For one, we want our troops home and safe, as soon as possible. But, as an on-the-side benefit, we'd really like to put an end to those damn war movies that keep coming out. From dramas like Lions For Lambs and The Hurt Locker, to gritty documentaries like Restrepo and No End In Sight, to savagely critical works like Fahrenheit 9/11 and Starship Troopers, it seems like more and more sandy and depressing war movies are taking over our cine-

What?

Yes, Starship Troopers. The campy anti-war satire about a race from a distant, desert land, who out of nowhere strikes a civilian target in a way we didn't think was possible, leading to heavy-handed patriotic propaganda, and a headlong rush into a war with a poorly thought-out strategy that results in a quagmire. You don't have to agree with the message to get that it's clearly a satirical send-up of the War on Terror. If anything, it's too on-the-nose.

What's that, you say?

The movie was made in 1997, four years before 9/11? Hmmm. That is a problem. We mean, we're not saying Paul Verhoeven traveled forward in time and then traveled back to film a commentary on a future war (because that would be an absolutely HORRIBLE waste of time travel), but... well, yeah, maybe we're saying he did that. More

Last meals for condemned cons off menu

Before white supremacist Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed Wednesday night for the infamous dragging death of a black man in deep East Texas, he ordered up a literal banquet for his last meal.

Two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, large bowl of fried okra, 3 fajitas and a pound of barbeque with a half-loaf of white bread on the side.

For dessert, he asked for a pint of Blue Bell ice cream.

According to prison officials, Brewer ate little, if any, of the Texas-sized feast. This morning, after an influential state senator blasted the menu as “ridiculous” and promised to end the practice of special last meals for execution-bound convicts, prison officials officially cancelled the long-standing program.

“They will receive the same meal served to other offenders” in the prison, said Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He said the change will take effect immediately. More

Anonymous set to destroy Fox News

IAn attack on Fox News from the hacker group Anonymous has been a longtime coming. Now the collective says that an infiltration on the website for the Fair and Balanced news network will occur next month with Operation Fox Hunt slated for November 5.

An operative with the hacktivist group Anonymous narrates a video posted to the Web on October 22 that announces that an all-out attack on the Fox News website will come next month as retaliation for the network’s unjust attack on protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Since they will not stop ridiculing the occupiers, we will simply shut them down,” says the digitzed voice in the recent YouTube clip. “Fox News, your time has come . . . Operation Fox Hunt. November 5th. May the hunt begin,” the narrator adds.

November 5 has already been designated by members of the growing Occupy Wall street movement as a practical holiday, with “Operation Cashback” expected to occur then across the world. Under that initiative, demonstrators are asked to close bank accounts across the globe and move money out of large banks and into smaller, local credit unions. Protesters aligned with the Occupy movement have already staged small cashback-style closures in branches across the United States, with an attempt at closing accounts at a Lower Manhattan Citibank earlier this month resulting in the arrest of several occupies. More

Starbucks Employee Fired After Parody Song Goes Viral

CHOWCHILLA, California -- A Starbucks employee in Chowchilla, California, was fired Tuesday after a parody song he sang about the company went viral on YouTube.

MercuryNews.com reported that Christopher Cristwell, 25, was dismissed after a Starbucks blog reposted the video and it was seen by Starbucks corporate heads.

"They were really cool about it," Cristwell told MercuryNews.com of Starbucks management. "The regional manager complimented me on my creative ability -- not on that specific song -- and then asked me why I did it. They were really trying to find out about my intent behind the videos."

Cristwell said his intent was strictly to satirize his job."I knew the consequences of posting the video online, and I'm not bitter at Starbucks for letting me go, but I am disappointed; it does suck," Cristwell said in the second video. More

Why Amazon Can't Make A Kindle In the USA

Yesterday I noted how conventional cost accounting inexorably focuses attention of executives on increasing short-term profits by cutting costs.

The same thing happens in economics. Take a recent economic study that set out to shed light on role of Chinese businesses vis-à-vis American consumers. Galina Hale and Bart Hobijn, two economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, did a study showing that only 2.7 percent of U.S. consumers purchases have the “Made in China” label. Moreover, only 1.2% actually reflects the cost of the imported goods. Thus, on average, of every dollar spent on an item labeled “Made in China,” 55 cents go for services produced in the United States. So the study trumpets the finding that China has only a tiny sliver of the U.S. economy.

So no problem, right?

Well, not exactly. The tiny sliver happens to be the sliver that matters. What economists miss is what is happening behind the numbers of dollars in the real economy of people. More

Arizona not monkeying with masked speeder

PHOENIX — Speed camera photos of the man in the monkey and giraffe masks have generated lots of chuckles. But the cops aren't laughing.

Dave VonTesmar, 47, started getting the $181.50 tickets last year, but it took Arizona state police several months to realize the same driver was repeatedly triggering speed cameras and refusing to pay the fines. By the time they did, more than 50 of the tickets had become invalid because the deadline for prosecution had passed.

VonTesmar, who has now amassed $6,7000 in fines, is fighting each citation by claiming he wasn't behind the wheel.

In Arizona, people who receive photo-enforcement tickets in the mail have four options: Agree they were driving and pay the fine, say they weren't driving and send in their driver's license photo as proof, request a court date and fight the ticket, or simply ignore the ticket because law enforcement can't prove they received it. The ticket becomes invalid if a violator who ignores it isn't served in person within three months.

On Aug. 19, DPS served VonTesmar in person with 37 tickets, mostly between 11 and 15 mph over the speed limit. The pictures accompanying the tickets show a driver wearing either a monkey or giraffe masks in VonTesmar's white Subaru, which has black-and-white checkered racing stickers on its sides and a sticker on the windshield that reads "Bucktooth Racin'." More

"Planking" pandemonium in Thailand

Thailand, of all places, has developed a particularly strong affinity for "planking." The Australia-born craze invovles lying prone and stiff in an unlikely location: atop a pool table, in a crowded bus terminal or, for the daring, on the ledge of a tall building.

Thailand has absorbed this fad in typical fashion: teenagers love it and stuffy cultural watchdogs bemoan it as an erosion of traditional values.

The head of Thailand's "Culture Watch Center" has warned society that "nude planking" photos have appeared online -- though thankfully most of these filthy pranksters are foreigners.

In one public release, she expressed particular concern over nude planking inside fish tanks which, she warned, "required plankers to tense their neck and body, leading to risk of getting cramp and therefore drowning to death." Any sort of public nude planking, she insisted, will invite criminal charges. Nude planking in private is legal but still "inappropriate," she said. More

Lennon was a closet Republican

John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death - according to the tragic Beatles star's last personal assistant.

Fred Seaman worked alongside the music legend from 1979 to Lennon's death at the end of 1980 and he reveals the star was a Ronald Reagan fan who enjoyed arguing with left-wing radicals who reminded him of his former self.

In new documentary Beatles Stories, Seaman tells filmmaker Seth Swirsky Lennon wasn't the peace-loving militant fans thought he was while he was his assistant.

He says, "John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter.

"He'd met Reagan back, I think, in the 70s at some sporting event... Reagan was the guy who had ordered the National Guard, I believe, to go after the young (peace) demonstrators in Berkeley, so I think that John maybe forgot about that... He did express support for Reagan, which shocked me. More

Soldier, spy, serial seducer: The war hero who inspired James Bond

Brussels had just been liberated. In a bedroom on the second floor of a sumptuous mansion, Geoffrey Gordon-Creed, a handsome major in the British Army, and a pretty young Belgian girl were engaged in enthusiastic sexual athletics.

Suddenly, there was a loud rapping on the door. It was the girl’s father, a rich Belgian baron, suspicious that his daughter might have company and determined to protect her honour.

The major immediately clambered out of the window and perched on the ledge. While the baron searched the bedroom, outside on the window ledge, Gordon-Creed clung to the shutters, stark naked and shivering.

‘The moon,’ he recalled, ‘was shining on my a***. My “precious gift to womankind” had shrunk to nothing and a small but enthusiastic crowd was beginning to collect below.’

At last Papa departed, apologising for his unfounded suspicions. Gordon-Creed climbed back in through the window and resumed his business.

His Belgian girl was just the latest in a long string of lovers who had livened up the war for Geoffrey Gordon-Creed. By its end, he had not only been highly decorated, awarded a Military Cross and a Distinguished Service Order for his bravery, but had notched up numerous conquests of the other sort in bedrooms across Europe. More

Women who post lots of photos of themselves on Facebook value appearance, need attention, study finds

A study on how people use social networking websites such as Facebook confirms what many of us suspected. Women who post loads of photos of themselves on their sites are conveying some strong personal characteristics, according to new research. These women are more likely to base their self-worth on appearance and use social networking to compete for attention.

The study involved 311 men and women with an average age of 23. In order to better understand aspects of social networking behavior, the researchers looked at the amount of time subjects spent managing profiles, the number of photos they shared, the size of their online networks and how promiscuous they were in terms of “friending” behavior. The participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure self worth and were asked about their typical behaviors on Facebook.

There were differences between women and men. Overall, the results suggest that, compared with men, females identify more strongly with their image and appearance and use Facebook to compete for attention, said the lead author of the study, Michael A. Stefanone, an assistant professor of communications at the University of Buffalo.

The women who had the largest social networks and posted more photos of themselves were more highly vested in their appearance." More

Elderly Woman Single-Handedly Shuts Down Armenian Internet

A 75-year-old Georgian woman shut down the Internet in neighboring Armenia for more than 12 hours last month when she sliced through a fiber optic cable while looking for scrap metal, according to Georgian officials.

Nearly all of Armenia was without Internet access on March 28 and customers of one of the largest Georgian Internet service providers, Caucasus Online, also lost access for nearly five hours, according to Bloomberg.

The woman was arrested by Georgian authorities and charged with property damage, the news agency reported Wednesday. She was "temporarily released due to her old age" on the day of the incident, Bloomberg quoted Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Zurab Gvenetadze as saying.

She has confessed to damaging a cable belonging to Georgian Railway Telecom while looking for copper near the Georgian village of Ksani. More

Maine town becomes first to declare food sovereignty

The town of Sedgwick, Maine, currently leads the pack as far as food sovereignty is concerned. Local residents recently voted unanimously at a town hall meeting to pass an ordinance that reinforces its citizens' God-given rights to "produce, process, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing," which includes even state- and federally-restricted foods like raw milk.

The declaration is one of the first of its kind to be passed in the US, and it is definitely not the last. Several other Maine towns -- including Penobscott, Brooksville, and Blue Hill -- all have similar ordinances up for vote in the coming weeks.

"Tears of joy welled in my eyes as my town voted to adopt this ordinance," said Mia Strong, a Sedgwick resident who frequents local farms. "I am so proud of my community. They made a stand for local food and our fundamental rights as citizens to choose that food." More

Egyptian father names his daughter “Facebook” after revolution

An Egyptian man has decided to show his appreciation towards Facebook for its role during the revolution in his country by naming his firstborn daughter Facebook. The report comes from the Egyptian paper Al-Ahram, translated by TechCrunch:

A young man in his twenties wanted to express his gratitude about the victories the youth of 25th of January have achieved and chose to express it in the form of naming his firstborn girl “Facebook” Jamal Ibrahim (his name.) The girl’s family, friends, and neighbors in the Ibrahimya region gathered around the new born to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook. “Facebook” received many gifts from the youth who were overjoyed by her arrival and the new name. A name [Facebook] that shocked the entire world.

Egyptian dictator Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak was in power from 1981 until February 11, 2011, when he resigned after 18 days of protests. Facebook has been credited for helping organize regime-ending protests in the country. Although the Egyptian revolution saw some planning done via Twitter, direct text messages, and other forms of electronic communication, Facebook has come to symbolize all the forms of social media that people used to organize the revolutions in the Middle East. More

Modern Earthlings would be unfazed by an alien landing

Proof that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is unlikely to upset modern Earthlings, an expert has claimed.

Times have changed dramatically since 1961 when the US Congress was warned that evidence of extra-terrestrials would lead to widespread panic, argued psychologist Dr Albert Harrison.

First contact with ET, or the discovery of ancient alien relics on Earth or Mars, would probably be met with delight or indifference today, he believes.

Meanwhile, other experts, including Dr Martin Dominik, from the University of St Andrews, said that given the right conditions Earth-like life could be a "cosmic imperative" and evolve the same way everywhere. Aliens at a comparable stage of evolution to humans were therefore likely to be little different from us.

Dr Harrison, from the University of California at Davis, US, wrote in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: "The discovery of ETI (extra-terrestrial intelligence] may be far less startling for generations that have been brought up with word processors, electronic calculators, avatars and cell phones as compared with earlier generations." More

Futurology: The tricky art of knowing what will happen next

Geoffrey Hoyle is often asked why he predicted everybody would be wearing jumpsuits by 2010. He envisioned a world where everybody worked a three-day week and had their electric cars delivered in tubes of liquid.

These colourful ideas from his 1972 children's book, 2010: Living in the Future, helped prompt a Facebook campaign to track him down. His work has now been reprinted with the year in the title amended to 2011.

"I've been criticised because I said people [would] wear jumpsuits," explains Hoyle, the son of noted astronomer and science fiction author Fred Hoyle. "We don't wear jumpsuits but to a certain extent the idea of the jumpsuit is the restriction of liberties."

Hoyle's book is a product of its time. The move towards a planned society with an emphasis on communal living colour it.

"Most of it is based on the evolution of a political system," Hoyle notes.

The author also predicted widespread use of "vision phones" and doing your grocery shopping online. More

End of an era: Last roll of Kodachrome film developed as digital revolution brings 75 years of camera history to a close

It was a photographic breakthrough that helped capture some of the 20th century's most iconic images.

But now Kodachrome, the first commercially successful colour film, has become history itself after it was developed for the last time yesterday.

Dwayne's Photo, a family-run business in Parsons, Kansas, was the last place in the world where the 75-year-old Kodak product could be developed.

The die was cast after Kodak announced in June last year that it would stop making the chemicals needed to develop Kodachrome in a round of cost-cutting after the company reported a £84million loss.

But it pledged to supply Dwayne's Photo in Kansas with the chemicals until the end of 2010. The shop's machine was shut down for the last time yesterday but only after fans of the film had travelled there from cross the world to get theirs developed. More

'People should smoke and drink more’, says Russian finance minister

Russia’s finance minister has told people to smoke and drink more, explaining that higher consumption would help lift tax revenues for spending on social services.

Speaking as the Russian government announces plan to raise duty on alcohol and cigarettes, Alexei Kudrin said that by smoking a pack, “you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates”.

“People should understand: Those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state,” he told the Interfax news agency. Alcohol and cigarette consumption are already extremely high in Russia, where 65 per cent of men smoke and the average Russian consumes 18 litres of alcoholic beverages per year, mainly vodka, according to official statistics. More

Beer Good for the Bones

As wine gets showered with publicity for its heart-fortifying, health-boosting effects, beer has maintained a reputation as a dietary wasteland, full of empty calories. But beer, according to growing research, has some powerful nutritional properties, too.

In one of the latest studies, scientists found that some varieties of beer contain large amounts of silicon, a nutrient that helps strengthen bones. Although the study didn't specifically test the health effects of a cold frothy pint, the findings suggest that moderate beer drinking might help reduce the risk of osteoporosis and other diseases.

"The wine guys have stolen the moral high ground," said Charles Bamforth, a biochemist and professor of food science at the University of California, Davis. "The reality is there's now growing consensus around the world that the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages that counters atherosclerosis is alcohol. It doesn't matter if it's wine or beer." More

Gold-covered female skeleton found on Crete is 2,700 years old

A grave dating to the 7th century BC has been discovered on the Greek island of Crete. Unique in the Greek world, one of two female skeletons was completely covered with 3,000 pieces of gold foil.

Greek archaeologists have uncovered an ancient skeleton covered with gold in a grave near the ancient town of Eleutherna in central Crete.

Although some articles reporting this find have said the skeleton was covered with gold foil, excavator Nicholas Stampolidis has explained that the small pieces of gold, measuring up to 1.5 inches, had originally been been sewn onto a shroud covering the woman's body, yet that the cloth has meanwhile disintegrated.

"Over the past 25 years, during which time obesity levels have increased enormously, there has actually been no change in our levels of physical activity," he said at the British Science Festival in Birmingham.

"We seem to have homeostatic mechanism that regulates our calorie expenditure. The more exercise we do during the day, the less active we are during the evening. More

Obesity epidemic simply caused by eating too much

Despite appearances, overall physical activity levels have remained constant for the last quarter of a century during which time weight levels have rocketed, Professor John Speakman said.

He claimed that the average man burned 1380 calories per day in the 1980s and continues to do so today. The average woman has burned 950 calories a day during the same period.

What has changed is that calorie intake has increased by at least a third to on average 3,500 calories a day, he said.

Prof Speakman, who is a member of the Energetics Research Group at the University of Aberdeen, said that his research showed that small changes in lifestyle were not enough to fight the obesity crisis.

"Over the past 25 years, during which time obesity levels have increased enormously, there has actually been no change in our levels of physical activity," he said at the British Science Festival in Birmingham.

"We seem to have homeostatic mechanism that regulates our calorie expenditure. The more exercise we do during the day, the less active we are during the evening. More

New Wave of Spanish-Language Sci-Fi Films Tackle Alien Incursions

It Spanish-language sci-fi thrived in the 1960s, when Mexican filmmakers churned out dozens of outrageous B movies like Santo the Silver Mask vs. The Martian Invasion. Now, a wave of more-sophisticated films hover on the horizon.

The latest to pop onto the radar is Extraterrestre, by Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo.

The Spanish writer-director, who made 2007’s time-travel mind-melter Timecrimes, cites Philip K. Dick’s Ubik as inspiration for the film.

Hinting at the film’s premise, he writes on his blog, roughly translated: “What if the apocalypse, instead of being a global blow, is a terminal accumulation of domestic disasters?”

Then there’s Seres: Genesis, centered on a little girl (played by Luisa Guerrero) who pays a high price after surviving a collision with an extraterrestrial spacecraft. More

The World’s Best Second Passports

It probably seems like a radical idea to those who were born and lived their lives in only one country, but individuals with financial means and a little determination can, without much trouble, become international citizens. That’s done by acquiring a second citizenship in another country. Along with that dual legal status comes an official second passport.

Acquiring a second passport can expand rights and freedom. For an American, the benefits include freer world travel and fewer problems from officious border guards or nosey customs and immigration officials. A second passport opens doors offshore otherwise closed to Americans. Best of all, dual citizenship and a second passport can be your key to reduced taxes and increased asset protection—and it could even protect your life. More

Frugal teen buys house with 4-H winnings

Lindsay Binegar was 14 the first time she spent any winnings from years of showing hogs. She bought a purse. The second time, at 18, she splurged. She bought a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a two-car garage. And she paid in cash.

"I've never heard of a teenager buying a house," said Nikki Gasbarro, spokeswoman for the Ohio Association of Realtors. "Smart girl."

The Greenfield teenager has been saving money since she was 4 years old and won $100 showing a hog. "I didn't get the money; it went to the bank," said Binegar, now a 19-year-old freshman at Ohio University's Chillicothe branch.

And so the pattern began. She'd raise a few hogs every year on the family farm in Highland County, show them at competitions and add any winnings or sales proceeds to her savings account.

"She's pretty tight," said Lindsay's dad, Gary. "She's always been big into 4-H, and every penny she made she just banked." More

Somali sea gangs lure investors at pirate lair

ISomalia - In Somalia's main pirate lair of Haradheere, the sea gangs have set up a cooperative to fund their hijackings offshore, a sort of stock exchange meets criminal syndicate.

Heavily armed pirates from the lawless Horn of Africa nation have terrorized shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia through the Red Sea.

The gangs have made tens of millions of dollars from ransoms and a deployment by foreign navies in the area has only appeared to drive the attackers to hunt further from shore.

It is a lucrative business that has drawn financiers from the Somali diaspora and other nations -- and now the gangs in Haradheere have set up an exchange to manage their investments. One wealthy former pirate named Mohammed showed off the small facility and said it had proved to be an important way for the pirates to win support from the local community for their operations, despite the dangers involved. More

Cash-strapped states go online, hoping to tax sales

For years, consumers have counted a legal quirk that allows many Internet retailers to forgo charging sales tax as one of the perks of shopping online. But as states face yawning budget gaps, there is a growing movement to lay claim to the billions of dollars lost through the loophole each year.

In most states, the burden is on shoppers to track what they buy online, calculate the sales tax owed and then pay it. In reality, few consumers fess up -- many do not even know such a requirement exists. That will result in $9 billion in unpaid state and local sales taxes this year, according to a study at the University of Tennessee.

Now, states are eyeing those dollars. About a dozen, including Maryland and Virginia, this year have considered legislation that would force online retailers to collect the tax, though only a handful of bills have passed. Some states have even taken the unusual step of asking sites such as Amazon to provide lists of what residents have bought and how much they've spent, sparking concerns over consumer privacy. More

The world's only immortal animal

The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth.

Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands of time and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life).

The key lies in a process called transdifferentiation, where one type of cell is transformed into another type of cell. Some animals can undergo limited transdifferentiation and regenerate organs, such as salamanders, which can regrow limbs. Turritopsi nutricula, on the other hand, can regenerate its entire body over and over again. Researchers are studying the jellyfish to discover how it is able to reverse its aging process. More

‘Cannabis crown' coming to Aspen

A version of Amsterdam's “Cannabis Cup” is coming to Aspen, in which medical marijuana growers, providers, patients and others in the industry will convene over one weekend in April.

The First Annual Western Slope Cannabis Crown, organized by Glenwood Springs resident Bobby Scurlock and the owners of High Country Caregivers, will be held April 17-18 at The Gant.

The conference is open to the public and will include speakers, live music, information booths, and most notably, a competition among providers that showcases their best strains. Growers and providers will vie for the “cannabis crown.”

Scurlock said he hopes to draw about 50 dispensaries from around Colorado and their strains will be tested by Denver-based Full Spectrum Laboratories. The marijuana strains will be diagnostically tested for their THC levels and how it matches up with patients' ailments. More

Study: Men Slack Off More Than Women

DENVER -- Researchers have confirmed what wives have long suspected: Men slack off more than women.

Each day American men on average have an extra 38 minutes of leisure time compared to women in the United States, according to a study of Western countries by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

Over the year that adds up to 13,870 minutes -- or almost 10 days -- of extra time off for American men compared to the chores that women toil through on a given day.

But Italian men are the world's slacker kings. Italian men have an average of almost 80 minutes more leisure each day than Italian women do. That's double the U.S. level, according to the OECD. More

Confucius says no to ‘subversive’ blockbuster Avatar

Here is the choice: a blockbuster involving noble aliens, evil humans and stunning effects that is breaking cinematic records all over the world. Or a patriotic film featuring the life of Confucius.

In China the public may not be given the choice at all. Despite long queues for tickets to see Avatar — which was expected to earn more than 500 million yuan (£45 million) at the Chinese box office — reports claim that the film will be removed from screens for being subversive.

Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported that the state-run China Film Group had instructed cinemas nationwide to stop showing the 2-D version of Avatar from January 23 on orders from Beijing’s propaganda chiefs.

It is not just the desire to entertain the masses with a Chinese movie that has prompted the censors to step in and pull James Cameron’s hit from 2-D screens. The Government fears that too many citizens might be making a link between the plight of Avatar’s Na’vi people as they are thrown off their land and the numerous, often brutal, evictions endured closer to home by residents who get in the way of property developers. More

Placebos getting more effective. Drugmakers wonder why

Merck was in trouble. In 2002, the pharmaceutical giant was falling behind its rivals in sales. Even worse, patents on five blockbuster drugs were about to expire, which would allow cheaper generics to flood the market. The company hadn't introduced a truly new product in three years, and its stock price was plummeting.

In interviews with the press, Edward Scolnick, Merck's research director, laid out his battle plan to restore the firm to preeminence. Key to his strategy was expanding the company's reach into the antidepressant market, where Merck had lagged while competitors like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline created some of the best-selling drugs in the world. "To remain dominant in the future," he told Forbes, "we need to dominate the central nervous system."

His plan hinged on the success of an experimental antidepressant codenamed MK-869. Still in clinical trials, it looked like every pharma executive's dream: a new kind of medication that exploited brain chemistry in innovative ways to promote feelings of well-being. More

Jesus-Shooting-Santa Display Riles Neighbors

A Christmas display featuring Jesus shooting Santa Claus and a run-over Rudolph is riling some residents of a California neighborhood, KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, Calif., reported.

Homeowner Ron Lake said his Christmas display in Nipomo is an expression of his repressed creativity, and that Santa represents the commercialism of Christmas.

His neighbors disagree and they're upset -- they say the disturbing display will upset children. A school bus stop is just outside the fence that separates the display from the town's main roads.

"I know it's freedom of speech, but it's pretty disturbing and there are lots of children. That's our main concern," one neighbor said. More

Russian missile failure sparks UFO frenzy

MOSCOW -- The failure of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile during testing was the cause of spectacular spiraling blue lights in the skies over northern Norway, analysts said Thursday.

Russia's defense ministry said a Bulava missile was launched Wednesday by a nuclear submarine submerged in the White Sea and its third stage suffered an unspecified failure.

Photographs and amateur video footage of the bluish-white in the Norwegian skies have been circulating on the Internet since Wednesday and spawning speculation of UFOs. The ministry did not confirm the lights were the result of the failed launch but military analysts said they clearly came from the Bulava explosion.

"This kind of light show comes from a failed missile launch," said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst. "Russia has run free fireworks for the Norwegians." More

GO TO ARCHIVES

GO TO TOP OF PAGE