Now for Some News

Having soothed our thoughts with the quotes, I feel safer about moving into the news.

We start in Colorado where two unarmed robbers were photographed by a surveillance camera. They were well disguised wearing women's thongs and putting their loot into a pink backpack. The nose, mouth and chin were covered but the rest of their faces were not hidden at all.

Picture can be found at The Denver Post

Since I hope this is a family-friendly blog I will leave all snide, cynical, or other remarks for the privacy of your own mind. Oh yes, they were fully dressed from the neck down.

Oh, they even have a video of the bandits at work on the same page. Link.

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The following from Yahoo! News makes me wonder if Condi Rice is running for something. She is showing a new side to her.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The Kiss Army fan club has an enthusiastic new recruit: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In a departure from her normally staid diplomatic duties, Rice met the legendary glam rock quartet when they happened to share a hotel in the Swedish capital. Rice was in Stockholm on Thursday for an international conference on Iraq. Kiss had a sold-out gig to play on Friday.

And in case you think this is a Colbert-type story here is a picture from Wired to "prove" it.

--Wired
That is a scary picture, though. Not because of Condi Rice being there, but look at the band. No wonder they have to wear make-up.

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Over in the Middle East the Israeli's may have stirred up something new to worry about. For the 60th Anniversary of the State of Israel they decided to name a national bird.

--Wikipedia
They chose theHoopoe or "Duchifat" in Hebrew. Well, according to Reuters:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The [bird] is listed in the Old Testament as unclean and forbidden food for Jews.

President Shimon Peres declared the pink, black and white-crested bird the winner of a competition timed to coincide with Israel's 60th anniversary. It beat out rivals such as the Yellow-vented Bulbul and the Palestine Sunbird.

Yellow-Vented Bulbul
Palestinian Sunbird

I can see why they chose the Hoopoe. It is a far more interesting looking bird, if nothing else.

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I have a hunch that office pools, or their non-office equivalents have been around a long time. I remember my parents talking about the World Series pool they would participate with friends at a local store. Well, it isn't just the wallet that's affected. It seems we don't like to be wrong in front of our peers so it's more than money at stake.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Office pools betting on who will win "American Idol" or the NCAA basketball tournament can be bad for your health and happiness, according to a new study.

Researchers from Arizona State University carried out four experiments involving about 850 students. They found that betting on the outcome actually reduced people's enjoyment of the event and could make them stressed.

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And finally, a bit of news for those of us approaching some over-the-hill milestone (or have already passed it) here is news that should give us a new example of a Senior Prom:

LiveScience.com

A swingin' social scene staves off memory loss in older people, a new study suggests.

One of the features of aging is memory loss, which can have devastating effects on the quality of life among older people.

Harvard School of Public Health researchers now have found evidence that elderly people in the United States with active social lives may have a slower rate of memory decline.

And the good news is we can do the same thing every time and not get bored.

Well, excuse me. My social life is calling.

Or is that my alarm to remind me to take my medications?