flash flood.wmv

Pretty wild footage of a flash flood coming downstream and taking over a road. Here in Las Vegas, this is a common occurence (when it storms) but still people ignore the warnings and end up having to be rescued.

Depraved And Deformed.

Bill O'Reilly Transforms Into Nancy Grace--Suicide Instigator.

A couple featured as wanted child predators on The O'Reilly Factor Wednesday were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide shortly after the segment aired, sources tell FOXNews.
Paul and Myrtis Gauthreaux were wanted by the FBI for engaging in sexual conduct with minors and appeared on a segment of the show that profiled alleged child pornographers.
After seeing the O’Reilly Factor segment, a relative of the couple called them before notifying the FBI of their whereabouts. When federal investigators arrived at their home, the Gauthreauxs had fled to an undisclosed location. The FBI said Paul Gauthreaux shot his wife dead before turning the gun on himself.
The child victim that the Gauthreauxs photographed in online photos was later identified and found safe.

Honest Abe, Honestly, Deformed.

Laser scans of two life masks, made from plaster casts of Lincoln's face, reveal the 16th president's unusual degree of facial asymmetry, according to a new study.
The left side of Lincoln's face was much smaller than the right, an aberration called cranial facial microsomia. The defect joins a long list of ailments — including smallpox, heart illness and depression — that modern doctors have diagnosed in the U.S. Civil War-era president.
Lincoln's contemporaries noted his left eye at times drifted upward independently of his right eye, a condition now termed strabismus. Lincoln's smaller left eye socket may have displaced a muscle controlling vertical movement, said Dr. Ronald Fishman, who led the study published in the August issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
Severe strabismus leads to double vision and can be treated today by surgery.Lincoln's appearance was mocked by his political enemies, historians say. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne, a Lincoln fan, wrote of the president's "homely sagacity" and his "sallow, queer, sagacious visage." Hawthorne's description was deemed disrespectful and deleted by a magazine editor, said Daniel Weinberg, owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop.

Travel Advisories Sent To Travel Agencies

I am in the picture in this travel advisory sent to travel agencies about a possible strike in Las Vegas. If you can't spot me, I'm in the front row with glasses, and my hands raised and clasped together. If you click on the picture you can view and read the advisory in full size.

Cr ator Of Wh el Of F rt ne, M rv G if in Finds Ca eer In Je pa dy As He D es.

Who was America's foremost talk show host, game show creator and billionaire hotel mogul?
Merv Griffin, who would surely consider the question too easy for Jeopardy! or Wheel of Fortune— two shows he created and proudly called "America's games."

The affable Hollywood tycoon died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his the family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment. Griffin, who was 82, leaves behind a vast empire that will continue to entertain the world for many years.

Griffin began as bit player in film and on stage. In 1950, he crooned the No. 1 novelty song, I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts. During his lifetime, he became a billionaire owner of hotels, casinos, a jet, a yacht, champion racehorses and a television legacy rewarded with numerous Emmys.

Here is an appearance by The Carpenters On The Merv Griffin Show.



The always well-dressed, perpetually tan California native created Jeopardy! in the 1960s and Wheel of Fortune in the '70s. Wheel, he said, was based on the Hangman games he would play with his sister during family road trips. And he credited his ex-wife, Julann, with suggesting the concept behind Jeopardy!— contestants providing questions to supplied answers.

The 1986 sale of the shows and his entire Merv Griffin Enterprises holdings netted him a widely reported $250. He also pocketed $80 million in royalties for composing the catchy Jeopardy! theme. "Every show I go on, I sing it," he said of his trick for increasing royalties.

Griffin, who was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996, will not see how his latest game show brainchild, Crosswords, fares when it debuts in syndication on Sept. 10. He believed it would succeed, like his two earlier hits, because of its simplicity. "If you can't explain your game in one sentence, forget it," he told the New York Post.

During his 1962-86 run as host of daytime TV's The Merv Griffin Show, he interviewed four U.S. presidents and routinely booked controversial figures, such as Jane Fonda, Richard Pryor, stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, transsexual pioneer Christine Jorgensen, Spiro Agnew and Muhammad Ali, many of whom had been banned by other shows. "I did a very unusual interview with Martin Luther King Jr.," he told The Miami Herald. "I had Bobby Kennedy on. Rose Kennedy, I don't think anybody else ever sat her down on television, and she came on with me twice."

Source: USA Today

Mutant Flu Puts People From Down Under, Down Under

The Daily Telegraph in Australia is reporting news of deaths caused by a mutant strain of Influenza A. Could this be more of a worry than the fear of Bird Flu? Read on.

A DEADLY flu epidemic is sweeping the country with six people -
including five children - killed by a mutant strain of the already deadly
influenza A virus.
While it was first feared young children were the most
susceptible to the virulent strain, father-of-three Glen Kindness became the
first adult to fall victim to the flu.
Doctors across the state are reporting
patients presenting with "moderately severe" cases of the flu.
The number of
people falling ill with the flu in NSW has almost doubled over the past year,
with six out of every 1000 presenting at emergency departments with symptoms
including fever, headaches, muscle and joint pain and sore throats.
While no
NSW deaths have been reported, the state's hospitals are on high alert as
worried parents swamp emergency departments.
A Sydney Children's Hospital
spokeswoman said their emergency department had seen a 69 per cent rise in
respiratory conditions since last year and a 218 per cent increase in viral
infections.
Influenza A is the more deadly strain of the flu virus - mainly
affecting the throat and the lungs - but it can also cause heart
problems.
This year the strain has mutated into a tougher form that is harder
for people to resist - particularly the very young and the very old.
"It has
to do with the general population's immunity to a particular strain - it mutates
a little bit every year to evade the general population's immune system," NSW
Health's director of communicable disease Dr Jeremy McAnulty told The Daily
Telegraph.
Experts say children under five are the most- susceptible to the
virus because their immunity has not built up.
Despite the deaths of five
children across three states over the past month, doctors last night said deaths
from the flu were rare.
"While they (flu-related deaths) do occur and they
are frightening, they are a rare event. Parents need to be alert but not
alarmed," Professor Leon Piterman from Monash University said.
Dr McAnulty
said parents should be vigilant and alert to any changes in their child's
behaviour.
He said worried parents should take their children to their local
GP first, but if it is an emergency then they should go straight to their local
hospital.
Health authorities are cautioning parents not to panic, with early
figures suggesting the flu spike is subsiding.
Mr Kindness, a former soldier,
last Tuesday became the first adult to die of influenza A.
The 37-year-old,
who served two tours in East Timor, died just three hours after being rushed to
Blackwater Hospital in Queensland suffering flu-like symptoms.
His devastated
widow Kathleen last night said she was shocked at the suddenness of her
husband's death.

The Australian reports the following:

AUSTRALIA is facing its worst influenza season in years, as specialists warn that even young, fit adults could be affected.

This year, 3084 cases of influenza have been reported to health authorities -- compared with 1213 cases for the entire 2006. Queensland has been hardest hit, with 1414 cases this year, compared with 518 in NSW, 498 in Western Australia and 220 in Victoria.