The following article sounds like it was written about future scientist. Scientist now a days make stuff up as the go along. Add a pig and man bones together, then make up a picture of what it might look like and magically you have a missing link. If your missing something make it our of plaster a paris. No one will know for years.
Monkey from Mars: a Ga. crime lab's museum oddity By WALTER PUTNAM
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) - Other museums might have more or flashier items to display. But only the mini-museum of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation can boast of possessing such an other-world oddity as the monkey from Mars.The bureau's state crime lab lobby has its requisite displays on forensic science, including an illegal moonshine still and the microscopic fibers that solved the 1981-82 Atlanta child murders. But tucked away in a glass cylinder are the preserved remains of a monkey that three pranksters passed off as an alien 55 years ago in a UFO hoax that drew headlines worldwide.
At the height of UFO hysteria then sweeping the nation, two young barbers and a butcher took a dead monkey in 1953, lopped off its tail and applied a liberal dose of hair remover and some green coloring to the carcass.
Then they left the primate on an isolated road north of Atlanta in the pre-dawn hours of July 8, 1953, burning a circle into the pavement with a blowtorch before a police officer came around the curve in his patrol car.
"If we had been five minutes earlier, we would have caught 'em in the act," said Sherley Brown, the officer who happened on the scene.
The barbers, Edward Watters and Tom Wilson, and the butcher, Arnold "Buddy" Payne, told the policeman they came upon a red, saucer-shaped object in the road that night. They said several 2-foot-tall creatures were scurrying about and the trio hit one with their pickup before the others jumped back in the saucer and blasted skyward _ leaving the highway scorched.
Brown took down the strange account and filed a report at police headquarters before going home.
Soon after his shift ended, he said, "the phone started ringing off the hook."
"They had the Air Force and everybody else trying to find out about it," said Brown, since retired in 1985.
Word of the discovery spread like wildfire.
Just the night before, some Atlanta area residents had reported seeing a large, multicolored object flying in the sky. A veterinarian who examined the corpse said it looked "like something out of this world." A newspaper put out an artist's drawing of the saucer that the men described.
But within hours the monkey business unraveled.
Dr. Herman D. Jones, the founder and director of the GBI lab, and Dr. Marion Hines, an anatomy professor at Emory University, examined the creature that evening and proclaimed it to be a hoax.
"If it came from Mars, they have monkeys on Mars," Hines was quoted as saying in an article at the time by The Associated Press that is set beside the monkey in the appointment-only museum.
Where the men got the monkey is not clear. Watters, Wilson and Payne eventually admitted to the hoax and Watters paid a $40 fine for obstructing a highway.
As for Jones, his name is now on the GBI crime lab as the man who introduced modern forensic science to the state.
U.N. didn't notice $10 million disappearingOfficial confesses world body 'arguably a bit slow to recognize' relief scamPosted: July 29, 20089:36 pm Eastern
Cyclone Nargis killed more than 140,000NEW YORK – As much as $10 million of UNITED NATIONS relief funds designated for Burma in the wake of Cyclone Nargis have been siphoned off by "private money exchangers" and the military government, according to a U.N. official.The U.N. called for an initial $200 million in emergency aid in response to the storm, which killed more than 140,000 people, but not all the promised funds are reaching the intended destination admitted John Holmes, under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, at a news conference at the agency's New York headquarters.The funds are being siphoned through an exchange-rate scam that forces the U.N. to buy the Burmese currency, the kyat, at above the market rate.Holmes confessed, "We were arguably a bit slow to recognize ... how serious a problem this has become for us."The U.S. government has made a $39 million contribution to the relief effort and is expected to give more.Much of the initial aid consisted of goods supplied directly to the victims of the cyclone, but Holmes estimated as much as $10 million dollars has been lost.
http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?p=664377
U.N. thermostat to be set higher Taking on hot air for good of the world
UNITED NATIONS Everyone complains about climate change, and the United Nations is finally doing something about it - on Friday, the temperature inside U.N. headquarters in New York will rise by 5 degrees.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations' self-professed environmental secretary-general, ordered the "In-House Climate Change Initiative" to save energy, cut carbon emissions and try to mitigate climate change.
Officials said the monthlong experiment - dubbed "Cool U.N." - also will allow engineers to test energy consumption and utility costs in the notoriously antiquated building.
It also will stretch the comfort and good will of about 4,500 staffers, who work in the glass-walled Secretariat, a veritable 39-story terrarium planted in full sun on the East River.
"It will be like Addis Ababa," said one crestfallen staff member, referring to the tropical capital of Ethiopia. "The air conditioning didn't work too well there, either."
Anwarul Chowdhury, a former U.N. ambassador from Bangladesh, said Tuesday that the Cool U.N. initiative sounds like "tokenism."
Nevertheless, he said, the extra 5 degrees of heat might give diplomats some compassion for the developing world.
"Some of us grow up in a natural environment," said Mr. Chowdhury, whose home country is infamous for its heat and humidity. "We do not have the benefits of air conditioning. It is important to understand the realities of living in various parts of the world."
To make the adjustment easier, Mr. Ban will encourage diplomats and bureaucrats inside headquarters to wear their national dress, which was once the norm.
Suit jackets and ties will be discretionary, said one of Mr. Ban's aides, noting that the secretary-general will lead by example.
"Look for a cool, calm, casual S.G.," said an e-mail from Mr. Ban's office.
In the landmark Secretariat building, thermostat settings will rise from 72 degrees to 77 degrees for August workdays.
The air conditioning is to be switched off during weekends, which some fear could make for sweltering Monday mornings.
Government buildings in Japan and Mr. Ban's native South Korea have long been uncomfortable for employees in the hottest months.
However, the executive floor here thinks this will be the first time that an international organization has courted "hot air" jokes by voluntarily reducing its use of air conditioning.
"The secretary-general is doing everything he can to mobilize unprecedented international action on climate change," said Robert Orr, an adviser to Mr. Ban. "Successful negotiations are necessary, but individual and institutional behavior must also change all over the world if we are to address the climate crisis, and the secretary-general felt that this was one way the U.N. could lead by example."
The effort "isn't about symbolic sweating," he added. "If adopted on a large scale, these types of policies could have a major global impact and will definitely help the participating institutions' bottom line."
The U.N. headquarters will soon be renovated for the first time in more than 50 years, in large part because the building is deteriorating. Its crooked walls and glass windows that don't close properly make it an especially drafty place to work.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/30/un-takes-on-hot-air-for-good-of-the-world/
Very sad that Culture in America is being lost.What's vanishing from America? July 30, 2008 - 8:19am
UNDATED - What are you going to miss? Or, will you be glad they are gone?
Drive-in theatres, handwritten letters, TVs with antennas, VCRs to play tapes you took of the kids way back when or cameras that use film?
According to a list put together by the WalletPop blog, these are among the top 25 things vanishing in America.
The mumps and measles, newsmagazines, TV news, incandescent light bulbs and answering machines may soon be just a memory.
Also making the list are honey bees, wild horses, the milkman, and stand-alone bowling alleys. And for all of the fans of crab feasts, Chesapeake Bay blue crabs made the list.
The No. 1 thing vanishing from America - the family farm.
http://wtop.com/?sid=1450655&nid=456
What do I need to do to be ready for the end of analog TV broadcasting?
Because Congress mandated that the last day for full-power television stations to broadcast in analog would be February 17, 2009, over-the-air TV broadcasts will be in digital only after that date. If you have one or more televisions that receive free over-the-air television programming (with a roof-top antenna or “rabbit ears” on the TV), the type of TV you own is very important. A digital television (a TV with an internal digital tuner) will allow you to continue to watch free over-the-air programming after February 17, 2009. However, if you have an analog television, you will need a digital-to-analog converter box to continue to watch broadcast television on that set. This converter box will also enable you to see any additional multicast programming that your local stations are offering.
To help consumers with the DTV transition, the Government established the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a part of the Department of Commerce, administers this program. Every U.S. household is eligible to receive up to two coupons, worth $40 each, toward the purchase of eligible digital-to-analog converter boxes. Beginning in January of 2008, the NTIA has begun accepting applications for coupons. The coupons may only be used for eligible converter boxes sold at participating consumer electronics retailers, and the coupons must be used at the time of purchase. (Please note that these coupons will expire 90 days after mailing). Manufacturers estimate that digital-to-analog converter boxes will sell from $40 to $70 each. This is a one-time cost. For more information on the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program, visit www.dtv2009.gov, or call 1-888-388-2009 (voice) or 1-877-530-2634 (TTY).
Cable and satellite TV subscribers with analog TVs hooked up to their cable or satellite service should not be affected by the February 17, 2009 cut-off date for full-power analog broadcasting. http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html#faq3
Vinyl on the Rise
With CD sales in a slump, local stores shop vinyl LPs
The production and artwork that vinyl records offer is a driving factor in their popularity.
By Lindsey Landfried
Step into a few shops along College Avenue, and it's easy to see a trend toward retro.
With Pac-Man-adorned T-shirts and a subculture of Atari players, the question begs to be asked. What else has gone retro?
The Recording Industry Association of America reported that vinyl LP sales grew from 2000 to 2006 even as overall music sales dropped from $12 billion to $14 billion.
Judging by those numbers, the way people want their music is turning retro.
And, it's not just the classics being picked up in vinyl.
Hip-hop populars such as Jay-Z, Linkin Park and Nas are producing vinyl along with their latest CDs. Priced from $10 to $15 for a quality vinyl, records are more affordable than their compact counterparts.
Jesse Ruegg, record collector and manager of Chronic Town Hookah Lounge, 224 W. College Ave., summed up the trend: It's a "do-it-yourself ethic. [Buying records is] supporting someone doing it for the music, for the passion rather than for selling millions of CDs."
Ruegg pegged vinyl sound above CD and other medium quality, too.
"I would prefer to listen to vinyl than anything else," he added.
The spiked interest in vinyl seems to be moving with the rise in popularity of MP3 players and digital music downloading, Ruegg said.
"With the record industry the way it is today, people aren't buying a whole CD anymore," he said, emphasizing the "tactile experience" of a vinyl.
Chronic Town will begin selling records in-store this fall, Ruegg said.
The store aims to have everything displayed and catalogued by the time students return for the fall.
The store began building its collection by attending record conventions, he added.
The appeal is targeting a "niche" collectors market, he said, and its selection will include garage rock, '60s music and indie records.
Josh Ferko, owner of Stax for Trax, a small business that sells records online and out of Webster's Bookstore Café, 128 S. Allen St., also plans on expanding into new vinyl in the fall.
Ferko started selling "high-quality and rare items" on eBay and more reasonably priced music in the store in September.
Many items are priced as low as $3 to $5. The collection will include re-issues from '60s tunes to soul, garage rock and psychedelic.
Ferko said he has witnessed a similar trend with vinyl records.
"The trend is growing. Record companies tried to kill vinyl when cassettes emerged, but buds in your ears is no comparison to listening to music on a stereo," he said.
Ferko isn't complaining.
"Things have gone really well in my business," he said. "There's definitely a great interest in vinyl that is much deserved."
Ruegg and Ferko aren't the only ones with soft spots for vinyl.
Some aficionados of analog sound quality will pay up to $12,000 for laser turntables.
Mid-quality players are available online at stores such as Circuit City or Best Buy for about $150 and are sold locally at Paul & Tony's Stereo, 1321 S. Atherton St.
"Some real purists," as Ruegg said, like to have their vintage record players despite issues with the quality and maintenance upkeep with used equipment.
Greg Gabbard of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave., has a perspective on record sales that spans a little further.
He said sales used to be better and accrued to thousands of record sales each year -- but that trend slowly declined.
However, about eight years ago, the trend turned against CDs, or what music producer Steve Albini called in the '80s, the "rich man's eight-track," Gabbard said.
Gabbard said CDs are more convenient, while records are more fun with better booklets and more substantial artwork.
He added that the production process aimed at producing vinyl is different than the approach some artists take to producing compact discs.
With vinyl, it is important to build an entire side with a beginning, middle and end that crescendos, opposed to piecemeal tracks, Gabbard said.
"[It's] not creating a jingle," he said, "it's a work of art."
You can make your vinyl still or should i say again
BY PA NEWS
The car is designed to reach speeds of 100mph on land and more than 30mph on water and can switch between the two surfaces at the switch of a button.
According to its designers the Gibbs Aquada is neither a boat with wheels nor just a waterproof car. Gibbs Technologies says that no other road-legal amphibian has managed to exceed 6mph on water.
The vehicle took seven years to reach fruition, with 70 engineers spending one million hours and tens of millions of pounds to create the vehicle.
The company believes that people will pay the £150,000 tag for the “freedom and experience” that the novelty vehicle will allow.
The Aquada is a two-wheel drive which uses unleaded petrol and has an engine of 175hp, not disimilar to a BMW 3-Series.
It has no doors, but the driver climbs over the side to get in. The car uses a tonne of thrust to get out of the water back on the road. The engine is in the middle of the car and it is rear wheel drive, like many larger cars.
It has a range of 50 miles in the water and has been designed to go in the sea or fresh water.
The car would avoid Central London’s congestion charge, as the river vehicles are not subject to the tax. Drivers could go from Chelsea Harbour to London City Airport without being subject to the £5 charge.
Ken Livingstone, the Major of London, is currently trying to encourage greater use of the Thames, and has given speeches encouraging commuters to consider going to work by boat.
Alan Gibbs, the company founder and chairman, said that he had filed 60 patents and compiled with every regulation for cars and boats in the rule book.
He said: “This is new in the way that helicopters were new or Harrier jump jets were new."
Since the invention of the car, there have been many attempts to develop amphibian vehicles, but they have failed because of the vehicle’s inability to climb out of the water and skim along the surface.
Neil Jenkins, managing director of Gibbs Technologies, claimed this engineering breakthrough was a world first.
He said that by licensing the technology a whole new spectrum of vehicles would be born. The company is currently producing a launch series of 100 vehicles due to be available later this year.
Although the makers hope their vehicle could be used for leisure, they say the technology could one day service the military, emergency and rescue services.
“It is in the first instance a recreational vehicle, a sports car and a sports boat,” said Mr Gibbs.
“But it could be a commuter city vehicle which avoids commuter congestion.
Mr Gibbs, an entrepreneur from New Zealand who now lives in London, has funded the project himself along with Mr Jenkins and their families.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe announced Wednesday that it is knocking 10 zeros off its hyper-inflated currency _ a move that turns 10 billion dollars into one.
President Robert Mugabe threatened a state of emergency if businesses profiteer from the country's economic crisis, a move that could give him even more sweeping powers to punish opponents in the event that political power-sharing talks fail.
"Entrepreneurs across the board, don't drive us further," Mugabe warned in a nationally televised address after the currency announcement. "If you drive us even more, we will impose emergency measures. ... They can be tough rules."
But in a glimmer of possible rapprochement in Zimbabwe's political turmoil, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai revealed that he met with Mugabe last week for the first time in years and discussed the "pitfalls in any future government" that might emerge from the negotiations.
He didn't indicate their meeting produced any agreement, however.
In a conciliatory gesture, Tsvangirai told Britain's Channel 4 that his longtime rival is as "human as everyone else." However, he added the president is "in denial" about the economic problems and political violence that have swept this once prosperous southern African nation.
Central Bank Gov. Gideon Gono announced he was dropping 10 zeros from Zimbabwe's currency, effective Friday. The move comes a week after the issue of a 100 billion-dollar note _ still not enough to buy a loaf of bread.
Gono said the new money would be launched with 500-dollar bills. He also said he was reintroducing coins, which have been obsolete for years, and told people to dig out their old ones.
That could be a boon for Fungai Matambo, a 33-year-old vendor of airtime for cell phones who said she has kept a large milk pail full of old coins.
"I'm very happy now," she laughed. "In the old terms, I'm a multi-trillionaire!"
But, she noted, there is little to buy in the shops amid chronic shortages of food, medicine, power and water.
John Takawira, 28, who works in an Internet cafe, said the latest move would do nothing to improve life in Zimbabwe, where 80 percent of the work force in unemployed.
"The prices of goods have already started shooting up," he complained. "This is not going to make any change to my poor life."
Gono acted because the high rate of inflation was hampering the country's computer systems. Computers, electronic calculators and automated teller machines at Zimbabwe's banks cannot handle basic transactions in billions and trillions of dollars.
Inflation, the highest in the world, is officially running at 2.2 million percent in Zimbabwe but independent economists say it is closer to 12.5 million percent.
Economist John Robertson said the new bills would soon be worthless since the rate of inflation continues to skyrocket. What costs $1 at the beginning of the month can cost $20 by month's end, he said.
"This is attending only to the symptoms of the problem. The real problem is the scarcity of everything driving up the prices. ... The government has not only caused the scarcities but damaged our ability to fix the problem."
At the root, he said, is the damage to the farming sector, along with government raids on the state pension fund and foreign currency bank accounts of businesses.
Zimbabwe's trials began nearly a decade ago when white farmers who were the driving force of the economy started supporting Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Mugabe sent supporters to violently invade white-owned farms, saying he was reclaiming ancestral lands for poor black peasants.
Instead, the land went to Mugabe's Cabinet ministers and generals, who left the fields untended. Hundreds of thousands of farm laborers lost their jobs and homes. Today, a third of Zimbabwe's people depend on foreign food aid in a country that once exported food to its neighbors.
Mugabe blames the economic collapse on profiteers and on sanctions by the United States and the European Union.
The worsening conditions have eroded the popularity of Mugabe, who has ruled for 28 years and was long revered for leading Zimbabwe to independence in 1980. He finished second in a March presidential ballot behind Tsvangirai, but won the June runoff after his rival dropped out after violence killed more than 120 opposition activists. Both men now claim the presidency.
In his interview with Channel 4, Tsvangirai said the two leaders had a 90-minute dinner together last week.
"I am sure that there was a common understanding that there is a need to soft land the crisis through a transitional process," he said
South African President Thabo Mbeki flew in to Zimbabwe on Wednesday in yet another bid to mediate in the crisis.
Power-sharing talks that began last week have deadlocked over Mugabe's insistence that he lead any unity government and over what position Tsvangirai should hold in a new administration, according to officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an agreed media blackout.
"We are still negotiating; we want to succeed," Mugabe said in his broadcast address. "You find room for compromise but sometimes compromise is difficult."
Mbeki told reporters after meeting with Mugabe that talks would resume Sunday in South Africa.
Tsvangirai's party said Wednesday that two more opposition supporters were killed last week, allegedly by Mugabe's followers. "The deaths show that there is no sincerity on the part" of the ruling ZANU-PF party, the opposition said in a statement.
But in his interview, Tsvangirai softened his rhetoric about Mugabe, who the opposition has blamed for the widespread violence.
"He is just as human as every one of us, that he has similar concerns, although, of course, I think he is ignorant, and/or chooses to be in a denial stage as far as violence is concerned," said Tsvangirai, who has been accused of treason, beaten and survived assassination attempts by Mugabe loyalists.
http://wtop.com/?nid=387&sid=1353343
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