Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Mr. Potato

John Stewart hammers Jim Cramer on 'The Daily Show'


Breitbart
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:58 UTC
Jon Stewart hammered Jim Cramer and his network, CNBC, in their anticipated face-off on "The Daily Show."

In an interview taped Thursday afternoon that went far beyond its allotted time, Stewart repeatedly chastised the "Mad Money" host and CNBC for putting entertainment above journalism. He also accused the financial news network of willfully ignoring corporate dishonesty.

For his part, Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but mostly agreed that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse. Cramer called himself a "fan of the show" and said his network was "fair game" to Stewart's criticism.
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Pumpkin

Math whiz, dead for 450 years, gets TV bill


Reuters
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:31 UTC
TV Set Garbage
A German mathematician who died 450 years ago has been sent a letter demanding that he pay long-overdue television license fees, residents at his former address said on Wednesday.

Germany's GEZ broadcast fee collection office sent the bill to the last home address of Adam Ries, an algebra expert who bought the house in 1525. A club in his honor was set up at the property four centuries later.
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Attention

Police hot-wire sleepy drivers with chili


Reuters
Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:17 UTC
Red Chili Peppers
Police in southwest China are spicing up drivers with raw chili in a bid to stop them falling asleep at the wheel, a newspaper said Wednesday.

Police in the Chongqing region have started serving drivers chili peppers at highway service stations, holding to the traditional Chinese belief that people often feel more sleepy in the Spring, the Chongqing Evening News said.
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Clock

U.S. museum finds 'secret' message in Lincoln's watch


Reuters
Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:54 UTC
Lincoln Watch_Dillon
A gold watch owned by Abraham Lincoln bears a message marking the start of the U.S. Civil War, but the president never knew of the "secret" inscription uncovered on Tuesday at the National Museum of American History.

The engraving, by watchmaker Jonathan Dillon, is dated April 13, 1861, and reads in part: "Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels" and "thank God we have a government."

The museum said it agreed to open the watch to find out if the message really was there after it was contacted by the watchmaker's great-great-grandson, Doug Stiles of Waukegan, Illinois.
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Mr. Potato

'Sex-y' sermons cause stir in rural Alabama

Jay Reeves
Associated Press
Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:16 UTC
It's one thing for a church in a big city like Dallas or Atlanta to tackle the ticklish topic of sex. It blends in with the urban scene.

It's another thing when a small-town congregation puts up billboards with the phrase "Great sex: God's way" on rural highways to promote a sermon series. You can't even legally buy beer in Cullman County, and a preacher is talking about S-E-X on Sunday morning?

Daystar Church, whose congregation has grown dramatically under pastor Jerry Lawson, has run up against the sensibilities of a conservative north Alabama community with a monthlong focus on sex.

Sex just isn't an appropriate topic for church, some say, and others are upset over the church's signs, which advertise the sermon series and accompanying Web site.
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Toys

Five things you didn't know about Dr. Seuss

Brad Frenette
National Post
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:16 UTC
Dr Seuss
© John Bryson/Getty ImagesThis doctor's world included whimsical plant-sprouting corncob pipes and stuffed blue-green abelards.
Theodore Seuss Geisel, the most famous children's book writer/illustrator of all time, was born 104 years ago today in Springfield, Massachusetts.

You've read the books - and if you've got youngsters about, you're likely re-reading them quite often - but what do you know of the man who was Seuss?

Illuminate your further readings with The Afterword's top five little known Geisel facts:

5: Dr. Seuss rhymes with another epic figure in children's literature: Mother Goose. Coincidence? No.

4: When presenting the dialogue for the magicians in Bartholomew and the Oobleck, Seuss employed the use of trochees (or chorues) which presents text in an alternating pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables ("Shuffle, duffle, muzzle, muff"). The techique was also used by Shakespeare with his cauldron stirring witches in Macbeth (Toil! Toil!), by Poe in his poem The Raven and often in nursery rhymes.
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Ladybug

Tongue-tied Clinton gets warm welcome

David Brunnstrom
Reuters
Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:15 UTC
Hillary Clinton Brussels
© Associated Free Press - John ThysUS Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) speaks with Italian Foreign minister Franco Frattini (C-back) and Lithuanian Foreign minister Vygaudas Usackas during a photo at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The United States and Lithuania signed an agreement here Monday aimed at making it easier to prosecute suspected financial criminals, computer hackers and violent extremists.
Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state when she mispronounced her EU counterparts' names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe's.

Clinton has set herself a grueling pace on visits to Egypt, Israel and Brussels soon after touring the Far East, attending dozens of meetings and giving speech after speech, with little time worked into her schedule for sleep.

Tiredness appeared to show Friday when she answered questions in front of 500 young Europeans at the European Parliament, where she was the highest-ranking U.S. visitor since the late President Ronald Reagan in 1985.
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Coffee

Costa Coffee's taster has tongue insured for £10 million

Harry Wallop
Telegraph
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:12 UTC
Coffee taster Gennaro Pelliccia, who samples products for Costa Coffee, has had his tongue insured for £10 million with Lloyd's of London.

Gennaro Costa Coffee Tongue
© PA Costa Coffee's Gennaro Pelliccia, Costa's chief taste tester who has had his tongue insured by Costa for 10 million.
This is not the first time that a person has attempted to protect their taste buds in this way. Egon Ronay back in 1993 insured his palate for £250,000, arguing that without this asset he would be like a sculptor shorn of his hands.

Mr Pelliccia's policy - worth forty times Mr Ronay's - is testament to insurance inflation in the last 15 years, as well as the importance of high street coffee chains to the national economy.
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Smiley

Inmate arrested breaking into jail


NineMSN
Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:42 UTC
Authorities say they arrested an escaped jail inmate trying to sneak back into the lockup with cigarettes allegedly stolen from a nearby store.

Sheriff Tommy Gregory said 25-year-old Harry Jackson had opened a door to the exercise yard and climbed the outer fence.
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No Entry

Tree named No Parking after sign


Orange
Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:44 UTC
A species of tree has been officially named No Parking after the warning sign nailed to the first example found.

The type of whitebeam, found in a lay-by near a National Trust staff car park in Lynton, Devon, is called Sorbus No Parking.

Even its Latin title is Admonitor, meaning to tell off, reports The Sun.
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