Febby News Links

Jacksonville starts off February with typical stupidity, by removing the spokesman of public schools for calling her own husband a "redneck". More accurately - because a black employee complained about calling someone a redneck being insensitive towards minorities.

Also Chunk Hagel apparently is still a good choice for leading our military even though refused to give "yes or no" answers to question, such as his policy on Iraq. How is this change from the people Bush appointed>? Why do we let people off not answering the question? Seriously if the answer is so bad we really ought to know about it. Do we want someone who cant openly speak of his own actions as a leader?

Also in the news Washington state is looking to require schools to actually fail kids who fail. Read that again. Why are we letting kids graduate who dont know the material? I say schools who let kids progress who dont know the material are robbing those kids of their right to an education.

Here is some other news"

15yo wins $75000 from Intel's young invetors contest
Star Wars failed billion dollar MMO is adding planet for gay people
Louisiana Sheriff's department is now offering gun training geared at kids
Wa considering letting people off the hook for tickets "they cant afford"
Flashing your headlights is illegal? 
Florida offers 100$ bounty to those who report drunks
Taxpayers paying to outfit visitors to Everglades with "anti Vulture kits"

Zeppelin Comeback

Interesting story about a boom in airship construction. I hope these people realize that Helium on Earth is produced as byproduct of petroleum drilling..If the return to airships is an effort to escape oil dependance we need to look somewhere else.
A blimp is shaped by the gas inside of it, whereas a zeppelin has a rigid skeleton inside. The helium-filled sky balloons, or aerostats, used over Afghanistan are neither blimps nor zeppelins. But they all fall under the term “airship.”

Hookers rumbling in New Zealand

Apparently destroying roadsigns Hunkamania style is a great sale pitch for the women of ill repute.

Travel/Marijuana guru Steves gives away $1 Million

Guess he didnt need a condo

"It's my hope to inspire other caring high-income people to step up and fill those funding gaps with private donations, to support causes that should be borne collectively by a community -- arts centers, parks, schools, libraries, local symphonies, and to speak out on the wisdom of rolling back the tax cuts for our wealthy.". "I see it as a civic duty for businessmen like me, who's directly benefited from our vibrant communities, to do our fair share," Steves said.

Left Behind

Via Fark and CNN : a kool story about what happens to the vehicles that the US leaves behind when they invade a country.

US Navy base in lost city of Atlantis

Natural disasters stir up all sorts of stories and folklore. After seeing the devastation in Japan, it is not so hard to beleive that an entire city could be wiped out by a Tsunami.  Here is a story about a potential location for the lost city of Atlantis, which some beleive was wiped out by a tsunami. When I was traveling in Spain I was reading a book that hypothesized Atlantis was a city on a landmass near the north pole, which, 12000 years ago was in a different location. Anyhoo I also read about the story that Atlantis was buried in a swamp in Spain, and being in Spain, I went to check this out. I was quite surprised to find a huge US Navy base at that very location. One wonders if this "navy base" is a front for an Area-51 type research station.

Witchcraft now legal profession

Via the Dave Ross show- the practice of witchcraft is now considered a legitimate job in Romania.

35K Miles, 15 hotels, $418

This guy is stealing my idea of spending 2011 living in hotels for cheap. Except he's doing it by gaming the credit card system.

Sao Paulo went dark ?

Can you imagine what would happen if the entire metropolis of LA or NY lost power? Well apparently Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo lost its power, along with 18 of the 26 States of that nation. Thats a lot of people stuck in elevators...

Interesting tidbits

Some interesting tidbits from our South American news desk -

1) As per the map, nearly all of South America is actually east of Florida. This is something I didnt realize.

2) Brazil is is home to the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan. Imagine the sushi possibilities!

Tiny moving boxes

So due to a streak of bad rental experiences I've decided to take a serious look at the RV/Camper living. I've been pleasantly surprised to find the RV market has piggybacked the car market in downsizing everything. There is a solid selection of ultra light weight trailers designed to be easily pulled by small cars like my 4 cyl.Subaru Forester.  I've been meaning to simplify my life for a while - eliminate the clutter of material possessions and the temptation of a kitchen.This could be a great opportunity and it would be nice to own something rather than flushing away money in a rental.

Queensland couple found not guilty of Abortion.

It is apparently against the law in the Australia to abort an unwanted pregnancy. The couple  in question was arrested for possession and use of RU486 aka "the morning after pill". Thankfully the jury acquitted them based on the claim that the woman had every right to poison herself as long as it wasnt an attempt of suicide. BTW this wasnt some tribal court..this was up in Cairns (great barrier reef) and the couple was from Queensland, Oz's version of California.

If anyone is curious..my understand is that the morning after bill doesnt "kill a fetus" or whatever. Its a steroid that causes horomonial changes which make the uterus not welcoming to any egg being released. So the egg never sticks around long enough to be implanted. 

See the world from your desk

Whenever I get a hankering for travel..but dont really wanna go anywhere..I can always get my needs met at Skyscraper City. Its a sister site of city-data.com that collects photos of cities all around the world.

ADC : South American desk

Two short news stories from South American ::

In a 1.3 million vote landslide, the largest city in Brazil, Sao Paulo, elected a proffesional clown to represent them in congress.

The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, who apparently plays organized sports with regular people, was caught on tape delivering a wicked knee to the groin of his opponent, who had tackled him earlier in the game.

Sverigedemokraterna

Yes those wacky swedes are at it again. The Swedish Democrats, or Sverigedemokraterna have won 20 seats in government in a recent election, bring their representation up to 4% from zero. Who cares ? Well I bet the challengers do See..Sverigedemokraterna is sorta Sweden's Tea party..crazy people with guns and they have been quoted demanding their opponents in the election taken in front of a firing squad and shot. I actually like many of their policies. For example they are acused of being racists because they want to annul the indiginous rights of the Sami people. The Sami are Sweden's version of the Native American politically but they are just white people who live in rural areas in truth. I dont think government, any government, should subsidize a lifestyle..whether that be reindeer herding or Casino gambling. 

Kauai Voted #2 most livable island

Island magazine ranked its top islands of 2010 and Kauai made number 2. I cant agree with Hawaii being #1. Too much drugs/crime and both major cities are lame. And what is this with Tokyo being an island? But yay for the Garden island!!