# Sharing the best net stories



## basilio (7 March 2010)

Thought I would start a new thread that would encourage forum readers to post  reviews and URLs to stories that they think would be exceptionally interesting to other readers. 

After we get past the dross and the drivel on the net, there is some great stuff that can give us something to think about.

Cheers

___________________________________________________________

What is happening to wild elephants?  Around the world human pressure on animal habitats  is putting enormous pressure on animals that have lived in peace for eons.  Elephants in particular have seen their living spaces massively reduced in the last 100 years. 

This story  looks at the effect the loss of habitat has had on the social lives of elephants  and rise of elephants killing people  as well as a seemingly new phenomenon - bands of young elephants raping and killing rhinos. The whole story is eye opening. It is a striking example of what happens when established social networks break down.

Great read for your next dinner party.



> An Elephant Crackup?
> 
> .....These were not isolated incidents. All across Africa, India and parts of Southeast Asia, from within and around whatever patches and corridors of their natural habitat remain, elephants have been striking out, destroying villages and crops, attacking and killing human beings. In fact, these attacks have become so commonplace that a new statistical category, known as Human-Elephant Conflict, or H.E.C., was created by elephant researchers in the mid-1990’s to monitor the problem. In the Indian state of Jharkhand near the western border of Bangladesh, 300 people were killed by elephants between 2000 and 2004. In the past 12 years, elephants have killed 605 people in Assam, a state in northeastern India, 239 of them since 2001; 265 elephants have died in that same period, the majority of them as a result of retaliation by angry villagers, who have used everything from poison-tipped arrows to laced food to exact their revenge. In Africa, reports of human-elephant conflicts appear almost daily, from Zambia to Tanzania, from Uganda to Sierra Leone, where 300 villagers evacuated their homes last year because of unprovoked elephant attacks.
> 
> Still, it is not only the increasing number of these incidents that is causing alarm but also the singular perversity ”” for want of a less anthropocentric term ”” of recent elephant aggression. Since the early 1990’s, for example, young male elephants in Pilanesberg National Park and the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve in South Africa have been raping and killing rhinoceroses; this abnormal behavior, according to a 2001 study in the journal Pachyderm, has been reported in ‘‘a number of reserves’’ in the region. In July of last year, officials in Pilanesberg shot three young male elephants who were responsible for the killings of 63 rhinos, as well as attacks on people in safari vehicles. In Addo Elephant National Park, also in South Africa, up to 90 percent of male elephant deaths are now attributable to other male elephants, compared with a rate of 6 percent in more stable elephant communities.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1


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## basilio (28 May 2010)

Came across fascinating website which unfolds  a summary of news from the 1930's on a day to day basis. I've attached a recent example. 

The writer sees strong comparisons between 1930's and now. 


> May 26, 2010
> *Tuesday, May 26, 1931: Dow 132.87 -5.03 (3.6%)
> Assorted historical stuff:*
> 
> ...




http://newsfrom1930.blogspot.com/


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## overit (28 May 2010)

Thought  this was an interesting story. The man behind the wiki-leaks website.



> *International man of mystery*
> 
> BERNARD LAGAN
> April 10, 2010
> ...


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## basilio (28 May 2010)

> Thought this was an interesting story. The man behind the wiki-leaks website.
> 
> Quote:
> International man of mystery
> ...




That was great... !


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## Boyou (28 May 2010)

A potentially great thread here,thanks basilio.

Julian Assange...very interesting guy.Here he is on The Colbert Report.We should celebrate those who have the guts (and hopefully brains) to blow the whistle..


http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/270712/april-12-2010/julian-assange


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## overit (29 May 2010)

A light hearted interview with Banksy the infamous "street artist". He has a movie coming out. 



> *Drawn from the shadows, wanted man comes out to play*
> 
> May 29, 2010
> 
> ...


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## overit (31 May 2010)

Not so much a story but a great photographic series of the colourful wildlife from the canopy of rainforests in Panama and Brazil.

Guido Sterkendries: photographer observes wildlife from the canopy of rainforests in Panama and Brazil


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## overit (9 June 2010)

Quite a good read. He probably would have got away with it if he had kept his mouth shut.



> U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe
> 
> Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.
> 
> ...



http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/leak/


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## basilio (9 June 2010)

Okay a bit of light relief in this succession of very worthy and sometimes obscure stories.  (not the least mine..)

*DID YOU KNOW* that Michelle Obamas whitehouse veggie garden was causing obesity, starvation* AND  CANCER  !*!

Well check out this little interview by Samantha B from the Daily Show. ( At least it's better than fretting over TEOTWAWKI )

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-may-14-2009/little-crop-of-horrors

And while you wasting your time check out just how dangerous lesbians are to the moral fabric of America.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-5-2005/homonausic


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## overit (15 June 2010)

Something for the doomer. 



> Nasa warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will cause devastation
> 
> Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation “space storm”, Nasa has warned.
> 
> ...


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## overit (15 June 2010)

Follow up on the previous stories about wiki leaks. This could make a good movie and book deal. 



> Wanted by the US: WikiLeaks founder keeps his head down
> 
> DYLAN WELCH
> 
> ...


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## overit (16 June 2010)

Interesting find!









> Kokoda reveals a secret, 70 years on
> 
> * Anne Barrowclough
> * June 10, 2010 8:50AM
> ...


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## nunthewiser (16 June 2010)

sorry this is a bit long 




> This Helmet is like brand new. I bought it for my wife, but it's tosmall for her big fat head.You know, it was all a big lie right fromthe beginning. I asked her if she liked bikes, (i've been riding sincei was 9 years old.) She's like "Yeah, I love Motorcycles, they'regreat!" Now, i'm thinking to myself, this chicks cool, she's hot, hasbig boobs, and loves motorcycles. I gotta snag this one upquick.Little did i know that as soon as i gave her the engagementring, all that would change. First, it was a subtle hint, you know,that the wedding's going to be expensive, and that that band costsjust as much as my motorcycle. With all these wedding plans going on,i hardly have time to ride my bike. I'm schleping all over the statelooking at reception halls, listening to cheesy wedding bands, andpicking out floral arrangements. She brings up the fact that i havn'tridden my bike in a while now, (No kidding!! She won't let me out ofher sight for more than 5 minutes!) and that maybe i should sell it.Now, that brings a whole lot of tension into the situation. I'm likeno way! Then i notice that our sex life has reduced dramatically. Aman has gotta do, what he's gotta do, so, i sell the bike, thinkingthat things will get better. She promises me, that as soon as we getmarried, she'll get a good job, and then i can get another bike. Weget married, and we're having sex everyday. Life is good. The Evil Oneis looking for work for like, 6 months. I find it hard to believe thatshe can't find a damn job, but who am i to say? She's just holding outfor that Management position she says. To be quite honest, i reallydon't care, she's cleaning my pipes better than Roto Rooter. Then thekicker�She tells me she's pregnant. All the while i thought she wason the pill! I ask her how this happened, and she said the pill gaveher facial hair. (I really couldn't see a difference, after all she isItalian). Fast Foward 9 months�i'm out breaking my back doing manuallabor, she's a big, fat, hairy lipped beach ball, with the dispositionof a rabid Pit Bull. Nothing i say, or do is good enough for her. Theday she gave birth, i thought again, that things will change for thebetter. WRONG!! Now everythings about the baby. Me, i'm second fiddle.Sex life? Ha! The only time i get some action is when i see her breastfeeding the little bastard! I'm going crazy, at least if i had amotorcycle, i could take out some of my frustration. Even the guys atwork notice how miserable i've been. One day, my partner rolls up on abrand new bike. I wanted to commit suicide. He knows how bad i wantedanother bike. He see's the look in my eye, and asks me if i would liketo take it out for a spin Friday night. It was truly the first time ilit up since marrying that bitch. Friday rolls around, i cash mycheck, and head on over to my partners house. I cruise around for awhile, and end up at this little bar on the edge of town. I head up tothe bar, place my helmet on it, and order a beer. I look over and seethis little hottie chatting it up with her friends. I notice that theeye contact is getting more and more frequent. After a few moreminutes, she walks over to me and tells me she just loves motorcycles.That they get her "excited". I ask her if she wants to go for a ride.Her beautifully full lips widen with a pearly white smile. I take thatas a yes. I grab her by the hand, and lead her to the bike. She strapson the spare helmet that was on the bike, and away we go. We ride forhours. She taps me on the shoulder, and tells me her apartment is onthe next block. Would i want to stop in for a while and have anotherbeer. Who am i to say no? I watch her lead the way, and i can't keepmy eyes off of her tight lil' behind. I think back to the days whenold hippo ass looked like this. Well, once upstairs, one beer turnedinto two, and so on. The next thing i know, i'm in bed with her, andshe was amazing! It was the best expierence i have ever had. Rightthen i had an epiphany. I had to be happy. I wasn't going to live amiserable existance for the rest of my life and something had to bedone. Long story short, i left my hairy beast of a wife. (She's donegood since i left. She remarried an Appliance salesman named Harold.)While i was moving out, i came across the helmet. I don't ever want tobe reminded of my miserable past life, so please, make a bid. I have amotorcycle payment to make! The helmet has no scratches, size MED andi would rate it a 9 out of 10 Winning bidder to Pay with PAYPAL ONLY.Winning Bidder to pay all Shipping costs. I ship UPS ONLY. No Zero orNegative Feedback Bidders




http://www.autoblog.com/2004/10/13/absolutely-hilarious-ebay-ad-for-motorcycle-helmet/


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## basilio (16 June 2010)

Okay I'm totally bored and procrastinating madly.  But this complaint to Virgin Airlines has to be worth the slacking off.



> *Virgin: the world's best passenger complaint letter?
> Here we reproduce a complaint letter sent to Sir Richard Branson, which is currently being emailed globally and is considered by many to be the world's funniest passenger complaint letter.
> *
> I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit.
> ...




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/t...e-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html


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## overit (28 June 2010)

China... the land of hope and dreams?



> Meet Zhang Xin, China's self-made billionairess
> 
> From a poor childhood under Chairman Mao to the world's top 10 self-made women, Chinese tycoon Zhang Xin talks money, success and family.
> 
> ...


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## overit (29 June 2010)

A ludicrously botched bank robbery leads to the question, Can you be too incompetent to understand just how incompetent you are?



> The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is (Part 1)
> 
> ....
> 
> ...


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## trainspotter (29 June 2010)

overit said:


> A ludicrously botched bank robbery leads to the question, Can you be too incompetent to understand just how incompetent you are?




Yes ...... I deal with many people like this every day of my life. Ya just gotta wonder some days. One instance:- I was on a building site and was watching a man use a power saw. He unplugged it and used the power lead to run another power tool. He then picked up the power saw and tried to use it. It didn't work. He bought the tool over to me to tell me it was faulty. (He was serious) I asked him if I could have a go. Sneeringly he questioned my ability to operate such a piece of equipment. I plugged it in. It worked fine. Not an isolated incident I might add.


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## overit (29 June 2010)

trainspotter said:


> I plugged it in. It worked fine. Not an isolated incident I might add.




I can believe it. I worked as a hotel maintenance man for a few years. If I had a dollar for every time I "fixed" something by turning it on I could retire.


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## overit (29 June 2010)

I thought most of university was a waste of time! PROOF! LOL! 



> *Can playing Warcraft make you a better boss? *
> 
> *HOW did Stephen Gillett go from college graduate to the youngest ever chief information officer of a Fortune 500 company in less than six years?*
> 
> ...


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## overit (30 June 2010)

Very cool! 








> *Terrafugia Transition 'flying car' gets go-ahead from US air authorities.*
> 
> The Terrafugia Transition, a light aircraft that can convert into a road-legal automobile, is to go into production after being given a special weight exemption by the US Federal Aviation Administration.


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## basilio (2 July 2010)

Have you ever wondered what might be going on in our schools? Came across this story on being "terrored" .  Reminded me on what I was missing .

*
Getting “Terrored”*
March 18, 2007

At the Metropolitan School “terror” is a verb, not a noun. “To terror a teacher” means to subject a teacher to a continual stream of intimidation and abuse with the intention of causing the maximum amount of stress. The main purpose of this is to intimidate the teacher into giving up on any attempt to enforce the rules. Also it can be used to attempt to drive the teacher out of the school, or as a way for students to assert their status or authority with their peers. Consequently it is aimed largely at teachers who are new to the school, or at least new to the class, although if a class is arrogant enough it will be aimed at any teacher who expects them to behave.

Terroring begins with low level disruption. Admittedly everything at the Metropolitan school begins with low level disruption. However, if you are getting terrored then any effort to prevent the disruption or enforce the school rules will lead to escalation through the following stages:

http://teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2007/03/18/getting-terrored/


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## akkopower (2 July 2010)

basilio said:


> Have you ever wondered what might be going on in our schools? Came across this story on being "terrored" .  Reminded me on what I was missing .




I used to work at a school in Logan, dodgy part of Brisbane. Among teachers it was thought of as the 2nd worst school in Brisbane, throughout my time there (1yr) 3 students were charged with rape and 8 with man slaughter (Johnathon Thurstons uncle - if anyone remembers). 

I never experienced any of the things in the posted article. I am a young male maths teacher, so i guess i get the most ****e flung at me. As a teacher terror is still a noun to me


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## overit (8 July 2010)

This is a great story! He has done some crazy stuff.

Also check him out on wikipedia.









> Barefoot Bandit Colton Harris-Moore strikes again, to fans' delight and FBI's despair
> 
> TO the FBI he is a brazen teenage criminal with a price on his head but to his fans the "Barefoot Bandit" is a folk hero with a huge online following.
> 
> ...


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## basilio (9 July 2010)

In  making up your world views have you ever wondered why the USA continues to be involved in long expensive wars that seem to go nowhere ? Excellent analysis offers some very practical reasons for this situation.

And it's worth checking the background of the writer as well.

*Hope and Change Fade, but War Endures*
Seven Reasons Why We Can’t Stop Making War
By William J. Astore


...Why do our elites so readily and regularly give war, not peace, a chance?  What exactly are the wellsprings of Washington’s (and America’s) behavior when it comes to war and preparations for more of the same?

Consider these seven:

1.  We wage war because we think we’re good at it -- and because, at a gut level, we’ve come to believe that American wars can bring good to others (hence our feel-good names for them, like Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom). Most Americans are not only convinced we have the best troops, the best training, and the most advanced weapons, but also the purest motives.  Unlike the bad guys and the barbarians out there in the global marketplace of death, our warriors and warfighters are seen as gift-givers and freedom-bringers, not as death-dealers and resource-exploiters.  Our illusions about the military we “support” serve as catalyst for, and apology for, the persistent war-making we condone.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175271/tomgram:_william_astore,_operation_enduring_war/


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## overit (12 July 2010)

This has movie deal written all over it! I dont think you could have written a much better script. He has had a pretty amazing run for a few years. And what about the ending. Boat chase and possible shoot out??? 



> *
> Police capture 'Barefoot Bandit' in the Bahamas*
> 06:10 AEST Mon Jul 12 2010
> 
> ...


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## sinner (12 July 2010)

overit said:


> This has movie deal written all over it! I dont think you could have written a much better script. He has had a pretty amazing run for a few years. And what about the ending. Boat chase and possible shoot out???




It is in Fox Networks interest to sensationalise the story as much as possible:



> In April 2010, 20th Century Fox purchased the film rights to the book Taking Flight: The Hunt for a Young Outlaw, based on a proposal by Bob Friel.[18]  Harris-Moore's mother has retained celebrity lawyer O. Yale Lewis to seek control of entertainment interests related to her son. She has also hired John Henry Browne to handle her son's criminal defense.[19]



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colton_Harris-Moore


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## overit (12 July 2010)

sinner said:


> It is in Fox Networks interest to sensationalise the story as much as possible:




Yeah after I posted this I found another article which seemed to be much more on the money. What a great story though. Living the dream! 



> *Barefoot Bandit caught in Bahamas - SMH*
> 
> Authorities caught Harris-Moore on Harbour Island, a small tourist destination just off mainland Eleuthera, police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade told a news conference.
> 
> ...


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## overit (17 July 2010)

Interesting story on many levels.



> *How the night wind lost the smell of petrol*
> 
> July 17, 2010
> 
> ...


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## overit (18 July 2010)

> *
> To Protest Hiring of Nonunion Help, Union Hires Nonunion Pickets*
> 
> Jobless Recruits Get Minimum Wage 'To March Around and Sound Off'
> ...


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## overit (23 July 2010)

I am male but I fall into this category since becoming an active trader. I used to be quite fit but not any more. I started to get swollen feet from lack of circulation. I now walk 1hr every morning and night where possible. Often thought of getting an exercise bike to sit behind the computer. An eye opener! 



> *
> Women who sit while relaxing for six hours more likely to die, study says *
> 
> RELAXING at home can have deadly consequences for women who sit for more than six hours a day during their leisure time, regardless of how much they exercise, scientists say.
> ...


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## Sean K (23 July 2010)

I met a guy through the internet once.

He seemed an OK dude and he said he was thinking about visiting the place I lived.

I said, 'come and visit'.

Joe Blow came and stayed at kennas' house in Peru for a holiday.

woohoo!!  

Would post photos but they're classified.


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## basilio (24 July 2010)

*Smoke and Mirrors at Babcock and Brown*
I thought the unfolding story on the  way B&B made their billions deserves a wider audience. Whenever we are told to put our trust in analysts, auditors or the value of a  deregulated marketplace this story should be trotted out. I fear it is probably only one example of many similar companies which collectively are a large part of our financial security ( investments, pension funds, super funds).  Not good for public confidence.

If there is any justice some of the Principals in these companies should end up in jail.



> * Gone with the wand*
> MICHAEL EVANS AND DANNY JOHN
> July 24, 2010
> 
> ...




http://www.theage.com.au/business/gone-with-the-wand-20100723-10p0p.html


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## Calliope (24 July 2010)

I loved this story;



> Taxi drivers the world over might want to think twice about pinching their passengers' belongings following the vigilante justice dished out by Angela Devery, who lost her iPhone last week after a night on the tiles.
> 
> Last Friday night, with a few cocktails under her belt, Devery, 30, from Melbourne's Carlton North, left her phone in the back of a taxi.
> 
> Thankfully, Apple provides a service to iPhone users called MobileMe, which allows them to pinpoint the location of their phones on a map. There have been several cases around the world in which people have used the service to track down thieves.




http://images.smh.com.au/2010/07/23/1710872/angemain-420x0.jpg


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## nunthewiser (24 July 2010)

kennas said:


> I met a guy through the internet once.
> 
> He seemed an OK dude and he said he was thinking about visiting the place I lived.
> 
> ...




Awesome!

I have met a few people from here and in chat over the years ...been an eye opener for sure......lol some i would even meet again 

Good stuff.


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## Calliope (24 July 2010)

I put the wrong link on post #33.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/iphone/no-one-takes-anges-iphone-for-a-ride-20100723-10o2n.html


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## overit (25 July 2010)

Not a new concept but a nice feel good story!








> *
> 'Please give me a job' sign gets unemployed man back in work*
> 
> An unemployed man landed a job by standing in the pouring rain by a busy road with a cardboard sign pleading: "Please give me a job".
> ...


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## overit (26 July 2010)

WikiLeaks.



> *Afghanistan War Logs: 90,000 classified documents revealed by Wikileaks*
> 
> Tens of thousands of secret American military documents have been leaked disclosing how Nato forces have killed scores of civilians in unreported incidents in Afghanistan.
> 
> ...


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## Timmy (28 July 2010)

Maybe this should be in the conspiracy theory thread.


*Taliban can't train monkeys to shoot US soldiers with machine-guns, say scientists*
http://www.news.com.au/technology/t...s-say-scientists/story-e6frfro0-1225897407988




Who comes up with this stuff?


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## nunthewiser (29 July 2010)

knew it was a setup.


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## basilio (2 August 2010)

*This time is different.*

Apparently more more has been lost with the above phrase than at the point of a gun. Anyway that's what a bond trader with an unusually long memory had to say about one of the recent economic crisis's.

This is by way of introducing a very prescient article on where we seem to be heading with financial crisis's.  

Cheers


> * It will happen again*
> July 20, 2010
> 
> The global meltdown was just the latest of many financial crises over the past 800 years, and the patterns are always the same.
> ...




http://www.theage.com.au/business/it-will-happen-again-20100719-10hxn.html


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## overit (4 August 2010)

Very disturbing! 



> *Mind-reading scientists say future crime can be predicted with '100 per cent' accuracy *
> 
> READING the minds of terrorists to know where and when the next attack will occur is no longer the stuff of sci-fi films.
> 
> ...


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## basilio (10 August 2010)

This was a brief You tube video.

It is part of a speech by John O Donahue on the privilege of being at someones deathbed.  Just so powerful and inspirational.

Take a few minutes to watch it and you will be well rewarded.

cheers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NpHYXw2Ruw

PS Would appreciate feedback


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## Mofra (11 August 2010)

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."
The old woman smiled "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path but not on the other pot's side?"
"That's because I have always known about your flaw so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path and every day while we walk back you water them."
"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.
Without you being just the way you are there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.


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## trainspotter (11 August 2010)

A friend of mine used to be a policeman in the Western Australia Police Service and was one of the trained pursuit drivers. One day on patrol he saw a car speeding in suburbia so he decides to give chase. The car takes off. The pursuit is on. Whilst pursuing the speeding vehicle a cat runs out in front of his patrol car and he thinks he hits the cat. Calls of the pursuit and goes looking for the cat. Spying a cat spread eagled on the lawn across the road with legs akimbo and MEWING loudly he thought that it was in pain from being hit by his car. He gets his night stick out and clubs the cat and places it in the boot of the car. Presumably dead.

He heads back to the station to fill out a report about hitting a cat during a pursuit when he is telephoned by the desk Sargeant on his mobile asking him to go immediately to see the Big Boss when he gets in ! My friend dutifully fronts up to the Beak and asks what the problem is? 

The BB asks what has he got against cats?

Apparently the cat he clubbed was not the cat he had run over !!!!!!

It was some old ladies cat sunning itself on the lawn and she watched him from the window of her house get out of the car and strike it with great fury !!

Now my friend starts to laugh a bit at this conundrum to which the BB aint real happy about this. So they go to the cop car to retrieve the "dead cat". When they opened the boot the damn thing flew out the back of the car at a great rate of knots and was never seen again !!!!

When he was telling me I laughed so much at his misfortune (and not the beating of an animal) that I had tears down my eyes. 

Now whether this is true or not I cannot say as it is his story and not mine.


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## Boggo (11 August 2010)

Now here is a serious issue... 

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/enter...rgery-goes-wrong/story-e6fredpu-1225891494273


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## Julia (13 August 2010)

> A POLICE dog has had a bite of an alleged offender during a wild disturbance at a Logan train station.
> 
> 
> Police were called to Railway Parade at Woodridge about 2.30am, following reports of about 20 youths wreaking havoc on the train line.
> ...



Maybe we should have more police dogs.  They seem to generate more respect and deliver a more salutary lesson than the police officers themselves.
(it's just possible I might be a bit biased about Shepherds, of course.)


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## bellenuit (15 August 2010)

Michael Jackson's Irish hideaway

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/aug/15/michael-jackson-ireland-secret-retreat


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## basilio (16 August 2010)

Wondering what is happening to the run of the mill folk in the USA?  Ever heard of the 99'ers ?  This is not good.




> *Jobless millions signal death of the American dream for many*
> *
> Even the criminals have fallen on hard times in America's poorest city as the long-term unemployed struggle to keep a grasp on normality*
> 
> ...




http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/15/jobless-millions-death-american-dream


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## basilio (7 September 2010)

The Guardian has produced an excellent visual timeline of the blitz over London. Worth realizing and remembering the suffering people endured during WW2



> *The blitz 1940-1941: an interactive timeline*
> 
> This interactive timeline tracks the German air force's bombing campaign as it devastated towns and cities across Britain during the second world war. By the end of the blitz, 60,000 people, half of them in London, had been killed by the attacks





http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/sep/07/blitz-timeline-second-world-war

_______________________________________________________________________

Also an interesting discussion on the effects the blitz had on the population and the rise of the welfare state as a consequence

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/31/second-world-war-blitz-survivor


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## basilio (10 September 2010)

George Monbiot reviewed a book on veganism which seems to re evaluate many arguments on the effect of meat eating on the environment. Great review. Excellent arguments.


> *I was wrong about veganism. Let them eat meat – but farm it properly*
> 
> The ethical case against eating animal produce once seemed clear. But a new book is an abattoir for dodgy arguments
> 
> ...




http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/06/meat-production-veganism-deforestation


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## Twiddle (10 September 2010)

trainspotter said:


> A friend of mine used to be a policeman in the Western Australia Police Service and was one of the trained pursuit drivers. One day on patrol he saw a car speeding in suburbia so he decides to give chase. The car takes off. The pursuit is on. Whilst pursuing the speeding vehicle a cat runs out in front of his patrol car and he thinks he hits the cat. Calls of the pursuit and goes looking for the cat. Spying a cat spread eagled on the lawn across the road with legs akimbo and MEWING loudly he thought that it was in pain from being hit by his car. He gets his night stick out and clubs the cat and places it in the boot of the car. Presumably dead.
> 
> He heads back to the station to fill out a report about hitting a cat during a pursuit when he is telephoned by the desk Sargeant on his mobile asking him to go immediately to see the Big Boss when he gets in ! My friend dutifully fronts up to the Beak and asks what the problem is?
> 
> ...




I heard an almost identical story about 18 years ago.

Slight differences, it was a fire engine, and the cat was found dead in the front bumper upon arrival back at the station.

Either it is very coincidental, or your friend is full of it.


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## Timmy (11 September 2010)

*female snails ... grow penises on heads*



> FEMALE marine snails living off the Perth coast are growing male sex organs on their heads after exposure to the chemical TBT, according to local researchers.




http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-f...penises-on-heads/story-e6frflri-1225917600095

That's just weird.


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## basilio (16 October 2010)

*How to  brainwash a nation.*

Bit of history that has a lot to say about  how we are manipulated by  various organizations.

Does anyone remember  the term Banana Republic?  Basically referred to Guatemala when the whole country was essentially owned and run by the  United Fruit company as their personal highly profitable empire. In 1951 a local politician was elected to power and challenged United Fruits control over the country.  This video clip outlines how one of the most effective propagandist of the 20th Century (Edward Bernays) used his skills to demonise  the new Guatemalian President on behalf of  United Fruit and the CIA to establish a United Fruit friendly regime.

The introduction establishes Edward Bernays role in heightening fear of the Soviet Union in the 50's . Only 7 minutes and worth a look.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6718420906413643126#docid=3081752751625862941


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## nunthewiser (16 October 2010)

> A man has won $650,000 in compensation after a stripper injured him in a lap dance.
> 
> Michael Ireland, from the US state of Florida, was poked in the eye by the woman's spiked high heel during a performance at the Cheetah Club, near West Palm Beach, in 2008.
> 
> ...




http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8107187/man-wins-650000-after-lap-dance-accident

Mamma always said that this kind of thing can make you go blind.


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## nunthewiser (29 October 2010)

> Thank You from the Old Folks' Home"
> 
> JUST WHEN you lost faith in human kindness. . .
> 
> ...





sent to my email.


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## nunthewiser (24 February 2011)

heheh... gotta love it



> Immigration officer sacked for putting wife he didn't like on terror watch list
> •
> •
> by Justin Penrose, Sunday Mirror 30/01/2011
> ...


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## trainspotter (24 February 2011)

Bwahahahahahahahh ....... dead set legend.


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## basilio (3 June 2011)

Sir Gus Nossal has turned 80.  Gus is one of Australia's  most respected  top scientist and administrater . I thought his observations on how science has changed the world and the way scientists work through issues was worth sharing.


> *
> Life, science and... everything*
> Jo Chandler
> June 3, 2011
> ...


----------



## basilio (3 June 2011)

There are some conversations that leave you wondering whether Alice in the  looking Glass was actually quite coherant.  Came across a particularly brilliant example of how people can be treated by some marketing companies. 

Cheers



> *My Conversation with TLC Marketing Customer Service*
> Posted on July 9, 2008 by Neil
> 
> After a day of phone calls, I finally was able to get TLC Marketing (or at least some guy in India) on the telephone to discuss the Dockers JCPenneys Free Round-Trip fiasco  (see last post).
> ...




http://www.citizenofthemonth.com/2008/07/09/my-conversation-with-tlc-marketing-customer-service/


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## basilio (7 July 2011)

And now for something different.

Came across a series of spectacular travel and history photos. Well worth a lunch time look.


http://www.mirukim.com/photosNakedCitySpleen.php

(warning contains  nudity. )


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## basilio (14 November 2011)

Have you seen the video of the surfer taking on a 38 met wave (About 12 stories high!!)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij8bnov8vl4&feature=related


----------



## basilio (17 June 2012)

Just read this fascinating article called "The wonder of Breasts".( In fact its and extract from a book on the subject)

Just fascinating.  Give it a go



> *The wonder of breasts*
> 
> Our culture is obsessed with breasts, yet we know remarkably little about them. But their secrets are starting to be unravelled, and nothing is more astonishing than breast milk




http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/16/breasts-breastfeeding-milk-florence-williams


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## MrBurns (17 June 2012)

Car story - 

[video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/bz-nO6WvOYw?rel=0[/video]


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## basilio (17 June 2012)

MrBurns said:


> Car story -
> 
> [video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/bz-nO6WvOYw?rel=0[/video]




Great, great story !!! Thanks for that.  I was afraid the old boy would cark it in the end.


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## Julia (17 June 2012)

What a great story of family love.  Thanks Mr Burns.  Fantastic.


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## MrBurns (17 June 2012)

basilio said:


> Great, great story !!! Thanks for that.  I was afraid the old boy would cark it in the end.






Julia said:


> What a great story of family love.  Thanks Mr Burns.  Fantastic.




Yes it's a good one, a few tears shed over that .....no doubt.


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## basilio (28 February 2014)

Ever wondered what our society owes to slavery ?  Just reading a review of new book ion the topic,
Fascinating..!!



> *A World built on Slavery*
> By Juan Cole | Feb. 24, 2014 |
> Printer Friendly
> 4
> ...




http://www.juancole.com/2014/02/world-built-slavery.html


----------



## basilio (28 February 2014)

And if you have ever wanted a few more unusual science facts check out this story.



> *John McNally's top 10 true or false science facts*
> Does a Polo mint really light up when broken in half? Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction… here are 10 of the best crazy science "facts" – see if you can tell the true from false!
> 
> John McNally
> ...




http://www.theguardian.com/children...ally-top-10-crazy-science-facts-true-or-false


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## dutchie (1 March 2014)

America - land of opportunity

"Give me your tired, your poor, and aggrieved....."

Man sues McDonald’s for $1.5m after only getting one serviette 
http://www.news.com.au/world/man-su...ng-one-serviette/story-fndir2ev-1226841810261

A MAN is suing McDonald’s for US$1.5 million after a restaurant in California gave him only one serviette with his meal.

Webster Lucas says staff at the McDonalds in Pacoima only gave him one serviette with his Quarter Pounder deluxe and when he asked for extra ones the manager refused, saying he’d already been given one.

In an email to the store’s general manager Mr Lucas claims the fallout from the serviette incident has left him unable to work because of “undue mental anguish and the intentional infliction of emotional distress”.

TMZ reports Mr Lucas then said “I should have went to eat at the Jack-in-the-Box because I didn’t come here to argue over napkins. I came here to eat.”

Mr Lucas, an African American, alleges the manager was then racist towards him, mumbling something that sounded like “you people”.

He is now seeking US$1.5 million in damages from McDonald’s.



*Entitlement* is a dirty word.


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## artist (7 March 2014)

"The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary.

A school dropout from a poor family in southern India has revolutionised menstrual health for rural women in developing countries by inventing a simple machine they can use to make cheap sanitary pads.

Arunachalam Muruganantham's invention came at great personal cost - he nearly lost his family, his money and his place in society. But he kept his sense of humour. "  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26260978

Additional comment and context in this article http://www.alternet.org/want-change-world-build-better-maxi-pad


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## CanOz (7 March 2014)

artist said:


> "The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary.
> 
> A school dropout from a poor family in southern India has revolutionised menstrual health for rural women in developing countries by inventing a simple machine they can use to make cheap sanitary pads.
> 
> ...




What an awesome story Artist, many thanks!!


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## DocK (8 March 2014)

CanOz said:


> What an awesome story Artist, many thanks!!




+1
Just brilliant.


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## basilio (16 July 2015)

Came across a review of a new book on  Orvile and Wilber Wright. Seems like there is much to learn from their systematic efforts in creating the first aeroplane

If you check out teh story  you will find a gem of a video on their efforts.
Cheers
*



			The Wright Brothers: Even More Badass Than You Thought
		
Click to expand...


*


> For his new book, The Wright Brothers, *Pulitzer Prize winner David *McCullough pored over newspaper articles, photographs, and more than 1,000 letters to create a gripping account of Wilbur and Orville's quest to fly.
> 
> No one paid attention to the Wright brothers when they first started working on their airplane. Why do you think that was?
> 
> The fact that they were so ignored is astonishing. Ignored by the press, by serious scientific magazines, by the federal government, and by the newspapers right in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Nobody even bothered to go out and take a look. They did it all themselves. They didn't have any foundation backing them. They didn't have the facilities of some institution or corporation. They didn't have political contacts, or an angel funding their experiments. They were paying for it out of their own relatively meager earnings from a bicycle shop, and giving up a hell of a lot in life in order to do it. They were determined to succeed, and they did.




http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/interviews/a36152/david-mccullough-wright-brothers/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3beVhDiyio 

__________________________________________________________________
PS  The previous story on the revolutionary Indian sanitary pad is brilliant.


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## explod (16 July 2015)

Excellent,  thanks for posting Basilio


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## dutchie (25 August 2015)

Cheerleaders hired to motivate _traders_

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work...vate-programmers/story-fnkgbb6w-1227498173966

That's what I need to improve my trading!


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## basilio (30 April 2017)

*Finding love later in life.  *I thought this story was a ripper.
Cheers

* 'Internet searches reveal only so much': a memoir by Stephanie Wood *
When a daggy but twinkly-eyed stranger approached Good Weekend writer Stephanie Wood via her dormant online dating profile, she responded with due diligence and low expectations. Live a little, said her friends. She did. And learnt a lot.


93 reading now
*HE LAUGHED *when I pointed out the axe. "Well," I said. "That could have ruined my weekend." I joked about axe murderers. "What was I thinking?" I said. "I still have no idea who you are." I considered the concept of me as a headline; something sensational, something like, "Journalist slain in farmhouse love-tryst tragedy."

But by the time we'd found the axe, it was the morning after the evening before and I was a bit loved up. The playlist I'd made had drifted through the night, through Peggy Lee's _Fever _and April Stevens' _Teach Me Tiger._ The high anxiety I'd felt about spending a weekend away with a man I barely knew had subsided. It was a crisp, lovely morning in June 2014 and we were brushing close. Easy then, to find comedy value in a horror trope. Besides, this man wasn't an axe murderer. He was daggy and gentle and his green eyes twinkled.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/goo...memoir-by-stephanie-wood-20170426-gvsqnx.html


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## basilio (2 May 2017)

Yes the net is an AMAZING place.. All sorts of rabbit holes to find.
Just came across a particularly noble social welfare site offering male virgins the opportunity to become a man courtesy of a number of good spirited women
So if this is you or you know someone who could benefit from such a noble cause, check it out. Be quick though. 
https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidslut...the_virgin_challenge_yep_just_like_it_sounds/


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## basilio (3 May 2017)

Came across the life of Peter Freuchen today.  The word adventurer just starts to describe his life. One of the most outrageous adventures he endured was digging his way out of a ice bound avalanche by using a chisel he created from his own xhit.  When he finally escaped his ice tomb he crawled through the ice/snow for three hours to a hut.  Inside the hut he realised his toes had frozen (duh...!) and become gangrenous. Undaunted he amputated them with pliers and a hammer and naturally no anaesthetic.

Naturally there is more to read and in fact his biography is on line.






_Freuchen with his third wife.
His coat is made from the fur of a polar bear that he killed himself.

http://badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=977797832498
_______________________________________________



PS He also won the $64,000 question on the American Quiz show..
_


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## basilio (17 May 2017)

Not so much a story but a website that takes one all around the Titanic.

Encyclopedia Titanica is a fascinating exploration of every passenger, every crew person, the stories surrounding the disaster. Worth a look.  Keep it in mind for your next trivia story.
https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/


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## basilio (18 May 2017)

We all "know" that many parts of the USA are in serious trouble. No jobs, drugs, despair ect. This story gives a face to the picture. 

* 'The pill mill of America': where drugs mean there are no good choices, only less awful ones *
For six days in Portsmouth, Ohio, I keep trying to fool myself. Eventually, I am unable to just watch and listen


‘It’s just horrific’: caseworkers break their silence to reveal toll of addiction on children



Kimberly Conley, 19, in Portsmouth, Ohio: ‘There are so many drugs here. I just don’t want to be a part of it.’ Photograph: Chris Arnade

*Shares*
1,591
 
* Comments*
 235 
Chris Arnade

Wednesday 17 May 2017 21.30 AEST   Last modified on Thursday 18 May 2017 05.56 AEST

Portsmouth, Ohio, once known for making things (steel, shoes, bricks), is now known for drugs, and labeled by some as the “pill mill of America”. The city peaked at 40,000 people in 1940, and as it emptied of factories and jobs – some made obsolete, some moved away – it also emptied of people and hope.

Now it is a town half the size, filled with despair and filling with drugs.

On my first night in town, a beat-up car parks next to me, positioned in the darkness cast by my van. The passenger, a middle-aged woman, injects the driver in the neck. He stays still, head tilted to expose a vein, as she works the needle in, while two young boys play in the back seat.

Done, they pull away as I try to fool myself into thinking I didn’t see what I saw.

For six days in Portsmouth, over three trips, I keep trying to fool myself. Eventually, I am unable to just watch and listen.




 Facebook   Twitter   Pinterest 
Portsmouth, Ohio, had 40,000 people in 1940. It had 20,316 people in 2014. Photograph: Chris Arnade
Portsmouth is beautiful. It lies along the intersection of the Ohio and Scioto rivers, ringed by sharp hills. It has plenty of well-kept neighborhoods filled with people doing fine, yet living here also means being constantly reminded that things are not all well.

In a fast food parking lot, a small group is hanging out, smelling of alcohol, sweat, and piss. On the fringe, under the shade of the awning, a man leans against a shopping cart filled with empty cans, blankets and children’s toys. The cart also holds two small children, one boy and one girl.

Stunned, I go inside to collect my thoughts and watch. A woman in dirty clothes and a tiny pink backpack comes in to clean up and buy food. She hands the food to the man and children, before heading to the roadside, where she stands with a cardboard sign saying: “Homeless Hungry Anything Helps”.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/17/drugs-opiod-addiction-epidemic-portsmouth-ohio


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## basilio (28 May 2017)

*So why does a beach volley ball tournament import 1360 tons of sand from a quarry two and a half hours away ?* And why is the worlds sand supply rapidly running out ? Add this if you will to your eclectic knowledge base.

* Annals of Geology *
 May 29, 2017 Issue 
*The World Is Running Out of Sand*
*It’s one of our most widely used natural resources, but it’s scarcer than you think.*
*By David Owen*





A report said that sand and gravel mining “greatly exceeds natural renewal rates.”Illustration by Javier Jaén

The final event of last year’s beach-volleyball world tour was held in Toronto, in September, in a parking lot at the edge of Lake Ontario. There’s a broad public beach nearby, but few actual beaches meet the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball’s strict standards for sand, so the tournament’s sponsor had erected a temporary stadium and imported thirteen hundred and sixty tons from a quarry two and a half hours to the north. The shipment arrived in thirty-five tractor-trailer loads.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/29/the-world-is-running-out-of-sand


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## basilio (29 May 2017)

How, why do you become one of the best art forgers in England ? Shaun Greenhalgh is an elite artist.

* 'I wasn’t ****-a-hoop that I’d fooled the experts': Britain's master forger tells all *
Shaun Greenhalgh has turned his hand to everyone from Leonardo da Vinci to Lowry. He’s been to prison, but has never revealed the whole picture. Until now




Art forger Shaun Greenhalgh in his new studio. Photograph: Fabio De Paola for the Guardian

*Shares*
567

* Comments*
 186 
Simon Parkin

Saturday 27 May 2017 18.00 AEST

In 2010, shortly after his release from prison, Shaun Greenhalgh walked into his parents’ house in Bromley Cross to find yet another fat package waiting for him on the dresser. Unsolicited parcels arrived often. They always bore a London postmark, but never a sender’s name; they always contained an art book.

On this occasion, Greenhalgh recognised the cover, a Renaissance-style painting of a girl, seen in profile. Snub-nosed, proud-eyed and with the hint of a double chin, she was not a handsome princess, as the book’s title, La Bella Principessa, suggested. Greenhalgh thought he knew her as an old acquaintance: Sally, a girl with whom he had worked in the late 70s at the Co-op butchery. The book, by the respected art historian Martin Kemp, argued that the painting was a lost work by Leonardo da Vinci. But Greenhalgh believed it to be one of his own: painted when he was 18 on to a piece of 16th-century vellum; he remembered buying the vellum from an antique shop close to his family’s council house in Bolton.

Greenhalgh, who is now 56, tells me he remembers the process clearly. After practising the drawing on cartridge paper, he had mounted the vellum on an oak board from an old Victorian school desk lid, pilfered from the storeroom of Bolton Industrial Tech, where his father, George, worked as a cleaner. He had used just three colours, black, white and red, gum arabic earth pigments that he then went over in oak gall ink. Leonardo was left-handed. Fearing a betrayal by his own dominant right hand, Greenhalgh had turned the painting clockwise, and hatched strokes from the profile outwards, suggesting the work of a left-handed artist.

When it was finished, Greenhalgh tells me, he took the picture to an art dealer in Harrogate, where he offered it for sale – not as a forgery, but as a homage. The dealer disparaged its quality and paid just £80, an amount that barely covered the materials, let alone the labour. Still, Greenhalgh took the money. Two decades later, at a New York auction, the same painting sold for $21,850.




 Facebook   Twitter   Pinterest 
Is it La Bella Principessa by Leonardo da Vinci… or Sally, a girl Greenhalgh worked with at the Co-op? Photograph: VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images
In 2007, while Greenhalgh was serving the first stretch of a four-year-and-eight-month prison sentence for art forgery, the painting changed hands again for a similar amount, this time attracting the attention of a number of art historians, who suspected that the painting could, in fact, be the work of a master. Among them was Kemp, who in 2010 wrote that he had not “the slightest doubt” that the painting was “the rarest of rare things… a major new work by Leonardo”. Subsequent carbon dating of the vellum, and evidence of the hint of a fingerprint that appeared to match Leonardo’s, provided the almost-clinchers.

https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...oop-fooled-experts-britains-master-art-forger


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## Tisme (14 July 2017)

So a post was put up by *Sasha Ilic on "Crappy Electrical " *facebook site yesterday*:
*
He found a time capsule style letter that included a writeup and a photo. Someone on the forum managed to track the fella down within a few hours:


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## SirRumpole (14 July 2017)

The more things change...


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## basilio (7 March 2018)

Discovered the reason behind the view that poor, white/black southerners in the US were just lazy, useless no goods.  Turns out huge numbers of people were infected with hookworm. 
Very interesting story.

*How a Worm Gave the South a Bad Name*
*By Rachel Nuwer on Wed, 27 Apr 2016*

Read Later
Share
Tweet

For more than three centuries, a plague of unshakable lethargy blanketed the American South.

It began with “ground itch,” a prickly tingling in the tender webs between the toes, which was soon followed by a dry cough. Weeks later, victims succumbed to an insatiable exhaustion and an impenetrable haziness of the mind that some called stupidity. Adults neglected their fields and children grew pale and listless. Victims developed grossly distended bellies and “angel wings”—emaciated shoulder blades accentuated by hunching. All gazed out dully from sunken sockets with a telltale “fish-eye” stare.

The culprit behind “the germ of laziness,” as the South’s affliction was sometimes called, was _Necator americanus_—the American murderer. Better known today as the hookworm, millions of those bloodsucking parasites lived, fed, multiplied, and died within the guts of up to 40% of populations stretching from southeastern Texas to West Virginia. Hookworms stymied development throughout the region and bred stereotypes about lazy, moronic Southerners.





The menacing hookworm
While the South eventually rid itself of hookworms, those parasites cost the region decades of development and bred widespread misconception about the people who lived there. Yet hookworm has not been defeated for good. Today, hundreds of millions of people in dozens of nations around the world suffer from hookworm infection. The South’s experience, measured in both its successes and pitfalls, can provide a rough blueprint of how to seek out and quash this “American murderer”—no matter where it is found around the world.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/nature/how-a-worm-gave-the-south-a-bad-name/


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## basilio (8 March 2018)

Some quite amazing picturesand stories here.  (I wonder if they are all real or perhaps photoshopped?)
http://www.densdiner.net/neversaw/neversaw.htm


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## basilio (11 March 2018)

This is just too good not to share.  It is well worth the read.

Enjoy.

* Farm Girl Café, Chelsea: ‘We don't stay for dessert, because we have suffered enough’ – restaurant review *
The food was so bad, a nearby Yorkshire terrier started to look more appetising

Jay Rayner

Sun 11 Mar 2018 17.00 AEDT


*Shares*
1786
 
* Comments*
 790 



‘This sort of cooking does have to be done with skill, grace and, ideally, an absence of malice’: Farm Girl Café. Photograph: Sophia Evans for the Observer
*Farm Girl Café, 9 Park Walk, London SW10 0AJ (020 3674 7359). Meal for two, including drinks and service £110*

The menu at the Farm Girl Café features lots of initials. There’s V for Vegan. There’s GF for Gluten Free. There’s DF for Dairy Free. I think they’re missing a few. There should be TF for Taste Free and JF for Joy Free and AAHYWEH for Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here. If you examine the company’s website, and I would only advise doing so if you have strong teeth that can cope with a good grinding, you will learn that the Farm Girl group offers: “A holistic and healthy yet comfortingly simple approach to Australian Café culture.” Nope, me neither. Apparently, they like to use “nutritionally nurturing ingredients”, which sounds rather nice. I could have done with a bit of nurture, rather than the dishes that came our way.

I have nothing against eating healthily. I have only one body and I try to look after it. My mother used to say that she hoped to die aged 98, shot dead by a jealous lover. She didn’t quite manage it, but it’s an ambition I’m happy to inherit. The menu here is omnivorous with a heavy emphasis on non-meat cookery, which is a fine thing. I like vegetables, me. They can taste really nice. But this sort of cooking does have to be done with skill, grace and, ideally, an absence of malice.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...use-we-have-suffered-enough-restaurant-review


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## basilio (23 March 2018)

Fascinating story of how the "baby alien skeleton" story has been resolved.

* Genetic tests reveal tragic reality of Atacama 'alien' skeleton *
Mummified remains from Chilean ghost town revealed to be baby girl with malformations so bizarre they led to speculation over alien life

Ian Sample Science editor

 @iansample 
Thu 22 Mar 2018 13.00 EDT   Last modified on Thu 22 Mar 2018 18.00 EDT


*Shares*
5175




The mummified skeleton of a baby girl found in the Chilean desert in 2003. Photograph: Dr Emery Smith
When the mummified remains of a six-inch humanoid were found in an abandoned mining town in Chile’s Atacama desert 15 years ago, speculation on its origins ran wild. The skeleton, which was sold to a private collector in Spain, was so bizarre it appeared in a documentary as potential evidence for alien life.

Now scientists in California have extracted DNA from the mummy’s bones and pieced together the real and tragic story of the individual, known as Ata. Rather than a visitor from another world, Ata was a girl who appears to have been stillborn, or to have died immediately after birth, with devastating mutations that shaped her extraordinary body.

Ata’s remains were found in 2003 in La Noria, an old nitrate-mining town, reportedly wrapped in white cloth tied with a violet ribbon. The skeleton was remarkable in many ways. While only six inches tall, the bones had some features of a child aged six to eight. Instead of the usual 12 pairs of ribs found on humans, Ata had only 10 pairs. The head was an elongated cone shape.





*  Sign up for Lab Notes - the Guardian's weekly science update  *
Read more
The curious remains caught the eye of Garry Nolan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University in California, who offered to study the specimen. In 2013, he concluded that Ata was human, but the reasons for the dramatic deformities were far from clear.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...veal-tragic-reality-of-atacama-alien-skeleton


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## SirRumpole (23 March 2018)

basilio said:


> In 2013, he concluded that Ata was human, but the reasons for the dramatic deformities were far from clear.




Some sort of in-breeding probably.


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## basilio (21 May 2021)

For car buffs.  Built in 1939. More pics in link.


*This is the World’s Oldest Porsche and It’s the Only One of Its Kind*







This August, the oldest surviving Porsche in the world (and the only of its kind) will go to auction in Monterey by RM Sotheby's. It's expected to fetch at least US$20 million which will easily make it the most expensive Porsche ever. The current title holder is the Porsche 917K used in the film, Le Mans, which sold for US$17 million in 2017.






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densdiner.net is your first and best source for all of the information you’re looking for. From general topics to more of what you would expect to find here, densdiner.net has it all. We hope you find what you are searching for!




					www.densdiner.net


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## basilio (23 May 2021)

Insight into Julius Caesar as a young man. He  was certainly going places.


When Julius Caesar Was Kidnapped By Pirates, He Demanded They Increase His Ransom​In 75 BCE, 25-year-old Julius Caesar was sailing the Aegean Sea when he was kidnapped by Cilician pirates. According to Plutarch, when the pirates asked for a ransom of 20 talents of silver (approximately 620 kg of silver, or $600,000 in today's silver values), Caesar laughed at their faces. They didn't know who they had captured, he said, and demanded that they ask for 50 (1550 kg of silver), because 20 talents was simply not enough.

More Money, More Problems​The pirates, of course, agreed, and Caesar sent some of his associates off to gather the silver, a task that took 38 days. Now nearly alone with the pirates—only two servants and a friend remained with him—Caesar refused to cower. Instead, he treated the pirates as if they were his subordinates. He even went so far as to demand they not talk whenever he decided to sleep. He spent most of his time with them composing and reciting poetry and writing speeches. He would then recite the works to the pirates. Caesar also played various games with the pirates and participated in their exercises, generally acting as if he wasn’t a prisoner, but rather, their leader. The pirates quickly grew to respect and like him and allowed him the freedom to more or less do as he pleased on their island and ships.

While Caesar was friendly with the pirates, he didn’t appreciate being held captive. He told the pirates that, after his ransom was paid, he would hunt them down and have them crucified. Once he was freed, he made good on that promise: Despite the fact that he was a private citizen, Caesar managed to quickly raise a small fleet which he took back to the island where he had been held captive. Apparently the pirates hadn’t taken his threats seriously, because they were still there when he arrived. He captured them and took back his 50 talents of silver, along with all their possessions.

He next delivered the pirates to the authorities at the prison at Pergamon and then traveled to meet the proconsul of Asia, Marcus Junius, to petition to have the pirates executed. The proconsul refused: He wanted to sell the pirates as slaves and take the spoils for himself. Undeterred, Caesar traveled back to Pergamon where the Cilician pirates were being held and ordered that they be crucified. Before they went through that ordeal, however, Caesar showed some leniency—he cut their throats.









						When Julius Caesar Was Kidnapped By Pirates, He Demanded They Increase His Ransom
					

Daven Hiskey runs the wildly popular interesting fact website Today I Found Out. To subscribe to his “Daily Knowledge” newsletter, click




					www.mentalfloss.com


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## basilio (1 June 2021)

Super Wood!​By

Sid Perkins
Pocket
4 min
View Original




Simple processes can make wood tough, impact-resistant—or even transparent.​                 [IMG alt="New techniques for “densifying” wood can turn the ubiquitous substance into a super-material suitable for constructing buildings and body armor. Photo by mack2happy / Getty Images
      ."]https://pocket-image-cache.com//filters:format(jpg):extract_focal()/https://pocket-syndicated-images.s3.amazonaws.com/5de58067d26fd.jpg[/IMG]          New techniques for “densifying” wood can turn the ubiquitous substance into a super-material suitable for constructing buildings and body armor. Photo by mack2happy / Getty Images      .

Some varieties of wood, such as oak and maple, are renowned for their strength. But scientists say a simple and inexpensive new process can transform any type of wood into a material stronger than steel, and even some high-tech titanium alloys. Besides taking a star turn in buildings and vehicles, the substance could even be used to make bullet-resistant armor plates.



			https://getpocket.com/read/2810760847


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## basilio (27 June 2021)

An insight into a dark chapter of US secret warfare.

_In 1954, a prison doctor in Kentucky isolated seven black inmates and fed them “double, triple and quadruple” doses of LSD for 77 days straight. No one knows what became of the victims. They may have died without knowing  they were part of the CIA’s highly secretive program to develop ways to control minds—a program based out of a little-known Army base with a dark past, Fort Detrick._









						The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments
					

Today, it’s a cutting-edge lab. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was the center of the U.S. government’s darkest experiments.




					www.politico.com


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## noirua (13 November 2021)

Examining the American Oedipus Tale of the Documentary 'Sins of Our Mothers'
					

Reviewing the facts of the 'Sins of Our Mothers' documentary.



					idyllopuspress.com


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## basilio (26 November 2021)

And now for something completely different.
Getting aware from it all in the Mojave Desert














						‘Sun-powered orgasms are fantastic’: why I went to live in a desert cave
					

Armed with only a solar charger, a vibrator and some marijuana gummy bears, I rode out the pandemic – and my fear of spiders – in a California commune




					www.theguardian.com


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