Cave News

Want a device that could change your toilet waste back into 'drinkable' water?

Ever have a hankering to have the ability to filter toilet waste back into something you can drink?

Bill Gates does as he funds a new machine that reportedly can do just that.

Next time you see a dog drinking from a toilet bowl, pause for thought - soon, it could be you.

A new invention - funded by Bill Gates - aims to turn used toilet water into drinking water.

Although the result may not be bottled mineral water, the researcher says the results could be the difference between life-and-death in regions without clean water.

This innovation could transform the lives of millions of people in the third world

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Thomas Kinkade ‘painter of light’ dies at 54

Artist Thomas Kinkade (pictured) died suddenly Friday at his home in Los Gatos California (San Francisco Bay area) of what appeared to be natural causes. He was 54.

During the past quarter-century, he has painted over 1,000 pieces – with many of his works showing nature scenes, gardens, seascapes and inspirational content.

According to his website, he attended UC Berkeley and worked as an artist in the film industry before shifting his focus fully to painting.

Kinkade's sentimental paintings were beloved by middlebrow America but maligned by an unappreciative art establishment.

When your artwork is commercialized to the point that your paintings and spin-off products fetch some $100 million a year in sales, mostly of your own reproductions, you just can’t be accepted by the art establishment.

Also, selling coffee mugs and knickknacks adorned with your paintings is not the way to endear yourself to a stuffy art establishment.

"I'm a warrior for light," Kinkade, a self-described devout Christian, told the San Jose Mercury News in 2002, in reference to the medieval practice of using light to symbolize the divine.

"With whatever talent and resources I have, I'm trying to bring light to penetrate the darkness many people feel."

Link here and here.

Tim Tebow to speak at Georgetown Texas church

New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow is set to speak on Easter Sunday to an expected 20,000 people at the Celebration Church in Georgetown, north of Austin Texas.

People attending the non-denominational service will sit on lawn chairs and blankets. About 1,100 volunteers will be involved in running the event on the 110-acre church grounds.

The New York Jets quarterback will speak for 20 minutes during the outdoor worship service that could draw as many as 30,000 people for the Easter Service beginning at 10 a.m.

The Easter service will be like “an outside concert event.”

But will the Tebow “star power” detract from the meaning of Easter?

There will be no parking at the Celebration Church site. The church is renting 110 buses to pick up the estimated 30,000 people from six different locations in Round Rock and Georgetown.

Link here and here.

Report: Liberals try to ban Happy Meal toys

From the “give me a break” department

A San Francisco judge has tossed out a proposed class-action lawsuit that tried to stop McDonald's from using toys to market its meals to children in California.

The suit was originally filed in 2010 by Monet Parham, a California mother and by the The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

Monet Parham

The suit alleged that McDonald’s was violating consumer protection laws and exploiting children's vulnerability by using toys to lure them to eat nutritionally unbalanced meals that can lead to obesity.

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Juicy details Of Keith Olbermann's lawsuit against Current TV

A report at the link below says that Olbermann is suing for breach of contract, sabotage, and disparagement, and claims that the network owes him "between approximately $50 million and $70 million" in cash and equity.

But that is only the beginning. To make his case, Olbermann outlines a litany of complaints about the network, and totally eviscerates Current TV founder Al Gore and Joel Hyatt (pictured) as incompetent "dilettantes" unfit to run a cable news network.

Hyatt is the primary villain in Olbermann's narrative. The suit alleges that Hyatt "created an environment in which major business errors and technical failures became commonplace and acceptable."

The suit also accuses Hyatt of isolating Olbermann from his colleagues "in an awkward attempt to form a close personal friendship with his new star."

According to the suit, when Olbermann did not respond to the advances, Hyatt retaliated in a manner of ways, including withholding production resources, disparaging Olbermann in the press, and getting Current's lawyers to harass Olbermann.

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Hugo Chávez injured by cancer treatment in Cuba

Brazilian media is reporting that ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will make an emergency trip to Brazil after allegedly suffering intestinal burns during his radiation treatment in Cuba.

Photo shows Chávez with hair loss due to prior radiation treatments.

Chávez had previously refused treatment in Brazil due to the Brazilian hospital not being able to provide the level of security and privacy he wanted, including blocking off hospital doors and searching all hospital visitors while Chávez was a patient.

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Half million computers hit with virus - Mac users targeted this time

More than a half-million Macintosh computers may have been infected with a virus targeting Apple machines according to a report at the link below.

Flashback Trojan malware tailored to slip past "Mac" defenses is a variation on viruses typically aimed at personal computers (PCs) powered by Microsoft's Windows operating systems.

The report says hackers are increasingly taking aim at Apple computers.

All the stuff the bad guys have learned for doing attacks in the PC world is now starting to transition to the Mac world.

Mac has said for a long time that they are not vulnerable to PC malware but they are vulnerable to Mac malware.

Hackers trick Mac users into downloading the virus by disguising it as an update to Adobe Flash video viewing software.

Apple has long boasted that Windows machines are more prone to hacking than Macs.

As the popularity of Macs has soared, so has the allure of hacking Apple operating systems.

Cybercriminals will attack any operating system with valuable information, and as the popularity of Macs increase, so will attacks on the Mac platform.

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Woman takes cab home from jail - returns in patrol car after stiffing driver

A Metairie Louisiana woman accused of skipping out on cab fare after she was released from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center got a free ride back to jail courtesy a Sheriff's Office deputy.

Lynne Platt, 49, was first arrested Monday for disturbing the peace.

When she was released from the correctional center she hired a taxi to take her home. When they arrived, Platt told the driver that she had to go inside to retrieve his $54 cab fare.

She returned with only a $20 bill which she handed the driver and dashed back in the house.

The driver called the Sheriff's Office and deputies were called to the scene. She was taken back to the correctional center where she was booked for refusal to pay cab fare.

Link

Report: savings for hybrid and electric car owners come slowly

If you're thinking about buying a fuel-efficient hybrid, electric or otherwise eco-friendly vehicle as a way to save money over time -- be prepared to wait says a report at the link below.

Buyers who choose Nissan's all-electric Leaf ($28,421) over its approximate gas-powered equivalent, Nissan's Versa ($18,640), will likely wait nearly 9 years until they break even, according to a new report by The New York Times that examines the cost of fuel efficiency.

Chevy Volts lined up at a charging station

For drivers of the Chevrolet Volt ($31,767), the wait is even longer— 26.6 years!

The high price tag of many fuel-efficient vehicles is one reason consumers have yet to embrace them with open arms.

As for the Chevy Volt, there is simply little demand for the vehicle beyond some arms of government, a few corporations with cash to waste and rich, tree-hugging celebrities who can afford the luxury of pretentiousness.

Link

Former Obama law student speaks out...

A former Obama law student speaks out after the unprecedented threat to the Supreme Court by the president.

Imagine if you picked up your morning paper to read that one of your astronomy professors had publicly questioned whether the earth, in fact, revolves around the sun.

Or maybe your high school math teacher was publicly insisting that 2 + 2 = 5. You’d be a little embarrassed, right?

You’d worry that your colleagues and friends might begin to question your astronomical or mathematical literacy.

Obviously Obama’s former student is embarrassed for Obama after his unprecedented threat leveled at the Supreme Court.

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