Two years after receiving its first deposits, a “doomsday” seed vault on an Arctic island has amassed half a million seed samples, making it the world’s most diverse repository of crop seeds, the vault’s operators announced Thursday. Cary Fowler — who heads the trust that oversees the seed collection, which is 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) […]
Category Archives: Odd News
Prison Break Odd News
Weakest Life & Health Insurers in the U.S.
Data Date: Second Quarter 2009 Name State Total Assets ($) Ability Ins Co NE 257,201,027 Adams Life Ins Co AL 2,435,788 Admiral Life Ins Co Of America AZ 14,132,897 Advanta Life Ins Co AZ 4,413,280 AGL Life Assurance Co PA 4,083,655,061 Alabama Life Reins Co Inc AL 46,374,350 Amalgamated Life & Health Ins Co IL […]
Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72
BOSTON – Mary Travers, one-third of the popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary who were perhaps best known for their hit “Puff (The Magic Dragon),” died in a Connecticut hospital after battling leukemia for several years. She was 72. The band’s publicist, Heather Lylis, said Travers died Wednesday at Danbury Hospital. Bandmate Peter […]
The Brady Bunch
Architect Mike Brady marries beautiful young Carol, who has three girls to care for. Likewise, Mike’s previous wife’s death has left him to raise his three boys all alone. In no time this amalgam becomes the ideal average American middle class family. Of course, raising such a large family isn’t easy, so live-in housekeeper Alice […]
Infant Deaths Prompt Gov’t Warning
The government warned Friday that those chic baby slings that hip moms and dads are sporting these days can be dangerous, even deadly for their little ones. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it has investigated at least 13 deaths associated with sling-style infant carriers over the last 20 years, including three deaths last year. […]
eBay Fined in France
eBay fined in France for selling upscale perfumes Online auction site eBay Inc. was fined euro1.7 million ($2.5 million) by a Paris court on Monday for failing to stop the sale of famous perfume brands like Christian Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy and Kenzo — all of which are owned by luxury group LVMH. The decision follows […]
Strongest Property & Casualty in the U.S.
Data Date: Second Quarter 2009 Name State Total Assets ($) United Services Automobile Asn TX 20,014,820,711 USAA Casualty Ins Co TX 6,498,502,225 Hastings Mutual Ins Co MI 610,113,862 Interins Exch Of The Automobile Club CA 5,640,170,932 Dairyland Ins Co WI 1,231,187,238 Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Ins Ltd NY 1,625,038,198 Tennessee Farmers Mutual Ins Co […]
Diamond Sells For $35 million
LONDON (Reuters) – Petra Diamonds sold a 507-carat diamond for $35.3 million on Friday, breaking a record as the highest price ever paid for a rough diamond. Analysts had estimated the value of the stone, one of the 20 biggest high-quality rough diamonds, at around $25 million. “It is fitting that the Cullinan Heritage should […]