Dec 11, 2009

Tiger Woods may have a new sponsor

Playboy Magazine may want to sponsor Tiger?

Up-side-down house in Gettorf Germany


Upsy-daisy.

A wooden house is being readied to set it up-side-down in the compound of the zoo in Gettorf, northern Germany.

The fully furnished so-called 'crazy house' has a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and a sleeping room. Visitors can tour the home for a fee.

More about that Nobel Peace Prize...

A Christmas treat for ring tailed lemurs

Calf born with cross on forehead

A calf with a cross on its forehead was born last week at a dairy farm in Sterling, a small, rustic Connecticut town on the Rhode Island border.

There’s only one thing you can say upon seeing a calf born with a cross marking on his head: Holy cow!

The mostly brown calf is half Jersey, half Holstein. Neighborhood children have named him Moses.

Link

Congressional Gold Medal plan for Tiger Woods dropped

Congressman Joe Baca, an avid golfer, introduced a measure in March seeking to give Woods the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress.

The bill states, “To provide for the award of a gold medal on behalf of the Congress to Tiger Woods, in recognition of his service to the Nation in promoting excellence and good sportsmanship, and in breaking barriers with grace and dignity by showing that golf is a sport for all people.”

Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) is abandoning his effort to honor golf star Tiger Woods with the Congressional Gold Medal.

In a statement, Baca said, “In light of the recent developments surrounding Tiger Woods and his family, I will not pursue legislation awarding him the Congressional Gold Medal this session.”

Link

Continuing to blame Bush

Dec 10, 2009

More girls claim affairs with Tiger Woods

More alleged girlfriends of golfer Tiger Woods rush forward to sell their stories.

Well, not really. The photo was taken during the third Stiletto race in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The race is run while wearing spike heel shoes.

Short stay for Prize miffs Norwegians

Barack Obama was in Sweden today to accept his Nobel Peace Prize. An article at the link below reported:

Obama had quite a whirlwind day Thursday - he signed the Nobel guest book, huddled with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, met with King Harald V and Queen Sonja, and delivered an acceptance speech after he was formally presented with the prize.



The photo above shows a smirking Barack Obama with Norwegian politician and Nobel committee member Kaci Kullmann Five.

He skipped out on a host of other activities, including lunch with the king, a news conference at Oslo's Grand Hotel, CNN's traditional interview with the prize winner and a "Save the Children" benefit concert, where organizers replaced him with an Obama cardboard cutout. Obama also won't be around for Friday's Nobel Concert.

Replaced him with an Obama cardboard cutout? Why can’t we do that here in America?

Mr. Obama stiffed the King for lunch: a classless act. His community organizing background just doesn’t measure up to European royalty. At least he didn’t give the King videos of his speeches like he gave the Queen of England.

Cardboard cutout of Barack Obama? Sounds interesting. Maybe they should sell them in the White House gift shop. The proceeds could help reduce the trillions of dollars of debt run up by the Obama administration.

Link

Barack Obama got his Nobel prize today

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

What to do when a compact fluorescent bulb breaks

We had an energy-efficient light bulb suddenly break a seal and a large amount of whitish pungent smelling smoke poured out.

This happened when the light switch was turned on. We were able to turn the switch off quickly but it smelled so bad it took quite a while to air the room out. What would have happened if the bulb had cracked while we were away from home for several hours?

Below is a list of things to do when a compact fluorescent bulb cracks:

1. Keep people and pets away. Open windows, and leave the area for 15 minutes before beginning the cleanup.

2. Do not use a vacuum cleaner, even on a carpet. This will spread the mercury vapor and dust and will potentially contaminate the vacuum.

3. Wear rubber gloves.

4. Carefully remove the larger pieces and place them in a secure closed container, preferably a glass jar with a metal screw top lid and seal it like a canning jar.

5. Scoop up the smaller pieces, as well as the dust, using two stiff pieces of paper such as index cards or playing cards.

6. Pick up fine particles with duct tape, packing tape, or masking tape, and then use a wet wipe or damp paper towel.

7. Put all waste into the glass container, including all material used in the cleanup.

8. Remove the clean-up container from your home and call your local solid waste district or municipality for disposal instructions.

9. Open windows during the next several times you vacuum the carpet to provide good ventilation.

10. As a precaution, consider discarding throw rugs on the area of carpet where the breakage occurred, particularly if the rug is in an area frequented by infants, small children or pregnant women.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you still want to ‘go green’ and use one of those twisted bulbs thrust on us by twisted-science people, go right ahead.

Never mind that breathing the fumes of a CF bulb is a health hazard.

Never mind that the flickering of a CF bulb can cause or aggravate a migraine headache.

Never mind that electromagnetic radiation can be a problem if used in a desk lamp, bedside lamp or anywhere you will be close to the lamp.

Never mind that CF bulbs emit UV-radiation which is harmful to the skin (eg. skin cancer) and the eyes (eg. cataract). Several studies have found that fluorescent bulbs raise the risk for skin cancer when used in close proximity to people.

Never mind that flickering light from CF bulbs can lead to discomfort, headaches/migraines, eyestrain, diminished concentration, seizure-like symptoms in epileptics, worsened symptoms in people with Ménière’s disease, etc.

Link here and here.

Boy gets tongue stuck on frozen pole

A boy in Boise, Idaho got his tongue stuck to a pole.

Boise firefighters used a glass of warm water to free the unidentified boy from the metal fence pole.

Fire Capt. Bill Tinsley says the boy's tongue was bleeding a little, but he was OK and allowed to continue walking to school.


The photo shows Flick putting his tongue on a frozen flagpole as Ralphie Parker watches in the movie A Christmas Story. Flick just had to do it - after all, he was triple-dog dared.

The incident brought back a poignant childhood memory of a winter day when I was in the first grade.

I tried to lick frost from the metal steering bar of a sled while playing in a farmyard near Hurley, South Dakota.

Link

$6M political payoff came from stimulus

An article at the link below reports that:

Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.

Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.

Other questionable payments from the $787 billion stimulus found in federal records can be found here.

Two Academy members say take back Al Gore's Oscar

In light of Climategate, two Hollywood conservatives, Roger Simon and Lionel Chetwynd, have asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to rescind the prestigious, profitable gold Oscar statuette that it gave Al Gore two years ago for the environmental movie "An Inconvenient Truth."


The photo shows Roger Simon on left and Lionel Chetwynd on right.

In 2007, Hollywood's Academy sanctified Gore's cinematic message of global warming with its famous statue, enriched his earnings by $100,000 per 85-minute appearance and helped elevate the Tennesseean's profile to win the Nobel Peace Prize despite losing the election battle of 2000 to a Texan and living in a large house with lots of energy-driven appliances.

This was prompted by the leak two weeks ago of a blizzard of British academic e-mails purporting to show that scientists at the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit systematically falsified data to document the appearance of global warming in recent years.

This leak comes at an inconvenient time just before next the United Nations' climate change meeting that will cause an immense carbon footprint with thousands of people flying to Denmark to talk about saving the environment.

Is it the publicity surrounding the leaked e-mails the reason Al Gore has cancelled his appearance at the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen?

The demand by Simon and Chetwynd to withdraw the Oscar may not have kept Gore form the climate summit but is certainly an embarrassment to the former Vice President.

The raw database of the leaked e-mails can be found here.

The Simon and Chetwynd Oscar withdrawal demand is here.

Dec 9, 2009

Gatorade drops Tiger Woods drink

Golfing great Tiger Woods takes a big hit from sports drink sponsor after bizarre auto accident opened his private life to public.

Before that, the married father of two young children had a pristine image and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in endorsements.

And, while most of Woods' sponsors continue to stand by him, a major one is pulling the plug on a Woods-related product. PepsiCo's Gatorade won't be making any more Tiger-themed drinks.

PepsiCo said the decision to drop Tiger Woods was made before the accident. It is interesting to note that the decision was made before the accident but the announcement was not made until after the accident.

"The more women that come out and the more mistresses we learn about," says so-called reputation doctor Mike Paul of MGP & Associates Public Relations, "the sponsors certainly have more of an evaluation going on, and there's increased pressure for them to at least consider dropping him."

Link

Weather Channel founder says Global warming biggest scam in history

The Weather Channel founder says:

It [global warming] is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it.

Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create in [sic] allusion of rapid global warming.

Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims.

Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda.

Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens.

Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment.

I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic.

Our planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.

In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious.

Link

Christmas shopping in bad economic times

This was a winner in a recent cartoon caption contest by Gary Varvel, a cartoonist for the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

Obama has closed-door meeting on open-government

The Obama administration has promised to be transparent. No secrets - everything out in the open.

Then comes news of a closed meeting on openness. It's hardly the image of transparency.

A workshop on government openness that is closed to the public is an oxymoron.

The event Monday for federal employees is a fitting symbol of President Barack Obama's uneven record so far on the Freedom of Information Act, a big part of keeping his campaign promise to make his administration the most transparent ever.

As Obama's first year in office ends, the government's actions when the public and press seek information are not yet matching up with the president's words.

More here.

Harry Reid compares ObamaCare opponents to supporters of slavery

Senator Harry Reid (pictured) has outdone himself.

Since Barack Obama entered the White House, Reid and other left-wing liberals in Washington have used the ‘race card’ whenever a potential roadblock appears in the president’s path.

Reid is now using the ‘idiot card.’

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took his GOP-blasting rhetoric to a new level Monday, comparing Republicans who oppose health care reform to lawmakers who clung to the institution of slavery more than a century ago.

The Nevada Democrat, in a sweeping set of accusations on the Senate floor, also compared health care foes to those who opposed women's suffrage and the civil rights movement.

Mr. Reid must have forgotten that it was Republicans who led the charge against slavery and it was Sen. Strom Thurmond, then a Democrat, who unsuccessfully tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

A recent Wall Street Journal report asked the question:How did such an unappealing man who says so many foolish things get so far in politics?

The answer is simple. It’s the ‘Peter Principle’ formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter, which holds that in a hierarchy, all members rise to the level of their incompetence.

Harry Reid has demonstrated that he has actually exceeded his level of incompetence.

Link

Dec 8, 2009

Gift to terrorists: complete TSA manual posted online

Massive security breach as TSA gave away its secrets!

Photo shows airport screeners at work.

Transportation Security Administration officials said a review was under way to determine how a complete 2008 copy of its standard operating procedures for all airport security checkpoints was available on the Internet.

The agency said the operating procedures were "improperly posted" on a federal business opportunities site with redacted material that was not adequately protected. A link to the document went dead Monday but by then it had been picked up and spread on line by bloggers.

Christmas came early this year for terrorists and smugglers.

Link

Parking attendant wanted

Wanted: parking lot attendant. The last one didn’t work out.

Pilots of wayward NW Airlines plane now blame controllers

The Northwest Airlines pilots who flew their jet past their destination city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 21 have blamed air traffic controllers for the snafu.

Capt. Timothy B. Cheney and First Officer Richard I. Cole are claiming air traffic control rules weren't followed, which contributed to the incident.

Photo shows First Officer Richard Cole talking to a reporter at his home in Salem, Oregon after the incident.

"The air traffic controller(s) did not comply with the requirements of the air traffic control manual and other relevant orders, rules, procedures, policies and practices with respect to Northwest Flight 188, nor coordinate effectively with Northwest dispatch, and such failure was a causal or contributing factor in the incident," they said. The responses were filed November 24, but made public Monday.

The pilots are appealing the revocation of their licenses by the FAA.

The National Transportation Safety Board has reported that the pilots told investigators they used personal laptop computers during the flight, in violation of company policy, and lost track of time.

Now, several weeks later the air traffic
controller accusation surfaces.

Link

Climate summit in chaos after Danish text leak

A headline from the UK says:

Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol.

First the leaked e-mails and now this. They will be scrambling to sweep it all under the carpet.

The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" – but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark – has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalized this week.

The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.

As mentioned above, developing countries are reacting furiously to the leaked “text.” They arrived hoping for huge monetary handouts. After all, that’s what happens when socialists get together - the poor and lazy are rewarded by the fruits of the labors of others.

In this case, the poor countries are out of luck. It’s survival of the fittest ... make that survival of the richest. Actually, there is no difference is there?

The following sentence is all you really need to know about the text:

Few numbers or figures are included in the text because these would be filled in later by world leaders.



The photo above shows a man watching an animated projection showing the different acidity levels of the ocean. But just wait until Al Gore arrives with his books and movie ... but just a minute ... Mr. Gore cancelled his appearance at the Copenhagen global summit ... he won’t be there.

Link

Is Tiger out of the woods?

As a result of wedging his Cadillac Escalade between a tree and a fireplug, Tiger Woods received a $164 fine and 4 points on his drivers license. But is Tiger out of the woods?

Did Tigers’s wife really smash windows on the Escalade? Somebody sure did. The photos below show both the left and right rear side windows broken.




Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Tiger Woods wife, 29-year-old Elin Nordegren, has reportedly moved out of the couple’s Florida mansion, as her embattled husband was linked to a notorious porn star and his alleged tally of mistresses has reached a total of 10.


The photo above shows Tiger and Elin during happier times.

The $164 fine will be a pittance compared to a divorce settlement, which could, by some accounts, reach as high as one third of his billion dollar estate.

Link

Consoling Tiger Woods


Philanderers Bill Clinton and David Letterman console Tiger Woods

Climate change comedy in Copenhagen

A report at the link below has this to say about the United Nations climate change conference that began in Copenhagen yesterday:

Imagine an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where all the members showed up drunk and with extra cases of wine, beer, and booze to keep them happy.

Now imagine that that same group of drunks was empowered to make trillions of dollars worth of economic decisions for everybody in the world.

This absurd scenario swiftly summarizes the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The report also calls attention to the “do as I say, not as I do” mindset of the conference:

Despite the fact that the entire conference is founded on the belief that human economic activity, especially flying and driving, is emitting levels of greenhouse gasses that will soon kill us all, plutocrats from around the world have marshaled over 1,200 limos and 140 private planes to travel to and around Copenhagen over the next two weeks.

When they are not participating in the world’s oldest profession (prostitutes in Copenhagen have reportedly offered their services free to conference attendees), conferees will be negotiating over a successor treaty to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which obligated most developed nations to reduce their greenhouse emissions by 5 percent below 1990 baseline levels by 2012.

The main reason Europe failed to meet their Kyoto obligations was the tremendous cost of reducing emissions.

The costs to our economy would be huge.

Much more or the story here.

Dec 7, 2009

Remembering the December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack

A day that will live in infamy” - F.D.R.

One survivor of the devastating Pearl Harbor attack 68 years ago said, “Remember the people who gave their lives. They say we're heroes - we're not heroes. We're survivors. The heroes are still out there.”


The photo above was widely publicized in the United States during World War II. It shows the sinking of the battleship USS West Virginia.

Sailors in the motor launch are looking for survivors in the water near the USS West Virginia.

This photo shows the battleship USS Arizona sinking.

Former NASA climate scientist admits fraud

Mark Schoeberl, former top climate scientist who had become one of the scientific world's most cited authorities on the human effect on Earth's atmosphere was sentenced to probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to steering lucrative no-bid contracts to his wife's company.

Schoeberl, 60, a former NASA climate scientist has brought a cloud over the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen this week.

The charge against Mr. Schoeberl is not connected to climate science. However, the serious criminal charge against him will undoubtedly create doubt about his integrity in the scientific world.

Wouldn’t it be just as easy for him to commit scientific fraud?

The timing of Mr. Schoeberl’s conviction couldn’t have been worse for the ‘global warming community.’

Link

Where’s Rudolph?


A diver in a Santa Claus costume welcomes visitors to an aquarium at Kaiyukan in Osaka, Japan.

Scrambling to say what Obama meant to say

Since the recent speech at West Point by Barack Obama, others in the administration have been scrambling to say what Mr. Obama meant to say.

Photo shows unimpressed West Point cadets during Obama’s speech.

The pro-Obama main stream media in this country mostly glossed over Obama’s 18-month Afghan withdrawal strategy outlined in the speech.

Foreign media has not been as kind. A report from the UK in the Daily Telegraph is titled Obama team’s alarmingly muddled message on Afghanistan.

As Senator John McCain says in an interview, Barack Obama got it right on Afghanistan apart from one potentially ruinous error – setting a date for beginning to withdraw US troops.

Since that controversial speech, Defense Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been scrambling to say what Mr. Obama meant to say.

On Sunday’s talk shows Hillary Clinton said “we are not talking about an exit strategy and a drop-dead deadline”.

Robert Gates said the date was firm but admitted the number of withdrawals could be miniscule.

This is not the first time others in the administration have needed to follow Mr. Obama around with a broom and mop.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is often forced to stammer around trying to alibi for Mr. Obama.

Link

'Unfriend' is word of the year as Facebook invades the dictionary

The New Oxford American Dictionary is not afraid of verbing a noun as they name 'unfriend' as its 2009 Word of the Year.

Oxford senior lexicographer Christine Lindberg said the word had both currency and potential longevity.

In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.

She said most prefixed words beginning with 'un' were adjectives, such as 'unacceptable' or 'unpleasant'.

"There are certainly some familiar 'un-' verbs (uncap, unpack), but 'unfriend' is different from the norm.

Facebook-logo Facebook users often accept dozens, or even hundreds, of other users as “friends.”

Facebook users are also given the option of removing a Facebook friend. Removing a friend is call unfriending.

In fact, unfriending is easier than making a friend on Facebook. When making a friend, both members must agree to the “friendship.” However you can unfriend someone on Facebook without anyone else’s knowledge.

It can be done anonymously. No one else would know and the only way the unfriend would know is to look at their list of friends and see who’s name is no longer there.

Link

Sickly looking men selling healthful eating books on Public TV

Mike Anderson and Gary Null have fund-raising programs on Public Television selling books and videos promoting healthy diets.

Anderson claims that if you drink a glass of milk, you just as well eat the same amount of red meat. That's when he lost me.

Null loves to show a large table of raw fruits and vegetables. It’s healthy of course but can’t we just do a little cooking?

And both of these guys look rather sickly. Some even say they look like death warmed over.

One has the worst color and complexion we have seen in a long time and the other appears gaunt and hollow as if he is malnourished.

They may be experts in their field but who on earth would want to buy healthy diet material from people who look so unhealthy?

Just asking.

HHS will be a federal giant under ObamaCare

From a Washington Examiner report:

A quick search of the Senate health bill will bring up "secretary" 2,500 times.

That's because Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (pictured) would be awarded unprecedented new powers under the proposal, including the authority to decide what medical care should be covered by insurers as well as the terms and conditions of coverage and who should receive it.

"The legislation lists 1,697 times where the secretary of health and humans services is given the authority to create, determine or define things in the bill," said Devon Herrick, a health care expert at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would also have the power to decide where abortion is allowed under a government-run plan, which has drawn opposition from Republicans and a few moderate Democrats.

And the bill even empowers the department to establish a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation that would have the authority to make cost-saving cuts without having to get the approval of Congress first.

More here.

Dec 6, 2009

Anderson Cooper ratings tumble

Was CNN wise to dump Aaron Brown in favor of Anderson Cooper (pictured) in November of 2005?

Cooper has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year.

His 10 p.m. (8 p.m. central time) show, "Anderson Cooper 360," has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures.

Last month, in Cooper's time slot, Fox News' "On the Record" attracted an average viewership of 1.9 million while "360" averaged 672,000.

Re-runs of "Countdown" on MSNBC and the Nancy Grace show on Headline News averaged 655,000 and 458,000, respectively. One wonders how long before Anderson Cooper will be at the very bottom of the Cable News race.

Maybe if Cooper wouldn’t stammer around so much ....

Link

Cash for clunker sleighs program

This portrayal of Obama offering Santa cash for his sleigh was a winner in a recent cartoon caption contest by Indianapolis Star cartoonist Gary Varvel.

How do you portray yourself on Facebook?


There is a Time magazine blog entry at the link below titled, The psychology of Facebook profiles.

The report says Facebook allows members to create whatever public persona they would like with personal data and profile photos.

One would think members would write flattering information about themselves and use attractive photos and “editing down their thoughts to the most clever and pithy before posting them in a status update, carefully choosing favorite books and movies to portray a certain sophistication.”

Not so, say researchers from the University of Texas at Austin.

Instead of using Facebook to create rose-tinted portraits of themselves, more often people's Facebook profiles reflect their authentic personalities, with all of the quirks, funny faces and moodiness they entail.

What it basically boils down to is: most people will be themselves. Nice people will portray that on Facebook. If they’re a jerk in real life, they'll be one on Facebook too.

Link