What is Nevada's BLACK BOOK and who is in it?

Nevada's Black Book (not actually black but silver) is an attempt to keep organized crime out of casinos. Officials add the names of known crime figures to the book, and then any book member commits a crime simply by setting foot in a casino.The casino also commits a crime if it fails to report gambling in its facility by a Black Book member.

The book is only 36 pages long but lists some of the most notorious names in gambling crime since its creation in 1960. It was born out of the fear that if Nevada couldn't keep organized crime out of gambling then Congress would eliminate the industry completely through high taxes.
Eleven names were drawn up in the original list, consisting of individuals defined as having a "notorious and unsavory reputation which would adversely affect public confidence and trust that the gaming industry is free from criminal or corruptible elements."

Current "Black Book" members and the year they entered the list:

Marshall Caifano, Chicago mob leader 1960
Louis Dragna, Mob leader,convicted racketeer 1960
Alvin Kaohu, Hawaiian organized crime member 1975
Wilford Pulawa, Hawaiian organized crime boss 1975
John Vaccaro, Slot cheater 1986
Sandra Vaccaro, Slot cheater 1987
Chris Petti, Mob associate, convicted book maker and card cheater 1987
Michael Rizzitello, Mob associate,convicted kidnapper 1988
William Land,Card cheater 1988
James Tamer,Mob skimmer,bank robber 1988
Frank Masterana, Convicted bookmaker 1988
Frank Rosenthal, Mob associate 1988
Harold Lyons,Slot cheater 1989
Joseph Cusumano, Mob associate, convicted racketeer 1990
Douglas Barr,Slot cheater 1990
Timothy Childs, Slot cheater 1991
Francis Citro, Mob collector, convicted racketeer 1991
Richard Perry,Convicted sports fixer 1992
Anthony St.Laurent, Reputed mob associate, convicted racketeer,bookmaker 1993
Dominic Spinale, Convicted illegal bookmaker 1994
Brent Eli Morris
Douglas William Barr, Convicted slot cheat 1994
William Dominick Cammisano Jr., Reputed mob figure, convicted felon 1997
Ronald Harris, Former Gaming  Control Board computer expert who rigged slot machines 1997
Anthony "Tony Ripe" Civella, Reputed Kansas City, Mo., mob figure 1997
Jerry Dale Criner, Convicted slot cheat 1997
Louis John Olejack, Convicted card cheat  1997
John Joseph Conti, Reputed mob associate 1997
Stephen Cino, Reputed  mob associate 1997
Charles Panarella, Reputed mob associate 1997
Michael DiBari, Slot cheater 1998
Peter Joseph "P.J." Ribaste, Reputed mob associate  1999
Fred Pascente, a former Chicago police detective who served time for his connection to an Illinois mail fraud ring. (1999)
Michael Joseph Balsamo, a six-time convicted slot cheat,who is in the North Las Vegas jail in connection with a nationwide slot cheating scheme.(1999)
Peter Jay Lenz--Convicted on  bookmaking charges three times and on federal charges of making false statements on a passport application.

I knew a few who made this book, it used to be called the Blue Book. Had a good friend who was a "rhythm slot man" which I never understood, but Bob made a considerable amount of money, invested in real estate, and did well. He had every make of slot in his basement and worked long hours to "perfect" his system. 

Cay you say ..............

Founding Facebook President Sean Parker (whose estimated worth is $2 billion) married Alexandra Parker (formerly Lenas), his fiancee of two years and mother of his newborn daughter, on Saturday. The lavish “Game of Thrones”-inspired wedding is rumored to be one of Silicon Valley's most expensive, at a reported cost of $9 million, according to a story published Sunday in People magazine. 

The magazine reports that the over-the-top ceremony for 300 guests took place at the Ventana Inn & Spa in Big Sur, California and was officiated by the Rev. John A. Buehrens. The 24-year-old bride, a tattooed singer-songwriter, wore an Elie Saab gown. Sean, 33, and the couple’s 5-month-old daughter, Winter Victoria, were outfitted by a costume designer whose work appears in “The Lord of the Rings” films and “Xena: Warrior Princess.”

At least he is spending some ...... keeps the wheels of economy going round and round ....

Ammo shortage

Earlier post, "People are buying ammunition for guns they have not bought yet." I had to think about that a bit, and see if I could relate to any other similar incident. Ammunition doesn't spoil, for one thing, at least I "don't think it does. I think I have heard the term "fresh ammunition."

Ammunition has only one purpose, to be shot from a gun. OK, a box of ammunition could be used as a paper weight.

"Hi Charley, nice to see you again. Oh, I see you have a dozen boxes of 50 caliber ammunition on your bookshelf, what gun do you have?"

"Well, Bob, I don't really have a gun, I just stocked up on them last week, I was in Walmart, and there they were on the shelf, and, I well, I called Martha and had her come down and buy some, then I did, and, a, we just got 'em."

"Oh, I see you also have quite a few boxes of 10 penny nails there too, nice, is that what all the hammers are for?"

Deacon Jones ..... has died

The Los Angeles Rams 1964 defensive front four, known as the "Fearsome Foursome" from left to right are Lamar Lundy (85), Merlin Olsen (74), Rosey Grier (76), and Deacon Jones (75). David "Deacon" Jones, a Hall of Fame defensive end has died.

David "Deacon" Jones, a Hall of Fame American football defensive end credited with coining the word "sack" for how he knocked down quarterbacks, has died. He was 74.

The Washington Redskins said that Jones died of natural causes at his home in Southern California on Monday night.

"Deacon Jones was one of the greatest players in NFL history. Off the field, he was a true giant," said Redskins general manager Bruce Allen, whose father, George, coached Jones with the Los Angeles Rams. "His passion and spirit will continue to inspire those who knew him. He was cherished member of the Allen family and I will always consider him my big brother."

Jones was the leader of the Rams' Fearsome Foursome unit from 1961-71 and then played for San Diego for two seasons before finishing his career with the Redskins in 1974. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and made the league's 75th anniversary all-time squad.

Stock up on toilet paper, NOW .....

Hornady ammunition, makers of some of the most popular self-defense ammo for concealed carry applications, explained it this way: "We are producing as much as we can, much more than last year, which was a lot more than the year before, etc. No one wants to ship more during this time than we do."
The demand for Hornady's ammo is so great that they've "added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, [and] people and space." They are producing many popular items "24 hours a day" and "several hundred employees work overtime every week" to make as much ammo as possible.

Black Hills Ammunition president Jeff Hoffman is seeing the same demand Hornady is experiencing. He says the only ammo that isn't absolutely flying out the door are some of the rarer, larger caliber hunting rounds.

Supplies of 9mm, 45 acp, 40 S&W, and .223 are scarce in the marketplace, and where they can be found, they are being snatched up by desperate consumers as they are unloaded off trucks at stores like Walmart & Gander Mountain.

So why the shortage? Ammo producers like Hornady say the cause isn't government orders but a "politically-induced buying panic." Although producers say they've seen buying panics in the past, nothing compares to what we're experiencing now.

During panics in the past, gun owners bought up all the ammo they could; during the current panic, even people who don't own guns have been buying ammo for the gun they might buy in the future. At the same time, first-time gun buyers have not only been buying guns but also every bullet for it they can find.

Add to this the fact that some producers can't expand their production as rapidly as Hornady and others have, and it's easier to understand why handgun and AR-15 calibers are scarce.

As Remington ammunition put it: "Remington is at full capacity at this time in a majority of categories of ammunition. We are continuing to look at how to increase capacity and supply our ammunition products to the various channels of distribution/sales that we support."

A few years back, a MEMO was prepared at the White House and sent to a select few, advising them to purchase stock in munitions manufacturers in anticipation of proposed legislation banning and controlling guns. Someone anticipated this surge .. (I made that up)  ... Shelves are empty here in Licking County. Oh, the toilet paper stock up .... all that ammo out there .... scares the crap out of me ............. sorry about that. 

There has to be a heading for this foto ... give me time to think of it, OK?

How proud the Board of Trustees and the Administration at Ohio State University must be, to have a president, who, because of his "conduct," cannot speak at a high school graduation. I wonder how all the catholic students at OSU feel. I am surprised they have not made a comment. I wonder how many football "recruits" are catholic. So does Meyer.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio State University's president has withdrawn as commencement speaker for a parochial high school after being reprimanded for making disparaging remarks about Notre Dame, Catholics and the Southeastern Conference.

Gordon Gee (ghee) had been scheduled to speak Saturday at the graduation ceremony for St. Francis DeSales High School in Columbus. Ohio State says Gee decided Monday not to attend to make sure the students and their accomplishments remain the focus of the event.

DeSales' principal says he received a ''heartfelt apology'' from Gee on Monday.

Last week, Gee apologized for his disparaging comments made in December after they were first reported by The Associated Press. He also apologized to the Big Ten conference for his ''hurtful remarks'' about some university athletic programs.

Ohio State trustees warn he could be fired for any more verbal gaffes.

It just keeps gettin better an better.............

Are we a great country or what? ..... ;And, what do you want to be when you grow up, little boy?" "I be either a thief or a politician, maybe I can be boff.  ... " I wonder why they picked Anaheim? Something ironic, meeting in a land of make believe ... jbd

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - A government watchdog has found that the Internal Revenue Service spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012, a House committee said Sunday.

The chairman of that committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also released excerpts of congressional investigators' interviews with employees of the IRS office in Cincinnati. Issa said the interviews indicated the employees were directed by Washington to subject tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to tough scrutiny.

The closest the excerpts came to direct evidence that Washington had ordered the screening was one employee saying that "all my direction" came from an official who the excerpt said was in Washington. The top Democrat on that panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, contested Issa's claim, saying none of the employees interviewed have so far identified any IRS officials in Washington as ordering that targeting.

The conference spending included $4 million for an August 2010 gathering in Anaheim, Calif., for which the agency did not negotiate lower room rates, even though that is standard government practice, according to a statement by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Instead, some of the 2,600 attendees received benefits, including baseball tickets and stays in presidential suites that normally cost $1,500 to $3,500 per night. In addition, 15 outside speakers were paid a total of $135,000 in fees, with one paid $17,000 to talk about "leadership through art," the House committee said.

Aw, common, at least two more .............

Can you imagine the backlash if a Republican politician, or even Obama made such a comment, or a VP of a large corporation, or a talk show host, OMG, they would be out on their ear, period, no second or third or fourth chance, as old "Foot in the mouth" GEE. My guess is that Coach Meyer laid the law down and wants him to stay. "Hey, I like him, he makes me laugh, he's cute, I want him to stay around, oh, and tell the guy who wrote that article it is "The Ohio State University ......." or comments something to that effect ...... jbd

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The president of Ohio State University has apologized to the Big Ten conference for “hurtful remarks” he made last year about some university athletic programs.

In a statement Sunday, Gordon Gee says he apologized for his “misguided attempt at humor” before the university’s Athletic Council in December. He says the Big Ten universities are “some of this country’s most highly accomplished research institutions” and he’s honored to lead a Big Ten school.

An Associated Press report last week revealed Gee said Notre Dame wasn't allowed to join the Big Ten because its leaders weren't good partners. He said its Roman Catholic priests were “holy hell” on days other than Sunday and joked “those damn Catholics” can’t be trusted.

He also questioned the academic integrity of schools in the Southeastern Conference.

He, and some others, I always capitalize the P in President ...

She is holding a flag, not an umbrella. 

This is from his race supporting wounded warriors at his Ranch this Memorial Day weekend. 

Thank you for supporting our troops, 

Mr. President.

Alive and well in Memorial Gardens .......... send check!

From Political Outcast .. by Dave Jolly

In 2012, we saw numerous reports of dead people voting in a number of state primary elections and the general election in November.  In all likelihood, thousands of votes were cast from the grave for a number of politicians, mostly Democrats.  Even more absurd was when Florida went to purge their voter rolls of dead people and non-citizens, Eric Holder’s Justice Department tried to stop them.

Now we are learning that dead people cannot only cast their ghostly ballots from beyond, but they can collect welfare as well.  But wait!  There’s more!  Not only can they receive welfare, but some dead people only started receiving welfare after they were dead.  I guess being dead prevents you from being able to work and earn a living, so you qualify for government assistance, right?

Massachusetts recently conducted an audit which revealed that the state had doled out $18 million in what they defined as ‘questionable public assistance benefits’ over recent years.  Nearly 1,200 dead people were receiving some form of welfare:
“In 1,164 cases, deceased recipients continued to receive a total of $2.39 million in benefits up to 27 months after they had been reported dead. The state Department of Transitional Assistance also paid out at least $368,000 benefits to 178 guardians who claimed deceased persons as dependents, and $164,000 to 40 individuals being claimed by more than one guardian.”

Suzanne Bump, the State Auditor, discovered in the audit that some of the people receiving welfare benefits started doing so after they were dead, indicating cases of fraud (just like the liberal voting systems).  There was also a significant amount of suspicious transactions on electronic benefits cards (EBT) totaling $15 million.  Of those, $5 million worth of food benefits had been used all at once, which raised red flags.  Five regional offices were not able to produce the necessary documentation for over 30,000 EBT cards.

Oh, Hi, Dan!

The internet, now, is amazing, all of the information that is stored on it, and even more amazing, is how few words it takes to locate something.

I typed in "cagney, dailey, movie, wwi, war" ............. top of the list Amazon site - What Price Glory? (1952)

That's exactly what I was looking for. Why, well,, it was on recently and I watched most of it. It brought back an old memory from 1952.

I went through Yeoman "A" School with a guy from Los Angeles, his Dad was a Dentist and on a few occasions I went with him and spent a few weekends at his home. We arrived on Friday evening, and on Saturday morning we drove to his girlfriends house, who lived on a corner, Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills. Her Dad as I recall, was John Ford. Didn't really mean a lot to me at the time.

We were all sitting out around the pool, I was "livin it up" ..... sitting by the pool, servants at a beckoned call, in Beverly Hills. Someone mention their neighbors, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Benny, to name a few, big time stuff for a kid from Ohio. Many of their neighbors I had seen or listened to for many years.

While we were sitting there talking, a back gate opened up, and Dan Dailey came sauntering through, we all yelled, "Hi Dan," me included. As I recall, he wanted to go over the movie he was in, the above mentioned one, What Price Glory," A lot of this information I learned later on while talking with him.

That same weekend, on Sunday morning,, they got me tickets to see Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis who were appearing at a downtown venue, great show.

I will never say or do anything that I cannot tell to my Mother...

It's Monday morning, not too much has happened, this article caught my attention. When I was in the Navy in the mid 50's, I processed discharges for the 11th Naval District in San Diego. One of my first "discharges" was a 1st Class Petty officer who had admitted, unfortunately in the presence of an ONI official, that he had performed "oral sex" on his wife. He was given an Undesirable Discharge, a UD, for "Reasons other than honorable." How things change. Everyone is "coming out" .......... for one reason or another. I recently "came out" as being an "Impulsive Spendthrift."

The idea of an A-lister (Michael Douglas)  bluntly attributing cancer to oral sex may sound surprising, but doctors do believe there is a link between oral sex with an infected person and throat cancer. Douglas' apparent frankness should dramatically increase awareness of the threat.

Douglas discussed the source of his cancer when the paper asked the "Behind the Candelabra" actor if he regretted years of smoking and drinking -- suggesting that they may have been the cause.

"No," the paper reported him saying. "Because without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus."

Sunday Evening

Sunday evening, made it through another week. Speaking as an 80 year old, they get a little harder each week. Standing, sitting, walking, all get a little harder to do, some good days, some not so good. One of the great things about it, I am so thankful for a good day, even thankful for a bad day, but much prefer the good ones.

I think I do need to start an exercise program of some kind. I want to keep walking as long as I can. I know I  have said it before, but in a store, pushing a shopping cart, I can walk miles, without the cart, back pain. That must mean something. I asked a doctor once, why that was. He suggested I "keep pushing the cart," and I think I got charged for that bit of information.

Sat out on the porch some this evening, nice cool evening. A neighbor stopped  by, my wife came out, another neighbor stopped by, nice way to spend a Sunday evening.

I am now listening to Gospel Music. "Worthy The Lamb" is a favorite of  mine, especially this rendition. With the choral backing it is great. I love the reaction from the choir, very inspirational, gets my blood pumped and going ....

"I Bowed on my Knees:" is another favorite. The lead here is Michael English. He stumbled a bit in his life, and this is one of his first appearances back, and very emotional for all in the room. He hit some notes and did some things, and took over the song. The others, got caught up in the emotion of the moment. Check the emotion of all the others in the room. Awesome.

One more to end te night, :There is a River" with David Phelps doing a great job. David has a one of a kid voice. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago, very gracious young man. He occasionally does a concert, mostly classical. There is no other tenor comparable to him. He is a "home run hitter." David left the group for a while and during that time there were some songs that the new group did not attempt, they were only "David's songs."

Fish Flops founder Madison Robinson meets one of her Nordstrom customers

She launched her business two years ago, but Houston teenager Madison Robinson has yet to face something most new entrepreneurs do: rejection. Every store buyer she has approached has placed an order for her Fish Flops for Kids shoe brand.

Robinson came up with the idea for her sea-creature-adorned flip-flops with battery-operated lights when she was just 8, living at the beach in Galveston Island, Tex. Her dad Dan, a former banker turned t-shirt designer, helped her turn her drawings into a product and get samples made. More than 30 stores placed orders the first time they exhibited at a trade show, so he hired an overseas manufacturer and started shipping in May 2011.

Launched with “friends and family” financing, the enterprise is already profitable, the elder Robinson says. The shoes now sell online, in various retail boutiques, and at 60 Nordstrom stores nationwide for around $20 a pair. They’re also coming soon to FlipFlopShops.com, and Macy’s buyers in New York recently asked Madison to design a line for women. More than 60,000 pairs sold in 2012, making for retail sales of at least $1.2 million. That's not all Fish Flops' income; the Robinsons sell wholesale. But Dan Robinson says it's safe to say that his daughter, who is about to complete 9th grade, has already socked away enough profits to cover her college tuition.

3-D printing goes from sci-fi fantasy to reality

I was in the printing business most of my working life, and I have to admit, I cannot conceive of this process, 3D printing, my mind just cannot comprehend such a thing. Eventually, manufacturing will be obsolete, what will the workforce do? Technology is wonderful and amazing, but has it gone too far? There used to be a need, someone manufactured and filled that need, someone purchased that need, and on and on it went.... There is a tremendous void when a part of that equation is missing ............

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — Invisalign, a San Jose company, uses 3-D printing to make each mouthful of customized, transparent braces. Mackenzies Chocolates, a confectioner in Santa Cruz, uses a 3-D printer to pump out chocolate molds. And earlier this year, Cornell University researchers used a 3-D printer, along with injections of a special collagen gel, to create a human-shaped ear.

Once a science-fiction fantasy, three-dimensional printers are popping up everywhere from the desks of home hobbyists to Air Force drone research centers. The machines, generally the size of a microwave oven and costing $400 to more than $500,000, extrude layer upon layer of plastics or other materials, including metal, to create 3-D objects with moving parts.

Users are able to make just about anything they like: iPad stands, guitars, jewelry, even guns. But experts warn this cool innovation could soon turn controversial — because of safety concerns but also the potential for the technology to alter economies that rely on manufacturing.

"We believe that 3-D printing is fundamentally changing the manufacturing ecosystem in its entirety — how and where products are made and by whom," said Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO of New York-based Shapeways, an online company that makes and sells 3-D printed products designed by individuals. Products include a delicate, twig-like egg cup (cost: $8.10) and a lamp that looks like a nuclear mushroom cloud (cost: $1,388.66).

Steven Seagal

Moscow, June 2 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Hollywood action movie star Steven Seagal has pledged to dedicate his life to fight terrorism.

Seagal visited a ruined school in Beslan in Russia's North Ossetia, the scene of a bloody hostage crisis in 2004.

The movie star and martial artist along with a group of US Congressmen arrived in Beslan June 1, the International Children's Day celebrated in Russia.

The delegation visited the memorial cemetery in the town, where over 330 terror attack victims, more than half of them children, are buried.

"They were shocked. After visiting the cemetery, which has more than 300 similar tombs, most of them with the photos of small children, Steven Seagal said he will spend the rest of his life fighting against terrorism," said a spokesman for the republic's head.

On Sep 1, 2004, in one of the most shocking events in recent world history, a group of rebels seized School No. 1 in Beslan, 30 km northwest of Vladikavkaz, capital of the North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia.
Sep 1 is known in Russia as the 'Day of Knowledge' and is when schoolchildren all over the country return to or begin their studies.

The militants killed 17 adults in the first hours of the siege, and then set up explosive devices around the school. They then demanded that Russian troops pull out of the Chechen republic. The operation was organised by the late Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.

The siege ended after three days when federal troops stormed the school. Hundreds of people died as militants and troops exchanged fire. The authorities were widely criticized for their handling of the siege and for the events leading up to it. All of the terrorists but one were killed.

NO, not Edith ..............

Jean Stapleton, the stage-trained character actress who played Archie Bunker's far better half, the sweetly naive Edith, in TV's groundbreaking 1970s comedy "All in the Family," has died. She was 90.

Stapleton died Friday of natural causes at her New York City home surrounded by friends and family, her son, John Putch, said Saturday.

Little known to the public before "All In the Family," she co-starred with Carroll O'Connor in the sitcom about an unrepentant bigot, the wife he churlishly but fondly called "Dingbat," their daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and liberal son-in-law Mike, aka Meathead (Rob Reiner).

Stapleton received eight Emmy nominations and won three times during her eight-year tenure with "All in the Family." Produced by Norman Lear, the series broke through the timidity of U.S. TV with social and political jabs and ranked as the No. 1-rated program for an unprecedented five years in a row. Lear would go on to create a run of socially-conscious sitcoms.

Stapleton also earned Emmy nominations for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1982 film "Eleanor, First Lady of the World" and for a guest appearance in 1995 on "Grace Under Fire."

Gambling - Blessing or a Curse?

Had some conversations recently about the casinos in Ohio, and all over the world. Are they a good thing or not. I have worked in them, seen them. In my opinion, the revenue they bring in is overshadowed by the damage they do, to society as a whole. Nothing good, every came out of a gambling hall. A gaming license is nothing more than a license to steal.
i
Gambling + odds = Loss ... I have never known a winner.

A quote from Milos "Sharkey" Begovich. He was asked, "So you're saying that gambling is hurting the United States as a whole?"

His answer, "Oh, absolutely. Anybody that thinks otherwise is kidding himself."

His entire life revolved around gambling, he once won a nice six-figure amount. He has won and lost probably millions.

I knew a man in Reno, who had sold a business on the East coast, he and his wife headed for California, stopped in Reno. They lost everything they had. He looked for nickles, to play the slots, to get a bankroll, to get all his money back. His wife ran a new stand at the Golden Hotel.

I knew a man, a business man, lived in Nevada all his life, only went in the casinos to eat and see shows. He and his wife met with friends, one a week, pot luck dinner, afterwards, the women would play canasta, the men poker. One night he lost a few dollars, they meant nothing to him, I have seen him tip considerably more than he lost. It got him, within a few days he had lost two homes, everything he had, all his money, his cars, his businesses, and committed suicide.

You can lose "everything" but you can never win "enough." You can lose all sense of reason and responsibility when you gamble ......... and just one ..... hot streak .... can get you even, and, there is an unlimited amount of money that can be won.

When calling the dice on a crap table, you never mention the word, "loser" ..... always WINNERS .. there is a winner every roll of the dice, no one ever hears the word "loser." "They" have it down to a fine art.

"You gotta send out winners, to get players, I think it was Jim Kelly who advertised that slogan. His slots payed off all the time, small payoffs, but winners. You would invest $10 to win $3, and all you remembered was that winning jackpot, didn't realize you had just lost $7. .......... "I hit a jackpot."

Something for nothing, people are used to that. Casinos can tell you the exact date and time, that Welfare Checks are received. Wonder why that is?

Oh rats...........

A Mars rock that bears a passing resemblance to a rodent is scuttling across the Internet with gusto, even inspiring some fans to set up a Twitter account in its name.

UFO buffs spotted the purported "Mars rat" in a panoramic photo snapped in September 2012 by NASA's Curiosity rover. Zooming in on a portion of the image reveals what appears to be a rodent crouching between two rocks, its nose to the ground.

"It's a cute rodent on Mars. Note its lighter-color upper and lower eyelids, its nose and cheek areas, its ear, its front leg and stomach," Scott Waring wrote at UFO Sightings Daily back in December. "Looks similar to a squirrel camouflaged in the stones and sand by its colors." ['Mars Rat' Photographed by Curiosity Rover (Video)]

In an update to that post, Waring raised the possibility that NASA flew the rat/squirrel toMars secretly, as part of an experiment testing out the Red Planet's ability to support life as we know it.

"Why would they not tell us about it?" Waring wrote. "Because the squirrel would be expected to die eventually and that would get PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] to fight against them in a court of law."

The Mars rat has now gone viral, jumping from the pages of UFO Sightings Daily to more mainstream publications such as Discovery News, Fox News and a host of other outlets (including, of course, SPACE.com).

The rodent has even picked up its own Twitter account, @RealMarsRat. Just 49 people were following the rat as of Friday afternoon (May 31), but that's still pretty good for a rodent.

Just a sittin in the garage............

Just drove home from Kroger's, and noticed a few "guys" sitting in their garages. I couldn't help but notice that each one had a nice front porch or a side porch, all had awnings, some were surrounded by nice flower gardens, but, the guy was "sittin" out in the garage. Got me to wonderin ..................

It's a guys world out in the garage, smell of gas and oil, mixed with the odor of grass coming off of the riding mower, all guy stuff.

Each guy was sitting, one in a rocker, one in one of those canvas chairs, and one in an aluminum frame chair, and they all looked like "kings" sitting on their thrones, looking out over their realm.

One had a recently mowed lawn, so I think he was resting up, after he finished mowing, on his riding lawn mower. He was looking out over his nicely manicured lawn, mowed and trimmed.

My wife's family were garage sitters, they were all very quiet people, and the garage offered them the opportunity to just sit, and look, at all the equipment hanging on nails, in the garage. I remember one family gathering, a crowd of hushed folks sitting the garage.

I commented, "Nice hedge trimmers."

"Yeh," "yes they are, nice hedge trimmers."

I almost inventoried their entire garage, each item greeted with an OK or a Yep, Yes it is. My kids were there, my wife, sister in law, and they were all smiles, they knew what I was doing. I got them to talk, even though it was just a "Yep" or a "Yah."

You feel comfortable in a garage, no dress code, laid back attitude, something about the odor of gasoline that conjures up good childhood memories. The garage belongs to the guys. That is why they were sitting out there in the garage, it was theirs.