"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." - Tennessee Williams

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GPS devices lead to suspects' home - "Three thieves who allegedly stole 14 global positioning system devices didn't get away with their crime for long. The devices led police right to their home."

Back to beauty basics - "Dr. Fran E. Cook-Bolden, a dermatologist in Manhattan, is an advocate of skin-care minimalism. When a patient recently arrived for an appointment toting 20 different products she was using regularly - including an eye cream, a vitamin C cream, a wrinkle serum, a pigmentation cream, a mask, a peel, a scrub and "some sort of special oxygen detoxifying cream" - Cook-Bolden said she confiscated all but three. "It gave me a headache just to look at all of those products," Cook-Bolden said. "Just two products, a gentle cleanser and a good sunscreen, are enough daily skin care for most people, and you can buy those at a drugstore or a grocery store.""

Rank outsider sues Google over zero score - "The search giant is being sued in California by a parenting website which claims it lost most of its traffic when its ranking dropped to zero. The site, Kinderstart.com, claims that it was downgraded because it is a competitor to Google. A motion by Google to dismiss the case was heard in California last Friday, where Kinderstart argued that it competed with Google because it also offers a search facility on its site."

Does Viagra Keep Flowers From Wilting? - "Viagra (sildenafil citrate) has a firmly established ability to keep the male organ erect. But you might be surprised to learn that it has also been used in the laboratory to keep cut flowers from going limp. With Mother’s Day coming up, we decided to test this out for ourselves and find out if the same pill that keeps Dad’s woody from wilting can keep Mom’s mums looking perky. We also compared two other chemical additives recommended by household hints sites for keeping flowers fresh – vodka and Sprite."

Facebook | Oh yeah? Your FACE is haram! - "This goes out to all the annoying, conservative imams, sheikhs, and even parents who have the audacity to sporadically label every little thing in life halal and haram: UP YOURS, OLD FART. I'm pretty sure you've heard it all before: "Video games are haram!" "Watching television is haram!" "Looking at a boy/girl is haram!" "Starbucks is haram!" "Wearing perfume is haram!" "Listening to music is haram!" "Not wearing a headscarf is haram!" "The internet is haram!" Quit making our religion complicated. You see, if you add/subtract miniscule components of Islam, it's not Islam anymore! So quit ridiculing people because everyone has faults, and we all are answerable to Allah on the Day of Judgment regarding our own sins, not the sins of other people. So be a free thinker. Do what you please and remember: follow Islam, not the followers."
One comment: "nowadays it seems that EVERY FREAKIN THING is haraam. my alima cousin told me kleenex is haraam...KLEENEX!!! are u fucking kidding me."

Jamie Han: Corpse at the bottom of the ocean? - "According to K, my friend, who is a personal friend of Han, the Insolent One (or should i say, Audacious One) has had trouble landing a job since he implied Father Lee was a despotic tyrant. I know I sound facetious but it's no joking matter. People tell me all the time to watch what I say, the walls have ears"

Men with ‘moobs’ swell queues for breast surgery - "Surgeons have reported a surge in the number of men requesting breast-reduction operations for ‘moobs’. According to one theory, the condition, called gynaecomastia, may be caused by an excess of female hormones in tap water."

On The Inutility of Prayer - "It’s weird. When one of my friends have trouble, I do my best to help. I listen. I give them a call on the phone. Arrange lunches, or dinners, or alcohol-imbibing sessions. Let them know I’m available. Check up on them and make sure they’re okay. You know, being there for your friend. Surely you, as a moral, caring Christian, can do better? Isn’t “I will pray for you” the equivalent of saying “I’m too lazy to do anything for you, my friend, so I shall assuage my guilt by mouthing empty platitudes”?"

How many has God killed? (Complete list and estimated total) - "In a previous post, I've listed and counted God's killings in the Bible. But I only included those that said exactly how many were killed by God. I came up with 2,270,365. But that didn't include some of God's most impressive slaughters. How many did God drown in the flood or burn to death in Sodom and Gomorrah? How many first-born Egyptians did he kill? The Bible doesn't say, so there's no way to know for sure. But it's possible to provide rough estimates in order to get a grand total, and that's what I'm attempting here. (New total: 32.9 million.)"

Phishing scam: would you pay a contract killer $80,000 to spare your life? - "It’s like a scene from a Hollywood thriller. You receive an email from a hitman who says he’s been paid $50,000 to kill you. It’s your lucky day, however, because after following you for a week the hitman is convinced that you’re actually a nice guy, and so he’s willing to make you this offer: if you pay him $80,000, he won’t kill you."

What's Wrong With Vocational School?: Too many Americans are going to college. - "The spread of wealth at the top of American society has created an explosive increase in the demand for craftsmen. Finding a good lawyer or physician is easy. Finding a good carpenter, painter, electrician, plumber, glazier, mason--the list goes on and on--is difficult, and it is a seller's market. Journeymen craftsmen routinely make incomes in the top half of the income distribution while master craftsmen can make six figures. They have work even in a soft economy. Their jobs cannot be outsourced to India. And the craftsman's job provides wonderful intrinsic rewards that come from mastery of a challenging skill that produces tangible results. How many white-collar jobs provide nearly as much satisfaction?"

University Metaphysical Sciences, Metaphysics, Metaphysical Science University - "The University Of Metaphysical Sciences is a non-profit distance learning facility, offering downloadable courses from the internet or delivered via postal mail. Study at your own pace while you work, stay at home, or travel. University Of Metaphysical Sciences brings professionalism to the field of metaphysics. The curriculum is designed to give the student a well-rounded education in all areas of metaphysics. As a practitioner, healer, teacher, writer or leader, the graduate will be more effective in his or her work with others. The credentials are within your reach. Become a true professional in the growing field of metaphysics, and do your part to lead the world into peace and a higher understanding of life."

From trophy wife to toxic wife - "Rich men, I believe, have finally cottoned on to the sinister side of the stay-at-home wife: unless you marry an equal who's going to pay her own way, you will end up with a lazy, indulgent, over-pampered slug. For the transition from trophy wife to toxic wife is as fast as the end result is furious. I should know: many men of my age and acquaintance have become deeply bitter and disappointed about how their wives have changed since they hung up their working wardrobes. I am talking about university-educated women (often Oxbridge graduates) who do a couple of years work in the City before harnessing themselves to a milch cow and "having it all"... "Can't you just divorce?" I asked. "Are you kidding?" he replied. "I'd lose everything I've worked for, including my children, and I'd be paying her an indecent amount of money for life.""

A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder--How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place - "Flying utterly in the face of conventional wisdom, the authors turn the world of organization on its head to examine how messy systems can be more effective than highly organized ones. Neatness for its own sake, they say, not only has hidden costs in terms of man-hours that could be spent doing other work but it turns out that the highly touted advantages may not even exist. More loosely defined, moderately disorganized people and businesses seem to be more efficient, more robust, and more creative than the obsessively neat. As examples, the authors cite a hardware store crammed to the gills with every sort of product in seemingly disorganized fashion that does twice the business of the "neat" one down the block; a grade school where the students are allowed random access to learning materials with no structured lessons, and no discipline problems; and the seemingly chaotic life of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who refuses to make appointments and sees everyone on the fly."

Privately, Hollywood admits DRM isn't about piracy - "In a nutshell: DRM's sole purpose is to maximize revenues by minimizing your rights so that they can sell them back to you."

Breast boosting beer sells like hot cakes - "European men are flocking to Bulgaria to buy "breast-boosting beer" after the country's accession to the EU has meant that customs duties on the tipple have been abolished."