Gift ideas from across the U.S.

Buying American is easy to do this holiday season, with a diverse array of regional gifts available from sea to shining sea. From the kitschy to the sophisticated, the possibilities are endless.

Panda Cub Sees First Snow, There was snow at the San Diego Zoo on Thursday morning. Animal care staff arranged a winter wonderland for two of its pandas, Bai Yun and her two-year-old son, Yun Zi. This is the first time that the young panda had ever seen snow. He came out of his bedroom, tested the snow to see if he could walk on it, and then made his way from one corner of the exhibit to the other.

Zoo horticulture staff constructed a 5-foot holiday tree from two types of bamboo – oldhamii and vivax – that was shaped to resemble a pine tree. They used a large block of ice for the tree stand but it was no match for Yun Zi. He approached the tree, swiftly knocked it over and nibbled the slices of fruit and vegetables that were hung as ornaments.

$203,150 for a purse

An unidentified buyer has acquired a handbag at a Dallas auction for $203,150.  Heritage Auctions said the price set a world record.

an anonymous bidder paid $203,150 at auction for a purse. Well, not just any purse, a Birkin, the hard-to-get handbag fetish of celebrities and needy rich ladies the world over. And not just any Birkin, a Hermès Exceptional Collection Shiny Rouge H Porosus Crocodile 30 cm Birkin Bag with Solid 18K White Gold & Diamond Hardware. Oh, obviously that is worth as much as a house or a college education. Surely!

Top Hybrid Dogs List

Top Hybrid Dogs List. Hybrid Dogs, Animal rights groups such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals discourage buying dogs as gifts. The word 'Hybrid', when referring to genetics means, the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races. In general the word means, 'something of mixed origin or composition.' Hybrid dogs, or designer dogs as some call them, are becoming quite popular. Below is a list of the most popular hybrid dogs. The best way to determine the traits of a mixed breed is to look up all breeds in the cross and know you can get any combination of any of the characteristics found in either breed. The Dog Breed Info Center(R) does not attempt to interpret the temperaments of each individual hybrid mix because the differences in the dogs, even within the same litter can vary greatly. If you do not feel the temperament of one of the purebreds in the mix is suited for your lifestyle, then that hybrid dog is not for you. Do not take a gamble that the puppy or dog will turn out like the other breed in the mix. Choosing a dog simply for its looks is a foolish way to choose a dog. Read the article on Designer Dogs for more info on these mixed breeds.
However, if you’ve decided (after careful consideration) to make good on the promise to bring a pooch into the family fold this holiday season, you can adopt a deserving mutt, or you might consider one of these hot-ticket “designer dogs.”

Thanksgiving prayers and blessings

Thanksgiving prayers and blessings. Many people across the country are giving thanks on this Thanksgiving. (thanksgiving Day prayer before meal) But giving thanks isn't limited to Turkey Day. See how religious followers across the globe express their gratitude through prayers and blessings.

A wildly successfully Groupon promotion wiped out a year's profit for a small British bakery that had to hire outside to fulfill orders for 102,000 discount cupcakes.

The "Need A Cake" bakery in Woodley had offered 12 cupcakes, which normally cost around $40, for $10 or a discount of 75%. Owner Rachel Brown, who normally fields about 100 orders a month, was swamped with 8,500 orders before she bailed out, the BBC reports.

"As soon as we were making, packaging and sending the cakes out we were on to the next order," she tells The Daily Telegraph. "It was non-stop."

Snakes close high school

Rattlesnakes Close High School – A Central California high school was recently closed due to rattlesnakes on campus.

Five of the venomous snakes were spotted on campus in less than three weeks.

Gustine High School in Merced County closed its doors for two days on Wednesday over concerns about student safety. Rattlesnakes are venomous, and their bites can be fatal.

Famous Comic Strip Artists

Famous comic strip artists

The recent death of "Family Circus" creator Bil Keane reminds us how the pen-and-ink antics of our favorite comic characters have brought mirth to our mornings, and inspired postage stamps and even public art. Find out more about the artists behind the newspaper comic strips, past and present.

Square rolls out new payment features

The mobile payment startup Square has started rolling out new payment features. The company also released an app to help businesses and could end the need for cash registers. Square is the brainchild of a Twitter founder and has completed over one million transactions in May.

Online poker payment processor admits to charges

An Illinois man admitted in federal court on Monday to helping large online poker websites dodge U.S. gambling laws by processing millions of dollars in payments from his home in Costa Rica and lying to banks about the nature of the transactions.
So-called "payment processor" Bradley Franzen, 41, pled guilty in New York to criminal charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and being part of operating an illegal gambling business. He faces a possible maximum prison term of 30 years.
Franzen was among 11 people whose indictment was announced by federal prosecutors in New York last month when authorities seized the Internet domain names for Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.
Prosecutors accused the companies and the people they hired into tricking regulators and banks into illegally processing $3 billion in payments.

LinkedIn shares plunge after strong IPO

LinkedIn Corp.'s shares suffered their first major setback Monday as investors began reassessing the lofty appraisal that the online networking company received in its recent initial public offering.
The company's stock price sank by as much 10 percent in early trading before rebounding slightly. As of early afternoon, LinkedIn shares were down $7.74, or 8.3 percent, to $85.35.
It could be just the start of wild rollercoaster ride that could last for several months.
The ups and downs are likely to be driven by a debate over how much LinkedIn is really worth after rabid investor demand caused its shares to more than double in their stock market debut last week. The rapid run-up left LinkedIn with a market value of about $9 billion, or about 18 times its projected revenue of about $500 million this year -- a far higher multiple than far more profitable and better-established Internet companies. For instance, Internet search leader Google Inc. trades at about five times its projected revenue this year.
LinkedIn appealed to Wall Street because its IPO provided the biggest opportunity so far to invest in the online networking craze that is consuming a bigger chunk of people's time, a trend that in turn is attracting more advertising.

Deadly tornadoes hit the Midwest

A massive tornado that blasted its way across southwestern Missouri on Sunday slammed into this city with apocalyptic force, tearing into a hospital, upending dozens of cars and scrubbing entire neighborhoods to the earth, leaving only a forest of splintered tree trunks behind.An unknown number were killed in Joplin, and officials struggling to communicate without power and cell phone service were leery of putting a hard figure on a death toll they feared would rise after daybreak.

Asked about a report that 24 people had died, city spokeswoman Lynn Onstot said grimly that officials were "afraid it may be more. ... Our fear is that's a low number." The Missouri National Guard planned to search for the injured throughout the night.

"You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing. That's really what it looked like," said Kerry Sachetta, the principal of a flattened Joplin High School. "I couldn't even make out the side of the building. It was total devastation in my view. I just couldn't believe what I saw."

The same storm system that produced the Joplin tornado spawned twisters along a broad swath of the Midwest, from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. At least one person was killed in Minneapolis. But the devastation in Missouri appeared to be the worst of the day, eerily reminiscent the tornadoes that killed more than 300 people across the South last month.

Possible cause of Air France 447 crash

According to reports, the cause of the crash of Air France flight 447 may have been found. The flight recorders were recovered a few weeks ago. All 228 people aboard the flight were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

'Jeopardy!' winning computer to take on medicine

'Jeopardy!' winning computer to take on medicine.IBM's Watson computer system  best known for taking first place against the world's best "Jeopardy!" players  is now working in medicine.  IBM  says within the next couple of years, the supercomputer could be used as a medical tool to suggest diagnoses and treatments to doctors.

Minnesota voters to decide on gay marriage ban

Minnesota voters to decide on gay marriage ban.Leaders in Minnesota passed a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which means voters will decide the issue in 2012 which state passed a ban on teaching homosexuality.  Gay marriage is already banned in the state, but supporters of the amendment say putting it in the constitution will ensure future lawmakers and judges can't change it which former Minnesota governor may run for president.

Victoria Beckham’s Post-Baby Body Secret

 I read a stunningly sharp piece by legal analyst Lisa Bloom, arguing that American women are playing into a “dangerously, unabashedly stupid celebrity and celluloid-saturated culture. Yet, even though I know non-intellectual fodder is bad for me, I can’t stop myself from indulging in the world of celebrity now and again.  (I think of it as a banana split for the mind).  Today, for instance, my brain took in 

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Emancipation Day in DC

Tax Day is traditionally April 15. So, why is it April 18 this year? You can thank Emancipation Day for your three-day reprieve. Here's why:

The standard: If April 15 falls on the weekend, the tax deadline is moved to Monday.

This year: Emancipation Day, April 16, is a legal holiday only in Washington, D.C.  Since it falls on a Saturday this year, it will be observed April 15. A federal statute says tax filings are impacted nationwide, so this year's tax deadline is Monday. (And you thought nothing good ever came out of D.C.)

Next, let's get some background on Emancipation Day and how slavery ended in the U.S.

The Compensated Emancipation Act

On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act , which freed all slaves within the District of Columbia, the first in the nation to be freed by the federal government. The more famous Emancipation Proclamation took effect 36 weeks later, but the District of Columbia continues to celebrate Emancipation Day on the anniversary of the first act.

Proclamations notwithstanding, America's slaves weren't all freed at the same time. (In Texas, for example, emancipation took effect as late as Juneteenth in 1865.)

Let's look at how slavery ended state by state.

Gradual emancipation

The following states passed their own gradual emancipation laws, designed to phase out the institution of slavery over a period of time.

Massachusetts
Year passed
Note: State constitution adopted with freedom clause, which courts interpreted as prohibiting slavery

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

 Connecticut

New York

New Jersey

 New Hampshire

Granted statehood as a 'free' state

While in many cases slavery had already been abolished when they were territories, the following states were admitted into the Union as "free" states:

Vermont

Ohio

Indiana

Illinois

Maine

Michigan

Iowa

Wisconsin

California

Minnesota

Oregon

Kansas

Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 ended slavery in the following states that had seceded, provided the Union won the war:

Alabama

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

Louisiana

Mississippi

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

Freed by the 13th Amendment

In 1865, the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ended slavery in the following "slave slates" that had not seceded (and throughout the nation):

Delaware


Kentucky


Maryland

Missouri


West Virginia

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1. Manhattan, NY Home for Sale — $10,995,000 (below)
232 W 15th St, New York, NY 10011

2. Malibu, CA Home for Sale – $75,000,000 (below)
26848 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265

3. Greenwich, CT Home for Sale — $42,500,000 (below)
Undisclosed location, Greenwich, CT

4. Greenwich, CT Home For Sale — $17,950,000 (below)
309 Taconic Rd, Greenwich, CT 06831

5. Austin, TX Home – (previously listed for $12,900,000) (below)
7014 Greenshores Dr, Austin, TX 78730

6. Hickory Creek, TX Home for Sale – $69,900,000 $35 million (below)
1851 Turbeville Rd, Hickory Creek, TX 75065

7. Yountville, CA Home for Sale – $25 million (below)
5681 Silverado Trl, # 0, Yountville, CA 94599

8. Coeur d’Alene, ID Home for Sale – $17,500,000 (below)
3155 E Harrison Ave, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814

9. Brookline, MA Home for Sale – $15,750,000 (below)
333 Lee St, Brookline, MA 02445

10. Garfield, MN Home for Sale – $14,900,000 (below)
11902 County Road 12 NW, Garfield, MN 56332

source:

Live Like a Pop Diva

Lady Gaga, Sheryl Crow and Alicia Keys show us how it's done

Here are five properties on the market that have served as homes to music’s biggest divas.

Outside Lady Gaga's $4.5 million Los Angeles home for sale
Lady Gaga
10968 Savona Rd., Los Angeles, CA

The view from Christina Aguilera's $6 million Los Angeles home for sale
Christina Aguilera
1443 Devlin Dr., Los Angeles, CA

Sheryl Crow's $7.5 million College Grove, Tenn. home for sale
Sheryl Crow
6662 Cross Keys Rd., College Grove, TN

Alicia Keys' $2.4 million Syosset, NY home for sale
Alicia Keys
12 Serenite Lane, Syosset, NY

Kelly Clarkson's $1.5 million Nashville, Tenn. home for sale
Kelly Clarkson
716 Westview Ave., Nashville, TN

Charlie Sheen's not the first famous person to be fired, nor will he be the last. But his recent firing is certainly worth another look, along with other people who were fired for speaking their minds.

Juan Williams

Octavia Nasr

Rick Sanchez

Ron Schiller (Vivian Schiller)

Amiri Baraka

Crystal Dixon

Shirley Sherrod

Bill Kirk

Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder

Lisa Howe

Morris Davis

Gen. Stanley McChrystal

Bryan Gonzalez

Dr. James Enstrom

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