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Posts Tagged ‘Dallas Morning News’

9 Interesting Links From January 8th

January 9th, 2010 Greg Smith No comments
  • Gallup: America the ‘conservative’? / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com – per pollster Gallup, the nation has grown only more polarized in the past year. By the end of 2009, 40 percent of Americans self-identified as conservative, up from 37 percent in 2008. Moderates clocked in at 36 percent, down from 37 a year earlier. And 21 percent of Americans self-identified as liberal, down a point from 2008.
  • Why cheap Chianti is often better than the expensive stuff. – By Mike Steinberger – Slate Magazine – Chianti is Italy's most famous wine, and—given its operatic recent history—it is arguably the most Italian of Italian wines. Back in the 1960s and '70s, Chianti was synonymous with plonk; it was the cheap, insipid Tuscan wine that came in straw flasks (fiascos, as they were aptly known) and was typically found, on these shores, in pizza joints with checkered tablecloths and jukeboxes.
  • First Rio Rancho Mayor Accused Of Sex Charges – Albuquerque News Story – KOAT Albuquerque – In February 1981, when Rio Rancho was a fledgling city, William Howden was its first mayor. Now, almost three decades later, Howden is accused of molesting his 7-year-old granddaughter.
  • Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigated by grand jury, officials confirm – Two Maricopa County executives said Thursday they will appear before a federal grand jury next week to testify about allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others in his office have abused their power.
  • Texas Gov. Rick Perry has toiled to steer clear of George W. Bush’s shadow | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News – "His populist, anti-government definition of himself is one that has more in common with Sarah Palin than it does with George W. Bush" by resonating with the emerging tea-party movement, said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan.
  • "Smart" ski tickets lead to more pass-fraud busts in Colorado – The Denver Post – Even though skiers do not need to remove their pass from their pocket, ticket checkers can review a host of data from each pass they scan, including a large photograph of the skier.
  • Intel Forced to Remove "Cripple AMD" Function from Compiler? – Agner Fog details this particularly nasty examples of Intel's anticompetitive practices quite well. Intel's compiler can produce different versions of pieces of code, with each version being optimised for a specific processor and/or instruction set (SSE2, SSE3, etc.). The system detects which CPU it's running on and chooses the optimal code path accordingly; the CPU dispatcher, as it's called.
  • I am a debunker of 9/11 conspiracy theories. AMA. : reddit.com – I'm a guy who sees a country that's become increasingly hostile to science from both the right (obvious) and the left (all-natural drugs, homeopathy, anti-vax).
  • Why didn’t I use pervious concrete for my driveway? – Fresh Dirt – Sunset.com – Pervious concrete is basically concrete without the sand. And the absence of sand creates a lot of void space. 15-30%. That is enough, according to the Pacific Southwest Concrete Alliance, for 3-8 gallons of water per minute to pass through each square foot. That is equal, says the Alliance, to 6,000 to 17,000 inches of rain per day. Even an El Nino won't produce more than that.
  • 10 Interesting Links From December 18th

    December 19th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • Children die by dozens as adults snap | KRQE News 13 New Mexico – "This has really been the year for tragedy for children in Albuquerque," Pat Davis, a spokesman for District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, told KRQE News 13. "It's been so extraordinary we don't want to see this happen again."
    • 2011 Ford Mustang: Five-Point-Oh is now 412 hp – To Ford Mustang fans, 5.0 means a lot, and the new 2011 5.0-liter V8 Mustang will deliver 412 hp, company officials said on Thursday. The information was supposed to be embargoed until Dec. 28, but news leaked out shortly after the announcement in Dearborn, Mich.
    • Business On The Wild East’s Frontier – Forbes.com – I am riding along with a team of 10 American officials from the smallish but distinctly upscale town of Rio Rancho, N.M., population 80,000. The officials have come–the first of many planned reciprocal visits–to begin sister-city procedures with Hunchun.
    • Phoenix explosion sends man to hospital – A garage storing black powder and other ammunition exploded in east Phoenix, setting the house on fire and sending a 57-year-old man to the hospital.
    • Mesquite blog: Long hair gets pre-kindergarten student kicked out of class | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News – Four-year-old Taylor Pugh, in prekindergarten at Floyd Elementary School, likes his hair long – just below his ears and along his collar in the back. He likes it longer in front. That length is outside the school district's dress code so the boy has been having lessons alone in the library. And his mother says the district has said he will be kicked out of school completely on Tuesday.
    • seMissourian.com: Local News: Sonic employee charged with cooking meth in restaurant – Cape Girardeau police officer Eric Ralls responded to a call at 1:57 a.m. Thursday and upon arrival reportedly found Dennie L. Bratcher, 27, a shift manager at the restaurant, cooking a batch of methamphetamine, according to the probable-cause statement.
    • 6 Adorable Cat Behaviors With Shockingly Evil Explanations | Cracked.com – Cats have many different ways of communicating, but the meow is every cat's go-to vocalization when it wants to tell us something; be it, "I'm hungry," "pay attention to me" or "I just took a dump, go clean it up." However, far from the one-dimensional barking sound that dogs use to communicate, cats are like living stereo equalizers that are able to fine tune the pitches and tones of their meows… so they can better manipulate you into doing what they want.
    • Arizona sheriff ups the ante against his foes — latimes.com – But he has escalated his tactics in recent months, not only defying the federal government but launching repeated investigations of those who criticize him. He recently filed a racketeering lawsuit against the entire Maricopa County power structure. On Thursday night, the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an emergency order forbidding the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office from searching the home or chambers of a Superior Court judge who was named in the racketeering case.
    • CreditBloggers: A Great Gift For Kids: A Box of Boxes – My dad always said that we played more with the boxes than items came in than with the toys themselves. Once again, I had to learn things the hard way. So here is my frugal, creative holiday shopping idea for parents of young children: give your kids a box of boxes.
    • Credit Card Skimmer Found On Gas Pump – Portland News Story – KPTV Portland – Vancouver police said the skimming device had been plugged into the wiring behind the panel of a gas pump at the 7-Eleven at 5600 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. It didn't impact customers' ability to purchase gas and it was well hidden from view, according to officers.

    9 Interesting Links From October 10th

    October 10th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • Kid hides in dryer as thugs invade home | KRQE News 13 New Mexico – When armed men invaded the Uecker home Wednesday 10-year-old Chris took refuge in a place that would usually worry parents: the clothes dryer.
    • Vampire flick to shoot in New Mexico – New Mexico Business Weekly: – “Let Me In” is based on the cult hit, “Let the Right One In,” made in Sweden. It’s a contemporary vampire tale about a bullied young boy who befriends a girl new to his neighborhood.
    • Handcuffed soldier escapes custody at DIA – The Denver Post – Authorities say a soldier suspected of being AWOL is at large after escaping from a federal escort at the Denver airport. Denver police say the handcuffed man was being transferred from Salt Lake City to Colorado Springs via Denver on Wednesday when he ran from his escort on Concourse B at Denver International Airp
    • Anti-war protesters target McCain’s office – About 50 people gathered outside Sen. John McCain's Phoenix office on Wednesday to protest the war in Afghanistan. Protesters stood on the sidewalk near 16th Street and Missouri Avenue as they chanted, "Eight years of war, not one more."
    • Steve Stucker’s Blog: Why Balloon Fiesta is In October – It's a great question, and has been asked MANY times. Those in charge say they have studied the long term weather patterns, and that on average, the first days in October are as good as any, offering conditioons that are nearly perfect for ballooning. It is also the period most likely to feature the famous n wind pattern known as the Albuquerque Box.
    • Road rage incident turns to gunfight | KRQE News 13 New Mexico – Investigators said that two 15-year-olds were in one car and officer Early Nagy and his wife were in another car when someone cut the other car off. Officers said the teens got out of their car and fired at the off-duty officer, and then he returned fire.
    • Owner of Pike’s Peak llama located – The Denver Post – The mystery behind a baby llama roaming the rocky slopes of Pikes Peak for more than a month has been solved.
    • Lawyer sues to end Dallas group’s ‘threat’ prayers | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News – Weinstein, 54, said his family has received death threats, had a swastika emblazoned on their home in New Mexico, animal carcasses left on their doorstep and feces thrown at the house. Weinstein, who is Jewish, said the harassment started several years ago when he began protesting Christian proselytizing at his alma mater, the Air Force Academy. Weinstein started his foundation shortly after that to battle the influence of extremist evangelical Christians in the armed forces.
    • Prayer Effort Seeks ‘Right Thinking’ From Liberals : NPR – "We believe in the power of God. We are commanded to pray for our leaders, even those we disagree with," says Mat Staver, who, as head of Liberty Counsel, spends most of his time fighting for Christian causes in court. "And so we are asking people to pray so that our leaders are restored to right thinking."

    10 Interesting Links From October 4th

    October 5th, 2009 Greg Smith 1 comment

    10 Interesting Links From August 23rd

    August 24th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • First H1N1 death confirmed in NM – A 45-year-old woman from Sierra County died over the weekend, becoming the first person in New Mexico to die from the H1N1 Influenza Virus.
    • www.KOB.com – Gov. calls for jail time for first DWI offense – Gov. Bill Richardson says first-time drunken driving offenses should carry three days of mandatory jail time and $2,500 in fines.
    • McCarthyism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – McCarthyism is the politically motivated practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term specifically describes activities associated with the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by heightened fears of communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. Originally coined to criticize the anti-communist pursuits of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, "McCarthyism" soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts. The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries.
    • Internet friends log on to suicide note | KRQE News 13 New Mexico – Facebook friends of Jason McCoy who sign on to their social-networking Web pages Wednesday morning found a long message from the Albuquerque man announcing his intent to kill himself. In the farewell note posted on their Facebook Walls McCoy, 33, told friends and family he recently had lost his job, was losing his home to foreclosure and had been kicked out of the home where he had been staying.
    • Interview with Rob Janoff, designer of the Apple logo | creativebits – When Jean Louis Gassée (executive at Apple Computer from 1981 to 1990) was asked about his thoughts to the Apple logo he answered:
      One of the deep mysteries to me is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn't dream of a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope, and anarchy.
    • Dallas-bound American Airlines jetliner makes emergency landing in Los Angeles | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News – A Dallas-bound American Airlines jetliner was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles on Friday night after passengers said they saw parts of the right wing falling off.

      Flight 414 had taken off from San Diego when passengers said they heard an unusual noise as the aircaft flew higher.

      The jet was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport and landed without incident. American Airlines says maintenance crews found missing "lamination" on the right wing, but there was no hole.

    • www.KOB.com – School reopens after four decades – Coronado Elementary, built more than 100 years ago and shut down for the past four decades, is set to open up again on Monday.
    • I-25 drivers encounter half mile of terror in Northglenn – The Denver Post – A police report released Friday recounts the harrowing scene on I-25 Monday evening when the Jeep, driven by 48-year-old Broomfield resident David Scott Ulwelling, sped southbound in northbound lanes near 120th Avenue for more than a half mile. No fewer than seven vehicles swerved out of the way of Ulwelling's Jeep before it collided with the Applegarths' truck, setting off a chain reaction that eventually involved five other vehicles.
    • BBC – Earth News – How cacti become ‘rock busters’ – Few plants can grow without soil and even fewer are capable of growing on nothing but bare rock. Yet some species of desert cactus manage this extraordinary feat, and now scientists have worked out how. The plants have evolved a symbiotic relationship with rock-dissolving bacteria, which they allow to grow in their roots, say the scientists.
    • Lunch ladies no longer serving up fried foods to students | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News – The stricter Texas Public School Nutrition Policy, phased in over the last several years, will be in full effect when kids show up Monday. That means no more deep-fried anything, no more sodas and no more so-called "foods of minimal nutritional value."

    10 Interesting Links From July 28th

    July 29th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • Transparent aluminium is ‘new state of matter’ – Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.
    • Blue M&Ms ‘mend spinal injuries’ – The compound Brilliant Blue G blocks a chemical that kills healthy spinal cord cells around the damaged area – an event that often causes more irreversible damage than the original injury. On the downside, the treatment causes the skin to temporarily turn bright blue and BBG needs to be injected soon after the trauma. The test injections were given within 15 minutes.
    • iBank provides yet another reason to dump Quicken for Mac – IGG Software has announced a "Why wait another day?" rebate program to persuade frustrated Quicken Mac 2007 owners to switch to iBank 3.5 (US$59.99). If you're a Canadian or U.S. owner who purchased iBank after July 10th, 2009, and have proof of ownership (installation disc or receipt) for either the Mac or Windows versions of Quicken or Microsoft Money, sending in a mail-in rebate form will get you a $20 incentive to switch to iBank.
    • S.C. case looks on child obesity as child abuse. But is it? – USATODAY.com – Jerri Gray was doing all she could to help her son lose weight, her attorney says. But something had gone terribly wrong for the boy to hit the 555-pound mark by age 14. Authorities in South Carolina say that what went wrong was Gray's care and feeding of her son, Alexander Draper. Gray, 49, of Travelers Rest, S.C., was arrested in June and charged with criminal neglect. Alexander is now in foster care.
    • Consumerist – Watch Out For Panasonic’s Proprietary Battery Cameras – Panasonic – Many of Panasonic's cameras will only work with official Panasonic batteries—the newest models require "an embedded security ID chip," while older models have been issued a firmware upgrade that locks out third-party vendors. This is already pretty obnoxious, but what makes it even worse is Panasonic can't keep up with demand, so the batteries they insist you buy for your camera aren't available.
    • Al Jazeera English – Americas – Man gets life for Bush murder plot – A man who received a 30-year jail sentence for joining al-Qaeda and conspiring to kill former US President George W. Bush has had his penalty increased to life imprisonment. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 28, was given the harsher sentence on Monday after a US appeals court ruled that his 2005 punishment was too lenient.
    • AP Sources: U.S. Man Was ‘Gold Mine’ of Terror Intel – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com – Months before President Barack Obama took office with a pledge to change U.S. counterterrorism policies, the Bush administration gave Vinas all the rights of American criminal suspects. And he talked. "This was by the numbers. It was a law enforcement operation and it worked,"
    • BBC NEWS | Americas | Whale wedged on cruise ship bow – A rare whale was discovered wedged on to the bow of a cruise ship when it docked in a Canadian port. The 70ft fin whale, a threatened species in Canada, was found when the Sapphire Princess docked at the Port of Vancouver, the cruise company said.
      It said it had "strict whale avoidance" measures and it was unclear where, when or how the whale became stuck.
    • Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide | Environment | The Observer – Graphic images that reveal the devastating impact of global warming in the Arctic have been released by the US military. The photographs, taken by spy satellites over the past decade, confirm that in recent years vast areas in high latitudes have lost their ice cover in summer months. The pictures, kept secret by Washington during the presidency of George W Bush, were declassified by the White House last week. President Barack Obama is currently trying to galvanise Congress and the American public to take action to halt catastrophic climate change caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
    • Southwest Airlines breaks losing string, posts $54M profit | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News – Southwest Airlines Co. said Tuesday it earned $54 million in the second quarter, the Dallas carrier's first official profit after three quarters of losses. However, the carrier said it cannot guarantee that it'll make money in the third quarter, typically one of the strongest for Southwest and the airline industry.