International Falls, Minn. (AP) International Falls has iced its claim to be the "Icebox of the Nation." This city on the Canadian border had been fighting the ski town of Fraser, Colo., for the legal right to the trademark.
International Falls claimed victory this week when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent the city attorney a certificate granting the community Reg. No. 3,375,139.
"I ran over to the attorney's office and kissed the certificate," Mayor Shawn Mason said Friday. "Fraser's actions had sent a chill down my spine." Could that chill have been the minus 24 degrees this morning?
#2
I think International Falls actually beats the vast majority of Alaska, parts of which are quite temperate. The annual average mean temperature of International Falls is 36.4°F.
However, the coldest cities in CONUS, both in Minnesota, are either Tower or Embarrass, who claim an official and unofficial temperature record of -60 and -64°F, respectively.
Tanacross, Alaska won with -75°F in 1947. But just across the border at Snag Airport, Yukon, it registered -81.4°F
#7
RJ, in December of 1985 it was -3 in Dothan. I've lived in East Tennessee for 12 years and it's only been below 0 maybe 3 times. But Gulf Shores is really nice. Love it down there.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/10/2008 19:11 Comments ||
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#8
I live, as most know, in San Diego. I has NEVER been below 0 here, although there were "isolated readings" lower in my marital bed, pre-divorce.... I blame AlGore
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/10/2008 19:25 Comments ||
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#9
Int. Falls, MN this morning was -30 with a wind chill of -36 all degrees Farh.
I'm a bit south of there and we had -19 with a wind chill of -47.
The coldest I've experienced in this state was -37 surface temp with a wind chill of -52.
I think the record for the state is -72 Int Falls or Embarrass - they always argue over who is colder.../.
Posted by: not so often poster ||
02/10/2008 20:14 Comments ||
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Driven out of sewers by summer floods and an urban building boom, then nurtured by warmer winters and the leftovers of fast food, rats have been moving into homes, gardens and even cars around the country.
Rat-catchers and companies selling poison and traps are reporting a boom in business, with urban housing estates among the worst affected areas. Long-term growth in rodent populations is also blamed on a decline in 'sewer-baiting', the practice of laying down poison twice a year to prevent rat numbers building up underground.
Because rats breed on average five times a year, with seven or eight in each litter, growth can be rapid. The recent surge in numbers has been linked to a boom in urban development - not least the preparations for the 2012 London Olympics - and last summer's floods, which drove rats out from underground, through holes and cracks in pipes and drains.
Rentokil, the UK's largest pest control company, said demand rose by more than a quarter last year as hits on its website trebled. Killgerm, the country's biggest seller of rat poison, said sales rose by a quarter in 2007.
Rentokil estimates there are 65 million to 80 million rats in Britain, eating their way through 210 tonnes of food a year. This compares with an estimated 45 million to 50 million a decade ago, a rise of nearly 40 per cent, though the company admits such calculations are 'not an exact science'. The biggest increases appear to have been in the south of England, western Scotland and Northern Ireland; only East Anglia and the south Midlands reported a fall. 'It's a bit like crime statistics: it's difficult to tell whether the number of incidents has gone up, or if the reporting is more prevalent,' said Rentokil's UK managing director, Jed Kenrick. 'But there's no doubt that the number of calls we're getting about rodents is significantly up on 12 months ago.' Rats can spread diseases to humans through their urine, including Weil's disease and salmonella, though the Health Protection Agency said cases which could be linked to rats were 'rare' and there was no evidence of any increase in recent years.
Reuben and Louisa Hunter of Palmer's Green, north London, returned from a family holiday in Northern Ireland last month with their 14-month-old baby Sophie, to find that a rat had gnawed its way through the plastic around their car's gear stick, seat belts and the baby seat. 'The car looked like it had been broken into,' Sophie's father said.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) says that rather than call in the pest control experts it is more humane to avoid attracting rats in the first place by keeping food and buildings sealed. 'Rats are highly intelligent, social animals who excel at learning,' said Poorva Joshipura, director of Peta Europe. 'They do not want to die trying to gnaw their leg off in traps or slowly suffering from poison.'
Posted by: john frum ||
02/10/2008 15:10 ||
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#1
Labour Government: Well, hopefully the plague of frogs will eat the plague of rats and the plagues of flies and lice; maybe we can convince the NHS to shorten its 3-year waiting list for the plague of boils; and we can blame the Thames turning red on Man Made Global Warming.
We'll blame the deaths of all firstborn sons on Afghanistan and cut the military budget some more, then finally tell everybody that they should celebrate the unending darkness as diversity.
#7
3dc, as I understand it the problem the last time around was that when the rats died of the pneumonic Bubonic Plague, the infected fleas jumped to the people. Killing the rats out in the open is perhaps not the best idea.
A "dial-a-bobby" scheme is to be launched by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, within the next few weeks, allowing people to email or telephone local police directly to report crimes. But the controversial initiative, part of a government drive towards neighbourhood policing, has been criticised by the Police Federation.
"We have reservations about the publication of individual mobile phone numbers," said Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, last night. "We would prefer the contact to be via local police stations... which would prevent misuse and prank calls."
The Home Secretary has pledged that every community will have a neighbourhood policing team by April this year. But the Police Federation is calling on the Government to abandon its planned roll-out of the scheme "until we are satisfied that the service has the capability to deliver it to a standard that the public deserve without our members paying the price in terms of their welfare and safety."
A Home Office spokesperson defended the plan: "Neighbourhood policing is about ensuring that policing is engaging effectively with people in tackling local policing priorities. Being contactable is a fundamental part of this."
In practice it remains unclear what will be gained by people calling their local bobby. One of the numbers, called by the IoS yesterday, was supposed to be for PCSO Carl Furnish, Adamsdown ward, Cardiff, where one of the neighbourhood schemes is being tested.
It went to a voicemail service that stressed: "This line should not be used for emergencies or to report incidents of an important nature or that require prompt attention."
#1
It's such a simple matter to send all such emails into the bottomless bit-bucket, and all such phone calls to a write-only answering machine. Actually, that differs little from what the Brits are already doing.
#2
311 is the non emergency number in the US. Besides, who wants 10 cell phones going off at the same time at Ye Olde Donut Shoppe.
Posted by: ed ||
02/10/2008 17:38 Comments ||
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#3
REDDIT > DAILY MAIL.UK - BRITAIN'S "BENEFITS" GENERATION(S) - STATE HANDOUTS A WAY OF LIFE FOR OVER SIX MILLION. One of every six Brit households costing L13.0Bilyuuhn a year. NOT EVEN TRYING TO GET A JOB.
AoS update: downgraded to 'Local' because it was a hoax.
An oil rig in the North Sea issued a security alert Sunday and authorities sent helicopters to evacuate more than 500 workers, the Ministry of Defense said. The cause of the alert was not immediately known. But British media reported the helicopters were carrying a bomb disposal unit to examine an explosive device that had been found on the rig about 170 miles off the city of Aberdeen in eastern Scotland.
Sky News quoted unidentified sources as saying that a woman aboard the rig had come under suspicion in connection with the explosive device.
The British Broadcasting Corp. said 14 Royal Air Force and coast guard helicopters were being sent to the Safe Scandinavia rig and that its evacuation of its 539 occupants had begun.
#2
It's a hoax. Officials said the incident was quickly contained, however, and there was no need to send in a bomb squad.
Sky News said the evacuation followed a bomb threat, apparently made by a woman on board, but officials would not confirm the nature of the security alert. Sky later quoted sources as saying the episode was being treated as a hoax.
A police spokeswoman said the incident had been "very quickly contained from a police point of view". Nobody had been arrested, she said.
The Ministry of Defence in London was preparing to send a bomb disposal team but a spokesman said later the bomb squad had been stood down.
YANGON - Myanmars military government said on Saturday it would hold a referendum on a new constitution in May followed by multi-party elections in 2010, a move dismissed as worthless by the opposition without the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
We have achieved success in economic, social and other sectors and in restoring peace and stability, the junta announced on state television after sending in the army to quell Buddhist monk-led pro-democracy demonstrations in September. So multi-party, democratic elections will be held in 2010, said the statement issued in the name of Secretary Number One Lieutenant-General Tin Aung Myint Oo, a top member of the junta.
Secretary 'Number One'? Who'd want to be Number Three?
The elections would be the first since 1990, when Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) won multi-party elections in the former Burma. The military, which has ruled the country since 1962, ignored the result, crushing pro-democracy demonstrations at the cost of several thousand lives. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has spent much of the time since then in detention.
A spokesman for the Burmese government in exile, which includes MPs elected in 1990 but who fled after the junta refused to let the election result stand, said the announcement would mean nothing unless Suu Kyi was released and took part. Without the participation of Suu Kyi, the NLD and ethnic parties the people will not accept this constitution, said Zin Linn.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Drum roll please....and the winner is SLORC by a nose! I'll wear my a%$ as hat if there is anything remotely resembling election in the land that time forgot. I spent a year there one month. Not a happy place.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
02/10/2008 15:35 Comments ||
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COLUMBIA, Tenn. - A mosque was destroyed Saturday by a fire that federal investigators say appears to have been caused by arson. No one was injured.
Investigators found drawings of swastikas and other graffiti at the Islamic Center of Columbia, said Special Agent Eric Kehn of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Daoud Abudiab, president of the center, said authorities told him the fire probably started around 5 a.m. The graffiti included the words "white power" and "we run the world," Abudiab said.
Ten to 15 people regularly worshipped at the mosque, which opened in 2000. Abudiab said they plan to look for another place to worship in Columbia, about 50 miles south of Nashville. "This has been home for us Middle Tennessee and Columbia since 1998, and people have been supportive and friendly and welcoming," he said. "Obviously, we are concerned, but it hasn't really sunk in yet."
#2
Somehow I get the feeling that this wasn't any of my neighbors but instead is just one more act done by the supposed victims to draw attention. Honestly, we just don't give mudheads that much attention here in Tennessee. Besides, I suspect if the KKK really had something to do with it, they'd of made sure it was occupied and nailed the doors shut first.
#4
I'm having a hard time feeling bad this happened or felling the guilty should be punished. If anyone's caught I'll contribute to thier defense.
When the government won't start protecting the citizens from the incursions of our enemy then the public will take measures into thier own hands. I'm gonna bet the mosks attendees did not try to distance them selves from traditional isalm or the terrorists it produces.
#5
Flaming bullshit propaganda. Blame Al Gore. This is an obvious consequence of global warming. Trying to ward off the extreme chill from the the latest artic express, due undoubtedly from global warming interactions, the 7th century goat f**kers put more goat dung chips into the fire barrel than it could handle. The extra sparks caused everything to go haywire. Simple explanation to simple problem. Wonder if this will happen more frequently, due to the rather chill temps from global warming ?
#6
Wait and see. It may be what it pretends to be, but most of the KKK-type cross burnings of recent years have turned out to be fake. Let's just be patient and let the arson investigators do their job. The truth will probably come out in the sifting of the ashes.
#10
Why Swastikas? Since when have the paleo or neo-Nazis been down on our muslim friends? They were on the Nazi's Xmas list in WWII for killing jews and making life unpleasant for the Brits in the mideast and India.
#14
You know better than that mczoid. You KNOW better than that.
Let me tell you a about an event that happened a little more than half a century ago. There was a small school in Annapolis, old but at that time undistinguished until a few scholars who looked upon the nazis and communists sought it as a place to protect the best of Western civilization against the hordes of destruction and darkness.
To that school came some from the Old World, men and a few women who had spent their lives dedicated to truth and the light. Some were Jews fleeing Stalin and Hitler, others from other backgrounds. One of them was a Jewish scholar named Jacob Klein, who declined to join his friend Leo Strauss in active Zionism but who in quiet diginity continued his work in philosphy and mathematics, work that had made him Heidigger's star student destined, most thought, to outshine his teacher until Hitler took power.
About the time that Klein was named dean of this small college with the new mission, to save what is good in the West from the hosts of Mordor, the US Naval academy wanted to expand due to the war. To save a little time and money they proposed to seize the little college under eminent domain.
With difficulty, and with the help of a few acquaintances in Washington, Klein secured a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy. When he and a few others arrived, the Secretary took out a pocketwatch and announced that they had exactly 60 seconds to convince him why he should bother to leave that college alone, given how important the war was.
Klein looked at him quietly. Took out a pipe, filled it, tamped it down lit it. Drew on it a few times.
Then he stood up, went to the door and turned to say:
Without what St. John's stands for today, this country is not worth defending against the Nazis.
And then Klein, who had lost family in the death camps, walked away. By the time he and his colleagues reached Annapolis the Secretary's telegram had arrived, announcing that the Academy would build the necessary bridges and expand across College Creek.
I love this country. I'm deeply grateful that my ancestors were able both to help build it and, on my father's side, to start a new life here when the communist tyranny darked the land they had lived in for millenia. Since the Revolution, and on my father's side since they arrived here, we have repaid this country through hard work, through miltiary service, in blood on the battle field.
And with my old tutor Joscha Klein and all of the men and women of St. Johns College and elsewhere who value truth and liberty above all, I say firmly:
Without the tradition of judging a man by what he does and not by his name or his religion or the color of his skin, this country is not worth defending against any of the forms of darkness that threaten it. Because that is where our light lies.
#16
I truly don't care. Mosques don't belong in any country, much less the US. Islam is a religion doctrine demanding earthly supremacy be given to those who follow it. The day will come when it will be universally reviled (if not totally outlawed).
#17
What unacceptable behavior?
Arson. I have no problem with military action against mosques, if they are engaged in actions against the US, or being used by others who are doing so. Independent attacks on mosques, or Muslims in general, without compelling evidence that they, specifically, are acting as our enemy is unacceptable. Worse, it will drive respectable Muslims (yes, they do exist) to our enemy. We do not need more enemies. I would guess that the majority of our spending in the Muslim world these days is not used for killing our enemies but rather for turning enemies to neutrals and neutrals to friends - let's not undo that effort by stupidity here at home.
#18
Could be someone ticked at Muzzies delivering a payback message; more likely an inside job hoping to score some racism/bigotry points against the home team. The graffiti makes me think the latter. In the past decade, real right-wing violence in the U.S. has been vanishingly rare. Most of what has initially be suspected of such has been found to be done by the supposed victims in search of sympathy from the media.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2008 19:23 Comments ||
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#20
I've had a couple of encounters with the KKK around here and it wouldn't surprise me if it was the KKK. They are White Supemacists and the ones I encountered were dumber than a bucket of hair.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/10/2008 19:30 Comments ||
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#21
They're also usually gutless. When was the last time you heard about the KKK actually perpetrating an act of violence?
I'd as quickly suspect red-on-red, insurance fraud, personal vendetta or self inflicted for publicity as "hate crime". All these swastikas could be diversionary evidence to spread suspicion elsewhere. That sure has become a prevalent MO among campus lefties. More facts, please.
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