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Miscellaneous (General/Chat)

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  • How much was $200k in 1865 (Vanity)

    11/26/2010 6:55:45 PM PST · by ak267 · 62 replies
    me | 11-26-2010 | ak264
    I was watching a scene from the Movie "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" where the characters were after $200 in Confederate gold coins. Does anyone know how much $200k (1865) is worth in 2010 dollars? What about $200k in 1865 Confederate gold (2010 dollars)?
  • Monkeypox Risk Mapped

    11/26/2010 4:56:12 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 14 replies
    Emerging Health Threats ^ | Wednesday 17 November 2010
    Hunting rope squirrels for food could be fuelling cases of monkeypox in the Congo basinResearchers probing risk factors for human cases of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a ‘hotspot’ of the disease, found that people living near dense forests favoured by rope squirrels are more likely to contract the virus. “Our finding... is consistent with the fact that rope squirrels are the only natural host that have been demonstrated to transmit the monkeypox virus directly to humans in Africa,” write Trevon Fuller and colleagues this month in EcoHealth. The study suggests that the scant resources available for...
  • New Population of Critically Endangered Monkey Discovered

    11/26/2010 4:51:23 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 9 replies
    Mongabay ^ | November 22, 2010 | Jeremy Hance
    Classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, listed among the Top 25 Most Endangered primates in the world, and rated number 71 on the EDGE's list of world's most endangered and unique mammals, the yellow-tailed woolly monkey needed some good news—and this week it got it. The conservation organization, Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC), has announced the discovery of an unknown population of the yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda), buttressing hopes that the species will survive in the long-term. Native to the cloud forests of north-eastern Peru, the yellow-tailed woolly monkey was thought extinct until it was rediscovered in...
  • Plasma space-drive aces efficiency numbers: Set for ISS in 2014

    11/26/2010 4:45:23 PM PST · by KevinDavis · 13 replies
    The Register ^ | 11/25/10 | Lewis Page
    Top boffins working at a NASA spinoff company are thrilled to announce that their plasma drive technology – potentially capable of revolutionising space travel beyond the Earth's atmosphere – has checked out A-OK in ground tests.
  • 2010 White House Christmas

    11/26/2010 3:28:06 PM PST · by MA~Bear · 33 replies
    Hi All, I tried searching around and I will be darn if I can find any mention of what the White House Christmas Theme would be this year. I know that they received the tree but that is all I can find. No notice on HDTV about decorating the White House, Couldn't find what the Christmas Card will Look Like, etc. Seems really strange, As far as I can remember they First Ladies have always had a theme and card selected early in the year. Can anyone point me in the right direction. The only thing that turned up on...
  • BLAST FROM THE PAST: 35 Reasons Not To Vote For Al Gore Jr.

    11/26/2010 3:23:06 PM PST · by cd jones · 6 replies
    08/13/1999 | LONNIE
    35 Reasons Not To Vote For Al Gore Jr. News/Current Events Opinion (Published) Keywords: NO TO GORE Source: National Anxiety Center Author: Factoid Posted on 08/13/1999 11:10:45 PDT by Lonnie 35 REASONS NOT TO VOTE FOR AL GORE, JR. 1. Gore thinks "human civilization is now the dominant cause of change in the global environment." Nevermind the sun, the oceans, volcanoes, and other natural phenomena that actually do control the environment. 2. Gore believes that "industrial civilization" is engaged in a "terrible onslaught against the natural world." Of course, without industrial civilization, we'd all be riding horses and growing our...
  • Longest Day Hero's D-Day Exploits Exposed as Lie

    11/26/2010 1:05:46 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 20 replies · 1+ views
    The Telegraph ^ | Peter Allen
    For more than six decades, Howard Manoian revelled in his heroic reputation as one of the men who landed in Nazi-occupied France on D-Day.Instead of the fabled 82nd Airborne Division, as Mr Manoian claimed, his unit was the 33rd Chemical Decontamination Company, a far less prestigious outfit which always operated well behind the front line. Manoian's war wounds were also non existent, although he did suffer a broken middle finger while on standby in England, and then heavy bruising to another hand. He always told admirers he had been hit by German machine gun bullets in the left hand and...
  • Birth of Baby Captured on Google Street View

    11/26/2010 12:47:22 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 17 replies
    Telegraph ^ | 24 Nov 2010 | Heidi Blake
    The birth of a baby on a German pavement has apparently been captured on Google Street view.A photograph taken in the Berlin suburb of Wilmersdorf shows a woman lying in the street after apparently giving birth while a kneeling man cradles a newborn baby. A second woman is shown crouching to support the head of the new mother, who appears to be lying on a towel. A car is haphazardly parked next to them in the road with its door open. The image, taken on Hubertusallee Street, has created a buzz on technology blogs, but some users have speculated that...
  • Question: I am reading too much into some of the things Rush has recently been saying?

    11/26/2010 12:12:17 PM PST · by starczar66 · 53 replies · 1+ views
    Has Rush Limbaugh ever before specificed the manner in which he would let us know when it is "time to panic"? Apparently, he did so last week: Nov. 15- RUSH: "I will tell you when it's time to panic. If you tune in and I'm not here for ten straight working days, then you can panic. And if you haven't heard anything about it, then it's time to panic, otherwise don't." http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_111510/content/01125111.guest.html Also, Rush made this odd statement on Tuesday:"The [fake Taliban] imposter got into the equivalent of the White House in Afghanistan! Did they not ask this guy for...
  • Vertigo Takes The 39 Steps to Hitchcockian Comedy

    11/26/2010 12:02:28 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 1 replies
    CALGARY HERALD ^ | NOVEMBER 20, 2010 | STEPHEN HUNT
    Small cast has big fun with classic suspense story Between the two of them, Andy Curtis and Christopher Hunt play 100 different characters in The 39 Steps. That's the title of both the 1935 film classic by Alfred Hitchcock and the latest production at the Vertigo Theatre. While the 1935 version of The 39 Steps goes mostly for straight suspense, the Vertigo production is a comic thriller that literally performs the film -- every scene and every character -- using four actors and minimal sets. Somewhere along the way, The 39 Steps transformed from Hitchcockian thriller to something very silly....
  • Cops arrest Wisconsin woman for threatening shoppers in toy store line

    11/26/2010 11:14:51 AM PST · by WOBBLY BOB · 24 replies
    pioneer press ^ | 11-26-10 | ap
    Madison police arrested a 21-year-old woman after she allegedly threatened shoppers while trying to cut in line at a toy store. Police say several hundred shoppers were at a Toys R Us just after 10 p.m. Thursday, when the woman attempted to move to the front of the line. The store opened for Black Friday shopping at 10 p.m. Police say other shoppers confronted the Middleton woman and she threatened to retrieve a gun and shoot them. No gun was found but police arrested the woman on a tentative charge of disorderly conduct.
  • Dr Laura headed to satellite radio

    11/26/2010 10:01:35 AM PST · by raccoonradio · 13 replies
    radio-info.com ^ | 11/25/10 | radio-info.com
    The AP reports today that Dr. Laura Schlessinger will move directly from terrestrial radio syndication, through her Take On The Day shop, to Sirius XM as of January 3, 2011. Schlessinger voluntarily decided to leave terrestrial radio after the mid-August N-word controversy, and hadn’t made any announcement about her radio plans past December 31. (She already has a full schedule of other activities, including personal appearances and her writing.) It’s unclear whether this news was supposed to get out over the holiday weekend, because the AP story says “Sirius XM said Monday it has a multi-year deal with Schlessinger.” There...
  • Vanity question - What is Linkshare?

    11/26/2010 9:25:03 AM PST · by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL · 10 replies
    LINKSHARE™ Corporation E-mail | Nov. 26, 2010 | Linkshare Corporation
    LINKSHARE™ is presently recruiting a "limited" number of Mystery Shoppers. POSITION TITLE: Regional Mystery Shopper Needed AVAILABILITY: Open Yadda yadda...
  • Baby shower brawl turns into riot in Wilson, chief says

    11/26/2010 8:40:09 AM PST · by WOBBLY BOB · 17 replies
    The Morning Call ^ | 11-24-10 | Pamela Lehman
    A Saturday night baby shower at a Wilson fire hall spun out of control after the hall manager confronted party-goers about overcrowding and underage drinking, which led to a crowd of 100 out on the street fighting and causing a near riot, police said.
  • Teenagers adrift in Pacific for 50 days reach land

    11/26/2010 8:08:25 AM PST · by kingattax · 7 replies · 1+ views
    Yahoo/AP ^ | 11-26-10 | PITA LIGAIULA
    SUVA, Fiji – Three teenage boys who spent 50 days adrift in a tiny boat in the South Pacific walked ashore on shaky legs Friday after their chance rescue — celebrated on their home island hundreds of miles (kilometers) away as a miracle that brought them back from the dead. The trio — Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14 — told rescuers they survived on rainwater they collected, a handful of coconuts, raw fish and a seagull that landed on their 12-foot- (3.5-meter-) long aluminum boat.
  • Vt. Cops: Man Shoots Pal Dead in Bed in Awry Prank

    11/25/2010 10:59:24 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 15 replies
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Thursday, November 25, 2010
    Police say a Vermont man who believed he was holding an air gun shot his sleeping friend dead in bed with a .22-caliber rifle. Manchester police told WCAX-TV that the two friends were staying at another friend's home Thursday. Police say 23-year-old Nicholas Bell of Manchester was hoping to play a prank on his friend and wake him up with an air gun. But authorities say Bell ended up firing a shot from a loaded rifle into the chest of 24-year-old Jeffrey Charbonneau of Manchester, and he died.
  • Two-Legged Chihuahua Spends Thanksgiving With New Owners

    11/25/2010 8:30:57 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 12 replies
    Valley News ^ | Thursday, November 25th, 2010
    A two-legged Chihuahua left at a Riverside animal shelter is spending Thanksgiving with his new owner, who intends to make sure the little pet lives a "a healthy, happy life," a Riverside County Animal Services official said. The 4-month-old puppy, affectionately called "Roo" -- short for kangaroo -- by animal control officers, was brought into the Western Riverside County Animal Shelter on Thursday as a stray, according to John Welsh of the Department of Animal Services. He said the black Chihuahua, which has only its hind legs and stumps for front ones, is able to move around well despite his...
  • Man Walks Free 2 Years After Charged In Double Murder

    11/25/2010 7:03:32 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 9 replies
    News4jax ^ | Wednesday, November 24, 2010
    Another Man Convicted Of Homicides Last Month A man released from jail this week more than two years after being accused in a double murder is smiling again. "I just don't believe it! I'm home," Cedric Cutter said Wednesday. "Just the other day, I was laying in the cell dreaming about this day. Now I'm home." Not only was Cutter accused in the death of two men in an Arlington home in March 2007, he could have faced the death penalty if convicted. "I thought I was going to die," Cutter told Channel 4's Vickie Pierre. "I woke up every...
  • Ten Things You Didn't Know About The Godfather Trilogy

    11/25/2010 6:22:07 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 158 replies · 3+ views
    AMC TV ^ | 11/25/2010
    Everyone knows everything about the Godfather trilogy. Its quotability, alone, is astounding: legions of fans know every line, plot, subplot, and sub-subplot and can mimic the mannerisms of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro. But as familiar as the trilogy may be, there are still plenty of nuggets of Godfather goodness that may surprise you. Here are ten things you may not have known about Francis Ford Coppola's epic triptych. 1. Marlon Brando, James Caan, and Robert Duvall enjoyed mooning the cast and crew. The trio of actors engaged in a mooning competition during the course of the...
  • ‘Darth Vader’ Robbery Suspect to Stand Trial

    11/25/2010 5:35:05 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 6 replies
    A 41-year-old Ferndale man accused of wearing his son’s plastic Darth Vader mask while wielding a butcher knife and robbing a convenience store will stand trial for armed robbery. Jamie Hernandez waived his right for a preliminary examination Friday and will stand trial in Oakland County Circuit Court. He remains free on $50,000 bond. Court officials did not immediately know if Hernandez had a lawyer. Ferndale police say Hernandez was in range of a store surveillance camera when he donned the mask Sept. 13 and robbed a store in the suburb immediately north-northwest of Detroit. Lt. William Wilson tells The...