Rick Blogs

This is a snake pulling a cow out of the water. Talk about a man eater! This picture is from Western Australia Take a careful look at this picture; see the size of the snake and the cow being pulled out of the water.....

Fruits and Vegetables wonderfully designed!!

NASA releases 59 new Hubble Space Telescope images of galaxies colliding to mark the 18th anniversary of the telescope's launch. We pick the 12 most beautiful images of some of the most dramatic events in space.

Divorce often gets blamed for a host of troubles faced by children whose parents split, and much past research has focused on the damage to children's well-being. But new research suggests that at least in one segment of overall well-being — bad behavior — divorce doesn't appear to be the reason for some behavior problems. "It really depends on the individual marriages and the family," says Allen Li, associate director of the Population Research Center at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif. "My conclusion is that divorce is neither bad nor good." His findings, to be presented Saturday in Chicago at a meeting of the non-profit Council on Contemporary Families, contrast with a body of research about divorce's effect on children that some researchers say has overestimated the difficulty that parents' divorce causes for children. more information on...

Google has launched a new developer sandbox for iGoogle gadgets that looks suspiciously like a proto-social networking site. The new sandbox allows developers to build and test applications that use the OpenSocial tools Google announced last year. With iGoogle users numbering in the tens of millions, the new OpenSocial tools in iGoogle could pave the way for Google’s long anticipated answer to Facebook or MySpace. Of course Google still has Orkut, which is ostensibly its answer to social networking, but outside of India and Brazil Orkut has never really caught on. By turning iGoogle into a social network hub, Google can potentially convert the service’s built-in user base and perhaps grab some traffic from Facebook. The new developer site for iGoogle gadgets says, “the integration of OpenSocial with gadgets gives you an opportunity to enhance your content for users by incorporating social features.” It probably won’t be hard, using for instance OpenSocial and the Facebook API, for dev

Energy drinks don't have the cachet of wine or coffee. There are no magazines, websites, or specialty stores to support your interest in sugary concoctions of taurine, guarana, ginseng and caffeine. On the other hand, analysts estimate energy drinks generate $10 billion in annual sales, with growth rates that far outstrip sodas, juice and water. And there's enough variety in the market that it's possible to become an energy drink connoisseur. Here are some tips on connoisseurship from "Energy Guru," the author of Energy Drink Reviews , who has sampled almost 600 energy drink varieties. (He didn't want us to use his real name because he thought the consulting firm he works for might look askance at his hobby.) Procurement Small gas stations and liquor stores are to energy drinks what Whole Foods is to Belgian beer. These mom-and-pop shops are far more likely to pick up smaller, less-known brands than the big chain stores. That's how you find drinks like Hyp

Someone exploited a weakness in Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's Web site and redirected visitors to rival Hillary Clinton's site over the weekend, according to a posting on the blog of security firm NetCraft. Basically, visitors to the community blogs section of Obama's site on Saturday night were sent to Clinton's site. Someone using the alias "Mox" and purporting to be from Liverpool, Ill., claimed credit for the hack on Obama's site late on Sunday. The writer downplayed the act, saying: "All I did was exploit some poorly written HTML code." Basically, the hack was possible because of a cross-site scripting vulnerability, which is a common hole in Web sites. A YouTube user named "Zennie62" posted a video clip showing him being redirected from Obama's site to Clinton's. The redirect has been fixed, but "Mox" says similar vulnerabilities remain on the site.

It turns out the golden years really are golden. Eye-opening new research finds the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests. The two go hand-in-hand: Being social can help keep away the blues. "The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. "Life gets better in one's perception as one ages." A certain amount of distress in old age is inevitable, including aches and pains and the deaths of loved ones and friends. But older people generally have learned to be more content with what they have than younger adults, Yang said. This is partly because older people have learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, said Duke University aging expert Linda George. An older person may realize "it's fine that I was a schoolteacher and not a Nobel prize winner." George, who was not involve

Sounds impossible? It could really happen, thanks to a new breakthrough. C an you even imagine an MP3 player with a 500,000 GB capacity? It’s pretty much beyond belief. The most generous player today can only hold around 40,000 songs – they’d hardly make a dent on this. The thing is, it could easily happen. Scientists at the University of Glasgow have created a nanotechnology breakthrough that could increase storage capacity by 150,000 times. It could mean 500,000 GB on a single chip and inch square. The Glasgow scientists worked to create the molecule-sized switch that’s at the heart of it all. Professor Lee Cronin at the University of Glasgow said, “What we have done is find a way to potentially increase the data storage capabilities in a radical way. We have been able to assemble a functional nanocluster that incorporates two electron donating groups, and position them precisely 0.32 nm apart so that they can form a totally new type of molecular switching device. The key advantage o

Me First....

A Washington man was arrested Friday in the triple shooting at a Las Vegas strip club that led to the suspension of NFL cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones. Las Vegas police said Arvin Kenti Edwards was arrested late Friday at the Yakima County Correctional facility, where he was already in custody on unrelated charges. Police said Edwards, 29, of Renton, Wash., faces three counts of attempted murder with a weapon and three counts of battery with substantial bodily harm. Las Vegas police spokesman Bill Cassell wouldn't provide further details. Club bouncer Tommy Urbanski was paralyzed from the waist down in the February 2007 shooting at the Minxx strip club. Las Vegas police said Jones incited a fight that led to the shooting. The 24-year-old suspended Tennessee  Titans  star pleaded no contest in December to a disorderly conduct charge, agreeing to a year probation, random drug testing, community service and anger management classes. Two co-defendants also took plea deals. Wi

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This is an advertisment given by a company for a job. Tperson who solves each problem and gets the number can call and get his job!! HOWZ THAT HUH!!

AT&T will cut roughly 1.5 percent of its workforce, primarily among its management ranks, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move is part of its "next step in streamlining its operations," following its acquisitions of several regional companies in recent years. AT&T expects to take a pre-tax charge of $374 million in the first quarter as a result of the layoffs. AT&T said that most of the positions will be in areas that have little contact with customers and that it's workforce is expected to remain stable through the rest of the year. The layoffs come as AT&T prepares to announce its quarterly results Tuesday. The telecom behemoth said earlier in the year that a sluggish U.S. economy was resulting in an increase in customers disconnecting service, but this was not anticipated to be significant enough to "materially" harm the quarters results, according to a report in MarketWatch Shares of AT&T wer

Microsoft confirmed that it is planning a subscription service that combines the consumer version of Office with its OneCare security suite. Code-named Albany, the product has a single installer that puts Office Home and Student, OneCare, as well as a host of Windows Live services, onto a user's PC. As long as users keep paying for the subscription, they are entitled to the latest versions of the products. Once they stop paying, they lose the right to use any version. The product is aimed at consumers that want a simple way to have access to Microsoft's productivity suite and keep their computer protected, Microsoft said. "There is a customer segment that really enjoys this always-on, always up-to-date aspect of the service," Microsoft group product manager Bryson Gordon said. Microsoft is planning to introduce a limited beta version of Albany in the coming days, with the aim of launching the product commercially sometime later this year, Gordon said. The company sti

Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee was indicted on charges of evading taxes on billions of dollars he hid in stock accounts under the names of his aides, The New York Times is reporting. He also faces criminal charges of breach of trust, stemming from his involvement in arranging for company subsidiaries "to sell stock to his son" at "unfairly low prices" to help his son "take over management control," The Times says. Lee was cleared, however, of more serious allegations he starting a slush fund worth $215 million used to bribe prosecutors, judges, and other public officials. Nine other Samsung executives were indicted on charges similar to Lee's, but none were arrested. Lee wasn't arrested either.Still, the charges aren't good for the image of South Korea's largest company. Samsung operates in many industries, but is primarily known for its electronics. The company is one of the largest television manufacturers in the world, and is also a leadi

Google created the technology for the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). It was originally developed to block copyrighted videos on the company's YouTube division. The programme uses pattern recognition to enable analysts to sort and identify files containing child sex abuse. Google says its aim in teaming up with the centre's Technology Coalition Against Child Pornography is to develop solutions that would make it harder for people to use the web to exploit children or traffic in child pornography. "You always hope that your work will eventually be used to do some good in the world, and this was an amazing chance to make that hope real," said Google research scientist Shumeet Baluja. Mr Baluja, who was also the technical leader of the project, said that as more and more predators use the web to ensnare children, "analysts were getting overwhelmed by all of the data they had to sift through". Since 2002 the NCMEC has pored over 13 mi

A Cambridge University team found testosterone levels were directly linked to the profit they made. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study also found levels of the stress hormone cortisol could affect the risks they took. A psychologist who works with investment bankers said it may help explain seemingly irrational behaviour. The Cambridge study measured testosterone levels in a small group of male City of London traders at both 11am and 4pm, and matched these to the levels of profit or loss recorded for that day. They found that daily testosterone levels were significantly higher on days when traders made more than their average profit. They ascribe this to the "winner effect", seen in sportsmen, in which success increases testosterone levels, which in turn increase feelings of confidence and ability to take risks, which then increase the chances of further profits. However, if repeated too much, they say, the rising testosterone levels could eventually co

Diigo lets you highlight and share the web. Diigo 3.0 promises a next generation social bookmarking and annotation service that enables users to increase research productivity, readily exchange information, and connect with others who share their interests and concerns. Forget mere bookmarking, instead highlight portions of web pages, add sticky notes and create your own personal digest of the web with your collection of highlights for leisure reading. Easily search, access, sort and share this collection later. The new Diigo combines the best of social networking, bookmarking, highlighting, and annotating to let people discover, save, and share the information that is important to them. Enter Social bookmarking 2.0!

When Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Washington, D.C., today on his first U.S. papal visit, he'll see a Catholic Church of great vitality — facing great uncertainty. "People are excited that he's coming. He's saying, 'You matter in the universal church,' " says Sheila Garcia of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' office for the laity. "But for most laity, the church is what happens in their parish. "Participation is what this country is all about. We believe people … have a right to bring their gifts and talents to their church. If they don't, many ministries won't get done at all." If Benedict could visit just three places beyond his six jam-packed days in Washington and New York, he would see — in a struggling urban outpost in Boston, a Phoenix megachurch booming with Hispanics and two stalwart small-town Iowa parishes that share a priest — much of the promise and the problems in U.S. Catholic life today. It's not like th

Cove High School in Texas, where half the students have at least one parent deployed, justified the punishment against Brandon Hill by saying he had violated the no-cell-phone policy when he took the call from his father, who is serving in Iraq. "I have been going through a lot of stress lately and my dad’s like my best friend, so I go to him for everything," the sophomore told FOX News on Saturday. "I needed to talk to him, so my mom got a hold of him on Yahoo and told him to call me, so I answered the phone call in class When he learned of his son’s punishment, Master Sgt. Morris Hill said he was unsettled. "When my wife told me, I was pretty disturbed by it," he said in a phone call from Iraq. "I was pretty shocked, considering that several months before we left I had talked to the … assistant principal and thought everything was fine," Morris Hill said. "Since my kid’s been going to the school we’ve had a pretty good working relationship.&quo

The 73-year-old was taken ill during a trip to the US after attending film conventions in Chicago. His son Kevin told the Lancashire Evening Post newspaper the asthma condition was a "recurring problem" that was "nothing serious". But he said he would talk to his father to try to "slow down" his pace of life. "He just loves going to these conventions and meeting his fans," Kevin added. "He gets on so well with the other guys from Star Wars and hates turning down any opportunity to appear." But he conceded that even if he asked his father to take it easy, he would doubtless "want to get going again as soon as he is out of hospital".

RCP president Ian Gilmore accused the pub industry of acting irresponsibly and urged it to put its house in order. Some 14% of licensed premises say they now offer only 250ml sized wine glasses - equivalent to a third of a bottle. The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers hit back that it was in the business of offering customers choice. The 125ml wine glass used to be the standard size but now just 16% of pubs and bars say it is their normal size. Some 73% say 175ml is the new "standard" and 250ml the large. Maximise profits Meanwhile, many premises have increased spirit measures from 25 to 35ml and offer doubles as standard. BBC correspondent Keith Doyle said there was even anecdotal evidence that some pub staff were under pressure to maximise profits by encouraging customers to opt for larger drinks. Industry magazine The Publican recently advised landlords to "train and incentivise staff to upsell products such as larger measures of wine and spirits". Howev

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Few more inches would have probably changed his life. read more | digg story

Experience is central to Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid, and Wednesday night she tapped one of pop music's most venerable rockers to help fill her campaign coffers with $2.5 million. Elton John, who has sold records and filled arenas for four decades, played a benefit concert for Clinton at Radio City Music Hall. "I've always been a Hillary supporter," John, 61, said before launching into his 1970 breakthrough hits, "Your Song" and "Border Song." "There is no one more qualified to lead America." The English singer, composer and pianist added: "I'm amazed by the misogynistic attitudes of some of the people in this country. And I say to hell with them .... I love you Hillary, I'll be there for you." The cheapest tickets, $125 and $250, sold out quickly, campaign aides said. The other seats were filled by fans paying as much as $2,300, the limit for an individual's contribution to a federal candi

Another round of storms moved across Arkansas early Thursday, bringing heavy rain, hail and high winds to a state already contending with three weeks of flooding and 10 tornadoes from a week ago. The Searcy County Sheriff's Department said some residents in the small north Arkansas town of Leslie were being evacuated because of flooding and the threat of mudslides. Workers were sandbagging in places to keep flood waters at bay. U.S. Highway 65 was covered with water in places. Travelers were being asked to stay off the roads. "It's just getting worse," sheriff's dispatcher Nola Massey said. "We're just trying to get everybody to stay home and not get out in it." Many roads in southern Lonoke County were flooded, including Arkansas 13 near Carlisle and Arkansas 31 between Blakemore and Coy. Stone County also reported flood damage and Arkansas 263 in Cleburne County was impassable. Part of Arkansas 9 in Izard County was flooded, along with many county

Taking the advice of his top commander in Iraq, President Bush will not order additional troop drawdowns beyond July, leaving open the possibility that about 140,000 U.S. servicemen and women will still be in the war zone when the next president takes office. In a 12- to 15-minute progress report, Bush on Thursday will announce shorter combat tours, but troops already in Iraq won't be going home any earlier, at least for now. Senior defense officials said Bush would order Army units heading to Iraq after Aug. 1 to serve 12-month tours rather than their current 15-month deployment — a move that war critics say the president had to make to ease strain on the Army. Bush will deliver his speech in the Cross Hall of the White House, five years after the U.S. capture of Baghdad. His words will echo the congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. Petraeus told Congress that it's too early to talk about future dr

The Olympic torch has concluded its topsy-turvy tour of San Francisco, and officials say the closing ceremony will be at San Francisco International Airport. Mayor Gavin Newsom tells The Associated Press that canceling the planned closing ceremony at the San Francisco Bay waterfront was part of the contingency plan if it appeared too difficult to safeguard the torch and its runners. The ceremony had been slated to take place Wednesday at Justin Herman Plaza, where thousands had gathered to support and protest the Beijing-bound flame's visit to the city.

Scientists have switched on the world's most powerful laser, which for one-trillionth of a second is 2,000 times more powerful than all the power plants in the United States. The laser's output tops a petawatt, which is a quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) watts of power. In the basement of the physics building at the University of Texas at Austin, the school's High Intensity Laser Science Group built a petawatt laser in hopes of recreating astronomical phenomena like supernovae in miniature. "We can put materials into states that you can't access here on earth," said Mikael Martinez, the laser project's manager. "You'd have to go out into space and hang out with an exploding star to observe what we plan to observe here in Texas." When the scientists turned on the laser on March 31, it became the world's most powerful operational laser, but it doesn't yet hold the record for the most powerful laser ever built. That honor, at least fo

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Andy Murray insists he will represent Great Britain at the Olympics in Beijing this summer, despite the Games being very close to the US Open. "I'm definitely going to play at the Olympics," said the British number one. "It's something that not all athletes get the chance to do in their career. It's an honour to represent your country and I'm looking forward to it. "I'm just hoping I can get a good run this year and not have any problems with injury." The tennis competition at the Olympics is set to finish on 17 August, with the US Open scheduled to start on 27 August. The Games have been in the news for reasons other than sport this week, with the torch relays through London and Paris targeted by protesters displaying their anger over hosts China's human rights record. However, Murray, 20, is simply focusing on the court challenges ahead. "For me, the Olympics is more about the sport," he added. "I'm just concentratin

There are things that you think you should be able to do with your body. But if you’re like 99.9999% of people in the world, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t quite manage to do it. Here is a list of things that are impossible to do with your body, and the few mutants who can do ‘em: read more | digg story

People walking while talking on mobile phones tend to do things that are riskier than those not talking on mobile phones and jokingly asked when politicians would start proposing bans on walking-while-talking, to go along with the popular bans on driving while talking. It didn't take long at all, actually. Parker Mason writes in to let us know that an Illinois lawmaker has proposed a ban on talking on a mobile phone while in a crosswalk. Combine that with jaywalking and you could really piss off a person who wasn't actually doing something dangerous. Actually, this isn't the first time such a thing has been proposed. Last year a similar law was proposed in New York, though I don't believe it went anywhere. It's nice that politicians want to protect people, but at some point you really have to ask why people can't take responsibilities for their own actions?

New Jersey may become the third state where companies will offer six weeks of paid leave to workers wishing to care for a new child or sick relative. The Assembly approved the Democratic plan last month but this measure is opposed by Republicans and business groups. Under the plan, which is backed heavily by organized labor, parents could take paid leave anytime in the first year after a child's birth or adoption. Workers would be allowed to take paid leave to care for a sick relative receiving inpatient care in a medical care facility or under continuing supervision from a health care provider. A health provider could also certify a sick relative needs help at home.

Officials say dozens of firefighters battled a five-alarm blaze at a hotel in the Chicago suburb of Lockport. There aren't any reports of injuries. Officials with the Lockport Township Fire Protection District say the blaze broke out at the three-story Towpath Inn just before 4 a.m. Tuesday. Firefighters from several surrounding communities are involved, and more than 30 fire trucks are reportedly at the scene. Officials with the Metra commuter rail service say they've canceled train service into Chicago along the Heritage Corridor line due to the fire, which is near Metra's Lockport station.

Ilyas Shurpayev, 32, a reporter for Russia's state-run TV network Channel One, was found dead March 21 in his rented Moscow apartment. Tajik Interior Ministry spokesman Makhmadali Shafoatov said one of the two suspects, Masrudzhon Yatimov, claimed Shurpayev had offered him money nine days earlier to have sex. "Shurpayev himself invited (Yatimov) to his house on March 12 and offered him money to have sexual relations," Shafoatov said. During the visit, Yatimov learned the reporter had just received a large money transfer, and he and another man, Nadzhmiddin Mukhiddinov, then returned to Shupayev's apartment on March 21 to rob him, he said. After Shurpayev resisted, they ended up killing him, Shafoatov said. The attackers set fire to Shurpayev's apartment and Russian police later found him with a belt around his neck and numerous stab wounds. The two suspects "have already fully admitted their guilt in committing this crime," Shafoatov said. Investigators