Happy Halloween!

I'm spending my Halloween in the best possible way: seeing the Polysics! They are the greatest band in all the universe.

What's everyone doing today? What's your costume? Post a comment!

David Tennant quits as Doctor Who.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Horrible, soul-crushing news from BBC:

David Tennant is to stand down as Doctor Who, after becoming one of the most popular Time Lords in the history of the BBC science fiction show.

Tennant stepped into the Tardis in 2005, and will leave the role after four special episodes are broadcast next year.

He made the announcement after winning the outstanding drama performance prize at the National Television Awards.

"When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won't be with me," he said.

"Now don't make me cry," he added. "I love this part, and I love this show so much that if I don't take a deep breath and move on now I never will, and you'll be wheeling me out of the Tardis in my bath chair."

'I'll miss it'

Three years was "about the right time" to play the role, he told the BBC in an exclusive interview.

"I think it's better to go when there's a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome," he said.

His stint in the show had been "the most extraordinary time, it's been bewildering, life changing, very exciting", he said.

"And just so much fun, such a great show to work on.

"That's one of the reasons I think it's right to take a deep breath and bow out when it's still fun, when it's a novelty.

"I don't ever want it to feel like a job, so I want to move on when it still feels exciting and fresh and that means I'll miss it."

The Goldblum getting Oscar whispers even though film hasn't been picked up.

Spout's got some news about The Goldblum's latest tour de force. It's been said that His acting is so godlike in this film that distributors are afraid to go near it.

Remember Adam Resurrected, the Paul Schrader-directed, Jeff Goldblum-starring film that Paul saw at Telluride which made him admit to wanting “to make out with Jeff Goldblum in the back of his Toyota Prius”? I got an invite for a press screening for the film a couple of hours ago, which I thought was weird, because the last I heard, the film didn’t have distribution. Now Mike Jones at The Circuit has posted an item that solves the mystery: it looks like Bleiberg Entertainment, the company that financed the film, have decided that rather than wait for a distributor to pick it up and miss this Oscar season, they’ll fund a qualifying run for the film in New York and LA themselves.

Man jailed for buffet violation.

And for a $7 buffet, I'm sure those were some high quality bites. From the Consumerist:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that a man was jailed for two days after letting his girlfriend eat from his plate — and then refusing to pay for two $7 buffet meals.

When he was charged for two $7 buffet meals, Linscomb refused to pay for one of them. He said that “there were no signs in the restaurant that said someone could not have some food off your plate,” the report said.

[...] According to the police report, the jailed diner said that his girlfriend had only had "a couple bites" of his food. Don't mess with buffet restaurant managers, people. They are serious about the buffet rules.

YOU are causing cold symptoms!

Well, not you specifically, but our bodies are creating the symptoms in response to the cold virus, instead of coming from the virus itself. DAMN MY CONGESTED FACE! From Science Daily:

A University of Calgary scientist confirms that it is how our immune system responds, not the rhinovirus itself, that causes cold symptoms. Of more than 100 different viruses that can cause the common cold, human rhinoviruses are the major cause.

The research, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, is the first study to comprehensively review gene changes in rhinovirus. “The study’s findings are a major step toward more targeted cold prevention and treatment strategies while also serving as a valuable roadmap for the broader respiratory science community,” says David Proud, PhD, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine, and lead author of the study.

Vietnam bans flatchested motorists.

From Ananova:

Wonder bras are set to become best-sellers in Vietnam where the country's communist rulers are set to ban small-chested motorists.

Anyone with a chest under 28 inches will be banned from driving a motorbike - which make up 90% of the traffic in the country, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The idea is to prevent people who are too thin, too short or too sickly from riding a motorbike. Ailments such as enlarged livers or sinusitis will also rule out aspirant motorists.

"The new proposals are very funny, but many Vietnamese people could become the victim of this joke," said Le Quang Minh, 31, a Hanoi stockbroker.

"Many Vietnamese women have small chests. I have many friends who won't meet these criteria."

The average Vietnamese man is 5ft 4ins tall and weighs less than nine stones. The average Vietnamese woman is 5ft 1in tall and weighs about seven stones.

Vietnamese bloggers have been poking fun at the plan, envisioning traffic police with tape measures eagerly pulling over female drivers to measure their chests.

The only group not voting for Obama are hate groups.

From ABC News:

The prospect of a Black president has America's bastions of hate in an uproar. Leaders, including the wizard of the Imperial Klans of America, Ron Edwards, have long warned the white race is under attack and must be defended. Federal authorities say web sites have featured ugly calls to target Senator Barack Obama.

And twice now since August, two sets of self-proclaimed neo-Nazi skinheads have been caught in what officials say were feeble but still troubling plots to assassinate Obama.

"If Obama is elected president, these people see the world as they know it to end," said Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Christie's to auction punk mementos.

God save the green! Old punk fliers are expected to fetch tends of thousands of dollars. Punk rock! From CNN:

Memorabilia from some of punk rock's biggest acts and seminal moments -- including a scrawled flier for one of the Clash's first shows and publicity photos signed by the Sex Pistols -- is headed for a November 24 Christie's auction.

The event, announced Tuesday, includes more than 120 records, photos and promotional pieces for such punk, garage rock and new wave legends as the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, the Ramones, David Bowie, Blondie, the Cure and the Smiths.

The auction is Christie's first to focus on punk mementos, signaling the collectible status of a brash, anti-authoritarian rock movement that largely thumbed its nose at posterity.

Man using Hudson tragedy to sell gun racks.

Classy! From the Chicago Tribune:

Officials with a company that manufactures shotgun racks sent out a news release Tuesday that asked, "Could a Bedside Shotgun Rack Have Saved Jennifer Hudson's Family from Tragic Death?"

The rack, called The Back-Up ($39.95, plus shipping and handling), is designed to fit along the side of the gun owner's bed, between the mattress and box spring. The release goes on to say, "Whether it is someone known or a stranger entering the home, too many people in this country are paying with their lives during these home invasions. The Hudson family is just one of far too many Americans gunned down in their own home."

A. John Peters, president of Home Back-Up Protection, said Tuesday that he didn't issue the news release to capitalize on the Chicago family's pain.

Dismantled rollercoaster unearths wealth of flung property.

I once lost a sneaker on a ride at Adventureland. I've since suspected that rollercoasters were invented by devious carnies who harvest mismatched shoes for smack. From BBC:

The owner of a prosthetic leg found beneath an Alton Towers rollercoaster is being sought by the amusement park.

The leg was just one of many bizarre items found near The Corkscrew, which is to be dismantled after carrying 43.5 million people since it opened in 1980.

Staff clearing the site also found underwear, a diamond wedding ring, 53 non-matching shoes and 604 watches.

Other lost property items included 800 pieces of jewellery, 237 mobile phones, thousands of caps and a prosthetic ear.

Riders are turned upside down twice within three seconds - which probably explains the large amount of lost items found below.

Neat profile on one of NYC's speakeasies.

I wish I lived during this era so I could hang out in a speakeasy and say stuff like "23 skidoo!" Maybe I'll be a flapper for Halloween... From ABC News:

The club opened as a speakeasy in 1929 and was one of the swankiest of the city's approximately 32,000 illegal clubs during Prohibition. It's one of the very few that still exist today.

[...] But it wasn't all good times and glamour for 21 Club. Federal agents targeted the bar during Prohibition. In fact, a gossip columnist was banned after he penned a column noting that Prohibition agents had never raided 21. The next day, law enforcement agents decended on the speakeasy and the owners vowed that day in 1930 never again to lose their precious liquor in a raid.

They hired an architect to design an ingenious and intricate system to hide and destroy liquor in case of future raids.

"If they knew that the feds were coming in -- which they always did -- because the New York City police used to tip them off -- they would just press [some] buttons," said Food and Wine author John Mariani. "The first button would set off an alarm, alerting patrons to down their drinks."

"Then the barman inside, he would press the button under the bar and the back shelves would flip upside down. And all of the liquor and wine bottles would slide down and break into the New York City sewer system," McGuire said.

ZombieWatch: World Zombie Day.

Whoops. Two days ago was World Zombie Day. I'm sorry for not warning you. I'm sure you're all undead now. I'm sorry.

Where McCain and Obama stand on the issues.

Hey, this is weird! An article on the stances of the candidates for the most powerful position in the world on the most important issues we face. What a crazy idea! Article here.

Microsoft unveils "cloud" operating system.

I'm pretty sure this will lead to sentient Matrix-like computer programs. From Xinhaunet:

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft on Monday unveiled a new "cloud" operating system Windows Azure at its annual Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.

Windows Azure is a platform that allows third-party developers to host, manage, calculate and store data for applications running on the Internet.

Azure is clearly Microsoft's response to a computing world going ever more deeper into the "cloud" (also known as the Internet). So in a sense what Microsoft is trying to do with Azure is re-define what an OS is, for the cloud computing age.

"It's a transformation of our software. It's a transformation of our strategy," Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, said at the Professional Developer's Conference, Microsoft's annual gathering of third-party engineers to detail the company's future plans.

Traditionally, software has run on a single computer's hard drive, but as Internet connections became faster and more reliable, companies started to deliver software as an online service by using the computing power of the "cloud," a network of powerful computer servers accessed over the Web.

Microsoft explained in a white paper on the Azure website, "Windows Azure runs on a large number of machines, all located in Microsoft data centers and accessible via the Internet."

Bush admin trying to weaken pollution rules for power plants.

Just a reminder that he's still in office, undermining the country's welfare for corporate profits. From McClatchy:

WASHINGTON — At the Bush administration's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency is working on a new rule that would weaken pollution regulations for power plants, allowing them to increase emissions without adding controls.

EPA officials have been working on a fast track to meet a Saturday deadline, but many of them are arguing against changing the rule, said former EPA attorney John Walke and an EPA career official who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to make statements.

They said that the EPA was expected to decide in November on another eleventh-hour rule that would allow more power plants to be built near national parks and wilderness areas.

Power companies have sought the rule about power plant emissions for many years, and it was part of Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy plan. Rules finalized more than 60 days before the administration leaves office are harder for the next administration to undo.

Group pride rooted in insecurity.

This is true about every group except for Coozer-Philes. From LiveScience:

From screaming baseball fans to political rally-goers, groups that engage in boastful self-aggrandizing may be trying to mask insecurity and low social status.

"Our results suggest that hubristic, pompous displays of group pride might actually be a sign of group insecurity as opposed to a sign of strength," said researcher Cynthia Pickett, associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis.

The new study reveals how two types of pride are related to a person's good feelings about one social group or another to which they belong. These good feelings could come from being a Los Angeles Lakers fan (when they win), a war veteran, a member of a particular ethnic group or a sorority gal or fraternity brother. But while authentic pride is linked with real confidence in your group, hubristic pride is a false arrogance that belies insecurities about one's group.

Study: Red attracts men to women.

This might explain why redheads make me tingly (mmm.. David Caruso...). From the University of Rochester:

A groundbreaking study by two University of Rochester psychologists to be published online Oct. 28 by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology adds color—literally and figuratively—to the age-old question of what attracts men to women.

Through five psychological experiments, Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology, and Daniela Niesta, post-doctoral researcher, demonstrate that the color red makes men feel more amorous toward women. And men are unaware of the role the color plays in their attraction.

The research provides the first empirical support for society's enduring love affair with red. From the red ochre used in ancient rituals to today's red-light districts and red hearts on Valentine's Day, the rosy hue has been tied to carnal passions and romantic love across cultures and millennia. But this study, said Elliot, is the only work to scientifically document the effects of color on behavior in the context of relationships.

Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo agree on free speech.

This is promising, if a little vague. From the Independent:

Three of the technology world's biggest players are expected to announce today that they have agreed to a common set of principles on how to do business in nations that restrict free speech and expression, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The move by the Internet media and technology giants comes in the wake of criticism that they have helped enable censorship in those countries.

Under the new principles, which were crafted over two years, the companies will promise to protect the personal information of their users wherever they do business and to "narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy," the Journal said.

They are also expected to commit to scrutinizing a country's track record of jeopardizing personal information and freedom of expression before launching new businesses in a country and to discuss the risks widely with their executives and board members. The document was crafted by a group of participants including human rights groups like Human Rights First and Committee to Protect Journalists.

Man pleads guilty to frozen chicken assault.

Crime most fowl! From Breitbart:

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) - A man accused of stabbing his mother with a fork and attacking a second woman with 10 pounds of frozen chicken has pleaded guilty to one count of felonious assault. Frederick McKaney, 40, entered the plea Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court. Prosecutors dropped additional assault, larceny and other charges.

Prosecutors said McKaney stabbed his mother with a fork June 23 and later exchanged words with another woman as he rode a stolen bicycle. They said he hit her in the head with a plastic bag of frozen chicken, opening a wound that required five surgical staples to close.

McKaney will be sentenced Dec. 11. He faces up to four years in prison and a $2,000 fine.

Coozer-Bits.

CNN: Top 5 female spies.

Boston Globe: Cost of diabetes drugs double.

Daily Mail: Bizarre street attack in Switzerland leaves British tourist dead.

IHT: Iceland raises interest rates to 18%.

Newsweek: Millionaires who play child's game too weak for rain.

Reuters: Man drives drunk to protest drunk driving charge.

Science Daily: Archeologists find King Solomon's mines.

EcoGeek: eBay responsible for 2/3 of the trade in endangered animals. (Thanks Jen!)

EurekAlert: More evidence that red wine is awesome for you.

Rockefeller University: In mice, anxiety linked to immune system.

Coozer-Bits.

Breitbart: Japan's new PM complains he's too busy to read manga and comics.

Reuters: Freak shot lands golf caddy in the hospital for 7 weeks.

Reuters: Reluctant groom sets hotel on fire to get out of ceremony.

EurekAlert: Stress may make you itch.

EurekAlert: Purple tomatoes may fight cancer.

Man's arm gets sucked down train toilet.

Man, I would've loved to have seen this, even if it meant being delayed by two hours. From BBC:

A passenger on a French train had to be rescued by firemen after having his arm sucked down the on-board toilet.

The 26-year-old victim was trapped when he tried to fish out his mobile phone, which had fallen into the toilet bowl, and fell foul of the suction system.

The high-speed TGV train had to stop for two hours while firemen cut through the train's pipework.

The man was carried away by emergency services, with the toilet still attached to his arm.

Dog risks his life for kittens.

AND the dog survived! Finally, some good news today. From BBC:

A dog has risked its life to protect four kittens trapped in a house fire in Melbourne, Australia.

Firefighters found Leo guarding the kittens which were in a cardboard box in one of the bedrooms.

When the fire broke out inside the house, the family of four plus their other dog managed to escape.

However Leo paid the price for his bravery. He succumbed to the smoke and heat.

Firefighters rushed the dog to safety and revived the unconscious Leo with a heart massage and oxygen.

Brooklyn mom beat 11-year-old daughter to death with a mop.

This is awful. I hope there's a reserved space in hell for this woman. The sickest part is that she left her to slowly die over three days. Amazingly, she hasn't been charged yet. From Newsday:

A Brooklyn mother has confessed she fatally beat her 11-year-old daughter with a mop handle and left her to die in bed, police said.

Florenzia Vazquez, 36, allegedly told detectives she hit the girl so hard on the head that the handle shattered.

The girl, Alejandra Vazquez, was found dead Sunday in the family's Atlantic Avenue apartment -- three days after she was left whimpering in her bedroom.

The mother and her unidentified boyfriend -- the father of two of her other children -- called 911 after a man renting a room from them saw the girl lying motionless, according to the Daily News.

The city's child welfare agency is investigating and charges against the couple are pending.

During an interview with police, the girl's mother told investigators she "despises" her daughter and chased her around the family's East New York home on Thursday, striking her with the mop handle. The girl, who tried to escape the beating by hiding beneath a baby crib, then lay in bed for three days, vomiting and unable to eat.

"Crazy news" replaces business news in Russia.

From Moscow Times:

Television viewers who tuned in to NTV on a recent Monday were in for a surprise.

Instead of the usual evening news featuring presidential meetings and prime ministerial visits, they saw a clip showing a man entering a supermarket naked. In another clip, a crow was being given wine from a plastic cup. A third piece showed two elderly women thrashing each other with shopping bags.

The motley collection of bizarre home videos lasted for 20 minutes. Then, finally came the news.

Touted by NTV as a roundup of crazy news every Monday to Thursday, the prime-time extravaganza is called "Mad Day" and precedes the news, which has had is starting time bumped back to 11 p.m. from 10:40 p.m.

"Mad Day" premiered on Oct. 13, roughly a month after the global liquidity crunch caught up with Russia, fueling suspicion that it might be an initiative to soften up viewers ahead of the relatively tame nightly news. The three main channels — Channel One, Rossia and NTV — have paid scant attention to Russia's financial crisis, both on their newscasts and other shows.

But in a sign that viewers remain unworried about the crisis, there has not been a revival in the popularity of shows featuring psychics, television analysts said.

NTV deputy CEO Alexander Nechayev denied that airing home videos under the banner of "crazy news" before the nightly news was an attempt to make the real news more palatable, saying the decision to push back the newscast had been made in April.

US threatens to halt "everything" in Iraq.

Is it just me, or are things in the War on Terror getting wackier each day? From McClatchy:

BAGHDAD _ The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq.

Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday.

In addition to halting all military actions, U.S. forces would cease activities that support Iraq’s economy, educational sector and other areas _ "everything" _ said Tariq al Hashimi, the country’s Sunni Muslim vice president. "I didn’t know the Americans are rendering such wide-scale services."

Hashimi said that Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, listed “tens” of areas of potential cutoffs in a three-page letter, and he said the implied threat caught Iraqi leaders by surprise.

"It was really shocking for us," he said. "Many people are looking to this attitude as a matter of blackmailing."

Pakistan & Afghanistan to begin negotiating with the Taliban.

From McClatchy:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A major push to open negotiations with the Taliban on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border will begin Monday at a summit of leading political figures from the two countries, as the U.S.-backed governments in Kabul and Islamabad face a mounting threat from Islamic extremists.

Pakistani Taliban, based in the country's tribal border area with Afghanistan, have joined the battle in Afghanistan and also taken on Islamabad. Nevertheless, the assembly of 50 people, called a jirga, which will meet for two days in Islamabad with the backing of both governments, is likely to question the continued presence of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Rustam Shah Mohmand, a participant and a former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan, said it's impossible to deal with the Taliban while Western forces remain in Afghanistan. He also said that the Kabul and Islamabad governments must drop their insistence that they'll negotiate only with Taliban who've disarmed.

Dead: Mystery author Tony Hillerman. Whodunit??

He died in a hospital? It just doesn't make sense! From the Chicago Tribune:

Tony Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels and creator of two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes — Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee — died Sunday of pulmonary failure. He was 83.

Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman, said her father's health had been declining in the last couple years and that he was at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque when he died at about 3 p.m.

Barnes & Noble creates social network for nerds.

NEEEEEEERDS!!!! From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The superstore chain on Monday launched ''My B&N,'' where online shoppers can set up personal pages focusing on their interests in books, film and music. They can also share information with Facebook and other social networks.

''Through My B&N, book lovers everywhere can create their literary identity, connect and share insights with other readers, discover and rate new products, and keep up to date on events in their local Barnes & Noble store,'' Tom Burke, executive vice president of e-commerce for Barnes & Noble.com, said in a statement.

The new network can be linked to through the store's online home page, www.barnesandnoble.com.

Boy, 8, accidentally dies at gun club.

Children + gun clubs + Uzi submachine guns = good idea? Oh, America, you so crazy! From the Boston Globe:

An 8-year-old boy died yesterday at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield after he accidentally shot himself in the head at a Westfield gun club, Westfield Police reported.

Police said the child's death, caused by a fully automatic Uzi machine gun, appears to have been an accident, but it remains under investigation.

The Westfield Police Department released a statement about what they described as a self-inflicted, accidental shooting, which occurred at 2 p.m. at the Westfield Sportsman's Club on Furrowtown Road.

[...] Information on the club's website explained participants did not need a permit or license and would be accompanied on the range by a certified instructor.

The event was organized by C.O.P. Firearms & Training, an Amherst company which, according to its website, organizes machine gun shoots throughout New England. Officials from that group also could not be reached.

Bee swarm kills 3 dogs, injures woman in Florida.

Sad about the dogs. From ABC News:

A 70-year-old woman is injured and three dogs are dead after a swarm of bees terrorized a neighborhood in South Florida.

Authorities say crews removed 50 pounds of honeycomb from the side of a home in Palm Beach County after Friday's attack. The hive has been contained.

GOP email to Jewish voters compares Obama to Hitler.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Pennsylvania Republicans are disavowing an e-mail sent to Jewish voters that likens a vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to events that led up to the Holocaust.

"Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008," the e-mail reads. "Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!"

A copy of the e-mail, provided by Democratic officials, says it was "Paid for by the Republican Federal Committee of PA - Victory 2008."

It warns "Fellow Jewish Voters" of the danger of a second Holocaust due to the threats to Israel from its neighbors and touts Republican presidential candidate John McCain's qualifications over those of Obama.

State Republican officials disavowed the e-mail and said the strategist who helped draft it had been fired.

"The Republican Party of Pennsylvania did not authorize that e-mail," Michael Barley, communications director for the state party, told The Associated Press on Saturday evening.

Male transsexual gene found.

From BBC:

Australian researchers have identified a significant link between a gene involved in testosterone action and male transsexualism.

DNA analysis from 112 male-to-female transsexual volunteers showed they were more likely to have a longer version of the androgen receptor gene.

The genetic difference may cause weaker testosterone signals, the team reported in Biological Psychiatry.

However, other genes are also likely to play a part, they stressed.

Increasingly, biological factors are being implicated in gender identity.

Adorable baby dino had scary-ass teeth.

I just like the idea of a dino baby with puppy dog eyes and button nose chewing our faces off. From New Scientist:

A rare baby dinosaur skull – only the size of a rat's head – confirms Heterodontosaurus as one of the most unusual of all dinosaurs.

The 45-millimetre skull has features characteristic of a juvenile – large "puppy dog" eye sockets, and a snub nose – but it also sports the meat-tearing canine teeth normally associated with adults. The fossil was newly identified after being examined in a South African museum.

Intriguingly, while it has canines at the front of the mouth, it also has molars behind – a pattern more often seen in mammals.

"It's exceptionally rare to see that pattern of teeth in a reptile," says Richard Butler, a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

Trend Spotting: Curry baths.

Enjoy smelling like curry? You're in luck! CScout reports on the growing trend of turning bath water into dinner.

Bandai has come out with Curry Bath Powder, a dissolvable powder reminiscent of a curry roux cube and packaged accordingly. Such curry starter kits, the base of a simple home cooked dinner, are common fixtures on Japanese supermarket shelves.

The series includes four varieties—sweet, hot, very, hot, and white stew—that promise to turn your bath water the corresponding color. Not quite as gross at is sounds, the scents draw on the more bath-appropriate ingredients found in curry such as ginger, honey, and milk, plus red pepper extract. With the high gimmick value of the Curry Bath Powder, Bandai is looking to follow up on their success earlier this year with the ¥10,000 note bath Bubble Money.

Biden faces off against right-wing lunatic.

Biden fends off loony questions from WFTV Channel 9's Barbara West before laughing in her face.

Coozer-Bits.

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska's biggest paper endorses Obama.

Truthout: Bush admin once again trying to take endangered wolves off the protection list.

ABC News: US helicopters attack Syrian village.

ABC News: The origins of phrases relating to being sick.

Time: Which religion picks the best stocks?

LiveScience: Stephen Hawking to retire from Cambridge.

Understanding the financial crisis in 3 minutes.

Saw this on Consumerist, but here's the direct link. The Washington Post put together an excellent slideshow that explains what happened to our economy. I have to admit it helped me understand the crisis more clearly.

10 things you didn't know about dreams.

Actually, I knew most of these things, but it's still interesting. List here.

Famous people who have been homeless.

Interesting list of celebrities who once lived on the street, in a car, or at a homeless shelter. Some surprises: Kelly Clarkson, Daniel Craig, David Letterman, and John Woo.

8-story luxury condo to be built ontop of old church.

Forget sacrilegious to either the church or the neighborhood, this just doesn't seem very safe. From Curbed:

Let's not try to sugarcoat this: "APPLICATION FILED TO SHOW EXISTING CHURCH WITH GENERAL CONSTRUCTION, MECHANICAL VENTILATION AND PLUMBING WORK TO ACCOMMODATE A NEW BUILDING WHICH WILL BE ERECTED THROUGH AND ABOVE THIS EXISTING STRUCTURE." Eight floors, 34 units, and we don't think we need to add anything else except that a name that appears on the permit is "R.I.P. Construction Consultants."

Florida Supreme Court protects shoddy journalism.

Double-edged sword, no? From the Pensacola News Journal:

TALLAHASSEE — Newspapers were protected Thursday from lawsuits challenging accurate reporting that could possibly cast someone in a bad light.

The Florida Supreme Court, in a pair of rulings, said libel and defamation lawsuits offer enough protection and refused to recognize "false-light" invasion of privacy as grounds to sue.

The decisions served to uphold a lower-court ruling that tossed out an $18.3 million judgment against the Pensacola News Journal and its parent company, Gannett Co. Inc.

Kevin Doyle, president and publisher of the News Journal, said the court's ruling was important beyond the decision that benefits the paper.

"It's a big deal to everybody in the media, not only a victory for us," Doyle said. "Justice prevailed. It's pretty hard to think about the truth not being a defense."

Adria Harper, director of the Florida First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee, called the ruling "great news for the newspapers because they don't have to worry about printing accurate information that might offend somebody."

ABC News cancels subscriptions, meal reimbursements, holiday parties, etc.

The New York Observer has reprinted an email from ABC News' president to staffers. Depressing. The email:

We report every day on the economic climate and the effects being felt throughout the country. We are not immune from the downturn. At the same time, the importance of the election and economic stories reminds us how much we have to do to help our audiences absorb and understand what is going on around them. What we need to do—and will do—is to make sure that we have all the resources we need to cover the news.

To that end, we (together with the rest of the Media Networks Group) are adopting the following, new guidelines to reduce some of our administrative costs.

1. All executives are asked to fly one grade below what they're entitled to. Some have contractual provisions on air travel, and the company is not breaching any contracts. But we are being asked to use our discretion on this.

3. All executives are asked to stay in "B" level hotels. I'm told that Travel knows what this means.

4. Starting immediately, the only business meals for which we will be reimbursed are those with third parties. Any meals (or drinks) with ABC or Disney employees will not be reimbursed.

5. All non-production (i.e. administrative) travel must be pre-approved by the CFO (in our case, Jim Hedges) in writing. Your finance and operations people can help you with this.

6. As of December 1, we will cancel all subscriptions (newspaper and magazine) for executives and production employees and move them to on-line. This change will have the added benefit of helping the environment. If there are particular circumstances where you believe this will materially impair your ability to get your work done, you should make your case to your executive producer or supervisorby November 15th. Dave Davis, Kate O'Brian, and Paul Slavin will review these requests and submit their recommendations to me.

7. We're asked to keep any convention or conference attendance to an absolute minimum. Anyone who attends things like NAB or RTNDA, we need to have a conversation. If someone needs to attend, it will be a skeleton crew.

8. We'll forego all holiday parties this year. This means that the company parties in LA, NY and DC are cancelled.

Thanks again for your understanding and cooperation. I won't pretend that this won't be difficult. But, I truly believe that there is a way for us to do this together that will result in a stronger ABC News.

Robot Uprising Watch: Astronauts to emotionally rely on HAL-like spaceship program.

I'm pretty sure having a spaceship program lose faith in your mental capabilities is a bad idea. From HappyNews:

In the project, sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, a recorded video therapist guides astronauts through a widely used depression therapy called "problem-solving treatment."

The recording helps astronauts identify reasons for their depression. Then the program helps them make a plan to fight the depression, based on the descriptions the astronauts type in about their problems.

Astronauts also can learn strategies for handling conflict through interactive role-playing, and even read psychology books.

Former Marxist guerilla may become Rio's next mayor.

From GuerillaNews:

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A wiry Marxist revolutionary who kidnapped the U.S. ambassador to protest Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1969 could become Rio de Janeiro’s next mayor.

Fernando Gabeira still can’t get a U.S. visa, but he got a ringing endorsement from the daughter of the diplomat he held at gunpoint for four days.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Valerie Elbrick, daughter of former Ambassador Charles Elbrick. “I’m excited and fascinated by it. I’m certainly sympathetic with his party and with his views.”

The 67-year-old motorcycle-riding congressman favors legalizing marijuana and gay marriage and defends the right of prostitutes to safely work.

Top 10 places to find free snacks.

An important public service from Snackerrific. Click here for the 411 on free snackin'. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods may be obvious ones, but Heini's Cheese Chalet?? Gas up the car, I'm going to Ohio!!!