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Explanation: If not perfect, then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74's graceful spiral arms are traced by bright blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes. Constructed from image data recorded in 2003 and 2005, this sharp composite is from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spanning about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74, it includes exposures recording emission from...

It’s not just the government that might be keeping tabs on you. Many retailers are tracking you, too—or at least your merchandise returns. The companies say it’s all in the name of security and fighting fraud. They want to be able to identify chronic returners or gangs of thieves trying to make off with high-end products that are returned later for store credit. Consumer advocates are raising transparency issues about the practice of having companies collect information on consumers and create “return profiles” of customers at big-name stores such as Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Victoria’s Secret, Home Depot and Nike....

If you ever wanted to know what it felt like to crawl through a colon you can now find out after a 40-foot-long model of the human part was created – just don’t wear your shoes. The giant replica is currently on show in Jacksonville, Florida, at the Ostomy Associations of America’s biannual meeting. The colon is used to transfer waste out of the human system and the model, which is four-foot-tall, allows visitors to get up close and personal to their insides. Barbara Heidenreich was excited about the exhibit, she wrote on Twitter: ‘Yesterday there was a giant colon...

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I have an upcoming discussion I want to document, risked 11 bucks on one of the little thumb drive recorders from Ebay. The durn thing is clear as a bell, not hifi of course but clear and strong enough for the mission ahead!Next I will get my super spy camera!!

Okay, on a previous thread there was quite a bit of disagreement on this subject and the posts and responses were getting a bit crossed, so I decided to try and compress the arguments a bit. So... here goes... Cats are better than women because: 1. Cats don't care how much money you have. Good cat food and a warm place to sleep and you are golden. 2. Cats do not demand, or even understand the concept of breakfast in bed. Start opening the can or the bag of food and they are on the way. 3. Cats dislike chocolate,...

Good words from William Finlay a/k/a Wild Bill for America about liberals' hatred for another American institution, i.e., the cowboy hat.

FULL TITLE: Autism breakthrough as 'genetic signature' in babies as young as a year found; blood test in the works A GENETIC "signature" of autism in babies as young as 12 months has been identified for the first time, an international conference is to be told. A simple blood test is now being developed and may be available in one to two years, Professor Eric Courchesne will tell the Asia Pacific Autism conference in Adelaide today. "This discovery really changes the landscape of our understanding of causes and effective treatments," says the director of the Autism Centre of Excellence at...

Washington, DC (LiveAction) — Are you sick and tired of looking at stupid baby faces? Does the thought of people loving someone more than themselves make you sick to your stomach? Is the very suggestion of selfless responsibility inherent in the image of an adorable, smiling baby utterly repugnant to you? If you answered “Yes!” to any of the above questions, have I got the app for you! Unbaby.me is a Chrome extension (I have no idea what that means) that removes those pesky baby photos from your Facebook news feed. According to their website, all you have to do...

A new documentary, which airs tonight on PBS, explores the psychology behind yellow fever - the phenomenon that sees white men attracted to, and sometimes even obsessed with, Asian women. Filmed and directed by Debbie Lum, a fourth-generation Chinese-American from St Louis, Missouri, Seeking Asian Female looks to discover why many men see Asians as ideal wives, a concept that is 'very painful for the Asian-American community,' Ms Lum told ABC News.

There's a story on Yahoo! News about a 7 month old boy who had his name (Messiah) changed by a Judge in Tennessee. It's an AP story.

Tom and Jerry fans accuse Warner Brothers of censorship after episodes which show the cat and mouse 'blacked-up' are pulled from new collection • The Golden Collection Volume Two was supposed to be uncut • Two episodes have been taken out because they are deemed 'inappropriate' • Fans have accused Warner Brothers of omitting history Box-set was meant to go on sale two months ago but yet to reach shelves Fans of the classic cartoon Tom and Jerry are furious two episodes deemed 'inappropriate' because they feature the cat and mouse 'blacked-up' have been removed from a new collection. Warner...

Subbing for mylife...

Looks like Wells Fargo Bank is experiencing computer glitches. I contacted them on a transaction which I did not make and they insisted I close all my accounts. However, after talking with numerous WFB reps I found out that no web login activity for my account was logged for date in question for the transaction of interest - which was verified by WFB rep to be an on-line transaction. So how can an on-line transaction be processed/requested when their logs indicate no login to request any such transaction. And I made no such request in any form. Either WFB has...

During an August 8 appearance on CNN's The Lead, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said Russia's recent actions toward the U.S. have "reset" relations and put the two countries back on Cold War footing. According to McCain, "The Russians have reset, they've reset alright--back to about 1955."

During Revolutionary times, to be “enlightened” often meant having enough compassion that you were willing to free your slaves — but only upon your death. So when founding fathers such as George Washington began to pass away around 1800, their slaves were set free into a country that had no desire for them. The result, as James Ciment writes in this thorough account of an experimental nation, was to send free blacks whence they came, to Africa. Liberia was the country created by freed American slaves who, perversely, became slave owners themselves.

A St. Paul, Minn., man is in a coma today, fighting for his life after a black mob beat him, stripped his clothes off and left him for dead. Even if he recovers, he will have permanent brain damage. Ads by Google Ray Widstrand thought he had nothing to fear from moving into a black neighborhood on the East Side of St. Paul. This young white guy and aspiring filmmaker thought he had nothing to fear when decided to take a Sunday night stroll through his adopted part of town. Nothing to fear from a crowd of 50 black people...

She gave it the shaft. One of Karen Gould’s first acts as president of Brooklyn College was to thrust $107,000 into creating a new school logo — because the old clock-tower silhouette was supposedly too phallic looking, insiders said. Just months after Gould took the helm of the institution in 2009 as its first woman president, the college hired Baltimore-based Neustadt Creative Marketing to draft a new logo and redo the Web site. The company soon cut all visual references to the seminal symbol of the La Guardia Hall tower, erected in the 1930s. The new logo was all words:...

Potential 2016 presidential contender Donald Trump spoke to ABC's Jonathan Karl Sunday morning and reignited the birther issue that he helped spark back in 2011, questioning the legitimacy of Barack Obama's birth certificate and wondering whether Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada, was eligible to president. "Was there a birth certificate?" Trump asked. "You tell me. Some people say that was not his birth certificate. I'm saying I don't know. Nobody knows. And you don't know, either, Jonathan. You're a smart guy, you don't know, either." "I'm pretty convinced he was born in the United States," Karl said. "Ah!...

OK, I have a cell phone even though I basically detest them, a necessary evil I suppose. I used to have T-Mobile, but whatever backbone they were on, I got crap reception in my living room. I could walk out into my front yard in the rain and get five bars, but almost zilch in my house. So I dumped them and lost a bunch of minutes, switched to Net10. Different carrier. Xlent signal in my house and all around. With Net10 you buy Minutes AND service days. You can't, afaik, buy just one or the other. I use it...

Friends, it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen LiveInfo*tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.

This is making-of footage from a film that will never-be. The Day the Clown Cried was a 1972 Holocaust drama directed and starring Jerry Lewis that was famously decried for its bad taste before ever being released. Lewis then buried the film, denouncing it as “bad” and made him feel “embarrassed.” The script and a few stills are all that survive for public consumption — until now, when YouTube user unclesporkums found this 7-minute clip of behind-the-scenes footage and shared it online yesterday. As of this writing, only 751 people have laid eyes on the video below, but that number...

Myths about the role, and perceived anti-tank capability of the M4 Medium, continue to be pervasive. The idea that US tanks were not expected to be able to deal with any tanks that they may happen to come across just won’t die, and is probably a reflection of the name of the US Tank Destroyer branch which is confusing to those who don’t understand the doctrinal function of the TD. See the Can Openers article for a slightly more in-depth look. We know that the idea of adding the 76mm to the M4 pre-dates the introduction of the German cats....

Thought some of us could use a bit of a break today, and remembered a differing post just the other day. Cats are better than women because: 1. Cats don't care how much money you have. Good cat food and a warm place to sleep and you are golden. 2. Cats do not understand the concept of breakfast in bed. Start opening the can or the bag of food and they are on the way. 3. Cats dislike chocolate, sneeze on flowers, and attempting to buy them nice clothes to wear will only make them strut away in disdain. They...

About half an hour of the late Eydie Gorme singing Mexican love ballads. If you loved her voice, and her talent without reservation, then you will enjoy the music. If for some reason you can't stand listening to Spanish then you'll want to pass on this.

As a lifetime Dodger fan dating back to the early 1950s when they were still in Brooklyn, N.Y., I never thought I would thank the Yankees for anything, but I do, indeed, pay tribute to them for coming to Los Angeles recently to play our Dodgers. Their presence, as the historic gold standard for Major League Baseball, enriched this city more than anyone will fully appreciate. Not only did they give the surging L.A. baseball franchise a serious test of its new found swagger, but they also allowed our iconic play-by-play broadcaster, Bronx-born Vin Scully, to remind us why he's...

NEWPORT, Tenn. — A Cocke County judge has ordered the parents of a 7-month-old boy to change his first name from "Messiah."

Just watch....Linky Here

From ORB LAB's FB page: Shark fishing season has officially begun for the ORB LAB. Last Friday, a crew struck out to try and recapture sharks carrying tags containing valuable information about the species assemblage encountered by these coastal apex predators. We caught one large female on our first line Friday, but we were not expecting to catch her like this! This unlucky smooth dogfish couldn't resist the menhaden used as bait and unfortunately fell victim to one of the top predators in the bay. The dogfish was about 3 feet long and completely swallowed by the sand tiger shark.

The Time Of Their Lives

Have at it.

Roger Sperry won the Nobel Prize in 1981 for his work on what is now commonly known as right brain-left brain thinking. Sperry theorized that some very specific activities were controlled by one side of the human brain or the other — for example, the right side controlled creative tasks, while the left side was where logic, language and reasoning lived. People were fascinated by the idea, and in the three decades since, bookstores, television, the Internet and college psychology classes everywhere have been filled with endless discussions of the differences between right-brain, left-brain, and whole-brain thinkers. (Ironically, Sperry’s...

New evidence was unveiled Thursday that Japan’s imperialist army directly managed Asian women for sexual slavery, dealing a fresh blow to Tokyo’s denials of responsibility. Korea University’s Centre for Korean History disclosed a diary that a Korean manager of Japanese brothels wrote while staying in Myanmar and Singapore between August 1942 and December 1944. The diary shows that the Japanese army received revenue-related reports from military brothels, examined the bodies of sex slaves and regulated the relocations of sexual entertainment facilities. “The diary shows the case in which the Japanese military with an absolute personnel management authority issued direct orders...

Look for the 2013 Perseid meteor shower to be at its prolific best from late late August 11 until dawn August 12! Great times to watch: after midnight and before dawn on August 11, 12 or 13. We give the nod to Monday, August 12 – in the hours between midnight and dawn. But any of these mornings should be fine for watching this year’s Perseid shower. At dusk and early evening on August 11, the waxing crescent moon shines between the planet Venus and the star Spica. The planet Saturn is found above Spica. The Perseids are a summertime...

The poor hostess told a very different story. Winfrey was browsing through some purses, and when she inquired about one particular model, the hostess suggested another, almost identical model, saying that while the other one would cost around 35k euros, the alternative one would cost much less and it's practically the same object, same model and material. Standard polite and helpful salesman behavior.

Interesting. I know some of you are pretty anti-Trump, but he's got some good things to say about bringing back American jobs.

In Lebanon, at an altitude of approximately 1,170 meters in Beqaa valley stands the famous Baalbek or known in Roman times as Heliopolis. Baalbek is an ancient site that has been used since the Bronze Age with a history of at least 9,000 years, according to evidence found during the German archaeological expedition in 1898. Baalbek was an ancient Phoenician city that was named by the name of the sky God Baal. The name ‘Baal’ in the Phoenician language meant ‘lord’ or ‘god’. Legends abound around Baalbek with some of them mentioning that Baalbek was the place where Baal first...

A Polish archaeologist at the Jagiellonian University Institute of Archaeology has made a 3D reconstruction of a 5,500-year-old brewing installation which was found at Tell el-Farcha, an archaeological site in Egypt dating back to approximately 3700 BC when it functioned as a centre of local Lower Egyptian Culture. The virtual reconstruction has brought to life the ancient scene in which Egyptians practiced a traditional form of beer making. The reconstruction was created based on preserved structures of similar analogous buildings at both Tell el-Farcha and other brewing centres in Upper Egypt. The Tell el-Farcha brewery, the oldest ever brewery found...

Established in 1247, the notorious Bethlem (“Bedlam”) Royal Hospital was the first dedicated psychiatric institution in Europe and possibly the most famous specialist facility for care and control of the insane, so much so that the word ‘bedlam’ has long been synonymous with madness and chaos. Now, in a spectacular discovery, archaeologists have uncovered the asylum’s ancient graveyard right in the heart of London, revealing as many as 20,000 skeletons. The 500-year-old graveyard was found during excavations to create a 13-mile high speed tunnel under Central London. Modern-day residents and visitors going about their busy daily lives have been oblivious...

Out of all the restaurant chains out there, Buffalo Wild Wings takes the cake for selling the most beer in America, according to CNBC. After launching in 1982, the chain is now open in more than 900 different locations with a wide enough beer selection to keep wing lovers happy.

TORONTO - Po Leung was ecstatic when she learned she had finally become pregnant through in vitro fertilization on March 24, 2010. “It was one of the best days of my life. I was thrilled,” said the 44-year-old investment adviser recently. After three years of sacrifice and $60,000, her elusive goal had been reached. The next day “was the worst day of my life,” recalled Leung. Her common-law spouse Stuart Westcott abruptly ended their four-year relationship. Westcott couldn’t wait to start his new life with his mistress, fertility clinic nurse Wendy Shanks, who had been treating the couple for several...

More than 100,000 people around the world have applied to be the first to make a one-way trip to Mars, according to organisers of a prospective mission. The private Dutch-based Mars One project is proposing to select a group of 40 would-be civilian astronauts this year, aiming to send four of them on a no-return journey to to the red planet in 2022. Experts have questioned both the financial and practical viability of the mission, but that hasn't stopped people signing up in droves, including 30,000 Americans, CNN reported. The estimated cost for the initial mission is $6 billion (£3.87...

Always informative. Always educational. Yes, I know I'm late. I attended an Oath Keeper's meeting yesterday and forgot to do this. Link is to actual video.

Some kind of goat won't let motorcycle rider pass him on road.

Scientists have long tried to figure out what causes the ebb and flow of ice ages. New data suggests a novel explanation for why the mile-thick blankets of ice retreat so quickly: They become too heavy. For the last 900,000 years, mile-thick ice sheets have waxed and waned in the Northern Hemisphere with remarkable regularity – building over periods of about 100,000 years and retreating in the space of only a few thousand years, only to repeat the cycle. Now, a team of scientists from Japan, the US, and Switzerland suggests that the North American continent is the breeding ground...

Kristen De Filippis recently had an argument with her aunt and mom about what makes an appropriate wedding gift. “They said, ‘You have to give at least $100 [cash] or more,’ ” says De Filippis, 38, who lives in Toronto. “I was like, the whole thing is insane. It should come down to what you can afford.” De Filippis loves her big Italian family, but wedding season isn’t cheap. It’s standard to give gifts at the engagement party and the shower, and an envelope on the big day. “With the older generation, if you don’t give a certain amount, you’re...

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Jen Psaki, blameless State Department spokeswoman, explained that the hasty evacuation of our embassy in Yemen was not an evacuation but “a reduction in staff.” This proved a problem because the Yemeni government had already announced (and denounced) the “evacuation” — the word normal folks use for the panicky ordering of people onto planes headed out of country. Thus continues the administration’s penchant for wordplay, the bending of language to fit a political need. Obama doesn’t like this terror war. He particularly dislikes its unfortunate religious coloration, which is why “Islamist” is banished from his lexicon. But soothing words, soothing...

Across the Everglades, all our Western neighbors in Naples are talking about is a purported UFO sighting this week at a condo building pool. Because if advanced life forms traveled from billions of light years away, their first stop would undoubtedly be a condo building pool in Naples. The spotting was made on security camera footage and first reported by security officer Debralee Thomas. She took her story to NBC 2. "It was down on the ground but some of that webbing was longer and it made a funnel down into the pool. Whatever it was doing in the pool,...