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There is a species of spider that builds models of itself, which it uses as decoys to distract predators. The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body. So believe the scientists who made the discovery, which is published in the journal Animal Behaviour. The arachnid's behaviour also offers one explanation for why many spiders like to decorate their webs with strange-looking ornaments.

New reality series about a Colorado gun store coming up on SHOWTIME. Looks like the show will take a pro-Second Amendment stance. Video trailer at the link.

The stimulus bill was the legislative equivalent of the famous cantina scene from Star Wars, an eye-popping collection of the freakish and exotic, gathered for dubious purposes. The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, known as ACES (the American Clean Energy and Security Act), is more like the third panel in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights — a hellscape that disturbs the sleep of anybody who contemplates it carefully. Two main things to understand about Waxman-Markey: First, it will not reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, at least not at any point in the near future. The inclusion of carbon offsets, which can be manufactured...

Here's a story to melt the mind. Residents in Missouri will get a new fee added to their electric bill for using less energy. Why are they being charged more for using less? The money is spent on promotions by the utilities to get people using less energy. If electricity consumption grows then the utilities need to build new power plants, which is expensive. The cost of new power plant is greater than the cost of promoting conservation of electricity. The EPA estimates that conservation plans like this will add 3% to electricity rates, but customers participating in the conservation...

Besides Somalian Muslims in America joining the jihad, they are now harassing and throwing rocks at gay people. "My friend and I were leaving the Gay Pride Festival … and came across a group of Somalian kids who asked my friend if he was gay. When he answered “yes”, they proceeded to harass him and me with verbal threats and even throwing rocks at my friend at one point". To view the video....

Washington - The video gave substance to what seemed so far away. We saw the look in her eyes as they went lifeless. We heard the sounds of her friends and family as they begged her to hold on. And she became the personification of the struggle for democracy in a country where voices for freedom are quelled. Her name was Neda Agha-Soltan, and without Twitter we might never have known that she lived in Iran, that she dreamed of a free Iran, and that she died in a divided Iran for her dreams. Neda became the voice of a...

Ellis T. Rasmussen, professor emeritus of Religious Education at Brigham Young University. The best support for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Lord has exhorted us to seek that kind of witness not only of the entire Book of Mormon, but also of its parts. When Moroni, the last author in the Book of Mormon, gave the promise of spiritual confirmation, he spoke especially of particulars:“When ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ,...

In this defense, I will do something I try and avoid and attempt to get into some one's head. First, there is a great deal of hypocrisy in the attacks on Palin. All those that call Palin a quitter should have been equally as tough on the likes of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. George W. Bush, especially, ran for governor of Texas in 1998. Within a year, he was running for President and two years later he was president. Senator Barack Obama was elected Senator of Illinois and began his term in January of 2005. By Janaura of...

Oh right, this would be the third stimulus... Read » The drumbeat towards a "second stimulus" is growing louder, as advocates are helped by a deteriorating stock market and the withering of the green shoots. It really got going after last week's jobs report, followed up by a Krugman article, and Joe Biden's comments about misreading the bad economy. Now the AFL-CIO is joining the trend. We were curious to know more about the AFL-CIO's stance on stimulus, so we hopped on over to their blog and found this post titled: "Second Stimulus Package Needed Now for America’s Working Families"...

Obama: We have reset U.S.-Russia relations @ 12:18 pm by Jeremy P. Jacobs President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev touted the results of the first day of their summit in Moscow at a press conference on Monday. Both presidents complimented the others' "business-like" approach to the summit and both appeared pleased with the agreements that came out of the first day. Obama said at the beginning at that shortly after taking office they "resolved to reset U.S.-Russian relations." "Today, after less than six months," he went on, "we have done exactly that." In particular, Obama touted the summit's agreements...

There are two aspects of Governor Palin's decision to resign now, which have not been competently discussed, or discussed at all, in the main stream media. One is based on the map, the other is based in American political history. Regarding the map: I have two, immediate sources to know how long it takes, with what sort of wearing down from the journey itself, to travel to and from Alaska. One is my cousin who is a leading labor lawyer, and who went from Atlanta to Alaska frequently when the Aleska Pipeline was under construction. The other is my son-in-law's...

NEW YORK – A trade group's measure of the health of the U.S. services sector contracted less than expected in June, reaching its highest level in nine months. The Institute for Supply Management on Monday said that its services index read 47 in June, up from 44 in May. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a reading of 45.5 last month. Any reading below 50 indicates the services sector is shrinking, and June marked the ninth straight month of deterioration. But it was the best showing since September when the index was at 50.

Similar warnings about the terror threat of the far right have been issued in America recently. In April, an internal report drawn up by the US department of homeland security warned of a possible rise in violent rightwing extremist groups fuelled by the recession and hostility over the election of the first black president. The report said threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups had been largely rhetorical so far, but a prolonged economic downturn could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists.

Charlie Barlow plans to room with one of his best friends next semester at the University of Chicago: Lauren "Lulu'' Danzig. The two are among 50 students who will take advantage of a new policy allowing male and female undergraduates to room together -- something that was forbidden throughout the 117-year history of the Hyde Park school.

The Dallas Tea Party, organizers of America’s Tea Party, held July 4th at Southfork Ranch near Dallas, Texas announce that the event was a major success... ...ultimately we had over 37,000 people celebrating our independence, as confirmed by the Collin County Constable’s office.

Once again Sarah Palin has confounded the “progressive” commmentariat. What does her announcement portend? I know as much about her plans and strategy as they do — i.e., absolutely nothing. But I have to say all the knowing commentary — all the speculation about how stupid, or brilliant, or just plain inexplicable her behavior is — seems to me to ignore a crucial possibility: that with Sarah Palin, what you see is what you get. Could it, just possibly, be that she meant what she said and that she believes she can pursue her ambitions more effectively outside government? “Outside...

EPA fugitive who shot at officers expected to change plea A Utah fugitive critically injured March 10 during a shoot-out with law enforcement officers in a Marathon trailer park is expected to avoid a trial by pleading guilty today.Larkin Baggett, 54, formerly of Salt Lake City, was shot in the neck and buttocks after he allegedly pointed an assault rifle at a Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputy and three U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agents.Baggett was the first man shot by EPA officers in that organization's history.A change of plea hearing is scheduled today in the courtroom of U.S. Judge Michael...

A Fallen Hero returns to Georgia and the citizens pay their respects.

MOSCOW, July 1 (Reuters) - Russia has offered Turkey a role in its South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, Russian news agencies reported on Wedneseday, marking another Russian attempt to undermine the European Union's rival Nabucco project. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Russia's top energy official, told Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz that Turkey is welcome to participate in the South Stream project, which aims to transport Russian gas under the Black Sea through Eastern Europe to Austria and Italy. "We hope that the Turkish side will look at our offer and that we will cooperate further so that our...

Ethnic riots spread in China's west; 140 killed... Police sealed off streets in parts of the provincial capital, Urumqi, after discord between ethnic Muslim Uighur people and China's Han majority erupted into violence. Witnesses reported a new, smaller protest Monday in a second city, Kashgar.