Miscellaneous or This and That

[Juggler]

Is the car horn obsolete?

This guy thinks so.

I was astonished by his new look at a very old, and deeply embedded, automotive tradition. After thinking about it, I think he's right and the horn no longer serves a useful purpose. Like running boards and rumble seats.

Just lean out the window and shout at the dolt in front of you who doesn't realize the light has changed to green.

[fangz1956]

Interesting thought.......but I'm not ready to risk a ticket for verbal assault/abuse, a punch in the face, or a possibly a bullet to the brain. Road rage is an ugly thing.

[Neck-aint-red]

Totally fascinating! I love it when commonplace things, stuff we really never think about, are reexamined in this way.

I guess I agree that the car horn ought to go the way of the buggy whip. The article convinces me that the car horn has no positive value for safety, and is used only as an instrument of anger and frustration.

We don't need it. Dump the car horn.

But I would favor installing fully automatic paintball guns.

[Veeferguy]

I have a loud horn on my VW and I swear by it......It has saved my grits several times down here in the flatlands around Hampton Roads. This area is famous for the merge-O-matics who cannot see past their cell phones and big gulps. I would not buy a car without a horn. I do like the automatic paint ball gun idea though. That might be a nice reminder for all the red light runners around here. I can't wait till they reinstall the redlight cameras! Good thing I come to Lexington to decompress huh?

[Amy Probenski]

These guys don't amplify their differences and force separation. Why can't we?

Bella and Tara video (Annoying 30 second commercial at start, just turn off the sound and ignore.)

Unnatural! Abomination! We need a constitutional amendment banning this!

[resigned]

How sweet. I have seen other different animals adopt one another. I have never considered it bad though although unusual. There was a show on one of those animal shows where a lion adopted a baby gazelle and nurtured that baby for quite awhile until she went to get some food and another lion killed the gazelle. That was sad.

[resigned]

I see where Governor Paterson is going to give his staffers a raise of as much as 40 some odd percent while asking approximately 130,000 state workers to give up 3 percent pay hikes and while New York is one of many states having financial woes. Verrrrry interesting. Wonder how popular this will make him come election time.

[resigned]

I know the below is spam but is anyone else getting emails such as this . This one has the logo on top of the eamil which didn't show here, but is very threatening as you can see below. I forwarded it to the local FBI office.
Anyone else have any ideas. This isn't the first time I have received these kind of emails.

Anti-Terrorist and Monitary Crimes Division.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.
J. EDGAR. HOOVER BUILDING WASHINGTON D.C
17/1/2009

ATTENTION:

We received anemail,Just to let you know that the said fundhas been confirmed in your name, the funds are right now in our custody in your name waiting to be release to you, we have verified and investigated that you are the right beneficiary to claim the funds, all we need from you is verification and proof due to the amount involved.

As a biggest security company here in Washington D.C we are to serve and to protect our citizen. The only advice we can give to you as at this time is to try your best tocomply with the required document so that your funds will be release to you in your favor, this funds are rightfully yours. You can obtain the document fromour branch Office in New Jersey.

We have done our verification on your FBI Identification Record with our Social Security Number, the only document remaining now is the Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer(DIST) Which should be issued to you from our branch Office in New Jersey, you are to contact the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI)New Jersey to obtain the above required document, find bellow their contact email address:( fbi.vision2020@gmail.com) Contact this people immediately to obtain the document.

Furthermore, be advice that according to the United State Law and also the FBI rules and regulations, you are to obtain the document from the FBI in New Jersey where the fund was transferred to. Also Note that you are to take care of the Document to be issued to you right away, because due to how important and secured the document is, it is not issued just like that. You are to take care of the document by sending to the FBINew Jersey right away,That is the only way the FBINew Jersey will issue you the document, because they are going to issue you the Authentic/Original copy of the document.

You are here by advice to Contact them through the email address above to acquire from them on how you are going to send the fee to them. Note that you are to do this immediately if you really want your fund to be credited to your account and also if you don't want any action to be before you. We have already informed the New Jersey FBI about the present situation, so go ahead and contact them immediately. Your fund is now on our custody and will only be release to you with the confirmation of the required document. After that the fund will be release to you immediately without any delay.

NOTE: We have asked for the above documents to make available the most complete and up-to date records possible for no criminal justice purposes.


WARNING:Do not fail toproduce the above requirement in the next72 hours, legal action will be taken immediately by arresting and detaining you, justificated and if found guilty, you will be jailed. As terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering is a serious problem in our community today. The F.B.I will not stop at any length in tracking down and persecuting any criminal who indulge in this criminal act.

Faithfully Yours,



FBI Director
Robert S. Mueller, III

[coondog]

I'd give the FBI more credit when it comes to grammatically atrocious sentence structure. But, anyone who finds this sort of stuff credible....just send me your SS#, date of birth, bank account number, pin number, thumbprint, recent photo, major credit card and two buy one get one free coupons from Arbie's. I have a kajillion deutchmarks in recovered Nazi gold I'd like to split with you.

Prince Coondog

Island of Elba

[nudgewink]

"Who the hell do you think you are?
Just because you have that fancy title, you think you can ignore me?
Jeez, you always followed my orders before.
Who the hell do you think you are?

- Dick Cheney is really mad.

[resigned]

Hey Coondog, can you believe that some people really believe this kind of stuff. I was just wondering if others get this and wish there was some way to do away with it. I try to identify it as spam, but it still keeps coming under different email addresses. I was hoping someone may have a suggestion on how to get rid of it at all. I could change my email address but don't want to do that either. I did report it to the FBI who after yawning told me to forward it to them. These type of spam emails are becoming a real problem and I would like to do something about them. Any suggestions?

[Wise One]

Who the hell do you think you are?

Yes, indeedy. This may be the only time that George W. Bush ever mustered courage to say "no" to one of Cheney's crazy schemes.

I'm glad the guy in charge of the last Administration is finally gone.

And I'm glad G. W. Bush is gone too.

[resigned]

Yellow Journalism

I have been reading and hearing about yellow journalism so decided to do some research on the topic. Wiki defines it as “Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers.”

So I guess my next question would be who decides what news media be it Television, the internet or printed matter be labeled “yellow journalism” I think most would agree that the tabloid newspapers that focus on the Hollywood scene could possibly be described as “yellow journalism” but when it comes to main stream media such as for example, The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg (my nephew is a reporter there in NY) Time magazine, Readers Digest, CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC and CBS news are some that come to mind who makes that decision on whether these media sources are “yellow journalism” Just curious, because from where I stand it seems that it depends on the viewpoints of individuals whose political leanings go from the far left to the far right. What is the medium in all this context and what is considered good journalism?

[historyforall]

Yellow Journalism is most associated with William Randolph Hearst. I am not a fan of this greedy individual who created so many problems for our country. Basically he created the Spanish-American war. One of his quotes to a reporter in Havana was, "...You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." His newspapers (28 major papers and 18 magazines) were known for presenting what he wanted, not what was true. Ernest L. Meyer wrote: "Mr. Hearst in his long and not laudable career has inflamed Americans against Spaniards, Americans against Japanese, Americans against Filipinos, Americans against Russians, and in the pursuit of his incendiary campaign he has printed downright lies, forged documents, faked atrocity stories, inflammatory editorials, sensational cartoons and photographs and other devices by which he abetted his jingoistic ends." --from: Chapter 17: Farewell: Lord of San Simeon, Lords of the Press, George Seldes. Basically newspapers used to only present what the editor's opinions were. Some say this was not a bad thing because people bought the paper they most associated with. But, what problems do you think can arise from only reading one perspective of a subject? The truth can always be found in the middle.

*side note if interested on Hearst. He owned so much in this country bullied others around him and led a hypocritical life. He led a campaign against hemp because it threatened his logging industry. I in no way endorse pot or the smoking of it; I have seen what it can do to families and people (yes the "innocent" drug does have circumstances). But, hemp was a major crop in the US and our own Valley was one of the major growers of it. There are places called Hempville... etc. all over the NE for a reason. It was used for rope, cloth, food, oil and paper. An acre of hemp can provide more paper than logging an old growth forest. Like many industrialist of the time Hearst owned not only newspapers but papers mills, logging companies and anything that related to the newspaper business. When hemp paper production threatened his logging business he ran several articles creating fears about smoking marijuana. With his luck Pancho Villa had run raids in New Mexico, and Hearst ran front page headlines saying that the evil Mexicans were smoking pot while killing Americans. This is just some of the examples. There are many more just crack a book and see for yourself.

[resigned]

Clinton Administration pressured Fannie Mae to expand mortage loans

So where did the economic problems concerning mortgage loans start? Very interesting.

[Wise One]

Yes indeed. The list of culprits in this mess is a long one, and you have correctly identified one as complicit in the tangle we now find ourselves enmeshed in.

In defining a boundary between acceptable and unacceptable risk, there will always be attempts to move the boundary one way or the other. The challenge is to know when to say, "No, we will not do that", and stand firm.

[coondog]

Then...........came THIS GUY!

updated 11:07 a.m. ET, Sat., March. 27, 2004

CRAWFORD, Texas - Focusing on the dream of home ownership for the nation’s minorities, President Bush on Saturday credited his tax relief program for being a key to driving the housing market to record levels.

“Because of tax relief, Americans have more to save, spend and invest — and that means millions of American families have moved into their first homes,” Bush said in his weekly radio address as he spent the weekend at his ranch.

In a swing through the Southwest on Friday, the president highlighted three of his economic policies he said can help nearly 400,000 low- or moderate-income families become home buyers

One of the approaches, the American Dream Down Payment Act, will help low-income Americans afford the down payment and closing costs on their first home. Bush is asking Congress to provide $200 million a year for the program. He also proposes to make zero down-payment loans available to first-time buyers whose mortgages are guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration.

In addition, Bush is proposing a tax credit to encourage builders to provide 200,000 affordable homes over five years for low-income families.

These and other steps, he said, will push the nation toward his goal of adding 5.5 million new minority home owners by the end of the decade.

With a big boost from low interest rates, the nation’s 68 percent home ownership rate is the highest ever, while minority home ownership is just over 50 percent.

In his trip through the Sun Belt states Friday, the president met with Lori Benavidez of Albuquerque, N.M., a single mother who told the president: “I never thought the day would happen when my girls and I would be sitting in our own home. It is a miracle.”

Every time a family moves into a home of their own, “it fulfills a dream and it shows faith in the future,” Bush said in his radio address.

Bingaman says the administration’s proposed budget zeros out the Hope VI program, aimed at revitalizing distressed public housing. He said the program got $574 million in fiscal 2003 and $150 million in fiscal 2004.

The Rural Housing program which encourages ways to serve the housing needs of rural communities also would get a $24.8 million cut by the administration, Bingaman said, along with $10 million from the Native American Block Grant Program. It provides general housing assistance and encourages private lenders to provide home financing in Indian country.

[Goyathaly]

Misc THIS AND that........

who was Mohammed Mossedegh ? And why should we care?

(NO Googling or Wikipedia allowed! )

[Goyathaly]

alternate spellings: Mohammed Mosaddeq or Mohammed Mosaddeqh

[Goyathaly]

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