Freddy Mac, Fannie Mae to be Seized

Breaking news to Watch....

The Treasury Department is putting the finishing touches on a plan to help shore up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to people familiar with the matter. Such a move would essentially amount to a government takeover of the mortgage giants.

The plan is expected to involve putting the two companies into the conservatorship of their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said several people familiar with the matter. That would mean the government would take the reins of the companies, at least temporarily.

It is also expected to involve the government injecting capital into Fannie and Freddie.That could happen gradually on a quarter-by-quarter basis, rather than in a single move, one person familiar with the matter said. In addition, the Treasury's plan includes a top-level management shake-up at both companies, according to people familiar with the plans. Daniel H. Mudd, chief executive of Fannie Mae, and Richard Syron, his counterpart at Freddie Mac, are expected to step down from their posts. An announcement could come as early as this weekend. Some details are still being worked out.

Any move by the Treasury would be one of the most significant interventions by the government in the financial industry since the housing bust touched off turmoil in the credit markets a little more than a year ago. From the $168 billion economic-stimulus package in February through the bailout of investment bank Bear Stearns Cos., the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve have taken an aggressive stance in attempting to respond to what has become one of the worst financial crises in decades. Fannie and Freddie are vital cogs in the U.S. housing market. A Treasury intervention could help borrowers by keeping interest rates on mortgages lower than they would be in the event of continued instability.

Critics say the open-ended nature of the rescue package could expose taxpayers to billions of dollars of potential losses.

Supporters, however, argue the Bush administration had little choice but to support Fannie and Freddie, which together hold or guarantee $5 trillion in mortgages – almost half the nation's total.

Fannie Mae shares jumped 62 cents to $7.04 in regular trading but plunged 21 percent to $4.59 after hours on worries that a government rescue might wipe out equity holders. Freddie Mac shares rose 15 cents to $5.10 in regular trading but fell 18 percent to $4.18 after hours.

Walter

Sources: Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Federal Housing Finance Agency, The Wall Street Journal

Conservative, but Don't Tell Anyone

Bookworm, the Marin County, California mom who lives a secret life as a conservative blogger in one of the bluest spots in America, wrote about her plight in a 2005 article, Confession of a Crypto-conservative Woman. On her own website Bookworm Worm, she features a piece about the lengths to which conservatives in strong blue areas feel intimidated about expressing their political views. The intolerant left is becoming more obnoxious in its demonization of those who dissent from their orthodoxy. An excellent example is the protesters, the so-called "anti-war protesters" during the Republican National Convention: looting, broken windows, slashed tires and a variety of other types of vandalism. Slashed tires? I haven't heard of such a thing since Woodward Academy played "Dixie" during the football halftime at Henry County High School back in the mid-70s. Blacks were enraged, so they slashed the tires of the Woodward buses. (On a side note: Can I call myself a Scottish-American?)

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is no longer with us, so it seems fitting to highlight the velvet gulag inhabited by conservatives in Hollywood, Marin, Berkeley, CA and yes, even in the deep south of Atlanta, Athens and God help us, Macon, GA. Don't feel sorry for any of us: we are quite comfortable, thank-you. But we also live with the fear of being denounced, shunned, and abused by those with whom we must associate as neighbors, colleagues, and even just strangers in a restaurant overhearing a conversation.

Understand that the left is revealing its hand as people who do not tolerate those who disagree.

A sample from Bookworm's new essay:

"During the 2004 elections, people who were unaware of my political inclinations announced in front of me that "Bush is the worst President ever," "Republicans are stupid," "Republicans are evil," "Bush is stupid," "Republicans are corrupt," "Republicans are fascists" and "Bush should be impeached." Children ran up to me on the sidewalk chanting "Bush is evil, Bush is evil" - so you know what their parents were saying at the dinner table. In this election cycle, one of my children announced after school that she was voting for Barack Obama "since every one is because he's black." I quickly scotched that line of reasoning.

I know I should be speaking out when I hear statements such as these, but the sad fact is that I like these people. Barring their monomaniacal animosity towards Bush and the Republicans, they're otherwise very nice: they're hard workers, loving parents, good neighbors and helpful and reliable friends. Being the social creature that I am, I don't want with one word ("Republican") to turn these friendships upside down and inside out. (I'm not the only one with this problem.) I don't want to be on the receiving end of some hideous Jekyll to Hyde transformation, so I just keep my mouth shut.

Those people I know who have spoken aloud their new conservative political views have been horrified by the animosity turned against them by formerly friendly neighbors and colleagues. My in-laws who are, like me, 9/11 neocons (down in Los Angeles) have stared open-mouthed at colleagues who use staff meetings to revile Bush and the Republicans - all to the cheers and huzzahs of the other staff members. (Indeed, what they describe sounds remarkably like Orwell's Two Minutes Hate.) On the occasions when they've suggested that maybe, just maybe, Bush isn't the Antichrist, they've found themselves shunned by these same colleagues.


Walter

Why Obama Can't, Won't (and Shouldn't) Win the Presidency

By its troubled Presidential "electability" history over the past five plus decades (with the exceptions of southerners, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and one-term Jimmy Carter) the democratic party seems to have a self-destructive penchant for otherwise nominating far left of center, northern Liberals who almost always go down to embarrassing defeat in the November elections.

Bill Clinton is, in fact, the only democrat to be elected to two Presidential terms since Franklin D. Roosevelt. But Clinton knew how to work the media; not like Reagan could; Reagan knew the game and played by his own rules. Clinton knew how to work the media much like a seasoned prostitute could really work a trick in a back alley. Besides, for some reason a president who has a sexual addiction seems to hold a fascination for a dummied-down nation of addicts and lazy but greedy misfits.

The very same groups who enthusiastically
backed and watched past elections go down to
defeat now back Obama and for all the wrong reasons

The all too familiar "red flags" for an inevitable November defeat are making their presence well known - particularly if one looks at recent polls. And take a look at this article, of all places, in the Black Star News: http://www.blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=3263

1. Obama is a northern liberal with a far "left of center" voting record from the Illinois State Senate. And while a U.S. Senator, Obama really hasn't "done" anything. He's only a mouth.

2. Obama lacks military and executive (Governorship) experience and was only elected to the United States Senate less than one year before beginning his quest for the US Presidency. (By contrast, Hillary Clinton has 8 years experience in the White House as First Lady and almost two terms as US Senator.)

3. A series of (recently exposed) controversial associations and highly questionable comments from either the candidate himself or his wife have raised doubts regarding Obama's sense of patriotism, understanding or connection to rural America, and love for country -- things that generally don't play well in middle America.

4. A poor performance in the most recent debate between Obama and Clinton revealed a candidate easily irritated and annoyed with uncomfortable questions and offering less than adequate responses to them.

5. A tendency to become arrogant or blame either his opponent or the press when things don't go Obama's way. He lacks maturity.

6. Successful attempts to block Michigan and Florida votes from being counted or conduct do-over primaries. These strategic and important states can be expected to go Republican in the November election, despite the union influences.

7. Still has links to underground black militants who bombed the U.S. Capital, who have raised millions of dollars for him.

8. I don't care what flimflam artists like Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party on the local, state, national level is in shambles ironically like the shortcomings of the Republican Party (but more so): greed, hubris, arrogance, selfishness, personal gain. Anyone who says they are Republican, I laugh at them; if they say they are Democrat, I want to vomit. This is no longer about parties, it is about the country's very real survival as a nation. If you are still talking party lines, you are almost talking treason.

All of the above spell a candidacy in trouble and is doomed to staggering defeat in November.

Exit polls from the most primaries show Obama having significant trouble with "White, blue collar and rural voters, Catholics, Jews, Latinos, Seniors and women."

Who does that leave?

African Americans, so called, "Latte Liberals," most rock stars and Hollywood elites, affluent, left wing cerebrals and organizations such as "Move-On.org," and the so-called, "youth vote."

The very same groups who enthusiastically backed and watched go down to defeat, John Kerry in the most recent 2004 Presidential election. This despite the fact, Kerry was a former war hero with decades of US Senatorial experience.

It is doubtful despite being nominated, Barack Obama would even be able to win the states that John Kerry did. Obama should be beaten worse than Kerry, Dukakis, Mondale or Carter. I doubt it will be a run away election for McCain, but I will have my champagne ready and drink to the candidate that never was, despite being created by the liberal media, the so-called "drive by media."

For one matter, Obama's Republican opponent, John McCain is much more appealing to Independents and centrist (so-called, "Reagan") democrats than George W. Bush.

Otherwise democratic "blue" states such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, California and even New York could be in play for McCain in a potential matchup against Barack. Obama would lose all of the south and most of the states he had beaten Hillary Clinton during the primaries such as Utah, Nebraska, Idaho, South Dakato and Wyoming. These are traditional "red states" that virtually never go democratic in Presidential elections.

Meanwhile, Obama had lost to Clinton almost all of the "swing/purple" states (with the exception of Missouri which was razor tight) that are usually so necessary to a democratic win in Presidential contests - Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and California. Clinton supporters are overly emotional, angry activists and despise Obama for doing so well and winning the nomination. They are more ready to vote for someone else (anyone else) except for Obama. And, although Obama wasn't on the ballot when an unofficial primary was held in Michigan, supporters of Obama and John Edwards had opportunity to vote "Uncommitted." Even so, Hillary Clinton handily won against both candidates combined and she isn't even the nominee.

What states could Obama reasonably be guaranteed to win in a contest against McCain?

Illinois (Obama's home state) and Vermont (very liberal). Possibly, Wisconsin. But even the very liberal Massachusetts (where McCain now leads Obama in a potential matchup) is not guaranteed for Obama.

By contrast, Hillary Clinton played well in almost all of the big states, and was guaranteed New York, California, Massachusetts, and even would have won at least one state in the South - Arkansas.

It would no doubt be tight between Clinton and McCain; tt would not have been a blowout, either way. Democrats would have had good chance to win the White House if Clinton was the nominee. It has virtually no chance now that the nomination mantle has gone to Obama.

Obama frequently says in speeches, "We are not red states or blue states. We are the United States!"

That is true, as corny as he said it.

But, as such, the only democrats who have reasonable chance of winning Presidential elections are those who are perceived as political "centrists," representing different dynamics of the country - not just the far left or Hollywood and northern elitists.

Walter

Updates on Gustav, Hanna & Ike; now Josephine

Gustav evacuees returning to overwhelmed infrastructure

Hundreds of thousands of Gustav evacuees began flooding back home Wednesday to face widespread power outages, food shortages and limited resources...

Gathered from wire reports-Hundreds of thousands of Gustav evacuees began flooding back home Wednesday to face widespread power outages, food shortages and limited medical care. Facing rising pressure, officials in most jurisdictions along the Gulf Coast began lifting evacuation orders even as they expressed serious reservations about conditions returning residents would face. In particular, officials warned the sick and elderly to stay away.

"We'd like to say 'welcome back,' but it's not the way we'd like to do it, with no electricity, no traffic lights," Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, told a local television station.

"There is no excuse for delay."

- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal

Nearly all of the nearly 2 million people evacuated from southern Louisiana are expected to return in the next few days, potentially overwhelming the area's infrastructure. Highways and other roads became jammed as evacuees headed home. In New Orleans, early returnees had a hard time finding supplies, particularly gasoline.

State officials said 1.2 million residential and business customers were without power in southern Louisiana. Outages in Jefferson County's sewage plants prompted officials there to asked residents of the New Orleans suburb not to use any water, because it could cause massive sewage backups in homes and businesses. Of major concern is the number of hospitals operating on emergency generators.

Virtually all of Baton Rouge, the state capital, is without electricity. Fifty-seven percent of customers in New Orleans are without power. In some jurisdictions, utilities have said it could be weeks before power is restored. Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal expressed frustration at the pace of the power restoration, calling it "unacceptable."

"There is no excuse for delay," he said.

President Bush, who toured the area Wednesday, added to the sense of urgency, asking utilities in neighboring states to send extra manpower. Philip Allison, spokesman for Entergy, the main electric utility in the region, said more than 10,000 workers from Entergy, its contractors and other out-of-state utilities were at work. He said any delay was caused by the "size and scope of the damage" from Gustav. Hospitals without power and running on generators either received extra generators or were moving critical-care patients to other facilities, said Jolie Adams, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Chris Wormuth, a doctor at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Gonzales, La., was concerned about the 100-bed hospital and clinic, which is using emergency generators.

"We're open for the moment," Wormuth said. "But how long we can stay open we're not sure."

To forestall looting, 1,500 National Guard troops patrolled New Orleans on Wednesday, guarding gas stations and grocery stores and handing out ice. At one of the few open gas stations in downtown New Orleans, owner Harry Leslie surveyed a line of cars and said, "I am shocked I'm this busy. ... I'll stay open as long as I have gas, but it is not looking good."

As residents returned to spoiled food and shuttered grocery stores, relief organizations began moving in. Churches that have power started massive feeding efforts, and the Salvation Army was operating 65 feeding trucks along the Gulf Coast, a spokesman said, with the ability to feed 560,000 people a day. New Orleans originally had planned to admit evacuees by phases, with major corporations and retailers permitted to return Wednesday and the general populace today. But after scenes of frustrated evacuees stuck at police checkpoints, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin dropped the phased re-entry system.

Hanna veers; Georgians watch for Ike, Josephine

Early morning fears gave way Wednesday to late-in-the-day relief as Tropical Storm Hanna took a more easterly path away from Georgia’s coast toward landfall in South Carolina. As of 11 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported that Hanna was expected to reach hurricane strength Thursday morning as it turned northward.

Projections call for Hanna’s eye to pass 120 to 140 miles east of Savannah, and 75 miles east of South Carolina before making landfall sometime Saturday afternoon, probably near Wilmington, N.C. The storm had earlier been projected to smack Cumberland Island off Georgia’s southern coast before skipping northward.

Georgians, yet again, appeared to have dodged the hurricane bullet. Vigilance, though, remained the watchword from St. Marys to Savannah as emergency management officials weren’t quite ready Wednesday evening to bid Hanna adieu. And, with Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine brewing farther down in the Atlantic, locals cautioned that relief may be short-lived.

“We’re watching other ones out there.

They’re lining up like choo-choo trains.”

- Tybee Island Mayor Jason Buelterman.

Earlier in the week, state and county emergency officials considered issuing a voluntary evacuation order for coastal counties, but no evacuations were suggested Wednesday. Freighters will continue to head up and down the Savannah River without interruption, according to the Georgia Ports Authority.

“Currently, everything is business as usual,” said ports spokesman Robert Morris. “It looks like the coast of Georgia may very well dodge another storm.”

Not everybody is convinced the threat has passed. Some coastal residents remain prepared to head for higher ground. “The water won’t do anything to me and I won’t be thrilled if the power is off, but it’s the wind — I’ve got glass windows facing toward the ocean — that I’m worried about,” said Tanya Fowler, who lives 150 feet from the Tybee Pier. “If the wind gets going, I’ll leave.”

After 11 p.m. Wednesday, Hurricane Ike was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, with 135 mph winds and a 20- to 30-mile eye. Wind speeds in the storm jumped by 35 mph between 5 and 8 p.m. Along the coast, hurricane staples — bottles of water, batteries, bread, gas cans, flashlights, lantern oil — disappeared from grocery and convenience store shelves. Storm shutters covered windows at Savannah’s City Hall. Hotels along Interstate 95 reported brisker-than-usual business for post-vacation September.

“The hurricane ran away a lot of business. We’ve had several cancellations,” said Woody Hemphill, who runs River’s End Campground and R.V. Park on Tybee. “We try to discourage people from canceling until the storm gets closer to land. But they want a written guarantee that the storm is not coming.”

A 20-foot sailboat listed sideways on Tybee’s beach below the pier, courtesy of Hanna. A handful of houses on Tybee wore plywood patches. Trash cans, recycling bins and other potential flying objects were stowed away. Sandbags awaited placement alongside the Tybee Island Marine Science Center. And the lifeguard stands were carted from the beach Wednesday and stacked on 19th Street.

“People swim at their own risk,” said Jonathan Thomas, the lifeguard in charge. “The waves and the riptides will probably be worse Thursday than they were today. But when [weather forecasters] say the storm is heading up north, I’m relieved.”

Tybee’s mayor, though, is paid to fear the worst. “The path of this storm has changed so many times, so there’s nothing to say it won’t change again,” he warned. “We hope and pray it misses us entirely and we have another beautiful weekend down here. We’re watching other ones out there,” said Tybee Mayor Jason Buelterman. “They’re lining up like choo-choo trains.”

While there was no sign of folks boarding up on St. Simons Island, grocers were doing a brisk business in bottled water. And Hanna remained high on the minds of those who live on the Golden Isles.

“That’s all my customers are talking about,” said Brenda Kennedy, owner of the Island Hairport salon. Some older residents are leaving, Kennedy said as she loaded six bottles of water into her trunk at the Winn Dixie. “They’re going to Macon and Atlanta.”

Frank Beckum, 77, was among those planning to evacuate Thursday morning. Beckum said he wanted to assure he had access to dialysis, so he was going to stay with his wife’s family in Hawkinsville until Hanna passes by. Beckum said he got a taste of Hurricane David in 1979 and the relatively mild storm was all he needed. “I promised the good Lord and the two drunks I was with that I wouldn’t do that again.”

Walter

Hoaxes That Fooled The World: Part 2

History, be it good, bad or in different and being just like hoaxes, repeat themselves. While there is always a sucker born every minute, it is because there really is nothing new under the sun, as you will soon read in 360 Degrees' second in a series. Hoaxes are not new to our generation; obviously history is replete with them.

Piltdown Man

The "Piltdown Man" is a famous hoax consisting of fragments of a skull and jawbone collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, a village near Uckfield, East Sussex, in England. The fragments were thought by many experts of the day to be the fossilized remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human. The Latin name Eoanthropus dawsoni ("Dawson's dawn-man", after the collector Charles Darson) was given to the specimen.

The significance of the specimen remained the subject of controversy until it was exposed in 1953 as a forgery, consisting of the lower jawbone of an orangutan combined with the skull of a fully developed, modern man.

The Piltdown hoax is perhaps the most famous archaeological hoax in history. It has been prominent for two reasons: the attention paid to the issue of human evolution, and the length of time (more than 40 years) that elapsed from its discovery to its full exposure as a forgery.

Georgia Bigfoot

The Georgia Bigfoot has been confirmed as a (gasp) hoax. The two Georgia men, one of them a cop, who claimed to have found the dead animal allegedly pulled one over on Tom Biscardi, a self-described Bigfoot researcher who has a reputation as a hoaxer himself. From Fox News: SearchingforBigfoot.com owner Tom Biscardi paid an "undisclosed sum" to Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two Georgia men who say they found the body, for their frozen corpse and the privilege of trotting them out in front of TV cameras.

At the same time, Biscardi sent self-described "Sasquatch detective" Steve Kulls back to Georgia to check out the body. Lots of people make ludicrous claims like Whitton and Dyer did, and like Biscardi has done in the past more than once. The element that made this hoax attractive for Biscardi was that Whitton was a sheriff deputy. Biscardi knew the law enforcement aspect would help the story appear more believable to the media, for a little while at least. That was all Biscardi needed.

Consider a historical parallel - the "Alien Autopsy Video" Hoax.

In the 1990's an unscrupulous television producer perpetrated a television hoax with a video of a phony autopsy of a phony alien body. The video was touted by a particular television network as a potentially authentic piece of video footage. The same video producer and television network later revealed their own hoax in a subsequent program. This televised hoax got high ratings, and they all cashed in, but it wasn't illegal.

9/11

While there are still many unanswered questions about September 11th, I don't see enough credible evidence to support that the U.S. Government (or hidden entities thereof) would do such a thing. If so, this borders more on a conspiracy than an actual hoax, and if the people knew such a thing happened, chances are good that the government would be overthrown much like Franklin, Jefferson and Washington envisioned. Pearl Harbor, in fact was no different. There were many unanswered questions about December 7th, but, like 9/11, I do not believe it was an elaborate hoax to get us into war, despite the continuous efforts of the 'hawks' in the Pentagon and the military industrial complex.

Death by Suicide of Adolph Hitler

Hitler led the German nation into unbridled prosperity, but at a price: the slaughter of innocent men, women and children and bringing the world into war on a most unprecedented scale. Hitler was insecure, prone to depression and was a documented manic-depressant with paranoid episodes. He was the perfect candidate for burning out, tucking tail and committing suicide. This has been documented over and over. While it is true that those who were not convicted, died in prison or were hung by The Hague, did go to Brazil (Martin Bormann, for instance) http://spitfirelist.com/?page_id=275, it is believe that most high ranking Nazi's, including Hitler, committed suicide, and no credible evidence exists to the contrary.

Walter

80s Music Video Flashback

Tears For Fears - "Head Over Heels"

Tears for Fears (sometimes informally abbreviated to TFF) has sold more than 22 million albums worldwide (including over 8 million in the United States alone) and mainly consists of members Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Head Over Heels, from the album Songs From The Big Chair, topped out in the UK at #12, US at #3, Ireland at #5, and Canada at #8). The promotional clip for "Head over Heels", filmed in June 1985, was the fourth Tears for Fears clip directed by famed music video producer Nigel Dick. It is centered around Roland Orzabal's attempts to get the attention of a librarian (played by Canadian model Joan Densmore), while a variety of characters (many played by the rest of the band) take part in shenanigans in the library. The video was filmed at the Emmanuel College Library in Toronto, Canada. In 2008, Tears for Fears will perform in Germany in November and December, at the 'Night of the Proms'.

Pure Research

I try to focus this blog for the most part on news stories related to scientific research and discoveries (among other things - hence the name 360), but sometimes I feel the need to get a bit more topical, and stories from a number of sources over the last week or so have been bringing up a bit of my old ire on a topic I'm fairly passionate about - the importance of pure scientific research.

On September 10, the world will be witnessing the rise of the most powerful particle accelerator ever with the activation of CERN's Large Hadron Collider. This will be carried out in Europe with, largely, America acting in the role of an observer.

Meanwhile, one has to wonder whether America will ever really take the steps necessary to devote ourselves to the study of pure science again. Bell Labs earned 6 Nobel Prizes, including the invention of the transistor and the laser, arguably two of the most fundamental technological developments of the 20th century, which allowed for the creation of computers and communication devices on a scale that made them able to transform our day-to-day lives!

This research was not carried out because of market trends, but because of a dedication to learning more about the world. It was "pure research" but also was carried out with an understanding that gaining knowledge, and leveraging it in effective ways, yields positive economic results.

Now, though, the scope of pure research is diminishing throughout America. Bell Labs is certainly not alone in its myopic desire to focus on only a handful of applied technologies, growing ever more specialized. Science departments at universities grow similarly focused on the one or two areas where they have, historically, excelled the most.

In 1904, the fields of inquiry which had the greatest impact throughout the twentieth century - quantum physics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, relativity, particle physics, lasers, transistor electronics, and so on - were literally non-existent. It was the most pure of pure research, thought experiments on purely abstract topics such as how to explain Brownian motion and the motion of charged particles, which brought about the television, nuclear energy (and bombs), cell phones and communication transformations, lasers, personal computing, and the like.

The transformation of tomorrow lies with knowledge that is just without our reach today. In order to access it, pure research must be allowed the chance to raise its arms up high, resting on the shoulders of government and industry. Without having the chance to perform this research, it is sad to think what will happen to our country and our world ... or, even worse, what will not be allowed to happen.

Walter

Top 5 Back to School Books

Anyone who knows me will tell you I love books. My apartment is packed with books of all kinds, Christian, scientific, historic, etc. When I was a kid, I was a voracious reader which may explain I was sometimes bored in school - in many cases I knew more than the teacher. Summer reading programs were the right of passage with my sister and me. Even with all the things we did during the summer, there were never enough books for our minds and imaginations to devour.

And so, I present to you my picks for the best back to school books. Enjoy!

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - J. K. Rowling, Scholastic

Books about boarding schools always fill me with romantic schoolgirl dreams of dorm life and fun with friends. Add to the boarding school magic and mythical creatures, and my imagination goes wild.

Quick book description: Harry Potter was a baby when his parents died, and since that time he has lived with his horrible uncle and aunt. Harry receives a letter inviting him to attend the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and begins to learn the truth about the death of his parents.

"A Separate Peace" - John Knowles, Simon & Schuster

Here we have another book about a boarding school, this time in New England just before World War II. This is a classic coming of age story.

Quick book description: Gene & Phineas are roommates at Devon, an exclusive New England prep school. Their friendship brings out the best and worst in the boys and leads to a situation that changes them forever.

"How to Be Popular" Meg Cabot, HarperCollins

This is a girly teen novel that anyone who has ever felt like an outsider will be able to relate with (in other words, this was written with 90% of teenage girls in mind).

Quick book description: High school junior Steph Landry is on a mission to be popular with the help of a 1950s popularity guide. Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. Can Steph find love, friendship and popularity?

"Friday Night Lights" - H. G. Bissinger - De Capo Press

Here we turn to the darker side of high school football. This is a gripping book about a town's obsession. While it isn't necessarily a pretty picture, a little drama may make back to school seem more bearable.

Quick book description: This is a true account by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist of how a town's single-minded devotion to a football team shapes the community and affects the players.

"Bleachers" - John Grisham, Dell Publishing

Grisham takes us back to school in a different way--here the main character is returning to his hometown years after graduation to attend the funeral of a coach.

Quick book description: Once-great high school quarterback, Neely Crenshaw, returns to the bleachers of his high school field and grapples with his mixed feelings about his coach and high school glory.

Walter

360 Degrees: Blog Sponsor PSA - September 08

Hoaxes That Fooled The World: Part 1

The world is full of hoaxes (and hucksters) and with the advent of the Internet, there have been a plethora of deceptive tales. Long before Bonsai Kittens and the tourist guy, hoaxsters have been wreaking havoc on the gullible to amuse themselves and maybe gain a little notoriety. Here are a few hoaxes that pre-date the Internet, in some cases by centuries. There are plenty more, so a follow-up via Part 2 is in order – if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments, since you guys are filling up my (e)mail box, LOL.

The Turk

This might not seem so impressive in the day and age of computers, but at the time, a mechanical man who could beat anyone at chess was quite the novelty.

Wolfgang von Kempelen constructed just that. It baffled people from 1770 until 1854. It was a life-sized man from the waist up, dressed in robes and a turban (to emphasize the mystic quality, I suppose). It sat with a cabinet which opened to reveal all kinds of cogs and gears and complicated-looking machinery, which were designed to hide a person sitting on a sliding seat. The person could maneuver around in the cabinet to conceal himself as the presenter opened various cabinet doors to prove that nothing was inside but machinery. The person inside would then use various levers to make the Turk move, pick up chess pieces and even shake his head disapprovingly at opponents trying to cheat. The Turk defeated the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. Edgar Allan Poe wrote an essay on it, guessing how the tricks were done, but was largely incorrect.

The Turk was lost in a fire on July 5, 1854. In 1857, the son of the Turk’s final owner decided that since the Turk was “deceased”, it was time for his secrets to be revealed. He wrote a series of articles for The Chess Monthly and exposed nearly everything.

For Sale, Cheap: The Brooklyn Bridge

George Parker would sell anything that wasn’t nailed down – no, wait, he sold stuff that was nailed down, too. Cemented and bolted down, in fact. He set up an office in New York to handle real estate deals – huge deals. Among his offerings were the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Grant’s Tomb, Madison Square Garden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He would convince buyers that they could own a piece of history and even made some very convincing documents giving them ownership. He is the reason the phrase “If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you,” came about. Despite all of these sales – he supposedly “sold” the Brooklyn Bridge twice a week – he was only convicted of fraud three times.

The Cottingley Fairies

Tinkerbell would be pleased that these young girls believed in fairies, but perhaps would have disapproved of their methods of “proving” it. Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths were cousins. Elsie, 16, was a wonderful artist who worked in a photo lab and a greeting card factory. She borrowed her dad’s camera to take some pictures, and when they were developed, pictures of fairies happened to be in some of them. He declared them fake, but Elsie’s mother disagreed.

The pictures soon became public and were up for interpretation. One of the people fooled by the prints was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series. But not everyone was easily convinced. In order to show that the fairy sightings were real, a clairvoyant was brought to Cottingley. The idea was that if anyone else would be able to see fairies, surely a clairvoyant could. Perhaps eager to prove just how spiritual he was, the clairvoyant said that yes, he absolutely saw the fairies, although he was not able to get any more pictures.

The whole thing remained unsolved until 1981, when the cousins were interviewed for a magazine called The Unexplained. They admitted they had made cut-out fairies and held them up with hatpins, and said they realized the joke had gone too far when Arthur Conan Doyle was duped. They were embarrassed to come forth after that and decided to keep up the ruse. However, Frances said that although the first four pictures were fakes, the fifth one (the one on the left, above) was real and that she and her cousin actually did see fairies.

The Lying Stones

A Professor at the University of Wurzburg in Germany was fooled by his colleagues in the 18th century. They carved limestone into animal shapes and carved the name of God on them in various characters and hid them on a nearby mountain where Professor Beringer liked to hunt for fossils. Beringer became convinced that the carvings were actually created by God himself. Even when people pointed out that the limestone showed chisel marks, he held to his theory and even published a book on the stones.

His colleagues eventually came clean, but he refused to believe them and called them agnostic. He was finally convinced when the two men testified in court that they had just wanted to discredit Beringer because he was so conceited. Beringer pretty much ruined himself financially trying to buy up all of the copies of his ridiculous book. The stones became known as Lügensteine, the lying stones.

Princess Caraboo

In 1817, Princess Caraboo popped up in Almondsbury in Gloucestershire, England. She was speaking a strange language and was wearing clothes that weren’t common to the area, so people were quite intrigued by her. No one could understand what she was saying, but when she was offered a room at the local inn, she ate a pineapple for dinner and slept on the floor instead of in the bed.

Finally, a man who spoke Portugeuse claimed to understand her and translated for her. She was a Princess from the island of Javasu who was kidnapped by pirates. She escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to shore, which was how she had ended up in Almondsbury.

A woman in Bristol read about her in a newspaper and recognized her as a girl who had stayed at her lodging house not too long before. She entertained the woman’s daughters by speaking in her own made up language, just for fun. Another man said that he met “Princess Caraboo” a couple of days before she turned up in Almondsbury, but at that time she spoke English and drank rum and ate steak (as “Princess Caraboo”, she was strictly vegetarian).

When confronted with these stories, the Princess admitted that she was Mary Baker and came from Witheridge, Devon.

Betcha can't wait for Part 2....

Walter

Tropical Storm Hanna Makes Its Way Toward U.S.

Providenciales, Turks & Caicos: Tropical Storm Hanna brought battering waves, rain and blustery winds to this island chain on today, closing the airport and schools and clearing the streets. Forecasters warned that it could become a hurricane and strike the U.S. mainland.

"Right now, the uncertainty is such that it could hit anywhere from Miami to the outer banks of North Carolina," said Jessica Schauer Clark, a meteorologist at the hurricane center. "So people really need to keep an eye on it."

Tropical storm warnings were posted for the Turks and Caicos and the central and southeastern Bahamas, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was likely to become a hurricane by midweek.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Hanna had top sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kmh) with higher gusts, and was centered about 40 miles (65 kms) north of Mayaguana Island in the southeastern Bahamas, moving west-southwest near 5 mph (7 kmh).

A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft was expected to analyze the storm later today.

Walter

Map Credit: National Hurricane Center/NOAA

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Walter

Labor Day Feature: The World In Photos

The Perseids meteor shower streaks through the early morning sky,
lighting up the outskirts of Sofiya (Sofia), Bulgaria. The meteor
shower, which occurs in July and August, provided the most stunning
views on the night between August 12 and August 13. Named for
the constellation Perseus, this annual event offers spectators around
the world a dazzling show, peaking at nearly a hundred meteors an hour.
Photo Credit: Boryana Katsarova/AFP

The annual food fight in Buñol, Spain turns saucy as a reveler is doused
with a bucket of tomato pulp. An estimated 40,000 people were on hand
for this year's bout of messy fun, hurling truckloads of juicy red tomatoes
at each other. The "Tomatina" festival's origins are uncertain,
though local lore traces it to a 1940s food fight between kids near a
town-square vegetable stand.Photo Credit: Fernando Bustamante/AP

A mask adorned with striking blue eyes covered the face of one of
three 1,300-year-old Wari mummies recently excavated from a pyramid in
Peru's capital city. The remains of a sacrificed child were also found with
the mummy bundles. Child sacrifices were common among the Wari,
a pre-Incan people that flourished in Peru from about A.D. 600 to 1000.
Photo Credit: Karel Navarro/AP

A spot of tea, anyone? An employee at the London auction house
Bonhams lays out more than a hundred teacups by designer Clarice Cliff
that will come up for auction on September 23. The cups, each valued between
U.S. $180 and $1,100, are believed to be the largest collection by the designer
best known for her bizarre style that flourished in the 1920s and '30s. Since Cliff's
death in 1972, her work has steadily increased in value, according to Bonhams.
Photo Credit: Cate Gillon


An "exquisitely carved" statue of the Roman emperor
Marcus Aurelius—with heavy-lidded, bulging eyes and a feathery beard—
has been discovered in western Turkey. The Turkish and Belgian
archeological teams were not entirely surprised to find the
sculpture of the Roman leader and philosopher, who ruled from
A.D. 161 to 180, in Roman-era baths in the ancient city of Sagalassos.
That's because a rich repository of artifacts from the second century A.D.
had already been unearthed at the baths, including the 2007 discovery
of a colossal statue of the emperor Hadrian.
Photo Credit: Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project

After being knighted by Norway's elite King's Guard at the behest of
Norwegian King Harald V, king penguin Nils Olav walks past soldiers at
Scotland's Edinburgh Zoo. Olav has been an honorary member and mascot
of the King's Guard for decades and was made an honorary colonel-in-chief
in 2005. King penguins live up to about 40 years in captivity, twice as
long as in the wild. About a million wild kings inhabit relatively
temperate regions of northern Antarctica.
Photo Credit: David Moir/Reuters


Ashley Webb of Burton, Michigan took the Best of Show award
during the 1st Annual Woodward Dream Show for a car she and her father
Dan built from scratch. Photo Credit: Woodward Dream Cruise

Walter

New Orleans Becomes Ghost Town as Gustav Approaches

New Orleans became a "ghost town'' and Louisiana carried out the largest evacuation in its history as almost 2 million people fled Hurricane Gustav, which plowed through the Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to make landfall today.

"Let's prepare for the worst, pray for the best,'' state Governor Bobby Jindal said in a televised news conference yesterday as the Category 3 storm moved closer to the coast. An estimated 1.9 million people were evacuated from the state and only 10,000 remain in New Orleans, he said.

Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a sundown curfew to stop looting in the city of 300,000 people and said a storm surge brought by Gustav may cause flooding in its West Bank. He said New Orleans resembled a "ghost town.''

The National Hurricane Center said, on its current track, Gustav will make landfall during daylight hours today on the northern Gulf coast. Oil companies evacuated workers from more than 600 rigs and production platforms in the Gulf, where fields account for about a quarter of U.S. oil production.

President Bush declared a state of emergency for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and canceled plans to travel to the Republican National Convention. Presumptive party presidential nominee John McCain canceled most of today's opening events so the nation could focus on the storm, while Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama called on the public to "take the evacuation seriously.''

Storm's Path

As of 10 p.m. local time yesterday, Gustav was about 220 miles (360 kilometers) southeast of New Orleans and moving northwest at 16 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The storm has sustained winds of almost 115 miles per hour and a "little strengthening is possible prior to landfall.''

An "extremely dangerous'' storm surge of 10 to 14 feet above normal tide levels is forecast where it crosses the coast, the center said.

Gustav marks Louisiana's first test of evacuation plans that were put in place after Katrina struck in August 2005 with winds of almost 130 miles per hour. The storm flooded 80 percent of New Orleans as it overwhelmed levees and floodwalls, killing 1,800 people in Louisiana and Mississippi and causing more than $80 billion in damage.

"I still think this storm will be worse than Katrina''

- Jim Rouiller, meteorologist with Planalytics Inc.

Thousands of people were forced to take shelter at the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center. This time, those shelters are closed, and authorities pressed buses and Amtrak trains into service to help evacuate people without transportation.

"We did well this time on the evacuation front,'' said Nagin.

Highways Clogged

Highways were clogged with traffic as people fled the approaching storm. Mario and Laura Hernandez of Metairie, just west of New Orleans, bundled their two children into a trailer and headed to Baton Rouge for the second time in three years. "I knew the time would come,'' said Mario, 25. "I didn't know it would come so soon.''

Help was pouring in to Louisiana from as far away as Los Angeles, which is sending water rescue teams, said Jindal. Authorities mobilized 7,000 National Guard personnel and are preparing 1,800 more.

The Army Corps of Engineers has stockpiled sandbags to repair any breaches in the New Orleans levees, said spokesman Bill Irwin. The Corps has worked since Katrina to strengthen the levees, which form a ring of barriers surrounding the below-sea-level city. Work isn't scheduled to be complete until 2011.

Oil Imports

The storm's eye may pass directly over the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, also known as the LOOP, which handles 12 percent of U.S. oil imports, said Jim Rouiller, a private meteorologist with Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

"I still think this storm will be worse than Katrina,'' Rouiller said. "Refinery row from the Sabine River pass to Gulfport will sustain major flooding along with wind damage.''

U.S. energy producers have idled 82 percent of natural gas production and 96 percent of oil output in the Gulf, the U.S. government said. Oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell PlcBP Plc evacuated workers from 86 rigs and 518 production platforms along the coast. and

Jindal said most refineries would conduct "warm shutdowns'' so they can reopen quickly after Gustav passes.

Fields in the Gulf produce 1.3 million barrels a day of oil, about a quarter of U.S. production, and 7.4 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas, 14 percent of the total, according to government data. Katrina closed 95 percent of regional offshore output and, along with Hurricane Rita, idled about 19 percent of U.S. refining capacity.

Gustav, which left at least 81 dead in Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic last week, smashed through Cuba two days ago, wrecking coastal towns and knocking out communications and power, Agence France-Presse reported.

Walter

WDSU Radio and 2TheAdvocate contributed info for this posting.