The 4th of July: America’s Independence Day is normally filled with the 3 F’s – food, friends (and/or family) and fireworks. It’s also a great day for parents to slip in a little education and help our children understand what it is we are celebrating. Here are some great quotes about freedom and liberty to get you started.
“The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself.” ~ Saul Alinsky
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves” ~ Abraham Lincoln
“Liberty is the breath of life to nations” ~ Bernard Shaw
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
“Where liberty dwells, there is my country” ~ Benjamin Franklin
“We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others. ”
~ John F Kennedy
“Freedom is the oxygen of the soul” ~ Moshe Dayan
“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope”. ~Winston Churchill
“Better to starve free than be a fat slave” ~ Aesop
“Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?” ~ Gandhi
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” ~.Martin Luther King, Jr.
“That’s why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women – students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors — found the courage to keep it alive.” ~ President Barrack Obama
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Raleigh 'Sewer Monster'
By Josh Shaffer
This colony of prehistoric creatures known as bryozoans – thousands of wormlike animals – is living in a sewer under a shopping center in Raleigh. It's about the size of a golf ball.
RALEIGH It looks like blob of wriggling pudding staring out through a single, puckered eye. You can see it caught on camera, clinging to the concrete pipes below Raleigh's Cameron Village: the Sewer Monster.
It's really a colony of prehistoric creatures known either as bryozoans or moss animalcules, thousands of wormlike animals, biologists report. Clustered together in a glistening mass, they feed through tentacles on whatever floats past. More common in ponds, they have turned up in a set of sanitary sewer pipes under one of the country's oldest shopping centers.
Living in a 6-inch sewer main, the clusters of worms are about the size of a golf ball, estimates Ed Buchan, an environmental coordinator with the city. But the video footage, captured with a tiny snakelike camera, makes the monster appear at man-eating size to viewers watching at home.
That may explain why a two-minute video tour of the Sewer Monster's lair has spread across the Web like flesh-eating bacteria, prompting nationwide cries of horror and disgust.
“Mystery Life Form in NC Sewer!” read one headline, followed by this comment: “It looks like meat. HEART MEAT!”
At Cameron Village on Wednesday evening, visitors were split into two groups: Those who had seen the sewer monster video and been horrified, and those who planned to Google it the minute they had the chance.
Maria Schmitt, 21, Jeff Lepley, 21, and Annie Powell, 21, were in the latter camp, but they quickly rectified that using Schmitt's iPhone.
“It looks like a brain or something,” Schmitt said. “That's in the pipe?”
“I keep expecting a baby's head to pop out,” added Lepley said.
“I'm glad I don't live here,” said Powell, a Houston native.
The trio immediately regretted their decision to watch the video before eating dinner at the Village Draft House.
“I'm glad I didn't order pasta,” Schmitt said.
Contractor shot video
Raleigh's Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp said the video was not shot by the city, but rather a contractor hired by the property owner. Lynne Worth, property manager for Cameron Village, was out of the office Wednesday and could not be reached.
Crisp said the city first learned of the video several weeks ago when a link was sent to an employee in the stormwater division. Raleigh has two teams of employees whose sole task is to send tiny cameras into sewer lines and then review the footage.
This video surprised even the pros who thought they'd seen it all.
“I don't know if we've seen anything move on its own inside a sanitary sewer line,” Crisp said. But shop owners in Cameron Village only laughed.
This isn't the first time a bryozoan has ventured inside a sewer pipe. Denver's utility workers discovered some last year, but opted to leave them alone. So far, said Mitch Terry, of the Colorado city's water and sanitation district, they hasn't clogged anything.
Critters are harmless
Bryozoans are harmless, said Thomas Kwak, a biologist at N.C. State University.
If they were to take on the qualities of a Sewer Monster, it would be a very slow attack. Bryozoans move 1 to 10 centimeters a day, Kwak said.
This colony of prehistoric creatures known as bryozoans – thousands of wormlike animals – is living in a sewer under a shopping center in Raleigh. It's about the size of a golf ball.
RALEIGH It looks like blob of wriggling pudding staring out through a single, puckered eye. You can see it caught on camera, clinging to the concrete pipes below Raleigh's Cameron Village: the Sewer Monster.
It's really a colony of prehistoric creatures known either as bryozoans or moss animalcules, thousands of wormlike animals, biologists report. Clustered together in a glistening mass, they feed through tentacles on whatever floats past. More common in ponds, they have turned up in a set of sanitary sewer pipes under one of the country's oldest shopping centers.
Living in a 6-inch sewer main, the clusters of worms are about the size of a golf ball, estimates Ed Buchan, an environmental coordinator with the city. But the video footage, captured with a tiny snakelike camera, makes the monster appear at man-eating size to viewers watching at home.
That may explain why a two-minute video tour of the Sewer Monster's lair has spread across the Web like flesh-eating bacteria, prompting nationwide cries of horror and disgust.
“Mystery Life Form in NC Sewer!” read one headline, followed by this comment: “It looks like meat. HEART MEAT!”
At Cameron Village on Wednesday evening, visitors were split into two groups: Those who had seen the sewer monster video and been horrified, and those who planned to Google it the minute they had the chance.
Maria Schmitt, 21, Jeff Lepley, 21, and Annie Powell, 21, were in the latter camp, but they quickly rectified that using Schmitt's iPhone.
“It looks like a brain or something,” Schmitt said. “That's in the pipe?”
“I keep expecting a baby's head to pop out,” added Lepley said.
“I'm glad I don't live here,” said Powell, a Houston native.
The trio immediately regretted their decision to watch the video before eating dinner at the Village Draft House.
“I'm glad I didn't order pasta,” Schmitt said.
Contractor shot video
Raleigh's Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp said the video was not shot by the city, but rather a contractor hired by the property owner. Lynne Worth, property manager for Cameron Village, was out of the office Wednesday and could not be reached.
Crisp said the city first learned of the video several weeks ago when a link was sent to an employee in the stormwater division. Raleigh has two teams of employees whose sole task is to send tiny cameras into sewer lines and then review the footage.
This video surprised even the pros who thought they'd seen it all.
“I don't know if we've seen anything move on its own inside a sanitary sewer line,” Crisp said. But shop owners in Cameron Village only laughed.
This isn't the first time a bryozoan has ventured inside a sewer pipe. Denver's utility workers discovered some last year, but opted to leave them alone. So far, said Mitch Terry, of the Colorado city's water and sanitation district, they hasn't clogged anything.
Critters are harmless
Bryozoans are harmless, said Thomas Kwak, a biologist at N.C. State University.
If they were to take on the qualities of a Sewer Monster, it would be a very slow attack. Bryozoans move 1 to 10 centimeters a day, Kwak said.
Suspected serial killer Scott Kimball leads police to bodies, won't be charged
By Jim Spellman
CNN
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Serving time for lesser crimes, Scott Kimball is leading investigators to bodies.
Scott Kimball is currently serving a 48-year sentence on theft and habitual criminal convictions.
Partly mummified bones thought to be those of his uncle, Terry Kimball, were discovered Monday in a remote Rocky Mountain pass near Vail, Colorado. DNA tests are pending to confirm the victim's identity, and the cause of death is pending a forensic examination, authorities said.
Terry Kimball is one of several suspected homicide victims associated with Scott Kimball since his jailing in 2008. He is serving a 48-year sentence in state prison in Fairplay, Colorado, on theft and habitual criminal convictions.
Kimball will also serve a 70-month federal sentence on firearms charges after the state sentence. The firearms charges led to Kimball's 18th conviction.
However, Kimball probably will not be charged in any of the deaths.
Sources with knowledge of the cases said Kimball's December 2008 plea to theft and habitual criminal charges, and the 48-year sentence, was part of a deal that included revealing the locations of the bodies. Authorities wanted to give victims' families resolution. Without his cooperation, authorities doubt they have enough evidence to convict him.
Earlier this year, Kimball revealed where the remains thought to be his uncle's were, according to law enforcement sources close to the case. However, the search was delayed until snow had melted.
The FBI would not confirm that Kimball, 42, identified the site. However, FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright said, "we went to (a) specific location for a specific reason. It wasn't random."
Terry Kimball, 60 at the time, was last seen with Scott Kimball in September 2004, according to a 2007 federal search warrant affidavit.
Scott Kimball told his wife that his uncle had won the lottery and left for Mexico with a stripper, the affidavit said, but FBI investigators think Kimball killed his uncle and dumped his body in Vail Pass, more than 100 miles from the home they shared in a Denver suburb.
In March, Kimball accompanied FBI investigators to southeastern Utah to search for the body of Leann Emry, who was 24 when she vanished after departing on a camping trip in 2003. FBI agents found Emry's remains shortly after Kimball returned to jail.
Kaysi McLeod was 19 when she disappeared in 2003. McLeod, the daughter of Kimball's ex-wife, was last seen getting a ride to work from Kimball, according to the 2007 affidavit. In fall 2007, a hunter found her remains in northwest Colorado.
Kimball is also suspected in the disappearance of exotic dancer Jennifer Marcum, who disappeared in 2003, according to the affidavit.
Sources close to the investigation say they think Kimball killed Marcum and buried her body near Rifle, Colorado. Authorities have not found her remains.
"We are continuing to look for Jennifer, and we will leave no stone unturned," Wright said.
Kimball drew the FBI's attention in 2002 while jailed for writing bad checks. Kimball offered authorities information about his cellmate, Steven Ennis, who was suspected in a drug ring, according to the 2007 affidavit. The FBI arranged Kimball's release and began paying him as an informant.
Kimball was supposed to report back to the FBI on Marcum, Ennis' former girlfriend, when she disappeared.
The FBI would not reveal how long or how much Kimball was paid. He was arrested again in March 2006 near Palm Springs, California, after a police chase and standoff
CNN
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Serving time for lesser crimes, Scott Kimball is leading investigators to bodies.
Scott Kimball is currently serving a 48-year sentence on theft and habitual criminal convictions.
Partly mummified bones thought to be those of his uncle, Terry Kimball, were discovered Monday in a remote Rocky Mountain pass near Vail, Colorado. DNA tests are pending to confirm the victim's identity, and the cause of death is pending a forensic examination, authorities said.
Terry Kimball is one of several suspected homicide victims associated with Scott Kimball since his jailing in 2008. He is serving a 48-year sentence in state prison in Fairplay, Colorado, on theft and habitual criminal convictions.
Kimball will also serve a 70-month federal sentence on firearms charges after the state sentence. The firearms charges led to Kimball's 18th conviction.
However, Kimball probably will not be charged in any of the deaths.
Sources with knowledge of the cases said Kimball's December 2008 plea to theft and habitual criminal charges, and the 48-year sentence, was part of a deal that included revealing the locations of the bodies. Authorities wanted to give victims' families resolution. Without his cooperation, authorities doubt they have enough evidence to convict him.
Earlier this year, Kimball revealed where the remains thought to be his uncle's were, according to law enforcement sources close to the case. However, the search was delayed until snow had melted.
The FBI would not confirm that Kimball, 42, identified the site. However, FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright said, "we went to (a) specific location for a specific reason. It wasn't random."
Terry Kimball, 60 at the time, was last seen with Scott Kimball in September 2004, according to a 2007 federal search warrant affidavit.
Scott Kimball told his wife that his uncle had won the lottery and left for Mexico with a stripper, the affidavit said, but FBI investigators think Kimball killed his uncle and dumped his body in Vail Pass, more than 100 miles from the home they shared in a Denver suburb.
In March, Kimball accompanied FBI investigators to southeastern Utah to search for the body of Leann Emry, who was 24 when she vanished after departing on a camping trip in 2003. FBI agents found Emry's remains shortly after Kimball returned to jail.
Kaysi McLeod was 19 when she disappeared in 2003. McLeod, the daughter of Kimball's ex-wife, was last seen getting a ride to work from Kimball, according to the 2007 affidavit. In fall 2007, a hunter found her remains in northwest Colorado.
Kimball is also suspected in the disappearance of exotic dancer Jennifer Marcum, who disappeared in 2003, according to the affidavit.
Sources close to the investigation say they think Kimball killed Marcum and buried her body near Rifle, Colorado. Authorities have not found her remains.
"We are continuing to look for Jennifer, and we will leave no stone unturned," Wright said.
Kimball drew the FBI's attention in 2002 while jailed for writing bad checks. Kimball offered authorities information about his cellmate, Steven Ennis, who was suspected in a drug ring, according to the 2007 affidavit. The FBI arranged Kimball's release and began paying him as an informant.
Kimball was supposed to report back to the FBI on Marcum, Ennis' former girlfriend, when she disappeared.
The FBI would not reveal how long or how much Kimball was paid. He was arrested again in March 2006 near Palm Springs, California, after a police chase and standoff
Snake kills toddler: Should this be a pet?
I will admit I'm no fan of snakes, or any cold-blooded pets for that matter. But when I saw this shocking story of the Sumter County baby who was hunted in the night in her crib by the family's pet Burmese python, I just can't fathom what makes this creepy thing such an attractive pet.
It is attractive, I will admit, with smooth shiny scales that make excellent purses. But these snakes consume large amounts of food, and due to their size, require large, often custom-built, secure enclosures, which can be very expensive. This is the reason, so many of them are released to the wild by pet owners and are now wreaking havoc in the Everglades. Remember that stunning picture of the 13-foot python that burst open as it tried to swallow whole a 10-foot alligator? Well, in the past five years, the U.S. has imported more than 144,000 Burmese pythons, according to National Geographic. Hatchlings sell for as little as $20. But once the cute little baby snakes turn into 15-foot-long beasts, they get dumped into our wet national forest.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced a bill in February to ban the import of pythons. Broward County Rep. Kendrick Meek, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Mel Martinez, introduced the same bill in the House in May. Hearings have yet to be held. And there has even been talk of exacting a bounty on the snakes in the Everglades.
Back to this family pet. These snakes are quite docile most of the time. There are reports of how often the child held this python or the other pet, a 6-foot boa constrictor, and found them almost affectionate. But they also have instinct. The mother's boyfriend, Charles Darnell, 32, told authorities he last checked on the snake shortly after midnight. It had escaped its terrarium. He put the snake in a bag and put it back inside the glass case. Then he put a quilt over the terrarium and tied something around the quilt. State law says pythons are supposed to be kept under lock.
When next he awoke he found the 8-foot snake wrapped around Shaunnia Hare, age 2. Typically, this snake will use its sharp backward-pointing teeth to hang on tight to its prey (the girl had bite marks on her head, according to one report). To keep the prey from fighting, it wraps its muscular body around it and contracts its muscles, killing the prey by constriction.
Does this seem like a family pet to you?
-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne
It is attractive, I will admit, with smooth shiny scales that make excellent purses. But these snakes consume large amounts of food, and due to their size, require large, often custom-built, secure enclosures, which can be very expensive. This is the reason, so many of them are released to the wild by pet owners and are now wreaking havoc in the Everglades. Remember that stunning picture of the 13-foot python that burst open as it tried to swallow whole a 10-foot alligator? Well, in the past five years, the U.S. has imported more than 144,000 Burmese pythons, according to National Geographic. Hatchlings sell for as little as $20. But once the cute little baby snakes turn into 15-foot-long beasts, they get dumped into our wet national forest.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced a bill in February to ban the import of pythons. Broward County Rep. Kendrick Meek, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Mel Martinez, introduced the same bill in the House in May. Hearings have yet to be held. And there has even been talk of exacting a bounty on the snakes in the Everglades.
Back to this family pet. These snakes are quite docile most of the time. There are reports of how often the child held this python or the other pet, a 6-foot boa constrictor, and found them almost affectionate. But they also have instinct. The mother's boyfriend, Charles Darnell, 32, told authorities he last checked on the snake shortly after midnight. It had escaped its terrarium. He put the snake in a bag and put it back inside the glass case. Then he put a quilt over the terrarium and tied something around the quilt. State law says pythons are supposed to be kept under lock.
When next he awoke he found the 8-foot snake wrapped around Shaunnia Hare, age 2. Typically, this snake will use its sharp backward-pointing teeth to hang on tight to its prey (the girl had bite marks on her head, according to one report). To keep the prey from fighting, it wraps its muscular body around it and contracts its muscles, killing the prey by constriction.
Does this seem like a family pet to you?
-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne
OK! Magazine Michael Jackson Cover Picture: Too Much?
A photo of a dying Michael Jackson lying on a stretcher is the cover image on the latest edition of OK! Magazine, and is certain to elicit strong, mixed reactions.
The race is on to break the latest news on what may be the biggest celebrity gossip story ever, but do we really need to see "the last photos" of the pop icon?
OK! allegedly paid $500,000 for the cover picture you see below.
While covering Jackson's tragic death is unavoidable, would a tribute such as the commemorative covers released by Entertainment Weekly be more appropriate?
On the flip side, do you want to see all the details because you are interested in the story, even if the images of the dying Jackson happen to be upsetting?
What do you think of the picture on OK's "tribute" issue below? Is it disrespectful to Michael Jackson or are they just reporting the news? Tell us in our poll:
The race is on to break the latest news on what may be the biggest celebrity gossip story ever, but do we really need to see "the last photos" of the pop icon?
OK! allegedly paid $500,000 for the cover picture you see below.
While covering Jackson's tragic death is unavoidable, would a tribute such as the commemorative covers released by Entertainment Weekly be more appropriate?
On the flip side, do you want to see all the details because you are interested in the story, even if the images of the dying Jackson happen to be upsetting?
What do you think of the picture on OK's "tribute" issue below? Is it disrespectful to Michael Jackson or are they just reporting the news? Tell us in our poll:
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