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Fifty Years of Math 1959 - 2009 (in the USA ) Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help...while he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried. Why do I tell you this? Because...

A lack of Vitamin D, due to reduced sunlight, has been linked to depression and the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but research by the University of Warwick shows there is no clear link between the levels of vitamin D in the blood and depression. Exposure to sunlight stimulates vitamin D in the skin and a shortage of sunlight in the winter has been put forward as one possible cause of SAD. However Warwick Medical School researchers, led by Dr Oscar Franco, have discovered low levels of vitamin D in the blood may not be connected to depression. The...

HYANNIS, Mass. -- Police have accused a 13-year-old of masterminding the slaying of his 16-year-old half brother so he could take over a drug operation they are alleged to have inherited from their father. Jordan Mendes was found shot, stabbed 27 times and dumped into a pit, where his body was torched. District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said Mendes was a "significant drug dealer." Authorities said Mykel Mendes, a seventh-grader, was jealous of the money his half brother was making selling OxyContin and cocaine and wanted to take over. A 13-year-old friend and a 20-year-old cousin also are charged with murder.

Dear Elected Representative, TEACHING POINTS PORKULUS 101: 1. GOVERNMENT DOESN’T CREATE JOBS IT CREATES MORE GOVERNMENT. 2. LEAVE JOB CREATION TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR, STIMULATE WITH TAX CUTS. 3. GOVERNMENT JOBS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED ARE UNSUSTAINABLE TAX BURDENS FOR THE REST OF US. 4. IF YOU WANT MEN TO FEED THEMSELVES THEN TEACH MEN TO FARM, DON’T GROW GOVERMENT. 5. IT’S GETTING WAY PAST TIME TO THROW SOME MORE TEA IN THE HARBOR. 6. ONE TRILLION TAX DOLLARS CREATE 1.5 MILLION HOLE DIGGERS AND 1.5 MILLION HOLE FILLERS FOR 5 YEARS @ 50K PER YEAR PLUS THE COST OF SHOVELS....

THERE can be only one thing worse than not getting the present you want this Christmas – and that’s finding your most wanted gift is just an empty box. But that’s exactly what happened to this young lad – who thought he was unwrapping the Xbox360 console he had been dreaming of all year.

Gov. Bill Ritter has picked state Rep. Bernie Buescher as Colorado’s next secretary of state. “Thank you for the confidence,” Buescher told the governor. “I will work hard and try to do a good job.” Ritter announced his pick at a news conference in his office this morning. The position came open when Mike Coffman was elected to congress. In all, 20 people applied; that number was whittled to three finalists, including Buescher, as well as outgoing House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon. During the news conference, Ritter thanked all for applying, and said Buescher is...

Enlarge ImageReal effect. Patients with a certain copy of a serotonin gene showed less amygdala activity (left), indicating reduced anxiety, after treatment with placebos. Credit: T. Furmark et al., Journal of Neuroscience To get a drug to market, pharmaceutical companies have to show that it works better than a placebo. But sometimes the placebo is just as powerful as the real thing. Just why our bodies respond so strongly to fake medicine has long been a mystery, but researchers are a step closer to solving that riddle, having picked out a particular gene that may be responsible for one...

PHILADELPHIA — Paul Kanjorski has fought off a nationally known crusader against illegal immigration to keep his northeastern Pennsylvania congressional seat. Kanjorski, a Democrat, beat Republican Lou Barletta in the 11th District.

Below is the list, in alphabetical order, of companies scoring a perfect 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign's 2009 Corporate Equality Index, with policies beneficial toward homosexuals: 3M Co. AAA Northern California, Nevada and Uta Abercrombie & Fitch Accenture Ltd. Aetna Agilent Technologies Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld Alaska Airlines Alcatel-Lucent Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America Allstate Corp.

Why are conservatives happier than liberals?FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty: Conservatives are happier than liberals. A study published in the journal “Psychological Science” says it’s because conservatives are better at rationalizing inequalities. Regardless of someone’s income, marital status or church attendance, people with right-wing ideologies report greater satisfaction with their lives than those with left-wing beliefs. Researchers found that conservatives also score highest when it comes to the ability to justify inequalities. For example, a conservative might support the idea of a meritocracy – that if you work hard and perform well, you’ll move up the economic ladder… and if you...

London, February 4: Mahatma Gandhi never existed while Britain's wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character. Don't fret. This is only what most Britons think about the great leaders. According to a survey carried out in Britain, many believe that Mahatma Gandhi and Churchill are just mythical figures like Florence Nightingale, popularly known as the 'Lady with the Lamp'. In fact, almost a quarter of the population have the popular notion that Churchill, "the greatest Briton of all time", was made up. Moreover, despite his celebrated military reputation, 47 per cent of respondents feel the 12th-century English...

I thought principled politics was supposed to be all about me. And if it doesn't go my way, I'm allowed to throw a tantrum, turn blue, kick my feet, flail my arms, threaten to support and vote for Hillary or Obama just to make my point. I mean, I didn't get my way. This is just like not getting my candy at the checkout counter. I didn't get my toy in the toy department. People took me out of control of my party and I'm mad. If I can't control my party, then I have to play nice and be...

WASHINGTON — Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time. A Justice Department audit released today blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said. In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations,...

LONDON – The fate of the world economy hinges on what happens to house prices in America and that may not be a good thing, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday. Speaking at the Reuters headquarters in London, the former Fed chair delivered a gloomy prognosis on the state of the global economy – U.S. house prices are likely to fall further and they could drag the rest of the world with them. * * * “The critical variable in this judgement is the price of homes in the United States,” said Greenspan, who ran the U.S....

Source: Loyola University Health System Date: September 30, 2007 Does Your Mood Take A Nosedive Each November? Science Daily — If you notice that your mood, energy level and motivation take a nosedive each November only to return to normal in April, you may have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), according to Loyola University Health System doctors. “This condition, characterized by depression, exhaustion and lack of interest in people and regular activities, interferes with a person’s outlook on life and ability to function properly,” said Dr. Angelos Halaris, chair of Loyola’s department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences. But people should not...

LIBERAL - Ignacio Rivas stands at his paletas cart chatting with another guy who also pushes frozen fruit treats on a three-wheel cart. It's about 7 p.m. in downtown Liberal, a town proud of its Yellow Brick Road and annual Fat Tuesday pancake race. But as Rivas tilts his straw cowboy hat down and pushes across the city's main drag before sundown, the scene looks like one out of Mexico. Perhaps a third to half of the independent business storefronts advertise in Spanish. Most others note that they habla español. This snapshot reflects what's happening in Liberal -- the heart...

Mom's Boyfriend Charged CINCINNATI -- A judge ruled that a teenager will be tried as an adult for the death of an 18-month-old boy whose mother testified that he was repeatedly swung like a bat against the wall when the teen became frustrated during toilet training. Derris Smith, 18, the mother's live-in boyfriend, has been charged with murder. He was 17 on June 27, when, police said, he delivered the beating that led to Malakai Glenn's death four days later. The impact of the child hitting the wall left drywall stuck to his head and cracked a wooden door, said...

<p>NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — An 8-year-old boy dropped or threw his infant twin sisters down the stairs, killing one and injuring the other, authorities said. He is too young to be detained or charged, they said.</p> <p>The boy has a "diminished mental capacity," police said. A child must be at least 10 to be in the juvenile court system, Larry Irving, an investigator with the North Richland Hills Police Department, said Wednesday.</p>

PETRIFIED PARIS HILTON mouthed “I love you” to her parents last night — before being carted off to face a hostile reception in prison.....[snip] [snip]Prisoner number 9818783 was put back in her special cell — isolated from other inmates — amid fears the angry lags could RIOT over her special treatment. Wardens even ordered a lockdown as prisoners — who think Paris pretended to be sick to con doctors — threatened a revolt. An insider at the prison in Lynwood, California, said: “The women inside the jail are seething. They say if you’re a rich white girl you get special...

Folks in Freeper land, I could use your encouragement, prayers, comfort and support tonight. After battling my employer over a verbally and physically abusive boss, I had to clean out my office today. Don't panic yet -- I'm continuing on payroll indefinitely. But after I reported the abuse, and was removed from her building, I was given an office from which I could search for a job. I needed that, because I need to be around midtown for interviews (and I have had some). Tomorrow in fact I have two interviews. I'll try to summarize this quickly: My boss is...