Here’s why : We don’t get storms like this very often. Car alarms are going off in the neighborhood thanks to the last big boom.
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Photo: Kelly Rossiter There is a local small cheese producer Monforte Dairy , which regularly has a table at our farmers’ market. I often buy a goat cheese from them that has a ash rind. The cheese starts out firm and as it ripens it gets softer, so if you leave it long enough you have a bit of a gooey mess, which is just they way I like it. When I was buying a piece of it the other day, the young woman at the table suggested I try a fresh sheep’s … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Now that it’s been announced that for the second year in a row Social Security recipients won’t be getting a cost of living adjustment, Democrats are scrambling to throw $250 at them in a last-ditch vote buying scheme: Democrats are making a pre-election pitch to give Social Security recipients a one-time payment of $250, part of a larger effort to convince senior voters that their party, and not Republicans, will best look out for the 58 million people who get the government retirement and disability benefits. The $250 check is meant to make up for a second year without a cost-of-living increase due to low inflation. President Barack Obama has urged Congress to approve the $250 payment. House and Senate Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say they will bring up the legislation when lawmakers return for the lame-duck session in November. In the meantime, Democrats are using the proposal to augment their campaign pitch that Republicans would undermine Social Security. “Instead of helping seniors,” Pelosi’s office said, “Republicans, backed by their allies on Wall Street, are threatening to privatize and cut Social Security, just as they tried to do under President Bush.” Added Reid, “The only thing standing in the way of America’s seniors receiving this critical support are Senate Republicans.” Actually, 12 Democrats and one independent who aligns himself with Democrats joined 37 Republicans in blocking the $250 bonus when Senate voted on the issue last March. Two of the Senate Democrats who voted against it then, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, are engaged in tough campaign battles to keep their seats. Democratic leaders in the House never brought the issue up for a vote. Obama first asked Congress for the $250 payment last February. “It’s clearly a last-ditch election-year Hail Mary,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. If supplementing the incomes of seniors was really a priority, he said, Democrats would have acted on it before they adjourned for the campaign. Because congress will not be in session again until after the election all the Dems can do is make promises they can’t keep. I’m not sure voters will fall for that strategy…again.
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As NewsBusters reported Thursday, a UCLA graduate student has published a study debunking the myth that the Tea Party is racist. On Monday, Gretchen Carlson invited the study's author on “Fox & Friends” to do what every news outlet ought to, namely, tell the truth about what the movement that is radically changing the political landscape is really all about (video follows with transcript and commentary): read more
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Haven’t seen enough of KDDI’s fall 2010 product line ? Good. The company has just outed a new e-reader, and shockingly enough, it actually manages to differentiate itself quite well in the sea of me-too alternatives. The biblio Leaf SP02 (a followup to last year’s model ) is right around the size of Amazon’s newest Kindle , packing a 6-inch E Ink display (800 x 600 resolution), 2GB of internal storage, a microSD expansion slot, included stylus, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, inbuilt 3G and a battery good for around 7,500 page turns. Curiously, there’s also a small solar panel adorning the bottom right, and we’re guessing that you can (slowly) rejuvenate the internal cell while reading under the sun — just make sure you keep your right palm out of the way. Unfortunately, there’s no direct mention of an expected price, but those stationed in Japan should see it on sale this December for somewhere between free and Yenfinity. KDDI tacks solar panel onto biblio Leaf SP02 e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Greek authorities have declared a state of emergency on the eastern Aegean Sea island of Chios, where floods killed one man and caused extensive damage. (Oct.19)
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A herd of about 25 wild pigs has been plowing up the fairways of a California golf course. Locals say the pigs are also tearing up parks and other private property. (Oct. 19)
Continue reading …Idaho State Senator Answers ‘Call Of The Wild’ – Supports Ignoring Federal Environmental Law
October 19, 2010 No Comment
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons . I enjoy the idea of wolves in the wild – eying me as the competition – and remember a night spent in a cabin long ago surrounded by disturbing howls. On the next morning’s hike I saw the blood of their prey soaking deeply into the snow, packed down during the kill, with bits of hair and hide and bones scattered about. I never felt more alive than at that moment. On the other hand, I don’t have any skin in the cattle business. The mere mention of the US Fish & Wildlife Service-reintroduc… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon ‘in the coming months’
October 19, 2010 No Comment
And just like that, the rumor mill smirks. HP has just come clean with a device that we’ve been hearing more and more about over the past few weeks, and with it will come the next generation of webOS that we’ve been hearing about for even longer. The Palm Pre 2 will be the first device to ship with HP webOS 2.0 , with the revamped and renamed (presumably to use on more than just Palm smartphones ) mobile OS promising “true multitasking,” Stacks (for organizing apps) Just Type, HP Synergy (links your email and social networking accounts), Exhibition (enabling users to run apps designed specifically for the Palm Touchstone Charging Dock) and support for Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 Beta . It’s also bringing along a new Favorites tagging option, Skype Mobile (on the Verizon version only), text assist, integrated Quickoffice, VPN support, a redesigned launcher and full support for Bluetooth keyboards and SPP peripherals. As for Pre 2 itself? Little is being revealed at the moment, but we’re told to expect a 1GHz CPU, a five megapixel camera (LED flash, extended depth of field, geotagging, and video capture), glass display and a “sleeker, streamlined design” that still combines a touchpanel with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. In other words, it’s a faster, slimmer Pre, and some would argue it’s what the Pre Plus should’ve been. At any rate, SFR customers in France will get first dibs on Friday, with Verizon and an undisclosed carrier in Canada scheduled to get it “in the coming months.” Oh, and as for US-based developers? They’ll be able to purchase unlocked UMTS versions of Pre 2 in their homeland, though pricing remains elusive. Update : The Pre 2 portal is now live, showcasing a 3.1-inch 480 x 320 (HVGA) multitouch display, a black enclosure, Exchange support, built-in GPS, ambient light / proximity sensors, an accelerometer, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 16GB of inbuilt storage space, a battery good for around 5.5 hours of talking and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Gallery: Palm Pre 2 press photos Gallery: Palm Pre 2 and HP webOS 2.0 press screenshots Continue reading Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon ‘in the coming months’ Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon ‘in the coming months’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The Veterans of Foreign Wars has come under severe fire after its Political Action Committee issued endorsements to people like Barbara “Dumb-as-a-Box-of-Rocks” Boxer and Allen Grayson.
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