Weird Facts

2010-06-15T06:12:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-15T02:01:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-15T01:17:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-14T00:53:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-12T05:28:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-09T23:46:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-09T04:37:00.001-07:00

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Is it difficult to find a needed speech topics?

2010-03-24T03:59:00.000-07:00

I mean seriously, have you ever had that feeling, when you have a homework to do and you just can't think of any speech topics you might want to use? It's not that difficult though.

You might want to go on and the check the great weblog on how to prepare and give a speech. Here is a link: http://www.bragar.net/

Shocking Fact: Did You Know That Breakdance Was Invented By Soviet Army ? [Video Proof]

2009-04-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

Here is an amazing video, showing some cool moves :-) The video is more than 50 years old actually!
Still have some doubts ? There is even a battle in the middle

Just enjoy the video, this really is something )

Weird Facts - Man Charged With Killing Hawk To Help Squirrel

2009-02-20T00:04:00.000-08:00

VIENNA, Va. -- For a Virginia doctor, squirrels are a man's best friend, too. Thomas Shepler, a hand surgeon, shot a hawk to death in his backyard when he said the bird was eyeing a young squirrel that he and his wife had helped raise.

Shepler, 65, said the hawk had previously killed an adult squirrel near his suburban Washington home in Vienna. When the doctor tried to chase away the bird over the weekend by yelling and throwing a crowbar at it, the hawk didn't leave the area. So Shepler got a shotgun and killed it.

A police officer heard the shot Saturday and Shepler was arrested. He was charged with discharging a firearm in public and cruelty to animals. Shepler says he cares about animals and is feeling a lot of anxiety and embarrassment over the shooting.

[Via - KiroTV]

Ark. man left the phone at a McDonald's; he's now suing for $3 million. Guess why?

Ark. man left the phone at a McDonald's; he's now suing for $3 million. Guess why?

2008-11-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

Here's some food for thought: If you have nude photos of your wife on your cell phone, hang onto it.

Phillip Sherman of Arkansas learned that lesson after he left his phone behind at a McDonald's restaurant and the photos ended up online. Now he and his wife, Tina, are suing the McDonald's Corp., the franchise owner and the store manager.

The suit was filed Friday and seeks a jury trial and $3 million in damages for suffering, embarrassment and the cost of having to move to a new home.

The suit says that Phillip Sherman left the phone the Fayetteville store in July and that employees promised to secure it until he returned.

Manager Aaron Brummley declined to comment, and other company officials didn't return messages.

Stick added to the National Toy Hall of Fame - Weird Facts

2008-11-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

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The lowly stick, a universal plaything powered by a child's imagination, landed in the National Toy Hall of Fame on Thursday along with the Baby Doll and the skateboard.

The three were chosen to join the Strong National Museum of Play's lineup of 38 classics ranging from the bicycle, the kite and Mr. Potato Head to Crayola crayons, marbles and the Atari 2600 video game system.

Curators said the stick was a special addition in the spirit of a 2005 inductee, the cardboard box. They praised its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities, noting its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed in myriad ways by a child's creativity.

"It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price — there aren't any rules or instructions for its use," said Christopher Bensch, the museum's curator of collections. "It can be a Wild West horse, a medieval knight's sword, a boat on a stream or a slingshot with a rubber band. ... No snowman is complete without a couple of stick arms, and every campfire needs a stick for toasting marshmallows.

"This toy is so fantastic that it's not just for humans anymore. You can find otters, chimps and dogs — especially dogs — playing with it."

Longevity is a key criterion for getting into the hall, which the museum acquired in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Ore. Each toy must not only be widely recognized and foster learning, creativity or discovery through play, but also endure in popularity over generations.

While dolls have been around since ancient times, the Baby Doll with its realistic newborn features emerged in the late 18th century and has been through hundreds of incarnations. Today's models can crawl, drink and even talk via voice-activated commands.

"It is generally thought of as lovable and cuddly, even if it can doze off or cry during play," said Susan Asbury, an associate curator. "Toy designers have spent decades making it ever more lifelike and true to form. ... It promotes imaginative play and brings out the nurturing side in all of us."

The first skateboarders in the 1950s cruised walkways on California beaches trying to match the speed, turns and tricks performed by surfers they watched offshore.

Apart from being fun, practicing ollies, grinds and primos "promotes individualism ... artistic expression and it's also very athletic," skateboard icon Tony Hawk said in a video message played at the induction ceremony.

[Via madconomist.com]

Weird Facts: In the 1990s, your family came for dinner. Now they're moving in.

2008-09-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

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The number of parents, siblings and other relatives who live with adult heads of households grew 42% from 2000 to 2007, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Leading the way: parents, up 67%, to 3.6 million.

The figures suggest it isn't only elderly parents moving in. The number of parents under 65 in these households increased by 75%, and those 65 and older were up 62%. Both groups outpaced the increase in the number of people in family households overall, which is up 6% since 2000.

"This is just a major trend," says Stephanie Coontz, a family history professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., who directs research at the Council on Contemporary Families.

Coontz suspects that a host of factors — among them higher housing costs and the nation's struggling economy — are prompting families to combine expenses. Also, intergenerational households are more common among the country's growing number of immigrants, she says.

But Coontz also notes that parent-child relationships are closer now than in the past. The downside, she says, is the emergence of the so-called helicopter parent who may hover too closely, but the upside is a tighter bond between generations and, in many cases, closer friendships between grown children and their parents. "I don't know how many of my students have told me, 'This may sound weird, but I talk to my parents more than I talk to my friends.' "

The average size of both families and households grew from 2000 to 2007, the data show, after shrinking slightly in the 1990s. The average family in 2007 had 3.2 people, up from 3.14 in 2000. The average household, which includes those in which someone lives alone, had 2.61 people in 2007, up from 2.59 in 2000.

Among other factors changing households:

• A 40% increase in the number of other live-in relatives, including the head of household's mother-in-law or father-in-law, to 6.8 million.

• A 24% increase in the number of live-in brothers and sisters, to 3.5 million in 2007.

• An 8% increase in non-relatives, including unmarried partners and roommates, to 6.2 million.

• Alaska had the highest percentage change in parents living with householders, up 167%. South Dakota had the lowest, still up 7%.

The Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey collects data from about 3 million U.S. households each year.

[Via - USAToday.Com]

Scientists to use satellites to count kangaroo rats | Weird facts

2008-09-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

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FRESNO, Calif. — Scientists plan to use satellite photos to count Giant Kangaroo Rats, the first-ever monitoring of an endangered species from outer space.

Scientists will examine images taken from the same satellite used by Israeli defense forces to find the circular patches of earth denuded by the rats as they gather food around their burrows. From that they plan to get the first-ever accurate population count of the rodents, a bellwether for the health of a parched plains environment.

By comparing the photos to 30 years of satellite images being released this month by the U.S. Geological Survey, researchers hope to better understand how the population has fluctuated in response to climate change and as the arrival of state and federal canal water turned the arid San Joaquin Valley into a patchwork of intensely cultivated farms and forced Giant Kangaroo Rats to concentrate on higher ground.

The information will help scientists determine when cattle might be used to reduce nonnative grasses, allowing the rats to more easily find food.

This study using satellite technology is taking place on the vast Carrizo Plain, a 390-square-mile desert grassland 150 miles southwest of here that is home to the most concentrated remaining populations of kangaroo rats.

The technology replaces trapping and tedious airplane fly-overs as a means of taking census.

"It allows us to more quickly recognize whether populations are declining where we want them to exist," said Scott Butterfield, a biologist with of The Nature Conservancy. "If they go below a threshold, that is when we would consider intervening."

Giant Kangaroo Rats, nocturnal rodents so named because they hop on back legs, adapted to their desert environment by extracting moisture from seeds and in their nasal passages from the humid air they exhale. For food, they pile seeds from native grasses in circles outside their burrows, which provide shelter for the endangered San Joaquin antelope squirrel and blunt-nosed lizards. Their fat five-inch bodies are a favored source of food for the endangered kit fox.

High rainfall encourages the growth of taller nonnative grasses, which overrun the shorter grasses that kangaroo rats depend on for food. Less food means fewer offspring. When kangaroo rats decline, so do the endangered native plant and animal species that depend on them for survival, the researchers say.

Determining at what point rainfall affects foraging will help the U.S. Bureau of Land Management establish grazing policy to control nonnative grasses and encourage a healthy kangaroo rat population.

"Without them the entire ecosystem would go out of whack," said Tim Bean, a doctoral student with the department of environmental policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley. "It's fairly rare for something so small to be a keystone species. It's easier to track, say, bison."

Farming has taken 90 percent of the kangaroo rat habitat since the middle of the last century.

The Carrizo Plain National Monument is California's largest remaining undisturbed tract of grasslands similar in biology and geography to the San Joaquin Valley, and it supports many plant and animal species that once thrived on the valley floor.

"Carrizo is like a Yosemite for grasslands, and there are decisions people are learning to make to manage it in a way that preserves its natural state," Bean said. "Since the kangaroo rat is so important to its function, we've got to get a handle on it."

[Via - WRAL]

Weird Facts: Slovakia's women's ice hockey pummels Bulgaria 82-0

2008-09-10T02:45:00.000-07:00

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) -- With more goals than minutes in the game, Slovakia's women's ice hockey team claimed an amazing 82-0 victory over Bulgaria in Olympic qualifying.

Slovakia outshot the Bulgarians 139-0 during the 60-minute game, played in Latvia. The margin of victory is a record for a women's International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event.

"We took it as training," Slovakia coach Miroslav Karafiat said after Saturday's game.

Janka Culikova led Slovakia with 10 goals, while Martina Velickova scored nine. Fourteen different players scored at least one goal.

Slovakia, which also beat Croatia, Latvia and Italy, advanced to another qualifying group with Germany, Kazakhstan and France. The winner will secure a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Bulgaria was eliminated after scoring one goal and conceding 192 in the tournament.

The Slovakian men's team clinched its biggest ever victory against the Bulgarians 14 years ago when they won 20-0.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press.

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Weird Facts: Help-wanted ad for nanny: `My kids are a pain'

2008-09-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
NEW YORK (AP) - It was an unusually honest ad for a live-in nanny, a 1,000-word tome beginning, "My kids are a pain." But it worked, attracting a brave soul who's never been a nanny before.

"If you cannot multitask, or communicate without being passive aggressive, don't even bother replying," Rebecca Land Soodak, a mother of four on Manhattan's Upper East Side, wrote Aug. 19 in her advertisement on Craigslist.

"I can be a tad difficult to work for. I'm loud, pushy and while I used to think we paid well, I am no longer sure."

This being the age of instant communications, the ad took on a life of its own, making the rounds of parenting blogs and e-mail inboxes and inspiring an article in Thursday's New York Times.

Soodak, a 40-year-old painter whose husband owns a wine store, eventually hired Christina Wynn, a 25-year-old University of Virginia graduate, to take care of Rubin, 12; Ellis, 9; and Shay and Cassie, both 6.

"I made a commitment to stay in the job for at least a year," Wynn told the Times. "I met the oldest child, but not the others, which my mother said was crazy - to accept the job without meeting all the kids. So we'll see." She noted that one of the pluses is that the children are all in school for several hours each day.

Some other excerpts from the listing: "If you are fundamentally unhappy with your life, you will be more unhappy if you take this job, so do us all a favor and get some treatment or move to the Rockies, but do not apply for employment with us."

And this: "Also, if you suspect all wealthy women are frivolous, we are not for you."

And this: "I have all sorts of theories on how to stack my dishwasher, and if you are judgmental about Ritalin for ADHD, or think such things are caused by too much sugar, again, deal-break city."

No word yet on whether a sequel to "The Nanny Diaries" is in the works. Meanwhile, Soodak tells the Times: "I hope she likes it here. I sent the ad to one of my old sitters and she said she felt it was pretty accurate, which sort of stung a little bit."

[Via - MyWay.Com]

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How to Start an IT Consulting Business

2008-09-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

IT, or informational technology, refers to the development and use of computer-based technology. This can mean many different things, starting with the design of computer software and ending with the transmission of information over the Internet or via specialized networks. A consulting business can cover several aspects of the industry or focus on just one, depending on your areas of expertise.

granted by: New York IT Consulting

Step1
Decide what type of services you will offer. This depends mainly on your knowledge, although it's possible to start an IT consulting business by joining forces with experts in other fields and offering a more comprehensive service. In any case, you still need to make up a list of services offered and a list of services you won't be able to provide (so you can turn down or refer work as soon as you are asked).

Step2
Decide what type of IT company you want to start. If you work on your own and freelance for companies, you will have to file your own taxes. If you form a corporation, you will be entitled to tax breaks and government help that you would not have as an independent worker.

Step3
Set up a website that looks professional. Have a professional do it for you if you don't have the knowledge, and make sure the site is optimized for search engines. Your website should offer a good view into what your company does, what type of problems you can solve and what the credentials of the people in the team include.

Step4
Look for steady work from a single company (or two) rather than small jobs from many different ones. While the small side jobs are great as extras, they may not provide enough income to keep up with payroll and business expenses. Working as an IT consultant for a single company means steady revenue and more peace of mind.

Step5
Visit the website of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) for information on setting up a consulting practice that takes advantage of the latest developments in the industry (see Resources below). The ITAA website also offers data on policy issues and membership opportunities for more direct support.

Gunshot victim sues to get prosthetic leg back | Weird Facts

2008-09-04T01:10:00.000-07:00

ALLIANCE, Neb. - After being shot five times last weekend, a western Nebraska man had to go to court to get his prosthetic leg back from prosecutors. The Box Butte County Attorney's office gave Val McCabe's leg back Wednesday after a judge ordered it returned.

McCabe, 58, shot during a roadside incident on Friday, was listed in good condition at a hospital in Scottsbluff. Prosecutors wanted to run tests on the leg and the bullet lodged inside.

McCabe, who lost his leg below the knee in a railroad accident roughly 30 years ago, filed his lawsuit Tuesday.

McCabe lawyer argued it wasn't practical for him to replace the specially built, $28,000 prosthesis.

Alliance Police removed the bullet from the leg before returning it. No arrests had been made by Wednesday.

Via - Yahoo.news

Weird facts: Nigerian man to divorce 82 wives

2008-09-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

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A Nigerian religious leader with 86 wives has accepted an Islamic decree ordering him to divorce all but four of them, local authorities say.

A spokesman for the emir of Bida told the BBC that Mohammadu Bello Abubakar, 84, agreed on Saturday to comply with the decree.

Last week one of Nigeria's top Islamic bodies, the Jamatu Nasril Islam, sentenced him to death.

The sentence was lifted but he was threatened with eviction from his home.

Earlier, Mr Abubakar had challenged Islamic scholars, saying there was no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives.

"I have not contravened any established law that would warrant my being banished from the land... There is no law that says one must not marry more than four wives," the AFP news agency reported him as saying.
Inside "Baba's" house
Many of the wives live three to a room, some have seven children

"All my wives are with children and some of these are people I have married and stayed with for over 30 years. How can they expect me to leave them within two days?" he reportedly told local newspapers.

The former teacher and Islamic preacher lives in Niger State with his wives and at least 170 children.

Niger is one of the Muslim majority states to have reintroduced Sharia punishments since 2000.

Several people have been sentenced to death for adultery by Sharia courts but none of these sentences have been carried out.

[Via - BBC]

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Kentucky politician jailed after joke | Weird Facts

2008-08-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

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weird facts - Politicians are known for lame jokes. But when Otis "Bullman" Hensley tried a generations-old Appalachian jest on a woman and two girls at the grocery store, the family thought it was downright criminal.

Hensley, who earned notoriety for oddball antics as a longshot gubernatorial candidate, spent three days in jail in this eastern Kentucky coal town last week after being arrested over the wisecrack.

"Jay Leno makes jokes every night and makes millions," Hensley said in his thick Appalachian accent. "I make one joke and go to jail."

He could have faced as many as 10 years in prison, but a charge of attempted unlawful transaction with a minor was dismissed on Monday.

The ordeal began last week when Hensley's wife sent him to a local grocery store to buy ground beef. While there, Hensley encountered a woman with her two nieces, ages 11 and 13. "I offered to trade her a fattening hog for those girls," Hensley said. "I meant it as a joke. I've said it a million times. Most people get a kick out of it."

The woman didn't laugh. Instead, the family obtained a warrant for Hensley's arrest from the local prosecutor, claiming the comment was intended to entice the children into illegal sexual activity.

On Tuesday, the girls' father accepted an apology from Hensley and shook hands with him in a Harlan County courtroom. The man declined to discuss the case with reporters afterward.

Prosecutor J.D. Smith asked the judge to dismiss the charge, saying both sides want to put the matter behind them.

"He absolutely meant no harm," Smith said of Hensley. "It was a joke to him."

Appalachian scholar Loyal Jones said the jest Hensley made has been around for generations and actually is intended as a compliment.

"I've heard many variations of that," said Jones, retired director of Berea College's Appalachian Center. "You might hear 'That's a good looking boy; I'd trade you a pocket knife for him' ... Political correctness has ruined country humour."

In Kentucky, citizens can obtain arrest warrants simply by filing a complaint with local prosecutors. Defence lawyer Karen Davenport said no investigation is necessary for police to make an arrest when the charge involves an alleged sexual offense.

In the Hensley case, Davenport said, the arrest was unwarranted because he had done nothing criminal.

In the last two gubernatorial campaigns, Hensley travelled the state with a giant Fiberglas bull on which he attached a sign proclaiming that, if elected, he would "chase the bull out of Frankfort." He received 3.3 per cent of the vote in 2003, his best showing.

[Via - CBC.ca]

Amtrak train runs out of fuel, 80 passengers stranded for 2 hours

2008-08-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
SAN DIEGO - It was the little engine that couldn't - because it was thirsty for fuel.

Officials say a planned quick train trip down the U.S. west coast turned into a long haul for more than 80 Amtrak passengers Sunday night when their Los Angeles to San Diego train ran out of fuel.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said the train sat for about two hours on the northern edge of San Diego before another engine came along to push it the last several kilometres into the train station.

The train, which had left Los Angeles at 8:30 p.m., didn't get to San Diego until 1:15 a.m. Monday, two hours late.

Cole described having a train run out of fuel as "an unusual occurrence" and said Amtrak officials will be looking into how it happened.

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Baby whale seems to think yacht is its mother | weird facts

2008-08-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A lost humpback whale calf that bonded with a yacht it seems to think is its mother will likely die within days if it doesn't find another mother to adopt it, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

The 1- to 2-month-old calf was first sighted Sunday in waters off north Sydney, and on Monday tried to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave. Rescuers towed the yacht out to sea, and the calf finally detached from the boat, but the creature returned to an inlet near Sydney Tuesday morning, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate said.

The calf can't survive without mother's milk for long, Dengate told Australia's Fairfax Radio Network.

"It's probably a question of days rather than weeks," he said. "It's a very grim prognosis."

Artificial feeding would be impossible, so the calf's only chance is to find another female whale to accept it, he said.

"If a lactating female with a calf goes past and this calf approaches that animal it may accept it, but ... it's a very slim chance," Dengate said.

[Via - AP]

Illinois sheriff does jail time - voluntarily | Weird Facts

2008-08-21T06:09:00.001-07:00

weird facts
WAUKEGAN, Ill. - The Lake County sheriff is behind bars — voluntarily.

Sheriff Mark Curran said his goal is to talk to inmates so he can see the jail from their perspective. That way he can try to solve potential problems, such as safety issues, and better understand the inmate experience, he said.

Real inmates bunk together in a cell, but Curran will sleep in his own cell for safety reasons. He was locked up Wednesday.

"I want some introspection but let's be realistic. I'm never going to be able to completely create that scenario," Curran told The Associated Press by telephone from jail.

Curran said he's also trying to draw attention to the fact that jails are overpopulated with the mentally ill, the uneducated and repeat offenders. Rehabilitation needs to be a focus, he said.

So far Curran said he has met several inmates, not all of whom appeared to realize he was sheriff. For those who do recognize him, he said he'll have to work to gain their trust.

"There might be some skepticism amongst them," he said. "You break down the walls as much as you possibly can."

Unlike the other inmates, Curran gets to leave on a date he chooses: Aug. 27.

[Via Yahoo.news]

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How to Compare Different Credit Cards

2008-08-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

Before you apply for your next credit card, take the time to compare different cards. By making an informed decision you may save yourself money and frustration in the long run.

Step 1
Compare the current and ongoing interest rates of different Credit Cards before you apply. Though many banks may offer a low introductory interest rate, it is important to know how high the interest rate will increase once that period has ended.

Step 2
Look for additional fees, such as application charges or annual fees. Many times lower interest rate credit cards may be offset by a high annual fees or charges.

Step 3
Check to see if the interest rate differs for services such as cash advances or balance transfers. Many times, the rate may be as much as twice the normal APR.

Step 4
Keep in mind that many credit cards charge you additional fees for purchases made in a foreign country. This is a detail not to be overlooked, especially if you plan to travel or make purchases from overseas vendors.

Step 5
Know what the penalty will be if you charge purchases over your credit limit or make a late payment. These fees may be large and they do earn interest.

Compare the Fringe Benefits

Step 1
Find a card that gives you something in return, such as cash back rewards or airline mileage.

Step 2
Contribute to a cause you care about by selecting a credit card that donates to your university or a favorite charity each time you make a purchase. In many cases, your alumni credit card may serve as alumni dues for your alma mater.

Step 3
Find a credit card to suit your personal style. Many companies are now offering different designs for their credit cards.

Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake | Weird Facts

2008-08-19T01:54:00.000-07:00

weird facts
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Puerto Rican man has been granted his wish to remain standing — even in death.

A funeral home used a special embalming treatment to keep the corpse of 24-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina standing upright for his three-day wake.

Dressed in a Yankees baseball cap and sunglasses, Pantoja was mourned by relatives while propped upright in his mother's living room.

His brother Carlos told the El Nuevo Dia newspaper the victim had long said he wanted to be upright for his own wake: "He wanted to be happy, standing."

The owner of the Marin Funeral Home, Damaris Marin, told The Associated Press the mother asked him to fulfill her dead son's last wish.

Pantoja was found dead Friday underneath a bridge in San Juan and buried Monday. Police are investigating.

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How to Avoid Common Search Engine Optimization Mistakes

2008-08-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

Unless you're a very strange person, you put your website up for the world to see. You want visitors for fun and profit! Why aren’t you getting them? There are lots of answers. The lack of an audience is not one of them. Do you like ray guns? Dinosaur jokes? If the Web has demonstrated one thing, it’s that there’s pretty much no topic that doesn’t have its share of devotees. Let's talk about the mistakes to avoid, step by step.
by California SEO

1. Optimize your coding if your site uses outdated HTML or generally wacky code. Examples include using the bold tag instead of the strong tag, visible HTML tabling, frames and anything else that makes the site look bad, you won't get as many visitors. Comply with the most recent universal HTML standards.

2. Use your titles. Search engines display your titles as links back to your site. If the title says “Index,” that doesn’t tell anyone a thing. Why should they click through? Search engines also give titles a great deal of weight when judging keyword relevance. Don’t stuff your titles with keywords but don’t avoid using them, either.

3. Use social media to promote your site. If your site doesn’t have any social media tools or connections, it’s automatically at a disadvantage. Get a blog, at least. Add buttons that let your visitors report interesting content to social aggregators like Technorati and Digg.

4. Include interesting, well-written content. You can have the most technically search-optimized site in the world, but if real people don’t want to read any of it, it will never improve by much. Search engines want sites that people want to visit. Ethical SEO is as much about increasing this “organic” appeal as good coding. You would think this step would be obvious, but unfortunately, the casual nature of web browsing (You can do it in your underwear!) lulls people into being a bit careless when they put content up.

5. Hire someone if you don't have skills. If you're considering hiring an full-blown SEO firm, see how their other clients rank and have responded to the company's services. Take this guys as an example: California SEO

UK: Two drunk Russian pilots arrested | Weird Facts

2008-08-16T02:24:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
Two Russian pilots who were about to fly a Boeing 767 were arrested at Manchester Airport early today on suspicion they were drunk.

The pair were picked up as they prepared to get in to a 200-tonne empty passenger plane to Moscow.

Security officers alerted police when they smelled alcohol and claim the pair were struggling to stand up as they waited for their jet.

Police went to a hangar where the empty Aeroflot passenger jet was just being towed out after being repaired.

The co-pilots were breathalysed at the scene and sources say they were well above the legal limit for flying.

The legal limit for flying is 20mg of alcohol compared with 35mg for driving.

The pair, 47 and 55, were arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol while acting as crew members.

The jet had no passengers on board at the time and it is understood it was being taken back to Moscow.

The men were taken to the airport police station and later transferred to Cheadle Hulme police station, where they remained in custody.

A security officer told the M.E.N: "They were coming through security when one of the officers smelled that their breath was rather sweeter than it should be. It was reported to the police.

"They went to board their aircraft which was being towed out of the hangar to go back to Russia. It had just had its undercarriage fixed. They were breathalysed.

"You could see they weren't right as they were waiting for the plane to be towed from the hangar. They could not actually stand up on their own. They were holding onto the side of the bus that had taken them to the hangar. They were swaying. That's why we got the police involved straight away."

The Aeroflot Boeing 767 remained at Manchester Airport this morning.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: "Police at Manchester Airport arrested two men under suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol while acting as crew members.

"The men, aged 47 and 55, both from Moscow, were arrested at approximately 3.10am today.

"Inquiries are ongoing."

[Via Sighns of the Times News]

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The Brit women cop who worked as 100 pounds-an-hour hooker! | Weird Facts

2008-08-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
London, Aug 14 ANI: A Brit female cop has been suspended after her colleagues found that she was working as a hooker.

The 28-year-old serving officer was arrested, along with eight women and six men, by the officers investigating prostitution and police corruption across Greater Manchester, Northumberland, Cleveland, Co Durham and the Scottish Borders.

She offered services as a 100 pounds-an-hour escort on a website.The women cop, who worked for Northumbria force, is one of the so-called Notorious Girls on a website run by Neil Lock and wife Natalie. "It is amazing that a serving officer got mixed up in this. She must have known she was gambling with her career,"

The Sun quoted a source, as saying. "If she is found guilty in a court or of an internal disciplinary offence then she is finished. She could never work as an officer again," the source added.

However, Lock and his wife, both 27, who live in a villa in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, with their two young children, insist that they are not acting illegally. They claim payments to the escorts are for "companionship" only and anything else is "a matter of choice between two or more consulting adults".

[Via World of news]

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Weird facts - Debate coaches lose cool, 1 pulls down his pants

2008-08-15T05:41:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - An argument between two debate coaches that was caught on video was not the sharp-witted dialogue typically associated with college debate teams. Instead, the two traded profanity-laced barbs and one of them pulled down his shorts, exposing his underwear.

An eight-minute segment of the argument, in which each cursed repeatedly and one student near the camera can be heard crying, was posted on YouTube on Aug. 2 and has garnered more than 100,000 hits.

"In 18 years of taking part in debates, I have never seen an incident like this one," said Gordon Stables, first vice president of the Cross Examination Debate Association, which sponsored the March tournament in Wichita, Kan., where the argument took place.

Stables, who is also director of the University of Southern California's debate squad, said the association was investigating.

In the video, Fort Hays State University debate coach William Shanahan is shown arguing with Shanara Reid-Brinkley, debate coach at the University of Pittsburgh, during the competition's quarterfinals.

The argument, which appears to be at least in part about race, is punctuated with frequent cursing and name-calling. Shanahan, who is white, and Reid-Brinkley, who is black, scream criticisms about one another's body language during students' debates.

At one point Shanahan screams as he jumps up, then yanks his shorts down to his knees and points his rear end at Reid-Brinkley.

Phone messages left for Reid-Brinkley and Shanahan were not returned Thursday. Officials at Pitt and Fort Hays State, a university of about 9,000 students in western Kansas, said they were investigating.

[Via Yahoo.news]

Weird Facts - Sweet Home Alabama...England?

2008-08-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

link of a day - Who is Shawn Casey? Is He For real?

weird facts
LONDON (Reuters) - Council chiefs in Birmingham were left red-faced when they mistakenly used a picture of their U.S. namesake in Alabama on thousands of official leaflets.

Pamphlets about recycling in the West Midlands bore an image showing the skyline of the city in the Deep South.

Under the headline "Thank You Birmingham!," the picture showed office blocks in the U.S. city, rather than its own distinctive Rotunda tower and the curvy Selfridges store.

The council said it had made a mistake, but had no plans to recall the leaflets.

"We accept that the wrong photo was used but the text and detail contained in the leaflet is wholly correct which is the most important message as we strive to further improve our green credentials," the council said Thursday.

[Via Yahoo.news]

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R.I. man finds cocaine in used police cruiser | Weird Facts

2008-08-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

link of a day - Who is Shawn Casey? Is He For real?

weird facts — A Burrillville town councilor got more than he bargained for when he bought a used police cruiser at auction. Kevin Blais bought the 2004 Ford Crown Victoria in an online auction from the Hartford, Conn., public works department.

He was cleaning it last week when he noticed a cracked area on the one-piece molded seat assembly.

When he removed the seat assembly to clean the floor, he found a plastic bag containing a substance that local police later confirmed was cocaine.

Blais speculates that a suspect stuffed the drugs through the crack to prevent police from finding them. Burrillville Lt. Kevin San Antonio says Hartford police were "apologetic" when he told them of the discovery.

Hartford police spokeswoman Nancy Mulroy said Friday that based on their past experience with drug suspects, Blais' speculation is almost certainly correct.

"It's not unusual that perpetrators or suspects try to hide stuff in the cruisers before they go to booking, where they know they'll be searched," she said.

[Via - WRAL]

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Flu poses greater risk than terrorism | Weird Facts

2008-08-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
A flu pandemic poses greater threat to Britain than terrorism, government risk assessment to warn

National Risk Register illustration of the "high consequence risks" facing the UK

Hundreds of thousands of Britons living abroad would return to the UK if there were a worldwide flu pandemic, the government suggests today.

A Cabinet Office report, which identifies a global flu pandemic as the most serious threat facing Britain, says that officials are drawing up plans that would help them cope if some of the 12 million Britons living abroad were to return home to increase their chances of surviving in the event of a worldwide emergency.

The report, the "national risk register", lists all the most significant risks facing Britain over the next five years. The government has published the information in this form for the first time to help organisations and individuals take appropriate precautions.

Gordon Brown promised that the register would be published when he unveiled his national security strategy earlier this year.

The register does not rank the risks it mentions in order of seriousness. But a chart showing risks according to the relative likelihood of them happening and the relative impact they would have suggests that a flu pandemic scores highest when impact and likelihood are both taken into account.

However, the chart does not include the threat posed by terrorists using a nuclear device because there is no historical precedent for this kind of attack.

The report says that flu pandemics occurred three times in the 20th century and that experts agree that there is a "high probability" of another occurring.

The World Health Organisation estimates that between 2 million and 7.4 million people would die globally.

Within the UK, up to half of the population could become infected and between 50,000 and 750,000 people could die as a result, the report said.

"Normal life is likely to face wider social and economic disruption, significant threats to the continuity of essential services, lower production levels, shortages and distribution difficulties," it says.

"The emergence overseas of an influenza pandemic or other widespread infectious disease may result in a proportion of the British nationals who are not normally resident in the UK (approximately 12 million) choosing to return to the UK. Some returning British nationals would not have the means to support themselves and their return would have a short-term but significant impact upon areas in which they settle."

On terrorism, the report confirms that the national threat assessment currently stands at "severe", meaning that some form of attack is highly likely.

"Many of those networks and individuals who are judged to pose a terrorist threat share an ambition to cause large numbers of casualties without warning," the report says.

It says that the transport system seems to be the most likely target for a terrorist attack, with rail and underground stations "popular targets". But, for any individual, the likelihood of being attacked is "still very low".

[Via guardian.co.uk]

Weird facts: Police reopen 7,000 cases after DNA error

2008-08-08T01:34:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian police will re-examine 7,000 crimes solved through DNA evidence after a mistake forced detectives to free a suspect wrongly accused of murder.

Police in the southern city of Melbourne withdrew charges against Russell John Gesah, accused in July of the 1984 murders of a 35-year-old mother and her nine-year-old daughter.

"It's obviously an embarrassment and we would rather not be in this position," Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland was quoted as saying in Australian media on Thursday.

DNA is supposed to be the most accurate method of proving guilt through evidence samples taken at crime scenes, with the likelihood of matching genetic markers among people said to be around one in 7 billion or greater.

Police last month said a DNA sample taken from the murder scene, where Margaret Tapp was strangled and her daughter Seana raped and later killed, matched Gesah after comparison with 400,000 other DNA profiles on a national database.

Gesah was arrested and faced court, but a later check found the DNA evidence used against him was taken elsewhere and mistakenly tested with samples from the Tapp murder scene.

Overland said every crime solved by DNA in the state since the testing technology was introduced 20 years ago would now be reviewed to check no other bungles had occurred.

"We need to refine our processes and our practices, and that is now happening as a result of this case," he said.

Victorian Law Institute spokesman Michael Brett Young said Gesah had been wrongfully painted as a villain because of police mistakes, possibly damaging public faith in the legal system at a time when corruption scandals were already undermining authorities.

"Really he's been convicted in the court of public opinion due to the actions of the police and the media," Young said on Thursday.

Criminal lawyers said the mistake would almost guarantee future challenges to the accuracy of police DNA evidence.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by David Fogarty)

[Via Reuters]

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How to Arrange an Art Collection

2008-08-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

You've plunked down your hard-earned cash on another acquisition for your home museum. Now take the time to organize and protect your new treasure so that its value will only appreciate.

Step1
Read 56 End Collection Chaos. Take an inventory of all items in the collection. Include the title of the piece, artist's name, date of issue, current condition, when and where you purchased it, purchase price and current value.

Step2
Look into software to help you organize, catalog and manage collections. One example, Art and Antiques Organizer Deluxe (primasoft.com), is geared toward private and corporate collectors, small galleries, artists and dealers.

Step3
Protect artwork from heat sources such as chimneys and vents as well as direct sunlight when choosing display locations. Also beware of humidity and dampness or any area with fluctuating temperatures, such as a doorway or outside wall.

Step4
Find proper Art Storage for pieces that are not currently on display or that you'll be rotating in and out of display areas. Avoid basements, attics and garages, which have moisture and temperature issues. An interior closet on the main floor is a good choice. Otherwise, contact special service regarding professional storage.

weird facts: Homeowners use sign to declare neighborhood 'No Ho Zone'

2008-08-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

weird facts
FLINT, Michigan -- Fed up with prostitution, one Flint couple posted a sign declaring their neighborhood a "No Ho Zone."

Sherrie Lynn and Russ Palmer posted the mantra on a sign outside their home at corner of Court and Hazelton streets after watching drug dealers and prostitutes doing business on the street and finding hypodermic needles and condoms left in their yard.

"We don't want it here," said Sherrie Lynn Palmer, 48. "There's a lot of really good people around here. I don't want to sit here and let the crime fester."

She said she's been walking her dogs down the road, when vehicles would beep at her, mistaking her for a prostitute.

"It all starts with the prostitutes. It brings everything else," she said.

Sherrie Lynn Palmer, a budding artist, made the sign featuring drawings of eyes watching the street and a dog chasing a prostitute. Russ Palmer, 57, got the idea for the sign after seeing a report on the ozone level.

She now is working on newsign to replace the current one.

The couple has lived in the house for four years. When they first moved in, they opened an antique shop, but the business on the street deterred their customers and they closed the business after having some health problems.

Sherrie Lynn Palmer said the criminals and prostitutes don't live in the area anymore, but they still choose to do their business there and at times throughout the day, she said.

"It would be a relief if it was only at night," she said.

However, there are hopes of cleaning up the streets and the neighborhood.

Since the sign went up in May, there has been less activity on the streets, the Palmers said.

"The area's coming up to what we want. We're just waiting it out," she said. "I think it's a sign of hope."

[Via - MLive.Com]

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How to Get Started In eCommerce To Build An Online Store

2008-08-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

The basics for opening an ecommerce website to make money online.

Step1
The first step to starting your own ecommerce site will be the product. There are many factors in determining the products you will offer. You must decide what you are interested in, and will remain interested in for the long term. Also, pricing is a major consideration. If you pay too much for items, you'll never see a profit. Shipping times are also key, especially if you are not using a drop shipping company as your supplier.

Step2
The next step will be choosing and registering a domain name. Use a name that is short and easy to remember, this will help customers find you and return easily. There are many options for registering your name, such as godaddy, that is very inexpensive.

Step3
You site must look professional and be Very Easy to use. Even with the best products at the lowest prices, if your site looks sloppy or is hard to use, you will lose a lot of potential business. So it's time to go and check out the experts: Storesonline Ecommerce Solution. They will most likely solve any your problems so there will be no need to risk it all by relying only on yourself.

Step4
With the site, you will need an shopping cart option, whether you use paypal, google checkout, or another company is a decision that will be made after research and looking for features that are needed for your particular situation.

Hanks hires armed guard to watch builder | weird facts

2008-08-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

weird facts
Tom Hanks' feud with an Idaho builder is continuing to cause tension between the two parties, after the Hollywood actor hired an armed guard to keep an eye on the contractor.

The 'Castaway' star and his wife Rita Wilson recently lost an attempt to sue Gary Storey, the owner of Storey Construction, for $2.5m (€1.6m) over claims the builder messed up renovations on their $10m (€6.3m) home in Sun Valley, Idaho in 2002.

The case was thrown out of court because the couple had already taken the accused to arbitration in 2003, and lost.

Hanks and Wilson plan to appeal the decision, and Storey has been granted permission to return to the site to collect evidence in his defence.

Hanks has employed a gun-carrying guard to follow Storey around at all times when he is on their property - but the move has infuriated the builder after a potentially fatal accident occurred recently.

The stars claim the minder is necessary after Storey once attempted to raid the home at dawn - accusations the constructor has refuted.

Storey's lawyer says: "The other day, the guy (guard) tripped and fell with his gun on him. It could have gone off and had fatal consequences. It is inconceivable that Tom Hanks, who claims to be the voice of the little people, could tolerate this."

[Via Breaking News.ie]

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McDonald's Tests Changes | weird facts

2008-08-05T04:25:00.000-07:00

weird facts - McDonald's Corp. is testing modifications to its popular $1 double cheeseburger, and higher prices for the sandwich, as it prepares to change its Dollar Menu by next year.

In an interview, Don Thompson, president of McDonald's U.S. business, said the company has tested ways to make the burger less expensive to make. Some restaurants are selling it with one slice of cheese instead of two, and billing it as a "double hamburger with cheese." Others are offering a double hamburger without cheese. Some are selling the traditional double cheeseburger at prices ranging from $1.09 to $1.19.

The company is also considering expanding what it considers the middle tier of its menu, items ranging from about $1.30 to $2. "We know customers are facing tough times in this economy," Mr. Thompson said.

Launched in 2003, the Dollar Menu has been a key driver of sales at McDonald's 14,000 U.S. restaurants and has helped it ride out dips in consumer spending. But recently, franchisees have complained that the menu has brought too much unprofitable traffic into their restaurants.

The biggest question for the eight-item menu is what to do with the double cheeseburger, considered its anchor. High dairy prices have pushed up the cost of cheese, and McDonald's predicts more pressure because its beef costs will be higher this year. Mr. Thompson said if McDonald's moves the double cheeseburger off that menu, there would still be some type of $1 burger.

Internal sales documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show that, as of late June, sales of the chain's lattes, cappuccinos and other espresso drinks were off their peak in several main markets where they're being sold. Mr. Thompson said "the numbers really don't tell the story."

Lower-priced beverages, including $1.89 iced coffee and a $1 fountain-drink and sweet-tea promotion, have pulled some sales away from the espresso drinks, which range from about $2 to $3. That was something the company hadn't anticipated, he said.

McDonald's overall beverage expansion, adding espresso drinks, smoothies, cold tea, bottled drinks and ice-blended coffee beverages at U.S. locations, is on track to exceed the company's goal of adding $125,000 a year in sales per restaurant, even though it doesn't yet have national advertising behind it, Mr. Thompson said. He sees McDonald's target of the drinks adding $1 billion a year to the company's sales as "definitely achievable." The rollout will be complete at the end of 2009.

[Via - StartupJournal.Com]

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Police ban pets used to 'pick up women' | weird facts

2008-08-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

weird facts
SAUDI Arabia's religious police have banned selling cats and dogs or exercising them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women.

Othman al-Othman, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Riyadh, known as the Muttawa, told the Saudi edition of al-Hayat the commission had started enforcing an old religious edict.

He said the commission was implementing a decision taken a month ago by the acting governor of the capital, Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz, adding it followed an old edict issued by the supreme council of Saudi scholars.

The reason behind reinforcing the edict now was a rising fashion among some men using pets in public "to make passes on women and disturb families'', he said.

Mr Othman said the commission had instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops "to stop selling cats and dogs''.

The 5000-strong religious police oversees the adherence to Wahabism - a strict version of Sunni Islam, which also forces women to cover from head to toe when in public, and bans them from driving.

[Via - News.Com.Au]

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$5 million doorman fired from his day job | weird facts

2008-08-04T01:22:00.000-07:00

weird facts
NEW YORK - A New York City doorman who kept his day job at an exclusive Park Avenue apartment building after winning a $5 million lottery has been shown the door.

Kate Ferranti, a spokesman for the union representing apartment building workers, said Richie Randazzo notified the union's grievance center on Tuesday that he had been fired.

The building management company, Brown Harris Stevens, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Randozzo's father said Wednesday that the letter did not specify the reason for Randozza's discharge. He declined to give his name and said his son was not home.

Randazzo made $40,000 a year as a doorman. He began taking in another $65,000 every three months after hitting the jackpot on May 2. According to published reports, his attendance record was spotty after he won the lottery.

The Brooklyn resident said when he won that he had no immediate plans to change his life, but allowed that he might indulge in a motorboat and a luxury auto.

Ferranti said the discharge will be investigated by Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union as a routine matter.

[Via Sun Sentinel]

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How to Make More Money with Pay Per Post Blogging

2008-07-30T08:20:00.001-07:00

There are dozens of web sites that specialize in bringing advertisers and bloggers together. This competitive industry is called pay per post blogging, and it's taking the internet by storm. Advertisers dish out cash for writers like you to blog about them. It's good exposure for them and the pay is great for the amount of work involved. This article will help you learn how to rise above the competition and produce higher quality paid posts that your sponsors and readers will love.

Article is devoted to this remarkable event - iHype.com Launches

Steps:

Step1
Think long term.
Behind the scenes, advertisers rate the quality of your blog posts. If a particular advertiser isn't pleased with the way you handled the job, it could potentially damage any chance you have at getting paid to blog in the future.

So while it may be easy to write a quick post for $5, it's better to invest a bit of extra time to understand what your advertiser wants out of the deal. Read the request completely. If an advertiser says, "A second link to our website would be appreciated, but is not required", go out of your way and create that second link. Do what you can to please them, and they will return with more opportunities for you.

Also, just because you are writing a pay per post ad doesn't mean it can't be a normal blog post that your typical readers would enjoy. Spend some time on the sponsors website or searching the web for information that you can use in your post that also fits the content of your blog. It will make your content more seamless and you'll also have a post to be proud of.

Step2
Be honest.
If you've never tried a service or bought a product from the company paying you to blog about them, don't lie about it in your post. It may seem like a good idea on the surface, but think of it this way... your sponsor is paying you for the post. If you lie, they are paying for a false testimonial. This can hurt their company, ruin your reputation as a writer and can get you banned.

Instead, think about reasons why you might use their service or product. How would it help you? How can it help your visitors? Write about these things if you are at a loss for words.

Step3
It's a secret.
If you want future work, don't tell your readers that you are writing paid posts. This includes filtering the posts into a "paid post" category, or tagging them as such. You are basically telling your sponsor that you are embarrassed to write about them.

Remember step one. If you write quality blog posts and casually incorporate the ad, it will look natural. There's no reason to be ashamed. You are helping the company to help you.

If you must mention that the post has been contracted, do it in a positive light. Say "Thanks to ______ for sponsoring my blog!" or "A big thank you to ______ for the support. Check out their website!"

Step4
Get creative.
Make your posts stand out! If you link to your sponsors website, change the color of their link to make it different from all of the others on your blog. This will draw attention to it, which is what the advertiser wants.

You can also spice up your posts with pictures or clip art. You can find a lot of royalty free stock photos on the web if you search a little. This is easy, and it shows your sponsor that you've put a lot of thought and energy into making your post as eye catching as possible. They will love you for it!

Step5
Keep the posts at a minimum.
The paid posts, that is. Your blog should flow seamlessly from post to post. If you mainly blog about celebrities, it would be strange to see a post about Britney Spears and then read about online casinos in the next post and baby formula in the post after that. Keep your sponsored blogging to a 1:10 ratio. That means for every paid post that you do, make sure you've written ten regular blog posts - give or take a few - before you take on another job.

Not only will your visitors stick around to read your posts, but your sponsored posts won't get lost in an ocean of advertisements. Being selective will also force the advertisers to compete for your posts, earning you more respect and of course, more money.

Bears eat workers at remote Russian mines | Weird Facts

2008-07-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

weird facts
TERRIFIED workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues.

At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week.

The gruesome discovery has left their co-workers at the compound in the Olyotorsky district too scared to venture out. A team of snipers, with orders to shoot the bears, is now being dispatched, The Australian reports.

The Kamchatka brown bear is one of the world's largest, with males growing to around 3m and weighing up to 700kg. They can also reach speeds of 48km/h despite their size.

The peninsula, nine time zones east of Moscow and twice the size of Britain, is home to an estimated 16,000 bears.

Environmentalists argue that widespread poaching has caused a fish shortage, prompting the starving bears to become aggressive as they seek out food close to human settlements.

Their arrival has paralysed work at platinum mines owned by the Koryakgeologia company. Geologists refused to leave their compound in Mount Ledyanaya after 20 bears were seen wandering around, while at least 10 animals were spotted at nearby Penisty.

Kamchatka is not alone in facing problems with hungry bears. The mutilated remains of a man were found last month after he was attacked on nearby Sakhalin island, the third person killed by a bear this year.

Last month a woman was mauled to death by a bear that had ventured into the suburbs of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka.

[Via - News.Com.Au]

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The cubicle turns 40 this month | Weird Facts

2008-07-25T02:18:00.000-07:00

weird facts
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The oft-derided "cubicle" is turning 40 years old this month.

The open-office style was originally known as the "Action Office," and was introduced by West Michigan's Herman Miller Company in 1968.

Bill Crooks was one of the first people in America to work in a cubicle. He started in Herman Miller's customer service department in 1967, shortly before the Action Office concept was introduced.

Crooks says he was one of the guinea pigs to test the Action Office "and that was the great part because we had the hands on, helped install it, helped the installers install it, and when it was changed, we would work with it. So we really understood the furniture."

Although, Crooks says Action Office was a tough sell at first. He recalls one of the first meetings when the design was introduced to Herman Miller executives. Crooks says, "After the presentation, they showed us this set up of really ugly stuff and I, with all my wisdom thought, that is never going to sell."

But, the concept caught on quickly. Crooks helped many major companies adjust their entire business style using Action Office, including Texas Instruments, Citibank and, "There was another small company out in White Plains, New York I went to. It was called MasterCard...just come into existence."

Robert Propst designed the Action Office to change with the evolving work space. Crooks says, "You also could have a stand up work surface and the sit down work surface."

When Propst explained the need for the Action Office, Crooks says, "They were describing the office changes that were in the future and they were really talking about stuff way out there, like the paperless office."

From reams and reams of paper files, to a computer on every desktop, Action Office has changed with the way we work, and has changed the way we work.

Herman Miller grew exponentially after Action Office was introduced 40 years ago. It's a design many other companies have adapted as well.

[Via - AZCentral]

13 Stupid Ideas That Made Millions of Dollars

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How to Earn More Interest With an Online Savings Account

2008-07-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

Is your local bank offering poor interest rate percentages on savings accounts? Do you need the security of FDIC insured savings? Read on to learn how to research and obtain a new Savings Accounts using the Internet.

Step1
Tune in to the financial talk show hosts using the websites below on your computer, or your local radio stations. They often will give you the best reliability picture of online savings accounts and their interest rates. You can find a lot of useful info on WaMu website.

Step2
Use a search engine such as Google to find online banks quickly. Click the links below to research the more well-known institutions.

Step3
When you arrive at the banking websites, they generally have a link that states current APR or interest rate they offer. This will vary over time and could potentially change overnight. Have in mind your goals for the money you will invest.

Step4
Shop around on at least two of the websites for the highest interest rates as well as benefits or perks they offer. Choose one that has been around for a few years and has a sound reputation. You could ask your business associates if they have heard of the bank as well. Check out the minimum age, often times they do not have children's bank accounts.

Step5
Do not forget to check the weekly newspaper business section for the latest interest rates and special offers just to compare with what you have found online.

Step6
When you do decide, you should be able to complete most of the sign up process by phone, Internet or by postal mail.

Weird facts: Wind scatters hundreds of bills as man leaves bank, but good Samaritans rush in to help

2008-07-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

weird facts
TORRANCE, Calif. (AP)A dozen bystanders rushed in to help a 70-year-old man after he stumbled leaving a Southern California bank, causing thousands of dollars to scatter in the wind.

Ludwig Geier says hundreds of bills were "gone in no time," flying through the air and littering the First National Bank's parking lot in Torrance on Monday.

Almost immediately, about a dozen bystanders rushed in to help. The machine shop owner says about 96 percent of the money was found.

Geier says he's going to pray for those good Samaritans, adding, "If I could get them together, I'd buy them dinner and drinks."

[Via - Newsday.Com]

100 million pennies displayed in NYC

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Cops arrest woman in alleged restaurant rat scheme | weird facts

2008-07-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

link of the day - Be Part of the Most Watched Reality TV Talent Show

weird facts
APPLETON, Wis. - Appleton police have arrested a woman for allegedly bringing a rat into an upscale restaurant, claiming it was in her meal and then seeking $500,000 to keep quiet.

Sgt. Neal Rabas said the 41-year-old Appleton woman started a claim with Secura Insurance, saying she went to a doctor and had medical expenses.

Rabas said insurance investigators were suspicious so they contacted police.

Bob Doller, co-owner of The Seasons in Grand Chute, said rumors of the incident had negatively affected the business but they had to keep quiet while police investigated.

[Via - Yahoo!News]

Commission Cracks Down On Bully Doctors | Weird Facts

2008-07-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
CHICAGO -- Bullying doctors can make nurses afraid to question their performance, resulting in medical errors, according to a hospital group that announced new requirements for cracking down on intimidating behavior.

Outbursts and condescending language threaten patient safety and increase the cost of care, according to a safety alert issued Wednesday by the Joint Commission, an independent organization that accredits most of the nation's hospitals.

Hospitals will be required by next year to have codes of conduct and processes for dealing with inappropriate behavior by staff, said the group's president, Dr. Mark Chassin. Hospitals without such systems risk losing their accreditation, he said. Powerful doctors mean money for hospitals because they choose where to admit their patients, but they "should not be left off the hook," said Dr. Peter Angood, vice president of the group, which is based in suburban Chicago.

Grena Porto, a nurse involved in the group's efforts, said nurses need to be "appropriately assertive" and feel safe enough to ask a doctor, "Are you sure we're supposed to operate on the right leg, rather than the left?"

Nurses, pharmacists and hospital administrators also can be culprits, but it's the doctors who bully nurses that are the most significant for patient safety, said Dr. Alan Rosenstein, a researcher on the topic.

He applauded the group's action. Rosenstein, medical director of VHA West Coast, an alliance of nonprofit hospitals, surveyed 1,500 hospital employees for a 2005 study published in the American Journal of Nursing, and received comments like these: --"Most nurses are afraid to call Dr. X when they need to, and frequently won't call. Their patient's medical safety is always in jeopardy because of this." --"I have caught myself in the middle of mislabeling specimens after confrontations that have been upsetting." Another survey in 2003 by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices found that 40 percent of health providers said they had kept quiet rather than question a known bully.

Hospitals have pecking orders and are stressful work environments, but "there's a right way and a wrong way to manage that stress," Chassin said.

[Via - KiroTV.Com]

Man sells soul for $3,800 ... to a pizza joint | Weird Facts

2008-07-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

link of the day - Spice up your life
weird facts

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A New Zealand man has sold his soul to hell -- Hell Pizza, that is.

The New Zealand pizza chain said Thursday it had struck a deal with Walter Scott, 24, to buy a deed to his soul, shortly after an online auction site that initially agreed to the sale withdrew it from the Internet because of complaints it was in bad taste.

Scott offered his soul on the TradeMe site on Wednesday, saying he had not found it to be much use.

"I can't see it, touch it or feel it, but I can sell it, so I'm going to palm it off to the highest bidder," Scott, 24, said on the sale site.

The auction attracted more than 32,000 hits and more than 100 bids before it was taken down.

TradeMe business manager Michael O'Donnell said the company had received an "overwhelming number of complaints from the TradeMe community."

"A lot of people felt it was offensive even though we thought it was there for good fun," he told The Associated Press. "So the compliance team pulled it."

He said the auction had also attracted many bogus bids -- while the last bid on the site was listed as $3,799, the last genuine bid was $456.

Rachael Allison, head of marketing for Hell Pizza, which has outlets across New Zealand and trades on a naughty image, said the company contacted Scott shortly after the auction was removed and offered him $3,800.

"The soul belongs to Hell, there is simply no better place for it," Allison told The Associated Press. "He was pretty delighted."

O'Donnell had said on Wednesday that Scott's auction complied with TradeMe's rules because a physical object -- the deed of ownership -- would change hands.

In 2001, 20-year-old U.S. university student Adam Burtle tried to sell his soul on eBay, but the auction was pulled after the company ruling that something tangible needed to be exchanged for a viable sale.

Allison said she would fly to Scott's home town of Wanganui on North Island Friday "to pick up the soul -- or at least the deed of ownership."

The deed would be hung on a wall at the company's headquarters in the northern city of Auckland and an image of it posted on the company's Web site.

"We'd love to get his soul in the virtual world -- to keep it immortal," she said.

[Via - CNN]

Five Things You Did Not Know About Google - weird facts

2008-06-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

1- Google spends $72 million a year on employee meals

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weird facts - Seventy-two million dollars a year -- that works out to about $7,530 per Googler (a term Google uses to identify employees). While the exact details vary depending on location (the Google empire spans the globe), employees at Google's California headquarters, aptly entitled the Googleplex, are welcome to at least two free meals a day from 11 different gourmet cafeterias. As if that weren’t enough, another thing you didn’t know about Google is that in addition to the cafeterias, Google offers numerous snack bars that are chock-full of healthy morsels to munch on.

And that's certainly not all. Is your car in a bit of a rut? Not to worry; Google offers on-site car washes and oil changes. The list of perks for working at Google is never-ending, making it no surprise that it's considered the No. 1 place to work, offering: on-site haircuts, full athletic facilities, massage therapists, language classes, drop-off dry cleaning, day cares, and on-site doctors, just to name a few. Oh, and if your dog is stuck at home and feeling a little lonely, just bring him to work -- Google doesn't mind.

2- Google was originally called BackRub
Like many other booming internet companies, Google has an interesting upbringing, one that is marked by a lowly beginning. Google began as a research project in January 1996 by cofounder Larry Page, a 24-year-old Ph.D. student at Standford University. Page was soon joined by 23-year-old Sergey Brin, another Ph.D. student, forming a duo that seemed destined for failure. According to Google's own corporate information, Brin and Page argued about every single topic they discussed. This incessant arguing, however, may have been what spurred the duo to rethink web-searching and develop a novel strategy that ranked websites according to the number of backlinks (i.e., according to the number of web pages that linked back to a web page being searched), and not based on the number of times a specific search term appeared on a given web page, as was the norm.

Because of this unique strategy, another thing you didn't know about Google is that Page and Brin nicknamed the search engine BackRub. Thankfully, in 1998, Brin and Page dropped the sexually suggestive nickname, and came up with “Google,” a term originating from a common misspelling of the word "googol," which refers to 10100.

The word “google” has become so common, it was entered into numerous dictionaries in 2006, referring to the act of using the Google search engine to retrieve information via the internet.

3- Google loses $110 million a year through "I'm Feeling Lucky"
There's not much to see on Google's main search page, and perhaps simplicity is one of the keys to Google's success. When searching Google, you are given two options: “Google Search” or “I'm Feeling Lucky.” By clicking the former, you are given that familiar list of search results; by clicking the latter, however, you are automatically redirected to the first search result, bypassing the search engine’s results page.

Besides the fun factor, the idea behind the “I'm Feeling Lucky” feature is to provide the user with instant connection to the precise page they are searching for, thus saving them time that would normally be spent perusing endless search results. Sounds harmless enough, right? Not so fast. Because “I'm Feeling Lucky” bypasses all advertising, it is estimated that Google loses about $110 million per year in advertising-generated revenue. So why in the world would any Fortune 500 company not patch such a gaping leak? "It's possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what's delightful about 'I'm Feeling Lucky' is that it reminds you there are real people here," Google Executive Marissa Mayer told Valleywag, an online tech-blog.

4- Google has a sense of humor
Google also offers full language support for Pig Latin, Klingon and even Elmer Fudd. Anyone else still feeling lucky? Try typing, “French military victories” and clicking “I'm Feeling Lucky.” Behold the result.

Some might remember the “miserable failure” fiasco when one typed those words and clicked “I'm Feeling Lucky,” and they were instantly connected to a biography of President George W. Bush on the White House website. Now, before you jump to conclusions, this trick -- which no longer works -- was carried out by members of the online community through the art of “Google bombing.” Google bombing works because of Google's backlink search strategy.

5- Google scans your e-mails
Nothing in life is perfect -- or without controversy -- and Google is no exception. Google scans your e-mails (at Gmail) through a process called “content extraction.” All incoming and outgoing e-mail is scanned for specific keywords to target advertising to the user. The process has brewed quite a storm of controversy, but Google has yet to back down on its stance.

Google has remained similarly headstrong about other criticisms; in an attempt to remain partisan to local governments, Google removes or does not include information from its services in compliance with local laws. Perhaps the most striking example of this is Google's adherence to the internet censorship policies of China (at Google.cn) so as not to bring up search results supporting the independence movement of Tibet and Taiwan, or any other information perceived to be harmful to the People's Republic of China.

Google Street has further been cited for breaching personal privacy. The service provides high-resolution street-view photos from around the world and has, on numerous occasions, caught people committing questionable acts. Moving from street to satellite, Google Earth has also come under fire from several Indian state governments about the security risks posed by the details from Google Earth's satellite imaging. When all is said and done, there are a lot of criticisms about Google and these few examples merely scratch the surface.

Searched
Um, Google does the searching -- anytime, and every time, you search for something on the internet.

Interest
It's hard to think of another search engine ever supplanting our beloved Google, but it's anyone's guess as to how the internet will work in the future. Maybe you'll just have to think of something and it will appear. Who knows? Try Googling it.

[Via - AskMen.Com]

How to Choose a Health Insurance Plan

2008-06-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

These days, landing in the hospital for even a few days can decimate your savings account. That's why it's extremely important to consider the cost, the benefits, and the extent to which your family's health needs are met when choosing insurance. Research the various plans that are available, and determine how specifically tailored they are to your family's health needs and financial abilities, to decide on a plan that is best suited to your lifestyle.
Take this company as an example: Kaiser Health Plan .

Step1
Sign on with the health insurance provided by your employer: It is likely to be the cheapest option you can find. Your employer's carrier may have more than one option for you to choose from (HMO, preferred). If you're self-employed or if your company doesn't offer insurance, you'll have to search for your own insurance.

Step2
Assess your needs, taking into account your current use of health care and your medical expenses for the near future, and decide what services are most important to you and your family. Ask about dependents' coverage. Factor in how much you can afford to spend on monthly premiums and co-payments. If you're single and healthy, your health plan needs will be very different from those of a family with three young children.

Step3
Compare benefits and coverage of key items like monthly premiums, deductibles, co-payments, co-insurance rates, costs for seeing out-of-network providers, preventive care, physical exams, immunizations and the like. Other services that are of interest to your family could include fertility services, mental health coverage, nursing care and long-term care.

Step4
Ask lots of questions: Are your current providers part of this plan? Do you need referrals for specialist visits? How easy is it to change doctors? What hospitals and facilities can you use as part of the plan? What are the procedures for having emergency room treatment approved?

Step5
Find out if benefits are limited for preexisting conditions, or if you have to wait for a period of time before you're fully covered. Some plans may completely exclude coverage of preexisting conditions.

Step6
Research whether there is a fair appeals process available if the company denies treatment, and if these appeals are reviewed by an external, independent agency. Is there a high turnover rate among doctors in the plan? Check if the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA.org) accredits the plan; the Pacific Business Group on Health (HealthScope.org) also offers information on health plans.

Step7
Pick a plan that best matches your needs and priorities based on thorough research. Read all materials and call the health plan representative or conduct Internet research to get any information you are missing. Discuss pre-existing conditions and flexspending plans before making a decision.

Step8
Investigate long-term care insurance. The rising cost of health care and elderly care can demolish your savings if you are incapacitated for long. The best time to buy it is when you hit your 40s.

Is Apple Paying Their Engineers Too Little? - weird facts

2008-06-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

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weird facts - According to salary information collected by new startup Glassdoor, Apple pays its engineers significantly less than competing companies in Silicon Valley. Apple engineers make $89,000 a year, whereas Google engineers can buy four more Segways a year (pre-tax) with their $112,573 paycheck. Microsoft and Yahoo are closer to Google: both companies pay their engineers $105,000 a year. See TechCrunch’s review of Glassdoor for the data.

I wondered how much of a difference this salary disparity made to Apple’s bottom line, so I took a look at its annual 10-K filings from 2003 to 2007. Each of these reports includes, buried among its 170 pages, Apple’s net income and how much it spent on R&D. For simplicity I assumed that the R&D budget was entirely spent on salaries; this isn’t far off the mark in a hi-tech company like Apple.

If Apple were to pay its engineers the same salaries as Google then its R&D budget would increase by 26%. This amount (26% of the R&D budget) is how much Apple saves each year by paying below-market salaries. I calculated what Apple’s net income would have been if it had paid its engineers the same as Google, and these are the results:

Explanation:

* All dollar values are in millions.
* # Employees - from Apple’s 10-K.
* R&D Budget - from Apple’s 10-K.
* Adjusted R&D Budget - had Apple paid its engineers at the same level as Google, this would have been its R&D Budget.
* Net Income - from Apple’s 10-K.
* Adjusted Net Income - had Apple paid its engineers at the same level as Google, this would have been its Net Income.
* Increase in Net Income - the magnitude by which Apple’s net income was higher that year compared to what it would have been had it paid salaries at the same level as Google.

The Adjusted Net Income is a good estimate, but it’s not completely accurate. For example, the increase in Apple’s R&D Budget would have meant that its expenses are higher, so it would have paid less taxes. But the overall trend is clear.

Here’s the Increase in Net Income in chart form:

In 2003 and 2004, the effect of underpaying its engineers made a huge difference to Apple’s bottom line. In 2003, these savings turned around Apple’s year: from a loss to a small profit. In 2004, they doubled the profit. However, once Apple’s earnings began to skyrocket in 2005, the effect of the R&D savings became much smaller: just 6% of the net income in 2007, for example.

Paying low salaries to its engineers was a lifesaver for Apple during its difficult times. But now that Apple is immensely profitable there’s no more excuse for this practice. In the TechCrunch article mentioned previously, the site’s owner Michael Arrington says: “Apple software engineers make only about $89,000, on average, but they get to create some of the most loved products on Earth.” I’m sure this warms their hearts. But an extra $20,000 a year would make their hearts downright toasty, and their spouses’ as well.

[Via - Hurvitz.Org]

Free lessons from internet millionaire

How To Date Online - weird facts

2008-06-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

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weird facts

Not long ago, many people shunned online dating thinking the only kinds of people they could meet online were super-shy or physically less-than-desireable. Now just about everyone has friends who have successfully met normal desirable people online, and many know one more married couples who met online as well. Here are the steps to take to safely meet quality people online.

Steps
1. Decide what type of online dating site best suits the type of people you are looking to meet as well as your budget. If you are looking to meet a broad spectrum of people, you might try a large public site like Match.com or Yahoo! personals. If you are looking to meet a specific type of person you might try a more niche-focused site like JDate or AsianFriendFinder.com.

2. Subscribe. Keep in mind, there is a broad range of prices for online dating sites. More expensive sites can charge as much as $50 per month. Most sites offer discounts for multiple months purchased at one time. When you are just starting, you should probably buy just one month and see how well you like that site. If you do and want to continue, you can re-subscribe for a larger number of months at a lower monthly rate. Many sites (like EZDate 123 and Plenty of Fish) also have free trials.

3. Take (at least) one good picture. Whether you are a male or female, having at least one flattering, recent photo will dramatically increase your chances for success. Profiles with good pics usually get as much as 10 to 20 times as many e-mails. If you get an overwhelming number of e-mails (often happens for especially attractive females), you can always choose to hide your pic later. If you don't have a good recent pic, some sites offer links to professional photographers. But usually just a digital camera with some decent lighting will do the trick.

4. Create your profile. Each site asks for slightly different information and/or essays. Try to keep it simple, but if you're witty, let that show. The best advice is to just be yourself, since you will find it is very difficult to be convincing acting like someone else. Even still, you definitely want to put your best foot forward. No need to disclose that you're still hurting from your recent break-up or you visit a therapist 5 times per week here. There will be time for that later once someone gets to see the fun, easy-going, more attractive side of you.

5. Identify people you would like to meet. Now for the fun part, browse through profiles or search by keywords to find the people you think you might like to meet. Women, don't feel like you have to wait for men to contact you. It is perfectly acceptable to make the first contact with a man, and you will often have excellent results when you do.

6. Check for reviews about them. Before you meet someone online, or even before you contact them, you should check to see if other people who have met them have entered reviews regarding the truthfulness of their profile. Do this by visiting a review site like TrueDater.com and entering the correct dating site and profile ID for the person in question. If you date the person yourself, you can also enter a review yourself to help future people who will meet them.

7. Contact them. Send them an email or if you prefer, IM them. Be natural, be conversational, mention a detail from their profile so they know you really read it, and make a little joke. Humor is great for breaking the ice and starting the conversation.

8. Talk by phone. After you've traded enough emails to feel comfortable, the next step is usually to talk by phone. This gives you a chance to get to know the other person a little better and get a feel for whether you will have chemistry in person. Don't feel obligated to meet someone in person just because you have talked to them by phone. If you feel uncomfortable or not attracted, you can tell them, "It's been great talking with you. I'm busy the rest of this week. Why don't we talk again next week." This way you can harmlessly end the call without an outright rejection, and if you find you change your mind you can always call them or accept their call next week.

[Via wikiHow]

Judge reduces trust fund for Leona Helmsley's dog - weird facts

2008-06-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

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weird facts - Leona Helmsley's dog isn't quite as well-heeled as she used to be. Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth has reduced the trust fund for the little dog, named Trouble, from $12 million to $2 million.

The remaining $10 million now goes to Helmsley's charitable foundation.

The 9-year-old Maltese lives in Florida with the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel. Helmsley died last August.

The court decision, made April 30, became public Monday.

[Via - SeattlePI]

Tradition of Russian Cosmonauts - Peeing on a Rocket | Weird Facts

2008-06-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

weird facts
The morning of April 4, 2000. Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri pays tribute to tradition, irrigation wheel of the bus. Astronauts make a stopover on the way to rocket, that is at the final stage before the flight. There do not allow any foreign person. Snapshot - a consequence of the adventurism of the cosmodrome worker and the only documented existence of the urethra tradition.

Suicide calls jump amid foreclosures and economic woes - weird facts

2008-06-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

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weird facts - A local hot line has seen a dramatic spike in suicide calls from people in Palm Beach County who are facing foreclosure and can't pay their bills, according to numbers released today.

Since the start of the year, 256 people in the county told operators at the 211 hot line that they were thinking about suicide. Of those, 44 told operators that their main reason was that they had lost a job, were facing foreclosure, couldn't afford to pay their bills or were homeless.

During the same period in 2007, from Jan. 1 to June 10, the hot line received 137 suicide calls from people in Palm Beach County. Only 15 of those gave economic reasons.

The callers' problems seem markedly different than in the past, said Susan Buza, executive director of 211 Palm Beach/Treasure Coast. Many callers, she said, have tried to find work for months.

One man said he had gotten hurt at work, then was fired. Another told the operators that he and his children were about to be evicted because he couldn't find anyone to hire him.

"They are not seeing any opportunity to get a job. And they are not seeing that this is going to turn around for them in a week or two," Buza said. "They have been out looking for jobs so they are really desperate and feeling that their backs are up against the wall."

Operators at the hot line, which has taken calls for help in Palm Beach County since 1971, "have never seen anything like this," Buza said.

The hot line also serves Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties but has not yet tabulated those suicide numbers.

Buza said she began adding up the numbers after operators noticed a rise in calls from people who could lose their homes.

"When we started looking at it, we were really shocked," she said.

Though the job market is extremely difficult, 211 keeps a directory of local services. Operators can refer people to food pantries, churches, job training, credit counseling, programs that help people keep their homes and government assistance like food stamps.

For help, simply dial 211 from anywhere in the five-county area.

[Via - PalmBeachPost.Com]

Sudoku-playing jurors make judge stop drug trial | Weird Facts

2008-06-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

Link of the day - typing games for free.

weird facts - SYDNEY, Australia -- A judge aborted a drug conspiracy trial Tuesday after some jurors were found to have been playing the puzzle game Sudoku while evidence was being given.

Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra ended the trial Tuesday for two men facing a possible life sentence for drug conspiracy charges. The trial had been running for 66 days and had cost taxpayers an estimated 1 million Australian dollars (US$950,000).

The judge was alerted after it was observed the jurors were writing vertically, rather than horizontally. It had been assumed they were taking notes.

"Yes, it helps me keep my mind busy paying more attention," the jury foreman told the judge Tuesday. "Some of the evidence is rather drawn out and I find it difficult to maintain my attention the whole time, and that doesn't distract me too much from proceedings."

Jurors in the trial are anonymous and no action can be taken against them for the puzzle playing.

The foreman admitted to the judge four to five jurors were playing puzzle games for up to half the time the trial had been going.

"Jurors are sort of the judges of the facts and it's very disappointing they weren't giving our clients a fair trial," said Robyn Hakelis, a lawyer for one of the defendants.

A new trial is expected to begin in a few weeks.

[Via - SeattlePI.Com]

Fart Gene Isolated. Now, That's A Breakthough! | Weird Facts

2008-06-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

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weird facts - Kiwi geneticists have made a breakthrough in the plan to cut methane emissions from livestock.

"Our agricultural research organisation just last week was able to map the genome. . . that causes methane in ruminant animals and we believe we can vaccinate against (that)," Phil Goff told a conference in Paris.

Scientists in New Zealand are working on other ways to reduce emissions from agriculture, such as changing the way fertilisers are used on pasture land, he said.

Goff was talking about New Zealand's approach to emissions trading systems, one of the main instruments being introduced by developed countries to counter global warming.

New Zealand plans to include methane and nitrous oxide as well as carbon dioxide in its emissions trading scheme which is due to be launched in July.

[Via - Stuff]

Russian circus performers sue ex-U.S. managers, alleges theft of cat training tricks | Weird Facts

2008-06-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

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NEW YORK weird facts - A Russian circus performer and his son are alleging in a lawsuit that their ex-managers stole methods for teaching felines to perform.

Yuri Kuklachev and his son, Dmitri, accuse father-and-son Mark and Yanis Gelfman of applying for a trademark for methods they stole to create a cat circus in New York City. The lawsuit was filed in a Brooklyn court, the Daily News reported Monday.

Kuklachev's attorney, Gary Tsirelman, says the Gelfmans are ``trying to steal'' his client's identity.

A spokesman for the Gelfmans, James Woods, says the lawsuit should be tossed. He says the Moscow Cats Theater, which features felines performing acrobatic tricks, was created by the Gelfmans.

[Via - Sun Sentinel]

How to Choose a Debt Management Program

2008-06-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

A debt management plan may help, but do your research and consider all your options first.If your finances take a turn for the worse and you find yourself drowning in debt, a debt management program may help you keep your head above water.
Advices by: Debt Consolidation Loan

Steps:

1. Do it yourself. The best kept secret in the debt management industry is that you can do most of the things debt management agencies do, and if you do it yourself, you can save yourself a lot of money in fees. Make a budget, cut unnecessary expenses, prioritize your debts, and call your creditors to ask if they'll waive your late fees, reduce your interest rates, and/or work with you on a payment schedule. You may even be able to get them to "re-age" your account, which means that they report your past-due account as current. There's no guarantee that they will, but there's also no guarantee they will if you go through a debt management agency, so you've got nothing to lose by trying. Many times creditors will be happy to work with you if you make a good-faith effort to pay them.
2. Find a good credit counselor. Almost all debt management programs are administered by consumer credit counseling agencies--so much so, in fact, that the terms "credit counseling" and "debt management" are often used interchangeably. They're not the same, though. You can and should get real credit counseling before you commit to a debt management program, and a credit counselor can and should help you make a budget and explore other options (such as self-help methods or consolidation loans) with you instead of just pushing you into a debt management program. Thoroughly researching the agency is the most important thing to do before deciding to enroll in their debt management program.
3. Look for a licensed, accredited, non-profit agency, and be sure to verify that they are currently licensed in your state (unless you're in a state that doesn't require licensing), have current accreditation and that they do indeed have non-profit status. Understand, however, that while these measures can help establish a firm's legitimacy, they are no guarantee, and you still need to research the agency.
4. Find out exactly how the program works. The terms "debt management," "debt consolidation," and "debt negotiation" are often used interchangeably, sometimes in an effort to confuse or deceive people and sometimes quite innocently. They do, however, refer to three different options, so regardless of what a program is called, find out what it is. For more information on the differences between these options, check out the article on how to consolidate loans.
5. Make sure the company requires complete information from current statements before giving you a quote. The debt counselor will need you to provide all your current credit card and loan statements before they can tell you how much your monthly payments will be or how long it will take to complete the program. Beware of anyone who gives you a quote without thoroughly researching the following first:
* your account statuses
* creditor names
* balance transfer, cash advance and large purchase activities
* minimum payment amounts
* interest rates
6. Avoid outrageous upfront fees. A small initial fee (up to $50 or, in rare cases, as much as $100 if you have a lot of debt or high income) is normal, but large upfront fees are out of line. If any agency asks for a fee (or donation) make sure that you know what it will cover, and get it in writing. Find out if you'll have to pay any additional fees to start the program. Don't get tricked into paying one "consultation fee," and then an "application fee" or "an enrollment fee." If you're truly unable to pay, look for an agency that is willing to waive the fee or spread it out (without charging additional fees for doing so).
7. Avoid high monthly fees. Most debt management plans charge a nominal monthly fee to cover the administrative expenses. Depending on the number of creditors you have, the monthly fee may vary, but it generally should be between $2-5 per creditor or, at most, not more than $50 per month. Make sure the agency doesn't charge any other maintenance fees (i.e. an annual fee) in addition to monthly fees.
8. Find out how payments will be disbursed to your creditors. Debt management companies are notorious for sending payments late and getting their clients into trouble with creditors. Make sure the agency will send your payments to creditors on time and within the correct billing cycle. Ask how soon they will disburse your payment after they receive it, and find out how you can track the payments made. They should send you a statement each month or have some way for you to look it up online.
9. Find out how your personal information will be protected. When you enter a debt management program, you have to share some of your most sensitive financial information with the counseling agency. You'd better make sure they won't sell it to others or disclose the information to anyone except the creditors you've agreed to include in the plan. Get a written privacy policy from them, and ask what safeguards they have in place to protect your information.
10. Accept a plan only if you can fulfill your requirements. If you can't make the monthly payment the program requires, don't enroll. Ask if they can get it any lower, contact your creditors yourself, and/or check with another debt management agency. Also, be aware that many debt management plans require you to avoid taking on any additional debt or at least any additional revolving credit debt (i.e. credit cards, store charge accounts). Understand the terms and conditions, and make sure you can follow through on them.
11. Get everything in writing. Before enrolling in a plan, make sure you get a contract. Get all verbal promises in writing, and read the contract very carefully to make sure the terms are the same as those you discussed. Watch very carefully for hidden fees. If a company won't send you a contract before you make your first monthly payment, don't pay them and go elsewhere for help.

Whoops. Antibacterial Wipes Can Spread Bacteria | Weird Facts

2008-06-06T05:17:00.000-07:00

Link of the day - What if you had a gun to your head and had to make a $1000 in 48 hours or less ?

weird facts - Antibacterial wipes used to disinfect surfaces at hospitals may actually spread bacteria, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Welsh School of Pharmacy at Cardiff University said the antimicrobial wipes don't work well after the first use.A news release about the study pointed out that disinfecting surfaces is important in stopping the spread of bugs such as the hard-to-kill Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA.

Dr. Gareth Williams said the research was meant to answer the question, "Are we confident that these organisms are susceptible to the germicides used in our hospitals?"

The results showed that some wipes can remove higher numbers of bacteria from surfaces than others. However, the wipes tested were unable to kill the bacteria that they removed.As a result, they transferred high numbers of bacteria to other surfaces.

[Via - Local6.Com]

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Japanese woman arrested after living undetected in man's closet for a year | Weird Facts

2008-06-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

weird facts
TOKYO - Police say a homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar.

However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

[Via - CBC]

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Duo tries to break world handshaking record | Weird Facts

2008-05-29T00:22:00.000-07:00

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Kevin Whittaker and Cory Jens deserved congratulations after attempting to set a new world record, but they probably didn't want any handshakes.

That's because the pair shook hands with one another Monday for 9 1/2 hours, trying to beat a handshaking record of about nine hours set by two Germans.

The Guinness Book of World Records still must confirm the feat, one that Whittaker, 31, and Jens, 30, felt pretty confident they had achieved.

"I looked up what some of the weakest records were," Whittaker said. "I'm not going to break the 100-meter dash record, but I thought I could break this record."

The rules from Guinness appeared easy enough: Handshakers are not required to look each other in the eye or exchange pleasantries; they simply must grip palms and continuously move their hands up and down.

The historic day began at 2:07 p.m. outside the city's Ferry Building, where the duo endured the discomfort of sweaty palms, arm cramps and, of course, bathroom breaks. By nightfall, the two decided to continue their quest for greatness at a hotel bar, where they found warmth, comfortable seats and alcoholic beverages.

The effort culminated at 11:38 p.m. with a bottle of bubbly - and some much-needed space.

"It's not that fun, believe me," Whittaker said. "I'm a little tired. My shoulder is tired. In fact, it's extremely painful."

[Via - SeattlePI.Com]

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How to Choose the Right Bank As a Teenager

2008-05-29T00:08:00.000-07:00

As a teenager there are several factors to consider when choosing a bank. Saving money is an important skill to learn early in life; it provides you with a sense of purpose, an ability to interact with the commercial side of life and an opportunity to develop self-discipline about saving and spending money. Choosing the right bank when you are a teenager should be about complementing your needs and meeting your needs with the least amount of hassle, red tape and loss of funds through fees.

My personal choise: Savings Account
Steps
1. Consider the purpose for your account. The purpose for an account will impact on they type of account that you are looking for and it will also influence your decision whether to use a bank for short-term savings or for longer term investments. Consider such questions as:
* Do you have a summer/after school job that you need a bank account for?
* Do you want a checking account, or a savings account?
* Do you want to save your money, or just keep it safe until you spend it?

2. Do your homework. Check out the banks in your area, and research which ones offer better packages for an account. One bank might give you a check account complete with a check book; yet another might give you a special credit line. The important things to look for include:
* What are your spending and saving needs? Does the bank match these?
* Are the options offered by the bank likely to encourage saving or discourage it?

3. What are the bank's fees? These can sometimes be an awful surprise - know in
advance and match the fees to your likely use of the bank. Most banks will start charging the more you use the bank - ATM fees, check fees, teller fees etc.
* Does the bank offer a youth or student package that is relevant to you? Often such packages come with better fee deals and sometimes good interest.
* What are the interest rates?
* Is there a possibility of a combined account structure? For example, one such structure could be some savings, some spending but both contributing to interest building.

4. Make comparisons. You have done the homework. Now do the comparing and ask such things as:
* Which bank has the best fees for what you are seeking?
* Which bank has the package that you are seeking?
* Which bank has special deals for young people? Compare them.

5. Think about location. Location is very important. Some banks are very localized and it may be difficult to find branches or shared branch locations elsewhere in your country or even overseas. This is where you might think of having online Savings Account If you are about to graduate from high-school, you may be studying somewhere else than your local region, so keep this in mind when choosing a bank.

Online Savings benefits & features:
# Free Online Banking (required)
# Free Electronic statements (required)
# If you maintain a minimum balance of $ each day of the monthly statement cycle you can even avoid the monthly service charge amount of $

6. Find a credit union. Credit unions are financial institutions that compete with banks, except that they are non profit. Credit unions don't have stockholders to pay, and therefore often give better interest rates with lower fees.

8. Ask your parents. Have a parent help you look at and compare different banks, as well as helping you to select the most suitable one. As a teenager, unless you are 18, you may not be able to open an account without a parent's name or permission, depending on your country's rules. Whatever the rules, it is always a wise solution to seek your parent's cooperation - many a parent will be more than happy to help add savings to your account when you demonstrate the initiative and self-responsibility to open a bank account.

You Could Be Put In Jail If You Walk Away On Your Mortgage | Weird Facts

2008-05-27T02:46:00.000-07:00

Link of the day - Weird facts made social

weird facts - Despite objections from consumer advocates, in the last two weeks California judge Jed Clampbet has sent 142 delinquent homeowners to state prison for up to three years each, for failing to honor their home mortgage obligations.

Most of the former homeowners were shocked to find they could be suddenly locked up for employing the common “walkaway” strategy, where homedebtors whose no-money-down adjustable-rate teaser mortgages are about to reset to full actual interest rates simply stop making payments but continue living in their homes rent-free for up to eight months before being evicted, then try to skip town leaving the bank holding the bag.

Under the anti-fraud provisions of the 1969 California Real Estate Loan Statute, section 7, chapter 13, such behavior is indeed criminal and can be prosecuted. Until recently the law had not been actively enforced, but due to the tidal wave of foreclosures the district attorney is now cracking down hard on mortgage scofflaws.

Banks generally applaud the stepped-up enforcement. “These folks thought they could just scam the system and get away with it,” admonished mortgage industry spokesman Snidely Wachovia. “Now they’re finally getting what they deserve.”

Consumer rights groups are organizing protests across the state, trying to stop or at least slow down the impending prosecution of an estimated 20,000 additional delinquent homeowners. “These people are completely unaware of what is about to happen to them,” claimed Shirley Yewghest of the California Delinquent Homeowners Protection Association. “Yes, they did receive foreclosure warning letters in the mail, but very few actually read the fine print. They hear people telling stories of walking away without getting caught, and they think they can get away with it too. By the time they realize that they are in fact criminals, it’s too late, and they find themselves behind bars.”

All the news is not negative, however. Apparently spring is in the air in the California state prison system, bringing along with it dozens of whirlwind romances between newly-jailed former homeowners and long-time inmates. And thanks to the new ruling legalizing same-sex marriages in California, wedding bells have been ringing non-stop.

Lifetime inmate Bubba “Whoppa” Johnson found new love with Cornwell Sooie, a San Diego real estate investor caught up in the recent sting operation targeting delinquent homeowners. Back in 2006 Mr. Sooie was sitting atop a mini real estate empire worth nearly $8 million on paper. When the housing bubble collapsed, he lost it all.

Those fast-paced days of real estate deal-making are butt a distant memory now, as Mr. Sooie settles in to his new married life in prison. While nuptial bliss is no substitute for the thrill of easy real-estate riches, at least it will keep him busy for the next three years.

[Via - WallStreetExaminer.Com]

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Woman Loses Home Over $68 Dental Bill | Weird Facts

2008-05-23T05:47:00.000-07:00

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weird facts
Can you imagine losing your home over a $68 dental bill? That's what happened to one Utah woman.

Sonya Capri Ramos (center) and her four children.
(Courtesy of Sonya Capri Ramos)

Sonya Capri Ramos says her Salt Lake City home was sold out from under her in 1996 to pay a collections agency seeking payment for dental work performed on one of Ramos's daughters. And despite the fact that she had made three years of payments on a $51,000 mortgage, the title changed hands for just $1,550 at a sheriff's auction.

But the story doesn't end there: Ramos, 41, said she didn't find out that her home no longer belonged to her until two years after the sale. To date, she hasn't moved out.

Instead, she said she continues to make mortgage payments on the home and is fighting what has become a decade-long legal battle to reclaim ownership.

[Via - ABCNews.Com]

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5 Coolest Beer Records | Weird Facts

2008-05-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

weird facts beer

1. Biggest Beer Selection

In 2002, Dave Alexander of the Brickskeller, Washington, DC, received a Guinness World Record certificate for having the largest selection of beer in the world, a total of 1,072 different beers.

2. Most Beers In One Setting

Since the Guinness Book of World Records no longer tracks drinking records, we're not positive this is the record. But Andre the Giant drank 119 beers (standard 12-ounce) in a 6 hour stretch. For those keeping track, that's one every 3 minutes. Afterwards he passed out in a hotel hallway and for some reason no one could move the big man.

3. Biggest Beer Collection

Ron Werner of the USA was bestowed a certificate in 2002 for his collection of 11,644 different beer bottles accumulated since 1982, including 7,128 that remain unopened. Among this collection are 1,704 brands. He has sampled almost every one of these brands.

4. Fastest Liter

On June 22, 1977, Steven Petrosino broke the World Record for drinking 1 liter of beer in 1.3 seconds at the Gingerbreadman in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA. The previous record was held by Peter Dowdeswell of the United Kingdom, who drank 1 liter in 2.3 seconds.

5. Fastest Beer Mile

Jim Finlayson of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada holds the record time of 5 minutes, 09 seconds, set on 08 December, 2007 for completing the fastest Beer Mile. Competitors must consume a 355 ml can of beer before running each lap, for a total of 4 laps, or 400 meters. The fastest time wins. A penalty lap must be run if the competitor vomits before completing the 4-lap requirement.

Weird Facts: Toilet Signs Across the World

2008-05-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

weird facts - Male and females are represented differently all across the world. One of the proofs for this statement is the diverse representations of toilet signs in different corners of the globe. While some tried to make the signs as obvious as they can get, others went out of their way to be creative. Here are some of the wackiest, funniest or oddest men and women toilet signs.

weird facts photos

How to Trade Forex Online

2008-05-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

Below you'll find some useful tips from a Currency Trading site. This article goes through what you need to do to trade on the forex markets online.

Steps

Research the best ways to invest. Forex is supposedly the biggest market in the world. It's bigger than the US stock market, because the daily turnover is in the trillions. First understand that you, the retail investor is not going to move the market, the banks trade in multimillions, you won't be doing so.

Consult a trusted broker. You need to trade through a margin broker who will give you 100:1 leverage on your trades. That means if you have a $1000 margin depositi with the broker, you can control 100,000 units of base currency

Understand world currency and its fluctuations.Currencies are traded in pairs. Choose a single pair to learn how to trade and stick to it until you get to know the personality of the pair.

Get a charting package which allows you to see the current price as it happens and make technical analysis

Learn a system which gives you an indication of when to enter and when to exit trades

Start using a demo account and not real money. When you are confident and consistently making good trades, and only then, go live. Start with a micro (1k lot size) or mini account (10k lot size).

Enroll in a financial education course. Get a course which gives you an education, a strategy and a way to carry out all the above steps successfully and affordably, from a reputable dealer. Good luck!

Tips

Get a course first.

Use a 100:1 leverage, such as taught in the above course, that way it's more profitable when you trade and you can control more currency than you actually have in capital

Stick to just one pair. If it's good enough for the banks, it's good enough for you.

If you are just starting out to trade in Forex, consider opening a dummy account to help you practice trading Forex without risking your own money.

For more information visit Currency Trading

10 Fines That Will Blow Your Mind | Weird Facts

2008-05-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

weird facts
ITV was fined a record £5.7 million for misleading viewers over the conduct of phone-ins on its flagship programmes this week. But it is not just big companies that have to stump up cash in fine-happy Britain.

With an army of pettifogging bureaucrats policing your every move, you better think twice before you eat, talk, drive and even relax… the list is almost endless. Here we list ten ridiculous but true stories where the authorities have demonstrated their limited grasp of common sense…

1. Sausage rolls

A picnic in the park turned into an expensive event for Mum Sarah Davies, from Hull. While feeding her four-year-old daughter a piece of sausage roll fell to the ground. The missed-mouth incident was spotted by council wardens and Ms Davies was fined £75, even though pigeons immediately ate the evidence.

2. What a load of rubbish

With photographic evidence and stab-proof vests, Cumbria council’s bin police confronted Gareth Corkhill with the terrible crime of … putting too much rubbish in his bin. The father of four was given a whopping £210 fine, plus a £15 victim surcharge and he now has a criminal record.

3. Oops…

Litter lout Christopher Murphy dropped a single crisp packet on Irish soil and ended up in court with a 600 Euro (£480) fine. While the term litterbug is no doubt a bona fide insult, this is an example of where the fine perhaps doesn’t match the crime.

4. Trying to be creative

Pretty hearts and rainbows may seem innocent enough, except if you work for north Wales police. Two teenage girls from Bangor were charged £80 for “graffiti” after drawing chalk pictures on a pavement, Mary Poppins style, which were completely washed away by the rain soon after.

5. Keeping the kitchen tidy

Nowadays using a public bin can get you into trouble. Detectives hunted down pensioner John Richards from Lincolnshire after he carefully placed some household rubbish into a bin on a lamp post. They traced Mr Richards from an addressed envelope that was in with the kitchen scraps and accused him of fly-tipping, which attracts a fixed penalty of £75.

6. Putting your feet up

Getting comfy on a Chester-bound train can get you a criminal record. Babiker Fadol put his feet on a train seat and was arrested for anti-social behaviour, despite taking his feet down as soon as he was asked. After appearing at court charged under the 1889 Railway Regulations Act, he was forced to pay £50 and was given a criminal record.

7. Keen to help the environment?

You still won’t escape the wrath of Swansea’s eagle-eyed council officials. Michael Reeves made a grave mistake when he accidently left a piece of paper in a recycling bag reserved for glass. He was promptly taken to court and fined £200 and swears he’ll never recycle again.

8. A quick fag

Fancy a quick ciggie in your break? Think again if you’re in the taxi trade. A lone fag cost cab driver Alan Cross £715. Mr Cross was spotted smoking a cigarette in his taxi by a Thurrock Council Enforcement Officer. The matter went to court and he was slapped with £300 of fines, £400 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

9. Defrosting the car on a winter morning

One cold winter morning Ken Hardman from Lancashire nipped outside to his car, turned the engine on to defrost the windscreen and then returned inside to wait. A local police officer charged him with “quitting” (leaving a car unattended with the engine on) and fined him £30.

10. Answering a phone call safely

Unlucky Nick Tubbs was fined £120 for the crime of … speaking to his mum on the phone. He was driving in Westminster when his mother rang so he diligently pulled over to the side of the road to take the call. He spoke for one minute and 23 seconds then immediately drove away. Sadly for Mr Tubbs, Westminster council tracked him down from CCTV footage and accused him of “parking” on a single yellow line.

[Via - 10SitesToSee.Com]

Weird Facts: Bentleys, Porsches And Other Top Line Cars Repo'd In Record Numbers

2008-05-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

weird facts - In his 40-some-year career, recovery agent Hank Leleu has witnessed enough economic downturns to know how they'll play out. Once people start missing payments on their "toys," a storm starts brewing. He knows that just from experience.

The country has fallen on hard times once during each of the decades of Leleu's career, and he says it's always the same story.

When times are good, people buy, often beyond their means. When times are bad, as is now the case in the U.S., debt collectors and recovery agents come calling. In a sense, they're profiting from other people's misery, and there's usually plenty to go around.

There's something different about this one though, Leleu says, particularly about the people who are receiving these calls.

"It seems like no one is really exempt from this cycle," says Leleu, who operates ARB Las Vegas.

From November 2006 to March 2007, ARB was averaging a recovery of 43 high-line cars a month. For the same period a year later, ARB averaged 55 high-line cars a month. These figures include brand names such as Mercedes, Porsche and Bentley.

Leleu says that a year ago, approximately 75% of the cars recovered were C- and E-class Mercedes Benz, carrying sticker prices of $35,000 to $80,000. A year later, the numbers are up by 28% or so, but the true picture here is that now 75% of the high-line cars ARB is recovering are valued in the range of $100,000 to $500,000.

We're pulling cars from mortgage bankers, real-estate firms," Leleu says. "We're talking about upper-echelon people. It's like nobody seems to have that savings or extra borrowing ability to get them over the hump."

There has been no clear forecast on the size of this hump. Until we're on the other side, people who profit from others' financial losses, whether they operate pawnshops or run bankruptcy law firms, will thrive. It's nothing personal; it's just business, and a countercyclical one at that. These are industries that see a spike in demand during the economic downside.

[Via - Moneycentral]

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How To Create Your Own Blog

2008-05-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

One thing about blogs that is so fascinating is the interlinking. There are millions of people keeping active blogs, and bloggers often tend to look at other people's blogs. When they see something they like in their favorite blogs, bloggers will often link to and comment on it.

All of this tight interlinking has created a phenomenon known as the blogosphere. The blogosphere consists of all the cross-linked blogs. Once you arrive at one blog in the blogosphere, it will often have links that connect you to many of the other sites in the blogosphere. You can bounce around in the blogosphere for years if you like that sort of thing.

Many blog readers enter the blogosphere and find one (or a few) bloggers they really like. For example, you might have a blog you use to keep up to date on the latest technology, and another to keep up to date on the latest news. The blogger is acting a lot like a DJ on a radio show, choosing stories, links and/or snippets just like the DJ chooses songs. People who like what the blogger focuses on each day come back and read that blogger every day or so. Celebrities have also gotten into the act, creating blogs as a way to interact with their fans.

Creating your own blog
Creating your own blog is now easy because there are Web-based toolsets that make the management of your blog incredibly simple -- and here is one of them, which I can personally recomend, try creating Free Blog at Thoughts.com. You can create basic blogs for free, and most of these toolsets have additional features available for a price. There is also software (such as Movable Type) to help you create and self-publish your blog with even more customization.

I created this blog using Blogger. Creating a simple blog is free and only takes about five minutes. You enter your name, e-mail address and a few other pieces of information. You select "the look" (template) for your blog from a set of standard templates. Click a few buttons and you're done.

Now you can add new entries to your blog. Basically, all you do is type in the entry and push the "post" button to post it. You can edit the entry as much as you like by clicking the "edit" button. When you are happy with the new entry, you push the "publish" button to make your new entry visible on your public blog.

That's it. A blog entry can be that simple. Or it can be an entire story. It's all up to you.

The incredible simplicity of blogging is one of the things that makes blogging so popular. But if text isn't enough for you, many blogging toolsets also allow you to post photos, video, and audio files. You can even post via your cell phone.

If you would like to learn more about blogs and blogging, take a look at the links below.
Free Blog

Woman Faked Cancer To Avoid Working | Weird Facts

2008-05-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

weird facts
ARLINGTON, Wash. -- A former Washington state social worker has been accused of faking brain cancer to avoid work. Theft charges were filed Tuesday against Sandra Dee Martinez, 40, formerly of Mountlake Terrace, who was employed by the Department of Social and Health Services in Arlington.

According to investigators, Martinez presented fake letters that appeared to be from doctors saying she had malignant brain tumors. Prosecutors wrote that she received $21,000 worth of paid leave and took advantage of sick days donated by co-workers last year.

Prosecutors wrote that Martinez came under scrutiny after using a neighbor's computer and leaving one of the letters on the printer.

Arlington Police Chief John Gray says Martinez has moved to another state and won't speak with investigators.

[Via - SeattlePI.Com]

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How to Create a Brand Positioning for a Small Business

2008-05-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

While big corporations spend millions of dollars promoting their brands, few small businesses and startup companies have taken the time to rigorously determine their brand positioning. Dedicate several hours of time and you can develop a company positioning to differentiate your brand and speak with a unified voice to the market.

Below you will find some useful tips to get started. Don't forget to visit this website containing really useful info: Marketing Company

Steps:
1. Block out three hours for the meeting and gather your key employees in a conference room.
2. Hire an outside consultant or nominate one employee to serve as the moderator and note taker to capture all the ideas the team develops.
3. Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm. Make separate lists of the way you want to be perceived by customers, investors, employees, and shareholders.
4. Create an honest assessment of your company's unique value proposition. Think about how your competitors would attack this value proposition, if they were talking to your customers.
5. List positionings you wish to avoid. Do you not want your cookie store to be seen as the local bakery? Or vice versa?
6. Analyze how your competitors are positioning themselves. Is your business differentiated from them in a way your customers care about?
7. Synthesize the results of your brainstorming session a few days after the initial meeting. Use the results to develop your positioning statement and the associated corporate messaging it implies.
8. Test the new positioning statement on customers, employees, and investors to confirm you created a good positioning.
9. Create action items in establishing your brand in the market place for your team to accomplish. Start small with yellow page ad placement/copy, work your towards a goal of propagating your brand's position in anything that relates to your company, including collateral, invoices, etc.

Tips:
* Most of the world's best businesses have strong brands positioned against competitors. Even the smallest business can enjoy the benefits of brand positioning by devoting several hours to the process.
* Brand positioning consultants who have experience conducting this process with multiple companies can help a business develop the best possible positioning. Prices for the service can range from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the large consulting firms or PR and advertising agencies.
* Brand positioning impacts everything, including the corporate culture of your small business. Make sure that the culture that you have within your organization is in line with your proposed brand identity.

Ancient humans started down the path of evolving into two separate species before merging back into a single population | Weird Facts

2008-05-12T05:01:00.000-07:00

The genetic split in Africa resulted in distinct populations that lived in isolation for as much as 100,000 years, the scientists say.

This could have been caused by arid conditions driving a wedge between humans in eastern and southern Africa.

Details have been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

It would be the longest period for which modern human populations have been isolated from one another.

But other scientists said it was still too early to reconstruct a meaningful picture of humankind's early history in Africa. They argue that other scenarios could also account for the data.

At the time of the split - some 150,000 years ago - our species, Homo sapiens, was still confined to the African continent.

The results have come from the Genographic Project, a major effort to track human migrations through DNA.

The latest conclusions are based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA in present-day African populations. This type of DNA is the genetic material stored in mitochondria - the "powerhouses" of cells.

It is passed down from a mother to her offspring, providing a unique record of maternal inheritance.

"We don't know how long it takes for hominids to fission off into separate species, but clearly they were separated for a very long time," said Dr Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic Project.

"They came back together again during the Late Stone Age - driven by population expansion."

Although present-day people carry a signature of the ancient split in their DNA, today's Africans are part of a single population.

The researchers compiled a "family tree" of different mitochondrial DNA groupings found in Africa.

A major split occurred near the root of the tree as early as 150,000 years ago.

On one side of this divide are the mitochondrial lineages now found predominantly in East and West Africa, and all maternal lineages found outside Africa.

On the other side of the divide are lineages predominantly found in the Khoi and San (Khoisan) hunter-gatherer people of southern Africa.

Many African populations today harbour a mixture of both.

The scientists say the most likely scenario is that two populations went their separate ways early in our evolutionary history.

This gave rise to separate human communities localised to eastern and southern Africa that evolved in isolation for between 50,000 and 100,000 years.

This divergence could have been related to climate change: recent studies of ancient climate data suggest that eastern Africa went through a series of massive droughts between 135,000-90,000 years ago.

Lead author Doron Behar, from the Rambam Medical Center in Israel commented: "It is possible the harsh environment and changing climate made populations migrate to other places in order to have a better chance of survival.

"Some of them found places where they could and - perhaps - some didn't. More than that we cannot say."

Dr Wells told BBC News: "Once this population reached southern Africa, it was cut off from the eastern African population by these drought events which were on the route between them."

Modern humans are often presumed to have originated in East Africa and then spread out to populate other areas. But the data could equally support an origin in southern Africa followed by a migration to East and West Africa.

The genetic data show that populations came back together as a single, pan-African population about 40,000 years ago.

This renewed contact appears to coincide with the development of more advanced stone tool technology and may have been helped by more favourable environmental conditions.

"[The mixing] was two-way to a certain extent, but the majority of mitochondrial lineages seem to have come from north-eastern Africa down to the south," said Spencer Wells.

But other scientists said different scenarios could explain the data.

Dr Sarah Tishkoff, an expert on African population genetics from the University of Pennsylvania, said the Khoisan might once have carried many more of the presumed "East African" lineages but that these could have been lost over time.

"Although there is very deep divergence in the mitochondrial lineages, that can be different from inferring when the populations diverged from one another and there can be many demographic scenarios to account for it," she told BBC News.

She added: "As a general rule of thumb, when mitochondrial genetic lineages split, it will usually precede the population split. It can often be difficult to infer from one to the other."

The University of Pennsylvania researcher stressed it was not possible to pinpoint where in Africa the populations had once lived - complicating the process of reconstructing scenarios from genetic data.

The Genographic Project's findings are also consistent with the idea - held for some years now - that modern humans had a close brush with extinction in the evolutionary past.

The number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the Late Stone Age.

[Via - BBC]

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Online Dating Tips | Women Only

2008-05-12T04:40:00.000-07:00

When it’s time to find that special someone, an increasing number of women turn to online dating each year. Maybe you just broke up with your boyfriend; maybe it’s been a while since you’ve been “on the market.” You’ve tried bars and parties, and your friends just haven’t succeeded in referring you to the man of your dreams. Why not go online?

How to avoid an online dating con man ?
1. Consider if it moves too fast, too soon, it's a con. Emotions run high and our inhibitions are lower when meeting people online, so it's not unusual for daters to begin to feel strong emotions very soon into the relationship, sometimes even before you meet. If there is talk of marriage or combining homes, you may be dealing with someone who is getting ready to steal not just your heart, but your bank account as well.

2. Know that if you can't get a straight answer to questions about their past, you may be dealing with an online dating con man. Vague personal history usually means that the person is hiding something from you. Do a background check by going online and inserting your date's name and birth date into a criminal background checking website or a state's court website. Really suspicious? Spend a little money and pay for an online background check. Remember, this only works if your date has given you his correct name and birth date.

3. Be aware that if she brags about her finances but needs to borrow money, you are dealing with a con man. Excuses about unexpected expenses or losses won't explain a vast difference in income and you should never loan money to a virtual stranger, no matter how strong your feelings for them. This is a big red flag.

4. Consider that if the age they say they are doesn't seem right to you, check it out further. Try to get a look at his driver's license and do an online search for his name and birth date to see if it's a match. A little white lie about age doesn't mean much, but a lie about a birth date may mean he has a criminal past or outstanding warrants.

5. Look at multiple social security numbers. He may explain it away as due to being a victim of identity theft, but ask a few more questions. If he is a victim, he will have documentation to prove that, otherwise, he is a criminal.

Don't forget about those basic rules and you might wanna check out this great website: dating expert. For today it's the World's Largest Database Rating Men targeting abusive and cheating men.

Research and rate before you date to promote safer dating worldwide!

North Lauderdale City Commission Wants To Divide Florida Into 2 States | Weird Facts

2008-05-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

weird facts
One city commission wants to divide Florida into two states: North Florida and South Florida. The North Lauderdale City Commission says in a resolution that it's not confident in state leaders when it comes to collecting and spending their own money.

It also says it would be "in the best interests of the citizens and residents" to divide the state.

Commissioner Rich Moyle says they're frustrated with the state Legislature "ignoring the cities in South Florida." But he acknowledges the idea likely won't pass.

When asked Tuesday about the resolution, Governor Charlie Crist could only muster up a laugh.

Meanwhile, other municipalities and counties are being asked to join in the resolution. The boundary line would be from Palm Beach County down through Monroe County.

[Via - CBSNews.Com]

Oklahoma City Made It To The 'Hell On Earth' List

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Oklahoma City Made It To The 'Hell On Earth' List | Weird Facts

2008-05-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

Weird facts -- What does Oklahoma City have in common with the likes of Chernobyl and Baghdad?

They're all "Hells on Earth," according to AskMen.com.Oklahoma City was the only American city to make the Web site's list, at No. 5, more hellish than cities like No. 10 Baghdad, Iraq; and No. 6 Chernobyl, Ukraine; but less hellish than No. 4 Pyongyang, North Korea; and No. 1 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.While Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said the city's ranking on the list could be somebody's slam over the relocation situation regarding the Seattle Supersonics, the creator of the list said that couldn't be further from the truth, reported KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.

Nick Clarke said from Marbella, Spain, that his travel feature was merely about Oklahoma City's wide variety of severe weather.
"I visited (Oklahoma City) a few years ago. It's nice. Not one of my favorite places, but I enjoyed my time," he said.Of Oklahoma City, Clarke wrote:

"While it may be all hunky-dory on the musical front, Oklahoma City isn't the kind of place you'd want to hang out in for too long if you like to keep your feet on terra firma. The weather is frighteningly unpredictable, with blizzards often descending on the city and winds that could knock a high rise clean off its feet. It is, after all, located in the direct path of 'Tornado Alley.'The worst time to visit would be from March to August, when The Day After Tomorrow-style weather is pretty much expected. In fact, the severe weather season makes Dorothy's Kansas look positively calm, with Oklahoma City being the city worst affected by tornadoes in the United States. One of the most powerful tornadoes on record -- an F5 with wind speeds of 320 mph -- devastated much of the city in 1999, securing its place on our list of hells on earth."

Of the feature's most hellish place on Earth, Clarke wrote:

"With over 115 new HIV and AIDS cases diagnosed every month at Port Moresby General Hospital, the capital of Papua New Guinea isn't at the top of this list for much except being the 'worst place to live in the world,' according to a 2004 vote by the Economist's Intelligence Unit. With the population expanding at an uncontrollable rate, employment levels have rocketed, income levels have plummeted and cases of rape, robbery and murder have reached new heights (the murder rate is 23 times that of London).Gang members, known as 'raskols,' have been known to carry out bank robberies with M16 machine guns, hijack cars wielding machetes and, in one case, drag an injured nurse from a car wreck to rape her. Clearly, the 'rascal' tag does them a disservice. If you don't have time to pick up some souvenirs, don't worry; you'll almost certainly have picked up a disease or two to take home with you."

"It's one person's, one company's opinion. You have to take everything with a pinch of salt," the British-born Clarke said. "It's not a knock on the people, crime or possible pollution in Oklahoma. It was strictly about the weather."Clarke, 23, is a freelance writer specializing in pop culture and travel. He said the list was a collaboration between him and the AskMen.com staff. The "Hells on Earth" feature was aggregated to an online Web site from AOL Travel; however, AOL has since removed Oklahoma City from its list.However, Cornett told KOCO-TV that he's not convinced. He said he believes Oklahoma City's inclusion in the list was generated by somebody who has a grudge over the Sonics' relocation to Oklahoma City.Cornett said he would watch to see how the story progresses.KOCO-TV contacted James Bassil, AskMen.com's editor-in-chief, and he stressed that the site's "Hells on Earth" feature was meant to be humorous."AskMen.com included Oklahoma City on a tongue-in-cheek list of travel destinations because of the constant weather challenges that the city faces. This list was written in a lighthearted, humorous tone and was not meant to disparage Oklahoma City as a place to live, work or raise a family," Bassil said.The other cities making the list were No. 9 Dhaka, Bangladesh; No. 8 Yakutsk, Russia; No. 7 Mogadishu, Somalia; No. 3 Bujumbura, Republic of Burundi; and No. 2 Linfen, China.

[Via - Local6]

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Why Do Cats Hang Around Us? | Weird Facts

2008-05-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

weird facts
Your hunch is correct. Your cat decided to live with you, not the other way around. The sad truth is, it may not be a final decision.

But don’t take this feline diffidence personally. It runs in the family. And it goes back a long way — about 12,000 years, actually.

Those are among the inescapable conclusions of a genetic study of the origins of the domestic cat, being published today in the journal Science.

The findings, drawn from an analysis of nearly 1,000 cats around the world, suggest that the ancestors of today’s tabbies, Persians and Siamese wandered into Near Eastern settlements at the dawn of agriculture. They were looking for food, not friendship.

They found what they were seeking in the form of rodents feeding on stored grain. They stayed for 12 millennia, although not without wandering off now and again to consort with their wild cousins.

The story is quite different from that of other domesticated animals: cattle, sheep, goats, horses — and dogs, cats’ main rivals for human affection. It may even provide insight on the behavior of the animal that, if not man’s best friend, is certainly his most inscrutable.

“It is a story about one of the more important biological experiments ever undertaken,” said Stephen J. O’Brien, a molecular geneticist at the National Cancer Institute’s laboratory in Frederick, Md., and one of the supervisors of the project.

“We think what happened is that cats sort of domesticated themselves,” said Carlos A. Driscoll, the University of Oxford graduate student who did the work, which required him, among other things, to befriend feral cats on the Mongolian steppes.

Today, there are 37 species in the family Felidae, ranging from lions through ocelots down to little Mittens. All domestic cats are descended from the species Felis sylvestris (”cat of the woods”), which goes by the common name “wildcat.”

The species is indigenous to Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. The New World, Japan and Oceania lack wildcats. North America’s closest counterpart is the lynx.

There are five subspecies of wildcats, and they look very much like many pet cats, particularly non-pedigree ones. The Scottish wildcat, for example, is indistinguishable from a barn cat with a mackerel tabby coat. These animals, however, are a true wild species. They are not escaped pets that have become feral, or reverted to the wild.

Driscoll and his collaborators, who included Oxford zoologist David Macdonald, took blood samples and ear punch biopsies from all wildcat subspecies as well as from fancy-breed cats, non-pedigree pet cats and feral cats. They analyzed two kinds of genetic fingerprints: nuclear DNA, which carries nearly all of an animal’s genes and reflects inheritance from both parents, and mitochondrial DNA, which exists outside the cell nucleus, carries only a few genes and descends through the generations only from mothers.

Both fingerprints showed that domesticated cats around the world are most closely related to the wildcat subspecies (called lybica) that lives in the Near East. (War prevented the sampling of Iraqi wildcats, but the researchers believe those animals are of the same species as animals they collected samples from in Israel and on the Arabian Peninsula.)

One might think that people in each region would have domesticated their local wildcats. In that case, European pet cats today would genetically most closely resemble European wildcats and Chinese cats would be descended from East Asian wildcats. But that isn’t the case.

Why not?

Genetics can’t answer the question, but history and archaeology can provide a good guess.

Large-scale grain agriculture began in the Near East’s Fertile Crescent. With the storage of surplus grain came mice, which fed on it and contaminated it.

Settled farming communities with dense rodent populations were a new habitat. Wildcats came out of the woods and grasslands to exploit it. They may have lived close to man — but not petting-close — for centuries.

Eventually, though, natural selection favored individual animals whose genetic makeup by chance made them tolerant of human contact. Such behavior provided them with things — a night indoors, the occasional bowl of milk — that allowed them to out-compete their scaredy-cat relatives.

For people, it was a great package — agriculture, food surplus (and all the civilizing effects that came with it), with domesticated cats thrown in to protect the wealth by eating the mice.

“When that technology was transferred to other cultures, so were the cats,” said Robert Wayne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California in Los Angeles. Therein lies the reason other cultures didn’t domesticate local wildcats, he said. “Why reinvent the wheel?”

This is not true with other acts of animal domestication.

Genetic studies have shown that cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and water buffalo were all domesticated at least twice in independent events. With horses, it happened many times.

The consequence of one other feline behavior — the average cat’s uncertainty about whether it wants to be indoors or out — was also written in the genes Driscoll studied.

He found that a significant fraction of wildcats in Europe, southern Africa and central Asia were hybrids. They carried genetic evidence of having tomcatted around from time to time with their domesticated relatives.

[Via - Anxus.Com]

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Credit Card Which Is Right For You ?

2008-05-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

Are you a student ? Have you ever thought of getting a credit card which suits you best ? Here are a few tips for you kindly granted by consolidate credit card debt

When comparing student credit cards, ask the following questions:

1. What is the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) charged on the card? Most student credit cards come with great 0% APR introductory offers, but these typically expire in as little as six months. While it’s best to pay your card off in full every month, many students find that they do carry a balance. If that is likely to be the case for you, pick a card with a low annual percentage rate (APR). It’s not uncommon for interest rates to vary from 11.99% to 19.99%, so you will save quite a bit over the long term by going with the card with the lowest interest rate.

2. What is the introductory offer? Some cards offer a 0% APR for balance transfers, some a 0% APR on purchases, and a few offer this rate on purchases, balance transfers, and cash advances. If you have a balance on another card you may wish to transfer it to a new card. Think about how you mainly will be using the card—for purchases, or make a balance transfer from another card. Then choose the card that best fits your needs. As always, it’s prudent financial sense to take cash advances only in an emergency.

3. Which other benefits does the card offer? Many credit cards award you additional benefits, such as cash back or reward points on purchases. These can accumulate into additional perks over time. Again, choose the rewards that best match your interests.

4. Is the APR a fixed rate or a variable rate? Many credit cards come with a variable rate APR, which means that the APR is linked to a financial index. The rate will go up or down as this economic indicator changes, raising or lowering the interest rate on your account. A fixed rate will not change with the financial markets.

5. What are the penalty fees? What are the penalty fees for making a late payment or exceeding the credit limit on the card? Read the Terms and Conditions carefully in order to understand the charges and your responsibilities as an accountholder.

6. What is the default rate and what triggers it? If you are late on a payment or miss a payment altogether, credit card issuers reserve the right to convert your standard APR to a higher default rate. Default rates typically are exceptionally high, often in excess of 30%. Some agreements also let card issuers raise the rate if you default on another loan. Read the fine print to find out what would trigger a default on the card agreement and be sure to avoid any actions that would cause you to be in default.

Are you ready to select one now ?
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Man arrested in Texas for trying to cash $360 billion check | Weird Facts

2008-05-02T02:48:00.000-07:00

weird facts -- Charles Ray Fuller must have been planning one big record company.

The 21-year-old North Texas man was arrested last week for trying to cash a $360 billion check, saying he wanted to start a record business. Tellers at the Fort Worth bank were immediately suspicious - perhaps the 10 zeros on a personal check tipped them off.

Fuller, of suburban Crowley, was arrested on a forgery charge. He was released after posting $3,750 bail.

Fuller said his girlfriend's mother gave him the check to start a record business. But bank employees who contacted the account's owner said the woman told them she did not give him permission to take or cash the check.

In addition to the forgery count, Fuller was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon and possessing marijuana. Officers reported finding less than two ounces of marijuana and a .25-caliber handgun and magazine in his pockets.

[Via - SeattlePI.Com]

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Mexican bus drivers say they deserve tips | Weird Facts

2008-05-01T03:06:00.000-07:00

weird facts
MEXICO CITY — So what if they rage through traffic, cause at least one accident a day and barely stop for passengers. Drivers of Mexico City's rickety old "pesero" buses say they deserve tips for their harrowing rides.

Since the city approved a fare hike only for newer buses, the union representing pesero drivers says passengers will be asked to pay tips of at least 50 Mexican cents ($0.05) on top of their normal fares to cover gasoline, maintenance and driver training.

The green and white peseros are 20 years old on average, causing major pollution and at least one accident a day, officials said.

But drivers say can't afford to replace them: "How can the government demand we give first-class service with third-rate bus fares?" union chief Jose Luis Tenorio said Wednesday.

Via - WRAL.Com

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Finding People Made Easy With a Spoke Search

2008-04-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

The internet search engines are constantly evolving. The problem with older search engines like Google, is they are based on methodical and robotic algorithms. The future of search engines will include some social or “voting” aspect to it.

I found a search engine called Spock, coined a ”People search engine” that bases search engine results on Tags. Registered Users of spock can vote down a tag if they feel it is notrelated to something. This helps give a better search experience because people are voting on what is related to what based on keyword tags.
When you search for an item or person, you get pictures of your search, related tags and their pictures, and then finally results from Google. It gives you a nice comprehensive addition, over just searching on google.

The result are simultaneously impressive — a complete portrait of your total web presence — and thoroughly creepy. When Spock was first announced earlier this year a number of people snickered that stalk would be a better name.

But the truth is, that’s killing messenger. All the data Spock crawls is already out there, but you may be in for a shock the first time you see it all in one place.

Pulling data from social networks — MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and others — Spock then condenses and extracts what it considers the most important information about you — namely your occupation and age, though depending on what you’ve listed on your various accounts, it may have even more details.

From the search results profiles you can then click through to vote for whether or not the information is correct, visit the relevant profile page or add tags to people. Just about anyone can edit information on just about any entry.

If you sign up for Spock.com - A Great Place for Search
, you can claim and manage your own entry or create one if Spock doesn’t yet know about you.

Aside from the slow servers, Spock looks as though it might be genuinely useful — if nothing else it might serve as a wake call for those who don’t realize how little privacy they have left themselves.

I tried to find some info about Putin, that's a Russian president, and here are the results. Aren't those amazing ? I mean in just a few minutes I knew everything I ever wanted to know about the exact person.

Britain, which has long prided itself on a reputation for good manners, is becoming increasingly rude, according to a new poll. | Weird Facts

2008-04-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

weird facts
Highly-paid footballers and celebrities are setting a bad example, according to the survey, put out today.

It listed spitting and swearing as the most offensive forms of behaviour.

Almost nine out of 10 people - 86.2 per cent - think Britons have become ruder than a decade ago, the poll for the ITV1 Tonight television program found.

"I suppose it's part of the breakdown in society, the fact that we stopped having respect for figures in authority, partly because those in authority didn't command it,'' Diana Mather, an etiquette coach, said.

Britons traditionally liked to think of themselves as superior to foreigners at things like queuing and giving up their seats on public transport to disabled people or pregnant women.

But the rise of football culture - and football hooligans creating mayhem - has long dented this image abroad, and now Britons themselves acknowledge they have a major problem.

More than half of those asked - 56.5 per cent - thought bad manners were the biggest problem in the country, according to the survey based on answers from some 2800 adults.

Spitting caused the most offence for 27.6 per cent, ahead of swearing by 20.2 per cent, followed by queue-jumping, talking loudly on mobile phones, not saying "please'' or "thank you,'' and belching or passing wind in public.

Nearly 75 per cent of Britons think the behaviour of celebrity footballers encourages bad manners in society.

But when asked to name the worst influence on children's manners, 63.8 per cent blamed the behaviour and lack of discipline of parents, with over 90 per cent saying parents are failing to pass on basic manners to their children.

Some 15.9 per cent said celebrities and footballers were the worst influence, followed by 5.4 per cent for television program.

"I think my generation has a lot to answer for because I think the youth culture in the 60s and early 70s threw out every rule book and thought it was really clever to use four letter words and so on,'' Esther Rantzen, patron of Campaign for Courtesy, said.

"But I think things should go back, not to the old deference, not to grovelling, not to any of that, but just to feeling respect, because I think that would make everyone's life pleasanter.''

[Via - News Not Wanted]

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Rats From Infested House Offered Up for Adoption As Pets | Weird Facts

2008-04-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

weird facts
ROCHESTER, Wash. — Rats from a heavily infested house here are being trapped to be offered for adoption as pets.

After being alerted by neighbors, Thurston County animal control officials served a search warrant on April 9 at the residence of Michele Diller, 64. They found that pet rats had ruined the house, chewing through walls, cupboards, drawers and wires, soaking carpets with urine and covering floors with feces. The officials removed a cat, four severely malnourished snakes, five mice and two rats.

Since then, county health officials have said the house will be condemned and Diller has moved to an apartment in neighboring Lewis County to await assisted-living housing.

Poisoned traps were set for a time to eliminate the rats, apparently the offspring of a few Diller purchased as food for the snakes, and more than 100 dead rats have been removed, said Hilary Price of RatsPacNW in Seattle.

Poison was used before her volunteer group got involved, and the rest of the rats are being trapped live to be offered for adoption, said Price, the sister of former Seattle Mariners pitching coach Bryan Price.

Rodent enthusiasts around the state constitute "a huge rat community," Price said.

As of Thursday the group had captured 29 live rats, including 10 babies.

"They're very smart, they're very clean, they can do tricks," Price said. "They're like little miniature dogs."

Before agreeing to move, Diller was saying, `You can't hurt them, they're my friends,'" said Susanne Beauregard, director of Animal Services.

The rats could not survive in the wild because Diller fed them cat food, so they have no scavenging skills, and poor eyesight would also make them easy prey, Price said.

Diller has been promised her cat, Cheyenne, will be returned once she has long-term accommodations, which could happen as early as May 1, Beauregard said. Two snakes have been adopted by new owners and two red-tailed boa constrictors are recovering under veterinary care.

[Via - WRAL]

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Joined the 3gb Community Already ?

2008-04-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

Recently found this website, called 3gb. I am pretty sure that you're familiar with a lot of social networking sites. So do I, but somehow i prefer this one.

After a registration you get 2 gb of storage space, not only it allows you to get in touch with old friends, make new friends, post pictures and videos but it even lets you listen to MP3 tracks and radio as well.

But what i really like about this site is that it's simple, easy to use and it's so much fun :)

Now remember this is a new community so it’s not like Hurox, Harley Social, AllSmackTalk, MySpace, or even Facebook which means there aren’t a lot of people using it yet but that also means that there isn’t a bunch of crazy people on the network either. It’s really a great way to meet new people. I personally am all about networking so I am going to use the site to network with others around the world.

I'm not a fan of writing a long reviews. Just go on and check it out for yourself. If you like it, than you like it :) Try it here: 3gb

Don't forget to come back and leave some comments. What's perfect already? What needs to be changed ?

Weird Facts: US prisoner sues over weight loss

2008-04-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

weird facts
An overweight prisoner in the United States is suing the authorities for not feeding him enough after he lost about seven stone (45kg) in jail.

Broderick Lloyd Laswell, who is awaiting trial for murder, dropped to 22 stone (140kg) after eight months inside the Arkansas prison.

He claims his vision has gone blurry while trying to exercise.

The prison says the meals average 3,000 calories a day - more than the US recommended daily intake for adults.

Laswell has filed a federal law suit complaining Benton County jail does not provide inmates with enough food.

Hungry again

According to the suit, Laswell weighed 29 stone (187kg) when he was jailed in September.

Police say he has been charged with fatally beating and stabbing a man, the Associated Press news agency reported.

"On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," he wrote in his complaint.

"About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again."

He then goes on to complain about the lack of physical exercise, adding: "The only reason we lost weight in here is because we are literally being starved to death."

The suit also asks that the county be ordered to serve hot meals instead of cold food.

[Via - BBC]

Italian Mafia Starts Faking Olive Oil

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Italian Mafia Starts Faking Olive Oil | Weird Facts

2008-04-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

weird facts
Italian police have arrested 39 people and seized truckloads of fake olive oil destined for the United States, Germany and Switzerland to be sold at a big profit.

Police said on Monday they seized 25,000 litres of the fake oil. The gang was adding flavouring and colourants to vegetable oil and slapping false labels on to bottles that claimed the contents were extra-virgin olive oil.

Random tests on olive oil, as well as suspicions raised by some Italian restaurateurs and retailers, had led police to make the discovery. Police impounded contents of seven premises where the fake oil was being produced.

"We blocked the export of huge amounts of the oil to America, Germany and Switzerland, avoiding another international scandal after the buffalo mozzarella case," said Ernesto Di Gregorio, a Carabinieri police chief in the southern city of Naples.

Several countries banned imports of Italian mozzarella when high levels of dioxin were found in the cheese – something blamed on the illegal dumping and burning of waste around the Naples area where the buffalo that provide the milk graze.

Italy exports 914 million euros of virgin and extra virgin oil each year. A consumer group said the fake oil scam could further dent Italy's reputation for high quality produce after police made a similar raid on makers of fake wine earlier this month.

"After wine and mozzarella we now have olive oil, which like the other two is an excellent product of which Italy is proud around the world," said consumers' association Aduc.

"It will end up that consumers abroad, when they buy Italian produce, they will have the same doubts as when they buy Chinese products," it said, in an apparent reference to recalls of Chinese-made toys and concerns about fake goods.

[Via - Stuff.Co.Nz]

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Scientists take control of flies' brains to make females behave just like males | Weird Facts

2008-04-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

weird facts
Scientists have been able to take control of flies' brains to make females behave just like males.

Researchers genetically modified the insects so that a group of brain cells that control sexual behaviour could be "switched on" by a pulse of light.

The team was able to get female fruit flies to produce a courtship song - behaviour usually only seen in males.

The study, published in the journal Cell, suggests that the wiring in male and female flies' brains is similar.

Scanning electron micrograph of the fruit fly (SPL)
What would happen if we turned the neurons on in females
Gero Miesenboeck

Gero Miesenboeck, from Oxford University, UK, who carried out the research with J. Dylan Clyne from Yale University, US, said: "It is often the case that males have to work very hard to convince females to mate with them.

"In many animal species, males have to put on elaborate courtship displays to impress females - even the tiny fruit fly."

Male fruit flies will vibrate one of their wings to produce a barely audible song, explained Professor Miesenboeck.

"And if the female likes that sound, she'll surrender to his advances."

Previous research has revealed that a group of 2,000 brain cells are necessary for this courtship behaviour in the insects; however, both male and female fruit flies appear to possess most of these neurons.

Professor Miesenboeck said: "It looks like males and females have very similar neuronal equipment, yet they behave so differently - only the male sings, and only the female responds to the song by allowing a male to copulate with her.

"The big question is: why - what is the difference?"

To investigate, the team placed some flies in a "mini sound studio".

The insects had been genetically modified so that a pulse of light would activate this group of courtship neurons.

First of all, the researchers looked at male flies and found that the light would indeed spark a song.

"The second, more exciting question we wanted to ask, was what would happen if we turned the neurons on in females.

"Females don't normally show this kind of behaviour, but we wanted to find out if they had a hidden capacity to do it," explained Professor Miesenboeck.

As the light pulsed through the chamber, video footage shows the female fruit fly lifting and vibrating one of her wings to produce a song.

The next stage was to find out how effective the artificially induced songs were as mating calls.

For this, the "Cyrano de Bergerac" test was applied.

A male and female fly were placed in the sound studio. The male fly had had his wings altered so that he could not produce any sound.

The mute couple were then played the recorded courtship songs produced by the mind-controlled male and female flies.

"The artificially activated male songs proved seductive," Professor Miesenboeck told the BBC News.

Experimental set up for flies (Miesenbock)
The flies were places in a mini sound studio

However, the music produced by the female did little to get the mute flies in the mood for mating.

Professor Miesenboeck explained: "When we analysed the songs, we found there were subtle differences between the male song and the artificially induced female song - the pitch was a bit off, the rhythm was off, the song, overall, was less well controlled."

Nevertheless, the researchers say the study reveals that male and female brains are extremely similar in flies - even the circuits thought to be dedicated to sexual behaviours such as courtship.

The next question to answer, said Professor Miesenboeck, was if both males and females had the capacity to create courtship songs, why was it that only the males did so under normal circumstances?

He said he thought there might be a handful of "master switches" or "command centres" in the flies' brains that were set to male or female mode.

"Our next goal is to find these switches," he added.

[Via - BBC]

Why Beautiful Women Marry Ugly Men

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Why Beautiful Women Marry Ugly Men | Weird Facts

2008-04-20T03:04:00.000-07:00

weird facts
Women seeking a lifelong mate might do well to choose the guy a notch below them in the looks category. New research reveals couples in which the wife is better looking than her husband are more positive and supportive than other match-ups.

The reason, researchers suspect, is that men place great value on beauty, whereas women are more interested in having a supportive husband.

Researchers admit that looks are subjective, but studies show there are some universal standards, including large eyes, "baby face" features, symmetric faces, so-called average faces, and specific waist-hip ratios in men versus women.

Past research has shown that individuals with comparable stunning looks are attracted to each other and once they hook up they report greater relationship satisfaction. These studies, however, are mainly based on new couples, showing that absolute beauty is important in the earliest stages of couple-hood, said lead researcher James McNulty of the University of Tennessee. But the role of physical attractiveness in well-established partnerships, such as marriage, is somewhat of a mystery.

The new study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, reveals looks continue to matter beyond that initial attraction, though in a different way.

Supportive spouses

McNulty's team assessed 82 couples who had married within the previous six months and had been together for nearly three years prior to tying the knot. Participants were on average in their early to mid-20s.

Researchers videotaped as each spouse discussed with their partner a personal problem for 10 minutes. The tapes were analyzed for whether partners were supportive of spouses' issues, which included goals to eat healthier, to land a new job and to exercise more often.

"A negative husband would've said, 'This is your problem, you deal with it,'" McNulty said, "versus 'Hey, I'm here for you; what do you want me to do?; how can I help you?'"

A group of trained "coders" rated the facial attractiveness of each spouse on a scale from 1 to 10, with the perfect 10 representing the ultimate babe. About a third of the couples had a more attractive wife, a third a more attractive husband and the remaining partners showed matching looks.

Trophy wives

Overall, wives and husbands behaved more positively when the woman was better looking.

The finding "seems very reasonable," said Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at MIT's Program in Media Arts and Sciences and Sloan School of Management. "Men are very sensitive to women's attractiveness. Women seem to be sensitive to men's height and salary," said Ariely, who was not involved in the recent study.

In couples with more attractive husbands, both partners were less supportive of one another. McNulty suggests wives mirror, in some ways, the level of support they get from husbands.

"The husband who's less physically attractive than his wife is getting something more than maybe he can expect to get," McNulty told LiveScience. "He's getting something better than he's providing at that level. So he's going to work hard to maintain that relationship."

Men who are more attractive than their partners would theoretically have access to partners who are more attractive than their current spouses, McNulty said. The "grass could be greener" mentality could make these men less satisfied and less committed to maintain the marriage.

Physical attractiveness of husbands is not as important to women, the researchers suggest. Rather, wives are looking for supportive husbands, they say.

So it seems the mismatch in looks is actually a perfect match. "Equitable is unlikely to mean the same on every dimension," Ariely said during a telephone interview. "It just means that overall two people make sense together."

[Via - Yahoo!News]

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Police Charge Reality-Show Director With False Imprisonment | Weird Facts

2008-04-15T03:36:00.000-07:00

weird facts -- Police in Central Florida said they've arrested a man who allegedly held young women against their will in a house to shoot a reality show called "Pauper to Princess."

Police say four women forced their way out of the Apopka house on Saturday. The show's director is charged with false imprisonment. He was released on $3,000 bail.Executive producer Jim Johnson denies the allegations. He says the women had been allowed to leave the house on recent weekends.

He also said their cell phones were confiscated as part of the 13-week contract they signed.Johnson said the women were taken to the opera, fashion shows and modeling and etiquette training.Johnson says he doesn't have a television deal yet to air the show.

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What job descriptions really mean

What job descriptions really mean | Weird Facts

2008-04-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

weird facts

“Competitive Salary”
We remain competitive by paying you less than our competition.

“Join our fast-paced company”
We have no time to train you.

“Casual work atmosphere”
We don’t pay enough to expect that you will dress up; a couple of the real daring guys wear earrings.

“Some overtime required”
Some every night and some every weekend.

“Duties will vary”
Anyone in the office can boss you around.

“Must have an eye for detail”
We have no quality assurance.

“Career-minded”
Female applicants must be childless (and remain that way).

“Apply in person”
If you’re old, fat or ugly you’ll be told that the position has been filled.

“Seeking candidates with a wide variety of experience”
You’ll need it to replace the three people who just quit.

“Problem-solving skills a must”
You’re walking into perpetual chaos.

“Requires team leadership skills”
You’ll have the responsibilities of a manager, without the pay or respect.

“Good communication skills”
Management communicates, you listen, figure out what they want and do it.

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Postal officials defend $13,500 steak dinner | Weird Facts

2008-04-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

weird facts - When the U.S. Postal Service rang up a $13,500 tab at an Orlando steakhouse, it spared no expense during a five-hour meal that government investigators are calling "abusive" in its extravagance.

The order -- charged to government credit cards -- included more than $3,000 for drinks, more than $500 for shrimp cocktails and almost $900 for mini crab cakes, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigate arm of Congress.

And then there's the steak.

"The better question is probably what they didn't order," GAO investigator Gregory Kutz said Wednesday. He counted 81 entrees -- including just about every kind of steak -- from the 2006 feast at Ruth's Chris Steak House on Sand Lake Road.

The GAO cited the Orlando meal as part of an overarching audit into abuse of government credit cards. The report, released this week, found 41 percent of purchases reviewed by the GAO from 2005 to 2006 failed "basic internal control standards."

These include safety measures such as getting proper authorization or having someone other than the cardholder review the expense. A lack of oversight led to abuses such as embezzling or odd expenses such as lingerie, electronic equipment and, in one case, $77,700 worth of expensive suits bought by the Pentagon.

But U.S. Postal Service officials said it was unfair to compare the dinner with other abuses cited in the GAO report. "This is not taxpayer money. What we spend is what we make. The Postal Service is funded solely by our products and services," said Gerry McKiernan, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.

Which includes stamps, countered Kutz, author of the GAO report. "For the most part, my stamps helped pay for the dinner," he said. "Every time you lick a stamp, think about Ruth's Chris."

McKiernan said the dinner was intended to help woo corporate clients of the U.S. Postal Service, which competes with carriers such as UPS and FedEx for business. "It was just the opinion of the GAO that the cost was excessive," he said.

These included liquid expenses such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnnie Walker Gold Label, according to the GAO report. "Ruth's Chris is a very fine restaurant, and at a fine restaurant, you find fine products," McKiernan said.

Neither the GAO nor the U.S. Postal Service would release a list of those present. McKiernan said the dinner was hosted by four postal groups from California that were in Orlando for a conference. The networking groups, called Postal Customer Councils, include both postal and corporate representatives.

More than 100 people were invited to the April 2, 2006, dinner, although U.S. Postal Service officials said only 95 attended. The GAO estimated 81 attendees, based on 81 orders of salads and entrees, when they factored an average of more than $160 per person.

McKiernan said the meal was intended to be an efficient way for the four postal groups -- from Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Ana -- to meet with their corporate clients at once. "It would be convenient for everyone in terms of travel and time to combine four dinners into one," he said.

Ernie Brogdon, a former officer with the group from San Diego, said it was not uncommon to host these dinners in conjunction with a conference. "If they have a good group of people going, they will host a nice banquet dinner. San Diego used to do that all the time," he said.

[Via - Sun-Sentinel]

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Why Things Cost $19.95 | Weird Facts

2008-04-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

weird facts
Ever wondered why retailers price goods at $4.99 rather than $5.00? Here is the best scientific explanation I read:

Why Things Cost $19.95, by Wray Herbert, SciAm Mind Matters: ...[M]ost of us are motivated by the desire for a fair deal, and we employ some sophisticated cognitive tools to weigh offers, fashion responses, and so forth—all the to-and-fro in getting to an agreement.

But how does life’s dickering play out in the brain? And is it a trustworthy tool for getting what we want? Psychologists have been studying cognitive bartering for some time, and several basics are well established. For example, an opening “bid” of any sort is usually perceived as a mental anchor, a starting point for the psychological jockeying to follow. ... What makes us settle on a response?

University of Florida marketing professors Chris Janiszewski and Dan Uy suspected that ... some characteristic of the opening bid itself might influence ... bidding behavior. In particular, they wanted to see if the degree of precision of the opening bid might be important to how the brain acts at an auction. Or, to put it in more familiar terms: Are we really fooled when storekeepers price something at $19.95 instead of a round 20 bucks?

Janiszewski and Uy ran a series of tests to explore this idea. The experiments used hypothetical scenarios, in which participants were required to make a variety of “educated guesses.” For example, they had subjects think about a scenario in which they were buying a high-definition plasma TV and asked them to guesstimate the wholesale cost. The participants were told the retail price, plus the fact that the retailer had a reputation for pricing TVs competitively.

There were three scenarios involving different retail prices: one group of buyers was given a price of $5,000, another was given a price of $4,988, and the third was told $5,012. When all the buyers were asked to estimate the wholesale price, those with the $5,000 price tag in their head guessed much lower than those contemplating the more precise retail prices. That is, they moved farther away from the mental anchor. What is more, those who started with the round number as their mental anchor were much more likely to guess a wholesale price that was also in round numbers. The scientists ran this experiment again and again with different scenarios and always got the same result.

Why would this happen? As Janiszewski and Uy explain..., people appear to create mental measuring sticks that run in increments away from any opening bid, and the size of the increments depends on the opening bid. That is, if we see a $20 toaster, we might wonder whether it is worth $19 or $18 or $21; we are thinking in round numbers. But if the starting point is $19.95, the mental measuring stick would look different. We might still think it is wrongly priced, but in our minds we are thinking about nickels and dimes instead of dollars, so a fair comeback might be $19.75 or $19.50.

The psychologists decided to check these lab findings in the real world. They looked at five years of real estate sales in Alachua County, Florida, comparing list prices and actual sale prices of homes. They found that sellers who listed their homes more precisely—say $494,500 as opposed to $500,000—consistently got closer to their asking price. ... Furthermore, houses listed in round numbers lost more value if they sat on the market for a couple of months. So, bottom line: one way to deal with a buyer’s market may be to pick an exact list price to begin with. ...

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Blogger Dies From Blogging Too Much. And No, It's Not A Joke. | Weird Facts

2008-04-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

weird facts — They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic. There is also no certainty that the stress of the work contributed to their deaths. But friends and family of the deceased, and fellow information workers, say those deaths have them thinking about the dangers of their work style.

The pressure even gets to those who work for themselves — and are being well-compensated for it.

“I haven’t died yet,” said Michael Arrington, the founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, a popular technology blog. The site has brought in millions in advertising revenue, but there has been a hefty cost. Mr. Arrington says he has gained 30 pounds in the last three years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into an office for him and four employees. “At some point, I’ll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen.”

“This is not sustainable,” he said.

It is unclear how many people blog for pay, but there are surely several thousand and maybe even tens of thousands.

The emergence of this class of information worker has paralleled the development of the online economy. Publishing has expanded to the Internet, and advertising has followed.

Even at established companies, the Internet has changed the nature of work, allowing people to set up virtual offices and work from anywhere at any time. That flexibility has a downside, in that workers are always a click away from the burdens of the office. For obsessive information workers, that can mean never leaving the house.

Blogging has been lucrative for some, but those on the lower rungs of the business can earn as little as $10 a post, and in some cases are paid on a sliding bonus scale that rewards success with a demand for even more work.

There are growing legions of online chroniclers, reporting on and reflecting about sports, politics, business, celebrities and every other conceivable niche. Some write for fun, but thousands write for Web publishers — as employees or as contractors — or have started their own online media outlets with profit in mind.

One of the most competitive categories is blogs about technology developments and news. They are in a vicious 24-hour competition to break company news, reveal new products and expose corporate gaffes.

To the victor go the ego points, and, potentially, the advertising. Bloggers for such sites are often paid for each post, though some are paid based on how many people read their material. They build that audience through scoops or volume or both.

Some sites, like those owned by Gawker Media, give bloggers retainers and then bonuses for hitting benchmarks, like if the pages they write are viewed 100,000 times a month. Then the goal is raised, like a sales commission: write more, earn more.

Bloggers at some of the bigger sites say most writers earn about $30,000 a year starting out, and some can make as much as $70,000. A tireless few bloggers reach six figures, and some entrepreneurs in the field have built mini-empires on the Web that are generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. Others who are trying to turn blogging into a career say they can end up with just $1,000 a month.

Speed can be of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, someone else’s post on the subject will bring in the audience, the links and the bigger share of the ad revenue.

“There’s no time ever — including when you’re sleeping — when you’re not worried about missing a story,” Mr. Arrington said.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we said no blogger or journalist could write a story between 8 p.m. Pacific time and dawn? Then we could all take a break,” he added. “But that’s never going to happen.”

All that competition puts a premium on staying awake. Matt Buchanan, 22, is the right man for the job. He works for clicks for Gizmodo, a popular Gawker Media site that publishes news about gadgets. Mr. Buchanan lives in a small apartment in Brooklyn, where his bedroom doubles as his office.

He says he sleeps about five hours a night and often does not have time to eat proper meals. But he does stay fueled — by regularly consuming a protein supplement mixed into coffee.

But make no mistake: Mr. Buchanan, a recent graduate of New York University, loves his job. He said he gets paid to write (he will not say how much) while interacting with readers in a global conversation about the latest and greatest products.

“The fact I have a few thousand people a day reading what I write — that’s kind of cool,” he said. And, yes, it is exhausting. Sometimes, he said, “I just want to lie down.”

Sometimes he does rest, inadvertently, falling asleep at the computer.

“If I don’t hear from him, I’ll think: Matt’s passed out again,” said Brian Lam, the editor of Gizmodo. “It’s happened four or five times.”

Mr. Lam, who as a manager has a substantially larger income, works even harder. He is known to pull all-nighters at his own home office in San Francisco — hours spent trying to keep his site organized and competitive. He said he was well equipped for the torture; he used to be a Thai-style boxer.

“I’ve got a background getting punched in the face,” he said. “That’s why I’m good at this job.”

Mr. Lam said he has worried his blogging staff might be burning out, and he urges them to take breaks, even vacations. But he said they face tremendous pressure — external, internal and financial. He said the evolution of the “pay-per-click” economy has put the emphasis on reader traffic and financial return, not journalism.

In the case of Mr. Shaw, it is not clear what role stress played in his death. Ellen Green, who had been dating him for 13 months, said the pressure, though self-imposed, was severe. She said she and Mr. Shaw had been talking a lot about how he could create a healthier lifestyle, particularly after the death of his friend, Mr. Orchant.

“The blogger community is looking at this and saying: ‘Oh no, it happened so fast to two really vital people in the field,’ ” she said. They are wondering, “What does that have to do with me?”

For his part, Mr. Shaw did not die at his desk. He died in a hotel in San Jose, Calif., where he had flown to cover a technology conference. He had written a last e-mail dispatch to his editor at ZDNet: “Have come down with something. Resting now posts to resume later today or tomorrow.”

[Via - NYTimes.Com]

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School bans birthday cake

2008-04-07T03:48:00.000-07:00

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Children in a New Zealand school have been banned from bringing cakes to share on their birthdays, due to new government healthy eating guidelines.

Pupils at Oteha Valley primary school north of Auckland have been told they are allowed to celebrate their birthdays, but the cake must stay at home, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

The Ministry of Education has been on a fat-busting crusade, introducing sweeping guidelines against unhealthy food in New Zealand schools.

Oteha Valley has a large number of pupils born in September and October, and there can be up to four cakes a week in some classes, principal Megan Bowden told the Herald.

It had gotten to the point where parents thought they were required to provide a cake for their child's birthday.

The school has advised parents in a newsletter to stop sending cakes to school from the next term.

A Ministry of Education spokesman told the Herald the government guidelines only applied to food sold on the premises, and schools did not need to monitor food brought in from outside.

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Regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana.

2008-04-03T01:44:00.000-07:00

weird facts
That is the claim of psychologists who have found that tapping away on a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking them for electronic messages temporarily knocks up to 10 points off the user’s IQ.

This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavourably with the four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to British researchers, who have labelled the fleeting phenomenon of enhanced stupidity as “infomania”.

Research on sleep deprivation suggests that the IQ drop caused by electronic obsession is also equivalent to a wakeful night.

Infomania is mainly a problem for adult workers, especially men, the study commissioned by Hewlett Packard, the technology company, has concluded.

The noticeable drop in IQ is attributed to the constant distraction of “always on” technology when employees should be concentrating on what they are paid to do. Infomania means that they lose concentration as their minds remain fixed in an almost permanent state of readiness to react to technology instead of focusing on the task in hand.

Workers lose productivity by interrupting a business meeting and disrupt social gatherings because of their infirmity, the report said.

The brain also finds it hard to cope with juggling lots of tasks at once, reducing its overall effectiveness, it added. And while modern technology can have huge benefits, excessive use can be damaging not only to a person’s mind, but to their social life.

Eighty volunteers took part in clinical trials on IQ deterioration and 1,100 adults were interviewed.

More than six in ten (62 per cent) of people polled admit that they were addicted to checking their e-mail and text messages so assiduously that they scrutinised work-related ones even when at home or on holiday. Half said that they always responded immediately to an email and one in five (21 per cent) will interrupt a meeting to do so.

Furthermore, infomania is having a negative effect on work colleagues, increasing stress and dissenting feelings. Nine out of ten polled thought that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face meeting were extremely rude. Yet one in three Britons believes that it is not only acceptable, but actually diligent and efficient to do so.

The effects on IQ were studied by Dr Glenn Wilson, a University of London psychologist, as part of the research project.

“This is a very real and widespread phenomenon,” he said. “We have found that infomania, if unchecked, will damage a worker’s performance by reducing their mental sharpness.

“Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working.”

The report suggests that firms who give employees gadgets and devices to help them keep in touch from wherever they might be should also produce guidelines on use.

These “best practice tips” including using “dead time”, such as travelling time, to read messages and check e-mails and turning devices off in meetings. David Smith, commercial manager of Hewlett Packard, said: “The research suggests that we are in danger of being caught up in a 24-hour ‘always on’ society.

“This is more worrying when you consider the potential impairment on performance and concentration for workers, and the consequent impact on businesses.”

He said that although the company produced such technology, it was similar to a motor manufacturer making a 150mph sports car and telling drivers to stick within speed limits.

He added: “Similarly, ‘always on’ technology has proven productivity benefits but people need to use it responsibly. We know that technology makes us more effective, but we also know that misuse of technology can be counter-productive.”

[Via - Times Online]

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Students Plagarize Honor Code | Weird Facts

2008-03-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

weird facts
SAN ANTONIO - Their goal was an honor code that discouraged cheating and plagiarizing.

However, the wording in a draft by students at the University of Texas at San Antonio appears to match another school's code - without proper attribution.

The student currently in charge of the honor code project said it was an oversight, but cheating experts say it illustrates a sloppiness among Internet-era students who don't know how to cite sources properly and think of their computers as cut-and-paste machines.

"That's the consequence of the Internet and the availability of things," said Daniel Wueste, director of the Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University. "It doesn't feel like what would be in a book. You Google it and here it comes."

Student Akshay Thusu said that when he took over the project a month ago he inherited a draft by earlier project participants, including a group of students who attended a conference five years ago put on by The Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson.

Materials from the conference, which are used by many universities, were probably the main source of UTSA's proposed code, Thusu said. That's why parts of the Texas draft match word-for-word the online version of Brigham Young University's code.

BYU credited the Center for Academic Integrity, but the San Antonio draft doesn't.

That will change, said Thusu, who plans to include proper citation and attribution when the draft is submitted to the faculty senate.

"We don't want to have an honor code that is stolen," Thusu said.

[Via - AZCentral.Com]

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Millionaire goes back to McDonald's job

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Millionaire goes back to McDonald's job | Weird Facts

2008-03-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

weird facts
A lottery winner has gone back to his old job serving burgers at McDonald's.

Luke Pittard, 25, shared a $2.85 million jackpot with his girlfriend 18 months ago.

After taking a break Pittard, who has since married his partner, has decided to go back to his old job part-time, where he earns just $192.40 for 15 hours' work a week.

Pittard, dubbed the McMillionaire, said: "I loved my work at McDonald's before I won the money, and I'm really enjoying being back there again.

"There are so many familiar faces that it was like coming back to a group of old friends.

"To be honest, there's only so much relaxing you can do. I'm only young and a bit of hard work never did anyone any harm."

[Via - News.Com.Au]

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Restaurant gives 25 percent discount for bugs found in food | Weird Facts

2008-03-26T01:34:00.000-07:00

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DUBAI (Reuters) - A group celebrating a birthday at a Dubai diner were cheered by a 25 percent discount but not necessarily the reason: "Bug on food."

The restaurant cut the bill for seven customers at a birthday dinner after they found four insects crawling around their meals, the Gulf News reported on Tuesday.

"We were surprised when the receipt said 'bug on food' as a reason for the discount. I think they were trying to be funny," it quoted one of the disgruntled customers as saying.

An official at the restaurant defended the phrase saying it was "an inappropriate detail," the paper reported.

"It was a misunderstanding from our side -- the guys thought being friendly and having a joke about the environment would relax the diners because it was a birthday, but unfortunately it didn't," he added.

[Via - Reuters]

Lawsuit Settled Over Stolen Virtual Sex Toys In 'Second Life'

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Lawsuit Settled Over Stolen Virtual Sex Toys In 'Second Life' | Weird Facts

2008-03-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

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TAMPA, Fla. -- A legal dispute over the theft of virtual sex toys has resulted in a real-life slap on the wrist. A federal judge accepted the settlement Thursday of a lawsuit filed last year against a Texas man accused of stealing sex toys developed for the online world, "Second Life."

According to the settlement, Robert Leatherwood agreed not to copy, display or distribute any items sold by Eros LLC, a Tampa Bay-area company that creates virtual sex scripts in the "Second Life" universe. Leatherwood must also disclose the e-mail addresses of anyone he knows had access to his "Second Life" persona, known as "Volkov Catteneo."

The settlement does not involve money or any admission of wrongdoing, court documents show. It effectively ends the suit filed last year by Eros' owner, Kevin Alderman, of Lutz. He sued to stop the unauthorized distribution of Eros creations, which allow "Second Life" users to equip their online personas, known as avatars, with realistic genitalia. Products also allow users to engage in various sexual actions in the online world.

Francis Taney, a Pennsylvania attorney representing Eros, said the case remains one of the first real-world legal fights involving two "Second Life" users over their online conduct. The other is a New York case Taney filed on behalf of Eros. Reached at his grandmother's home in North Richland Hills, Texas, Leatherwood acknowledged he sold Eros products, but said the whole case had been overblown.

"I did it in private," he said. "I wasn't out to do a huge market thing. I was doing it for a little bit of money." Leatherwood said he agreed to settle the case because he is 19 and didn't have money for an attorney. He said he stopped selling Eros products online a year ago, and he rarely uses "Second Life" anymore. He said the whole case was "ridiculous," and likely cost Alderman thousands of dollars. He also said he thought it would be hard to hold him liable. "He had no evidence or proof of anything I did," Leatherwood said. Taney said Alderman is "moving on." He scoffed at Leatherwood's contention that there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the case, noting that he had previously publicly denied he sold Eros items. "Out of a nation of 300 million people, we tracked the kid down to his living room in North Richland Hills, Texas," Taney said.

While the case doesn't create legal precedent, Taney said it does seem to transfer some real-world principles to the online universe. "This is a technology that has to be dealt with by lawyers, by business people, by regular citizens," Taney said. "I think it fits quite nicely into existing concepts."

[Via - WFTV.Com]

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