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Sunday, August 30, 2009

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Sam Stein: McCain Whacks Cheney: Torture Violated Law

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 05:20 PM PDT

In a strong pushback against claims made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, Sen. John McCain insisted on Sunday that the use of torture on terrorism suspects violated international law, didn't work, and actually helped al Qaeda recruit additional members. "I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Conventions ..."


Report: Are iPhones Really Exploding All Over the World?

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 05:10 PM PDT

We have done some research, and it appears than the rumors of iPhones exploding all around the world—"world" as in "France, UK, and Belgium"—are greatly exaggerated. Here are all the known cases, and Apple's official answer.


Until Medical Bills Do Us Part

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 05:00 PM PDT

How do those who fear death panels feel about a health care system that breaks apart families?


HowStuffWorks "9 Things Invented or Discovered by Accident"

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:50 PM PDT

From potato chips to corn flakes, many of the things we consume today were an accident. See our list of 9 things invented or discovered by accident.


Internal Starbucks Memo Outlines Plan for Stealth Stores

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:20 PM PDT

Reinventing yourself: two thumbs up. Trying to reinvent yourself by aping Third Wave coffee shops in the neighborhood with the country's highest concentration of them: WTF? It's a little like buying the exact same outfit as the most fashionable girl in school, then wearing it on the same day she does.


Dude, Chill: No Need For Panic Over Medical Marijuana

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:10 PM PDT

Why the panic? Local authorities need not concern themselves with discrepancies between state and federal laws. And until the voters say otherwise, under Colorado law (and that of 12 other states), anyone with a doctor's note attesting to medical need is allowed marijuana.


The Dead Kennedys had it right 28 years ago

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 04:00 PM PDT

In God We Trust, Inc. by the Dead Kennedys was 8 tracks long. On the original version on tape, Side A contained all 8 songs, with Side B being left intentionally blank. Printed on Side B was the explanation, "Home taping is killing record industry profits! We left this side blank so you can help" They were ***** the RIAA back in 1981!


Is Apple the Enemy of the TV Industry? Microsoft Thinks So

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 03:40 PM PDT

Music's long struggle with the web has been well documented. As consumers shifted from CDs to digital media, music labels, artists, and the RIAA have struggled with how to cope. While some have decided to sue consumers for $22,500 per song, others have found ways to embrace the web.


Single molecule, one million times smaller than a grain of s

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 03:30 PM PDT

It may look like a piece of honeycomb, but this lattice shaped image is the first ever close-up view of a single molecule.


Microsoft's Bing decides on bribery

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 03:20 PM PDT

In its first-ever TV ad for Cashback, Microsoft is appealing to your more exalted decision-making instincts: those residing near your pocket.


The Five Best Disk Defragmenters

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 03:10 PM PDT

Your computer's a busy beaver, rapidly accessing and utilizing files all in the name of bringing you what you want, when you want it. Sometimes it needs a little help tidying up, and that's where these five disk defragmenters come in.


45% employers use Facebook-Twitter to screen job candidates

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:40 PM PDT

As social networking grows increasingly pervasive, more employers are utilizing these sites to screen potential employees. Forty-five percent of employers reported in a recent CareerBuilder survey that they use social networking sites to research job candidates, a big jump from 22 percent last year.


U.S. Ranks 28th in Internet Speed

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:30 PM PDT

Among the study's conclusions is that broadband speed is not equitably distributed throughout the country. If the U.S. wants all its citizens to have access to equally high-speed Internet, the union argues, it will have to invest heavily in telecommunications infrastructure.


Broadband Carriers Clamor for Stimulus Funds

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:20 PM PDT

The federal government has received 2,200 Broadband Stimulus Applications, agencies say.


Star-birth Myth 'Busted'

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:10 PM PDT

Astronomers have debunked one of astronomy's long held beliefs about how stars are formed, using a set of galaxies found with CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope. When a cloud of interstellar gas collapses to form stars, the stars range from massive to minute. Since the 1950s astronomers have thought that in a family of new-born stars the ratio.....


YouTube Now Has Over 120 Million U.S. Viewers

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 PM PDT

YouTube's been on a high-speed growth upswing. Last month, YouTube became the 4th most visited site on the web after it beat out Microsoft's Live.com and MSN,


Revealed: Lockerbie link to oil exploration deal

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 01:50 PM PDT

Government decided it was "in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom" to make the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal...after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. hese were resolved soon afterwards.


Think of it like a movie [PIC]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 01:40 PM PDT


The 7 Most Badass Man vs. Beast Showdowns

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 01:30 PM PDT

There are many animal attacks that take place every year and most end unpleasantly for the person. Some people, however, look these creatures of certain doom in the eye and say...


SHOCKING: Death threats against Obama up 400%

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 01:10 PM PDT

A CNN source with very close to the U.S. Secret Service confirmed to me today that threats on the life of the president of the United States have now risen by as much as 400 percent since his inauguration, 400 percent death threats against Barack Obama -- quote -- "in this environment" go far beyond anything the Secret Service has seen with any oth


Top 10 Signs You Might Not Be A Libertarian

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 12:50 PM PDT

Notice a propensity of newly minted Libertarians showing up lately? Perhaps it's just coincidence their ranks swelled in inverse proportion to George Bush's approval rating, ditto that so many are mouthing traditional conservative talking points. But what about the everyday gun toting townhall screamers and taxcutters and deficit hawks we see on...


Man Leaps into River to Escape Wife's Nagging

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 12:30 PM PDT

The Chinese truck driver, known as Zhou, and his wife were on a ferry on the Yangtze River when it all became too much for him, the Chongqing Evening Post reports. Members of the ship's crew saw the man suddenly run out of his cabin with his hands covering his ears, and shouting: "I can't stand it any longer."


Americans save more, spend less. Will it last?

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 12:20 PM PDT

Evidence of a new consumer mindset keeps piling up. Today's New York Times front page reports Americans are becoming savers. When they shop, it is for necessities. They are spending less on impulse purchases.


Tree That Increases Crop Yields By 280%

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 12:00 PM PDT

In Malawi, maize yields were increased up to 280 percent in the zone under the tree canopy compared with the zone outside the tree canopy.


Schoolboy Jai Morcom Beaten To Death During Recess

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 11:50 AM PDT

Jai Morcom, 15, allegedly stepped in to stop a schoolyard fight over a lunch table. It cost him his life. Seriously sad stuff.


Stop my daughter having babies

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 11:40 AM PDT

She's had six, possibly seven children, all to different fathers. Four were sent to live with their grandmother and at least one, police believe, has been murdered. Now, her estranged mother is begging authorities to stop her getting pregnant again.


What Can You Make Out of a 100ft Dead Oak Tree (Images)

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 11:30 AM PDT

After a 159-year-old oak tree died its owners wanted to give it more of a send off than merely chop it up for fire wood. They decided to transform it into as many items as possible. Dozens of craftsmen and artists were invited to strip the 100ft tall tree of timber and spend the next 12 months handmaking an array of furniture and crafts.


Man Hijacked a School Bus Arrested Wearing Condom [Video]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 11:20 AM PDT

The was something very wrong with Arris Pitmon. Moments before he hijacked an Atlanta school bus, he was caught on surveillance video at a nearby gas station acting like, well, a weirdo.


Troubling bubbles - Methane seeping from Arctic permafrost

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 10:50 AM PDT

Pure methane, gas bubbling up from underwater vents, escaping into northern skies, adds to the global-warming gases accumulating in the atmosphere. And pure methane escaping in the massive amounts known to be locked in the Arctic permafrost and seabed would spell a climate catastrophe. Is such an unlocking under way?


What it Feels Like to Play 'Big Bird'

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 10:20 AM PDT

Not very good.


Iranians Say Prison Rape Is Not New

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 10:00 AM PDT

Far from being a new phenomenon, prison rape has a long history in the Islamic Republic. The most systematic type of reported rape has been the rape of virgin girls who were sentenced to death by execution because of political reasons.


Can the Laws of Physics Extend Beyond Our Universe?

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 09:50 AM PDT

Chris Knight, the finest fictional physicist of our time, once said "All science. No Philosophy. Wrong." It's true that an understanding of existence outside of equations is vital for scientists, both in terms of enjoying life and avoiding things like Agent Orange, but beware careless combination of the two.


Katrina: Gulf Coast Horror [26 pics]

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 09:10 AM PDT

Hurricane Katrina, a huge category 4 storm, made landfall in the continental U.S. on August 29, 2005, on the Gulf Coast with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. Louisiana and Mississippi took the brunt of the impact. The monster would prove to be among the deadliest natural disasters in United States history with more than 1,800 confirmed dead.


Scientists design spacecraft to save Earth from asteroids

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 09:00 AM PDT

A spacecraft capable of saving the world from a catastrophic asteroid collision has been designed. Heroic missions to stop life on Earth from being wiped out by an asteroid have become a favourite theme for Hollywood disaster films. The "gravity tractor" would be deployed when an orbiting rock is detected on a collision course with earth.


'80s Drug Kingpin Now Pushing Hot Dogs

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 09:00 AM PDT

Cappas doesn't just work at Johnny's Wee Nee Wagon in south suburban Markham: He owns it.


Jim Breuer Freaks Out During Pizza Hut Commercial

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:50 AM PDT

I think he thought he was really gonna be able to eat pizza during this filming. I sure hope this is a viral marketing campaign.


51% of Americans Say Alcohol More Dangerous Than Marijuana

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 06:20 AM PDT

Fifty-one percent of American adults say alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 19% disagree and say pot is worse.


Ten Epic Steampunk Projects We Wish We'd Thought Of First

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 05:40 AM PDT

We've all seen the goggles, the brass, the keyboard mods. But a few steampunk projects go above and beyond, boggling the mind and leaving us breathless. Here are ten steampunk projects that succeed in transporting us to other worlds.


A Call for Open Source Genetic Engineering

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 05:00 AM PDT

American farmers are incredibly inventive, innovative, and accomplished. They can do whatever we ask them, we just need to give them a new set of requirements...


Little guy gets stuck with homeless camp in Sacramento

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 03:00 AM PDT

A retired auto mechanic who lives on a fixed income with his wife, Pedro Hernandez is collateral damage in a struggle between homeless advocates and the city of Sacramento. He can do nothing about it, so homeless people have set up 35 tents and are camping out right behind the Victorian where Hernandez has lived for 38 years.


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