This amazing photograph has been released by NASA and, if you look closely, you will see a comet speeding to its demise on a collision course with the sun.
Continue reading “A Comet’s End”
This YouTube video features the unlikely sensation known as Steven Kendal, a 53-year-old Telecommunications Specialist from England.
Continue reading “Meet Steven Kendel — England’s Dancing Sensation”
We have been following cases of police detaining or arresting people who either photograph them or photograph public scenes in this country and other countries like England. The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) has been repeated criticized for stopping citizens engaged in entirely lawful photography. The latest such victim is Christopher Fussell who kept the camera running (below) during the confrontation where officers displayed a complete lack of knowledge of the existing laws — and rights of citizens.
We have previously discussed the dysfunctional effects of baggage fees. Airlines have made air travel a punishing experience with passengers now carrying huge bags on the airplane to save money. The result is that some airlines have actually told travelers not to put their computers or jackets in the overhead compartments — penalizing those who do check their bags. Now a report confirms what we all knew: airline baggage and other add-on fees have gone up 96 percent in just three years. That is an extra $21.5 billion for the airlines with United Airlines leading the pack.
Continue reading “Report: Add-On Fees Roughly Doubled in 2010 for Airlines”
President Obama has made another huge concession to developers and drillers this week. He has abandoned a pledge to restore eligibility for federal wilderness protection to millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was himself viewed as a decidedly anti-environmental Senator before being picked by Obama, announced that millions of acres will no longer be designated as “wild lands.”
Continue reading “Timber! Obama Reverses Himself On Protecting Millions of Acres of Wildness in New Concession To Developers and Drillers”
Remember when we were told the bailout of the auto companies was just like a loan and we might even make money on it. Well, the President’s National Economic Council has announced that it will cost $14 billion. That is $14 billion out of the original $80 billion bailout.
Continue reading “Auto Industry Bailout to Cost U.S. Taxpayers $14 Billion”
You have to give this dog points for determination.
Continue reading “Dog vs. Bath: The Legendary Battle Continues”
If you said this is the Milky Way, you would be understandably wrong. This is NGC 6744 — what astronomers are calling the twin of the Milky Way.
Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah is the spiritual mentor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and he is not exactly a kid person. After telling the faithful that suicide bombings are required for Muslims in fighting Israel, he declined to make an exception for children.
There is a bizarre case in Italy where Italian prosecutors have charged the country’s top seismologist with manslaughter for failing to predict a natural disaster that struck Italy in 2009. The massive earthquake killed 308 people and they blame Enzo Boschi, the president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. Six other scientists and technicians are also charged.
Continue reading “Seismic Charge: Italian Prosecutors Charge Seismologists With Manslaughter For Failing To Predict 2009 Quake”
Now this is a novel citation. The Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church has been fined for “excessive pruning” of its its crape myrtles. The city is demanding fines or replacement of the trees.
Continue reading “Church Cited For Excessive Pruning of Trees In Charlotte”
I pledge not to use The Jerk in the following story. Steve Martin has been named as one of the victims in an impressive international forgery scheme. Martin paid $850,000 in July 2004 for Landschaft mit Pferden (Landscape With Horses). Later he sold it at a loss of 200,000 euros to a Swiss businesswoman. It was then found to be a fake.
Continue reading “Real Men Don’t Buy Campendonk: Steven Martin Named As Victim in Massive Forgery Scheme”
There has long been criticism of the employment rates claimed by some law schools after graduation. However, Anna Alaburda, a 2008 graduate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, has taken the matter to court with a lawsuit over alleged misrepresentations that led her to go $150,000 in debt. She cites the statistics given by the school to U.S. News and World Report showing an 80 percent employment rate.
Continue reading “Thomas Jefferson Law Graduate Sues Over Allegedly Misrepresentations Over Employment Rates”
One of the most senior figures in Australia’s Church of Scientology has been criminally charged in a case of sexual abuse. Jan Eastgate is accused of encouraging a young girl to lie and deny allegations of sexual abuse in the church. In the meantime, another leading Church figure, Tom Cruse, is being sued in an action unconnected to the cases in Australia by ex-Scientologist, Peter Letterese, for $250 million under a RICO claim that includes allegations of bribing a judge.
Continue reading “Senior Scientology Figure Criminally Charged After Allegedly Telling Minor To Lie About Abuse”
Things were going so well until he tried to climb on his car . . .
Continue reading “How Not To Pass A Sobriety Test”