HUMOR: What George III's problem *really* was on July 4, 1776!

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=32560

HISTORY: 6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America

http://www.cracked.com/article_19864_6-ridiculous-lies-you-believe-about-founding-america.html?page=full

HUMOR: You Tell Hitler, Churchill!

CULTURE/SOCIETY and SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: The End Of The Mistletoe?

I found this through Yahoo. It's from The Telegraph in The U.K. - OlderMusicGeek

Christmas kissing at threat because of mistletoe shortage
The future of a traditional kiss under the mistletoe is in doubt, as the plant is in danger of dying out because of modern farming methods.
By Louise Gray
Last Updated: 7:15PM GMT 05 Dec 2008

Horticulturalists blame a loss of ancient orchards and intensive harvesting methods that mean only the female plant with the berries is taken.

For this year at least, mistletoe is safe as a mild wet winter has ensured a profusion of plants.

But the future is in doubt. England's apple orchards, mistletoe's favoured habitat, have declined by 57 per cent in the past 50 years.

Jonathan Briggs, an ecologist, said the way the plant is cut for sale is also a threat.

Harvesters cut only the female plant, which has berries, leaving the male plant that will continue to grow and ultimately poison the tree.

"The Christmas market was previously a way for farmers to make a bit of money from something they did anyway,'' he said. "These days, only the stuff with berries is cut and everything else is left.''

Without action now, Mr Briggs said mistletoe may not survive.

"There's no crisis yet,'' he said. "But there might be one in 25 years if people don't manage mistletoe properly. It's a lost knowledge we need to regain.''

The evergreen with white berries is hung in doorways over the festive season. As a symbol of peace – and fertility – it is the custom to kiss beneath the decoration.

According to tradition, when the last mistletoe berry is gone there should be no more kissing.

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CULTURE/SOCIETY: Cloned Puppies, Mormon Missionary, Sex Slave - What More Do You Want?

This is the weirdest real news article that I have seen in ages. I must thank feliciaday at Twitter for sending the link! I edited the article down, but you can read the whole article on this link. - OlderMusicGeek

Cloned puppies may have exposed 31-year mystery
By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 9, 4:08 PM ET

SALT LAKE CITY - A woman who made news around the world when she had five pups cloned from her beloved pit bull Booger looked very familiar to some who saw her picture: She may be the same woman who 31 years earlier was accused of abducting a Mormon missionary in England, handcuffing him to a bed and making him her sex slave.

A paper trail of court documents and jail booking information uncovered by The Associated Press suggests 57-year-old dog-lover Bernann McKinney is Joyce McKinney, who in 1977 faced charges of unlawful imprisonment in the missionary case. She jumped bail and was never brought to justice.

British tabloids first recognized the blonde woman's smiling face when she appeared in news photographs this past week with the five pit bull pups she paid South Korean scientists $53,000 to clone from her pet dog Booger who died two years ago.

While in South Korea, she told reporters she was a screenwriter and handed out business cards with a Hollywood, Calif., address. The AP found that address did not exist.

The story of Joyce McKinney is the stuff of pulp fiction: a North Carolina-born beauty queen who moved west, won the title Miss Wyoming USA, converted to Mormonism and went on to college at Brigham Young University, where she became obsessed with a Mormon fellow student.

When that young Mormon took a missionary trip to England, authorities say McKinney hired a private detective so she could locate and follow him.

She and a male accomplice were accused of abducting the 21-year-old missionary as he went door to door, taking him to a rented 17th-century "honeymoon cottage" in Devon and chaining him spread-eagled to a bed with several pairs of mink-lined handcuffs.

There, investigators say, he was repeatedly forced to have sex with McKinney before he was able to escape and notify police.

McKinney and her accomplice spent three months in a London jail before being released on bail.

Press reports at the time that said the pair then jumped bail, posing as deaf-mute actors in Ireland to board an Air Canada flight to Toronto and eventually a bus to Cleveland, where investigators lost their trail.

Joyce McKinney surfaced again in Utah in May 1984 and was arrested for allegedly stalking the workplace of the same Mormon man she was accused of imprisoning in England. News reports say that police found a length of rope and handcuffs in the trunk of McKinney's car, along with notebooks detailing the man's daily activities.

Set to stand trial for lying to police and harassment in 1986, McKinney again disappeared just before proceedings and the case was dismissed.

Avery County Sheriff Kevin Frey in North Carolina said there are several charges on file against Joyce McKinney, including an active warrant seeking her arrest on a 2003 charge of communicating a threat against another woman.

Other charges include passing bad checks, an assault on a public officials and an 2004 animal cruelty charge alleging she failed to take proper care of a horse. That charge was dismissed.

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