Albers boys

The sons of Herman H. Albers and Tekela Berends. Must have been a musical family.  From the left: Herman, Hendrik, Willem, Jozef, Berend (my maternal grandad). Picture taken in 1916 (disputed).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mauritsb/3065453117/

Beijing takes first step to end betting ban

When the horses thunder down the turf of the Orient Lucky City racecourse in Wuhan today, there will be more than glory at stake. For the first time on the mainland since the communists took power 60 years ago, ordinary racegoers will be able to make money on races and take home winnings, the Chinese media have reported. Although there will be no actual betting on races, the move is seen as a significant step towards it - and enabling the government to rake in taxes on some of the huge sums spent on illicit gambling in China. Both betting and racing were outlawed in 1949, and only riders and owners have been allowed to make money from the sport since it re-emerged in the 90s. But the authorities are reconsidering their ban on the "social evil". By one estimate, some £400bn is spent on illegal betting in China each year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/29/china-gambling

Dancing Scientists Invade YouTube

Six weeks ago, the Gonzo Scientist challenged researchers around the world to interpret their Ph.D. research in dance form, film the dance, and share it with the world on YouTube (Science, 10 October, p. 186). By the 11 p.m. deadline this past Sunday, 36 dances--including solo ballet and circus spectacle--had been submitted online. A panel of nine judges--the three winners of the first "Dance Your Ph.D." contest, three scientists from Harvard University, and three artistic directors of the dance company Pilobolus--scored the dances on their ability to bridge the art and science worlds. Today, Science announces the winners of the 2009 AAAS Science Dance Contest in four categories: Graduate Students, Postdocs, Professors, and Popular Choice: 

Graduate Students  Sue Lynn Lau chose classical ballet and highly kinetic party dancing as the way to interpret her Ph.D. thesis, "The role of vitamin D in beta-cell function."  As The Nutcracker Suite lilts in the background, Lau, a graduate student from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, appears as the Sugarplum Fairy, delivering marshmallow glucose to four beta cell dancers.  Meanwhile, a fifth dancer flings and twirls around the stage--representing the sunlight required for vitamin D biosynthesis.

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/1120/2

The Real Mount Rushmore!

[St. Louis, Missouri, USA]  After more than 8,500 votes, 173 comments, dozens of spin-off threads, a few lively exchanges over at the Facebook page, and the hours of one talented Post-Dispatch illustrator, it is time to unveil the monument that you helped chisel: The St. Louis Cardinals Mount Rushmore. Back during the limbo between playoff series, Bird Land asked the simple question: What four members from Cardinals’ history would you carve into a Mount Rushmore of the franchise? We called it The Rushmore Project. 

A total of 8,552 people voted, at least check, on the Rushmore Project, and each of the four faces above received at least 40 percent of the vote. Three of the players featured above are Hall of Famers, and the third is well on his way after just winning the second MVP of his career. 

• Musial, of course, led the way, with 8,274 votes, begging the question who were the 3 percent of voters who left him off? 
• Bob Gibson received 7,728 votes (90 percent). 
• In a show of strength from the current generation of Cards Nation, Pujols received 5,087 votes (59 percent), and 
• Ozzie Smith received 3,523 votes (41 percent). 

It can be argued that the Cardinals’ Rushmore above features the franchise’s best player, best pitcher, best hitter and best fielder — the four very definitions of the disciplines it takes to play baseball. Hall of Famers Lou Brock (34 percent), Jack Buck (32 percent), Rogers Hornsby (21 percent) and Red Schoendienst (11 percent) completed the top eight.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2008/11/the-st-louis-cardinals-mount-rushmore/

The Pooch Dog back...

My favorite Cardinals memory #1: back-to-back home runs by Bob Gibson and Lou Brock.

My favorite Cardinals memory #2: Ozzie's diving catch under a diving outfielder.  (I was at game.)

My worst Cardinals memory: Denkinger!  (I'd sink my canines into his sorry flank, except he apologized to our organization, and I've become convinced he's a good guy who would willingly share his dog dish with me.)

Pooch Doggy Dog Apologizes to the World

I would like to apologize to the world for what I'm about to do.  Last night, visitors from the following countries braved the Prairie Pooch Dog Hole, and chewed on bones with me, and barked at the moon...

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

For those of you from these locations who didn't have the privilege of being raised St. Louis Cardinals fans, please forgive my next post.

(By the way, my oldest son once thanked me for raising him a Cardinals fan!  Brings tears to my eyes.)

MoodWatch by Eudora

We all have been misinterpreted online, or misinterpreted.  So, we use emoticons, are aware of the effect of capitalized words, and give context such as "I'm tired.  Don't take me too seriously..."   

Interestingly, Eudora email rates every email message as to inflammatory potential.  The rating software is MoodWatch.  From MoodWatch...

MoodWatch™ is a new language tool that acts as an emotion monitor for your email that flags aggressive language and calls it to your attention. MoodWatch can detect aggressive, demeaning or rude language in the email you send and receive by looking at both individual words and complete phrases. At its core, MoodWatch is a document classification system, which "reads" your email and rates it, allowing you to process your email more efficiently. If you really want to dig into the underlying concepts, read the white paper.

Q: If I don't use nasty words, will MoodWatch still notify me? 

A: MoodWatch looks at both individual words and phrases that are commonly considered offensive, dictatorial, aggressive, insulting and rude. You don't have to write a nasty word to get a chili pepper, but it helps.

http://www.eudora.com/email/features/moodwatch.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125161537.htm

Trivia For The Day - November 28, 2008

The Hunkers and the Barnburners were two factions within the Democratic Party of this state split over the slavery issue in 1848:

1. Pennsylvania
   
2. Virginia
   
3. South Carolina
   
4. New York
   
5. Ohio
   

http://www.historynet.com/quiz090114.htm

China executes man for ant-breeding scheme

China has executed a businessman convicted of bilking thousands of investors out of $416 million in a bogus ant-breeding scheme, state media reported Thursday. The official Xinhua News Agency said Wang Zhendong, who was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to death in February last year, was executed in north China's Liaoning province on Wednesday. The death penalty is used broadly in China. Though usually reserved for violent crimes, it is also applied for nonviolent offenses that involve large sums of money or if they are seen to threaten social order.

http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2008/11/china-executes-man-for-ant-breeding-scheme

Are hand gels replacing soap and water?

If you've ever shaken someone's hand, only to watch them slather themselves with hand sanitizer afterwards, you're not alone. Obama recalls shaking hands with Bush, who then "turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president's hand." "Good stuff. Keeps you from getting colds," Bush said, according to Obama's account.

Pooch Dog doesn't get it!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/11/28/superbugs.gel/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

U.S. family rescued after 40 hours in Taj hotel rooms

Carol Mackoff and her family were rescued Friday morning after being trapped in their rooms in the Taj Mahal Hotel for more than 40 hours. "They informed us the final assault was beginning and we got a call from the colonel of the [Indian] army, and he said we will give you a password and if we come to the door and give it to you, come quietly with us," Mackoff said. "That's exactly what happened." Mackoff, her husband, sister and friend were on a three-week trip to India. "In the beginning, we heard shots and we didn't know what was happening," she told CNN by phone. "We saw men running down our hallway and we could see through the peephole in the door -- we could see guns in their hands." The Chicago, Illinois, resident said the attackers rang their doorbell twice, but she and her family didn't answer. "We locked every possible lock on the door and put heavy suitcases against it," she said. "When the explosions started and smoke filled the hallways we put towels at the bottom of the door."

While she was trapped, Mackoff exchanged text messages with the U.S. Consulate, which coordinated the rescue with the Indian Army. The four were told the exact time they would be rescued. That contact was Mackoff's only lifeline to the outside. She said the satellite connection had been cut, so they couldn't watch TV to see what was going on. Throughout the 40 hours they were trapped, Mackoff and her companions ate chocolate chip cookies from the minibar, health bars they had brought from home and cashew nuts.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/28/mumbai.westerners/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Ol Prairie Pooch Doggy Dog is happy!

My belly is full.  Spent Thanksgiving with friends yesterday.  The Dallas Cowboys routed the Seattle Seahawks.  Seraphina is coming home from California, (visiting daughter), in a couple days.  I am crushing all competition at racquetball, and can no longer find anyone who wants to play.  I just bought a new bag of bones from the meat department.  I took a long luxurious bath the other day, and fluffed myself all over afterwards with flea powder!

Seraphina!  Time to come home...  I'm ready!!

Dutch ban on "magic" mushrooms to take effect

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands will ban the sale and cultivation of all hallucinogenic "magic" mushrooms from next week, the latest target of a country seeking to shed its "anything goes" image. The Dutch government proposed the ban in April, citing the dangerous behavioural effects of magic mushrooms following the death of a French teenager who jumped from an Amsterdam bridge in 2007 after consuming the hallucinogenic fungus. "The use of magic mushrooms has hallucinogenic effects. It is proven that this can lead to unpredictable and therefore risky behaviour," the Dutch Health Ministry said in a statement. A challenge to the ban was rejected by a court in the Hague on Friday. From December 1 the production or sale of fresh magic mushrooms could lead to a maximum jail sentence of four years, a spokesman for the Dutch Justice Ministry said on Friday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081128/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_dutch_mushroom

French say they need biggest condoms

BERLIN (Reuters) – The French say they need the largest condoms in Europe while Greeks get by on smaller ones, according to a Europe-wide study by a German consultancy that provides advice on condoms. The study by the Singen-based Institute of Condom Consultancy was done by asking 10,500 men in 25 countries to measure their penis and enter the number into a database. The results show Frenchmen on average claim to need 15.48-cm (6.09-inch) long condoms, about 3 cm longer than Greeks, whose condom-size requirement was the most modest. Jan Vinzenz Krause, the institute's director, told Reuters Friday the data was collected over a period of eight months. He did not want to comment on how honest he thought the Frenchmen had been in reporting the data.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081128/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_germany_condoms

100-meter Sprint World Record Could Go As Low As 9.48 Seconds

2008 was a great summer for sports' fans. World records tumbled at the Beijing Olympics. Usain Bolt shattered both the 100m and 200m world records, knocking tenths of a second off each. People have been getting faster and faster over the last few decades, which made marathon runner Mark Denny, from Stanford University, wonder whether last century's massive increase in population could account for these dramatic improvements. He also wondered whether there are absolute limits on running speeds and, if so, how close are we to them? Suspecting that there are, Denny decided to scrutinise the running performances of humans and two other famous racing species, dogs and thoroughbred horses, to find how close modern runners are to their species' peak performances.  Having found records dating back to the 1920s for dogs and the 19th century for humans and thoroughbreds, Denny looked to see whether there were any clear trends; had any of the species' performances already levelled off? Plotting the annual top running speeds for all three species over the years, it was clear that racing horses and dogs have already reached a plateau. There has been no improvement in the thoroughbred's speed in the Kentucky Derby since the 1940s and two other major US races since the 1970s, while dogs' performances also levelled out in the 1970s. The increasing dog and thoroughbred populations hadn't improved the animals' performances. However, 'chance might still turn up a faster animal,' says Denny and he predicts that thoroughbreds could improve their top speeds by as much as 1% in the 2012m Kentucky Derby, eventually peaking at a top speed of just over 17m/s. For humans the results were complicated by the different distances that people race. Looking at the speeds of male race winners through the years, it seems as if men still haven't reached their top speeds at any distance and Denny predicts that male 100·m sprinters could one day get the record down to an incredible 9.48s, running 0.23m/s faster than Usain Bolt's current world record of 9.69·s. Meanwhile, female sprinters' top annual speeds levelled off in the 1970s, suggesting that any improvement in their speed was not due to a population increase. However, Denny suspects that female sprinters have room for improvement too, and predicts that they could eventually knock more than 0.4s of the current 100m world record to cover the distance in 10.19s. Looking at marathon runners, Denny predicts that males could cut the current world record, held by Haile Gebrselassie, by between 2min7s and 4min23s. And when he calculates the top speed that a human female marathon runner could achieve, Denny suspects that women could eventually cross the 42,195m finishing line in 2h12min41s. He adds that Paula Radcliffe's current world record of 2h15min25s is very close to his average prediction for the maximum marathon speed and suspects that female marathon runners could be the first group to approach his predictions and test whether they hold. Denny is pleased to have shown that it is possible to calculate the absolute limits to speed of running animals ranging from humans to thoroughbred horses. However, he emphasises that we have no idea what aspect of physiology restricts runners' performances, and is keen to find out what will prevent future gold medal winners from breaking Denny's Limits.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081128082831.htm

Russia Unveils 'Abrams Killer' Rocket

The RPG, or rocket-propelled grenade, has long been popular among insurgents, giving them a cheap anti-armor weapon that requires little training. The latest version is the RPG-30. And it allegedly can take out today's toughest tanks. Recently shown on Russian television, the RPG-30 has already been described as an "Abrams Killer."  The RPG-30 is a new twist on counter-counter-measures. Back in the 1980's, a new type of armor was introduced to defeat shaped-charge warheads. Reactive armor consists of explosive tiles; when struck by a projectile, they detonate -- disrupting the armor-piercing jet produced by a shaped charge. The response to this was the tandem warhead, with a precursor charge that sets off the reactive armor tile followed by a main charge that does the damage. Armor designers are now moving a step ahead to from reactive armor to active defenses, with systems like the Russian Arena, the much-hyped Israeli Trophy, and the forthcoming U.S. FCLAS. These detect an incoming round and launch a projectile to meet it, destroying or disrupting the threat by impact or blast. (Dense inert metal explosives, which spray out micro-shrapnel, are particularly suitable for this; they have a very limited radius of destruction and will not harm friendly troops nearby.)

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/russia-unveils.html

China's first homegrown jet makes trial flight

China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft, the ARJ-21, successfully made its maiden flight on Friday, a key step in the country's ambitious aviation program.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/b-china/2008/11/28/185338/Chinas-first.htm

In China, Speech and Silence Both Come With Price Tags

A heated debate about ethical journalism spread through China's media last October after China Youth Daily exposed the country's latest "gag fee" case, in which scores of journalists accepted payoffs from a mine boss in Shanxi to suppress the story of a work-related death. [Frontpage photo: "Lucky Chinese Money" by Vanessa Pike-Russell available at Flickr.com under Creative Commons license.] Last week, just as the Linfen "gag fee" case faded from the national spotlight, China Youth Daily whipped up another hot-button media ethics issue, reporting on the apparently widespread practice of publishing articles in exchange for payments generally referred to in Chinese as "publishing fees," or fabiaofei (???). The China Youth Daily investigation focused on the national magazine Reportage (????), a once respected vehicle for serious literary journalism that has faced a dramatic decline in both circulation and esteem since its heyday in the 1980s.

http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/11/in-china-speech-and-silence-both-come-with-price-tags/

Europe court says no to turban on Sikh’s driving licence

Sikh man loses right to wear turban in driving licence photo after EU court ruling A Sikh man who wanted the right to wear a turban while being photographed for his French drivers' licence has lost his case in the European Court of Human Rights. Shingara Mann Singh, a French national, lost a series of appeals in France against the authorities who refused to issue a new licence with a photograph of him wearing a turban. Under French regulations, motorists must appear 'bareheaded and facing forward' in their licence photographs but the Sikh religion requires men to wear a turban at all times.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22990/sikh-turban-driving-license

Mae West... Always Fresh!

"She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong."

"When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better."

"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."

http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/biografien-news/img/MaeWest.jpg

Bacterial Biofilms As Fossil Makers

Bacterial decay was once viewed as fossilization's mortal enemy, but new research suggests bacterial biofilms may have actually helped preserve the fossil record's most  A team of 13 scientists led by Indiana University Bloomington biologists Rudolf and Elizabeth Raff found that the invasion of dying embryo cells by bacteria -- and the subsequent formation of densely packed bacterial biofilms inside the embryo cells -- can completely replace embryo cell structure, generating a faithful replica of the embryo. The scientists call this formation a "pseudomorph," a model of the embryo made of bacteria. Their report will appear online via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences "Early Edition" as early as Nov. 24.

Prairie Pooch loves anything old... history, archaeology, paleoanthropology, Mae West!   

Sorry for boring you...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124174859.htm

World Trade Center Building 7 Collapse Investigation

Everyone remembers the "Twin Towers" of 9/11.  Do you remember the mysterious collapse of building 7?  Well, here's an excerpt from the just-issued report...

The extensive three-year scientific and technical building and fire safety investigation found that the fires on multiple floors in WTC 7, which were uncontrolled but otherwise similar to fires experienced in other tall buildings, caused an extraordinary event. Heating of floor beams and girders caused a critical support column to fail, initiating a fire-induced progressive collapse that brought the building down. In response to comments from the building community, NIST conducted an additional computer analysis. The goal was to see if the loss of WTC 7's Column 79—the structural component identified as the one whose failure on 9/11 started the progressive collapse—would still have led to a complete loss of the building if fire or damage from the falling debris of the nearby WTC 1 tower were not factors. The investigation team concluded that the column's failure under any circumstance would have initiated the destructive sequence of events.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081120144246.htm

Surgeons Perform World's First Pediatric Robotic Bladder Reconstruction

A 10-year-old Chicago girl born with an abnormally small bladder that made her incontinent has become the first patient to benefit from a new robotic-assisted bladder-reconstruction method developed by surgeons at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Although Gundeti had performed the operation to enlarge and relax a tiny spasmodic bladder many times, it had never been done robotically--an approach that has produced quicker recovery, less pain and minimal scars in other procedures. "This is a major, lengthy operation," he said, "essentially five smaller procedures done in sequence." Known as an augmentation ileocystoplasty with Mitrofanoff appendicovesicostomy, the surgery normally begins with a big incision, about six inches long, from above the navel down to the pubic area, followed by placement of retractors to pull the stomach muscles out of the way. "The robotic approach enabled us to avoid that entire incision, which causes significant post-operative pain, presents an infection risk and leaves a big scar," Gundeti said. Instead, the robotic tools enter the abdomen through five small, dime-sized holes. In this operation, the surgeons use about 12 inches of intestine to reconstruct a larger bladder, "more than twice the original size," said Gundeti. "Plus, it can no longer contract with the same force." Then they converted the appendix into a "continent conduit," a drain for the new, expanded bladder, with one end implanted into the wall of the bladder and the other end leading outside the body through small outlet in the lower abdomen. A skin flap covers the fleshy appendix opening. "No one had ever done the full operation this way," Gundeti said. "It requires a lot of familiarity with both the open operation and considerable laparoscopic experience."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081120090604.htm

Dine-and-dash gang nabbed via Facebook

MELBOURNE, Australia - An Australian restaurateur left holding a hefty unpaid bill when five young diners bolted used the popular social networking Web site Facebook to track them down — and they got their just desserts. Peter Leary from Melbourne seafood restaurant Seagrass was fuming when the diners ate their way through the menu, pairing oysters, trout and red emperor with some expensive wines, slipped out for a cigarette — and never returned. But Leary, left with an unpaid bill of $340, remembered one of the diners asking about a former waitress, whom he then contacted and she suggested they check through some contacts on Facebook.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27939376/

Iraq Has Its Own Battle of the Bulge

CAMP SPEICHER, Iraq -- Al Qaeda and other extremist groups aren't the only enemy facing U.S. troops stationed at this massive base in central Iraq. The Americans also are engaged in the mother of all battles -- against gaining weight.

You've heard of the freshman 15. How about the Iraq 20?

Forget the K-rations of World War II and the chewy, tasteless MREs -- "Meals, Ready-to-Eat" -- that sustained U.S. Soldiers in more recent conflicts. With most of America's 150,000 troops in Iraq living on large bases, the combat ration has given way to a smorgasbord of food that has some Soldiers bingeing and others in fits.

"You have to have an iron discipline," said Sgt. Robert Carmical, a trombone player in the 25th Infantry Division Band, who arrived at Contingency Operating Base Speicher only days ago. "A lot of people turn to food for comfort, and the opportunity is there."

Barbecue ribs, fried chicken, rib-eye steak, lobster tails, crab legs, roast turkey, stir-fry, cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, egg rolls, breaded shrimp, buffalo wings, chili, crepes, pancakes, omelets, waffles, burritos, tacos, quesadillas, quiches, bacon, polish sausages, pulled pork, corned beef hash, milk shakes and smoothies -- and that's just for starters.

You name it, and American Soldiers are eating and drinking it, except alcohol.

http://www.military.com/news/article/iraq-has-its-own-battle-of-the-bulge.html?col=1186032310810&ESRC=topstories.RSS

Daily Quiz - November 27, 2008

He was the organizer of the Non-cooperation Movement:

1. Nelson Mandela
   
2. Mahatma Gandhi
   
3. Martin Luther King
   
4. Henry David Thoreau
   
5. Fidel Castro

http://www.historynet.com/quiz090115.htm

Here they are -- the Top 10 Political Turkeys of 2008

November 27 may be Turkey Day in America, but in the world of politics, every day is turkey day. Turkeys are foolish creatures -- overstuffed, noisy and self-important. A lot like the politicians on our list of Turkeys of the Year.

Turkey No. 10: Rudy Giuliani puts all his eggs in one basket -- Florida.

Turkey No. 9: In 2006, Tim Mahoney defeated Florida Rep. Mark Foley after it was revealed that Foley had sent sexually suggestive messages to congressional pages. Mahoney's campaign demanded an investigation.

Turkey No. 8: In June, Barack Obama addresses a meeting of Democratic governors in Chicago. His rostrum bears ... what is this? A presidential seal? Not quite.

Turkey No. 7: Sen. Elizabeth Dole runs a TV ad accusing her Democratic opponent of taking "godless money.'' The ad refers to "a secret fundraiser in Kay Hagan's honor'' co-hosted by an adviser to an atheist advocacy group. The ad shows a picture of Hagan while a woman's voice declares, "There is no God.'' The voice is not Hagan's.

Turkey No. 6: Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, the king of pork, turns into a turkey. The longest serving Republican senator in history is convicted on seven felony charges of corruption for failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts and free services.

Turkey No. 5: Not politicians this time, but arrogant auto executives who come to Washington looking for a bailout. In their private jets.

Turkey No. 4: After videos surface of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial sermons, Barack Obama delivers a major speech distancing himself from his pastor's sensational comments. Then Wright appears at the National Press Club to give his side of the story. He claims Obama "didn't denounce him'' but "did what politicians do.''

Turkey No. 3: The financial crisis hits in mid-September, and John McCain declares, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." The Republican nominee makes a startling announcement a few days before the first debate. McCain says, "Tomorrow morning I'll suspend my campaign and return to Washington."

Turkey No. 2: "I have responded consistently to these tabloid allegations by saying I don't respond to these lies." That was John Edwards in July. But they were not all lies.

Turkey No. 1: New York governor -- make that, former governor -- Eliot Spitzer, who had to resign because of his involvement with a high-priced call-girl service.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/27/schneider.political.turkeys/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

U.S. cops recover Hitler bookmark stolen in Spain

U.S. police recovered a stolen bookmark once reportedly given to Adolf Hitler by his mistress Eva Braun and arrested a man in a sting operation, authorities said on Wednesday. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said officers arrested Christian Popescu, 37, outside a coffee shop in Bellevue, Washington, on November 25, as he allegedly attempted to sell the 18-carat gold bookmark to undercover agents. The bookmark was reportedly given as a present to Hitler by his long-term mistress in 1943 to console the German dictator after the German defeat at the hands of Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad, ICE said in a news release.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081126/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_crime_usa_bookmark

Judge allows civil suit over co-worker's perfume

A federal judge says a Detroit city employee can proceed with a civil suit claiming she couldn't work because of a co-worker's strong perfume. The Detroit News says U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff determined Susan McBride has a potential claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The city is asking to have the suit dismissed. McBride says she's severely sensitive to perfumes and other cosmetics. She says the perfume worn by a co-worker in the city's Planning Department made it difficult for her to breathe. She says the co-worker also used a plugged in room deodorizer.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081127/ap_on_fe_st/odd_perfume_lawsuit

Vis-O-Matic: 1950

June 6, 1950. "Vis-O-Matic department store," a premonition of virtual retailing. One of at least 200 photographs taken by Bernard Hoffman at retail magnate Laurence Freiman's newfangled catalog store in Pembroke, Ontario. The cards were an index of merchandise on color slides viewed by customers on rear-projection screens. Life magazine image archive.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/4987

In Sickness And Health: Caring For Ailing Spouse May Prolong Your Life

Older people who spent at least 14 hours a week taking care of a disabled spouse lived longer than others. That is the unexpected finding of a University of Michigan study forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study supports earlier research showing that in terms of health and longevity, it really is better to give than to receive.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125141614.htm

Computers Determine When To Stop Searches For Missing People At Sea

British researchers are developing a new computer model to predict how long someone will survive when lost at sea, which will in turn determine when a search and rescue operation may be stopped. The Search and Rescue Survival Model is being developed by the University of Portsmouth's Sports Science and Mathematics departments and the US Coast Guard. It aims to support the US Coast Guard target of saving 93 per cent of victims annually - between 3000-6000 people - whose lives are in danger at sea. "Using this new computer model will take pressure off humans making very emotional and sensitive decisions about when to end a search," said Professor Mike Tipton, human and applied physiologist, from the University of Portsmouth.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081119084531.htm

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Merry Christmas To Jews Everywhere

For 100 points: Writers from which organization have recently come under fire for sending out invitations to a Hannukah party, complete with Christmas Trees?

A) The writers of South Park
B) Fox News
C) The White House

Remember to give your answer in the form of a question; be creative.

12 bonus points if you can successfully identify this action as

A) A final $#@!-you before leaving office (hope that doesn't give the first one away)
B) Complete and utter incompetence (are you the same ones communicating our "terms" to terrorist nations?
C) Something that seemed funny at the time
D) A shrewd move that will promote the growing Jews for Jesus movement.

Read more here.

A Plan For Hard Times: Print Cash

People nationwide may start hoarding their cash as recession fears grow. But in Riverwest—a progressive enclave of Milwaukee—residents have another answer to their money trouble: they'll print their own. The proposed River Currency would be used like cash at local businesses, keeping the area economy humming whatever the health of the country at large. "We can create our own value," explains Sura Faraj, 48, one of the plan's organizers.  It's an attractive idea when times are tight. Communities print what look like ordinary bills with serial numbers, anti-counterfeiting details and images of local landmarks (the Milwaukee River, for instance) instead of presidential portraits. Residents benefit through an exchange system: 10 traditional dollars, for instance, nets them $20 worth of local currency. And when businesses agree to value the funny money like real greenbacks, they also get a free stack to kick-start spending. It's all perfectly legal (except for coins) as long as it's not for profit and the bizarro dinero doesn't resemble the real thing. Dozens of such systems flourished during the Great Depression.  

Newsweek, December 1, 2008, p. 9

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170372

Prairie Pooch Howls at the Genetic Moon

Rachel Maddow is the host of a relatively new MSNBC evening news and commentary show.

"Maddow was, according to her parents, a curious, serious child who never spoke baby talk. When her mother, Elaine, would walk into the kitchen to prepare breakfast, the 4-year-old Rachel would be perched on a stool, with her nightgown and bed socks on, reading the newspaper." Newsweek, December 1, 2008, p. 56

That's amazing!

"Maddow remembers when she was 7, standing in front of their black-and-white television during the 1980 election and loathing Ronald Reagan, although she is not sure why now: 'all I remember is the feeling of dislike.'"  ibid, p. 56

It sounds to the Prairie Pooch as if Rachel Maddow was primed politically at a very young age, if not at birth! Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN medical contributor, said that research now indicates that 1/3 of our political choice is genetically inherited.  (The statement was from some months ago, and due to my memory might be flawed.  Suffice it to say that his point was that genetics plays a significant role in political choice.)  And, you can certainly see the possibility that her visceral reaction to Ronald Reagan had a genetic component.  

S.P.Lunger posted a blog on The Prairie Pooch Hole some weeks ago called Conservative & Liberal Personality Differences...

Another study compared childhood temperaments with later outcomes:    "As kids, liberals had developed close relationships with peers and were rated by their teachers as self-reliant, energetic, impulsive, and resilient. People who were conservative at age 23 had been described by their teachers as easily victimized, easily offended, indecisive, fearful, rigid, inhibited, and vulnerable at age 3... "

Amazing!

The importance of genetics in political choice is becoming evident to me.  And, it explains to some degree why evidence by "the other side" is shrugged off as inconsequential by all of us.  We "know" what is true.  Why bother with facts!  (Including myself here; I don't care how closely I listen to Rush and Bill O, they truly sound nonsensical in their arguments.  And, I doubt that they are that nonsensical.)

About genetics and upbringing.  About the old standby dinner party conversion topic nature vs nurture...

"As people age... they tend to become less open to new experiences and ideas, and less outgoing.  All of these traits have been linked to genes.  But curiously - and here's hope for anyone who resents his genetic baggage - the influence of genes wane with age: in middle and later adulthood, environment plays a larger role than genetics in shaping personality, a hint of the power of accumulated experiences."  Newsweek, December 1, 2008, p. 14

Does this clear up the nature vs nurture controversy in the political sphere of life?  The Prairie Pooch is glad to be of service!

Western Canadian meteor had mass of 10 tonnes

The meteor that lit up the skies across Alberta and Saskatchewan last week was a monster — according to scientists — with a mass of 10 tonnes and packing a punch equivalent to 300 tonnes of TNT. And because it was so big, the burning rock may have scattered football-sized chunks of itself across 24 square kilometres near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, researchers at the University of Calgary said Tuesday.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/11/25/meteor.html

The best video so far seems to be taken by a Canadian police dash cam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18GlkV73VjI

Drugs Reveal Another Possible Cause of Aging

Early but intriguing research on mice suggests a new mechanism of aging, and possibly a way to stall it. Drugs designed to target one aspect of aging also seem to help repair DNA damage and regulate gene activity, preventing them from going haywire with the stresses of time. "In principle, we now could have a way of reversing the effects of aging," said David Sinclair, a Harvard University gerontologist and co-founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a company best-known for its development of an experimental drug called resveratrol. Resveratrol and similar compounds activate an enzyme called SIRT1. The enzyme rejuvenates mitochondria, the machines that power our cells. Mitochondrial breakdown has been associated with many age-related diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and dementia. Several labs in addition to Sirtris are researching compounds that target mitochondria. The new findings suggest that SIRT1 fixes DNA in addition to mitochondria. Sinclair's team found that unless SIRT1 enzymes gathered at sites where DNA had started to unravel, other DNA repair proteins failed to arrive. This allowed damage to progress, eventually causing dormant genes to come alive, a process called deregulation.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/mitochondria-dr.html

Alesandra

http://www.flickr.com/photos/duriancandy/3061223496/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_louve/3061491046/

photograph found in a thrift store

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1f2frfbf/3061465820/

Missing Radioactivity In Ice Cores Bodes Ill For Part Of Asia

When Ohio State glaciologists failed to find the expected radioactive signals in the latest core they drilled from a Himalayan ice field, they knew it meant trouble for their research. But those missing markers of radiation, remnants from atomic bomb tests a half-century ago, foretell much greater threat to the half-billion or more people living downstream of that vast mountain range. It may mean that future water supplies could fall far short of what's needed to keep that population alive. "We drilled three cores through the ice to bedrock at Naimona'nyi in 2006," said Natalie Kehrwald, a doctoral student at Ohio State and lead author on the paper.  "When we analyzed the top 50 feet (15 meters) of each core, we found that the beta radioactivity signal was barely above normal background levels." "We were able to get a date of approximately 1944 A.D.," Kehrwald said, "and that, coupled with the other missing signals, means that no new ice has accumulated on the surface of the glacier since 1944," nearly a decade before the atomic tests. "When you think about the millions of people over there who depend on the water locked in that ice, if they don't have it available in the future, that will be a serious problem," he said.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081118122148.htm

Archeology Of Homelessness

No matter what you see in the movies, archaeology isn't really about finding ancient temples or golden idols. It's about the day-to-day "stuff"— the material culture—of people's lives. It doesn't even have to be ancient, as a study of homeless peoples' stuff in Indianapolis is showing.  Larry J. Zimmerman, Ph.D., an Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis professor of anthropology and museum studies at the School of Liberal Arts and Jessica Welch, an IUPUI student and a formerly homeless woman, have completed a unique study of the material culture of the homeless. The researchers discovered that the problem of homelessness is broader and much more complex than previously thought. For this study, Zimmerman and Welch focused on sites near downtown Indianapolis where homeless sought outdoor shelter.  They located camps – many of them in use for long periods of time – where the homeless found or created shelter. They photographed these sites and conducted inventories of what the homeless threw away or left behind when they were away from the camp. They looked for patterns or clusters of certain types of materials such as clothing, shoes, food, cardboard laid out as furniture, or tarps providing shelter. Some of their findings and even what they did not find surprised them. "We found a large number of food cans. Most had been opened, often not very successfully, with knives or by banging them against rocks or even by heating them until the contents exploded. We rarely found cans that had been opened by a can opener. That made us realize that they didn't have can openers, which must have been very frustrating to them," said Zimmerman. "We also found a lot of hotel-size bottles of shampoo and conditioner, deodorant and toothpaste. Only the toothpaste was used. This tells us that giving things like shampoo and conditioner to individuals without access to water doesn't make sense. It would be better to send these kinds of things to shelters and not distribute then to people living on the streets. When we try to deliver aid to the homeless we tend to give them what we think they need. A much better way to deliver aid is to target what they actually need, and our work on the material culture of the homeless may help us find out what that really is," said Zimmerman.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124130956.htm

Synthetic Sea Worm Glue May Mend Shattered Knee, Face Bones

Sandcastle worms live in intertidal surf, building sturdy tube-shaped homes from bits of sand and shell and their own natural glue. University of Utah bioengineers have made a synthetic version of this seaworthy superglue, and hope it will be used within several years to repair shattered bones in knees, other joints and the face.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125085620.htm

Sperm Tail Length Not Everything

Small size and low swimming speeds mean that, in hydrodynamic terms, sperm operate in a very different regime from the one that we are used to. At this microscopic scale, although a longer tail does allow a sperm to generate more thrust, the drag created by a sperm's head is often enough to counteract any such gains.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124194356.htm

Pentagon Shoots $22 Million into Guided Bullet Tech

What if a sniper could fire a bullet that changed course in mid-flight, to hit its target? The Pentagon is handing out nearly $22 million to try to find out. Darpa, the Defense Department's far-out research arm, announced a pair of contracts yesterday, to start designing a super, .50-caliber sniper rifle that fires guided bullets. Lockheed Martin recieved $12.3 million for the "EXACTO" (EXtreme ACcuracy Tasked Ordnance) project, while Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, LLC got another $9.5 million. If the system works, it'll "provide a dramatic new capability to the U.S. military," Darpa says.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/what-if-a-snipe.html

Nat'l Guard Gets Spying, 'Flying Beer Keg' for Iraq

A Pennsylvania National Guard unit will get a new toy before it deploys to Iraq in January -- an odd-looking robotic aircraft, sometimes referred to as "the flying beer keg." Designed by Honeywell, the gasoline-powered Micro Air Vehicle, or gMAV, is designed to be a "hover and stare" drone that can loiter over urban canyons, providing surveillance for small units on the ground. The recon keg uses ducted-fan technology to float through the sky.  Designers have also added a gimbal-mounted sensor so the gMAV's remote video camera can scan the scene without rotating in mid-air.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/national-guard.html

Workers Riot in South China over Job Losses

Laid-off toy factory workers in Guangdong rioted today in another example of rising social unrest as the Chinese economy falters. Once again, news of the protest was first released by the local government, as part of the government's new media strategy to control the message. From AFP: The riot occurred Tuesday in Guangdong province, southern China's export heartland where similar protests have flared recently, after about 2,000 workers gathered to demand severance pay, according to the local government. The workers smashed offices at the factory where they used to work and overturned police cars, with the violence leaving six people injured, the government of Zhongtang township where the unrest occurred said in a statement. "(Rioters) smashed one police vehicle and four police patrol cars… fought with security guards… and entered factory offices breaking windows and destroying equipment," the statement said.

http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/11/workers-riot-in-south-china-over-job-losses/

Miss Tibet, a Pageant Loaded With Controversy and Drama

n these days of tense relations between Beijing and the Tibetan government-in-exile, even the Miss Tibet pageant has become politicized, the Washington Post reports: And the winner was Sonam Choedon, a shy 18-year-old with shiny waist-length black hair and high cheekbones. At 16, she fled her homeland on the Tibetan plateau to Dharmsala, headquarters of the Tibetan Government in Exile.

http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/11/miss-tibet-a-pageant-loaded-with-controversy-and-drama/

Astronomers find hints of water on Saturn moon

Astronomers looking at the spectacular supersonic plumes of gas and dust shooting off one of Saturn's moons say there are strong hints of liquid water, a key building block of life. Their research, appearing in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, adds to the growing push to explore further the moon Enceladus, as one of the solar system's most compelling places for potential life.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/11/26/saturn.moon.water.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories