Truisms

Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

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Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

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The 50-50-90 rule:

Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

Kids names in black and white

Listed at the link below are the 20 most popular names for children in the following groups:

Most popular names for white girls
Most popular names for white boys
Most popular names for black girls
Most popular names for black boys

Link

Warning: don’t buy a used car from me

People who knew me when I was young still remember some of the cars I once owned. Actually, some of them were real clinkers masquerading as automobiles. Three of them were Studebakers. Need I say more? By the way, I'd love to have that '47 Stude convertible (upper picture) back again!

I must be going through my second childhood. As Yogi Berra would say, it’s déjà vu all over again. Except this time it’s what’s happening to the cars after I sell them .

Example 1:

In a weak moment we bought a Ford Granada (lower picture) in 1978. It turned out to be a mistake. We chose the six-cylinder version, which made it a double mistake.

At 18,000 miles (6 thousand miles past the warranty) the Granada threw a rod. The connecting rod gave out at very low speed or the engine would have completely “shelled out.” It was caused by a casting flaw in one of the rod caps.

Bad luck continued to dog that car. One time the hood latch failed and the hood flew back against the windshield at 55 miles-per-hour.

We sold it in 1988 to our ex-son-in-law. He soon re-sold it to a man that had an unpaid traffic citation. The sale wasn’t completed properly and the unpaid ticket bounced back to our ex-son-in-law. I tell ya, that car was a jinx to the end!

Example 2:

This involves a 1988 Chevy. One of our granddaughters ended up with the car when it had about 145,000 miles.

The car developed serious engine problems for her because she never checked or changed the oil. Her father (the same man who bought our Ford Granada) took the car to the Colorado mountains where he lived at that time.

Somehow the car was found disabled and abandoned by a roadside. The car was still in our name. Lori and Laura straightend it out with the Highway Patrol and the DMV, which was not an easy task.

Example 3:

The third car that came back to haunt us was a 1990 Buick. It was sold through a friend who has a dealers license.

The car was purchased by a young man who drove it to his parents home in a distant state. Only he didn’t quite make it. He hit a guardrail and left the disabled car abandoned by the roadside. The title had been signed over to the new owner but was still in our names.

I swear this is all true -- you just can’t make this stuff up!

Iraq pictures the media won’t show you

The media never shows pictures from Iraq unless they are unfavorable to the military. Pictures like these are rare because the anti-military media will not show them. The media never shows pictures from Iraq unless they are unfavorable to the military. Pictures like these are rare because the anti-military media will not show them.

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…thanks to Alvin Wolfe for forwarding these pics

Unique car for sale advertisement

The following is reported to be an actual advertisement in an
Irish newspaper:

Automobile for Sale

1985 Blue Volkswagen.
Only driven 50 miles.
Only first gear and reverse ever used.
Never driven hard.
Original tires.
Original brakes.
Original fuel and oil.
Only 1 driver.
Owner wishing to sell due to employment lay-off.

Click here for photo.

…thanks to Twila Bauer for this gem

Rules for South Dakota visitors

I was born on a farm about 4 miles north east of the little town of Farmer, South Dakota. Yes, that’s right it was a farm near Farmer.

Where is Farmer? It’s about 5 miles straight west of Spencer. Spencer is the town that was nearly wiped off the map by a tornado on May 30, 1998 as reported here.

Anyway, the following is a (tongue-in-cheek) set of rules for South Dakota visitors:

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!. Pull up those droopy pants -- you look like an idiot.

2. Let's get this straight; it's called a "gravel road" and I drive an old pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus, so drive it or get out of the way.

3. They are cattle & pigs. That's what they smell like to you. They smell like money to us so get over it. Don't like it? I-90 goes east and west, I-29 goes north and south. Pick one.

4. So you have a $60,000 car? We're impressed. We have $250,000 combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

5. Every person in every pickup waves. It’s called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

6. If your cell phone rings while a bunch of ducks are coming in, we will shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

7. Yeah, we eat perch & walleye. If you want sushi & caviar, it's available at the corner bait shop.

8. The "Opener" refers to the first day of pheasant hunting season. It's a religious Holiday held on the third Saturday in October.

9. No, there's no "vegetarian special" on the menu. Order steak or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

10.You bring "coke" into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served over ice. You bring "Mary Jane" into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

11. College and high school basketball is as important here as the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.

…thanks to Twila Bauer for sending this.

Homemade photo ID card accepted at airport

KCTV in Kansas City recently did an investigation into airport security. They proved that it doesn't matter what kind of ID you show when you try to board a plane, it will be accepted as long as it looks official.

They were able to create a homemade ID in about 15 minutes on a home computer. They used photograph, created a background, added some personal information and printed it out on photo-grade paper.

A magnetic strip was added and then the card was run through a basic laminating machine.

It worked. Airport screeners accepted the card as proof of identity.

Link here for the story and to see the card.

New book claims to end all JFK conspiracies

Just when we thought "Case Closed" by Gerald Posner was the book to end all JFK conspiracies, along comes another book: Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi.

There is no doubt that Mr.Bugliosi did not write his book just to make money on the publication.

Writers who want to cash in on the JFK assassination have a much greater chance to make money writing about a conspiracy rather than writing about a single bullet from the rifle of Lee Harvey Oswald (pictured).

One must have a lot of faith to believe in the one bullet version of the assassination. I believe there is just too much evidence, both actual and circumstantial, to point away from the one bullet theory.

Also, I don’t believe there is enough evidence, both actual and circumstantial to support a one-bullet theory.

I’m not sure I have enough faith to believe that one bullet could have struck JFK in the base of his neck, exit from his throat and then hit Connally in the back, shattering his fifth rib before emerging from the governor's chest, passing through his right wrist breaking several bones.

And after all that, the bullet was very conveniently found, in nearly pristine condition, on a gurney at Parkland Hospital some time after the body of the President arrived.

I have seen the Zapruder film several times on TV news magazine programs and other documentaries covering the assassination. Each time it is shown, I’m more convinced that, the way Kennedy reeled, he was struck by more than one bullet.

I also have a problem with the way the Warren commission evidence was shrouded in mystery and why Gerald Ford made a couple of changes in the final commission report after the fact which he refused to discuss.

One last comment: if Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, why are all of the vital documents related to the assassination still top secret?

Link here to the announcement of the latest book to back up the one-bullet theroy.

Dealing with telemarketers and junk mail

What do you do about junk mail?

Here is what one person suggests:

What? Open your junk mail? No, no, no...you don't open the junk mail. Instead, you put one slash through your name & address, then write 'return to sender' and put it back in the mail box for pickup or in the slot for outgoing mail.

Do this with catalogs, post cards, anything. It stops it flat … and the Post Office likes it because they get paid going and coming.

How do you stop telemarketers?

Here is another man’s suggestion for getting rid of telemarketers:

I got the telemarketers to stop cold when I told them they can speak to the person they called, but first they must listen to me sing "Up On The Housetop."

This is not a pretty sight because my singing voice sounds like goose farts on a muggy day.

I’d stop occasionally during the song and remind them that they'll "soon be talking to the person they called and won't that be exciting?!" I’d also stop occasionally and ask "Have you been a good little boy or girl this year?"

My kids loved it! My wife rolled her eyes and shook her head but the calls stopped.

Hand pump foaming soap dispenser

If you like elegance, read no further. However, if you are thrifty, like functionality combined with a practical eclectic look, this may interest you.

If you like foaming hand soap dispensers but are not willing to pay up to $60 each for them this may be a good alternative.

You can get a very nice hand pump foaming soap dispenser for about $4 filled with Dial soap (left photo).

The dispenser works great but the soap is harsh and contains fragrances that may aggravate allergies.

The remedy is to use Ivory liquid soap to refill the Dial dispensers. The Ivory soap needs to be thinned with water to dispense properly.

A mixture of 60% water to 40% soap is about right. A 50-50 mixture also works well.

The Dial soap has a very nice rose color but the dispenser is clear so when the soap is nearly gone so is the color.

Clear soap in a clear dispenser looks a little blah. However, you can perk it up with acrylic craft paint sponged on the rear of the soap dispensers (center photo).

Do not paint the front of the dispenser. The paint on the back will give the appearance of a fully painted dispenser (right photo).

You can decorate the dispensers by sponging on three different shades of Country Blue, or maybe three different shades of Mauve as shown in the photo.

The Dial dispensers will last for years if you shake excess water off your hands before pressing down on the pump. If water is allowed to seep down into the pump plunger from the outside, the pump will begin to stick after a couple of months.

One of our dispensers has been working perfectly for over five years.

Cool minimalist design wall clock

If you tend to be a nonconformist, this wall clock may be just what you’re looking for.

Based on a simple, but effective block system arranged in four columns, with each block representing a single unit within its respective hour (split into two columns), minute and seconds columns its arguable that, whilst this device may seem initially to be a rather over-complicated means ascertaining the time, it is arguably rather easier to read than its traditional analogue counterpart.

The preceding paragraph seems to be a rather stuffy translation into English or it was written by Brit using a fairly high fog index.

The LCD E8 Wall Clock retails at €149(approximately $203 / £101)

Link

We also posted about two other off-beat clocks here and here.

Sealers stranded in ice for more than a week

More than 300 sealers [seal hunters] have been stranded in ice in the North Atlantic Ocean for more than a week.

The hunters' ships are stuck in a solid ice pack 140 miles long and 70 miles wide. Two huge storms trapped more than 100 vessels just as they were setting out for Canada's annual seal hunt.



"Many of the vessels have run out of provisions, fresh water, fuel in some cases," Canadian Coast Guard Capt. Windross Banton told "Good Morning America" from his ship as he engaged in the rescue effort.

Animal rights activists might take solace in the fact that because so many ships have been stranded, the seal hunters will most likely not meet their quota. An estimated 60,000 seals have been spared because of the stranded ships.

As one article bluntly put it. “Stranded sealers contend with battered boats, food and fuel shortages.”

Link

Hard to keep up with AT&T

The more AT&T changes the more it stays the same as shown here.

Fast food ad pictures vs. actual product

There is a great web site at the link below that shows pictures of various menu items from several fast food outlets.

Two different comparisons are shown below:

Taco Bell Nachos Bell Grande ad picture

Taco Bell Nachos Bell Grande actual photo

Subway turkey and ham ad picture

Subway turkey and ham actual photo

The web site says:

each item was purchased, taken home, and photographed immediately. Nothing was tampered with, run over by a car, or anything of the sort.

It is an accurate representation in every case. Shiny, neon-orange, liquefied pump-cheese, and all.

Link

Random thoughts on the Imus affair

Don Imus (pictured) has been beaten up in the media for the last several days.

After CBS fired him, Imus said: “I've been dishing it out for a long time, and now it's my turn but I'm not going to whine about it." Sounded like whining to me.

Who are the winners and losers in the Imus affair?

The Winners:

The biggest winners are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Especially Sharpton who was the leader of the Imus lynch party.

The Losers:

Without the exposure provided by Imus, a large number of Democratic politicians will lose a favorite soapbox.

A recent Los Angeles Times article (found here) says the Imus show helped many Democratic politicians reach a national audience of white males -- a crucial voting bloc.

Sadly, the biggest losers may be the children with cancer and other serious illnesses who attend the Imus charity ranch in New Mexico.

An Associated Press article (found here) says that banishing Imus from the airwaves also “deprives him of a critical platform to raise money for the sprawling Imus Ranch, where children with cancer and other illnesses get a taste of the cowboy life.”

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A classic Imus quote: “I talk to millions of people every day," he said while riding home in a limousine after one show. "I just like it when they can't talk back."

CBS chairman Les Moonves fired Imus after first meeting with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

As Mark Steyn said in his Sunday Chicago Sun-Times column this morning:

I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where a white guy can be fired for racist remarks without his employers having to prostrate themselves before clapped out professional grievance mongers and shakedown artists.

In spite of the rantings of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, look for Imus to return to the airwaves in a relatively short time and he will probably be more pupular than ever.

They won't keep Imus off the air very long. He is a cash cow for the networks. Commercial sponsors will be back in droves after a brief symbolic pull-out to pacify the bleeding-heart followers of Jackson and Sharpton.

What do I think about Don Imus? I’m still trying to determine if he is a surly comedian masquerading as a talk show host or if he is a crusty talk show host who occasionally tries his hand at comedy.

The Mark Steyn Sun-Times article is here.

Bedbugs are back - in all 50 states

There is a San Francisco Chronicle article here titled: “Bedbugs bounce back: Outbreaks in all 50 states.”

This is a topic no one wants to hear about but it looks like the problem is here to stay unless state and federal health departments begin doing more about it.

In the beginning of this decade infestation reports centered on hotels frequented by international travelers.

Bedbug infestations are now found at the seediest hotels as well as the most expensive. Worse, travelers are carrying bedbugs home with them. They are now found in apartments and homes occupied by people of all income levels.

The Chronicle article mentions a web site here where people share extermination tips, bite mark photos and counsel each other through the stigma of a bedbug infestation.

Hope I never see one of these little creatures but if so I will contact my city and county health department offices at once.

We posted about this unpleasant subject three times in the past. Click on a date below to read the article:

March 8, 2006
“Hotels in denial while bedbugs bite guests”

January 26, 2006
“Bedbugs biting the big apple”

April 26, 2005
“Dirty little secret of the Hotel industry”

Mommy’s little helper

Click here to see a cute video called, “Mommy’s Little Helper.”

… thanks to Ingrid Peterson for this gem

Frenchman claims Egyptian pyramid mystery solved

A French architect claims to have solved the mystery of Egyptian pyramid construction.

After an eight-year study, Jean-Pierre Houdin announced his theory of how Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Khufu was built.

Houdin released his findings and a computer animation Friday.

The most widespread theory has been an outer ramp. The theory released Friday involves an inner ramp.

Link

The great global warming swindle

Each week there is more global warming skepticism appearing in various news articles on the Internet.

We don’t see this reported widely here in the United States where the media is still bowing down to the idol of Al Gore and his scare movie.

There is a British documentary called: The Great Global Warming Swindle. An abbreviated ten-minute version can be found here.

Link to stories about the video can be found here and here.

The lighthearted side of aging

A Reporter was interviewing a 102-year-old woman. “What do you think is the best thing about being 102?” the reporter asked.

The lady smiled and replied, “No peer pressure.”

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The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs.

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I've sure gotten old!

I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement and new knees. I've ought prostate cancer and diabetes.

I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine and take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts.

I have bouts of dementia and my circulation is so poor I can hardly feel my hands and feet anymore.

I can't remember if I'm 85 or 92 and I’ve lost all my friends but, thank goodness, I still have my drivers license!

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My memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

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Remember: You don't stop laughing because you grow old,

You grow old because you stop laughing.

Emily Peoples

Click here for a 20 second video.

Emily Peoples

Time change a ‘Mini-Y2K’ bug?

Did congress create a monster when they passed a law two years ago to extend daylight saving time by one month?

The move seemed harmless enough and would let us burn a little less fossil fuel and enjoy a bit more sunshine.

Now it appears the move may cause a ‘mini Y2K.’ If your company deals with overseas companies, the problem magnifies because most of Europe goes to daylight saving time March 25, two weeks after the U.S., while most of Asia, Africa and South America do not observe daylight saving time at all.

This puts the United States out of sync with the rest of the world for longer than usual this spring which will almost certainly disrupt computers as well as business and travel schedules of millions of people.

Remember the late 1990’s rush to change old software, which was unable to recognize dates in the new millennium, 2000 and beyond? It may be remembered as the Y2K bug #1. What we are facing now may be dubbed “Y2K bug #2”

Then again, it may pass as quietly and uneventfully as the original Y2K bug on January 1, 2000 As the world stood by expecting the worst, it turned out to be a non-event.

Link here for ‘Mini Y2K’ story . A tongue-in-cheek illustration of the original Y2K bug can be found here.

What happened to Palm - the original portable computing king?

Mike Elgan, technology writer and former editor of Windows Magazine has a Computerworld article titled: “The decline and fall of the Palm empire” (see link below).

Remember when PDA’s (personal desktop assistant) took the country by storm? The Palm Pilot quickly stood head and shoulders above the rest. It was Palm followed by the rest of the field.

It was fashionable to have one in your pocket. Even people who really didn’t know how to use them efficiently carried them. It was almost a status symbol.

The latest Palm is the Treo (top photo) trying to struggle against RIM’s succession of Blackberry (center photo) devices and other new products designed to go after the Palm Treo.

During the past year, all the major players launched Treo-killer devices, including Research in Motion [RIM] with both its BlackBerry Pearl (lower photo) and the Pearl's full-keyboard cousin, the Blackberry 8800.

Samsung's BlackJack goes directly after the Treo market. The Motorola Q is hot. Nokia, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Samsung and others are all gunning for the Treo with brand-new, full-featured smart-phone gadgets.

And then, last month, iPhone changed everything. Jobs' Mackworld keynote was like a nuclear bomb in the world of smart-phone enthusiasts.

Link here to the story of Palm’s possible path to oblivion.

Moto V325 cell phone with a 1990’s antennae

While browsing the Verizon kiosk at the Ft. Collins mall, I spotted a cute mobile made by Motorola. It was a new flip-phone that has GPS capability called the V325 (pictured).

What struck me about the V325 was the pull-out antennae. It seemed so 1990’s! Shown below are three of our old mobile phones from the 1990’s with pull out antennaes.

Another thing that turned me off was the circular 4-way navigation key with what appeared to be four little hooks that looked as if they were there to keep the disc from falling off.

I rejected the V325 even though it may be a very good phone. But what else would you expect from an old Studebaker owner?

Charlie Chaplin lost a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest

As silent screen actor Charlie Chaplin became famous, Charlie Chaplin look-alike contests became a popular form of entertainment and continued for several years.

The contests selected the one who best imitated the "tramp" character popularized by Chaplin.

Legend has it that Chaplin himself once entered -- and lost -- one of these competitions.

It is usually said the contest was held in Monte Carlo or Switzerland, and that he came in second or third.

In another such competition, Chaplin did indeed do poorly. It was a Chaplin look-alike contest that took place in a San Francisco theater. His final standing is not recorded, although it was noted that he "failed even to make the finals."

Chaplin told a reporter at this time that he was "tempted to give lessons in the Chaplin walk, out of pity as well as in the desire to see the thing done correctly."

It is interesting to note that, unlike film stars of today, Chaplin was seldom recognized without his makeup, fake mustache and derby hat used in his portrayal of “The Tramp” as shown above.

It is also said that a rising young actor/comedian named Bob Hope took first prize in a Chaplin look-alike contest in Cleveland.

Link

The old Don McNeill Breakfast Club radio show

Don McNeill (pictured) hosted the Breakfast Club radio show from 1933, when he was only 25, until the final broadcast on December 27, 1968.

Two years into the show, McNeill brought in live audiences. At the same time he threw away the stiff and stuffy scripts and from then on everything on the program was adlib.

People connected with the show over the years included Jim and Marian Jordan, later known as "Fibber McGee and Molly," Fran Allison, who later starred in the "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie" puppet show, appeared regularly as the gossipy character, "Aunt Fanny."

In 1949, singer Johnny Desmond debuted on "The Breakfast Club."

In McNeills absence, guest emcee’s included Jack Paar and Don Amichi.

Sam Cowling was the longtime show clown. Ladies in the audience lined up to take turns in the “dance with Sam” segment.

Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Gary Cooper, Ginger Rogers, and James Stewart were featured guests.

One of the shows most popular features was "calls to breakfast" every 15 minutes—wake-up calls when the audience marched around the table.

McNeill didn’t resent that his humor was called "corny." He had a special ability to talk to anyone, from foreign heads of state to humble day laborers.

The show's success stemmed from McNeil's ability to project a folksy personality. The broadcast began with a singing welcome: “Good morning Breakfast Clubbers, good morning to ya, we woke up bright and early just to howdy-do ya.”

Link here and here.

Controversial nude X-ray camera scheme in Britain

Nude X-ray cameras started at London’s Heathrow airport and was tried here in the United States on a test basis at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix as we reported here.

There was an article in the Sun last week about nude X-ray cameras in England. The Sun is Britain’s equivalent to the supermarket gossip tabloids in the U.S. such as National Enquirer.

Link here to the Sun article.

GOP responds to voters call for change

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Yosemite lawsuit could affect access to the park

Construction projects in Yosemite National Park have come to a standstill.

In November, a federal judge barred crews from finishing $60 million in construction projects in Yosemite Valley, siding with a small group of environmentalists who sued the federal government, saying further commercial development would bring greater numbers of visitors, thus threatening the Merced's fragile ecosystem.

Park spokesman Scott Gediman called the plaintiffs a "fringe group" pushing a radical agenda.

"They want us to set a quota for the number of visitors coming into the park, which is something we just don't want to do," he said.

Yosemite is beautiful and deserves the full funding and protection of the federal government and should not be at the mercy of small special interest groups.

Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite National Park

Yosemite doesn’t need adverse decisions by activist judges supporting a few environmentalists funded by special interest groups who live hundreds of miles from the park.

Without the RV parks and other commercial sites, Yosemite would be more pristine. Without roads, Yosemite would be even more pristine.

But then, about the only people who would be able to take in the natural wonders and beauty of the park would be a few environmental activists arriving on foot or in 40-year-old VW microbuses. They would bring all of their worldly possessions consisting of a bedroll and a few wormy rice cakes wrapped in a soiled bandana. Oh, yes - they would also bring in their marijuana.

Contractors and planners working in Yosemite are very conscious of the aesthetics involved and whatever they build would come very close to blending into the natural landscape of the park.

I hope Yosemite can successfully appeal the court decision.

Link

Stephen Hawking: prophet of doomsday

Professor Stephen Hawking is Britain's longest
surviving sufferer from motor neurone disease

What would be your answer to the following question asked by the most famous scientist and physicist on the planet, Stephen Hawking?

’In a world that is in chaos, politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?'

There was an overwhelming response to Hawking’s question.

An astonishing 25,000 browsers rushed to give him their answers - ranging from "We won't" to "Somehow we will", and proposing solutions from banning nuclear weapons and tackling global warming to escaping into space.

The Cambridge professor, who has been said to sell physics better than Madonna can sell sex, seems to agree with many of them.

Professor Hawkins is the scientist who has been teaching the scientific world about black holes.

After nearly 30 years of arguing that a black hole destroys everything that falls into it, Hawking is now saying he was wrong.

Now he says that black holes may allow information within them to escape.

Do other scientists really understand and believe in black holes? Maybe they accept what Hawking says on the strength of his brilliant mind as they did with Albert Einstein 50 years ago.

Professor Hawking recently said the human race might have to establish colonies outside our solar system if it wants to protect the future of the species.

Link to the Prophet of Doomsday article here.

Democrat House Speaker and her fishy friends

The Democrat culture of corruption is not only alive and will, it is thriving in the liberal controlled House of Representatives.

House Democrats believe in open, honest government. Well, right after they get caught, that is.

Turns out, in the hoopla of self-congratulations following Democratic House leaders' passage of a minimum-wage hike, some low-wage workers learned their wages would be staying, well, low.

For workers in American Samoa - almost all of them employed by StarKist Tuna - were exempted from the hike rushed through by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (pictured).

And American Samoa would become the only territory with such an exemption.
Curious? Not really.

StarKist is owned by Del Monte, a San Francisco-based company - that is to say, a Pelosi constituent.

Link here to the New York Post article. More on Pelosi’s dirty little secret here.

Sorry Charlie, if you do make your way into the tuna boat, they will be using cheap labor to dissect you.

Value of your house depends on who you ask

These pictures show how your house appears to you and to other people:

As seen by yourself

As seen by your lender

<As seen by your appraiser

As seen by your buyer

As seen by your tax assessor

New rules outlaw melting US coins for profit

New rules could give stiff fines and jail time to people who melt pennies or nickels to profit from the increased price of metals.

Soaring metals prices mean that the value of the metal in pennies and nickels exceeds the face value of the coins.

"The nation needs its coinage for commerce," U.S. Mint director Ed Moy said in a statement. "We don't want to see our pennies and nickels melted down so a few individuals can take advantage of the American taxpayer. Replacing these coins would be an enormous cost to taxpayers."

Under the new rules, it is illegal to melt pennies and nickels. It is also illegal to export the coins for melting. Travelers may legally carry up to $5 in 1- and 5-cent coins out of the USA or ship $100 of the coins abroad "for legitimate coinage and numismatic purposes."

Link

This site will now be used for testing only

This web site will be used for testing and has been replaced by the blog found at the following link:

mtcave.blogspot.com/

Working with Google’s Blogger has been a bit of a trial lately as related here.

This has been an interesting as well as frustrating experience.

The new beta version of Blogger requires very little HTML, making it easier to customize the sidebar. However, the result is a more generic appearing blog.

I’m sure Google is making this change to allow users to customize without learning HTML.

Another benefit to Google is that the change will “clean up” the host of Blogger blogs that have become cluttered beyond description by allowing users to alter and/or add to the HTML of the templates.

Anyway, we are using the beta version now so we won’t need to scramble at the last minute.

Please bookmark our new site at the link above.

Tech meltdown at CBS Evening News

Since Dan Rather shot himself in the foot two years ago with his “fake memo” trying to embarrass the President, things have been going downhill at CBS News.

Rather was forced to step down as anchor of CBS Evening News in the spring of 2005. Bob Schieffer did a credible job of filling in until Katie Couric (pictured) took over last spring.

The Katie Couric era at CBS Evening News has not been stellar. Viewership has continued to slip most of the time since Couric stepped into the anchor chair.

What Couric didn’t need was a tech meltdown. It came anyway.

Link

Daffynitions

Flashlight - a case for holding dead batteries

Shin bone - a device for finding square edges on furnitre.

Alcee Hastings: most corrupt member of house?

Alcee Hastings (pictured) was a prominent South Florida attorney when he was appointed to the federal bench in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.

Judge Hastings was later accused of taking a $150,000 bribe.

In 1988 Hastings was impeached by the House of Representatives and was removed from the bench by the Senate.

The terms of his conviction did not bar him from holding a future public office.

In 1992, four years after his impeachment, Alcee Hastings won a seat in the House of Representatives as a Democrat from Florida’s 23rd District, which he still represents today.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House-elect, has the corrupt, impeached judge Hastings in line to be chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee.

As an elected congressman, Hastings does not need to apply for security clearance.

The position does not need a vote. It is an appointment that Nancy Pelosi can make on her own.

So now a corrupt, impeached judge is about to get one of the most prestigious and sensitive positions in Congress.

Link

He couldn’t outwit the duck

A duck walked into a bar and said, "Hey bartender, ya got any grapes?" The bartender said, "No, I ain't got no grapes, get outta here." The duck left.

The duck came back the next day and said, "Hey bartender, ya got any grapes?" The bartender said, "No, I ain't got no grapes, and if you ask me one more time if I have any grapes, I'm gonna nail your feet to the floor!" The duck left.

The duck came back the third day and says, "Hey bartender, ya got any nails?" The bartender said, "No, I ain't got no nails.” The duck said, "So ya got any grapes?"

Republicans plotting to bring down Pelosi?

An article here says the Republicans are already plotting to bring down Nancy Pelosi (pictured) even before she becomes Speaker of the House in January.

Republican strategists plotting their party's comeback after it lost control of Congress have identified the "first lady" of Democrat politics as a key target in the 2008 White House campaign — even though she will not be running.

The Republican strategy is not only to undermine Mrs Pelosi's control of the House but also to associate her in voters' minds with Senator Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination.

Mrs Pelosi, 66, who is married to a multi-millionaire property investor, will become the most powerful woman in American political history when the new House sits for the first time in January.

As speaker, she ranks second-in-line to the presidency after Dick Cheney, the vice-president

Her embarrassing loss (reported here) during the Murtha-Hoyer vote last week has made it easier for her opponents to attack.

Square hare from Delaware

Is this just another entry in a Worth 1000 contest for photoshopped photos or did someone finally capture that elusive Square Hare from Delaware?