15-year-old performs surgery in India

NEW DELHI - The 15-year-old son of two doctors performed a filmed Caesarean section birth under his parents' watch in southern India in an apparent bid to gain a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest surgeon.

Instead, the boy's father could be stripped of his licenses and may face criminal charges, officials said Thursday.

Dr. K. Murugesan showed a recording of his son performing a Caesarean section to an Indian Medical Association chapter in the southern state of Tamil Nadu last month, said Dr. Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of the association. The video showed Murugesan anesthetizing the patient.

"We were shocked to see the recording," Prasad told The Associated Press, adding that the IMA told Murugesan that his act was an ethical and legal violation.

Murugesan owns and runs a maternity hospital in the city of Manaparai, Prasad said in a telephone interview from Manaparai. The family could not be immediately reached for comment.

Murugesan, who could possibly be prevented from practicing and face criminal charges for allowing his son to perform the operation, expressed no regret and accused the Manaparai medical association of being "jealous" of his son's achievements, Prasad added.

"He said this was not the first surgery performed by his son and that he had been training him for the last three years," said Prasad.

Murugesan told the medical association that he wanted to see his son's name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Prasad said that his team had reported the surgery to the state's top medical association in state capital, Chennai.

State health secretary V.K. Subburaj told reporters Thursday that the government would investigate.

"We'll get the report and then we'll see whether there are any violations ... prima facie it looks like there is a big violation," he said.

"We will definitely take action against the concerned medical officers."

Useless organs?

According to Brandon Miller of LiveScience.com, Charles Darwin mentioned in his On the Origin of Species (1859) and his next publication, The Descent of Man (1871), about several "vestiges" in human anatomy that were left over from the course of evolution. These vestigial organs, Darwin argued, are evidence of evolution and represent a function that was once necessary for survival, but over time that function became either diminished or nonexistent.

The presence of an organ in one organism that resembles one found in another has led biologists to conclude that these two might have shared a common ancestor. Vestigial organs have demonstrated remarkably how species are related to one another, and has given solid ground for the idea of common descent to stand on. From common descent, it is predicted that organisms should retain these vestigial organs as structural remnants of lost functions. It is only because of macro-evolutionary theory, or evolution that takes place over very long periods of time, that these vestiges appear.

The term "vestigial organ" is often poorly defined, most commonly because someone has chosen a poor source to define the term. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines vestigial organs as organs or structures remaining or surviving in a degenerate, atrophied, or imperfect condition or form. This is the accepted biological definition used in the theory of evolution.

In the never-ending search for scientific truth, hypotheses are proposed, evidence is found, and theories are formulated to describe and explain what is being observed in the world around us. The following are ten observations of vestigial organs whose presence have helped to flesh out the structure of the family tree that includes every living creature on our planet.

1. The human appendix
2. Male breast tissue and nipples
3. Fake sex in virgin whiptail lizards (vestigial behavior)
4. Sexual organs of dandelions
5. Wisdom teeth in humans
6. The blind fish Astyanax Mexicanus
7. The human tailbone (coccyx)
8. Erector pili and body hair
9. Hind leg bones in whales
10. The wings on flightless birds

For complete details, go to http://www.livescience.com/animals/top10_vestigial_organs.html

Harry Potter vs. The Hacker

BOSTON (Reuters) - The mystery surrounding the end to fictional British boy wizard Harry Potter's saga deepened on Wednesday with a computer hacker posting what he said were key plot details and a publisher warned the details could be fake.

The hacker, who goes by the name "Gabriel," claims to have taken a digital copy of author J.K. Rowling's seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," by breaking into a computer at London-based Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

For months now, leading up to the book's July 21 release, legions of "Harry Potter" fans have debated whether Rowling killed Harry or one of his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, in the final book.

Gabriel has posted information at Web site InSecure.org that, if true, would answer that question.

"We make this spoiler to make reading of the upcoming book useless and boring," Gabriel said in the posting.

"Harry Potter" publishers have taken great pains to keep the conclusion a secret and preserve the multibillion-dollar entertainment enterprise surrounding the boy wizard.

A Bloomsbury spokesman declined comment on the hacker's claims.

Kyle Good, a spokesman for U.S. distributor Scholastic Corp., would not say whether the posting was accurate, but did warn readers to be skeptical about anything on the Web that claims to have inside information on the book's plot.

"There is a whole lot of junk flying around," she said. "Consider this one more theory."

David Perry, a spokesman for computer security company Trend Micro, said there was a good chance Gabriel's claim could be a hoax.

"We've had hypes like this on the last couple of Harry Potter books," he said. "There is a very high level of spurious information in the hacker world."

But if true, it could be a problem for Bloomsbury. The "Harry Potter" books have been global best-sellers with fans buying some 320 million versions worldwide, and anticipation for "Deathly Hallows" is high.

In April, U.S. retailer Barnes & Noble said advance orders for the book had already topped 500,000 copies, setting a chain record. Scholastic plans to release a record 12 million copies of "Deathly Hallows" to meet demand.

A stolen copy of the sixth Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" surfaced in Britain about a month before its official release in July 2005. Two people were charged after reportedly trying to sell a copy to the London tabloid the Sun.

Four "Potter" movies made by Warner Bros. film studio, a division of Time Warner Inc., have brought in $3.5 billion in global ticket sales, and a fifth film is due in theaters in early July.

Video games as cancer therapy?

Parents struggle, strain and stress out trying to get sick children to take their medicine. Typically, this involves insidious tactics like crushing pills into pudding and playing endless hours of "Aspirin Airplane," but judging by the piles of strained peas covering kitchen floors, it's clear the kids usually win.

When it comes to fighting cancer, however, coercion takes a back seat to innovation. Instead of tricking patients into taking their pills, a joint effort by Cigna Healthcare and HopeLab is helping afflicted youth better understand their illness through an action-packed computer game.

Re-Mission is a third-person shooter that lets users fight cancer as a perky nanobot named Roxxi. Each of the game's 20 missions drops the player into the body of a patient afflicted with a specific form of cancer, ranging from common diseases like Hodgkins to rarities like Ewing's sarcoma. Featuring weapons like the Chemo Blaster, the Radiation Gun, and the Antibiotic Rocket, the game encourages users to zap malignant cells while enlisting the aid of helpful characters like Dendritic cells, T-cells and Platelets.

Unlike most educational gaming efforts, Re-Mission was designed from the start to be a viable, challenging action game. High-end 3D graphics, multiple weapon upgrades, and a variety of meters to manage have helped stave off the dreaded "edutainment" label that many gamers equate with a distinct lack of fun. By way of its visceral punch and frantic action, the product has even earned a "Teen" rating.

Most importantly, the game seems to be working on a medical level. The results of a 2006 Re-Mission study indicate that most of the respondents showed an increase in cancer knowledge and an improvement in their ability to manage treatment.

Re-Mission is being distributed to cancer patients for free at http://www.cigna.com/Re-mission. Further information can be found at http://www.re-mission.net, which also houses the product's community site.

How to deal with an office jerk

from Robert M. Detman, for Yahoo! HotJobs

Office life can have its ups and downs, but having to endure a jerk can make it miserable. Office jerks take on many forms, and thus require creative strategies for dealing with them.

Here's the six common types of office jerks and how to deal with them:

1. The Loud Phone-Talker. "Obviously the first step is to pull them aside quietly and ask them to lower their voice when using the phone," says Julie Jansen, a career coach, consultant, and trainer. "If this doesn't stop them, you could dish out the same treatment and stand near their cube on your cell phone and talk loudly. Or you can hold up a sign that says, 'Please turn volume down.'"

2. The Hang-Arounder. When confronting the co-worker who chronically lingers to chat when you are trying to make a deadline -- a subtle jerk, but a jerk nonetheless -- try standing up when they enter your office or cube. "The unspoken message of your body language will clearly tell him or her to keep it brief and head for the door," says Ken Lloyd, author of "Jerks at Work: How to Deal With People Problems and Problem People."

3. The Idea Stealer. There is a strong possibility that this jerk can't distinguish between a good idea and a bad one. "Somewhere along the way, slip in a really bad idea and let the jerk steal that," Lloyd says. However, beware that this might only encourage the jerk to become worse.

4. The Meeting Monopolizer. Get creative. "Try eliminating the chairs and making it a standup meeting," Lloyd suggests. The monopolizer will likely get thrown off and won't have time to settle into the usual routine of unproductive dominance.

5. The Bully. Remember, you're not in high school anymore. "Hold your ground and refuse to be bullied," says Steve Piazzale, a career and life coach who runs BayAreaCareerCoach.com. "They'll usually back off over time."

6. The Boss. Sometimes dealing with a jerk should not be your problem, particularly if you have a manager who is a jerk. In this case you might take a look around the company and notice several jerks. "This may be part of the company culture," Piazzale says. "In which case get out!"

More general coping strategies:

1. Passive. Avoidance is the most obvious solution if you don't want a confrontation with any type of office jerk. "You can go to your boss and ask him to intervene," says Jansen. Or, if things are really unbearable, you could ask to be relocated to another part of the office.

2. Active. Avoidance can backfire if the jerk continues the annoying behavior. Try talking to the person. "Difficult people don't always know they're being difficult," Jansen says. "People generally don't have a very high level of self-awareness, so specific and constructive feedback is important."

If you must confront a jerk, it is wise to take the high road. Career coach Piazzale says, "Try to understand where the behavior is coming from, and tailor your response to that."

How to find the love of your life

1. Know what you want. Your looks change and fade, character does not. While a certain amount of "chemistry" is nice, don't rely solely on lust. Determine what qualities you are looking for in a mate.
2. Get clear about what you don't want. Knowing what you really can't tolerate in a partner is important. Make a list of your "don't wants" and then cut it down to the 10 most important. Any more than that and you'll be too picky.
3. Live your life. Once you know clearly what you want (and don't want) in a relationship, shift your focus to living your life. You'll find that you start noticing those who might fit, and passing by those who don't.
4. See the big picture. Don't try so hard that you miss the obvious. If you are great at focusing, step back now and then and look at the big picture. Work on having a playful, whimsical attitude towards life.
5. Get out of the house. Cultivate opportunities to expand your social circle and meet new people. Vary your routine. Entertain - throw parties - to enlarge your social circle.
6. Open your eyes and your attitude. Lucky people notice, create and maximize chance opportunities. Chat with other shoppers while you are waiting in line. Be ready with a "calling card" - a personal business-type card with basic contact information.
7. Get curious. Don't content yourself with the obvious. Ask questions. Wonder why. Find answers.
8. Try something new. The best way to have things stay the same is to never do anything different. Vary your daily routine, just to keep yourself awake. Shake yourself up and notice what happens. Keep yourself open to chance opportunities, and then take advantage of them.
9. Expect good luck. Monitor your self-talk for negative messages that interfere with luck. Replace the negative thoughts with positives. Surround yourself with examples of lucky people.
10. Learn from bad luck. Take steps to prevent more bad luck from what you have learned, then let the "bad" go. Don't dwell on or rehash the bad experience. Look for the positive elements.

- from Kathryn Lord, romance coach and author of "Find A Sweetheart Soon! Your Love Trip Planner for Women".

Gun battle at the church

LONDON (Reuters) - The Church of England has expressed outrage at Sony's PlayStation game "Resistance: Fall of Man," which depicts a shootout in the nave of Manchester Cathedral. Anglican church leaders have accused the Japanese entertainment giant of "virtual desecration" and demanded that it apologize and withdraw the gun-filled computer game.

It also urged Sony to contribute funds to help Manchester Cathedral fight gun crime that has gripped the northern England city.

"The video footage of the cathedral battle on YouTube has shocked and dismayed us beyond words. They can only be described as virtual desecration," Rogers Govender, Dean of Manchester Cathedral, told reporters.

"We are shocked to see a place of worship, prayer, learning and heritage being presented to the youth of today as a location where guns can be fired," he added.

Manchester Cathedral said Sony had not asked permission, but the company released a statement claiming that it has sought and received all permissions necessary for the creation of the game.

"Sony Computer Entertainment Europe stressed that the game "is a fantasy science fiction game and is not based on reality."

Asked what Sony's next move would be, a spokesman said on Monday: "We are now in contact with the Cathedral authorities and will be dealing with them directly."

Cathedral Dean Govender, clearly dismayed by the game's content, said: "We were sickened to discover that the millions of people who play the game have a choice of weaponry to use within the cathedral."

Govender said it was well known that Manchester had a serious problem with gun crime, noting that three youths had recently been shot.

"Every year we invite hundreds of teenagers to come and see the cathedral so they might appreciate an alternative to the violence they experience in their daily lives," he said.

Laying out the cathedral's conditions, he said Sony should apologize unreservedly and withdraw the game.

He said the church authorities would also ask Sony to make a substantial donation to its education department for work in trying to combat Manchester's gun culture.

"For the global manufacturer Sony to recreate the interior of any religious building such as a mosque, a synagogue or in this case a cathedral with photo realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief."

16 Things My Dad Taught Me

1. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight-savings time.

2. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

3. The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.

4. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.

5. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.

6. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

7. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

8. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

9. The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.

10. If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.

11. You should not confuse your career with your life.

12. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

13. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

14. When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.

15. Your friends love you, anyway.

16. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

- from AskMen.com

Don't get mad...

Feeling like you want to choke your fellow employee, or worse, your boss?

According to Yahoo! HotJobs, recent research shows a welcome decline in workplace stress, but, like an unhealthy condition that never really goes away, the reality of workplace stress can still lead to uncomfortable situations at the office.

A study done by career coach Rachelle J. Canter and Opinion Research Group revealed that there was a 15-point drop from 2000 to 2007 in the percentage of people who reported workplace stress is a problem for them at least occasionally. She also found that 16 percent of workers said this year that stress caused them to yell at a co-worker (down from 29 percent in 2000).

The overall atmosphere may have improved, but for workers stuck in an office with a co-worker who yells at them, damages property, or shows signs of "office rage," life is difficult. Canter defines office rage as "verbal or physical abuse that is out of proportion and inappropriate in a workplace setting."

Some tips:
1. Don't Take It Personally

If you're faced with a coworker who overacts or lashes out in an inappropriate manner, don't take it personally, said anger management expert Leonard Ingram, who created angermgmt.com. "Other people are going to get angry at you whether the anger is just or not."

The next step is to "not make yourself angrier than you need to be," Ingram said, noting that you shouldn't stew, or form an inner dialogue that makes you angry.

2. Allow Some Room to Vent

From there, give the angry colleague the "opportunity to diffuse, calm down, and make their own case -- people tend to appreciate that."

The key is empathy, Ingram said, which does not mean that if you are the victim of office rage, you're legitimizing their bad behavior. After the most tense moments have passed, Ingram suggests you "ask them what happened to make them so upset. That gives them an option to get rational for a moment."

3. It Can Happen to You, Too

If you find yourself overreacting at the office, chances are the cause goes far beyond your inbox, said Liz Bywater, president of Bywater Consulting Group. "People will often arrive at the office primed to lose it," Bywater said, noting that traffic, family issues or a bad night's sleep can set you up for office rage.

The simplest step is to just remove yourself from the situation if you think you can't control your anger.

"It's perfectly appropriate to say 'You know what, I'm a little hot under the collar, and I don't think it is just about this.' Walk away from it if you can."

4. Take a Breather

It also helps to make some sort of physical change, Bywater said.

"Try deep breathing, go out and get some fresh air, maybe your blood sugar has dropped."

The larger issue is to figure out why you slipped into office rage, especially if it is a pattern.

"Maybe you're in a work environment you can't tolerate" she said, "but more often than not you have to look at what else is wrong."

Man outruns horse

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson got a head start without having to jump offside, and beat his coverage to the goal line again.

Johnson was waiting at the finish line when Restore the Roar arrived at the end of his one-eighth-mile gallop. Yes, Johnson raced a horse Saturday and easily won.

Johnson was spotted a 100-meter lead -- roughly about half the distance the horse had to cover in the race for charity. And when it was over, Johnson, as usual, was anything but humble. He sounded ready to take on boxing, basketball and NASCAR.

"Floyd Mayweather, you're next," Johnson said. "I want to fight you. I'd like to take Kobe and LeBron one-on-one. Jeff Gordon, we can take a couple laps. ... Now it's my time to take over the race world."

The 4-year-old colt's jockey, P.J. Cooksey, rode a horse that beat former Bengals receiver Cris Collinsworth in 1993. She sounded more impressed with Johnson's speed.

"He's quick," Cooksey said. "He's a fast man. That was phenomenal. When I looked over at him, all I could see were his legs; they looked like a windmill. He was a blur. I was beat bad."

The latest on deja vu

Déjà vu (French for "already seen"); an uncanny feeling or illusion of having already seen or experienced something that is being experienced for the first time.

If we assume that the experience is actually of a remembered event, then déjà vu probably occurs because an original experience was neither fully attended to nor elaborately encoded in memory. If so, then it would seem most likely that the present situation triggers the recollection of a fragment from one's past. The experience may seem uncanny if the memory is so fragmented that no strong connections can be made between the fragment and other memories.

Thus, the feeling that one has been there before is often due to the fact that one has been there before. One has simply forgotten most of the original experience because one was not paying close attention the first time. The original experience may even have occurred only seconds or minutes earlier.

The brain cranks out memories near its center, in a looped wishbone of tissue called the hippocampus. But an article from LiveScience.com reports on a new study suggesting that only a small chunk of it, called the dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories—information that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart.

The finding helps explain where déjà vu originates in the brain, and why it happens more frequently with increasing age and with brain-disease patients, said MIT neuroscientist Susumu Tonegawa. The study is detailed today in the online version of the journal Science.

Like a computer logging its programs’ activities, the dentate gyrus notes a situation’s pattern—it’s visual, audio, smell, time and other cues for the body’s future reference. So what happens when its abilities are jammed?

When Tonegawa and his team bred mice without a fully-functional dentate gyrus, the rodents struggled to tell the difference between two similar but different situations.

“These animals normally have a distinct ability to distinguish between situations,” Tonegawa said, like humans. “But without the dentate gyrus they were very mixed up.”

Déjà vu is a memory problem, Tonegawa explained, occurring when our brains struggle to tell the difference between two extremely similar situations. As people age, Tonegawa said déjà-vu-like confusion happens more often—and it also happens in people suffering from brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. “It’s not surprising,” he said, “when you consider the fact that there’s a loss of or damage to cells in the dentate gyrus.”

As an aging neuroscientist, Tonegawa admitted it’s a typical phenomenon with him. “I do a lot of traveling so I show up in brand new airports, and my brain tells me it’s been here before,” he said. “But the rest of my brain knows better.”

Top 15 signs of a drunk

1. You lose arguments with inanimate objects.
2. You have to hold on to the lawn to keep from falling off the Earth.
3. Your job starts to interfere with your drinking.
4. Your doctor finds traces of blood in your alcohol stream.
5. The back of your head keeps getting hit by the toilet seat.
6. You sincerely believe alcohol is the elusive 5th food group.
7. Every woman you see has an identical twin.
8. You fall off the floor.
9. Your idea of cutting back is less salt.
10. Every night you're beginning to find your neighbor's cat more and more attractive.
11. Your moral is: I'm not drunk, you're just sober!!!
12. You don't recognize your wife unless she's seen from the bottom of a glass.
13. That dammned pink elephant followed you home again.
14. You have a reserved parking space at the liquor store.
15. The shrubbery's drunk too, from frequent watering.

- From Askmen.com

So young and so...robotic

A group of scientists in Japan have developed a humanoid that acts like a toddler to better understand child development.

The Child-Robot with Biomimetic Body, or CB2, was developed by a team of researchers at Osaka University in western Japan and is designed to move just like a real child aged between one and three years old.

CB2, 4.3 feet tall and weighing 73 pounds, changes facial expressions and crawls on the floor.

The robot's movements are smooth fitted with 56 actuators in lieu of muscle. It has 197 sensors for touch, small cameras working as eyes, and an audio sensor.

CB2 can also speak using an artificial vocal cord.

When it stands on its feet, the robot wobbles like a child who is learning how to walk.

Minoru Asada, a professor at Osaka University who leads the project, said the robot was developed to learn more about child development. The goal is to study human recognition development such as how the child learns a language, recognizes objects and learns to communicate with his father and mother.

Now showing: Ocean's Thirteen

In Ocean's Eleven, Danny (George Clooney) and Rusty (Brad Pitt) assembled a team of specialists to rob three Las Vegas casinos run by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) and not coincidentally get back Danny's wife from Benedict, too. Ocean's Twelve was the sequel about Benedict's revenge, a romance for Rusty with an Interpol agent, and a complicated European heist. Now, Danny Ocean and his gang is back in Ocean's Thirteen, where they try to pull off their most ambitious and riskiest casino heist in order to defend one of their own. But they’re going to need more than luck on their side to break The Bank. Ruthless casino owner Willy Bank never imagined that the odds were against him when he double-crossed Danny Ocean’s friend and mentor Reuben Tishkoff, putting the distraught Reuben in a hospital bed in critical condition. But Bank miscalculated - badly. He may have taken down one of the original Ocean’s eleven, but he left the others standing and, worse for him, gave them a shared purpose: to take Bank down on the night of what should be his greatest triumph - the grand opening of his new casino, appropriately named The Bank. Their strategy is twofold. First they will ruin him financially by turning the tables on the precept that the house always wins. But that’s just money. The knockout punch will be to Bank’s personal pride and joy: his reputation as the only hotelier who has earned the Royal Review Board’s Five Diamond Award on every single one of his hotels. The plan is elaborate, dangerous and damn near impossible - but there are no limits when it comes to one of their own.

Starring: George Clooney, Ellen Barkin, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

A frog that glows in the dark

Scientists have announced the discovery of two dozen new species in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname, including a frog with fluorescent purple markings and 12 kinds of dung beetles. Suriname is a South American country which borders Brazil, Guyana and French Guiana.

The species were discovered during a 2005 expedition led by the US-based nonprofit Conservation International in rainforests and swamps about 80 miles southeast of Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname. The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies hoping to excavate the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and it was unknown how the findings would affect their plans.

Aside from the fluorescent frog (known as the atelopus frog) and dung beetles, other species found were six types of fish, 12 dung beetles, and one ant species.

The scientists called for better conservation management in the unprotected, state-owned areas, where hunting and small-scale illegal mining is rampant.

The study was financed by Suriname Aluminum Company LLC and BHP Billiton Maatschappij Suriname. Suriname Aluminum, which has a government concession to explore gold in the area, will include the data in its environmental assessment study.

About 80 percent of Suriname is covered with dense rainforest. Thousands of Brazilians and Surinamese are believed to work in illegal gold mining, creating mercury pollution that has threatened the health of Amerindians and Maroons in Suriname's interior.

Today in history

June 5, 1883: John Maynard Keynes, British economist, was born

John Maynard Keynes is one the most important figures in the entire history of economics. He revolutionized economics with his classic book, "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" (1936), generally regarded as probably the most influential social science treatise of the 20th century. The book quickly and permanently changed the way the world looked at the economy and the role of government in society. No other single book, before or since, has had quite such an impact.

Keynes was the son of John Neville Keynes, an economics lecturer at Cambridge University, and Florence Ada Brown, a successful author and a social reformist. His younger brother Geoffrey Keynes (1887–1982) was a surgeon and bibliophile and his younger sister Margaret (1890–1974) married the Nobel-prize-winning physiologist Archibald Hill.

Keynes was very tall at 6 ft 6 in.

In 1918, Keynes met Lydia Lopokova, a well-known Russian ballerina, and they married in 1925. By most accounts, the marriage was a happy one. Before meeting Lopokova, Keynes's love interests had been men, including a relationship with the artist Duncan Grant and with the writer Lytton Strachey. For medical reasons, Keynes and Lopokova were unable to have children, though both his siblings had children of note.

Keynes was ultimately a successful investor, building up a substantial private fortune. He was nearly wiped out following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, but he soon recouped his fortune. He enjoyed collecting books: for example, he collected and protected many of Isaac Newton's papers. He was interested in literature in general and drama in particular and supported the Cambridge Arts Theatre financially, which allowed the institution to become, at least for a while, a major British stage outside of London.

Bertrand Russell named Keynes as the most intelligent person he had ever known, commenting, "Every time I argued with Keynes, I felt that I took my life in my hands, and I seldom emerged without feeling something of a fool."'

Keynes' ideas, called Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory as well as on many governments' fiscal policies. He advocated interventionist government policy, by which the government would use fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions, depressions and booms. Economists consider him one of the main founders of modern theoretical macroeconomics. His expression "In the long run, we are all dead" is much quoted.

He died in 1946, soon after arranging the guarantee of an American loan to Great Britain.

Today in history

June 4, 1989: Ayatalloh Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran dies at 86 of internal bleeding.

Little is known of Khomeini's early life. There are various dates given for his birth, the most common being May 17, 1900, and September 24, 1902. He was the grandson and son of mullahs, or Shi'ite religious leaders. When he was five months old, his father was killed on the orders of a local landlord. The young Khomeini was raised by his mother and aunt and then by his older brother. He was educated in various Islamic schools, and he settled in the city of Qom about 1922. About 1930 he adopted the name of his home town, Khomayn (also spelled Khomeyn or Khomen), as his surname. As a Shi'ite scholar and teacher, Khomeini produced numerous writings on Islamic philosophy, law, and ethics, but it was his outspoken opposition to Iran's ruler, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, his denunciations of Western influences, and his uncompromising advocacy of Islamic purity that won him his initial following in Iran. In the 1950s he was acclaimed as an ayatollah, or major religious leader, and by the early 1960s he had received the title of grand ayatollah, thereby making him one of the supreme religious leaders of the Shi'ite community in Iran.

In 1962–63 Khomeini spoke out against the shah's reduction of religious estates in a land-reform program and against the emancipation of women. His ensuing arrest sparked antigovernment riots, and, after a year's imprisonment, Khomeini was forcibly exiled from Iran on November 4, 1964. He eventually settled in the Shi'ite holy city of Al-Najaf, Iraq, from where he continued to call for the shah's overthrow and the establishment of an Islamic republic in Iran. Khomeini arrived in Tehran in triumph on February 1, 1979, and was acclaimed as the religious leader of Iran's revolution. He appointed a government four days later and on March 1 again took up residence in Qom. In December a referendum on a new constitution created an Islamic republic in Iran, with Khomeini named Iran's political and religious leader for life. The main thrust of Khomeini's foreign policy was the complete abandonment of the shah's pro-Western orientation and the adoption of an attitude of unrelenting hostility toward both superpowers. In addition, Iran tried to export its brand of Islamic revivalism to neighbouring Muslim countries. Khomeini sanctioned Iranian militants' seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran (November 4, 1979) and their holding of American diplomatic personnel as hostages for more than a year. He also refused to countenance a peaceful solution to the Iran-Iraq War, which had begun in 1980 and which he insisted on prolonging in the hope of overthrowing Saddam. Khomeini finally approved a cease-fire in 1988 that effectively ended the war. Ideologically, he is best remembered for having developed the concept of vilayat-e faqih (“guardianship of the jurist”) in a series of lectures and tracts first promulgated during exile in Iraq in the late 1960s and '70s. Khomeini argued therein for the establishment of a theocratic government administered by Islamic jurists in place of corrupt secular regimes. The Iranian constitution of 1979 embodies articles upholding this concept of juristic authority.

More Shakespeare quotes

"I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you."

- From The Merchant of Venice (I, iii, 35-39)

And so we meet Shylock, one of the most fascinating and controversial characters in Shakespeare's canon. Some critics argue that Shakespeare's Shylock is a stereotype, a completely villainous Jew, reflecting the anti-Semitism of the times. Others contend that Shylock is a tragic figure. In this scene, we are introduced to him for the first time, as a moneylender to whom Antonio (the Merchant) eventually turns in order to help his friend Bassanio court Portia, a beautiful, wealthy heiress. Bassanio has invited Shylock to meet Antonio at dinner, an invitation that Shylock declines. He declares that he will do business with Christians but will not interact with them socially. Just then Antonio comes along, and in an aside Shylock talks of his dislike for him, as Antonio lends money without charging interest and thus competes with the professional usurers of Venice.

Joke of the day

A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead where driving down the road, when a cop starts to chase them.

They rush off and crash into the side of a barn, they immediately jump out of the car and hide under potato sacks.

The cop runs in after them, and the first potato sack he comes to the brunette is under. He kicks it and the brunette says, "MEEEEOOOOOOW," and the cop says, "Oh! It's just a stupid cat."

He then moves to the potato sack the redhead is under and kicks it. The redhead replies, "ROOF, ROOF," the cop, angry now, says, "STUPID DOG!!"

Then the cop gets to the potato sack the blonde is under, he kicks it with great force and the blonde screams, "POOOOOOTAAAAAAATOOOOOOO!"

The British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest libraries. It receives a copy of every publication produced in the UK and Ireland. The collection includes 150 million items, in most known languages. Three million new items are incorporated every year, which include manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazines, prints and drawings, music scores, and patents. The library has a Sound Archive that keeps sound recordings from 19th-century cylinders to the latest CD, DVD and minidisc recordings. There are also 8 million stamps and other philatelic items. Some facts about the British Library:

- the entire collection requires over 625 km of shelves, and grow 12km every year
- if you see 5 items each day, it would take you 80,000 years to see the whole of the collection
- the earliest dated printed book, the Diamond Sutra, can be seen in the library's exhibition galleries alongside many other national treasures
- it has on-site space for over 1,200 readers
- more than 16,000 people use the collections each day
- online catalogues, information and exhibitions can be found on the library's website
- it operates the world's largest document delivery service providing millions of items a year to customers all over the world

What you need to know about... the French Open Tennis Championships

The French Open, officially known as Roland Garros, is a tennis tournament held over two weeks between mid-May and early June in Paris, France. It is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar and is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world.

Officially the "Tournoi de Roland-Garros" (the "Roland Garros Tournament" in English), the tournament is often referred to as the French Open. It is named after its stadium, which is in turn named after the World War I pilot.

The French Open began as a national tournament in 1891. In 1925, the French Championships opened itself to international competitors with the event held on a grass surface alternatively between the Racing Club de France and the Stade Français.
Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce when compared to grass courts or hard courts. Clay court specialists have evolved who often succeed here while many higher ranked players struggle. Pete Sampras, who won fourteen Grand Slam singles titles, Roger Federer, the current World No. 1, and Jimmy Connors have won every other Grand Slam singles tournament but never the French Open. As of 2006, the last six French Open men's singles championships were won by men who did not win any other Grand Slam tournament, as were the last 8 of 9, 11 of 13, and 13 of 17. On the female side of tennis, the French Open is the title that has prevented players such as Lindsay Davenport from achieving a career Grand Slam, and in 1997, it was the only Grand Slam singles tournament that Martina Hingis failed to win.

I like my car green

The 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid CVT AT-PZEV w/ Navigation System is the greenest car in the market today, with a Green Rating of 86 (tied with 2007 Toyota Prius Touring).
The Green Rating measures a vehicle's environmental friendliness on a scale of 1 to 100. The higher a vehicle's Green Rating, the "greener" it is and the lower its harm to both human health and the health of the planet.

A Yahoo! Autos exclusive, the Green Rating was developed in consultation with Environmental Defense, a leading nonprofit that finds practical ways to protect the planet. The Green Rating covers all the major environmental costs of a motor vehicle, including: unhealthy smog that comes from tailpipes, emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming, the fuel a vehicle consumes, and pollution from manufacturing the vehicle and its components.

More and more car shoppers care about how their choices affect the planet. Yahoo! Autos' Green Rating makes it easy for anyone to comparison shop with the environment in mind. Because all vehicles - sedans, coupes, vans, SUVs, trucks, etc. - are rated on a single 1 to 100 scale, you can use the Green Rating to find the most environmentally friendly vehicle that meets your needs. For example, a 3-point gain in Green Rating between SUVs that score 40 and 43, cuts pollution just as much as a 3-point Green Rating gain between compact cars that score 60 and 63.

You might already look at fuel efficiency when you compare vehicles. But since the Green Rating also reflects tailpipe emissions and other factors, it simplifies the task of weighing the many aspects of a car's environmental friendliness. Some car shoppers think that they need to buy a hybrid, use an alternative fuel or buy a small car in order to buy green. While such vehicles can indeed tread more lightly on the planet, the Green Ratings can help you make a greener choice no matter what kind of car you choose.

Your dog must be dreaming

Do dogs dream? If you’re a pet owner, you’ve probably already guessed that the answer to this is YES! But are they really dreaming – and if so, what in the world do they dream about?

Many scientists say there is evidence to support the notion that dogs, cats, and in fact, every mammal that’s been studied, does experience dreams.

There are two main types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow wave sleep (SWS). SWS and REM sleep in pets are very similar to that of humans. During this time, the brain processes information learned during the day. Think of it as sorting new information into different mental file folders.

At some point during these two kinds of sleep, dreams take over — in humans as well as in pets. Thus, the twitching, tail wagging, yipping, and pawing your dog does in his sleep, or the tail whipping, chattering, yowling and swatting from your napping cat is likely a reliving of whatever experiences he’s had while awake.

Of course, human dreams also get a lot of their material from the imagination, which makes us wonder if dogs and cats have imaginations in addition to memories. Anyone who has witnessed their playful cat pay attention to something that’s seemingly not there, and then react to it, is likely to believe their cat must have an active imagination.

In humans, scientists have found that when awakened during REM sleep, the subject has reported having a dream. During the REM sleep, the human brain has a lot of “gamma activity” going on, just like it does when the person is awake. This means that essentially, the brain is behaving just as it does when conscious. Since every mammal studied shows the same brain activity during REM sleep as us humans, it’s not such a leap to believe that your pet really is dreaming.

Ok – not every mammal studied has the same brain activity. The duck-billed platypus experiences more REM sleep than any other mammal, yet its brain activity is completely different during this time of sleep. However, this should come as no surprise from a mammal that lays eggs.

Adult dogs spend about 10 to 12 percent of their sleeping time in REM sleep. Puppies and kittens spend a much greater proportion of their sleep time in REM sleep, which makes sense since they’ve been so busy all day exploring their new world. They have tons of new data to process, sort and store into their memories.

So the next time your pet has an unusually exciting experience during the morning, pay special attention to his behavior while he naps that afternoon. You might just catch your pet reliving the past — in dreams.

Today in history

June 3, 1963: Pope John XXIII dies at 81

Pope John XXIII, born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. He called the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) but did not live to see it to completion, dying on June 3, 1963 two months after the completion of his final encyclical, "Pacem in Terris". He was beatified on September 3, 2000, along with Pope Pius IX, the first popes since Pope St. Pius X to receive this honor. His feast day is October 11 in the Catholic Church. He is also commemorated on June 3 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and on June 4 by the Anglican Church of Canada.

Joke of the day

A blonde, a redhead and a brunette were at the gynecologist having pre-natal checkups The doctor asked the redhead
"In what position was the baby conceived ?"
"He was on top ", she replied.
"You will have a boy !" the doctor exclaimed.

The brunette was asked the same question.
"I was on top ", was the reply.
"you will have a baby girl." said the doctor.

With this, the blonde burst into tears.

"What's the matter ?" asked the doc.

"Am I going to have puppies ?"

More Shakespeare quotes

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

- From A Midsummer Night's Dream (I, i, 134)

Lysander and Hermia are in love in this whimsical tale of love and magic in the woods outside Athens. Hermia's father, however, insists that Hermia marry Demetrius, and goes to the Duke of Athens, Theseus, to complain that his daughter is disobedient, and to demand that Theseus invoke the law requiring a daughter to obey her father or else die, or enter a nunnery. Theseus tells Hermia that her father's authority over her is complete and absolute, and she must obey him in this regard. Once left alone, Lysander and Hermia ponder their situation, at which point Lysander reminds his beloved that true love is always beset with obstacles. He suggests that they elope the next night. The theme of true love not running smoothly (and the problems this brings) repeats again and again in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

The wheel - the greatest invention in history

A wheel is a circular device capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation or performing labor in machines. A wheel together with an axle overcomes friction by facilitating motion by rolling. Common examples are found in transport applications. More generally the term is also used for other circular objects that rotate or turn, such as a ship's wheel and flywheel. Most authorities regard the wheel as one of the oldest and most important inventions, which originated in ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) in the 5th millennium BC, originally in the function of potter's wheels. The wheel reached India and Pakistan with the Indus Valley Civilization in the 3rd millennium BC. Near the northern side of the Caucasus several graves were found, in which since 3700 BC people had been buried on wagons or carts (both types). The earliest depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (a wagon consisting of four wheels and two axles), is on the Bronocice pot, a ca. 3500 BC clay pot excavated in southern Poland. The invention of the wheel has also been important for technology in general, important applications including the water wheel, the cogwheel (see also antikythera mechanism), the spinning wheel, and the astrolabe or torquetum. More modern descendants of the wheel include the propeller, the jet engine, the flywheel (gyroscope) and the turbine. The wheel has also become a strong cultural and spiritual metaphor for a cycle or regular repetition, including chakra, reincarnation, Yin and Yang, among others.

The winged wheel is a symbol of progress, seen in many contexts including the coat of arms of Panama.

The introduction of spoked (chariot) wheels in the Middle Bronze Age appear to have carried somewhat of a prestige. The solar wheel appears to have a significance in Bronze Age religion, replacing the earlier concept of a Solar barge with the more "modern" and technologically advanced solar chariot.

The wheel is also the prominent figure on the Indian Flag. The wheel in this case represents law.

All about... telekinesis

Telekinesis or psychokinesis, also known as mind over matter, is the ability to move things or otherwise affect the property of things with the power of the mind. Of psychic abilities, true psychokinesis is one of the rarest. Few have been able to demonstrate this ability, and even those demonstrations are highly contested by the skeptics. Some people who have demonstrated remarkable telekinetic abilities are:
1. Stanislawa Tomczyk. Born in Poland, Tomczyk came to the attention of investigators when it was reported that startling poltergeist-like activity occurred spontaneously around her. She could control some telekinetic feats, but only under hypnosis.

2. Nina Kulagina. One of the most celebrated and scrutinized psychics to claim psychokinetic powers was Nina Kulagina, a Russian woman who discovered her abilities while attempting to develop other psychic powers. Reportedly, she has demonstrated her powers by mentally moving a wide range of nonmagnetic objects, including matches, bread, large crystal bowls, clock pendulums, a cigar tube and a salt shaker among other things. Some of these demonstrations have been captured on film.

3. Uri Geller. Geller is one of the most well-known "psychics" who has publicly demonstrated feats of psychokinesis: spoon and key bending have become almost synonymous with Geller's name. Although many skeptics and magicians consider his metal-bending performances nothing more than adroit sleight-of-hand, Geller has allegedly shown that he can manifest the effects over great distances and in multiple locations. On a British radio show in 1973, after demonstrating key bending to the astonishment of the host, Geller invited the listening audience to participate. Just minutes later, phone calls began pouring into the radio station from listeners all over the UK reporting that knives, forks, spoons, keys and nails began to bend and twist spontaneously. Watches and clocks that had not run in years began to work. It was an event whose success surprised even Geller and thrust him into the spotlight.

Tourists will love this volcano

Mayon Volcano is an active volcano in the Philippines on the island of Luzon, in the province of Albay in the Bicol Region. Its almost perfectly-shaped cone is considered by some to be the Philippine equivalent of Mount Fuji in Japan. 15 kilometers to the southeast of the volcano is Legazpi City.

Mayon is classified by volcanologists as a stratovolcano (composite volcano). Its symmetric cone was formed through alternate pyroclastic and lava flows. Mayon is the most active volcano in the country, having erupted over 50 times in the past 400 years. It is located between the Eurasian and the Philippine Plate, at a convergent plate boundary: where a continental plate meets an oceanic plate, the lighter continental plate overrides the oceanic plate, forcing it down; magma is formed where the rock melts. Like other volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean, Mayon is a part of the "Pacific Ring of Fire".

Of men and vampires

Anne Rice (born October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American author of gothic and later religious themed books. Best known for her "Vampire Chronicles," her prevailing thematical focus is on love, death, immortality, existentialism, and the human condition. She was married to poet Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history. Rice and her husband had a daughter Michele, who was born on September 21, 1966 and died of leukemia on August 5, 1972. Their son Christopher Rice, now a novelist, was born March 11, 1978.

She completed her first book, "Interview with the Vampire," in 1973 and published it in 1976. This book would be the first in Rice's popular "Vampire Chronicles" series, which includes 1985's "The Vampire Lestat" and 1988's "The Queen of the Damned". Rice has also published adult-oriented fiction under the pen name Anne Rampling, and has written explicit sado-masochistic erotica as A.N. Roquelaure.

Her fiction is often described as lush and descriptive, and her characters' sexuality is fluid, often displaying homoerotic feelings towards each other. Rice said that the bisexuality was what she was looking for in her characters; a love beyond gender especially with the "Vampire Chronicles" because the vampires where not of human society, therefore did not go by the expectations of that society. She also weaves philosophical and historic themes into the dense pattern of her books. To her admirers, Rice's books are among the best in modern popular fiction, possessing those elements that create a lasting presence in the literary canon. To her critics, her novels are baroque, "low-brow pulp" and redundant.

Polish man wakes up after 19 years in coma

A man from Poland who spent 19 years in a coma has woken up and will now have to adapt to a country where the communists are no longer in power.

Jan Grzebski fell into a coma in 1988 after he was hit by a train, and said he owed his survival to his wife, Gertruda.

"She's the one who always took care of me. She saved my life," he said.

Grzebski was a father of four at the time of the accident. He is now trying to acquaint himself with 11 grandchildren.

Doctors had not expected Grzebski to survive, let alone emerge from the coma.

"I cried a lot, and I prayed a lot. Those who came to see us kept asking: 'When is he going to die?' But he's not dead," said Getruda.

Poland's communist regime was still clinging onto power when Grzebski had his accident, only losing its grip the following year, in 1989.

On the brash neon-lit streets of new European Union member Poland, the period seems a distant memory.

"What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning. I've got nothing to complain about," said Grzebski.

American presidents have a 20-year death cycle?

A detailed analysis has revealed that with one exception since 1840, US presidents who have been elected in years ending in '0' have either been assassinated or have died of natural causes while in office. This 20-year death cycle has been recognized for many decades. An edition of Ripley's Believe It or Not, published in 1934, noted the coincidental 20-year pattern of presidential deaths between 1840 and 1920, with question marks inserted for the upcoming 1940 entry. This implied that there could be a continuation of the cyclic pattern, which was fulfilled when Franklin Roosevelt was re-elected in 1940 and subsequently died in office in 1945. Based on this 20-year death cycle, many astrologers correctly predicted the death of President John F. Kennedy when he was elected in 1960. Similarly, it was expected that President Reagan would also die in office, a prophecy that was almost fulfilled with the attempted assassination on March 30, 1981. Even more strangely, two Presidents, who were elected in years ending in ‘0’ - Lincoln and Roosevelt - both died in their following term after being re-elected in the ‘4’ year. Thus, the 20-year death cycle anticipated the successful re-election of these presidents. Curiously, George W. Bush was elected in 2000 and again in 2004. It is worth noting that presidents who were elected in a '0' year and died in office have all died in years ended in ‘1’, ‘3’ and ‘5’. Based on this trend, Mr. Bush's enemies would have been celebrating the news of his demise in 2005. But we all know that George W. is still alive and kicking. So what happens to the 20-year death cycle?

Quote of the day by William Shakespeare

"So wise so young, they say do never live long."

- From King Richard III (III, i, 79)

In one of the most moving scenes in this play, the evil Richard is planning the most foul act in his plot to make himself king of England. He has already had his brother Clarence murdered. His other brother, King Edward, is dead, and Richard has been made Lord Protector of Edward's two young sons: Edward, Prince of Wales (and next in line as king) and Richard, Duke of York. The two boys have arrived in London for the Crown Prince's coronation. Until now, Richard's murders have been of adults, but here he shows that he is just as capable of dispatching children. Richard tells the Crown Prince that he and his brother will reside in the Tower until the coronation, a suggestion that Prince Edward dislikes but agrees to. In an aside, Richard declares "So wise so young, they say do never live long." The Crown Prince asks "What say you, uncle?" Richard replies, "Without characters, fame lives long." The brothers, of course, will be murdered in the tower after Richard usurps the crown for himself.

California boy wins Scripps Spelling Bee

The winner of the spelling bee sounded as if he'd rather be at a math Olympiad. Thirteen-year-old Evan O'Dorney of Danville, California, breezed through the Scripps National Spelling Bee with barely a hitch Thursday night, taking the title, the trophy and the prizes in a competition that he confessed really wasn't his favorite. The home-schooled eighth-grader easily aced "serrefine" - a noun describing small forceps - to become the last youngster standing at the 80th annual bee. He triumphed after a tense duel with Nate Gartke of Spruce Grove, Alberta, who was trying to become the first Canadian to win.

Afterward, Evan spoke more enthusiastically about attending a math camp in Nebraska this summer than about becoming the English language's top speller.

"My favorite things to do were math and music, and with the math I really like the way the numbers fit together," he said. "And with the music I like to let out ideas by composing notes - and the spelling is just a bunch of memorization."

Evan, who tied for 14th last year, won $35,000 cash, plus a $5,000 scholarship, a $2,500 savings bond and a set of reference works. He said he knew how to spell the winning word as soon as the pronouncer said it.

Evan's victory came even though he wasn't able to stick to one of his superstitions. In previous bees, he has always eaten fish before competition, but he revealed he didn't do that this time because it wasn't on the menu of the Spelling Bee dinner.

Joke of the day

One day, the Lord spoke to Noah and said, "In six months I am going to make it rain until the whole world is covered with water and all the evil things are destroyed. But I want to save a few good people and two of every living thing on the planet. I am ordering you to build an ark." And in a flash of lightning, he delivered the specifications for the ark. "Okay," Noah said, trembling with fear and fumbling with the blueprints, "I'm your man."

Six months passed, the sky began to cloud up, and the rain began to fall in torrents. The Lord looked down and saw Noah sitting in his yard weeping, but there was no ark.

"Noah!" shouted the Lord, "Where is my ark?" A lightning bolt crashed into the ground right beside Noah.

"Lord, please forgive me!" begged Noah. "I did my best, but there were some big problems. First, I had to get a building permit for the ark's construction, but Your plans did not meet their code. So, I had to hire an engineer to redo the plans, only to get into a long argument with him about whether to include a sprinkler system.

My neighbors objected, claiming that I was violating zoning ordinances by building the ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning board.

Then, I had a big problem getting enough wood for the ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that I needed the wood to save the owls, but they wouldn't let me catch them, so no owls.

Next, I started gathering up the animals but got sued by an animal rights group that objected to me taking along only two of each kind.

Just when the suit got dismissed, the EPA notified me that I couldn't complete the ark without filling out an environmental impact statement on Your proposed flood. They didn't take kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the Supreme Being. Then, the Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed flood plan. I sent them a globe!

Right now, I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission over how many minorities I'm supposed to hire. The IRS has seized all my assets claiming that I am trying to leave the country, and I just got a notice from the state that I owe some kind of use tax. Really, I don't think I can finish the ark in less than five years."

With that, the sky cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up and smiled. "You mean you are not going to destroy the world?" he asked hopefully.

"No," said the Lord. "The government already has."

Your tie can make you blind

Research shows that wearing a tie can increase your risk of glaucoma, a condition that can lead to irreversible blindness. In a small trial, researchers found that wearing a tight necktie for just 3 minutes can increase pressure within the eyes enough to raise a person's risk of glaucoma. The tighter you tie it, the more a tie constricts the jugular vein, increasing the pressure in the blood vessels leading to the eyes.

Today in history

Henry VIII, King of England, was born on June 2, 1491.

King Henry VIII is probably the most famous, or infamous , King that England has ever had. Henry had never expected to become King of England as his older brother, Arthur, was due to become King until his early death. King Henry VIII was only 17 when he was crowned, but he became incredibly popular. One of his first acts was to reduce the level of taxation that his father had imposed on his subjects. He also had the organizers of the tax regime executed. These measures ensured that the English and Welsh people liked the new King. They also warmed to him as he was an energetic fun-loving King. His government was run largely by Ministers on his behalf. Henry, in the early years of his Kingship at least, did not like government. Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, his deceased brother's widow. This marriage made sure that the strong links with Spain were retained. Problems for Henry began when it became clear to him that his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was not going to produce a male heir to the throne. Catherine had given birth to several children but only one of them, Mary, lived beyond infancy. Henry was very anxious to have a son. Without one the Tudor dynasty would end almost as quickly as it had begun. Henry thought long and hard about what to do about this problem, and at the same time he started to fall in love with a young courtier called Anne Boleyn. Henry decided to remarry, an act that turned the religious world upside down and ended all links with Rome, from where the Roman Catholic Church was controlled. The impact of these changes and the way in which it affected life in Britain were both huge. Henry married six times in all and did have a son who could inherit his throne.

The history of ATMs

Speaking of ATMs, the first successful and modern ATM (automated teller machine) in the USA was invented by Don Wetzel, but he was not the first inventor to create an ATM. In 1939, Luther George Simjian started patenting an earlier and not-so-successful version of an ATM. Wetzel was the co-patentee and chief conceptualist of the ATM, an idea he said he thought of while waiting in line at a Dallas bank. At the time (1968) Wetzel was the Vice President of Product Planning at Docutel, the company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment. The other two inventors listed on the patent were Tom Barnes, the chief mechanical engineer and George Chastain, the electrical engineer. It took five million dollars to develop the ATM. The concept of the modern ATM first began in 1968, a working prototype came about in 1969 and Docutel was issued a patent in 1973. The first working ATM was installed in a New York-based Chemical Bank. The first ATMs were off-line machines, meaning money was not automatically withdrawn from an account. The bank accounts were not connected by a computer network to the ATM. Therefore, banks were at first very exclusive about who they gave ATM privileges to, giving them only to credit card holders (credit cards were used before ATM cards) with good banking records. Wetzel, Barnes and Chastain developed the first real ATM cards, cards with a magnetic strip and a personal ID number to get cash. ATM cards had to be different from credit cards (then without magnetic strips) so account information could be included.

Some criminals can be really stupid

If you are planning to commit a felony and want to get caught in a matter of minutes, leave your license plate at the scene of the crime.

In Kentucky, two men tried to pull the front off a cash machine by running a chain from the machine to the bumper of their pickup truck. Instead of pulling the front panel off the machine, they pulled the bumper off the truck. Scared, they left the scene and drove home, leaving the bumper and the attached license plate at the scene.

The Chinese will do anything for soccer

Chinese media was bubbling with reports of fanatic soccer nuts doing weird things during the World Cup. One man quit his job in Beijing just so he could move home and watch the games non-stop, said the state news agency Xinhua. It said the fellow's employer tried to keep him by offering a raise, but the man chose soccer. Reuters reported about one man who signed "a contract with his wife agreeing to do all the housework during the month of the finals so he could watch the matches at night." The news service also reported about a men who locked his wife in their bedroom after she turned off the TV because his loud cheering during a match was keeping her awake.

The Vatican is the smallest nation in the world

At approximately 44 hectares or 108.7 acres, the Vatican City is the smallest independent nation in the world. It was created in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756 to 1870). Vatican City is a non-hereditary, elected monarchy ruled by the Bishop of Rome, more popularly known as the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all clergymen of the Catholic Church. It is the sovereign territory of the Holy See and the location of the Apostolic Palace - the Pope's official residence. Thus, while the principal ecclesiastical seat (Cathedral) of the Pope as Bishop of Rome is located outside of its walls, in Rome, Vatican City can be said to be the governmental capital of the Catholic Church. The Vatican City State has the distinction of having the smallest and oldest regular army in the world, the Swiss Guard. It was founded by Pope Julius II on January 22, 1506, and originally made up of Swiss mercenaries from the Swiss Confederation. They currently number a little over 100 men and are also the personal bodyguards of the Pope. Recruitment is restricted to Catholic male Swiss citizens.

Church bulletins can be really hilarious

Some church bulletin bloopers I gathered from the Net:

1. Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa will be speaking tonight at Calvary Memorial Church in Racine. Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

2. "Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands."

3. The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water". The sermon tonight "Searching for Jesus".

4. Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

5. Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.

6. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.

7. Don't let worry kill you off-let the Church help.

Ancient Egyptians loved African grey parrots

The history of African Grey parrots kept as pets dates back over 4,000 years. Some Egyptian hieroglyphics clearly depict pet parrots. The ancient Greeks also valued parrots as pets, and this custom was later adopted by the wealthy Roman families often kept parrots in ornate cages, and parrots were prized for their ability to talk. King Henry VIII of England also had an African Grey parrot. The Portuguese sailors kept them as companions on their long sea voyages. Today, many African Grey parrots are hand reared by breeders for the pet trade and they make wonderful and very affectionate companion parrots; however, because they can be unpredictable at times, they may not be compatible with small children. African Grey parrots are very strong and they can bite with their powerful beaks. Their nails are naturally sharp and can scratch, although they don't use them aggressively. Pet owners often liken the experience of keeping an African Grey to raising a young child, both due to the birds' intelligence and the substantial time commitment which they require.

Source: Wikipedia