Today's Goulash: Tuesday 10/26

Got a big pot of items all stewed together for your enjoyment. Might be a few ingredients you don’t care for, feel free to push them to the side.
Ingredients include: STUPID ANIMAL TRICKS, STUPID HUMAN TRICKS, and BRILLIANT HUMAN TRICKS. All served with a side of sarcasm.

STUPID ANIMAL TRICKS
Dog Survives Montana Adventure
{they should rename him Roadrunner}

Deer Crashes Through Window of the “Balloons, Bears and Bouquets” Store
{a little doe cost a lot of bucks}

Turkey Vultures Take Over Indiana Yard
{When buzzards start roosting in your trees you better see the doctor}

Duck-billed platypus boasts ten sex chromosomes
{BRAGGART!}



STUPID HUMAN TRICKS
Ashlee Simpson’s Dad Blames Acid Reflux for Gaffe
{Ashlee?!?! I thought Bart’s sisters were Lisa and Maggie. Oh this is a pop star. In other news producers of Saturday Night Live defended the show’s name – “This was live lip syncing”}

Lawyer Defends Self Against Terror Charge
{A lawyer guilty of terror! Say it ain't so.}

Kidney Donor Wanted for Child Support
{This is related to my 10/21 post "Brother can you spare an organ". Donor is starting to sound suspicious; dare I speculate he donated a kidney for money under the (operating) table?}

Taiwan's Rowdy Lawmakers Stage Food Fight
{John Belushi would have loved this Animal House of Representatives}



BRILLIANT HUMAN TRICKS
Fla. Univ. Students Pay Author for Speech

God Bless’em, this is freedom in action. In a nutshell: Florida Gulf Coast University postponed anti-Bush speaker until after the election. Why? University president says he "feared funding a partisan event with state money ...(the speech would be) part of a mandatory program for freshmen." I agree with him. I also agree with and praise the student groups, who offered to pay the expenses for the speaker. Two of the groups stepping up to the plate to cover expenses are the College Republicans and College Democrats. Freedom of speech without the government picking up the tab. SWEET.

Spinning Earth twists space

A small step closer to proving an effect of gravity from spinning objects. In 1918 scientist Lense and Thirring predicted a spinning object would drag space around it. The Lense-Thirring effect or frame-dragging is important to understand extreme cases like spinning quasars and gas around black holes. It is part of Einstein's general theory of relativity. What they are trying to prove is objects sitting in space cause a curvature of the space that results in gravity.

Electric currents boost brain power

Attach a small battery to the head and think faster. US National Institutes of Health reports: The volunteers were asked to name as many words as possible beginning with a particular letter. Given around 90 seconds, most people get around 20 words. But when Iyer administered the current, her volunteers were able to name around 20% more words than controls, who had the electrodes attached but no current delivered. A smaller current of one thousandth of an amp had no effect.