Eideard

A group of Franciscan monks furious at the theft of bibles from their church in Florence have taken the unusual step of praying for the thief to be struck down by diarrhoea.

Monks at the 15th century church of San Salvatore al Monte, which was a favourite of Michelangelo, were irritated when a rare and expensive bible disappeared from the lectern, and they flew off the handle when a replacement bible donated by a worshipper also went missing and within a few hours.

In a note, pinned up in full view of worshippers, the monks say they hope the thief sees the error of his ways. But in case he does not, they add: “We pray to God that the thief is struck by a strong bout of the shits.”

This turn of events will, they hope, “encourage him to carry out no further thefts“.

Not your usual biblical punishment; but, it’s the thought that counts, eh?

It has been a long time coming, but now an average broadband subscriber in the U.S. can sign-up for a 100 Mbps broadband connection. Comcast, the largest cable (and broadband) company said Thursday it’s launching Extreme 105 across its entire footprint, which covers 40 million homes in cities such as San Francisco, Seattle; Chicago; Miami; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; and the majority of Boston.

To be sure, companies such as Cablevision provide 100 Mbps connections in its region (New York), but Comcast is making it available at a national level. Forecasts have indicated we could have 100 million homes with 100 Mbps by 2015, and with Thursday’s news, we’re pretty close to that target now. That should make the FCC pretty happy.

Now, it’s not cheap: about $105 a month for the broadband connection if you sign up for a triple-play plan, where other services cost extra. The standalone price is pretty darn steep — $199 a month — which I think is a shame. Comcast should have sold this at a more affordable price….A Comcast spokesperson says that their 250 GB cap applies to this super-fast broadband connection as well…

Netflix, Hulu, AppleTV, Spotify and Pandora make up most of my [Om's] digital content diet. When it comes to work, it’s now all in the “cloud” via Google Docs and Gmail. With higher bandwidth, the experience of all these services has improved for me. With Comcast making the higher speeds available nationwide, the upside is going to be for all these streaming services.I predict they will see a big bump in usage.

It’s a shame Comcast is initiating this service as if it was 2007 and the Great Recession hadn’t happened, yet. Anyone on a fixed income has been spending the last few years cutting back – not expanding their discretionary bump.

At the moment it feels like I have an increase in download/streaming speed with my much less expensive Comcast broadband. That may be a temporary side effect while they tune and tweak the changes they’ve made. I was getting upload speeds comparable to download for spell while they engaged their throttling system and that has settled down to a 5mbps maximum.

The sets are being trotted out in late November, early December. The cost: 7 large. Yup, $7,000…

Are there lots of rich women who get off on fianchettoing their gold-plated bishops, so to speak? Aruh thinks so: “The people at Kiki told us, ‘If you can make it, we have the customers for it.’”

Uh… o.k.

Foodborne illnesses cost the United States $152 billion in health-related expenses each year, according to a study just released by consumer and public health groups.

Food safety advocates are hoping that the study will boost efforts in Congress to overhaul the nation’s antiquated food safety system.

Uh, don’t hold your breath!

Dozens of pathogens, many of them unknown, creep into the food supply each year, sickening millions. The price tag includes medical costs, lost productivity and quality-of-life, according to a study from the Produce Safety Project…

The latest study to delve into foodborne illnesses comes as Congress works to craft legislation that would mark the first major overhaul of the food safety system in 50 years…

“My hope… is that the sobering numbers of this report will compel the Senate to act immediately on food safety legislation,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who has vigorously pushed for food safety reform. “We literally cannot afford to wait.”

The Republican Party thinks the whole world can wait while they say NO another hundred times. The Democrats are still waiting to grow a backbone before they press even the simple majority they’ve had since the 2008 election.

RTFA. The rest of us are free to sicken and die.

Har!

St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, with its colorful onion domes, is an architectural icon. And now you can eat it.

Pastry Chef Troman Felizmenio has created a piece of culinary art by making a gingerbread copy of the landmark for the holiday season. He works at the Ritz Carlton hotel near the Kremlin and Red Square.

Creation of the edible cathedral, which is 2 meters (6.5 feet) high, began in early September and lasted nearly three months, according to a description from the hotel.

The chef and his crew have made smaller versions for sale – only $1600 each.

Googling for a minute, here’s a home for $95K just east of Indianapolis

Most affordable: Indianapolis

Median home price: $105,000
Median income: $68,100
Affordability score: 94.5%

America’s most affordable housing market is the 33rd largest metro area in the United States, with 1.7 million people…

The turmoil in the auto industry, which Indianapolis had been closely associated with, has hurt the city. But increased diversification, which has made pharmaceutical companies, banks government agencies and insurers all important employers, has helped keep job losses in check. The unemployment rate was just 7.7% in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, well below the national rate of 9.8% that month.

Least affordable: New York City

Median home price: $425,000
Median income: $64,800
Affordability score: 19.2%

Home prices can be staggeringly high in many New York City metro area communities, but median income is not commensurately high; it’s under $65,000. That combo makes it the country’s least affordable major metro area…

After holding up better and longer than most housing markets, sales and prices around New York City have started to experience greater declines. The market there is highly influenced by what’s happening on Wall Street; when financial markets sneeze, the real estate industry there says “God bless you” with feeling.

Here in New Mexico, we’re still <8% unemployment rate – for citizens and legal residents.

A regional biggy in home construction – who simply pulled up and went on vacation when the bottom fell out of sleazy sub-prime mortgages – reappeared a few weeks ago in Albuquerque. Debt-free, still solid ownership of the land where they had previously started subdivisions, they've sold 3 lots in a week and have started moving dirt. And the mortgages are worth more than paper, this time.

They should have stuck with Richard Simmons

Yavapai County Sheriff’s deputies are combing the scene where two died and 19 fell ill during a simulated Native American sweat-lodge ceremony at a Sedona resort.

At least three people remain hospitalized in critical condition and one person in fair condition at Flagstaff and Sedona-area hospitals.

And although officials will not reveal what ailments they are suffering from, sweat-lodge dangers can include heat exhaustion, asphyxiation from carbon-monoxide poisoning and exploding rocks.

According to a Sheriff’s Office spokesman, 64 people were in a crudely constructed sweat dome at the resort Thursday evening when they were overcome…

The victims were attending a five-day program called “Spiritual Warrior,” hosted by self-help guru and inspirational speaker James Arthur Ray…

The Angel Valley Spiritual Resort Web site says that Ray has held the workshop there since 2003. And Ray’s Web site lists the cost for next year’s program at “only $9,695 per person…”

Participants in the Ray program also could practice Holotropic Breathwork, a trancelike state brought on by breath control, and Vision Quest, a multi-day stay in the outdoors without food or water.

I’ll try to refrain being too much of a smartass and just note in passing that some of these folks certainly have qualified for Darwin Awards. And paid a lot of money to do it.

UPDATED: The two who died have been identified.

The boom times brought many things to Riverside County government — revenues, jobs and enhanced comfort of a private sort. But like most places in America, times are tough, and four-ply toilet tissue must go.

Two years ago, the county’s supervisor, Jeff Stone, responding to criticisms that the quality of the one-ply toilet paper used in the county’s 340 buildings was substandard, switched, with the board’s approval, to the softer two-ply.

This was good, and the people were happy. “When he made that change from one-ply to two-ply, it was very well received,” said Verne Lauritzen, Mr. Stone’s chief of staff.

But then, as sometimes happens on the taxpayers’ dime, a bit of entitlement seemed to set in, and soon enough, the county’s 10 elected officials, the executive leadership and their staff members were being treated to Angel Soft four-ply toilet tissue. A sense of inequity set in: Among the 18,500 employees working over the 7,200 square miles of this county just east of Los Angeles, why was it that some — less than a 100 in all — were getting the extra soft…?

There was some whistle-blowing, and the whole toilet paper thing did not go over so well at a time when all county workers are taking a 10 percent pay cut in light of huge budget shortfalls. The county buys half a million rolls a year, its biggest volume purchase, and spent $270,000 on toilet paper in 2008…

“If we can save money, we will be switching,” Mr. Freeman said. “We’ve all taken a 10 percent pay cut. We stopped the process of people taking the government cars home, that type of thing. This is being taken very seriously.”

Or you can recycle your newspapers.

Two friends of mine recently received the same letter in the mail from their internists: Fork over $1,500 or you’re out of my practice.

Of course, they didn’t say it quite that way. The doctors said they’d be cutting their practices down from around 2,500 patients to 600 patients. Those willing to pay the annual fee were promised primo service in return: The doctor’s cell phone and/or pager number; “same day or next day appointments that start on time and last as long as needed” and a “full, thorough, comprehensive physical examination that is typically not given in most traditional primary care practices.”

“Is it worth it?” my friends asked. “Should I spend the extra money, or should I go find myself another doctor?”

Virtually unknown 10 years ago, in 2005 there were 500 doctors practicing what’s referred to as concierge medicine. Now there are 5,000, according to the Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design, a professional society of concierge physicians.

So, if you’re thinking about becoming a patient in a concierge practice, there are questions to ask.

If you’re like the rest of us, you work like hell, do due diligence, and try to come up with satisfactory health care your insurance will cover.

If you have insurance.