Why were the police so late to the scene?

Despite the large number of mass shootings in recent years, never once has the police been on time to engage the gunman - not in Aurora, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and not Newtown.
One remembers TV images of police hiding behind their cars at Columbine, even while the shooting was happening inside.
In Newtown, the police department at 3 Main Street is just 2 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary school. Certainly there would have been patrol cars close by the school - why didn't they react sooner?
There needs to be an investigation as to the true timeline of events and whether there is a reluctance to go into a dangerous zone.

According to the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20738998), the timeline reported by police is:

But at about 09:30, Lanza forced his way into the school, police now say, contrary to earlier reports that he had been let in.

....
Newtown police were notified of shooting at the school over their radios at 09:36.
"Caller is indicating she thinks someone's shooting in the building," a police dispatcher said.

"The shooting appears to have stopped," the police dispatcher radioed at 09:38, according to the New York Post. "There is silence at this time. The school is in lockdown."

Did someone really take 6 long minutes to dial 911? And when did the police arrive?

Romney missed on Benghazi

Watching tonight's second presidential debate, Obama skirted the question on why security wasn't beefed up - instead, he turned it into a question on finding out what happened.

Is a subscription to Angie's List worth it?

Is a subscription to Angie's list worth it?
I hesitated before paying the $18 charge - reduced from $39/year due to a Groupon promotion.
I don't think it is worth it from my preliminary dealings with it. Frankly, it seems more like a yellow pages except it isn't free.
Here is one experience we had:
Was looking for great value window well covers. I searched for 'Window well covers' and got too many search results - 101 results. Their highest rates provider has just two member reviews. Called the two highest rated providers.  Called 'Just Windows Ltd' - John said he does not do window well covers - go to the store he impatiently said.
So I went back to Angie's list and IM-ed support.
Jayce L: Thanks for your patience. I've found several highly rated companies close to home. I'm sending those listings to your email now.

He sent me a landscaping company, a animal removal company, a plumbing company. This was junk.

Can Microhelping help defeat 3rd world poverty?

Global Warming or Palm trees 'grew on Antarctica'

Palm trees 'grew on Antarctica': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19077439

This fascinating BBC article says,

The study in Nature suggests Antarctic winter temperatures exceeded 10C, while summers may have reached 25C.

The rig then drilled through 1km of sediment to return samples from the Eocene. With the sediment came pollen grains from palm trees and relatives of the modern baobab and macadamia.
Crucially, they contained also the remnants of tiny single-celled organisms called Archaea.
The creatures' cell walls show subtle molecular changes that depend on the temperature of the soil surrounding them when they were alive. The structures are faithfully preserved after they die.
They are, in essence, tiny buried thermometers from 53 million years ago.
Archaea hold on to their structure through millions of years, giving hints of long-gone temperatures

Together, the data suggest that even in the darkest period of Antarctic winter, the temperature did not drop below 10C; and summer daytime temperatures were in the 20Cs 

What this means is, global warming is a natural phenomenon. Even if man is the cause this time, it does not mean it will not happen again regardless of man.