Tree Man | A Special Delivery

Heavy snow brings Europe to a standstill
A rare sight ... heavy Snowfalls blanket Florence in Italy. Photo: AP London: British Airways said all flights from London Heathrow and London Gatwick were cancelled between 10am and 5pm local time yesterday as snow blanketed Western Europe over the last weekend before Christmas. As much as 15 centimetres of snow fell in south-west England and ''further significant accumulations'' are likely, Britain's Met Office said on its website. The snow also affected airports in Germany and the Netherlands...

Thirty Three Things (v. 28)
1. Jingle Bells was the first song played in space Just before Stafford and Schirra were scheduled to reenter Earth’s atmosphere December 16, the pair reported they had sighted some sort of UFO. Schirra recounted the moment when Stafford contacted Mission Control in Schirra’s Space, a memoir he wrote with Richard Billings: “We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit…. Looks like he might be going to re-enter soon…....

The Most Expensive Christmas Tree in the World is..
It’s inside the Emirates Palace Hotel, a hotel which claims it is too nice to be just a five-star resort, it is a SEVEN STAR facility. It  is now offering  a special deal on a one week stay for a million dollars. As you read the following story, keep in mind we are buying oil from these people, so WE are funding their lavish lifestyle.   Our EPA is making it impossible to drill offshore in either deep or shallow spots, or to frack Natural Gas from our own reserves,...

Thirty Three Things (v. 28)
1. Jingle Bells was the first song played in space Just before Stafford and Schirra were scheduled to reenter Earth’s atmosphere December 16, the pair reported they had sighted some sort of UFO. Schirra recounted the moment when Stafford contacted Mission Control in Schirra’s Space, a memoir he wrote with Richard Billings: “We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit…. Looks like he might be going to re-enter soon…....

Spider-Man grounded again for fine-tuning
Top of the list? Not the infamous technical glitches you may have read about. Those have been pretty much ironed out. Now it’s a matter of addressing the reported kinks in the story.  So the creative team is staging a new closing number, adding scenes, deleting others and rewriting lines in the ones that make the cut. According to Showbiz411.com, director Julie Taymor is “very happy” about this development. … with the holidays and cast absences, there were only ̶...

A Fake vs. a Real Tree
In these eco-conscious times, many people want to shrink their environmental footprint while still enjoying the trappings of the Holiday Season. In some cases, the earth-friendly alternative - pass the tofurky - is a pretty obvious choice. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The (real) 74-foot Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center in New York. But in others, the answer is not so clear. When it comes to Christmas trees, for instance, which is better for the planet: the long-lasti...

$11 million Christmas tree may break Guinness World Record
An $11 million Christmas Tree in the foyer of the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi may break the Guinness World Record for Most Expensive Christmas tree....

$11 million Christmas tree may break Guinness World Record
An $11 million Christmas Tree in the foyer of the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi may break the Guinness World Record for Most Expensive Christmas tree....

Harlem Hospital Doctors Threaten to Strike
Doctors at Harlem Hospital are threatening to strike over issues arising from the city’s decision to loosen the hospital’s ties with Columbia University, union officials said Monday. Leaders of the physicians’ union at the hospital, Doctors Council S.E.I.U., said negotiations broke down on Friday. They said that more than 75 percent of the 200 doctors at the hospital had authorized the union to call a strike, and that a meeting would be held Thursday to set the date. The docto...

'Spider-Man' Economics: Recouping That Initial Investment
“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” has made headlines as the Most Expensive musical in Broadway history. At $65 million, it had an initial Budget that is more than twice as big as that of the previous record holder, “Shrek the Musical.” The new show even rivals the cost of many major Hollywood films  — which, given that they can be distributed cheaply worldwide, have a much bigger potential audience than this live show can ever hope for. So how long will it take &...

A Heroic Feat: With New Date for Opening, 'Spider-Man' Could Set Previews Record
The Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” will delay its Opening Night by four weeks, until Monday, Feb. 7, to provide more time for its creators — the director Julie Taymor and U2’s Bono and The Edge — to make changes in the $65 million show before theater critics review it, the lead producer announced on Friday. As a result, the musical will now have a total of 10 weeks of preview performances, one of the longest stretches in Broadway history. Bono and ...

Dr. Doom's $5.5 M. Condo Purchase End of World As We Know It
Either the housing crisis is coming to an end or the apocolypse has arrived. The N.Y.U. Economist who predicted the Housing Bubble's spectacular burst has bought a $5.5 million condo in the East Village. Nouriel Roubini (a.k.a. Dr. Doom) who only recently opined on a possible second crisis in the Housing Market and in 2006 sung the praises of the rental market, apparently has contradicted both pieces of advice, plunking his cash in the Most Expensive condo recently on the market in the East Vi...

Seattle Lefties Erect Atheist Tree Which Shockingly Looks Just Like a Christmas Tree
Why is the left so threatened by Christmas?… OLYMPIA — With little fanfare or complaints, Seattle Atheists have erected a decorated tree and a sign on the Capitol campus in honor of not-Christmas. A tree? As in, a Christmas Tree? Not exactly. The group calls it “A Tree of Knowledge” — although it’s  unclear if they’re unaware of the Biblical implications of such a title, or co-opting it. But their tree looks suspiciously like a Christmas Tree,

Winemakers Introduce Cheaper, Artificial Ice Wines
Ice wine, made from grapes that were allowed to freeze on the vine, has long been one of the Most Expensive dessert drinks because of the risk involved in its production. Winemakers must harvest the grapes under precisely the right weather conditions and extract the high-sugar juice before they thaw. The slightest variation in temperature can doom an entire crop, but vintners skilled in the process can charge $4 per ounce or more. Enlarge AP Frozen grapes that will be harvested for ice ...

Happy Saturnalia
Commentary By Ron Beasley This is the first day of Saturnalia.  While the fear mongering Snake Oil salesman on FOX  and Talk Radio my talk about the War on Christmas this is a good time to remember that the Christian Christmas was actually a war on the assorted pagan winter solstice celebrations.  You won't find any reference to Christmas in The Bible, it was a manufactured "holy day"  designed to compete with the winter solstice celebrations found in all ...

Roderick Spencer: New Orleans; As Important As Ever
The city of New Orleans is hopeless and indomitable. There's no earthly reason to be optimistic about such a place, unless you find yourself in club Snug Harbor after midnight on a Friday in when Marsalis patriarch, Ellis, is playing with at least three generations of drums, trumpet, sax and guitar; two young black horn players in baggy shorts, a willowy Japanese guitar man, and a nerdy bespectacled white kid coaxing and punishing the little drum set, before giving way to another drum geek who...

Halfway House Coming to Tribeca Lofts?
There have been thousands of Foreclosures in the city — and thousands more to come! — but none, that The Observer knows of, have involved a drug and Alcohol Rehab center, certainly not in the city's Most Expensive neighborhood. The Real Deal is reporting that the Betty Ford of the Midwest, Hazelden, has beat out 10 competitors for a six-story TriBeCa beauty on West Broadway. Whereas the other bidders were looking to maintain the project, developed by Brad Zackson, as condos, Hazeld...

'Spider-Man' Opening Delayed Again
The lead producers of the new Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” have decided again to delay its Opening Night, now scheduled for Jan. 11, until sometime in February, two people involved with the musical said on Thursday. With preview performances now under way the delay is intended to provide more time for the creators to stage a new final number, make further rewrites to the dialogue and consider adding and cutting scenes and perhaps inserting new music from the compo...

State Health Bigs Gave Pedro Espada a Five-Year Pass to Keep Buying Subsidized Sushi
​The Wall Street Journal's Greater New York section lives up to its name today with a revealing story by reporter Jacob Gershman about how state officials blithely ignored warnings five years ago that Pedro Espada's Health Care empire was running wild. The warning was raised in a January 2005 memo by the state Health Department's former number two top attorney, Paul Stavis. The memo, Gershman reports, urged the agency to force Espada to give up control of his network of Health Care clini...

Fancy ATM skips the folding cash, spits out gold
FILE - In this photo made available by Ex Oriente Lux company, Thomas Geissler the CEO of Ex Oriente Lux, left, and an Emirati official remove the cover of an ATM-style kiosk which monitors the daily gold price and offers small bars up to 10 grams or coins with customized designs during an opening and demonstration ceremony at the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in this May 12, 2010 file photo. The German company planned to install a similar machine Friday Dec. 17, 2010 ...

Snow causes travel chaos in Europe
BERLIN - Heavy snow and freezing temperatures caused Travel Chaos across Northern Europe on Friday, with hundreds of German flights cancelled and icy roads wreaking havoc in Poland and the Netherlands ahead of Christmas. A spokesman for Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said 400 of 1,400 scheduled flights had been cancelled at continental Europe’s busiest airport, even though Germany’s financial capital escaped the worst of the winter weather. Another 100 flights were cancelled in B...

Conn. company's stuffed germ toys catching on
In this Nov. 24, 2010 photo, Drew Oliver, owner of Giant Microbes, an Amoeba... STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - Jim Henson's Muppets made pigs and frogs endearing, and Walt Disney turned a common rodent into a cultural icon. Now, Drew Oliver thinks it's time for Bacteria, viruses and other maligned microorganisms to share the love. Instead of standard Christmas gifts, a growing number of people are looking under the tree for giant stuffed cold germs, cuddly E. coli, hugworthy heartworm and other odditi...

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Germany’s Christmas markets have never been so busy. Well-dressed customers, enjoying the greatest economy the country has enjoyed in 20 years, are using record-high incomes to fork out for sweet Plätzchenpastries and cups of boozy Glühwein. ...

Sterile playgrounds shortchange children's development: study
Mary Frances Hill, The Vancouver Sun · Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 An obsession with safety has forced kids into safe but sterile and uninspiring outdoor spaces that might satisfy adult anxieties and needs, but shortchange Children's development, a five-year study tracking the habits of Vancouver toddlers and preschoolers suggests. Study leader Susan Herrington, a Professor in the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, said modern, trendy-looking pl...

Vladimir Putin Museum Opens in Russia
No, you didn’t misread the title, a museum centered on Russia’s Controversial president Prime Minister has been set up in Strelna, near Sankt Petersburg. Apparently, this small museum dedicated to Vladimir Putin is set up on one of the upper floors of Lindstrom Villa, an iconic structure that hosted the 2006 G-8 summit. The villa was leased to Konstaninovsky Co., owned by Oleg Rudnov, the boss of most of Sankt Petersburg’s media outlets, and a close friend of Putin. In return, ...