… or carjacked, or shot (as has happened in Denver several times recently).  At best you could just be trampled in a stampede of savages. My mother says Wal-Mart is where all the crime happens in her little town of Laurel, Mississippi. She won’t go there after dark because of robberies in the parking [...]

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An Australian zoologist is leading a national project to help save the endangered Tasmanian devil from extinction, a situation that could arise within the next 20 years, experts predict.
So sad.  I love these foul-tempered little critters.  They’re just as funny in real life as they are in Looney Toons.  Read the rest of the article [...]

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There’s just no end to internet- and phone-based scams these days.  This article describes a new method called “vishing” where the criminals call folks on their voice-over-ip phones (Vonage / Comcast / Skype /et al) and prompt the user to “call back” a toll-free number because of a problem with their credit card / bank [...]

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The old cigarette ads in the following NYT article are hilarious by today’s standards.
In Old Ads, Doctors and Babies Say ‘Smoke’
Published: 20081006
Madison Avenue employed athletes, doctors, entertainers and children in ads that sold America on cigarettes.  See the ads here …

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In this article by The New York Times, they basically paint Sarah Palin as a near Nazi-type, vindictive, secretive dictator. At best, they make her and her husband sound a little power-mad. She’s playing with the big boys now — she can’t easily control the national media like she does with her local [...]

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Here’s an interesting op-ed from The New York Times about the current situation with salmon.  Basically, the author recommends not eating farm-raised salmon because of the pesticides used to kill sea lice.  And, at $40 per pound for wild Copper River salmon, the price is just too high.  Read the article in the NY Times [...]

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I had a chance to see Steven Hawking speak in person once in Atlanta several years ago.  Unfortunately, I had a whiny friend with me who was complaining because he hadn’t had any dinner.  Being a good friend, I said “Let’s just go and get you some dinner.”  I should have said, “Go get yourself [...]

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I’m just wondering exactly where the folks in Greenwich, CT actually draw the line on the maximum number of bathrooms in a house?  Is it 12 bathrooms?  15?  20?
Proposed Greenwich ‘SuperMansion’ Causes Uproar
Theatre, Billiards Room, Gym, Turkish & Finnish Baths, Wine Cellar & Dog Grooming Room Just In Basement!
 
Idea Of 26 Toilets 1 Of Many [...]

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The bottom line is, if you don’t personally know who sent it to you it is probably a scam.  Don’t click on it, don’t respond and don’t provide any personal information via email requests — ever.
From the New York Times:
Larger Prey Are Targets of Phishing
By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: April 16, 2008
An e-mail scam aimed at the [...]

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Just exactly how does one collect 300 18th century dining chairs?  Read the article here …

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