Fat Tuesday

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last hurrah before the Catholic season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Get your fill of Fat Tuesday debauchery at any one of these parties around town: Grove Park Lounge — Grove Park Lounge, located just outside the historic Houston Heights on Waugh drive, is offering all-you-can-eat crawfish, $10 domestic buckets. Fat Tuesday is billed as a time to feast and eat (or do?) all the "bad" stuff before beginning the sacrifice of the Lenten season.

Seven parades will roll in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes today as Carnival season reaches its peak on Fat Tuesday. The weather forecast looked promising Monday evening, with only a 10 percent chance of rain and highs predicted to be in the 70s.

Read More

Ash Wednesday

Churches plan Ash Wednesday services. Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date. Ash Wednesday is this week, a time in which many will take time out of their busy day to sit in peace with other Christians to sing in unity, pray and reflect.

The 40 days of Lent that lead to Easter are the most sacred and spiritually powerful in the Christian calendar. From the Ash Wednesday reminder to 'remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

With days in the schedule such as Fat Tuesday, only an Ash Wednesday can help those overindulging in king's cake, the polish paczkis and an impressive number of guilty pleasures.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection.

Read More

Gas Prices

Surging gas prices threaten to derail economic recovery. Just as the recovery is finally looking real, surging fuel prices are once again looming as a major threat to the financial health of US consumers and the broader economy. Gas prices shoot up all along the West Coast and Canada. The average price of unleaded in Orange County is now $4.06. Southern California gasoline prices, already topping an average of $4 per gallon, may climb at an even higher rate.

The average retail price of gas in Savannah increased 3.2 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.57 per gallon on Sunday.

Patterico's Pontifications » Barry Antoinette faces higher gas prices.
Obama wanted higher gas prices– as did his energy secretary, Steven Chu — so count this as Mission Accomplished. Policies that force higher gas prices were a complement to the crony capitalism of “green tech“.

Find the lowest gas prices in your city and nearby cities. Gas prices include regular gas, midgrade, premium and diesel.

Read More

George Washington

George Washington, celebrated today by federal holiday, was (of course) our first president. When he died, the phrase which spread the country as part of the myth-making around Washington was: "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." While this may be almost universally true today, it was not when the man held office.

It turns out that George Washington, whose birthday is being celebrated today, was actually a richer man than Republican contender Mitt Romney. According to the Washington Post.

One of the reasons we have such a high sense of religious liberty in America is because the man whose birth we celebrate today--George Washington--valued religious liberty as the first of our political institutions.

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States.
.

Read More

Manny Ramirez

Manuel Arístides "Manny" Ramírez Onelcida (born May 30, 1972) is a Dominican -American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. Reports said that Manny Ramirez Officially Signs with Oakland A's, Athletics Nation. Manny Ramirez and the Oakland Athletics agreed on a minor league contract Monday that is worth approximately $500000 if he's added to the big league roster.

 Slugger Manny Ramirez told ESPN's Pedro Gomez that he has signed with the Athletics. According to ESPN, the contract is worth and confirmed "about $500000." Ramirez, 39, will miss the first 50 games of the regular season, as he retired last season.

Read More

Bay Bridge

Bay Area traffic patterns returned to normal Monday after westbound lanes of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge opened sooner than expected after a weekend closure forced motorists onto public transportation. The San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (known locally as the Bay Bridge) is a pair of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay of California, in the United States.

The Bay Bridge is back open, providing relief to drivers who stayed in town over the Presidents Day weekend and were caught up in the gridlock during the closure. The bridge's upper deck reopened Sunday evening, nearly a day and a half.

 Work has gone so smoothly on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that the westbound direction of the bridge will be open Sunday night. The roadway was not expected to be open until 5 am Tuesday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.

Read More

Honduras Prison Fire

News Updates, Honduras prison fire kills more than 350 inmates. A massive fire raged through an overcrowded prison in Honduras, killing more than 350 inmates, many of them trapped and screaming inside their cells. It was said as one of the world's worst prison fire.

A fire started by an inmate tore through a severely overcrowded Honduras prison, burning and suffocating inmates in their locked cells and killing as many as 356 people in one of the world's deadliest prison.

Officials confirmed 358 dead Wednesday, making it the world's deadliest prison fire in a century. An injured inmate is carried as he arrives at the hospital after a fire broke out at the prison in Comayagua, Honduras, a town 90 miles (140 kilometers).

Read More

Heart Attack Grill

According to amateur video and a report from Fox 5 Vegas, a man suffered from a heart attack while dining at Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas. He was eating a Triple Bypass burger at the time of his cardiac arrest. A man has fallen ill and been hospitalised after ordering a Triple Bypass burger at the Heart Attack Grill, a Las Vegas restaurant that jokingly warns customers "this establishment is bad for your health."

They don't call it the Heart Attack Grill for nothing. A man dining at the controversial restaurant in Las Vegas had a heart attack while eating the famous.

Read More

Dave Matthews Band

Dave Matthews Band announces new album, Irvine. Here's a cocktail party tidbit: No act sold more tickets than the Dave Matthews Band did for the period that stretched from 2000 to 2009. That little factoid comes courtesy of Billboard, which notes that the band sold 11.2 million in that span.

You can almost smell it now. Dave Matthews Band have just announced dates for their 2012 tour. Expect fabulous light shows, hours of acoustified funky jams and numerous musical guests, all beginning this summer May 18 in Woodlands. Dave Matthews Band will launch a North American tour on May 18 in Woodlands, Texas.

Read More

Jennifer Hudson Tribute to Whitney Houston

In the hours following the news, Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich and his team announced former “American Idol” diva Jennifer Hudson would perform a “respectful musical tribute” to Whitney Houston on the show; and it was reported she would be joined by soul/funk.

Jennifer Hudson Tribute to Whitney Houston.

Read More

Whitney Houston Cause of Death

Whitney Houston is dead. Singer death on February 11, 2012. Rep Kristen Foster confirmed to Associated Press. No official cause of death. An autopsy was conducted on Whitney Houston's remains in Los Angeles Sunday, but officials said afterward her cause of death remained unknown. Law-enforcement sources told TMZ the 48-year-old, Grammy-winning pop singer had water in her lungs. Maybe that's Whitney Houston Cause of Death.

Whitney Houston, whose soaring voice lifted her to the top of the pop music world but whose personal decline was fueled by decades of drug use, died on Saturday in a Beverly Hills hotel room. She was 48.

Investigators have been working to piece together what killed Whitney Houston as the music industry's biggest names gathered for a Grammy Awards show that at times felt as much like a memorial as a celebration.

Read More

Chicago Weather

An arctic cold front has moved into the Chicago Weather area, bringing the first wave of a snowstorm that could leave up to 4 inches along the lakefront in Chicago but up to a foot or more around Gary in Indiana by Saturday morning. After up to 10 inches of snow were dropped on the Chicago area Friday, the city is expected to experience warmer temperatures and still sloppy conditions into the new week.

A storm developing off the East Coast will probably bring 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of snow to New York and Boston over the weekend, the National Weather Service said. Heavy snowfall began in Chicago at midday.

Low temperatures are expected to drop into the 20s in New York and about 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow may fall starting tomorrow, according to the National Weather Service.

Read More

Purple Squirrel

A few days ago, a squirrel sits in a trap laid by the  Percy and Connie Elmert of Jersey Shore, Pa., in their garden. By Alan Boyle We may never know what made the purple squirrel of Jersey Shore purple, but experts don't doubt that it really was a squirrel of a different color. The purple squirrel captured on Sunday by a couple from Jersey Shore, Pa., has been released back into the wild

The hard-hitting investigative journalism team at Accuweather is trying to figure out why this squirrel is purple. Currently, there is "No Explanation for Pennsylvania's Purple Squirrel." What do you think?

Read More

Kim Jong Un

Rumours that Kim Jong-un, North Korea's newly anointed supreme leader, had been assassinated originated on Chinese microblogging service Weibo Friday, and spread swiftly on Twitter. Related Kim Jong-un assassination rumours flood Twitter.com.

While users on Chinese microblogging site Weibo are messaging that Kim Jong-Un, son of Kim Jong-Il and new leader of North Korea, was assassinated at the North Korean embassy in Beijing this morning.

Read More

Tesla Model X

Today Tesla unveiled their all new Tesla Model X, their very own SUV prototype. It will go from 0-100 km/h in just 4.4 seconds and features gullwing like doors. It looks like the SUV will have lots of space and furthermore the interior is also looking good. Musk says it's time to look ahead. “The reason for bringing the Model X out now,” Musk said, “is to show that we really can do more than one car.

Tesla's 2014 Model X electric crossover is finally on the loose--digitally, at least--and it's a falcon-winged bubble of awesome. Tesla Model X crossover may actually have a higher top price than the $80000 we initially reported. In all, Tesla plans to sell about 15 thousand new Tesla Model X annually. This machine will be the third model in the line of the company.

The car is based on the Tesla Model S, so expect an identical electric motor and lithium-ion batteries. Recall, depending on the number of batteries Tesla Model S has a cruising range of 250 to 480 km.

Read More

Woolly Mammoth

A hungry woolly mammoth has allegedly been caught on film in Siberia by a government-employed engineer last summer. Thought to be extinct for over 4000 years this woolly mammoth seems to be alive and well. According to a story in The Sun newspaper, a new video has surfaced that seems to show a live woolly mammoth — an animal the scientists say has been extinct for about four millennia.

If you saw a woolly mammoth crossing a river and wanted the world to believe you, wouldn't you get as close as you could for the clearest footage? The debates over the footage are: is it really a woolly mammoth (no) or a bear with a salmon in its mouth.

Read More

Stefon Diggs

Stefon Diggs appears poised to bring his breakaway ability to College Park. He is expected to announce his decision Friday. While Auburn waits for Friday night's decision from 5-star wide receiver Stefon Diggs, the Tigers are already hot on the heels of his teammate from Good Counsel in Olney, Md., junior wide receiver Andre Levrone.

Stefon Diggs will not commit on National Signing Day, instead waiting to take a visit to Maryland this weekend. MaxPreps has learned that Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) wide receiver Stefon Diggs will make his fifth and final visit.

Remember when five-star wide receiver recruit Stefon Diggs decided to make a last-minute visit to College Park over the weekend? Guess who hosted him. We already knew that this was in the works.

Read More

No Child Left Behind

It could be the beginning of the end for the No Child Left Behind law. The goal was lofty: Get all children up to par in math and reading by 2014. Tennessee is one of 10 states to receive a waiver releasing it from the No Child Left Behind law. Chris Caldwell is on Shelby County's unified school board.

Some of the largest states, including Texas, are questioning whether the Obama administration's offer to let them escape certain mandates of the No Child Left Behind law is a helping hand to improve education. President Barack Obama, accompanied by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaks about flexibility for states in the No Child Left Behind law, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, in the East Room.

Read More