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People

Texans: Are you really married?


McClatchy Newspapers
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:28 UTC
Maybe not.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
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Mr. Potato

Palin says Glenn Beck 'clever,' won't rule out Palin-Beck ticket


Raw Story
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:59 UTC
sarah palin
© na

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, asked whether she'd campaign with Fox News' personality Glenn Beck as her running mate, chuckled, but according to a conservative website, "wouldn't rule it out."

"It's no secret that former GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Fox News host Glenn Beck share great respect and admiration -- so their fans can be forgiven for wondering: Is a 'dream ticket' of Palin-Beck ticket is completely out of the question?" Newsmax's David Patten wrote Tuesday night.

"Perhaps not," he added.

"Palin initially chuckled when Newsmax broached the idea," he continued. "But then she had some serious words of praise for the popular Fox personality."

"I can envision a couple of different combinations, if ever I were to be in a position to really even seriously consider running for anything in the future, and I'm not there yet," Palin reportedly told Newsmax. "But Glenn Beck I have great respect for. He's a hoot. He gets his message across in such a clever way. And he's so bold - I have to respect that. He calls it like he sees it, and he's very, very, very effective."
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Mr. Potato

Robbers Heat Up Bottle for Crying Baby


WISHTV
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:44 UTC
Several family members were tied up with duct tape

Police are looking for two suspects who managed to heat up a bottle for a crying baby while robbing a home Friday morning.

Indianapolis Metro Police Department detectives said two suspects forced their way into a home just after 8:30 a.m. Friday morning with intentions to rob the family.

Police said two men came up to the home, in the 6100 block of East 21st Street, asking for jumper cables for a broken down car. They left, then later came back to the home and knocked on the door. That's when police said one of the suspects pulled out a shotgun and forced their way into the home, tying up two adults and a teenager.

One of the robbers hit one of the adults over the head with a gun.

"Then he hit me again over the head and that was it," said Morgan Adams. "It was lights out. I woke up to my buddy untying me."

Police said the robbers started ransacking the house. Then, the baby in the house made his presence known.
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Magic Wand

A New Prophet: NASA Says World Will Not End In 2012


RedOrbit
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:05 UTC
NASA has launched an investigation in its efforts to prove that world will not come to an end on December 21, 2012, despite the claims of many Internet theorists.


Comment: Frankly speaking, no official body or institution in the position of authority can guarantee anything like that will or will not happen at any given moment, like in 3 years. That's just illogical!


The theory states that world will come to an end, based on deductions from the Mayan calendar, as a mysterious planet, Nibiru, collides with Earth.

The claims have fueled a Sony Picture, titled "2012," which will come to theaters on Friday.

Some Internet theorists have blamed NASA for keeping information concealed about the Earth's doomsday.

"There is no factual basis for these claims," NASA said on its Web site.


Comment: Could you please prove it?


Comment: Did NASA ever hear about comets? They pretend that they didn't. Or they just forgot. Or they are so sure that people will buy any rubbish, no matter how ridiculous and illogical, that they are not afraid of releasing such a pure caricature of propaganda as the one above.

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Coffee

'Unfriend' is 2009's Word of the Year: Geek Lexicon Goes Pop

Brennon Slattery
PC World
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:58 UTC
Tech culture has come a long way from its widely-lambasted formative years of LAN parties, red Doritos and Mountain Dew to today, when the New Oxford Dictionary ekes our vocab and ratifies it. "Unfriend," a term used to describe deleting a social networking buddy (like your mom on Facebook) was chosen as 2009's Word of the Year. (Funny, I always thought it was defriend.)

Five of the other Word of the Year finalists also came from the tech world -- two of which could have soiled tech culture's image. For instance, "sexting" -- the sending of sexually explicit text messages -- would have made us appear like sex-crazed smartphone junkies; and "intexticated" -- driving distracted while texting -- paints us to be irresponsible maniacs behind the wheel. So it's a good thing the relatively benign depiction of removing somebody from Facebook made it into Oxford Dictionary.
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Beer

Drilling for Scotch Whisky in Antarctica


Manichi Daily News
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:35 UTC
Image
The crates of whisky were found under a hut built and used by Shackleton
Wellington, New Zealand -- A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica's ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whisky that has been on the rocks since a century ago.

The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whisky that were shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.
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Bizarro Earth

Lock Of Elvis' Hair A Big Hit At Auction

Katie Cassidy
Sky News
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:23 UTC
Image
The tiny, black strand comes with a note of authenticity
A tiny strand of hair said to have been clipped from the head of Elvis Presley has sold at auction for more than £1,000.

The snippet, which is mounted in a 12in by 22in frame alongside a photograph of the music legend, had been tipped to fetch up to £250.

Wiltshire auctioneer Henry Aldridge and Son brought the hammer down at £1,055.

The strand had been cut off and kept by Presley's barber of more than 20 years, Homer Gill Gilleland.

He used to dye the singer's sandy-blond locks black, and cut his hair into a towel.
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Newspaper

Swine Flu Causes Surge of Garlic Sales in Serbia

Dusan Stojanovic
The Associated Press
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:00 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Darko VojinovicA girl walks past a stand with garlic at Belgrade green market, Serbia.
Belgrade's open-air markets were a welter of busy customers on Friday, pushing and shoving to buy one item - garlic.

In Serbia, garlic has long been regarded as a good luck charm and a guard against many ailments. As far as the public is concerned, that includes the swine flu pandemic, which recently has spread in Serbia and triggered near panic among the local population.

That is now evident in Belgrade's produce markets, where the price of garlic has shot up, thanks to a sudden increase in demand. The smell of the little white cloves also has become prevalent in public places as people munch on them as if eating apples.

Health officials have publicly urged the population not to take garlic's healing properties so seriously. Instead, they recommend opting for more conventional precautions, such as washing hands, wearing face masks, or eventually getting vaccinated.
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Heart

Making the World More Fun

Julius Trujillo
thefuntheory.com
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:00 UTC
The campaign The Fun Theory of Volkswagen is a series of experiments, captured on video, to find out if making the world more fun can improve people's behavior.

This one is Piano Stairs:
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Binoculars

Thieves Steal Popular North Carolina Road Sign...Again


The Associated Press
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00 UTC
Image
© Alex Nitzman and Justin CozartIt is a long way from Barstow to Wilmington, North Carolina: 2,554 miles to be exact!
Want to know how far it is from the eastern end of Interstate 40 in North Carolina to the western end in California? You'll have to punch it into your GPS or try MapQuest.

The Star-News of Wilmington reports that a popular sign showing the distance between Wilmington, N.C., and Barstow (BARHS'-toh), Calif., has been stolen for at least the fourth time - and the last.

North Carolina transportation engineer Joe Chance says with the repeated thefts, there won't be another sign that tells motorists it's 2,554 miles to Barstow. That's where the interstate ends.

The sign was a familiar sight to travelers heading west out of Wilmington and had been up for years.
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