10.13.2012

Makes scents to me

Instead of making  all those room fresheners with smells like Prarie Flowers and Seabirds, how about a few more manly aromas like Motor Oil or Bait, or the ever-popular Sweat Socks?

Making the case for a third-party vote

How Do You Take Your Poison? | Common Dreams

 

More fun with Haliburton

Good news, nation: After an almost-month-long search by the National Guard, local police and health officials, an oilfield worker found a radioactive rod that the ever-reliable Hallliburton had lost on a 130-mile trip between fracking sites in the Texas desert.…The FBI determined that there was "no criminal activity" involved with the loss. We feel so much better.

Common Dreams

Incredibly freaking awesome marching video game

This video, contributed by our Midwest bureau and recently discovered lying in a corner of our inbox where it has languished for a couple of weeks, is one you absolutely should watch. The video is at the bottom of this short page.

Go Buckeyes.

10.12.2012

Biden convinced me…


Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager, said in a statement that Mr. Biden did what Democrats were hoping he would do, calling the debate a “clash between facts and conviction on one side and glib lines and empty promises on the other.” 
That clash seemed to energize liberals. A commentary on Daily Kos, a liberal blog, concluded that Mr. Biden “delivered an eviscerating performance” and demonstrated “deep knowledge,” “huge heart” and “brutal honesty” during the debate. 
NYTimes

…no way I am smart enough or deserving enough to breathe the same air as a Democrat - or even a Vice-Democrat. All that giggling and grimacing and smirking may have seemed an "eviscerating performance" to the wonks at Daily Kos (or the Times) but to me it seemed like Biden had been up all night cramming and the uppers hadn't worn off yet. There were some things I wanted to hear a little discussion of but they just got snorted at. (And do you really think Obama will go to the wall for Social Security in the upcoming budget debates? Can you spell "fat chance"?)

I say screw them all. I won't vote for Romney. If Obama loses Massachusetts by a single vote you can blame it all on me. I've been voting for 20 years with my nose held and I simply will not do it again.

Surprise? They need the money


In a somewhat surprising move, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its peace prize for 2012 to the European Union, according to The New York Times.



10.11.2012

Truth in advertising


Annihilation…sold as a "head-blowing herbal incense", is to be banned after leaving nine people in hospital in the past three months. 
Guardian

Yup. Blows heads. 
Seattle Center


iPhone abstract: Phil Compton

10.10.2012

How to save on your heating bill this winter

Set your thermostat just one degree cooler for an eight-hour period each day during the winter heating season, and cut your bill by up to 5%. A bigger drop of 10 to 15 degrees while you’re out at work and asleep can knock off up to 15%, Zatlin says. 

Marketwatch

Of course if you insist on staying awake at work you deserve what you get.

Oh yeah, I'd say quit right there

A teen's horseback riding lesson ended abruptly after a foot-long hunk of raw chicken that fell out of a cloudless sky hit her in the head.

USAToday

Those Germans, always with the trouble



(Reuters) - EADS and BAE Systems called off the world's largest defense and aviation merger on Wednesday, and sources close to the talks blamed Germany for wrecking the $45 billion deal.

Gaming the system II


Pizza Hut is offering a lifetime supply of free pizza – or a $15,600 check– to anyone who asks, 'sausage or pepperoni' to President Obama or Mitt Romney during their live Town Hall-style debate next Tuesday.…
Christian Science Monitor

If you game the system long enough the system becomes a game


Both candidates descended on Ohio on Tuesday, Mr. Romney beginning a multiday tour and Mr. Obama exhorting 15,000 at the Ohio State University campus in Columbus to vote right away, as polls suggested that his support was slipping.

10.09.2012

10.08.2012

The case for burgers


The winner of a cockroach-eating competition died shortly after eating dozens of the live insects and worms in Florida, authorities have said.

*IZA

*IZA by Ted Compton
*IZA, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

Democracy out of control in Venezuela

Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez vowed to press forward with his socialist reforms after winning another six-year term at the helm of the oil-rich South American country.…

Or wait – they don't buy their voting machines from us, do they?

Read this: it may spoil your day

The presidential debate this week was much ado about nothing, and Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama because he was more energetic in distorting the significance of their minuscule differences. What generally has been celebrated by the mainstream media as a wonky debate over substantive disagreements on the economy and medical reform—“a fundamental choice about the future of America,” Peter Baker trumpeted in The New York Times—was nothing of the sort.…

The Nation

10.07.2012

Triple

Triple by Ted Compton
Triple, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

Block that prose!

ON a concrete ledge off the upper deck of the George Washington Bridge, more than 200 feet above the swift and leaden Hudson River…

New York Times