Smart guy, that Ben Franklin

Shocking discovery
By Fake Science

What Medical Mistakes?

Privilege rules at U.S. hospitals and patients are at the mercy of powerful players who operate with impunity.

By William A. Collins

If you survive
What made you ill,
Mistakes by docs
Can get you still.

Weird weather causes backyard diseases

Don’t spray unless you know what you’re spraying for

Oak arthracnose

By Will Collette

Our mild winter and recent wet weather have caused a different array of backyard plant illnesses than usual. Among them is anthracnose fungus in shade trees, such as the oaks that dominate much of Charlestown’s landscape.

Charlestown readers have reported spotting the growths on the tips of oak branches. The little blisters or cankers can be seen on low hanging twigs, look especially disgusting in the early morning dew. New growth twigs look like they have canker sores, leaves start to shrivel.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy 

From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl until you get to the handle's last bright star.

Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier famous catalog.

Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194.

Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (top), NGC 5195. 


The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici.

Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the human eye, deep images like this one can reveal the faint tidal debris around the smaller galaxy.

If you are a Facebook user, beware

Hundreds of words you should NEVER use on Facebook

By Will Collette

The Department of Homeland Security trolls the internet to search for signs and warnings of terrorist activity. That’s not surprising and, indeed, since preventing terrorism is part of Homeland Security’s job, what better place for them to be looking than the internet.

But what is surprising is what draws Homeland Security’s attention. The Department was compelled to release the following information after a lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

If Bain Capital ran the United States

The Bain Presidency

By Tim Eagan




Click here for the whole cartoon.

MORE DETAIL: Gansett Council Approves Miller Termination Pact

In a marathon meeting, the Narragansett Town Council is pilloried by residents before finally formally accepting a termination agreement for Grady Miller.

·                     By Stephen Greenwell, Narragansett-South Kingstown Patch

An exhausting, three-hour plus meeting for Narragansett Town Council members and the public on Thursday night finally culminated with the end of Grady Miller as town manager, and Police Chief Dean Hoxsie taking over for now.

Ultimately, the council voted 4-1 to accept a termination agreement negotiated with Miller during executive session. Councilors Glenna Hagopian, David Crook, Alisa Trainor Fleet and Christopher Wilkens voted to accept the termination agreement, with councilor Susan Cicilline-Buonanno voting against.

Wilkens noted that he was voting for the agreement under duress.

“If we don’t agree to these terms, it’s clear he’ll just be fired,” Wilkens said.

Political Evolution

Forever and Immutable

By Ruben Boling


Click here to read the whole cartoon

Is that all?

It Took Earth Ten Million Years to Recover from Greatest Mass Extinction

ScienceDaily

It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed.

Life was nearly wiped out 250 million years ago, with only 10 per cent of plants and animals surviving. It is currently much debated how life recovered from this cataclysm, whether quickly or slowly.

June 4 – come out and vote on the Charlestown budget

$11 million in town operating expenses at issue

By Will Collette

On Monday – not Tuesday, but Monday, June 4, Charlestown will hold an all-day referendum on the town budget for Fiscal Year 2013 which starts on July 1.

The latest issue of the official town newsletter The Pipeline has a banner headline that reads “Your Vote Counts!”

Well, of course it does, but in our annual budget vote where the turn-out is usually very low, proportionally, your vote actually does count more than usual.

Lobby Responsibly

Anheuser-Busch and other big brewers blocked a Nebraska bill that would have curbed sales targeted at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

By Jim Hightower

The big beer brewers often admonish us imbibers of their products to "Drink Responsibly." Well, I say back to them: Lobby Responsibly.

In particular, I point to a disgusting binge of besotted lobbying by Anheuser-Busch and other beer barons this year in the Nebraska legislature. At issue was the town of Whiteclay, smack dab on the Nebraska-South Dakota border.

Although only about 10 people live there, it's home to four beer stores. Why? 

Because right across the state line is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux tribe, which has a devastating problem of alcohol addiction, combined with intractable poverty. 

The sale of alcohol is banned on the reservation.

Walmart's Unsurprising Bribes

Bribery is as American as apple pie.

By Donald Kaul

I've never been a great fan of Walmart.

I like little towns, towns where Main Street is lined with small shops and stores — drugstores, hardware stores, a café where you can get breakfast or lunch, maybe a clothing store or two — that kind of little town.

 In its heyday, it was a place you could go to shop and meet friends by accident, perhaps sit down with them for a cup of coffee. It was a business district of angle parking, no meters. Main Street was charming.

Eat 'em, don't zap them

Since When Did Dandelions Become Un-American?

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org News staff

BRISTOL — Rhode Island has one of the most well-known advocates for organic lawn care living in its backyard.

Paul Tukey, the Maine native and landscaping pro acclaimed for his conversion to organic lawn products and his book "The Organic Lawn Care Manual," recently moved to North Kingstown.  

Another fight between Linc and Gina

Gina, Chafee Also at Odds on Muni Pension Bills

By Bob Plain in RIFuture.org

38 Studios isn’t the only matter of public policy that Gov. Chafee and Treasurer Gina Raimondo disagree about. There’s also the governor’s hotly-debated municipal pension reform proposal that Raimondo has given the cold shoulder to publicly.

While she said much of her work has been behind the scenes, and with municipal finance directors rather than mayors, twice Raimondo dodged the question when I asked her on Friday if she endorsed the governor’s pension proposal. On my third try, she said:

Developments in DiBello v. Charlestown

Town Council member’s lawsuit against the Town takes some new turns

By Will Collette

In the past couple of weeks, there has been some movement on the conspiracy lawsuit filed by Council member Lisa DiBello against the town of Charlestown and the “Charlestown Ten” - present and former town officials.

The lawsuit stems from the unanimous Town Council vote on May 10, 2010 to fire DiBello as Parks and Recreation Director on the recommendation of recently resigned Town Administrator William DiLibero.

DiBello then ran for and won a seat on the Town Council on the motto “Because She Cares.” She promised  she did not intend to seek revenge for her firing. But only weeks after her election, DiBello filed an administrative complaint against the town and the individual officials. She alleges they engaged in a five-year conspiracy against her that culminated in her wrongful discharge.