My Web Findings

SARAH Palin wowed the Republican faithful and stopped the nation with a speech announcing herself as a champion of small-town America committed to serving the people rather than currying favour with the “Washington elite”.

Her speech, which won more than a dozen standing ovations from an adoring Republican convention audience, elevated Ms Palin, John McCain’s pick for vice-president, from the little-known Governor of Alaska to a sensation rivalling the star power of Barack Obama.

In a line that summed up her down-home appeal and her role as designated hitter, Palin asked the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom such as herself. Her answer: “Lipstick.”

She also fired up our Readers Who Comment — both for and against. Usually comment strings on political stories wind up largely in the hands of one side or or the other. But those on this article, at the hour of this writing, seem fairly evenly divided between Democratic and Republican sentiments.

Hurricane Ike charged across the Atlantic toward the Bahamas and the US east coast today while Tropical Storm Hanna’s death toll in Haiti grew to 90.  Ike posed no immediate threat to land, and it remained too early to say if it would threaten Caribbean islands, the US east coast or the oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.  It seem like it’s going to slam into Cuba if you ask me.

Scientists have previously predicted that as global warming further heats up the ocean, hurricanes could become more frequent, more intense or both. The new work is in line with some of those previous studies but projects that it is the strongest of these storms—the Katrinas and Andrews—that will suck up this extra heat energy and become even stronger.

NOAA advises that people should be prepared to place inside their grills, outdoor furniture, bird baths and bird feeders which can become dangerous missiles in high winds. In addition to taking medications along, make a complete list and the doctor prescribing them.  NOAA advises that you should be prepared to survive for at least three days if an emergency occurs.