Category: Aggregated

Looks may be in the eye of the beholder – we can argue about the aesthetic appeal of the Pontiac Aztek all day long without anyone proving they’re right – or wrong. But functional flaws are objective. Here are some picks of the litter: * Steamroller wheels (and tires) – I recently reviewed the 2015 VW Passat TDI (see here). It’s a middle-of-the-road, family-minded large sedan. Emphasis on economy of operation, quiet and comfort. Yet it comes shod with large diameter 17 and 18 inch wheels – which in turn mount what are known within the car biz as “low aspect ratio” – … Continue reading →

Two decades have passed since the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing. It was the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history, and 168 people died, including 19 children. The attack on the Murrah Federal Building was said to be the work of Timothy McVeigh and two confederates, described as right-wing extremists with an anti-government agenda. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection and Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier were given prison sentences. Now, however, major cracks have appeared in the federal government’s story—a story long considered by some victims’ families to be little more than a stonewall of mendacity … Continue reading →

Many millions of coins have been minted throughout history, and we’ve done our best to come up with some of the most beautiful and intriguing ones. Note that the “heads” side of a coin is called the “obverse” while the “tails” side is called the “reverse.” 10. 50 Centavos Leper Colony Coin Colombia, 1921 Photo credit: Jerry Woody Most people probably don’t know much about leprosy, because it hasn’t been portrayed accurately in media. Leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease, is actually very difficult to contract from someone. Nevertheless, it is a serious disease and was feared to the point … Continue reading →

My wife recently went to see her doctor for a checkup. A blood test showed that her cholesterol, the calculated low-density lipoprotein one, was elevated. Though feeling well, her doctor ordered a coronary calcium scan, taking into account the fact that she has a family history of heart disease (her father died from a heart attack when she was 12 years old).  Quite unexpectedly her calcium score was quite high. The score one wants to have on a CT (computed tomography) coronary calcium scan is 0, which indicates no evidence of coronary artery disease (CAD). A score of 1-10 gives … Continue reading →

In the heart of Yellowstone National Park, a supervolcano releases around 45,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide each day. But the magma chamber lying directly beneath its surface is not considered large enough to produce such levels, so researchers have been searching for an alternative source for years. Now, by tracking seismic waves, a team of geophysicists has discovered an enormous secondary chamber deeper underground that’s so large its partly-molten rock could fill the Grand Canyon 11 times over. The Yellowstone supervolcano is one of the largest active continental silicic volcanic fields in the world. Silicic is used to describe … Continue reading →

It continually breaks my heart that people have to personally experience a severe vaccine injury – or observe a serious reaction in someone they love  – before they wake up to the absolute truth: vaccines can and do cause harm. They have heard the arguments and the stories from others. They ignored the pleas about risks and poo-pooed the concerns about vaccine reactions put forth by concerned friends. Instead, they trusted their uninformed pediatrician or caved under the pressure of their badgering RN mother-in-law. And now, they are left holding the bag, so to speak: a terrible tragedy and a … Continue reading →

Tamah Clark apparently wasn’t ready to accept her husband Jason Clark’s incarceration on aggravated assault and domestic battery charges, so she did what anyone would do when aggrieved by the US justice system: she loaded up her AK-47 assault rifle and .45 caliber pistol, procured some wilderness survival gear, strapped the couple’s one year old son into his car seat, and went to break her husband out of prison. Or at least that’s how the story goes. Although phone records reportedly indicate that Tamah did indeed conspire to stage a prison break with Jason, she was apparently never convicted and … Continue reading →

It’s good and right that we commemorate the mass killing in the Ottoman Empire during World War I of between 500,000 and 1.5 million Armenians. Many nations now call the slaughter of 1915-1916 a “genocide.” This week the 100th anniversary of the notorious event was observed. Pope Francis and the European parliament called on Turkey to recognize the killings as genocide. Turkey, successor to the Ottoman Empire, admits many Armenians were killed in WWI, but rejects the label of “genocide,” saying their deaths occurred in the confusion of war, not by design. The United States, a very close ally of … Continue reading →