OLD NEWS, BOLD NEWS

.
NO OLD BOLD NEWS? JUST SOME CRAZY STUFF THAT HAPPENED A WHILE AGO...

OK, WE FINALLY CLEANED OUT OUR WEIRD & FUNNY NEWS LINKS FILES

But We're Passing The Savings Along To You, The Weird & Funny News Consumer. You're Welcome!

We've been out of it for a while. Health problems, financial problems, problem problems. Problems. Now we're trying to catch up. Some of this may not be news to some of you, but it all strikes us as interesting, weird, funny, sad or scary. And we're too tired to write any more. So we'll just pass this all along to you now, if that's OK. Yaaaaaawn...


OREGON LIVE.COM
"Feathered fuel tank soaks up hydrogen"
Now if they could only find a way to tell chickensh*t from chicken salad.

' The gas tank of the future may be full of chicken feathers. Engineers have discovered a way to store large amounts of hydrogen fuel using carbonized downy fluff, which could help pave the way to clean, green cars. Treated chicken feathers work like a sponge. They soak up large amounts of hydrogen and hold it in a small space so the tank can be a conventional size and the fuel won't need to held under dangerously high pressures. "The question came up," Wool said, "of what to do with the six billion pounds of waste chicken feathers" produced every year. He experimented for years with various ways to use feathers and eventually wondered if they might store hydrogen. Scientists have long known that hydrogen sticks well to carbon surfaces. Research has focused on tiny nanotubes, in which sheets of carbon are rolled into a compact space. The problem is nanotubes are expensive: A 20-gallon tank of them can cost more than $1 million. Chicken feather fibers are mostly composed of keratin, a natural protein that forms strong, hollow tubes. The breakthrough moment came when researchers heated feathers to 700 degrees, causing a process called carbonization that created billions of tiny pores. They had found an ideal place to pack large amounts of hydrogen. The new feather-based material can be produced at a small fraction of carbon nanotubes' cost. A 20-gallon feather-based tank would be about $100. '

STUFF.CO.NZ
"Eyebrows up, blowup dolls down in Undy 500"
Not sure if love-doll marriage is legal down under. The land of wonder. The land down underpants.

' Queenstowner Mark Ferguson, 42, turned heads and dropped jaws when he turned up to the underwear raceday wearing just carpet slippers and a pair of tiny white underpants which he shared with inflatable friend "Brian". Ferguson and Brian lined up against about a dozen other semi-naked guys (none of whom had inflatable sextoys in their underpants) to race a several-hundred-metre course up and down the beach in Queenstown Bay. Over hay bales, under hurdles and into the lake they went. Ferguson was knocked out in an early heat, but he was not blaming the result on the rapidly deflating Brian. "He kept me nice and warm," he said. A veteran of the first Undy 500 at Queenstown Winter Festival 1996, Ferguson instead blamed his early exit on his decision to wear carpet slippers a poor choice, he reflected, in the era of professional sport. '

USA TODAY
"New 'American Patriot's Bible' sees USA's 'godly roots' "
Further proof that God is dead. Or deaf, dumb and blind.

' "This Bible is designed for the decent, hardworking core of America, the ordinary man or woman who loves this nation and believes it springs from godly roots," says Richard G. Lee, a Southern Baptist pastor from Georgia who served as the Bible's general editor. Lee is the founding pastor of the 4,000-member First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Ga. A registered Republican who's organizing an Independence Day-themed "Restoring America" conference featuring conservatives David Limbaugh and Oliver North, Lee said he's "disappointed" when politicians "use the word of God for the purpose of vote getting." His goal was to create a "non-partisan" Bible, but he quotes Republican Ronald Reagan more times than Democrats Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy combined. In an interview, Lee said he doesn't even know if Carter, a fellow Georgian and longtime Baptist Sunday school teacher, is a Christian. As for President Obama? "I haven't seen any patriotism from him yet." Lee sprinkles his Bible with some 300 articles about "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," the right to keep and bear arms, the war in Iraq and religious broadcasting. While some have praised the Patriot's Bible— former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called it "fascinating" — others have condemned it as something akin to theological and political heresy. "Get thee behind me, Satan," wrote "Crunchy Con" blogger Rod Dreher on Beliefnet. "To the extent that this Bible's publishers conflate serving Christ with patriotism … they are corrupt, and corrupters." Evangelical author and pastor Greg Boyd's lengthy critique, posted on Christianity Today's website, calls Lee's Bible "idolatrous," saying, "There's not a single commentary in this Bible that even attempts to shed light on what the biblical text actually means." '

BBC NEWS
"US dinosaur had Chinese cousin"
Hey, maybe we can start naming our dinosaurs after US Presidents! Republican Presidents. Reaganus Megastupidus? Tyrannus Dubyus? Crookus Nixonius? Hooverus Depressus?

' Scientists in China say they have identified the first Asian example of a group of dinosaurs previously found only in the Americas and Europe. The researchers say the specimen is closely related to the Sauroposeidon dinosaur fossils of North America and have named it Qiaowanlong kangxii after a Chinese emperor of the Qing dynasty. '

MITRE.ORG
"Every Little Thing It Does Is MAJIIC: A Technology for the Net-centric Age"
Does it bother anybody that our military boffins , or their PR people, use so many terms and references from lame TV shows? "MAJIIC," "Quantum Leap"? Really, dude? Oh, well, as long as Al Qaida doesn't have any hackers, we're safe. They don't have any hackers, right? Right?

' Members of a Special Forces Unit head toward a spot in Iraq, not knowing exactly what conditions they will find or where the moving target is. As they get closer, they call up digital maps and visuals in the transport vehicle—visuals taken in real time from surveillance sensors in the area. Even a year ago, much of this wasn't possible. Is it magic? No, it's MAJIIC, an innovative concept that's moved from prototype to nearly deployed technology with multiple sponsors in a few short years. The MAJIIC (Multi-sensor Aerospace-ground Joint ISR Interoperability Coalition) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration, a concept MITRE helped to develop, pulls streaming data from airborne surveillance platforms, using Web-services technology to pass the information to the people who need it most. The "ISR" in MAJIIC stands for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance—just the type of information a pilot or tank commander needs before or during battle. That makes MAJIIC a potentially powerful part of the growing collection of net-centric tools the military requires in the 21st century. The ideas behind network-centric operations are still relatively new, and the existence of operational net-centric technology even newer. For decades, the Department of Defense (DOD) has followed the "process-before-post" approach to handling data and images. Analysts sort and evaluate images and other types of data before sending the results back into the field—a painstaking, sometime hours- or even days-long process. By using the power of the network to send information directly to field personnel and command centers, warfighters receive what they need to know quickly and efficiently, in many cases within minutes of its collection. The military calls this method of handling information "post before process." According to MITRE's John Kane, a systems engineer and technical manager for the program, "MAJIIC works in a 'pull' environment, not a broadcast or data-push environment. Users will be able to discover these data services dynamically, even if they have never heard of MAJIIC. Users can query for ISR data within certain coordinates or topics and view the data over low bandwidth communications." All information posts and inquiries occur within a secure, secret-level environment, using enterprise-wide, Web-based tools. One Leap for a Program: Although still in its development phase, MAJIIC was demonstrated this past August at Quantum Leap 2—a high-level showcase of net-centric technology sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration. The demonstration performed successfully and generated a lot of enthusiasm from the services, so much so that MAJIIC is scheduled to be operational in 2005. '

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"Backup plan to get NASA to moon cheaper"
It's either this or a Great Wall Of Lunar China staring at us every night.

' Like a car salesman pushing a luxury vehicle that the customer no longer can afford, NASA has pulled out of its back pocket a deal for a cheaper ride to the moon. It won't be as powerful, and its design is a little dated. Think of it as a base-model Ford station wagon instead of a tricked-out Cadillac Escalade. Officially, the space agency is still on track with a 4-year-old plan to spend $35 billion to build new rockets and return astronauts to the moon in several years. However, a top NASA manager is floating a cut-rate alternative that costs around $6.6 billion. This cheaper option is not as powerful as NASA's current design with its fancy new rockets, the people-carrying Ares I and cargo-lifting Ares V. But the cut-rate plan would still get to the moon. '

FARM FOUNDATION.ORG
"What's Driving Food Prices?"
So, the price of oil and the price of corn are linked. And both are driven by speculation on the commodities markets. So, Wall Street is eating good when oil prices rise, anyway.

' Since 2006, energy and agricultural markets have become closely linked as biofuels production surged. Ethanol and biodiesel were linked as energy substitutes for gasoline and diesel, and usage of crops for these biofuels became large enough to influence world prices. In the last half of 2008, crude oil prices fell rapidly, but gasoline prices fell faster and further. Low gasoline and crude oil prices reduced the expected use of corn for ethanol which, in turn, put pressure on ethanol prices and corn prices. By the end of 2008, the ethanol industry’s economic fortunes had deteriorated such that up to two billion gallons of capacity was idled. There have been changes in the way markets are now functioning but the basic relationship between crude oil and corn remains strong. '

SOURCE
"OTHER WEIRD, FUNNY & SCARY NEWS"

.
.

TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!

NEWS OF BRUNO & SENILE MICE

.
SHAMEFUL, CREEPY, SILLY NEWS UPDATE

RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WHOSE BLOOD PRESSURE IS TOO LOW

The Rest Of You Click On Out Of Here Before Your Head Explodes!

We'd like to believe that we live in a sane world, guided by reason, enlightened, sorta. And then we pick up the newspaper. Every day, a new series of indictments of the whole human race. Well, not you and me, buddy! We're OK. Right? Right? Hey, put down that ax!


INVESTORS SPOT.COM
"Caffeine Reverses Alzheimer's Disease In Mice"
One tiny mocha-soy-cheese latte!

' In the first of today's reports, mice who had been bred to develop Alzheimer's-like memory problems were given caffeine in their drinking water at 18 - 19 months old (about the age of 70 in human years), for a duration of two months. Another group of Alzheimer's mice received plain drinking water. At the end of two months, mice who had received the caffeine performed 50 percent better than the plain water drinkers - in fact, they performed as well as mice their age without dementia. In addition to the improved memory and thinking skills, the caffeinated mice had nearly a 50 percent reduction in beta amyloid, the plaques that form in the brain causing Alzheimer's disease. Investigators theorized that the caffeine suppresses bacterial formations that lead to the formation of beta amyloid plaques. The second experiment was conducted as a follow-up, this time using normal mice, those that had not been engineered to get Alzheimer's disease. The mice were administered caffeine from young adulthood through old age. In this case the mice given caffeine had the same results as the mice who were not given caffeine, suggesting that caffeine cannot improve your memory or thinking skills beyond your normal abilities. '

AFP
"Zoo evacuated after chimps escape"
Apparently, they've been reading Darwin.

' A zoo was evacuated on Sunday after about 30 chimpanzees escaped from their enclosure. The animals escaped from 'Chimp Island' and found their way into a keeper area where their food is prepared, the zoo said. More than 5,000 visitors were asked to leave Chester Zoo, near Liverpool, shortly after the break-out as keepers rounded up the chimps. '

REUTERS
"Spain police foil radio control zeppelin jailbreak"
Was it a led zeppelin?

' Spanish police said on Friday they had foiled an Italian drug trafficker's plan to break out of jail in the Canary Islands using climbing equipment and a four-metre-long zeppelin. "The plan consisted of using a remotely controlled zeppelin to bring him night-vision goggles and climbing equipment with which to escape," a National Police statement said. '

E!
"No Laughing Matter: Brüno Re-sued for Emotional Damages"
Now that's REALLY tacky!

' Olson dropped her charges of assault and battery against against Cohen and NBC Universal, and is now setting her sights on the "emotional distress" the Brüno star and his film crew allegedly caused when they sent Brüno to her charity bingo tournament, according to THR, Esq. "The amendment to the original complaint does not change the cause of the injuries plead in the original complaint," Olson's attorney, Kyle Madison, told the trade. "Mrs. Olson's brain injuries were never alleged to have been derived from an assault or battery. She suffered two brain bleeds after the confrontation ensued with Mr. Baron Cohen. According to California case law, any injuries deriving from intentional infliction of emotional distress are recoverable. Mr. Baron Cohen and those associated with the production of Brüno are accountable for inflicting serious emotional distress and the resulting injuries to Mrs. Olson." '

REUTERS
"Berlin 'sex academy' offers tips for visitors"
I think I know this dummy!

' The show features several life-sized plastic models, naked and in various positions. One female mannequin light ups when touched in the right spot. A voice shrieks "That's it!" when the visitor manages to put his finger on the elusive G-spot. '

BBC NEWS
"Australia probes navy 'sex game' "
What's Australian for "Love Boat"?

' According to Channel Seven news, sailors on board HMAS Success put a cash value on each woman's head. Sleeping with a female officer or a lesbian, or having sex in a strange place, won more money, the report said. '

AFP
"Son tries to sell sexy photos of mum on Internet after row"
The family that... Oh, sh*t, I don't know.

' "He was quite naughty... I thought 'you cheeky little git'," she said. But she was also annoyed that Trade Me withdrew the second set of pictures, of which she approved. "I insisted Michael show me first, the little bugger. They are quite artistic. There is nothing dodgy about them." "I wanted 50 per cent of the sale, but more than that I miss the nice comments." '

ASBURY PARK PRESS, NJ
"Military academy head faces child porn charges"
Why is it always the religious nuts? Oh, right; they're nuts.

' Cedar Bridge Military Academy Superintendent Steven T. Baryla, 27, was taken into custody Monday after the execution of a search warrant yielded, "physical and electronic evidence,'' linking him to the possession and distribution of child pornography, according to a statement issued by Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford. Cedar Bridge is a privately-run, Christian faith-based camp for youths between the ages of 11 and 17 that advertises extracurricular military training and experiences. Based in Toms River, the camp itself is located outside of Harrisburg, Pa., and hosts two- to five-week training programs during the summer, according to the company's Web site. '

HOMELESS CHILDREN AMERICA.ORG
"It is unacceptable for one child in the United States to be homeless for even one day."
At long last, America, have you no shame?

' The year 2008 will long be remembered by Americans as a time when grossly overpaid bankers, captains of industry, and carmakers hobbled to Washington, hats in hand, begging for bailouts and infusions of billions of dollars. Ignored by members of Congress and the media were scores of children – many still infants and toddlers – who were homeless in the midst of this economic turmoil. Without a voice, more than 1.5 million of our nation’s children go to sleep without a home each year. Homeless, these children also endure a lack of safety, comfort, privacy, reassuring routines, adequate health care, uninterrupted schooling, sustaining relationships, and a sense of community. These factors combine to create a life-altering experience that inflicts profound and lasting scars. '

YAHOO NEWS
"New GI benefits vary widely by state"
Penalizing Iraq War Veterans and States that subsidize higher education: Your tax dollars at work.

' Veterans who choose a private school in Texas could get close to $20,000 a semester from the government for a typical course load. Those picking schools in California will get nothing for tuition. The explanation stems from the formula the government created, as well as a much-criticized decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs on how to implement the law. The new GI Bill covers full in-state undergraduate tuition and fees at any public college. That's far more generous than the old GI Bill, which provides a monthly stipend that is the same from state to state. But Congress also wanted to help veterans attend often pricier private schools. So the new bill offers them an amount equal to the tuition at the most expensive public college in the same state. That penalizes veterans going to private colleges in states that have kept their public university tuition low. As a result, the new GI Bill is a great deal for such vets in states like New Hampshire, New York and Texas; a pretty good one in states like Ohio; and hardly any deal at all in Massachusetts and especially California, where the state constitution prohibits public universities from charging tuition. Instead, California's public universities typically charge "fees" of several thousand dollars per year. Critics argue the Department of Veterans Affairs misinterpreted the law and should have combined tuition and fees in coming up with reimbursement levels. That would have put the total California benefit at around $13,000 per year. '

.
.

TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!

AWFUL NEWS

.
YOU HEARD IT HERE LAST

THE SICK, THE SAD & THE UGLY

"All The Lonely People, Where Do They All Come From?"

"Get a life!" Ever heard that one? Most people have one. We even have one, sorta. But there are evidently people out there who not only do not have a life, they have a negative life, a reverse-life, the opposite of life. That would be death, we guess. And they just have to share it.


CNN
"Man charged in slaying of Kansas abortion doctor "
"Right to life"?

' Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed while serving as an usher at his Wichita, Kansas, church Sunday morning, according to police. Tiller was one of the few U.S. physicians who still performed late-term abortions and had survived a 1993 shooting outside his clinic. Scott Roeder from the Kansas City, Kansas, area is being held without bond in the Sedgwick County Adult Detention Facility, according to the sheriff's office Web site. He is also charged with two counts of aggravated assault. "This is a tragedy for the Tiller family. We feel so badly about that," Clarence Roeder, Scott's uncle, said in a statement provided to CNN affiliate KMBC. "That Scott would murder the doctor in the Lutheran Church. We are also Lutherans, and it adds a double touch of sadness and irony." Roeder is expected to appear in court early this week, law enforcement officials said. '

AFP
"Teen model escapes 'abusive' Malaysian prince"
'Abusive"? Bit of an understatement. The little bastard tortured and mutilated the girl. Why, it's like the U.S., for God's sake!

' Her mother, Daisy Fajarina, said she would press charges against the 31-year-old prince, and blamed the Malaysian and Indonesian governments for trying to cover up the alleged abuse. "The things I've been afraid of were revealed to be true. Manohara has suffered physical abuse. She's got several razor cuts on her chest," Fajarina told AFP on Monday. "No parent could be silent if their child was treated in such a barbaric way." The Malaysian government had ignored her pleas for access to her daughter and had blocked her from entering the country, she said, while the Indonesian embassy had said that Manohara was fine with her new husband. But the young woman -- a well-known socialite in Jakarta -- said her life at the royal palace involved a "daily routine" of rape, abuse, torture and occasional drug injections that made her vomit blood. She said she was usually held under guard in her bedroom at the palace and was injected with tranquilisers whenever she complained. "I am still traumatised by all that happened and it has left an impact on me," she told reporters in Jakarta on Sunday, after escaping the royal family during a trip to Singapore over the weekend. "Sexual abuse and sexual harassment were like a daily routine for me, and he did that every time I did not want to have sexual intercourse," she was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Globe. "I could never think a normal man could do such things," she said, adding: "Some parts of my body were cut by a razor." The teenager whose fairy-tale wedding to a prince captured the imagination of Indonesia said she would be tortured if she did not appear to be happy when she attended social functions with Fakhry. "Every time I went for events they forced me to smile and would torture me if I did not do what they said," she told the press conference. '

YAHOO NEWS
"Bausch & Lomb settles 600 eye fungus lawsuits"
"Out of the public eye"? WHAT EYE!!!??? The eye is GONE!!! -(Not the Government's eye: It was closed. Asleep. Needed a "wake-up call.")

' Sometimes, the damage was irreparable. Seven people in Florida, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Tennessee and West Virginia had to have an eye removed. At least 60 more Americans needed vision-saving corneal transplants. "The truth has been very carefully buried, and it appears to have been buried going back to the beginnings of the outbreak," said Dr. Arthur Epstein, who was chairman of the American Optometric Association's contact lens and cornea section during the highly publicized crisis. "All settlements were predicated on silence about the clinical findings and blame and so forth. My hope was that what actually happened would become part of public record in a courtroom. That way, we'd be able to learn from it and move on and make sure it never happened again." Multipurpose solutions have been on the market for over a decade, all but replacing older systems for rinsing and cleaning lenses. In 2007, another popular formula made by Santa Ana, Calif.-based Advanced Medical Optics, the No. 3 manufacturer behind Alcon Inc. and Bausch & Lomb, was linked to a flurry of hard-to-treat Acanthamoeba keratitis infections caused by a parasite. More than 170 people have sued the company, which was acquired this year by Abbott Laboratories. The Food and Drug Administration is poised to lay out more comprehensive testing standards for lens solutions. "We did take the two epidemics as very much of a wake-up call, because contact lens safety is an essential public health issue," said Dr. Malvina Eydelman, director of the agency's ophthalmic division. While Bausch says it has settled "the vast majority of fungal infection cases," it is challenging another 500-plus lawsuits linking MoistureLoc to assorted bacterial, viral and parasitic afflictions. A pretrial hearing set for June 3-5 in New York will decide if there's a reliable scientific basis for arguing such a link. When Bausch & Lomb was acquired by private equity firm Warburg Pincus for $3.67 billion in October 2007, Chief Executive Ronald Zarrella said the deal would allow the company "to pursue the growth path we were on ... without a lot of outside distraction." Zarrella retired last year. "They can do all this out of the public eye — guys like me aren't sitting there scrutinizing the financial impact of every single settlement," said analyst Jeff Johnson of Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee. "You can completely focus on your brand and on doing what's right by the patient." '

REUTERS
"Paper says mistakenly ran ad urging Obama killing"
"Just an honest mistake." And so was the ad for genuine Jewish lampshades. They're actually made from Gypsies. The paper printed a retraction. The Gypsy ad starts tomorrow. It's all good.

' A local newspaper in northwest Pennsylvania apologized on Friday for running a classified advertisement that called implicitly for the assassination of U.S. President Barack Obama. The Warren Times Observer, with a circulation of about 11,000, ran the ad in Thursday's paper and pulled it as soon as it was discovered by a manager, said publisher John Elchert. The ad read: "May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy," Elchert said. Elchert declined to identify the person who placed the ad, and said he had referred the case to local police, who notified the Secret Service. Elchert said the representative who took the ad apparently didn't make the connection between the four assassinated presidents -- Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy -- and mistakenly allowed the ad to run. "It was just an honest mistake," he told Reuters. Jim Mackin, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said investigators had identified the person who placed the ad and were taking it seriously. "We do not have the luxury of doing otherwise," he said. '

YAHOO NEWS
"Report: Singer Susan Boyle in London clinic"
Anybody not see this coming?

' London police would not directly confirm the report, but said doctors had been called to assist a woman under the Mental Health Act. Police said the woman had gone to a clinic voluntarily. Boyle drew 20.2 percent of the vote in the final, behind the dance group Diversity, which won 24.9 percent of the 4 million votes cast. The discovery that a 48-year-old woman from a small Scottish town was capable of singing very well on a national stage made Boyle an international sensation. Heavy media coverage followed, much of it laced with snide commentary about her looks, her social awkwardness, and her remark that she had never been kissed. Still, on Oprah Winfrey's U.S. television show, the singer said she was "loving every second" of her unexpected stardom. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond was scathing about the media pressure. "We've got elements of a press who like nothing better than to build people up and then drag them down," Salmond said. "It's pretty sad actually. It's almost a psychosis." '

.
.

TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!

BREAKING WEIRDNESS: FUNNY NEWS UPDATE

.
MORE SCARY & SILLY STORIES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

CURRENT EVENTS WITH A JOLT

YOUTUBE: MISS USA
"Miss USA 2009 Top 5 Swimsuits Kristen Dalton"
Barbies For Christ Fight "F*gg*try"


We're Just Too Lazy To Make Sh*t Up, Is All

OK, gather round. This is all the news that's fit to blog today. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
"People: Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean defends anti-gay-marriage remarks"
Biblically correct. As in, I knew her in the Biblical sense.

' "I was ready for my question, and when I heard it from (Perez), I knew at that moment after I'd answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer," she said. "Because I had spoken from my heart, for my beliefs and for my God. ... It's not about being politically correct, for me, it's about being biblically correct." '

YAHOO NEWS
"Judge orders defendant's mouth taped shut"
Easier to tape his mouth shut than to decide if he's competent. Sorry, who's crazy? The accused, or the judge?

' Frasure was convicted of felony theft in 2008, but the judge retained jurisdiction for sentencing depending on Frasure's response to treatment. In October, Frasure was released from a state mental hospital in Blackfoot. He is accused of violating his probation by not taking prescribed medication. During the hearing, witnesses told the judge that Frasure's behavior had been strange and erratic since his release from the state hospital. They also said he has not been taking his medication and has been consuming alcohol, factors also contributing to mood and emotional swings. "He's obviously not mentally competent," Frasure's lawyer Kent Reynolds told the judge. Earlier in the hearing, Reynolds had asked the judge to order a mental competency evaluation for Frasure. McDermott said he would consider the request, but did not immediately rule on it. McDermott placed Frasure under the jurisdiction of the Idaho Department of Correction. He is being held in the Bannock County Jail awaiting transfer to a state facility. Officials, citing privacy rules, declined to say where he would be transferred. '

SEATTLE TIMES
"Boston Craigslist case: med student's preppy profile"
"But"?

' He favors khaki pants and oxford shirts, graduated summa cum laude from college and proposed to his fiancée on a Maine beach. But Philip Markoff, a tall, blond medical student, also is a brutal predator, prosecutors said Tuesday. '

YAHOO NEWS
"Police say mom ordered daughters out, drove off"
Sooner or later, Mom was bound to snap.

' Usually, it's an empty threat: "If you kids don't stop fighting, I'm going to stop this car right now and leave you here!" But a mother from an upper-crust New York suburb went through with it, ordering her battling 10- and 12-year-old daughters out of her car in White Plains' business district and driving off, police said Tuesday. '

BBC
"Indian Maoists free seized train "
Fighting for workers & peasants? What is this, the 70's? Were they wearing Nehru jackets, and listening to "All Things Must Pass" on their Walkmans?

' The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of poor peasants and landless workers. '

FOX NEWS
"New Military Command Planned to Improve U.S. Cybersecurity"
"CYBERCOMMAND!!!" They get to wear CAPES!!!

' Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to announce the creation of a new military "cyber command" after the rollout of the White House review, according to military officials familiar with the plan. '

CNN
"Report: Poor Latinos not treated with Southern hospitality"
--Real Southern 'gentlemen,' hunh?...'Christians', probly, too... Um, hello, CNN, this IS "Southern hospitality" to non-whites & non-Southrons. Hello, Ted?

' Forty-one percent of the people surveyed said they had experienced theft of their wages by employers. Forty-seven percent said they know someone who was treated unfairly by police. Seventy-seven percent of women surveyed said they have been sexually harassed by bosses, many saying that bosses used their immigration status as leverage. '

YAHOO NEWS
"Scientists discover a nearly Earth-sized planet"
When does the ship leave? I'll take Kevin Costner's seat.

' "It is the first serious 'water-world' candidate," Udry said. '

.
.

TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!

SCARY NEWS

.
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

SHOCKING CURRENT EVENTS


YOUTUBE
"Mom kills son, then self at shooting range"
Happy Mothers' Day!



Weird Stories, Bizarre Tales, Horrors & Infamies For Your Delectation

Sometimes it's hard to believe how stupid people really are. And creepy. And disgusting. Let's eat them.


YAHOO NEWS
"Neb. family that had been missing now in custody"
Who let these *SSH*LES reproduce? I want NAMES!

' Epstein said her daughter told her they returned to Nebraska to retrieve their red Jeep. Her daughter said they had "another plan," and that if things didn't work out, they would go "where no one would ever find them." Investigators said the Schades spent their honeymoon in the Black Hills and had talked about relocating there. They said it appeared the family left their house in a hurry with more than $1,000 worth of recently purchased "camping survival-type gear." Matthew Schade attended a survival camp in the search area through his church and had expressed a desire to live in solitude in the mountains, Maj. Brian Mueller of the Pennington County (S.D.) Sheriff's Office said last week. Matthew and Rowena Schade were convicted of burglarizing Mitch's Food Center in Plainview, Neb., in 2004, where Matthew previously had worked, owner Mitch Wragge told the Omaha World-Herald. Wragge said Matthew did not get away with any money during the burglary. Wragge told the newspaper that Rowena drove the getaway car. '

YAHOO NEWS
"SC man's corpse was apparently cut to fit coffin"
They couldn't fold him a little?

' James Hines was a giant — a 6-foot-7, 300-pound preacher and funk musician so big that after he died in 2004, a macabre rumor began circulating in this small town that the undertaker had to cut off his legs to fit him in the coffin. This week, after years of whispers, Hines' body was exhumed, and the gruesome story appeared to be all too true. The coroner's office said only that it had found "undesirable evidence," and a criminal investigation has been opened. But Hines' widow said investigators told her that his legs had been cut off between the ankle and calf, and his feet had been placed inside the casket. '

YAHOO NEWS
"Doctor in NJ hep B case has his license suspended"
Hey, it's only hepatitis, what's the big deal? It's not like he gave them leprosy. Besides, there wasn't any lreprosy laying around the office, hardly.

' State regulators on Friday temporarily suspended the medical license of a doctor who health officials suspect is linked to a hepatitis B outbreak. Nearly 3,000 of Dr. Parvez Dara's patients have been warned to get tested after five cancer patients tested positive for the disease, which is transmitted through exposure to infected blood and can cause serious liver damage. On Friday, the state presented evidence about the conditions at the oncologist's Toms River office. Investigators said they found blood on the floor of a room where chemotherapy was administered, blood in a bin where blood vials were stored, open medication vials and unsterile saline and gauze. Inspectors also cited problems with cross-contamination of pens, refrigerators and countertops; use of contaminated gloves; and misuse of antiseptics, among other health code violations. "This was not a one-time episode," Deputy Attorney General Siobhen Krier told regulators. "This is a case of egregious, bad medical judgment displayed over a long period of time." Since 2002, Dara has paid nearly $56,000 in fines for infection control health code violations, court records show. "It's not that rare," Dara said. '

NPR
"Hidden Ingredient In New, Greener Battery: A Virus"
You might not want to use these in your vibrator. Or, wait till they come out with the new GIANT viruses!

' One advantage of using viruses is that if Belcher didn't like any properties of the electrode, she just tweaked the DNA of the virus that was making it. In a sense, she was evolving her virus, which was evolving her electrode, so she could select the one that worked best. Once you put enough of these virus-electrodes together, you can create a kind of biobattery that can power an LED light. "It's fun, and it's kind of cute, to power a green LED, but what about my laptop? What about my iPhone? What about my car?" says Belcher. "The power performance is there for us. Now it's a matter of scale." Achieving that scale should be doable, researchers say. '

LIVE SCIENCE
"Fear Erased in Rat Brains"
Fearless rats. Ww, great idea. What's next, dogs with a taste for BABIES???!!!

' Fearful memories have a powerful grip on the brain, but researchers have developed a new technique in rats that loosens that grip and overwrites the fear response permanently. The technique, involving exposing rats to the very thing they were primed to fear and taking advantage of a moment of weakness in memory of that fear, could eventually be used to develop clinical treatments of fears in humans, the scientists said. Fear memories, like other bad memories, are particularly sticky in the brain compared to "good" ones. Evolution played a hand in this, the thinking goes, because fearing things that can harm us is an advantage to survival. So the brain has a hard time letting go of these memories, as well as distinguishing rational from irrational fears. Researchers have long looked for a way to short-circuit the brain and help it delete those irrational fears. '

AFP
"Dog overboard found four months later"
"LOST," for dogs.

' Sophie Tucker, a member of the Australian cattle dog breed, had been quick to readjust to the comforts of home, complete with airconditioning, Griffiths said. "She surprised us all. She was a house dog and look what she's done, she's swum over five nautical miles, she's managed to live off the land all on her own," Griffiths said. "We wish she could talk, we truly do." '

.
.

TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!