/
/
blog-heap o' links
from
2006-nov
Just random links galore. Latest on top.
Links load in a separate page.
Suggestions welcome.
THU 2006-NOV-30
Prison Sucks
breitbart.com/ ... 10:49:36
A record 7 million people _ or one in every 32 American adults _ were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year... Men still far outnumber women... but the female population is growing faster... Racial disparities among prisoners persist... Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group supporting criminal justice reform, said in a statement.
"Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails..."
[Repeal! Repeal! Repeal!]
Nature is Dangerous
wwwa.accuweather.com/ ... 10:47:46
A sharp cold front will continue to slice into unseasonably warm air over the eastern third of the nation today and Friday. At the leading edge of the frigid air lies a cold front which continues to be the focal point for the active weather. On Wednesday, the front created rain and thunderstorms, some with hail and damaging winds, from central Texas to Michigan... Overland Park, Kan., was coated with a half of an inch of freezing rain in less than four hours. Tuesday's high in Amarillo, Tex., was 67 degrees. This morning, there is 5 inches of snow on the ground and the temperature fell to 17 degrees... Up to a foot of snow will fall from northeastern Oklahoma to central Michigan, and powerful winds will create whiteouts and dangerous travel conditions. Northwest and southeast of this heaviest band, snow amounts will range from 3 to 6 inches...
Nuclear is Nasty
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:37:52
Britain is monitoring five planes for radiation in an ever widening probe into the poisoning of a former Russian spy... radioactive traces had been found at 12 out of 24 locations being checked by police...
Threats
khaleejtimes.com/ ... 10:45:33
Iraqs Shiite leaders on Thursday said they were angered by a Saudi Arabian official saying that Riyadh would support the violence-wracked countrys Sunni Arabs in the event of a US pullout. Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said: "We will not countenance any language interfering in Iraq on the pretext of defending sects..."
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:35:01
Hezbollah and its allies called for mass protests in Beirut Friday in an effort to bring down Lebanon's Western-backed government, which the militant group's leader called incompetent...
Animals can be Dangerous
cbs2.com/ ... 11:05:23
A trainer at SeaWorld Adventure Park in San Diego remains hospitalized after a killer whale grabbed him and twice held him underwater during a show... listed in fair condition...
breitbart.com/ ... 11:04:41
An Australian fisherman has survived being stabbed in the chest by a stingray... was on board a prawn trawler off the coast of South Australia when the usually-placid creature on Wednesday plunged one of its razor-sharp tail barbs into the man's chest... the barb did not lodge in the fisherman's chest or cause any respiratory problems and he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital with minor injuries...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:34:03
A naked man was saved from the jaws of a 12-foot (3.6-metre) alligator by Florida deputies after reports of a man screaming in a lake in the early hours... later described as critically ill in hospital... unclear why he was in the water in the early hours, but he had admitted taking crack cocaine...
Theft
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:05:38
A father of two in Germany stunned authorities when he chased down an auto thief by car, leapt onto the roof of the stolen vehicle and then phoned through instructions to police as the crook sped off with him...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 00:04:49
DE QUEEN, Ark... The guitar-shaped bulge... tipped off a music store owner that there might be a crime in progress... "I saw him walking out to his pickup truck and the bulges in his leather jacket. I said, 'Hey what have you got there?...' The neck of the guitar was almost down to his knee and the back of the guitar was almost up to his neck. It wasn't hard to spot. There was no way he could sit down or get into the pickup..."
Transport Incident
hosted.ap.org/ ... 00:03:02
A semitrailer carrying large drums of glue spilled part of its load onto a state highway Tuesday, causing the road to be closed for about three hours as crews worked to resolve the sticky situation... about 10 people were treated at the scene or a nearby hospital for skin, eye or respiratory irritation... two 55-gallon drums of Bondmaster glue the truck was carrying tipped over and leaked onto the highway...
Violence
chron.com/ ... 11:06:53
Two of the five men kidnapped in Mexico were released today, but a prominent Laredo businessman, his son and a Mexican cook remain hostages... The men were abducted Sunday when 30 to 40 armed men stormed the La Barranca hunting ranch in Mexico near the border south of Laredo...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:32:49
At least three people have been killed in protests by low-caste Hindus across India's Maharashtra state... One person died after police opened fire on crowds in Usmanabad district on Thursday... More than 50 people, 30 of them police, were hurt in the protests and nearly 100 vehicles damaged... Protests began after reports that a statue to low-caste Hindu (Dalit) hero BB Ambedkar had been vandalised...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:32:07
TIJUANA, Mexico... Gunmen attacked a police car in the border city of Tijuana, killing a police chief, his bodyguard and a secretary...
[You know things are bad when a police chief has a bodyguard.]
the fourth sector police chief killed so far this year in the Tijuana area. About a dozen Tijuana policemen have been killed so far in 2006... Tijuana, across the U.S. border from San Diego, has seen a wave of violence linked to
bloody turf battles between drug gangs
also afflicting other border cities...
[Prohibition... a cure far more deadly than the disease.... repeal! Repeal! REPEAL!]
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:29:49
BANGKOK, Thailand... Army attacks against a rebellious minority have forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes in Myanmar, with many trekking as far as the Thai border for food and shelter... A yearlong military offensive against the Karen minority has displaced 27,000 civilians and killed at least 45... "The Burmese military attacks villages, uses civilians for forced labor and steals their food and money, forcing people to flee..." The government in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has insisted its military campaign is aimed at winning over the local population and blamed rebels for sowing fear and destruction.
The Karen have been fighting for autonomy since Burma gained independence from Britain after World War II. Their fight, under the banner of the Karen National Union, is one of the world's longest-running insurgencies...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 00:01:57
Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found. Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money...
Supernatural Threats
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 00:01:40
One of Iran's most senior clergymen has issued a fatwa on an Azeri writer said to have insulted the Prophet Muhammad. The call on Muslims to murder Rafiq Tagi, who writes for Azerbaijan's Senet newspaper, echoes the Iranian fatwa against Indian writer Salman Rushdie...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 00:01:20
Al-Qaida in Iraq on Wednesday denounced Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey, calling it part of a "crusader campaign" against Islam. In Istanbul, Vatican officials said the remark shows the need for faiths to fight "violence in the name of God..."
Feeding Ourselves
sun-sentinel.com/ ... 10:50:33
a fraud lawsuit filed Wednesday against Kraft Foods, Inc., by a Los Angeles woman who claims the company's avocado dip doesn't qualify as guacamole. LocalLinks "It just didn't taste avocadoey... I looked at the ingredients and found there was almost no avocado in it..." The Kraft product contains modified food starch, coconut and soybean oils, corn syrup and food coloring. It is less than 2 percent avocado, which in traditional recipes is the main ingredient of the Mexican dish...
US Military
democratandchronicle.com/ ... 10:46:30
A woman says she saw a soldier's flag-draped coffin put into a cart with passengers' baggage last month at the Greater Rochester International Airport, shocking her and other onlookers. "It looked awful, just awful..." Officials dispute Hoag's story, saying it is implausible. They did not disclose the name of the fallen soldier, but he appears to be Army Sgt. 1st Class Tony Knier of Sabinsville, Pa., who was killed in Iraq on Oct. 21. A Pennsylvania funeral director confirmed on Wednesday night that he transported Knier's body from the Rochester airport on Oct. 27, the day Hoag was there. Monroe County officials said the coffin was being taken to Pennsylvania. Knier's mother was appalled when she was told Wednesday night...
washingtonpost.com/ ... 10:45:09
U.S. military officials said Wednesday that they are trying to determine if human remains found at the crash site of an Air Force F-16 fighter jet 20 miles northwest of Baghdad are those of the plane's pilot... no indications that the plane had been shot down, despite the presence of insurgents in the area... appeared that the pilot had not ejected from the plane...
People Live
emaxhealth.com/ ... 10:43:59
red wines from areas of greater longevity in southwest France and Sardinia have higher levels of procyanidins - a type of flavonoid polyphenol with potent protective effects on blood vessels. A number of population studies have revealed that moderate drinkers of red wine have less heart disease than non-drinkers. As a result it has become widely accepted that a glass or two of red wine per day is good for your heart... The team tested wines from two specific regions in southwest France and Sardinia, associated with increased longevity, to see if they differed to wines sourced from other countries across the world. The 'traditional' wines revealed surprisingly high levels of procyanidins, with often five to 10 times more than some new world wines...
Antiquity - still with us
news.nationalgeographic.com/ ... 10:41:30
Using advanced new imaging techniques, scientists have reconstructed the gear structure of the mysterious Antikythera mechanismone of the world's oldest computers... The researchers also deciphered previously hidden text from the astronomical calculator, which dates back to around 100 B.C... confirms that the ancient Greeks had developed extremely sophisticated levels of craftsmanship and scientific knowledge... The intricate bronze instrument has puzzled scientists ever since it was recovered in A.D. 1901. The device was one of many treasures found in a Roman shipwreck... In 1959 British science historian Derek Price put forward the idea that the Antikythera mechanism was a device for displaying the motions of moons and planets. In the past five years Michael Wright, from Imperial College London in England, confirmed this theory using X-rays to reveal the layering of the gear wheels... employs an elaborate arrangement of more than 30 gears for its calculations...
Transport Future
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:38:47
General Motors Corp. on Wednesday became the first automaker to commit to make a rechargeable hybrid vehicle... GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner... said GM had begun work on a plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue sports utility vehicle as part of an expanded range of vehicles powered by alternatives to traditional gasoline engines...
Extraterrestrial
thisislondon.co.uk/ ... 11:10:58
A UFO scare was sparked after the police were flooded with calls about a fleet of 'spaceships' invading the coast of Britain. Thousands of people spotted the bright orange orbs off the Channel coast at Brighton...
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:37:12
Humans must colonize planets in other solar systems traveling there using "Star Trek"-style propulsion or face extinction, renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking said on Thursday... "Sooner or later disasters such as an asteroid collision or a nuclear war could wipe us all out... But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe..." by using "matter/antimatter annihilation", velocities just below the speed of light could be reached, making it possible to reach the next star in about six years. "It wouldn't seem so long for those on board," he said...
World of Cultures
washingtonpost.com/ ... 11:12:52
It takes at least 40 minutes to get all the packaging off all the toys," fumes the Fort Washington mother of two and government analyst. "I have a 2-year-old and he's like, Mommeeeee!.." In an effort to keep toys intact and music players from being pilfered, the consumer products industry has moved en masse into a style of wrapping that's more prison than package. The hard plastic clamshell container, with its fused seams, is so impenetrable it has even spawned its own safecracking tools: razor-sharp gadgets designed to slash through all that stuff... The vitriol these packages inspire is so rampant the industry has a name for it:
wrap rage...
Manufacturers can no longer ignore the soaring consumer complaints... this will be one of the last holiday seasons that require a box cutter. "They realize it's a problem," said Jim Silver, editor of Toy Wishes magazine. "Over the next two years, they want to transform what the packaging is because they want to make it easier to open..."
Transport Pre-Automation
breitbart.com/ ... 11:08:03
Police took up pursuit in cyberspace after a young Norwegian posted on the Internet video of his wild car driving. Following an electronic trail that he left online, police caught him and slapped him with real-life fine $1,300... The recording showed the car's speedometer hitting up to 150 miles _ 240 kilometers _ per hour on a public highway near Oslo. "We're touching 240," a voice could be heard saying. "We know it will do it. This is a little nice..."
Citizenship
washingtonpost.com/ ... 11:05:47
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has lost track of 111,000 files in 14 of the agency's busiest district offices and processed as many as 30,000 citizenship applications last year without the necessary files...
Political Theater
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 10:55:49
The $165 million lawsuit filed against WND and two freelance writers who wrote a comprehensive series exposing Al Gore's record of corruption in Tennessee during the 2000 presidential campaign would smash any judgment that has ever held up in such a court proceeding...
American Culture
nypost.com/ ... 10:53:14
the latest "Seinfeld" DVD. Season 7 of the popular sitcom is outselling the Season 6 set (released on the same day last year) by more than 75 percent, and more than 90 percent over season 5 at some online DVD retailers, according to TMZ.com... "I think the only explanation that could be is that there's a Kramer curiosity factor," says Dr. Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television. "I can understand that, after what happened, there's a resurgent interest in 'Seinfeld,' and that seems to be expressing itself through people watching the show more and buying more DVDs. "Boy, is it ever weird to watch 'Seinfeld' now," Thompson added...
[So much for Rev Jackson's call for a boycott...]
Sex can be... disturbing
nydailynews.com/ ... 10:52:14
Monday's news of a potential male contraceptive pill in development at a British university, boldly emblazoned across the top of Drudge Report online, was met with extreme skepticism among New York doctors - and sheer terror among New York men... Whatever medication this is going to be, it's not going to influence the sperm," notes McGuire, citing the reported lack of hormones. "It's going to influence the ability of the sperm to get into the prostate to be released during ejaculation - and dry ejaculate is not preferable." "Not a great idea," agrees Fisch. "The ejaculate coming forward is a significant part of a man's sexuality. "And, by the way, what happens if there is a breakthrough ejaculation?.."
Rebuilding
cbsnews.com/ ... 10:44:19
A bipartisan commission next week will unveil long-awaited recommendations for a new U.S. policy in Iraq that a published report said would call for a gradual pullback of U.S. troops there without a timetable and direct diplomacy with Iran and Syria...
Digital Business
pcmag.com/ ... 10:42:49
Following the debut of Intel's quad-core chips two weeks ago, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) submitted its initial answer to the marketplace on Thursday with the release of its Quad FX platform of Athlon 64 FX-70 processors... This new enthusiast platform, as AMD is describing it, features Dual Socket Direct Connect (DSDC) architecture and is AMD's first multi-core desktop platform designed for users who run multiple applications and multi-threaded games at the same timewhat AMD is calling "megataskers." Analysts described the new platform as hot and expensive...
It's Only Money
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:06:04
One in five UK adults regularly throws a copper or two into wishing wells and fountains, a study shows, spending an average of 31 pence at tourist sites such as Rome's Trevi Fountain. That means those making a wish with their spare change literally throw away just under 3 million pounds every year...
WED 2006-NOV-29
Nuclear is Nasty
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:33:08
Authorities found traces of radiation on two British Airways jets, and the airline appealed Wednesday to tens of thousands of passengers who flew the aircraft to or from Moscow to come forward as investigators widened the search for clues into the poisoning death of a former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko... Two planes at London's Heathrow Airport tested positive for traces of radiation and a third plane has been taken out of service in Moscow awaiting examination... All three planes had been on the London-Moscow route... Meanwhile, Italian security expert Mario Scaramella, who was one of the last people to meet with Litvinenko before the former spy fell ill, said tests cleared him of radioactive contamination...
Digital Threat
thisislondon.co.uk/ ... 07:50:22
Householders were warned today to check their security in an alert sparked by video website YouTube. Hundreds of videos are available on the site showing users how to pick locks, which experts fear will result in a spate of burglaries. The films were uncovered in an investigation by Which? magazine and sparked calls for YouTube to remove them from the site... more than 280 videos showing how different types of lock can be picked and what tools are needed...
Under Tyranny
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:46:57
China has executed the leader of a prominent Christian sect after he was convicted of murdering members of a rival group... Xu Shuangfu... executed with two other leaders last week... sentenced to death in July, accused of killing 20 people between 2002 and 2004... His lawyer... said Xu had been tortured into confessing... Unconfirmed reports suggest there have been between nine and 12 other executions in connection with the same case...
Disturbing Family Patterns
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:45:42
A Hong Kong woman has been found guilty of ordering the chopping off of her seven-year-old stepson's right hand... Judge Peter Line said her "deep hatred" of the boy was prompted by jealousy. She wanted the boy's father to give preference to their new-born son...
Violence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 07:44:48
Fierce fighting between coalition forces and insurgents shut down a city north of Baghdad on Wednesday and gunfire crackled across the capital... By 3 p.m., 13 insurgents, six policemen, and six civilians had been killed, including two Iraqi females who were caught up in a coalition raid north of the capital...
Police Riot
washingtonpost.com/ ... 23:36:24
The U.S. government has agreed to pay $2 million to an Oregon lawyer who was wrongfully arrested as a terrorism suspect because of a bungled fingerprint match and has issued an apology for the "suffering" inflicted on the attorney and his family. Under the terms of the settlement announced today, Brandon Mayfield of Portland, Ore., will also be able to continue to pursue a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act antiterrorism law, which played a role in Mayfield's case... an embarrassing admission of wrongdoing by the FBI, which arrested and detained Mayfield as a material witness in May 2004 after FBI examiners wrongly linked him to a portion of a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators during the investigation of the Madrid commuter train bombings. Subsequent investigations have also found that the FBI compounded its error by failing to adhere to its own rules for handling evidence and by resisting the conclusions of the Spanish National Police, which quickly determined that the fingerprint belonged to someone else...
orlandosentinel.com/ ... 07:38:59
TALLAHASSEE -- Seven former guards and a nurse at a Panama City boot camp were charged Tuesday in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, almost a full year after the boy was beaten and choked at the camp. All eight face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and up to 30 years in prison... investigation that was marred by an initial autopsy suggesting Martin died of natural causes... Martin was black, and five of the seven ex-guards and the nurse are white... Martin died Jan. 6, a day after guards were videotaped kicking, kneeing and dragging him around for more than 20 minutes. The guards also covered Martin's mouth and forced him to inhale ammonia fumes from capsules they had shoved up his nose... Martin died Jan. 6, a day after guards were videotaped kicking, kneeing and dragging him around for more than 20 minutes. The guards also covered Martin's mouth and forced him to inhale ammonia fumes from capsules they had shoved up his nose... An autopsy sought by Ober's office concluded that the boy died when the ammonia made his vocal cords spasm, blocking his upper airway and suffocating him...
Civilization vs Gangsterism
edition.cnn.com/ ... 07:33:00
NATO leaders meeting in the Latvian capital of Riga have agreed to "step up" operations in Afghanistan with a lifting of rules of engagement meaning more troops on the ground, said Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The caveats -- restrictions which had been imposed where, when and how allied troops operate in Afghanistan - have been the focus of a NATO summit, where leaders of 26 member nations have been meeting for two days. A NATO spokesman said an extra 26,000 of the 32,000 Allied troops in Afghanistan are now "more usable" for combat with the lifting of national caveats. He added that there was also an Allied commitment for more helicopters and more fighter aircraft, and that some nations had agreed that their troops could be used in more "emergency" situations...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:38:31
Army 1st Lt.
Benjamin D. Keating
, 27, of Shapleigh, Maine, died Nov. 26 in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his vehicle turned over. Keating was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment (Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Target Acquisition), 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y. The incident is under investigation.
US Military
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:38:13
The Department of Defense announced today the identity of an airman listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN). Maj.
Troy L. Gilbert
was the pilot of an Air Force F-16C engaged in support of coalition ground combat operations that crashed approximately 20 miles northwest of Baghdad Nov. 27. Gilbert is assigned to the 309th Fighter Squadron, Luke Air Force Base, AZ and currently deployed to the 332nd Expeditionary Wing, Balad Air Force Base, Iraq. An investigation is ongoing.
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:37:42
This week, the Air Force announced an increase, while the Army, Navy and Marine Corps had a decrease in the number of reservists on active duty in support of the partial mobilization. The Coast Guard number remained the same. The net collective result is
513 fewer reservists
mobilized than last week.... This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to
96,464
, including both units and individual augmentees....
Digital Future is Now
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:34:08
A young woman, confined to a wheelchair, is told to think about moving another wheelchair in front of her, first to the left and then forward. As if by magic, the wheelchair follows her mental commands. "She was controlling the chair with her imagination," said Timothy Surgenor, president and chief executive of Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems... BrainGate... The woman had a tiny sensor that analyzes brain signals implanted on the part of her brain that controls hand movement. A small plug protruding from just above her ear is connected to a computer that in turn has a wireless connection to the electronic wheelchair she was controlling...
Animal Companions
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 09:24:50
Obesity has become such an issue of political incorrectness that two brothers appeared in court yesterday charged with allowing a dog to get too fat... ballooned to more than 11½ stone (161lb, 73kg), the ideal weight for a large-boned 6ft (1.82m) woman, but not a retriever... had trouble standing up, and after no more than five paces he had to sit down again, breathless. He looked, magistrates at Ely, Cambridgeshire, were told yesterday, more like a seal than a dog...
Prehistory - still with us
redorbit.com/ ... 07:51:29
The dinosaurs, along with the majority of all other animal species on Earth, went extinct approximately 65 million years ago... A new study provides compelling evidence that "one and only one impact" caused the mass extinction...
Digital Business
forbes.com/ ... 23:35:10
Google Answers, the expert-driven social site launched by the company in April 2002, will stop accepting new questions this week, Google said Wednesday. The product elimination comes a month after Google executives vowed to reduce and simplify its broad product offerings... Google software engineer Andrew Fikes wrote Wednesday that Google Answers was a "great experiment," that provided the company with information to make new products. But Fikes did not address the products many competitors, which may have contributed to Googles decision to pull the plug on Answers. While Googles product made questioners pay experts for quality responses, Yahoo! Answers, launched in December 2005, is free. Yahoo!s product gets 24 times more traffic than Google Answers...
Man and Woman
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 09:26:34
It is something one half of the population has long suspected - and the other half always vocally denied. Women really do talk more than men. In fact,
women talk almost three times as much as men
, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man... Women
also speak more quickly, devote more brainpower to chit-chat - and actually get a buzz out of hearing their own voices
, a new book suggests... written by a female psychiatrist... inherent differences between the male and female brain explain why women are naturally more talkative than men... women devote more brain cells to talking than men... the simple act of talking triggers a flood of brain chemicals which give women a rush similar to that felt by heroin addicts...
World Without Borders
today.reuters.com/ ... 07:48:05
Using money, weapons or its oil power, Saudi Arabia will intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims
once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq
... is considering options including flooding the oil market to crash prices and thus limit Iran's ability to finance Shi'ite militias in Iraq...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 07:44:19
The U.S. government's first-ever effort to use trade sanctions to personally aggravate a foreign president expressly targets items believed to be favored by Kim Jong Il or presented by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyalist families who run the communist government... iPods, plasma televisions and Segway electric scooters...
Christmas 2006
chron.com/ ... 07:36:23
DENVER A subdivision has withdrawn its threat of $25 daily fines against a homeowner who put a Christmas wreath shaped like a peace sign on the front of her home... was ordered to take the wreath down when some residents in her 200-home subdivision saw it as a protest of the Iraq war...
Rebuilding
nytimes.com/ ... 07:34:34
A classified memorandum by President Bushs national security adviser expressed serious doubts about whether Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had the capacity to control the sectarian violence in Iraq and recommended that the United States take new steps to strengthen the Iraqi leaders position... The memo presents an unvarnished portrait of Mr. Maliki and notes that he relies for some of his political support on leaders of more extreme Shiite groups. The five-page document, classified secret, is based in part on a one-on-one meeting between Mr. Hadley and Mr. Maliki on Oct. 30... "His intentions seem good when he talks with Americans, and sensitive reporting suggests he is trying to stand up to the Shia hierarchy and force positive change," the memo said of the Iraqi leader. "But the reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action..."
TUE 2006-NOV-28
Sick, Sick, Sick
cbs5.com/ ... 23:53:47
A decade after the feds tracked him down, CBS 5 Investigates has uncovered exclusive new information about the Unabomber. Anna Werner reports on the tricks Ted Kaczynski used, the code he developed, and how he got away with his violent acts for so long. Werner found there is a lot of evidence connected to the case, much of it never seen, until now...
Yuck!
sptimes.com/ ... 23:50:59
So what made her so ill? That afternoon, Glockson, 70, a retiree from Largo, ate a McDonald's hamburger infected with "little green worms," she said. Her husband, Henry, photographed the burger and one of the caterpillar-like worms, then brought the burger back to the restaurant, 5464 66th St. N. A manager took the hamburger back and offered Glockson a free one. She refused. Hours later, Glockson said, she was violently ill. She was vomiting and suffering from head and stomach pains. That's when her daughter took her to the hospital...
Disturbing Family Patterns
breitbart.com/ ... 23:44:04
DAYTON, Ohio... A [26yo] mother was arrested on suspicion of murdering her newborn daughter by putting the baby in a microwave oven... jailed Monday on a charge of aggravated murder, more than a year after she brought her dead month-old baby to a hospital... the case was difficult because "there is not a lot of scientific research and data on the effect of microwaves on human beings..."
Police Riot
wsbtv.com/ ... 23:48:09
There is major fallout from the Atlanta Police shootout that left an elderly woman dead officers are put on leave and the state and the feds are investigating. Atlantas Police Chief announced both the FBI and GBI are investigating the shootout. Also, a narcotics team involved is now on paid leave and autopsy results reveal 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston was shot six times... there are questions as to whether there was ever a drug buy at Kathryn Johnstons home the informant told the Internal Affairs Unit he was told to lie...
newsday.com/ ... 23:42:14
The probe of the Queens strip club shooting has uncovered two startling tactical missteps by police that led to the death of a 23-year-old man hours before his wedding... at key moments officers were out of contact with each other and unaware of the situation unfolding around them... As an undercover detective opened fire on three men in a car, his partner was busy trying to solicit sex from a prostitute to make an arrest... while two other officers sat in their car, unaware of what was happening... "The whole thing boils down to a lack of supervision, communication and tactics..."
Animals can be Dangerous
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:39:08
Tourists flock to Fisherman's Wharf for the seafood and the stunning views of San Francisco Bay, but for many visitors, the real stars are the dozens of playful, whiskered sea lions that lounge by the water's edge, gulping down fish. Now a series of sea-lion attacks on people in recent months has led experts to warn that the animals are not as cute and cuddly as they appear...
Alcohol Was Involved
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:20:20
A Russian man whom police stopped for allegedly driving drunk tried to swallow his keys then bit an officer as the officer tried to retrieve them...
Digital Threat
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:18:28
Teens who play violent video games show increased activity in areas of the brain linked to emotional arousal and decreased responses in regions that govern self-control...
Epidemic Without Borders
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:38:48
Influenza virus can live for decades and perhaps even longer in frozen lakes and might be picked up and carried by birds to reinfect animals and people... Such frozen viruses could potentially become the source of new epidemics that sicken and kill generations after they were last seen...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:59:47
Within the next 25 years, AIDS is set to join heart disease and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide...
Violence
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:16:18
Five young girls have been killed in Iraq during a clash between US marines and insurgents in the western city of Ramadi... A US military statement said militants on the roof of a house had fired on its forces, who responded with tank fire... soldiers searching the building found the bodies of one man and the five girls, one of whom was an infant... One of the Iraqi gunmen may have been wounded and removed from the scene by other militants... no coalition casualties...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:57:18
Two car bombs outside one of Baghdad's main hospitals have killed four people and injured at least seven others... Most were civilians waiting to collect relatives' bodies from the Yarmouk hospital mortuary...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:56:35
An Islamic militant has blown himself up at a border post near Lebanon after a gunbattle with security forces... Omar Abdullah, a Syrian leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Tawhid and Jihad group, was trying to cross into Lebanon with fake documents... Two security force members were reported wounded during the incident...
Civilization vs Gangsterism
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:31:58
US President George W Bush has berated Nato members reluctant to send troops to Afghan hotspots, demanding they must accept "difficult assignments"...
Under Tyranny
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:30:53
China, responding to complaints from the public, has banned advertisements for medical treatments and procedures in a bid to halt bogus claims of wonder drugs and clean up an unregulated health industry...
Gardeners of Earth
telegraph.co.uk/ ... 23:49:59
They are as much a staple of the Los Angeles skyline as congested freeways and the Hollywood sign. But officials have deemed the city's signature tall and spindly fan palm tree an urban menace that should be phased out, except where it is deemed to be "expected" by tourists. Los Angeles city council says it is tired of the cost of maintaining the trees, which routinely shed thousands of spiky fronds and hefty palms on passing cars and offer little in the way of protective shade from the sun...
Only Natural
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:48:45
The earth has a fever that could boost temperatures by 8 degrees Celsius making large parts of the surface uninhabitable and threatening billions of peoples' lives, a controversial climate scientist said on Tuesday. James Lovelock, who angered climate scientists with his Gaia theory of a living planet and then alienated environmentalists by backing nuclear power, said a traumatized earth might only be able to support less than a tenth of it's 6 billion people...
Healing Ourselves
breitbart.com/ ... 23:45:07
A year after a Frenchwoman received the world's first partial face transplant, doctors say the operation was a success and she is gaining more and more sensitivity and facial mobility...
It's All in Your Mind
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:37:56
People's brains respond more easily to well-recognized brands, and have a tougher time reacting to less famous ones, regardless of the product involved...
Digital Convergence
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:17:19
Time Warner Inc., the world's largest media company, plans to offer services that let consumers download movies from the Internet that can be burned onto DVDs in 2007...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:17:06
The first stage of a project to build one of the world's most advanced telephone networks has been completed. The so-called 21st century network (21CN) is being built in the UK using Internet Protocol technology. The massive upgrade, the first of its kind, will cost British Telecom £10bn and take until 2010 to complete...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:07:15
Army 2nd Lt.
Scott B. Lundell
, 35, of Hurricane, Utah, died Nov. 25 in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades while on patrol during combat operations. He was assigned to I Corps Artillery, Utah National Guard, Camp Williams, Utah.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:06:58
Marine Lance Cpl.
Michael A. Schwarz
, 20, of Carlstadt, N.J., died Nov. 27 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:06:45
Army Staff Sgt.
Daniel M. Morris
, 28, of Clinton, Tenn., died Nov. 25 in Al Judiah, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to 1st Squadron, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:06:30
Army Cpl.
Nathan J. Goodiron
, 25, of Mandaree, N.D., died Nov. 23 in Qarabagh, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. He was assigned to National Guard's 1st Battalion, 188th Air Defense Artillery, Grand Forks, N.D.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:06:13
Army Capt.
Jason R. Hamill
, 31, of New Haven, Conn.
Army 1st Lt.
David M. Fraser
, 25, of Texas.
Army Pvt.
Joshua C. Burrows
, 20, of Bossier City, La.
died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle Nov. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq. Hamill and Fraser were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Burrows was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Bridade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:05:18
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Master Sgt.
Robert V. Layton
, U.S. Army, of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is to be buried today at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C. Layton was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division (making up the 31st Regimental Combat Team). The RCT was engaged against the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces along the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. After intense fighting from Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1950, the battalion was forced to abandon its position, leaving its dead behind. Layton was listed as missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, and was later presumed killed in action. Between 2002 and 2004, joint U.S. and Democratic People's Republic of North Korea teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, seven times excavated a mass burial site associated with the 31st RCT along the eastern shore of the Chosin Reservoir. The team found human remains and other material evidence, including Layton's identification tag and part of his billfold containing a newspaper clipping reporting on a Bronze Star being awarded to "Sgt. Robert Layton" circa 1944....
Evolution Isn't Easy
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 21:02:48
A prehistoric Jaws that terrorised the oceans 400 million years ago had the most powerful bite of any creature yet known...
Science Marches Onnnnnn
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:30:00
Scientists at a U.S. weapons laboratory say they have trained bees to sniff out explosives in a project they say could have far-reaching applications for U.S. homeland security and the Iraq war... Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory... trained honeybees to stick out their proboscis... when they smell explosives... By exposing the insects to the odor of explosives followed by a sugar water reward... the bees could be carried in hand-held detectors the size of a shoe box... or even placed in robot bomb disposal equipment... the next step would be to manufacture the bee boxes and train security guards in their use...
Extraterrestrial
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:27:53
A satellite intended to improve live television broadcasts for households in China has failed about a month into orbit, state media report. The SinoSat II had been unable to deploy a solar panel and an antenna, a spokesman for the satellite operators was quoted as saying...
Theory of Sex Education
nydailynews.com/ ... 23:49:30
S&M clubs, nude parties, porn, X-rated romps rule at Columbia...
Christmas 2006
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 23:46:19
The so-called war on Christmas has been reignited with an ironic decision by the city of Chicago to ban advertisements for "The Nativity Story" movie from a local Christmas festival, fearing they might offend non-Christians. "This is one of the most blatant forms of religious discrimination imaginable," said Jay Sekulow, a Christian who is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. "To suggest that a movie about the birth of Jesus Christ should not be included in a Christmas festival is absurd. This transcends political correctness and centers squarely on religious bigotry..."
It's Only Money
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 23:47:10
In an interview with CNBC, a vice president for a prominent London investment firm yesterday urged a move away from the dollar to the "amero," a coming North American currency, he said, that "will have a big impact on everybody's life, in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico..." the Amero "is the proposed new currency for the North American Community which is being developed right now between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico..." Most Americans outside of Texas largely are unaware of the amero or the plans to integrate North America, Previs observed, claiming many are just "putting their head in the sand" over the plans...
breitbart.com/ ... 23:44:28
The government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that could change the face of American currency... ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart...
Transport Pre-Automation
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:23:35
A Portuguese pensioner caused mild commuter chaos in the city of Oporto this week when he unwittingly drove his car into the underground train network... "I didn't even know there was an underground in Oporto..."
Business Culture
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:22:57
when he was asked to fork over a photo ID just to be seated at an IHOP pancake restaurant, he flipped. "'You want my license? I'm going for pancakes, I'm not buying the Hope diamond,' and they refused to seat us...." The restaurant now has agreed to reverse the policy of requiring customers to turn over their driver's licenses before they can order - a rule that was enacted to discourage "dine and dash" thefts...
Defending Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:38:26
A federal judge in Los Angeles, who previously struck down sections of the Patriot Act, has ruled that provisions of an anti-terrorism order issued by President George W. Bush after September 11 are unconstitutional... because it put no apparent limit on the president's powers to place groups on that list...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:22:17
PALM BAY, Fla... A homeowner stopped an alleged burglar by beating him into submission with a football helmet...
Marriage Today
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:20:44
BRISTOW, Okla.... Gene and Elinor Coleman celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary Tuesday - a marriage that may be the state's longest. Official records aren't kept so no one knows for certain...
Big Whoops Cascade
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:20:05
ST. LOUIS... A couple who found a jar of pasta sauce inside a box where a camcorder should have been said uesday that Sony Entertainment Inc. is giving them a new camcorder... when they opened the box, they found a jar of Classico pasta sauce, a telephone cord and an electric outlet cover. The items were all positioned in the box where the camera equipment should have been... The couple said they went back to Best Buy, but the store declined to give them a replacement camera or a refund...
Digital Culture
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:16:44
Opera Software ASA released a new version of its mini browser for mobile phones Tuesday... Opera Mini 3.0 makes it easier to post photos to Web journals from a handset and enhances security for banking and shopping by encrypting information...
Unclear on the Concept
eonline.com/ ... 21:03:58
The Reverend Jesse Jackson called for a boycott Monday of the latest Seinfeld DVD, a way of exacting economic punishment for Richards' racist meltdown...
[Like it's Jerry's fault Richards lost his temper?]
People Do Drugs
guardian.co.uk/ ... 21:03:09
People who use ecstasy for the first time could suffer impaired memory and harm to their brains... Even low doses can cause changes to the brain...
Disinformation Propaganda & Spin
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:59:29
Iran's supreme leader on Tuesday blamed the United States for the chaos in Iraq...
[Riiight... we're FORCING those people to be blowing each other up...!]
World Without Borders
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:58:57
Canada's parliament has approved a government motion recognising the people of mostly francophone Quebec as a nation within a united Canada... cabinet minister Michael Chong resigned in protest, saying he could not support recognition of what he called "ethnic nationalism"...
Why People Go Vegan
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:30:31
people who ate bacon five times a week or more were nearly 60-percent more likely to develop bladder cancer, while those who ate skinless chicken this frequently had a 52-percent greater risk of the disease...
MON 2006-NOV-27
Disturbing Family Patterns
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:53:09
OTTAWA... A [21yo] Canadian man who could not figure out how to deal with his girlfriend's feverish 10-month-old daughter put the baby into a freezer to cool her down... faces charges of criminal negligence and assaulting the infant, who was rescued when her mother came home... found the girl crammed into the freezer alongside ice cubes and hamburger meat. [He] said he had left the door ajar but the mother said it had been closed when she returned... He told a court... the child had only been in the freezer for about 40 seconds...
admitted to police that he had no real parenting skills...
She was wearing only an undershirt... The child spent several days in hospital to recover from first- and second-degree freezer burns on her head and torso...
Police Riot
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:51:21
New York's mayor said he is "deeply disturbed" by the shooting of an unarmed black man by police but said he would support the city's police chief... saying it was unacceptable that 50 shots were fired...
Scary Times
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:49:06
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington was re-opened to tourists on Monday after officials determined that suspicious items found on the site were not a danger... vial of what appeared to be a liquid substance found in a restroom at the memorial. A note was also found with a message that read "Do you know what anthrax is?" and "Do you know what a bomb is?.."
Alcohol Was Involved
thescotsman.scotsman.com/ ... 12:10:41
Beer prices fall as the big chains try to ensure a 'merry' Christmas... Health campaigners and pub owners equally worried by cheap booze offers... And prices might get even lower in the future...
Ummm....
stamfordadvocate.com/ ... 12:07:56
STAMFORD - A 23-year-old Stamford man was placed on five years' probation this week after pleading guilty to giving an 8-year-old girl a hickey while he worked as a lifeguard at the Darien YMCA... told Darien police he was playing with the girl in the YMCA pool and may have bitten her too hard on Aug. 5, 2005... said the victim was crying and he was trying to cheer her up... "I bit her on the back and she got a boo-boo..."
Nature is Dangerous
wwwa.accuweather.com/ ... 12:05:06
A potent storm system moving out of the West will unleash a bitter blast of a cold air across much of the country, reaching the East Coast by the weekend...
Transport Tragedy
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:04:17
An Iranian military plane has crashed while taking off from an airport in Tehran, killing elite troops... 36 people on board the Russian-built Antonov-74 had been killed - 30 soldiers and six crew. Two soldiers survived and were being treated in hospital...
Industrial Tragedy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:53:29
ANDERSON, Mo... A fire gutted a group home for the mentally ill in southwest Missouri early Monday, killing 10 people and injuring 25...
Threats
israelnationalnews.com/ ... 12:03:44
Leaders of major terrorist groups in Gaza said Sunday they either do not recognize the ceasefire agreement or plan to use it to re-arm and improve terrorist training...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:42:09
The Red Cross says Burma's government has ordered it to close five field offices in the country, severely curtailing its humanitarian work there. The offices, some of which deal with victims of conflict in Burma's border areas, now face closure...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:41:08
Jordan's King Abdullah has warned that three civil wars could break out in the Middle East unless the international community takes urgent action... Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories could spin out of control...
Violence
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:48:37
Traces of radiation have been found at several more sites in London during investigations into the death of a former Russian spy last week...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:47:55
Police in Greece investigating the murder of five family members on a hunting trip say they now believe a lone gunman was responsible... two brothers and three cousins - were shot on Saturday... Police say an expert marksman shot them first at long range, then close up. They say the killer may have been wounded, as one blood sample found at the scene did not match the victims...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:45:27
A suicide car bomber attacked a Canadian armored vehicle Monday, killing two soldiers... The deaths bring to 44 the number of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan, including 36 this year alone, the majority of which occurred after the troops moved into the volatile south earlier this summer...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:40:45
A mortar attack ignited a huge fire Monday night at an oil facility in northern Iraq, shutting the flow of crude oil to a major refinery....
a U.S. Air Force jet with one pilot aboard crashed in Anbar province... the pilot was killed...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:39:52
U.N. peacekeepers battled militia fighters loyal to a dissident general who were trying to advance toward the capital of a province in eastern Congo...
Healing Ourselves
cnn.com/ ... 12:10:01
The more pain or suffering something causes, the more we tend to fear it; the cleaner or at least quicker the death, the less it troubles us. The more we dread, the more anxious we get, and the more anxious we get, the less precisely we calculate the odds of the thing actually happening. The same is true for, say, AIDS, which takes you slowly, compared with a heart attack, which can kill you in seconds, despite the fact that heart disease claims nearly 50 times as many Americans than AIDS each year... "People call these crises wake-up calls... But they're more like snooze alarms. We get agitated for a while, and then we don't follow through..."
Antiquity - still with us
telegraph.co.uk/ ... 12:08:26
Stonehenge was the Lourdes of its day, to which diseased and injured ancient Britons flocked seeking cures for their ailments, according to a new theory...
World Energy
environment.guardian.co.uk/ ... 12:06:15
In the desert, just across the Mediterranean sea, is a vast source of energy that holds the promise of a carbon-free, nuclear-free electrical future for the whole of Europe, if not the world... Most people in Britain think of solar power as a few panels on the roof of a house producing hot water or a bit of electricity. But according to two reports prepared for the German government, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa should be building vast solar farms in North Africa's deserts using a simple technology that more resembles using a magnifying glass to burn a hole in a piece of paper than any space age technology... covering just 0.5% of the world's hot deserts with a technology called concentrated solar power (CSP) would provide the world's entire electricity needs, with the technology also providing desalinated water to desert regions as a valuable byproduct, as well as air conditioning for nearby cities...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 20:54:11
Marine Cpl.
Nicholas P. Rapavi
, 22, of Springfield, Va., died Nov. 24 from wounds sustained while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Cpl.
Michael C. Ledsome
, 24, of Austin, Texas, died Nov. 25 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Lance Cpl.
Jeromy D. West
, 20, of Aguanga, Calif., died Nov. 25 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
defenselink.mil/ ... 20:53:39
Marine Lance Cpl.
James R. Davenport
, 20, of Danville, Ind., died Nov. 22 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
Marine Pvt.
Heath D. Warner
, 19, of Canton, Ohio, died Nov. 22 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
Both Marines were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:51:04
Army Sgt. 1st Class
James D. Priestap
, 39, of Harwood, Mich., died Nov. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when he came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during checkpoint operations. He was assigned to the 46th Military Police Company, Kingsford, Mich.
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:50:46
Army Pvt.
Reece D. Moreno
, 19, of Prescott, Ariz., died of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident in Balad, Iraq, on Nov. 24. Moreno was assigned to the 92 Engineer Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. The incident is under investigation.
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:50:33
Army Command Sgt. Maj.
Donovan E. Watts
, 46, of Atlanta, Ga., died Nov. 21 in Bayji, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations in Siniyah, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
World Zookeeping
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:50:07
while the setting seems natural, the resident trout are not. First introduced 17 years ago to the Lower Mountain Fork River in southeastern Oklahoma, they owe their existence here to an unlikely source: the local dam...
Animal Companions
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:45:51
Exotic animals captured in the wild are streaming across the U.S. border by the millions with little or no screening for disease, leaving Americans vulnerable to a virulent outbreak that could rival a terrorist act...
Animal Culture
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:43:14
Humpback whales have a type of brain cell seen only in humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans such as dolphins... might mean such whales are more intelligent than they have been given credit for, and suggests the basis for complex brains either evolved more than once, or has gone unused by most species of animals... a type of cell called a spindle neuron in the cortex, in areas comparable to where they are seen in humans and great apes... Although the function of spindle neurons is not well understood, they may be involved in cognition -- learning, remembering and recognizing the world around oneself. Spindle cells may be affected by Alzheimer's disease and other debilitating brain disorders such as autism and schizophrenia...
US Election 2008
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:50:11
Democratic Sen. John Kerry, mulling a second bid for the U.S. presidency, finished dead last in a poll released on Monday on the likability of 20 top American political figures... "Americans know who he is, and have pretty much decided they don't like him..." former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican, ranked first with a mean score of 64.2, followed by Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, 58.8, and McCain, 57.7... While Obama received a high score, 41 percent said they had not heard enough about the first-term senator to offer an opinion... Bush finished 15th with 43.8, behind former Vice President Al Gore...
Digital Liberty
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:46:54
A tool has been created capable of circumventing government censorship of the web... The free program has been constructed to let citizens of countries with restricted web access retrieve and display web pages from anywhere. The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab software, called psiphon, will be released on 1 December...
Music industry is dead
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:46:06
Sir Cliff Richard appears set to lose a battle to extend the number of years that musicians can receive royalties for their records... He wants copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50 years... an independent review is to recommend the terms are not extended...
That's
Not Funny!
adage.com/ ... 12:12:52
American consumers sent a very clear message last week to Rupert Murdoch and the rest of the media world: We have standards. They may be low and not terribly visible, but we do have them.
Business Culture
breitbart.com/ ... 12:12:15
"Black Gold," now being screened at festivals and art houses, is the latest in a growing genre of documentary films shaking up the business world. They are taking critiques of corporate power that would once have been the province of newspapers and magazines to movie theaters and DVD shops, where they're finding an increasingly receptive audience. The trend, which started with "Roger and Me" in 1989 and more recently featured "Super Size Me" and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," is forcing some corporate targets to counterattack _ and, some say, even change business practices _ to dodge claims of unfair wages, unhealthy products or environmental degradation...
Digital Culture
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 12:11:29
It began as a schoolboy lightsabre demonstration filmed as a prank. But Ghyslain Raza, known as the Star Wars Kid, has topped the worlds "viral video" chart, with
an internet clip being viewed
900 million
times...
Sex -- always attractive
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:06:59
Danish road safety officials have come up with a novel way of warning motorists about the dangers of speeding - by using topless blonde women. They have produced a spoof news report where the blondes carry road signs showing the Danish speed limit: 50km/h. The video - posted on the web - is aimed at grabbing the attention of young male drivers, but feminists say they hate it... "If you want to reach the young people, you have to communicate on their conditions... So, topless women are working..."
It's Only Money
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 12:03:39
"In God We Trust," the official national motto since 1956 and a familiar sight on U.S. coins and currency, will be hard to find on the new presidential dollar coins scheduled for release to the public Feb. 15, 2007. The new gold-colored dollar pieces, featuring images of U.S. presidents, will move the inscription from the face of the coin to the thin edge, along with the year and the previous national motto, "E Pluribus Unum," Latin for "Out of Many, One..."
Digital Theory of Education
canada.com/ ... 11:57:36
Quebec school officials are considering banning the use of cameras and cellphones in all classrooms after two students secretly recorded their teacher's angry outburst and posted three clips on YouTube... two Grade 9 students, one female and the other male, provoked the unnamed teacher last week at Ecole Secondaire Mont-Bleu in Gatineau, Que. The school convinced YouTube to remove the videos on Monday and suspended the students indefinitely this week because they knew that the school has a strict policy banning cellphones and digital cameras... The students are in a special class because they have academic problems...
Digital Threat
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:47:20
The federal US computer security watchdog has issued a warning about a bug in Apple's OS X operating system... involves the way OS X handles disk images and could be used to crash or take over a vulnerable machine...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:54:17
Criminal gangs using hijacked computers are behind a surge in unwanted emails peddling sex, drugs and stock tips in Britain. The number of "spam" messages has tripled since June and now accounts for as many as nine out of 10 emails sent worldwide, according to U.S. email security company Postini...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:46:23
The world's richest nations are dumping hazardous electronic waste on poor African countries, says the head of the UN's Environment Programme... a "growing mountain of e-waste"... a "growing mountain of e-waste"...
Broadcast is Dead
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:45:35
The boom in online video has started to reduce the hours people spend watching television...
Rebuilding
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:41:43
More than half of Afghanistan's children are not going to school because of a shortage of places and teachers... Despite a five-fold increase in school enrolments since the Taleban were ousted in 2001, the education system simply cannot cope... About seven million children are out of school, with girls badly affected...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:40:07
Britain said Monday it expects to withdraw thousands of its 7,000 military personnel from Iraq by the end of next year, while Poland and Italy announced the impending withdrawal of their remaining troops...
SUN 2006-NOV-26
Alcohol Was Involved
tulsaworld.com/ ... 21:05:40
A state law approved by voters that benefits Oklahoma wineries... allowed Oklahoma winemakers to sell their products directly to restaurants and liquor stores rather than using a wholesaler... has been found unconstitutional...
Threats
ynetnews.com/ ... 16:55:51
A joint paratrooper and Shin Bet force uncovered an explosive lab in Nablus Friday night. In the lab, the forces found teddy bears with wires hanging from them, apparently slated to be used as explosive devices. The lab was detonated in a controlled manner, and there were no reports of injuries...
Sick, Sick, Sick
pittsburghlive.com/ ... 16:56:07
Nationwide, the number of rape cases going unsolved by police is increasing, and experts blame it on the "CSI effect," theorizing that rapists are gleaning clues from forensic television shows about how evidence left behind at crime scenes can lead to an arrest...
breitbart.com/ ... 16:42:43
'Acid Bombs'... Two [15yo] boys have been charged with setting off two homemade bombs inside a Wal-Mart filled with holiday shoppers... At least eight people were treated for irritation to their eyes and throat or ringing in their ears... the teens had made three other explosive devices and placed one on the roof of a downtown business and two on the lawn of a residence... taken into custody after photos from the store's security cameras were shown on television newscasts...
Under Tyranny
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:09:41
Chinese police have banned a conference involving hemophiliac activists and are believed to be holding one of the main organizers for questioning... The conference, "Blood safety, AIDS and Human Rights", was organized by the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and was to take place in Beijing on Saturday... Chinese authorities are wary of organizations they cannot directly control, such as independent activist groups, and were slow to acknowledge the existence of an epidemic of AIDS...
Prison Sucks
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:08:55
An East Tennessee county that has beamed live 24-hour video from its jail on the Internet for nearly six years may nix the practice following complaints of harassment and security concerns. Some viewers have been using the cameras to harass female jailers by calling them on the telephone and taunting them as they work... In other cases, viewers are tracking inmate movements and using the information to coordinate deliveries of contraband to prisoners on work details outside the jail...
Civilization vs Gangsterism
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:06:48
The U.S. Secret Service is working with police in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to investigate an international counterfeiting operation that produces fake $100 bills that have been seized in the United States and Israel... The counterfeiting operation, based on the separatist enclave of South Ossetia, has produced more than $20 million in fake bills that have been transported to the United States and Israel... The counterfeit notes have been passed at numerous businesses in Baltimore, Maryland; New York City; Buffalo, New York; and Newark, New Jersey... have also surfaced in Georgia and neighboring Russia... a stark example of how organized crime has flourished in the region...
WW2 - still with us
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:01:17
A former doctor in Japan's World War II navy says he was ordered to perform medical experiments on Filipino prisoners before they were executed. Akira Makino, 84, told Kyodo news agency he performed surgery and amputations on condemned prisoners, including women and children... Few Japanese veterans have spoken of atrocities committed during the war... believed to be the first account from a Japanese veteran of the war in south-east Asia describing medical experiments on prisoners... regarded as part of his medical training... "I would have been killed if I had disobeyed the order..." said he was still haunted by the memories of his work... A Japanese army unit specialising in biological warfare is believed to have carried out medical tests on prisoners during the wartime occupation of north-eastern China. At least 3,000 prisoners are believed to have died at the hands of the unit...
People Die
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:59:34
The body of a missing US woman has been found by her family, wedged upside down behind a bookcase in her room... [38yo] is believed to have fallen over and become trapped as she tried to reach behind the bookcase to adjust the plug for a TV set... Her family spent nearly two weeks searching for her... Her body was eventually discovered when her sister noticed a foot protruding behind the bookcase in her bedroom... "I'm sleeping in the same house as her for 11 days, looking for her. And she's right in the bedroom," the woman's mother [said]... The family told the newspaper they had noticed a strange smell from her room but had blamed it on rats...
Violence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:55:33
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a restaurant in southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding 24... the attacker, who was Pakistani, was believed to be targeting the special forces commander and the district chief, who were at the restaurant and were among the injured...
Separately, one NATO soldier and an estimated 57 insurgents were killed in fighting in four areas of southern Afghanistan...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:54:37
Two mortar rounds hit a U.S. military post in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, setting it on fire... No casualties were reported...
Earlier on Sunday, Iraq's leaders promised to track down those responsible for the war's deadliest attack by insurgents, and urged the country's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians to stop fanning sectarian violence by arguing with one another. "We promise the great martyrs that we will chase the killers and criminals, the terrorists, Saddamists and Takfiri (Sunni extremists) for viciously trying to divide you," the country's top politicians said in a statement Sunday...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:52:48
Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip as an unexpected truce took hold Sunday, but two major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel...
nytimes.com/ ... 10:50:03
The killer asked for "Keteshwaran," the mans battle name from his years in the Tamil militant movement. For whatever reason, it made Kethesh Loganathan come quickly down the stairs and to the front gate of his house. He did not have a chance to open the gate. Through the grille, his killer put a bullet through his head. He died quickly... In his death lay a vital lesson for outspoken Tamils, the countrys largest ethnic minority and a group whose political rights are at the center of Sri Lankas intensifying, nearly 25-year conflict. Mr. Loganathan, 54, was among the fiercest critics of the ethnic separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and they are widely blamed for his death. The group has neither accepted nor rejected the accusation...
Industrial Tragedy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:55:44
Explosions in two Chinese coal mines have left at least 53 workers dead and six missing...
images.google.com/ ... 10:49:23
When the mud first began spurting up through a crack in the earth, it was producing around 5,000 cubic metres a day. Now it is more like 130,000 cubic metres a day...
[Article from Oct 5 with some pictures of the mudflow....]
voanews.com/ ... 10:48:49
Rescuers in Indonesia's East Java province have pulled the 11th victim from the scene of a gas-pipeline explosion. The explosion was caused by a mudflow that has devastated the area, leaving more than 10,000 people homeless... The explosion in the gas pipeline occurred in an area where scalding hot mud has been gushing since the end of May. The mud geyser resulted from a drilling accident near the exploratory Banjar Panji gas well near Porong, on the island of Java... rescuers are still searching for bodies... The explosion occurred where the pipeline ran beneath dikes that were built to contain the mudflow. The shifting mud raised the pressure in the pipe and caused the gas to ignite... The mud is gushing at a rate of 50,000 cubic meters a day from the well and so far, has affected an area measuring 440 hectares...
Police Riot
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 16:54:44
When Marget Lieder accidentally dialed 9-1-1, while meaning to dial 4-1-1 for information, she thought nothing of simply hanging up and dialing again but that was before a group of officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police broke down her door and arrested her and her partner... "They didn't have a search warrant and they didn't have anything to do in my house..." "I was sitting on the couch. They stuck a Taser in my face, threatening me with 50,000 volts," he said. "They threw me on the floor, twisted my left arm. A police officer stuck his knee into my ribs and jumped on me." According to Pierce, two of his ribs were cracked... "They arrested me in slippers and a T-shirt," said Pierce. "After Crown counsel told them to let me go, they just shoved me out in the rain. I had 43 cents in my pocket..." Const. John MacAdam, a spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP, said... "When a 9-1-1 call has been placed, whether or not it is mistaken, we have the right to attend that residence and to search that residence to make sure that the safety of everyone is confirmed..."
washtimes.com/ ... 10:44:42
Police fired 50 rounds yesterday at a car of unarmed men leaving a bachelor party at a strip club, killing the groom on his wedding day in a shooting that drew a furious outcry from family members and community leaders. The spray of bullets hit the car 21 times, after the vehicle rammed into an undercover officer and then an unmarked New York Police Department minivan twice... Police thought one of the men in the car might have had a gun... Seven officers in plain clothes were investigating the Kalua Cabaret, and five were involved in the shooting. The gunfire also hit nearby homes and a train station, though no residents were injured... none of the five officers who had a combined 49 years of force experience ever before had discharged their weapons in the line of duty...
History - still with us
tulsaworld.com/ ... 21:07:45
A crime spree in the early 1920s that became known as the Osage "reign of terror" left at least seven wealthy interrelated Indians and two others dead. The victims were killed in a plot designed to allow the plotters to collect oil money from the government on headrights held by the Brown family, a group of Osages. Some newspaper accounts from that period at times indicated as many as 21 may have been killed, but later accounts set the figure at nine...
Extraterrestrial
allheadlinenews.com/ ... 18:12:45
Geraint Jones of the Max Planck Institute, Germany, and his team found that massive thunderstorms in Saturn's atmosphere were giving rise to the mysterious spokes in planet's ring... However, the idea proposed by Jones and his team is still speculative, as no one has ever seen storm-induced electron beams on Saturn...
Housing Ourselves
abcnews.go.com/ ... 16:57:22
the million-dollar treehouse. We're not talking about the kind of treehouse built by 10-year-olds with scrap and sheets of used plywood. Now, your childhood dream is built by professionals like the people at Daniels Wood Land in Paso Robles, Calif...
Animal Companions
fortwayne.com/ ... 16:57:43
In a culture in which pets are treated like children rather than possessions, more and more people are choosing to include Fido and Fluffy in their wills...
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:38:22
Ziggy the cat used up at least one of his nine lives after surviving for 17 days without food on a 2,300 mile voyage that took him from northern Israel to England... as a stowaway in a 40-foot container... wandered into a consignment of plastic goods which were then sealed in Afula in Israel... he emerged, exhausted, starving and dehydrated, at a warehouse in Whitworth in Lancashire on Friday... not only survived but was able to resist capture for five hours... background or owners remain a mystery...
Transport Future
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:36:25
Nissan Motor Co. plans to develop and start selling subcompact electric cars powered by self-developed lithium-ion batteries in about three years... also plans to develop and sell gas-electric hybrid cars by 2010...
Digital Culture
hosted.ap.org/ ... 17:01:12
The programmers at PopCap Games Inc. used to think of themselves as the unloved stepchildren of the computer gaming industry. Their humble word puzzles and math teasers were in a different league from games in which role-playing characters spray bullets, slay dragons and maim rivals in fantastic virtual worlds... But the casual gaming niche, which includes hits like "Bejeweled," "Scrabble" and the low-budget classic "Tetris," is in the midst of a Cinderella-like transformation. Companies like PopCap are sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into casual games and demanding sophisticated graphics, more nuanced plots, even original music instead of bland electronica...
Supernatural Threats
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:00:31
More than 20,000 Muslims in Istanbul on Sunday held the biggest protest so far against Pope Benedict's controversial visit to Turkey this week. The Pope, due to begin his first official visit to a Muslim country on Tuesday, angered many Muslims in September with a speech they took as an insult to their religion...
Rebuilding
hosted.ap.org/ ... 17:00:12
Afghan soldiers venture slowly out of their base of mud huts and green tents for a patrol with Canadian troops through this restive southern town. Such operations are at the heart of efforts by the United States and NATO to bolster Afghanistan's security forces and open the way for the departure of Western troops... Relying on local soldiers who know the terrain and can tell a farmer from a militant is vital to NATO's two-pronged approach in the south: restoring security by driving off the militants while kick-starting long-promised economic development to improve the lives of poor villagers in hopes of bolstering loyalty for Afghanistan's government...
Ummm....
lasvegassun.com/ ... 16:56:55
The CIA has scrapped its ho-hum test that steered job applicants toward mysterious careers and devised one that's cloaked in jest. Invisibility or ESP? Jet pack or amphibious sports car? Walk the Great Wall of China or sip Champagne at a New York gala? The results from the CIA's personality quiz are just a few clicks away, diagnosing test takers as daring thrill-seekers, thoughtful observers, curious adventurers, innovative pioneers or impressive masterminds. The CIA wants to hire them all...
People Do Drugs
spiegel.de/ ... 16:56:26
Researchers have been scouring rivers in Europe and the US for traces of cocaine consumption. The result: Cocaine use is probably much greater than previously assumed -- and New Yorkers are the biggest coke-heads of all...
Beatles - still with us
cbc.ca/ ... 16:55:26
Yoko Ono has placed a full-page ad in the New York Times calling upon the world to mark the anniversary of her husband John Lennons death as a day of healing for those who have suffered violence or war... "I don't know if I am ready yet to forgive the one who pulled the trigger," notes Ono. "But healing is what is urgently needed now in the world..."
Big Brother
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 16:41:25
UK... POLICE and councils are considering monitoring conversations in the street using high-powered microphones attached to CCTV cameras... The microphones can detect conversations 100 yards away and record aggressive exchanges before they become violent...
[and any private conversations....]
Repeal! Repeal! Repeal!
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:39:29
A Canadian police search for marijuana grow operations mushroomed as officers discovered 22 units in a Toronto high rise were being used to cultivate the illegal drug, four times more than expected... over 6,000 marijuana plants
worth an estimated street value of over C$6.0 million ($5.31 million)...
[Absurd black market pricing... it's a flippin' WEED!]
Digital Business
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:13:56
Japanese chemical maker Tosoh Corp. has developed a low-cost alternative to an indium-based material used in the production of liquid crystal displays... a lower-priced zinc-based product that is as effective as the current product, indium tin oxide...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:11:20
Break.com, one of the rising number of Web sites offering user-generated videos to rival the likes of YouTube, said on Sunday it would nearly double the amount of money it pays for video clips to $400. Back in January 2005, Break.com started paying $50 per video and raised the price to $250 before Sunday's new hike... The money is even better for animated videos which, due to the complexity of their production, will fetch up to $2,000...
[Seems like a royalty based on number of downloads might be more in order....]
Yeah, Sure!
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:07:10
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran was ready to help the United States and Britain in Iraq but only if they pledged to change their attitude and withdraw their troops...
Democracy in Action
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:57:48
The opposition candidate in Venezuela's presidential elections has held a huge rally in the capital, Caracas, a week before the vote. Several hundred thousand turned out to show support for Social Democrat Manuel Rosales, currently governor of oil-rich state of Zulia. However President Hugo Chavez is widely predicted to be heading for victory and a third term in office...
Peace 3000
today.reuters.co.uk/ ... 10:50:46
A truce between Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israel took effect on Sunday, heralding a possible end to a wave of rocket attacks on the Jewish state and a halt to a five-month-old Israeli military offensive. Israel Radio reported a rocket landed in southern Israel an hour after the truce began but no one was hurt...
SAT 2006-NOV-25
Nuclear is Nasty
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:41:39
What is polonium-210?..
naturally occurring radioactive material that emits highly hazardous alpha (positively charged) particles... There are very small amounts of polonium-210 in the soil and in the atmosphere, and everyone has a small amount of in their body. But at high doses, it damages tissues and organs... very hard for doctors to identify... It has industrial uses such as static control and as a heat source for satellite power supplies, but is not available in these areas in a form conducive to easy poisoning. It is also present in tobacco...
Mass Murdering Monsters
nytimes.com/ ... 11:36:04
In a previously undisclosed video, apparently shot in the months before the American-led invasion in 2003, Mr. Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, beams as military officers display and demonstrate low-tech weapons spread on a table in a ceremonial room. Whether the episode shows genuine preparation for an insurgency or was merely a bizarre propaganda exercise is unclear... Mr. Hussein, wearing a double-breasted gray suit, aims a slingshot, shoots an arrow at a door using a crossbow (as aides scamper out of the way) and swings a mock gasoline bomb over his head with a rope. He urges his aides to get such weapons into the hands of Iraqis...
Disturbing Patterns
local6.com/ ... 11:35:07
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A bloody brawl erupted outside a tavern after one customer thought another failed to wash his hands after using the bathroom... One man was hospitalized with stab wounds. Another was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon...
signonsandiego.com/ ... 11:32:25
San Diego police yesterday started an investigation into a case of possible child endangerment after receiving tips from two concerned people regarding a posting on Craigslist, the online classified-ad service, that purported to
offer a free baby to a good home...
The copy given to police says: "Free baby boy to good home. My ex-girlfriend had him a few weeks ago, but now he just sits in my closet and cries. I'm not too sure how to deal with it, and I'm in a pretty low financial spot. I lost all the baby accessories. Batteries not included. Transaction final. No returns. Guaranteed not DOA..."
Nature can be Deadly
seattlepi.nwsource.com/ ... 11:21:16
Heavy snowfall in the Cascades mountain passes snarled traffic Friday, with the worst backups on Interstate 90, where a large tree fell onto the freeway near Snoqualmie Pass and struck a pickup truck, killing two men. More snow is forecast for the remainder of the weekend, and travelers' advisories are in effect for what is expected to be a heavy day of post-Thanksgiving highway travel on Sunday...
Industrial Incident
news.bostonherald.com/ ... 11:14:33
devastating pre-dawn explosion at a Danvers [Mass] manufacturing plant... the town fire chief revealed the buildings alarms sounded for all of 1 1/2 seconds before the structure erupted... "If my guys went down to that box and that explosion happened, I would have lost a whole crew," he said. "Ive talked to neighbors that got up at night, went down to their computer or were watching TV and werent in bedrooms when their roof collapsed in on it. So we had a lot of minor miracles that night..."
Civilization vs Gangsterism
nytimes.com/ ... 21:54:28
The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been largely unable to prevent, a classified United States government report has concluded... estimates that groups responsible for many insurgent and terrorist attacks are raising $70 million to $200 million a year from illegal activities...
spiegel.de/ ... 13:19:51
Most of all, he knows that there is one sentiment shared by intelligence agents the world over: They love betrayal but not the betrayer. They were never fond of Omar Nasiri. But they valued him because, for years, he was one of their best sources of intelligence about al-Qaida... Beginning in 1994, Omar Nasiri was one of the first moles to infiltrate the radical Islamist group...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:02:36
As many as one-fifth of youths in the drug gangs of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are killed within two years, usually by police... The report's authors spoke to young men performing a range of paid roles for drug gangs. Some were dealers, others worked as look-outs. A third group were known as "soldiers", protecting their territory from rivals. There are frequent shoot-outs between police and drug gangs One-third of those questioned said they had joined a gang to make money and nearly half said they spent their earnings on clothes...
Transport Tragedy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:01:39
A small ferry capsized in rough waters in the southern Philippines on Saturday, leaving 14 passengers dead while 58 were rescued...
Threats
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:02:47
There are new fears of unrest in Fiji as Australia warned of "clear evidence" that a coup on the island was imminent...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:01:23
Hamas' leader said Saturday his group was willing to give peace negotiations with Israel six months to reach an agreement for a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, but
threatened
a new uprising if the talks fail... first time he has set a deadline with an explicit threat of a new uprising... Israel had no immediate comment...
Theft
today.reuters.com/ ... 01:05:42
A company in northeast China raised $379 million from gullible members of the public by promising big profits from a project to breed ants... The report did not explain why the public would want to invest in ants but, in the southern region of Guangxi, black ants are sold by the bagful to be steeped in tea or soaked in liquor as a natural remedy for ailments such as arthritis...
Missing
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:03:18
A prominent Chinese Aids campaigner, Wan Yanhai, has gone missing after being questioned by police in the capital, Beijing, his office has said... has criticised the government's response to the spread of the disease. In 2002 he was held for three weeks and accused of disclosing state secrets...
forbes.com/ ... 00:55:23
Hundreds of searchers used horses, four-wheelers and bloodhounds Friday to hunt for two young brothers [4yo & 2yo] who disappeared from a yard on an American Indian reservation two days earlier... reported missing Wednesday from the Walking Shield area of the remote Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota...
Digital Sex can be Dangerous
thestar.com/ ... 00:52:42
Telecom companies such as Bell Canada, Rogers, Shaw, SaskTel, Telus, Videotron and MTS Allstream are partnering with Cybertip.ca to launch "Project Cleanfeed Canada" that will block between 500 and 800 offending websites. Cybertip.ca, a national child sexual exploitation hotline, will provide the names of sites to be blocked. The hotline relies mostly on tips from the public. The list of websites will be updated daily and will prevent both intentional and accidental viewing of the sites, according to Lianna McDonald, executive director of Cybertip.ca...
Violence
kxly.com/ ... 14:31:06
New York City's chief police spokesman isn't commenting on an early-morning shooting that left a young man dead on his wedding day... police shot three men who'd just left a bachelor party at a Queens strip club. The two other men were hospitalized; one remains in critical condition. It's still not clear what sparked the shooting... as many as eight officers may have been involved. No officers have been reported hurt...
news.com.au/ ... 14:29:33
THE Israeli military killed three Palestinians overnight, including a militant from the ruling Hamas' armed wing in an air strike on his minibus...
news.independent.co.uk/ ... 11:06:02
Armed with a gun, a knife and up to eight lethal nail-bombs, notorious loyalist killer Michael Stone may have been targeting Belfast's two most important local politicians, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams. Mr Stone, who served a lengthy sentence for six murders, was wrestled to the ground at the front door of Stormont, just a short distance from the entrance to the chamber. Army experts later made safe a bag full of nail-bombs. In 1988 Mr Stone failed in an attempt to kill Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, while yesterday he could be heard yelling: "No surrender, no sell-out Paisley..."
ctv.ca/ ... 11:05:24
Shiite militiamen grabbed six Sunnis as they left Friday worship services, doused them with kerosene and burned them alive near Iraqi soldiers who did not intervene...
members of the Mahdi Army militia set four mosques and several homes ablaze while killing Sunni residents in the once-mixed Hurriyah neighborhood of Baghdad...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:03:47
US forces say they have killed 22 militants in renewed violence in Iraq, despite a curfew imposed on the capital in response to recent killings. US forces say they killed 10 insurgents in a raid on a bomb-making facility north of Baghdad, and 12 in a convoy. Elsewhere, the bodies of 21 Iraqi villagers were discovered north-east of Baghdad in Diyala province...
President Jalal Talabani has had to postpone a much-anticipated trip to Iran, as Baghdad's airport is closed...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:00:24
More than two-thirds of the 245 U.S. casualties between Aug. 7, the start of the Baghdad offensive, and Nov. 7 occurred outside Baghdad - which military leaders have called the "center of gravity" of Iraq, and the key to success in the war. Four in 10 deaths over those three months have been in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgency stronghold where U.S. Marines have largely taken the lead. Marines, who comprise only about 15 percent of the 141,000 U.S. forces currently in Iraq, accounted for nearly 28 percent of the fatalities over the three-month period...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:59:28
Sri Lankan warplanes on Saturday attacked a camp housing Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bombers in the country's north... at Iranamadu, close to the rebel stronghold, Kilinochchi...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:58:48
More than 300 schools in Thailand's restive south will close indefinitely Monday after attacks by suspected Muslim insurgents left two teachers dead... affects all primary and secondary schools in the province of Pattani...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:58:25
A cluster bomb left over from Israel's war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon wounded two members of an international team of land mine-clearing experts on Friday... near Marjayoun, a town near the Israeli border where the experts were clearing a field for ArmorGroup, a London-based company working for the U.N. They stepped on the cluster bomb while pursuing a herd of goats that had detonated a cluster bomb in a field... one of the wounded was British and the other Bosnian... At least 24 people have died in cluster bomb explosions in Lebanon since the war ended... U.N. demining experts say up to 1 million cluster bombs failed to explode...
heraldnewsdaily.com/ ... 00:54:02
CHICAGO - The family of a slain 22-year-old woman said Friday they were upset and confused by how police handled a 23-hour Thanksgiving Day standoff that ended with a gunman killing his hostage and himself... negotiators had tried for hours to coax Lance Johnson, 21, to end the standoff, but SWAT team members rushed the third-floor apartment immediately after the sound of a gunshot shortly after 1 a.m. on Friday...
voanews.com/ ... 00:51:39
Angry Shi'ites Muslims launched reprisal attacks on a Sunni mosque, political headquarters and several Baghdad neighborhoods, a day after a series of blasts and mortars killed more than 200 Shi'ites. And a powerful Shi'ite bloc has threatened to pull its support from parliament if the prime minister meets next week in Jordan with President Bush...
news.monstersandcritics.com/ ... 00:51:19
Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died from ingesting a large dose of radioactive material known as Polonium 210... Large quantities of alpha radiation had been traced in his urine... people who had been in contact with Litvinenko, and the places where he visited before the attack on him earlier this month, were being searched for radioactive substances... Putin said he believed the death will be used as a 'provocation,' adding that he hoped the British authorities don't do anything to whip up a 'political scandal.'... higher than normal levels of radiation were later established to have been present at the sushi bar... a 'pure alpha emitter' that cannot penetrate the human skin but would have had to be inhaled or ingested through a wound or by eating. The 'large quantities' found would have tracked through the body rapidly and damaged the bone marrow, kidneys and liver...
Digital Future is Now
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:42:45
More than 100 homes offering smart technology have just been built in South Korea and another 30,000 are planned... makes use of the electricity cables to transfer data as well as power... The panel also keeps track of Mi Yung's electricity consumption, pays her power bills, and holds video messages - either sent to it over the net, or from neighbours... The home's TV is also linked up to the system, so it can tell you when your washing machine has finished...
Feeding Ourselves
wired.com/ ... 13:15:08
Hundreds of "locavores" scattered around the country are celebrating Thanksgiving this year with their own 100-mile meals. Local, sustainable eating is a noble cause... Every ingredient of every dish must have been grown and processed within a 100-mile radius of their house in Brooklyn, New York... The idea was popularized by Gary Paul Nabhan in his 2001 book, Coming Home to Eat, a description of his yearlong project to eat nothing from outside a 250-mile radius of his Arizona home...
[100 miles, 250 miles, 5000 miles... all arbitrary limits.... but it seems a lot more likely you'll eat well & varied meals using 250m in Ariz than 100m in Brooklyn!]
Healing Ourselves
news.scotsman.com/ ... 13:11:16
A boy has been born in Chile with a [4-inch-long (10 cm)] foetus in his stomach... had limbs and a partially developed spinal cord but no head... "foetus in fetu" in which one twin becomes trapped inside another during pregnancy and continues to grow inside it... occurs in only one in every 500,000 live births...
discover.com/ ... 13:09:56
Morgellons disease... Guess what?" I said on the phone to her referring doctor. "I have good news! It's the same thing I told Margo in the office, but now I'm sure. She just needs to stop picking and reseeding the infection and start on a new antibiotic that will cover her drug-resistant infection. Comparing the sensitivity panel of her staph and the list of medications she's already taken, she's never really had effective treatment. It's a terrible shame, but at least we know what we're up against now." There was a long pause and then an oddly glum voice on the other end of the line. "I wish it were that easy," my colleague replied. "Margo was pretty discouraged after she saw you the other day. I'm afraid she's looking for another expert who will do more skin biopsies and really invest time in her case. She's convinced she has a new species of parasite. She's willing to go to any length, she says, to find out what it is." Later that day, a thought gnawed at me, as it had many times before. Was it simply a personal distrust of doctors that drove Margo and other patients like her from the help they needed and sought? Or an impassable gulf between science and belief?..
Evolution Isn't Easy
abc.net.au/ ... 11:07:28
About 95% of the Earth's marine species and 70% of its land species were wiped out during a mass extinction about 250 million years ago... fundamentally changed which species survived in the world's oceans... Simple species that did not move or search for food were largely wiped out... More complex life forms such as crabs and snails that went looking for food took over...
Extraterrestrial
smh.com.au/ ... 00:48:02
Then, at 11.57am Sydney time, he made his one-handed shot. NASA had been nervous about the stunt, with engineers concerned that a fouled shot could send the ball smashing into the space station, or hitting a space walker. The space agency predicted the ball would circle the Earth for about three days before falling back into the atmosphere and burning up. But whirling around the world at more than seven kilometres a second, 16 times a day, the shanked shot could fly about 2 million kilometres before becoming a man-made meteor...
Big Whoops Cascade
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:53:56
The pastor at Anchorage First Free Methodist Church was mystified. Why was the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals chastising him? No animals are harmed in the church's holiday nativity display. In fact, animals aren't used at all...
World of Cultures
breitbart.com/ ... 21:53:40
For Kenny Kramer, role model for the "Seinfeld" character who shared his surname, each call was a reminder of the intersection between his real life and his sitcom doppelganger. Actor Michael Richards -- the on-air Cosmo Kramer -- made headlines this week with a racist rant in a Los Angeles comedy club... he issued a two-sentence statement drawing the distinction: "I know the public is smart enough to realize that Michael Richards' personal actions in no way reflect on the character he portrayed on television or me, Kenny Kramer, the real person that the character was based on..."
Digital Culture
suntimes.com/ ... 19:40:32
"Avoid," is my general message. The Zune is a square wheel, a product that's so absurd and so obviously immune to success that it evokes something akin to a sense of pity...
Defending Ourselves
wkyc.com/ ... 13:15:49
CLEVELAND... 47-year-old male entered the barbershop... robbed the store and the patrons inside taking cash, jewelry, and other valuables... The store owner, who has a concealed weapons permit, pulled out his handgun shooting at the robber. The suspect was struck in the elbow. The robber dropped his weapon and fled... police located the male and took him into custody...
Digital Business
businessweek.com/ ... 11:10:19
The long-delayed Windows Vista, which makes its debut on Nov. 30 along with Office 2007, is leading Microsoft Corp. to rethink the way it develops software...
Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft's platform and services division...
The investments we've made in Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System and Exchange [e-mail software] are all about unleashing the next wave of productivity. Customers in the last several years have probably done more cost containment coming off the Y2K investment, coming off the dot-com bubble. There was an overinvestment in technology, so they've been very focused on reducing the cost of owning and operating. Now, cost containment is still important, but a lot more priority is being put on driving top-line revenue...
[Whata buncha bizspeak gobbledygook!]
Rebuilding
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:04:39
A U.N. envoy urged Iraq's government on Saturday to halt a slide into civil war and stop the "cancer" of sectarianism from destroying the country, warning that the carnage of this week could tear Iraq apart. The U.N.'s special representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, said car bombs on Thursday that killed more than 200 people in a Shi'ite area of Baghdad and "blind acts of revenge" were part of a vicious cycle of sectarian violence "tearing apart the very political and social fabric of Iraq". "No country could tolerate such a cancer in its body politic," Qazi said in a statement...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:04:09
With Iraq near all-out civil war, the Bush administration is renewing efforts to break the cycle of violence there by enlisting the help of moderate Arab nations while also seeking to tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki are due to meet next week and Vice President Dick Cheney left for Saudi Arabia on Friday for talks on the Middle East...
Recall
today.reuters.com/ ... 01:03:11
An Ohio-based company is recalling 46,941 pounds of turkey and ham products that officials fear could cause listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease... HoneyBaked Foods Inc. is voluntarily recalling the meat, which includes cooked, glazed and sliced ham and turkey...
[They wait to announce the recall until the day AFTER Thanksgiving???]
Healthy individuals are not usually susceptible to the illness, but it can cause infections to infants, the elderly, or people with HIV or cancer. It can also cause miscarriages... The meat was sold at the company's retail stores and kiosks around Toledo, Ohio, and to customers across the country over the Internet and through the company's catalog...
World Without Borders
breitbart.com/ ... 21:52:36
An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent was jailed for more than a day after Mexican border officials found 650 rounds of ammunition in his car... a bag containing 650 rounds of .40- caliber ammunition... Possessing firearms or ammunition in Mexico is illegal and large warning signs are posted at border crossings... Off-duty agents can carry their firearms, but the agent was not armed when he was arrested... Agents also are told that they are not allowed to have weapons or ammunition in Mexico...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 01:01:46
The governments of 12 countries in South America have signed an agreement to allow their citizens to travel between them without passports... allows travellers to cross borders for up to 90 days, with only an identity card... Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, and Venezuela...
FRI 2006-NOV-24
Violence
washingtonpost.com/ ... 19:37:48
A slain woman's relatives were upset Friday by the way police handled a 23-hour Thanksgiving Day standoff in her apartment building that ended with a gunman killing the 22-year-old and himself. Negotiators had tried for hours to coax Lance Johnson, 21, to release his hostage and end the standoff, said First Deputy Superintendent Dana Starks. But SWAT team members ended up rushing the third-floor apartment after the sound of a gunshot around 1 a.m. on Friday...
suntimes.com/ ... 19:36:57
A hostage situation in a Southeast Side apartment building that began early Thursday morning was still unresolved late Thursday night, as relatives of one of two female hostages being held by a gunman maintained an uneasy vigil at the scene. "No one has been hurt," Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline said at the scene at 10 p.m., adding that police had granted the gunman's request for cigarettes and soft drinks. "We want to resolve this peacefully..."
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 19:36:31
A British paratrooper who was involved in a raid to seize suspected terrorists from a house in Basra was shot during a gun battle yesterday and died from his injuries...
today.reuters.co.uk/ ... 19:36:15
An armed cartoonist with an apparent grudge against his editor entered the headquarters of the Miami Herald on Friday and forced the newspaper to evacuate its bayfront building before surrendering...
thisislondon.co.uk/ ... 19:34:41
Convicted loyalist killer Michael Stone has been arrested after a dramatic attempt to blow up Northern Ireland's Stormont building. In a major security breach, Stone stormed Belfast's parliament buildings and hurled a backpack containing between six and eight potentially deadly explosive devices into the hallway... Northern Ireland's chief constable Sir Hugh Orde said the army had later defused the devices, which he described as 'viable' but 'fairly amateurish'... The chief constable also confirmed that a gun and knife had been recovered from Stone. He described the incident as a "sad publicity act by a very sad individual"...
voanews.com/ ... 19:33:32
Palestinian factions have proposed a truce with Israel aimed at ending months of fighting in the Gaza Strip. But Israel has rejected the offer... the truce, or "hudna" in Arabic, is conditional on Israel halting all military operations against the Palestinians in Gaza... Israel is not prepared to ease up. It says a ceasefire would be meaningless unless Palestinian terror groups disarm. Israeli spokeswoman Miri Eisen says the Palestinians are smuggling tons of weapons through tunnels under the Egyptian border, and a truce would enable them to rearm for the next round of conflict...
news.xinhuanet.com/ ... 19:32:46
Two U.S. helicopters opened fire on a funeral in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Friday, wounding two people... Residents in Sadr City attended a funeral for victims who were killed in Thursday's deadliest bombings and some people fired into the air when two U.S. Apache helicopters flew over... The choppers fired into the crowd, wounding two people...
Cold War - still with us
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 19:31:13
The poisoned Russian spy breathed defiance at the Kremlin as the effects of a mystery cocktail pushed him towards his death last night. "I want to survive, just to show them," Alexander Litvinenko said in an exclusive interview given just hours before he died... "The bastards got me," he whispered. "But they wont get everybody..."
Scary Times
newpaper.asia1.com.sg/ ... 19:30:21
You could also be thown off a plane in the US for... WITH the Thanksgiving holiday rush on, there are lots of other reasons - apart from breast-feeding - why passengers could find themselves grounded. Making out with your girlfriend, praying, making jokes - any of these could get you removed from an airplane, or even arrested... a couple was arrested under the Patriot Act... as he had his face in her lap and this made other passengers uncomfortable... One passenger on a Delta flight was arrested for leaving his seat to go to the toilet less than 30 minutes before landing. In fact, air marshalls ordered all passengers to put their hands on their heads for the rest of the flight. And an Orthodox Jewish man was kicked off an Air Canada flight for praying, which attendants claim was making other passengers nervous...
Evolution Isn't Easy
news.com.au/ ... 19:35:17
ABOUT 95 per cent of the Earth's marine species and 70 per cent of its land species were wiped out during a "mass extinction" about 250 million years ago, according to Australian and US researchers. The phenomenon fundamentally changed which species survived in the world's oceans...
Extraterrestrial
sport.scotsman.com/ ... 19:30:49
IT WAS by no means the most elegant episode in golfing history when cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin stepped up to the world's highest tee, 220 miles above the Earth. But then, the likes of Tiger Woods have never had to play upside-down, in zero gravity, with their caddies hanging on to their feet. Dangling breathlessly from a handrail outside the International Space Station and speeding at 17,500mph, with the world spread out below, a slightly tetchy Tyurin sliced the kind of one-handed shot that would ordinarily have ended up in the rough. Last night, his ball was still going strong, however, orbiting Earth once every 90 minutes as it sped along an infinite fairway through the vacuum of space...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 19:25:03
Army Sgt.
James P. Musack
, 23, of Riverside, Iowa, died of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident in Samarra, Iraq, on Nov. 21. The incident is under investigation. Musack was assigned to the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 19:24:46
Marine Lance Cpl.
Joshua C. Alonzo
, 21, of Dumas, Texas, died November 22 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Land of the Free
tulsaworld.com/ ... 19:32:06
The land lasts forever, so it must be held close. Carolyn Codopony remembers her grand- mother, Hazel Codopony, saying that to her since she was a young girl. "Grandma always drummed this into our heads," she said. A full-blood Kiowa-Comanche, Codopony is enrolled as a Comanche but spent the first half of her life on the Kiowa tribal rolls. The land her grandmother refers to is the family's trust property, Comanche land near the tiny town of Indiahoma. Today, Carolyn Codopony and her three siblings own a joint share of it. And they will never sell it, she vows... "The land is who we are, and this family has held onto the land allotted to them," she said. "My grandmother always spoke about not selling the land that we would someday inherit..."
THU 2006-NOV-23
Under Sexist Tyranny
tulsaworld.com/ ... 08:57:19
Five years after the Taliban's fall, women aren't beaten if they leave home without a male relative. Girls can go to school, and a quarter of Afghan parliamentarians are women -- as mandated by law. But life remains bleak: Many women and girls face domestic violence and forced marriage in this conservative, violence-plagued country. In many provinces where the government wields little power, life for women remains as it was during the rule of the Taliban...
OKC Bombing -- still with us
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 07:58:37
A congressional hearing into an alleged foreign connection to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing has been canceled because key witnesses are unwilling to testify or cannot be tracked down, says the California Republican leading the investigation... a report will be issued, instead, by the end of the year... "Plus... we have not received the full-fledged cooperation of various government agencies..." The investigation to this point... "certainly confirms that the public skepticism is justified, that not all the information is out about the Oklahoma City bombing..."
Threats
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 08:02:43
Forged archaeological artefacts traded on internet auction sites such as eBay are helping to fund international terrorism, it was disclosed today... "We know for a fact that there is a terrorism link. Archaeological stuff is being exported by the tonne load from Middle Eastern countries. If the money goes back into criminality, some will inevitably end up in the hands of terrorists..."
hosted.ap.org/ ... 07:27:44
A plane heading from Paris to the West African nation of Ivory Coast was diverted to an airport in southern France and safely evacuated following a bomb threat... about 50 people aboard...
Violence
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:00:38
Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including a top militant commander, in raids in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday while a 57-year-old grandmother blew herself up near soldiers... The army said soldiers spotted the woman approaching them with an explosive device near the Jabalya refugee camp and threw a stun grenade at her. The woman detonated the device, killing herself... Three soldiers were slightly wounded...
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:59:59
Israeli forces backed by tanks and aircraft killed five Palestinians including three gunmen in Gaza on Thursday in raids aimed at curbing an upsurge in militant rocket strikes on the Jewish state. The operations came a day after the government decided to press on with attacks but not order a massive assault...
dailystar.com.lb/ ... 15:47:43
A series of car bombs killed at least 160 people in a Shiite stronghold in Baghdad on Thursday, in one of the most devastating attacks since the 2003 US-led invasion. Authorities quickly slapped an indefinite curfew on the city out of fear that the attack would inflame sectarian passions in a nation sliding toward civil war. A further 257 people were wounded in the bombings... police believe a total of eight bombs were planted in Sadr City. "Five of them exploded, one we have located and also arrested the driver of the car, but two are still to be apprehended..."
tulsaworld.com/ ... 08:53:29
In sharp contrast to attacks in Iraq, scores of suicide strikes across Afghanistan have killed only the attacker or a very few victims. NATO said that as of last week, 97 suicide attacks this year have killed just 217 people -- a casualty rate four times lower than in Iraq. "These suicide bombers are brainwashed in Pakistan. That's their only training. They don't know what they're doing..."
iht.com/ ... 07:44:16
A car bomb exploded in a major market in Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite slum Thursday, killing at least 10 and wounding 15... As the bomb exploded three mortar shells crashed to earth nearby...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:37:11
Gunmen have attacked the health ministry in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, sparking heavy gun battles with guards and government troops... About 30 gunmen were involved in the raid... believed to be Sunni Muslim insurgents. Shia militias were suspected of a mass kidnapping of education ministry staff last week...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:36:38
Egypt's top Muslim clerics have attempted to distance Islam from the practice of female genital mutilation, saying the religion does not need it. The head of the al-Azhar mosque, Sunni Islam's top authority, told a meeting in Cairo the practice, also known as female circumcision, was not a "must". And Egypt's top official cleric, Ali Gomaa, said the Prophet Mohammad had not circumcised his daughters...
The practice, which typically involves surgically removing the clitoris of a young girl, has been criticised as an infringement on the rights of women and a threat to their health. Parents who support the practice argue that it helps prevent promiscuous behaviour in their daughters...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 07:28:22
A bomb exploded near a train station in India's northeast Thursday, killing two people and wounding ten...
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:30:47
Three U.S. Marines died on Wednesday from wounds sustained in combat in Iraq's volatile western Anbar province...
Industrial Tragedy
washingtonpost.com/ ... 07:43:17
The bodies of all 17 men who had been trapped underground after a mine explosion in southern Poland have been found, bringing the final death toll to 23...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 00:29:29
Rescuers at a Polish coalmine have found the bodies of 13 more miners, bringing the death toll from a methane gas explosion on Tuesday to 21. Two other miners who were trapped by the methane blast are still missing...
Cold War - still with us
news.sky.com/ ... 20:17:54
Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital after being poisoned... Initial reports suggested he had been poisoned with thallium, or with a radioactive material, but doctors have now said this was not the case... His friend Oleg Gordievsky, a former high-ranking KGB agent who defected to Britain, said Mr Litvinenko had been killed by two Russian secret agents who poisoned his tea during a meeting at a London hotel. Mr Gordievsky told Sky News: "He was fighting against the evil forces in Russia, against the authorities which are depressing democracy and liberal freedoms in Russia..." Thirteen journalists have been murdered in Russia since Mr Putin came to power in 2000. None of the cases has been solved...
theglobeandmail.com/ ... 00:26:44
Alleged Russian spy beat passport curbs--Accused man was able to obtain three passports in seven years, court documents show...
Digital Future is Now
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:04:40
Cell phone owners will be allowed to break software locks on their handsets in order to use them with competing carriers under new copyright rules announced Wednesday. Other copyright exemptions approved by the Library of Congress will let film professors copy snippets from DVDs for educational compilations and let blind people use special software to read copy-protected electronic books...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:03:06
Ofcom is legalising the use of FM transmitters that allow iPods and other MP3 players to play through car radios. The use of devices, such as Griffin's "iTrip", was banned in the UK as their transmissions can interfere with broadcasts by legal radio stations... certain FM transmitters, which can be tuned to spare frequencies, will be legal from 8 December. Ofcom will also remove the need for a licence to use Citizens' Band radio...
tulsaworld.com/ ... 08:55:20
David Hanson's robots can creep people out. Their heads are so lifelike, their skin so textured and realistic, that Candy Sidner, a competing roboticist, called his Albert Einstein robot "spookily cool . . . a giant step forward." Hanson, who started his career as an artist and spent time working in Disney's Imagineering Lab, said he flirts with being too realistic for comfort. His work, he said, "poses an identity challenge to the human being..."
The issue of being too human-looking is called "uncanny valley" syndrome...
Hanson is also a businessman who is designing entertainment robots for the home. He hopes to have two-foot robots -- with human-looking heads that are more cartoonish than uncannily accurate -- that can dance, make eye contact, talk and recognize your face. The idea is to price them at $3,000 and get them on the market in about a year...
seattlepi.nwsource.com/ ... 08:09:28
It can greet people, show DVDs and hand out balloons. "Ubiko," a robot-on-wheels with a catlike face, is joining the crew of temporary workers supplied by a Japanese job-referral company to stores, events and even weddings...
It's All in Your Mind
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:34:34
Hearing a word usually conjures up an image but some people can begin to taste the word even before it is spoken. They have a rare form of synaesthesia, or crossing of the senses, where the taste of the word is triggered by its meaning...
World Zookeeping
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:12:19
Patrols in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park have cut poaching and increased the population of black rhinoceros, elephants and buffalo, a paper to be published on Friday in Science magazine shows...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 00:33:22
The Brookfield Zoo announced this week the birth of a baby okapi - an endangered African animal that looks as if it were put together by committee. With a dark brown body and striped upper hind legs, the 1-month-old female looks a bit like a zebra, but claims closer ties to a giraffe. Her name, Sauda, means "dark beauty" in Swahili...
Healing Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:10:01
Diet and nutrition may play a key role in helping people fight depression... A number of nutrients, including polyunsaturated fatty acids, St. John's Wort and several B vitamins, have the potential to influence mood by increasing the absorption of chemical messengers in the brain... in particular omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid... the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 may also be important, given that the latter can prevent the body from absorbing the former... tryptophan... The body converts tryptophan to the neurotransmitter serotonin, suggesting the amino acid may have modest effects on mood... studies investigating whether the B vitamin folate, vitamins B6 and B12, and S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) play a role in depression have had conflicting results...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 00:28:47
Using a piece of Gore-Tex fabric to make their repairs, doctors performed corrective surgery on a baby born with his heart outside his chest, and said Wednesday that the youngster should be able to lead a close-to-normal life...
Evolution Isn't Easy
news.nationalgeographic.com/ ... 00:27:44
The genetic makeup of the human race is much more varied than previously believed... many large chunks of human DNA differ among individuals and ethnic groups... humans have less DNA in common with chimpanzees, our closest living relative, than is widely supposed... dramatic implications for research into deadly diseases... large segments of DNA are missing or duplicated between normal, healthy people...
Digital Threat
techtree.com/ ... 15:48:22
According to reports, Mozilla Firefox 2 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE) are both vulnerable to a bug that steals the login-id and password of users, with the help of a fake log-in page. The bug has been dubbed as "Reverse Cross Site Request vulnerability" (RCSR) by Robert Chapin, who first discovered the flaw. Reportedly, the attack was first carried out from a profile page using a specially crafted HTML that hides the genuine MySpace content from the page, and displays the fake login page instead. The fake page is then sent to another Web site, along with information regarding MySpace users who visited the page using Firefox...
Print is Dead
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:02:03
Toshiba has developed a printer that uses
plastic "paper"
that can be re-used hundreds of times... could help companies reduce carbon emissions as it helped to cut the amount of paper they consume... could find a home in many niche applications where permanent copies of documents were not needed. Industry experts said firms might find it hard to adjust to re-useable paper... polyethylene terephthalate or PET - the same kind as is used for bottles of fizzy drinks. Over this is a layer of heat-sensitive chemical pigments that, under different conditions, turns white or black. By altering the temperature and cooling times applied to this pigment it becomes possible to write and erase black and white text or graphics...
seattlepi.nwsource.com/ ... 08:10:10
Book publishers say professors who post long excerpts of protected texts on the Internet without permission cost the industry at least $20 million a year... Professors are making material available free rather than requiring students to buy $100 textbooks... publishers say they must protect $3.35 billion in annual U.S. college textbook sales...
Family Patterns
thestar.com/ ... 08:08:59
A new study by Statistics Canada shows that Canadians do care about and for the elderly and infirm in their family and the community. The study says more than 1.7 million adults aged 45 to 64 provide substantial informal care to almost 2.3 million seniors with disabilities or physical limitations. This seems to dispel the widely held belief that Canadian baby boomers are too busy with their careers or raising their own families to provide much care for their parents...
Disinformation Propaganda & Spin
seattletimes.nwsource.com/ ... 08:03:44
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates Former President George H.W. Bush took on Arab critics of his son today during a testy exchange at a leadership conference in the capital of this U.S. ally. "My son is an honest man..." A college student told Bush his belief that U.S. wars were aimed at opening markets for American companies and said globalization was contrived for America's benefit at the expense of the rest of the world. Bush was having none of it. "I think that's weird and it's nuts," Bush said. "To suggest that everything we do is because we're hungry for money, I think that's crazy. I think you need to go back to school..."
Sex & Politics
lifesite.net/ ... 08:01:59
In what is likely a Canadian first for a major political party, the Liberal Party of Canada is proposing lowering the age of consent for "anal intercourse" in their publicly-released book of policy resolutions... to 14-years of age... The age of sexual consent for heterosexual intercourse in Canada is 14...
[Article editorializes against.]
Thanksgiving
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:59:13
Troops Abroad Proud to Serve on Holiday...
"There are times when you think it would be nice to be home, nice to be with the ones you love," Washington, of the 3rd Reconnaissance Military Transition Team, said while waiting in the dark along a wind-swept Fallujah street for a company of Marines searching houses. "But you can't think too much about yourself, get too down and be a disruption to the other guys," said the 30-year-old, who hails from Norfolk, Va., but lives with his wife and 10-year-old daughter on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan. From their positions across Iraq's dangerous and insurgent-dominated Anbar province, more than 20,000 Marines quickly and quietly marked Thanksgiving amid their work, while trying to bring some homestyle traditions to Iraq...
examiner-enterprise.com/ ... 09:03:14
He was going to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey anyway, but President Bush figured he really owed the bird this time. His dog had just scared the stuffing out of it... The presidential dog typically gets his exercise by chasing a soccer ball around the Rose Garden. "He came out a little early, as did Flyer," Bush said. "And instead of chasing the soccer ball, he chased the bird. And it kind of made the turkey nervous. See, the turkey was nervous to begin with. Nobody's told him yet about the pardon I'm about to give him..."
The popular pardon ceremony dates to the days of President Harry Truman in 1947...
The typical American consumes more than 13 pounds of turkey a year, with a good serving of it coming at Thanksgiving...
tulsaworld.com/ ... 08:59:59
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Teacher Bill Morgan walks into his third-grade class wearing a black Pilgrim hat made of construction paper and begins snatching up pencils, backpacks and glue sticks from his pupils. He tells them the items now belong to him because he "discovered" them. The reaction is exactly what Morgan expects: The kids get angry and want their things back. Morgan is among elementary school teachers who have ditched the traditional Thanksgiving lesson, in which children dress up like Indians and Pilgrims and act out a romanticized version of their first meetings. He has replaced it with a more realistic look at the complex relationship between Indians and white settlers... Others see Morgan and teachers like him as too extreme... "He is teaching his students to hate their country. That is a very distorted view of history, a distorted view of Thanksgiving..." Chuck Narcho, a member of the Maricopa and Tohono O'odham tribes who works as a substitute teacher in Los Angeles, said younger children should not be burdened with all the gory details of American history. "If you are going to teach, you need to keep it positive," he said. "They can learn about the truths when they grow up. Caring, sharing and giving -- that is what was originally intended..."
tulsaworld.com/ ... 08:49:43
A spokesman for the NJ Transit said train officials reported a dozen or so wild turkeys waiting on a station platform in Ramsey, about 20 miles northwest of New York City, on Wednesday. The line travels to Suffern, N.Y. "For a moment, it looked like the turkeys were waiting for the next outbound train..."
sfgate.com/ ... 07:59:49
The provocative claim that there was no turkey in the Pilgrims' first harvest feast in 1621 comes from a newly published history of Thanksgiving by British journalist and historian Godfrey Hodgson. But devotees of holiday authenticity need not kiss the gobbler goodbye. Hodgson's claim is more tosh than truth, according to scholars and Pilgrim experts...
Theory of Education
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 07:56:41
Khalid Chahhou, 35, a native of Morocco who was a first-year language instructor at Smithfield-Selma High School in North Carolina, quit after a student deciphered the anti-U.S. message which also voiced support for terrorists. The secret message, when put together, read: "Sharon killed a lot of innocent people in Palestine. Hamas is not a terrorist group. They have the right to defend their country. This is something that forms part of our freedom and dignity. Allah help destroy this body of evil that is making human life so miserable. Destroy America, a country where evil is sponsored..."
Big Whoops Cascade
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:04:16
ROUND ROCK, Texas... Police in this Austin suburb were stumped for hours by the 49 emergency calls that kept coming in from an unregistered cell phone. The caller would say nothing before hanging up, sometimes after a brief giggle. Eventually, though, police found their man, er child: a 7-year-old calling from his elementary school classroom just for kicks...
tulsaworld.com/ ... 09:01:18
BOISE, Idaho... Two employees of the city's ice skating rink have been fired for making a midnight fast-food run in a pair of Zambonis... a Burger King drive-through... The squat, rubber-tired vehicles, which have a top speed of about 5 mph, drove 1 1/2 miles in all... "They were fired immediately..."
today.reuters.com/ ... 07:38:42
German traffic police were shocked to see a California Highway Patrol car cruising along the motorway, driven by a man dressed as an authentic American cop... recovered sufficiently to book the 35-year-old Goettingen resident, whose uniform badge read "T.J. Lazer", for possessing a replica Smith & Wesson revolver without a license and having out-of-date registration plates... told police he had been taking the 30-year-old vehicle to Bavaria to sell it and wanted to impress the buyer...
People Do Drugs
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:08:31
Alcohol may be involved in as many as one-third of U.S. suicides...
today.reuters.co.uk/ ... 07:45:01
Europe's "booze cruises" were saved by a ruling of the EU's highest court on Thursday... Britons, Danes, Swedes and Finns can continue sailing or driving to neighbouring countries with cheaper alcohol to benefit from the lower duty on personal imports...
voanews.com/ ... 07:43:54
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, wants... alcohol detection devices in every vehicle, and laws to require them in vehicles driven by convicted drunk drivers...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:34:53
Retailers have expressed relief at a European Court ruling against allowing consumers to buy drinks and cigarettes online at lower duties from abroad. The decision means shoppers buying cheaper goods abroad will still have to accompany the goods back themselves...
greenfacts.org/ ... 07:34:36
Around 76 million currently have alcohol use disorders, such as excessive drinking and alcohol dependence... In developed countries alcohol is the third most important risk factor for disease only exceeded by tobacco and high blood pressure...
observer.guardian.co.uk/ ... 07:32:42
Sunday October 15, 2006... Europeans are abandoning cannabis but turning to cocaine and drink, new figures from French customs reveal... 90 of the 250 tonnes of cocaine imported onto the continent were seized [yet] the price of the drug is lower than it has ever been... in the UK and France marijuana abuse is being replaced by binge-drinking... In France, cannabis use has levelled out while heavy drinking sessions have become more common, with almost half of all teenagers in a study this summer saying that they had had more than five drinks in one evening in the last month...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:30:51
European cities risk higher numbers of heroin overdoses as Afghanistan's record opium poppy crop floods cities with the drug, the UN has warned... an increase in supply tends to make the drug purer and hence more dangerous... Europe has traditionally been the biggest market for Afghan opiates and opium cultivation in Afghanistan increased by 59% this year...
Now
That's
Funny!
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:32:43
An Israeli university is taking the notion that laughter is the best medicine seriously, setting up a Bachelor of Arts degree in medical clowning to help legitimize the profession...
World Without Borders
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:30:32
BISBEE, Arizona... A jury found a rancher responsible for holding a Mexican-American family at gunpoint in a civil trial in a small Arizona town on Wednesday in what their attorney said was a historic victory over vigilantism. The jury at Cochise County Superior Court in Bisbee, 90 miles southeast of Tucson, found Roger Barnett responsible for false imprisonment, assault and inflicting emotional damage. It awarded two local families nearly $100,000 in damages for the incident, which occurred during a hunting trip...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 00:29:13
European Union judges are to deliver a ruling in a case that could change the way shoppers buy alcohol and tobacco. The case has been brought by a Dutchman who challenged duties charged in his home country on wine that he had transported from France. The ruling will decide whether taxes should be paid at home or abroad...
Digital Culture
informationweek.com/ ... 00:28:24
A Linux defender armed with a portfolio of patents has thrust itself into the increasingly acrimonious debate over whether the open source operating system incorporates any of Microsoft's intellectual property--and whether Microsoft might do something about it. The Open Invention Network, backed by Red Hat, Novell, IBM, and other vendors, holds 100 patents "that may be used to shield the Linux environment," CEO Jerry Rosenthal said in a statement. "We stand ready to leverage our IP portfolio to maintain the open patent environment." Microsoft's claims against Linux, Rosenthal said, "are baseless. In fact, there have been no patent suits against Linux..."
arstechnica.com/ ... 00:28:02
podcasts are still unpopular and no one is listening...
WED 2006-NOV-22
Criminally Stupid
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:38:19
A fugitive wanted for a double homicide in Arkansas was arrested on the weekend in Wisconsin after he posted his name, picture and address on an online dating Web site...
Yuck!
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:27:00
JACKSON, Wyo.... "Wet dog" and "stinky feet" are some of the words being used to describe the odor of some paper towels that were stocked in restrooms all over town... the towels were manufactured by SCA Tissue North America in Neenah, Wis. The company's vice president of manufacturing, Ron Thirty, said in a statement that "odors in our products are a highly unusual occurrence..."
War is Hell
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:20:07
Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have been criticised for risking civilians by asking them to gather at suspected militants homes targeted by Israel. Human Rights Watch said that using civilians as human shields or knowingly putting them in danger, were breaches of international humanitarian law...
WW2 - still with us
telegraph.co.uk/ ... 12:41:07
New computer software that can read lips at almost any angle has helped make sense of one of the Second World War's lingering mysteries Hitler's home movies... many of them made by Eva Braun at Hitler's mountain retreat, the Berghof... Hitler can be heard encouraging young children towards a life in the military, criticising even his closest henchmen and flirting with Braun... he cracks jokes and talks animatedly about his love for cinema his tastes included Mickey Mouse... teasing Braun about a screening in his cinema at the Berghof. "I understand you didn't like the movie last night," he says. "I know what you want. You want Gone with the Wind..." home movies all the more chilling for their apparent happy domesticity. Hitler is shown reading to children, and playing with them. "You be a brave boy," he says to a small Aryan child. "You will be a fine soldier one day..." Himmler is seen telling Heidrich and Wolff: "I'm very busy with this project and that project." A disturbing statement from the man in charge of the Final Solution...
Industrial Incident
upi.com/ ... 12:14:46
DANVERS, Mass... A propane explosion at a chemical plant near Boston early Wednesday injured at least 10 people, flattened buildings and caused a fire that burned for hours... none of the 10 people known injured had life-threatening injuries... some people who live as far as 1.5 miles away were thrown out of bed by the force of the explosion...
Under Digital Tyranny
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:09:04
A Chinese court sentenced the founder of the country's largest pornography Web site to life imprisonment on Wednesday and jailed another eight of the site's organizers... founded "Pornographic Summer" in 2004 and went on to start three more pornography Web sites, making money by charging registration fees of $25 to $33 to some of the 600,000 members they attracted... evaded closure by regularly changing the domain name and server... Pornography was among the vices nearly wiped out in China under the strict and puritanical rule of Mao Zedong. But since economic reforms began and social controls have loosened, it has become more readily available. China also has an army of cyber police who patrol the Internet for unfavorable content, but their targets are more often politically sensitive subjects than pornography...
Theft
news.com.au/ ... 00:32:12
ONE of US President George W Bush's daughters has been robbed of her mobile phone and purse in Argentina, despite her heavy Secret Service protection, a US television network has reported. Barbara Bush's purse was snatched at a Buenos Aires restaurant during a night on the town, but the Secret Service agents did not notice, ABC News has said, citing police sources...
Industrial Tragedy
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:18:31
At least nine people have been killed after a fire broke out in a leather factory in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta... Eighteen people were also seriously injured...
alertnet.org/ ... 12:13:53
RUDA SLASKA, Poland, Nov 22... Hopes of saving 15 miners trapped for more than 24 hours in a Polish coal mine faded on Wednesday after life-threatening conditions forced rescue crews to suspend work. At least eight miners were killed by a methane explosion on Tuesday. The trapped workers were in a shaft more than 1 km beneath the town of Ruda Slaska, 300 km (190 miles) southwest of the capital Warsaw....
news.xinhuanet.com/ ... 00:31:28
At least eight Polish miners were killed in a methane gas explosion in a coal mine in southern Poland on Tuesday evening. The explosion took place at 1,030 meters underground in the Halemba coal mine in Ruda Slaska, and eight miners managed to flee while 23 others were trapped...
Violence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:44:27
A man sitting in his easy chair was shot in the head by his wife, but the sturdy recliner absorbed most of the bullet's force and left him virtually unscathed... Because she fired through the recliner, the bullet only slightly wounded [him]... [He] stood up from his chair, followed his wife into the kitchen and declared, "You shot me..." [She] fired a second shot at her husband, but missed... He retreated to a neighbor's house... where he called 911...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:18:11
Russian security officials are regularly subjecting detainees to beatings, rape and torture, a report by Amnesty International says. More than 100 cases were documented in a small number of regions, although Chechnya - where incidences are said to be much higher - was not included...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:17:50
Pierre Gemayel, a leading anti-Syrian Lebanese minister and Maronite Christian leader, has been killed in the capital, Beirut. Mr Gemayel, 34, was shot in his car in a Christian suburb and rushed to hospital, where he died...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:17:17
BBC reporter Dilawar Khan Wazir has been released by his captors, a day after being kidnapped in Pakistan. Mr Khan turned up shaken but unharmed in the BBC office in the capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday evening. He had been blindfolded and questioned about his reporting and sources. He did not know who his kidnappers were...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:16:59
Two Palestinians, one an elderly woman, were killed as Israeli troops launched deep raids into the Gaza Strip targeting militant strongholds. Armoured vehicles backed by infantry poured into the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, sparking clashes with militants... Hours later a rocket fired by militants exploded in the Israeli border city of Sderot, seriously wounding one man...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:16:35
The Sri Lankan military has said it has carried out an air raid on a Tamil Tiger rebel training camp in the north. But the rebels said military aircraft have dropped bombs in an "unprovoked" attack near rebel-held territory...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:16:22
One of seven foreign oil workers taken hostage Wednesday was killed and another was wounded during a rescue attempt that also left two kidnappers and a soldier dead...
tulsaworld.com/ ... 20:13:23
U.S. and Iraqi forces backed by helicopters swept into Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite slum in a dark-of-night raid Tuesday that netted seven militiamen, including one believed to know the whereabouts of an American soldier kidnapped nearly a month ago. Angry Shiites denounced the raid and a lawmaker from the district stood outside the Imam Ali hospital, holding the body of a boy killed in the attack and vowing he would not return to parliament until all American forces were out of Iraq. Police said three Iraqis, including the boy, were killed and 15 wounded. No soldiers were hurt...
philly.com/ ... 00:32:53
Three of the five girls who survived last month's massacre at the West Nickel Mines Amish School have returned to classes, as their community tries to adjust to what some are calling a "new normal." Of the other two children, who suffered serious head wounds, one remains in the hospital and has "shown remarkable improvement..."
iht.com/ ... 00:30:59
As a former Russian agent lay seriously ill in a London intensive care unit and Scotland Yard investigated his possible poisoning, doctors were uncertain what substance had felled Alexander Litvinenko and how it had been delivered. Although the London hospital had not released a full accounting of his illness, it indicated that he was suffering from gastrointestinal upset, hair loss, pain and failure of the bone marrow, which is the body's factory for producing blood and immune cells... Initial suspicion focused on thallium because that colorless, odorless compound causes hair to fall out and has been a common culprit in attempted poisonings over the years. But the progress of Litvinenko's symptoms over the past few days has not been typical for thallium poisoning, and the hospital announced Tuesday afternoon that test results had cast doubts on the theory...
guardian.co.uk/ ... 00:30:24
Amid all the destruction that Lebanon has witnessed over the years, the bulletholes in the window of Pierre Gemayel's car yesterday seemed almost insignificant - but their consequences may be tremendous. "This is the most panicked I have ever seen Lebanon," said 27-year-old Habib Batah as anxious Beirut residents left work early, causing huge traffic jams...
Transport Incident
breitbart.com/ ... 00:27:08
Six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport on Monday and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said... A passenger initially raised concerns about the group... The six Muslim scholars were returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation... Three of them stood and said their normal evening prayers together on the plane, as 1.7 billion Muslims around the world do every day, Shahin said. He attributed any concerns by passengers or crew to ignorance about Islam...
[Think there could be "exceptions" granted... by Imams... for their situations in travelling....]
Nature can be Deadly
breitbart.com/ ... 00:25:26
At least fourteen people were killed in Vietnam and four were reported missing after a hail storm hit the northern province Quang Ninh...
Scary Times
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 12:24:19
One of six Muslim imams pulled from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis last night by federal authorities is affiliated with a Hamas-linked organization and acknowledged a connection to Osama bin Laden in the 1990s. Omar Shahin, who served as a spokesman for the clerics, is a representative of the Kind Hearts Organization, which had its assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury pending an investigation... A Sept. 28, 2001, story in the Arizona Republic that said Arizona appears to have been the home of an al-Qaida sleeper cell, named Shahin as one of three part-time Arizona residents who "fits the pattern" of the terrorist group...
newschannel9.com/ ... 00:22:17
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency says an incident at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Tuesday morning was a "non-event." There was some concern in Meigs County and the surrounding areas when the Meigs County School Superintendent closed schools early. However Jeremy Heidt, Public Information Officer for TEMA said, "I think people are drawing conclusions because the schools closed for a funeral but they're not related. As far as we're concerned this was a fairly routine thing." TEMA got official word of the event at 5:30 am Eastern. According to Heidt the Watts Bar plant is shutdown for a routine maintenance outage right now. Plant personnel were running a testing exercise and that someone apprently did a math problem wrong during the exercise. It indicated that there was not enough water in the cooling system, perhaps a leak... however this was all strictly on paper and was not really occuring...
Extraterrestrial
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:47:31
Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin hit a golf ball into Earth's orbit from the International Space Station on Wednesday to raise money for the Russian space program at the start of a six-hour spacewalk. Tyurin, the station's flight engineer, made a one-armed swat with a gold-plated six-iron to send the lightweight ball on a journey estimated to take it around the Earth at least 48 times before it burns up in the atmosphere...
Animal Culture
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:45:21
Blood tests refute a Brazilian woman's claim that her cat had given birth to three puppies... "All the facts contradict her..."
Digital Future is Now
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:41:01
George the robot is playing hide-and-seek with scientist Alan Schultz. George whirrs and hides behind a post until he's found. Then a bit later, he hunts for and finds Schultz hiding. If that sounds childish, consider that Schultz is working his way up to teaching the robot to play Capture the Flag. What's so impressive about robots playing children's games? For a robot to actually find a place to hide, and then hunt for its human playmate is a new level of human interaction. The machine must take cues from people and behave accordingly. This is the beginning of a real robot revolution: giving robots some humanity...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:25:53
After more than 2 1/2 years of physical therapy and electronic stimulation, stroke victim Mike Marin still couldn't open a door with his left hand. Now, thanks to a robot, Marin can open a door and his atrophied left arm isn't completely useless anymore. Marin is at the forefront of what may seem an unlikely use for robots: providing the caring human touch. For three months in rehab at a suburb north of New York, an unnamed and unlikely looking robot guided his arm repeatedly through an ordinary video game. Where normal therapy failed, the constant robot-guided repetitions worked...
Digital Convergence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:38:40
The $200 Melitta Smart Mill & Brew, made by Salton Inc., takes advantage of a wireless-data system built by Microsoft to automatically display current weather conditions and forecasts...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:25:22
Mobile phones are closer to becoming smart wallets, following agreement among mobile operators on an approach to near field communications (NFC). NFC is a short-range wireless technology like RFID tags, which are used to track stock by retailers. The tags inside phones could have personal information stored in them and so could act as car keys, money, tickets and travel cards...
Antiquity - still with us
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:19:15
Archaeologists working in northern Peru have discovered a spectacular tomb complex about 1,000 years old. The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca Sican era...
The Sican culture flourished from approximately AD 800-1300, one of several metalworking societies which succumbed to drought and conquest...
World Zookeeping
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:41:16
Rare Abyssinian lion cubs are being poisoned at a zoo in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and their bodies are then sold on to be stuffed. The zoo, founded by Ethiopia's former Emperor Haile Selassie, says it poisons a number of cubs each year because it does not have the space or money to look after them...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:40:34
In Japanese villages each year, local fishermen hunt for large numbers of dolphins by herding them into shallow coves and then, scientists say, attacking them with knives and even eviscerating them alive. Now, a broad-based coalition including marine scientists and aquarium workers is demanding that the Japanese end these government-sanctioned dolphin drives, which opponents criticize as an inhumane annual practice that targets an intelligent and self-aware species...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:15:19
Chinese animal rights activists welcomed a proposed European Union ban on imports of dog and cat fur, saying Tuesday it would pressure the Beijing government to enact better legal protections for animals, while the government denied torture and cruelty are widespread...
Animal Companions
rapidcityjournal.com/ ... 12:07:46
Authorities took about 200 dogs Tuesday from a home near Provo where a woman had been taking the animals in for more than 30 years... the woman had taken in stray dogs for years and had become known for her hospitality for the animals, which eventually led to peoples misuse. "It got to the point where people would actually drop the dogs off near the place or abandon them (near there)," he said. "People were essentially taking advantage. They knew she would take in stray dogs. (It had) been going on for well over 30 years... (She) physically got to the point where she couldnt care for all those dogs anymore," he said. "She just got too many. She loved the dogs; she just couldnt care for them anymore..."
US Military
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:21:36
The U.S. Marine Corps may need to grow to sustain commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan and remain ready for other crises, the force's new commander said on Wednesday. Gen. James Conway also said he saw a mismatch between the views of his troops and those of American civilians on the time needed to train Iraqi forces and the nature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...
suntimes.com/ ... 20:14:31
After 13 months of grueling rehabilitation, Bryan Anderson was not coming off that plane in a wheelchair. The 25-year-old Army sergeant from Rolling Meadows lost both legs and much of his left arm in Iraq, but when he finally came home for good Tuesday, he made his stand. Atop prosthetic legs hidden by green fatigues, Anderson walked up the jetway from an MD-80 and proudly emerged to a roaring crowd of family, friends and former co-workers who clogged O'Hare Airport's American Airlines terminal to greet him... He came home a hero Tuesday amid a show of support that astounded him and his family... the fourth U.S. service member to lose three limbs in Iraq and survive...
defenselink.mil/ ... 12:01:56
This week, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps announced a decrease in the number of reservists on active duty in support of the partial mobilization, while the Coast Guard number remained the same. The net collective result is
990 fewer reservists
mobilized than last week.... This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to
96,977
, including both units and individual augmentees....
Only Natural
wftv.com/ ... 00:38:31
Snow flurries were reported in Seminole, Orange, and Volusia Counties Tuesday night. We even saw some snow at Channel 9's Orlando studios. The last time it snowed in Central Florida was reportedly January 24, 2003. Before that, it hadn't snowed since 1989...
Lasting Contributions
monticello.org/ ... 20:22:05
After his morning routine, Thomas Jefferson settled into a lengthy period of letter-writing: "From sun-rise to one or two o'clock," he noted, "I am drudging at the writing table." Jefferson wrote almost 20,000 letters in his lifetime, among them, scholarly musings to colleagues, affectionate notes to his family, and civil responses to admirers. He wrote John Adams that he suffered"under the persecution of letters," calculating that he received 1,267 letters in the year 1820, "many of them requiring answers of elaborate research, and all to be answered with due attention and consideration..."
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:23:41
Director Robert Altman, who introduced an innovative ensemble style of filmmaking in such works as "MASH," "Gosford Park" and "Nashville," has died at age 81, his production company said on Tuesday...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 20:48:00
Army Spc.
Eric Vizcaino
, 21, of New Mexico, died Nov. 21 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries suffered Nov. 20 in Samarra, Iraq, in a non-combat related incident. Vizcaino was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. The incident is under investigation.
defenselink.mil/ ... 12:03:40
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Pfc.
Charles H. Long
, U.S. Army, of Durand, Ill. will be buried Nov. 25 in Durand.... On March 24, 1953, Long was one of four men from L Company,3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, who was declared missing in action after engaging enemy forces north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on what came to be known as Pork Chop Hill. The bodies of two of the MIAs were recovered and a third MIA was returned alive during Operation Big Switch after having been captured by Chinese Communist Forces. Long remained unaccounted-for, and was eventually declared dead on March 24, 1954. In 1993, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) gave United Nations officials 33 boxes with human remains of alleged U.S. servicemen who were unaccounted-for. The DPRK recovered the remains near Komsa-ri in Kangwon Province, which was near Long's last known location. Also included in one of the boxes were Long's social security and identification cards along with identification tags....
defenselink.mil/ ... 00:21:31
Army Spc.
Bradley N. Shilling
, 22, of Stanwood, Mich., died Nov. 18 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. Shilling was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), Big Rapids, Mich.
Epidemic Without Borders
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:27:55
whooping cough, a highly contagious respiratory infection, remains a public health threat in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 25,600 reported cases in 2005; the true number may top 1 million annually. It killed 13 children, mostly infants, in 2003...
Age is No Barrier
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:27:19
Like most students at Fort Hays State University, Nola Ochs plans to spend some time reading and studying during this week's fall break. But she'll take time out on Wednesday to celebrate her 95th birthday...
Supernatural Consequences
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:43:05
ISTANBUL... A lavishly illustrated "Atlas of Creation" is mysteriously turning up at schools and libraries in Turkey, proclaiming that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is the real root of terrorism. Arriving unsolicited by post, the large-format tome offers 768 glossy pages of photographs and easy-to-read text to prove that God created the world with all its species... This is Islamic creationism, a richly funded movement based in predominantly Muslim Turkey which has an influence U.S. creationists could only dream of. Creationism is so widely accepted here that Turkey placed last in a recent survey of public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries -- just behind the United States...
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:21:16
A study commissioned by Pope Benedict on the use of condoms to fight AIDS has passed its first hurdle and is now being reviewed by top theologians for possible use in a Papal document... "This is something that worries the Pope a lot," said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care. The Catholic Church opposes the use of condoms and teaches that fidelity within heterosexual marriage, chastity and abstinence are the best ways to stop the spread of AIDS...
World Without Borders
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:20:41
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told a debate in parliament that he regards the province of Quebec as a "nation within Canada". Mr Harper was responding to a motion by Quebec separatists that MPs should "recognise Quebeckers form a nation"...
Human Right
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:19:44
A judge in Brazil has ruled in favour of allowing two gay men to adopt a five-year-old girl in a landmark case in the state of Sao Paulo... One man, Vasco Pedro da Gama, had already adopted the girl. The name of his partner, Junior de Carvalho, was then added to the birth certificate. Gay women have been granted adoption rights twice before, but this is the first time they have been given to men... ruling will not necessarily apply outside Sao Paulo...
Peace 3000
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:17:32
The government of Nepal and Maoist guerrillas have signed a historic peace accord, declaring a formal end to a 10-year rebel insurgency. Under the deal, the rebels will join a transitional government and their weapons will be under UN monitoring...
Theory of Justice
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:16:07
AL-AWWAMIYA, Saudi Arabia... When the teenager went to the police a few months ago to report she was gang-raped by seven men, she never imagined the judge would punish her - and that she would be sentenced to more lashes than one of her alleged rapists received. The story of the Girl of Qatif, as the alleged rape victim has been called by the media here, has triggered a rare debate about Saudi Arabia's legal system, in which judges have wide discretion in punishing a criminal, rules of evidence are shaky and sometimes no defense lawyers are present...
Modern Family Life
breitbart.com/ ... 12:41:51
Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year... the teen birth rate actually dropped last year to the lowest level on record. Instead, births among unwed mothers rose most dramatically among women in their 20s... Experts said the overall rise reflects the burgeoning number of people who are putting off marriage or living together without getting married. They said it also reflects the fact that having a child out of wedlock is more acceptable nowadays and not necessarily the source of shame it once was...
Digital Business
technewsworld.com/ ... 12:15:25
Google shares broke the $500 mark early Tuesday, making the company one of the most valuable in the U.S...
Modern Culture
breitbart.com/ ... 12:06:11
O.J. Simpson's ill-fated "If I Did It" book and TV project was not a confession to the murders of his ex-wife and her friend, and that the title wasn't his idea, he said in a radio interview Wednesday... "I spend the money on my bills. It's gone..." Simpson was asked point-blank if he killed the pair.
"Absolutely not, and I maintained my innocence from day one," he replied, adding a little later: "No matter what everybody wants to say, I didn't do it...
I have nothing to confess..." As for the "If I Did It" title... "That was their title. That's what they came up with. I didn't pitch anything. I don't make book deals..." Simpson also accused the Goldman family -- which won a $33.5 million civil wrongful death judgment against him -- of "opening up those old wounds" on frequent TV appearances. "It happens every month to me. Everybody's calling me names..."
Energy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:14:59
Seven partners representing half the world's population have agreed to build an experimental fusion reactor in southern France that could revolutionize global energy use for future generations. Yet it is also just an experiment - a bold, long-awaited, $12.8 billion experiment - and it will be decades before scientists are even sure it works...
freep.com/ ... 00:41:07
n the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion -- when atoms are combined to create energy -- is "kind of like the holy grail of physics," he said. In fact, on www.fusor.net, the Stoney Creek senior is ranked as the 18th amateur in the world to create nuclear fusion. So, how does he do it?..
Reasons for Repeal
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:46:11
AMSTERDAM... A plan to roll and smoke the world's largest joint was cancelled at short notice in Amsterdam when the organizers realized they could be breaking the law... The group had wanted to roll a five-foot-long pure-weed joint, stuffed with more than a pound of marijuana and containing no tobacco, and smoke it in a bar. It had initially thought the attempt would be legal if 100 people each brought along the five grams of the drug tolerated by Dutch authorities for personal use... A police spokesman said: "We would definitely have investigated this. If you make a single joint with half a kilo of cannabis in it, it would cross the line." Verheij said the group had hoped to beat a record set with a joint containing 100 grams of marijuana...
breitbart.com/ ... 00:39:28
A 92-year-old woman was shot to death Tuesday after she fired at three narcotics officers trying to serve a warrant at her house... Neighbors and relatives said it must have been a case of mistaken identity. Police said they had the right address...
Recall
today.reuters.com/ ... 00:32:33
Mattel Inc. will recall roughly 4.4 million Polly Pocket doll and accessory sets sold in the United States after three children were reported to be injured when they swallowed magnets from the sets... All three suffered intestinal perforations that required surgery... r
MON 2006-NOV-20
Nuclear is Nasty
pantagraph.com/ ... 22:52:54
CHICAGO - A physics teacher was taking inventory of chemicals in a storage room at Tri-City High School when she noticed a container that looked a little strange. She peered closer and worried that it was radioactive. It turns out, it was...
Transport Incident
breitbart.com/ ... 22:49:02
A Japanese submarine collided with a civilian cargo ship during exercises in waters off southern Japan Tuesday... no immediate reports of any injuries...
Threats
dw-world.de/ ... 20:51:09
German prosecutors have launched an investigation into a group that is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack on a passenger plane in Germany last summer... suspects had convinced an airport employee with security access to smuggle a suitcase full of explosives onto a passenger plane... The plan, however, fell apart when the unidentified suspects failed to reach agreement with the airport employee on the payment he was to receive... Prosecutors have questioned six suspects they believe were involved in bomb plot, which reportedly was to take place at Frankfurt airport...
Transport Tragedy
suntimes.com/ ... 22:55:31
Brandi Rose, 21, of Dolton and Britnii Sutton, 23, of DeKalb. Rose was driving on South Pulaski Road early Sunday morning when she and Sutton got in a quarrel, got out of the car and went into the street to fight.... They were then [both fatally] struck by a car that did not stop after hitting them...
[Rage is dangerous....]
cbsnews.com/ ... 20:46:44
HUNTSVILLE, Ala... A school bus carrying high school students plummeted 30 feet off an interstate overpass Monday, killing three teenage girls and injuring at least 30 other people, several critically...
upi.com/ ... 20:46:20
LOS ANGELES... An elderly man was given probation rather than being sent to prison for a horrific accident that killed 10 people at a Santa Monica, Calif., farmer's market.... to remain home due to his age and poor health despite his conviction on 10 counts of manslaughter....
Criminally Stupid
today.reuters.com/ ... 14:44:00
A German thief who swallowed a ring he had stolen was betrayed by his own body when he suffered stomach pains during police interrogation. He was taken to hospital where an x-ray revealed the hidden loot...
Under Tyranny
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:33:44
A senior Chinese official has made a rare admission about the extent of the use of torture in getting convictions in China's courts. Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator General, said at least 30 wrong verdicts were handed down each year because torture had been used... said the real number could be higher...
Under Digital Tyranny
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:33:22
Police in Cairo have detained a blogger whose posts have been critical of the Egyptian government...
Masses can be Deadly
hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:32:24
A stampede on a stairwell at a school in eastern China killed six children and injured 11... A stampede on a stairwell at a school in eastern China killed six children and injured 11... one student recalled seeing a classmate squatting down to tie their shoelaces on the staircase just before the incident occurred...
Violence
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:35:14
A gunman has been found dead after storming a school in Germany, injuring a teacher and several pupils... The man, reported to have been a former pupil of the school, apparently killed himself as police circled the building... A total of eight people are reported to have been wounded... although none seriously...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:33:01
A bomb exploded and tore through two cars of a passenger train Monday in a remote area of eastern India, killing at least eight people and wounding about 60 others...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:24:55
The U.S.-backed Afghan army will step up counter-Taliban offensives this winter, which could see heavy fighting during a period traditionally used by Afghan fighters for rest and resupply...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:24:32
Gunmen have kidnapped an Iraqi deputy health minister from his home in Baghdad... Several men, some in uniform, arrived in police cars and pick-up trucks to seize Ammar al-Saffar...
some 50 Iraqis died in violence on Sunday...
Scary Times
hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:42:27
STOCKPORT, England... A crossbow arrow was fired into a soccer stadium, whistling past one of the players and forcing the amateur game to be called off... sailed into the stadium from outside and nearly hit one of the Woodley players...
cnn.com/ ... 14:23:56
A criminal investigation is under way into how radioactive material ended up at a New Mexico fairground... About 500 people were evacuated from the New Mexico State Fairgrounds Expo on Saturday evening as a precaution after low levels of radiation were detected... One object originally thought to be a possible pipe bomb was later identified as a casing used to transport cesium... There was some cesium present along with cobalt-57, a material used in the medical and plumbing industries... The casing and the second object, a paint can, were found under a car parked near the fairground's fine arts building... One object was marked "nuclear" and the other, "cobalt..."
Animal Culture
foxnews.com/ ... 20:47:07
Scientists have discovered pseudo-sex in crayfish, where males fake sex with each other to show dominance and reduce violence. Without it, these males often killed each other. The use of "pseudocopulation" to establish hierarchies and ease aggression among males is also seen in mammals such as primates. This is the first time scientists have seen such a complex dominance ritual outside vertebrates...
Virtual Future is Now
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:43:44
Virtual world Second Life had to close its doors for a short time on Sunday after a worm attack called grey goo. The self-replicating worm planted spinning gold rings around the virtual world, which is inhabited by more than a million users... As users interacted with the rings they replicated, resulting in a slowdown on the servers...
US Military
today.reuters.com/ ... 14:36:16
Leading Democrats who soon will control the legislative agenda in the Congress rejected on Monday a colleague's call for reinstatement of the U.S. military draft... a plan being pushed by Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, for drafting soldiers into the army for the first time since 1973. The idea is not supported by Republicans either... Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California... said Rangel was trying to underscore that the U.S. war effort should be a "shared sacrifice" and his legislation was "a way to make that point..."
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 14:27:45
Marine Lance Cpl.
Jeremy S. Shock
, 22, of Tiffin, Ohio, died Nov. 19 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Perrysburg, Ohio.
World Without Borders
760kfmb.com/ ... 22:53:34
Migrants camping out in McGonigle Canyon in Carmel Valley have some company Saturday. The minutemen pitched tents nearby to see what it is like to live off the land for free. It is the demonstrators' way of trying to drive some 300 migrants out of the area, once and for all. Local residents, as well as the Minutemen, have tried to get city officials to do something about the camp, made up of migrants and day laborers. Now they are taking the situation into their own hands...
Theory of Education
sptimes.com/ ... 22:52:21
Steven Goforth says he spent $140 in clothes and tickets to the homecoming dance. His friend, Samantha Kelley, a freshman at Citrus High School, had invited him to come along... the night before the dance, Samantha's mom, Theresa, got a call from the school. Her daughter was not allowed to take Steven to the dance because he was not a student at Citrus High. Steven, who is 16, is homeschooled... [Parents] want to know why their son was turned away when other kids who are not students at the school were allowed in...
It's Only Money
apnews.myway.com/ ... 22:50:16
The U.S. Mint... starting in February... new coins, bearing the image of the first president, is introduced. Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are scheduled to grace the coin in 2007, with a different president appearing every three months...
Digital Culture
theinquirer.net/ ... 20:49:34
"One Laptop Per Child" scheme... So now, instead of a stand-alone laptop that can be powered by the child without any supporting infrastructure in a unit that was supposed to cost $100, you've now got a $150-200 unit with a unique LCD display that's going to require the purchase of supporting power generation infrastructure... would it really take that much for Dell or HP to quickly and quietly produce a laptop that could beat the OLPC hand-down?...
Digital Liberty
sfgate.com/ ... 20:47:47
People who claim they were libeled on line can't sue the Internet service providers that carried the messages, the California Supreme Court ruled today. The unanimous ruling reversed an October 2003 decision by a state appellate court in San Francisco that would have held carriers like Google and Yahoo to the same legal standard as newspapers and book publishers. They can be sued for the contents of a libelous message if they knew, or had reason to know, that the message was defamatory and failed to remove it...
Look Who's Talking!
nytimes.com/ ... 20:45:01
Nov. 19 Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, who regularly advises President Bush on Iraq, said today that a full military victory was no longer possible there...
[The architect of American failure in Viet Nam....]
In Washington, a leading Republican supporter of the war, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said American troops in Iraq were "fighting and dying for a failed policy..."
[Another voice of failure and defeat...]
Modern Culture
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:43:12
Rupert Murdoch's media companies have
cancelled plans for a controversial book by OJ Simpson
and televised interview with him. The book and programme If I Did It, in which Mr Simpson describes how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend, had caused public outrage. Mr Murdoch said he was "sorry for any pain this has caused".
Mr Simpson was acquitted
of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman on 12 June 1994...
Sex & Politics
hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:43:09
Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter... The Global Orgasm for Peace... whose immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace...
Rebuilding
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:34:36
A US military review of strategy in Iraq is likely to back a limited troop increase focused on training... the Pentagon group had also concluded that a swift withdrawal of US troops would be likely to push the country into full-blown civil war...
Reasons for Repeal
hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:32:47
Tipped off by three plastic pipes mysteriously skimming the ocean's surface, authorities seized a homemade submarine packed with 3 tons of cocaine off Costa Rica's Pacific coast. Four men traveled inside the 50-foot wood and fiberglass craft, breathing through the pipes. The craft sailed along at about 7 mph, just six feet beneath the surface...
Transport Pre-Automation
washingtonpost.com/ ... 22:50:54
The Web site http://www.platewire.com allows motorists to post the license plate numbers of offending drivers on the Internet and tell the world what a moron that guy was on the Capital Beltway... Police disapprove, saying the best tactic is to call authorities...
spiegel.de/ ... 14:26:30
BMW is manufacturing the first series of hydrogen fueled cars. They're not as green as they seem. For a start, they're incredibly thirsty -- and they will put more strain on the environment than a heavy diesel truck...
spiegel.de/ ... 14:21:03
European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren -- by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs. A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs... "The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles..."
SUN 2006-NOV-19
Transport Incident
news.scotsman.com/ ... 11:09:17
HOLIDAYMAKERS waiting to take-off on a delayed flight to Edinburgh today claimed the pilot told them the plane was a "heap of rubbish"... The pilot allegedly admitted the six-year-old plane was only designed to carry 55 tonnes, but had 61 on board... The passengers say they were due to take off from the north runway at Lanzarote, which would have taken them over mountains, but the pilot decided against this over concerns about whether the plane had the power to get that high because of the weight. Today, FlyGlobespan denied the pilot made any such comments, despite three different passengers claiming he did. The firm admitted the flight was delayed yesterday, but said it was due to strong winds, and it finally took off this morning. But the people on board the flight, which included a number of young children, said they were furious with the way they had been treated by the budget airline...
Police Riot
nzherald.co.nz/ ... 11:06:00
A constable who took a Taser to a central Auckland domestic dispute wound up shocking himself and a 16-year-old and later pepper-spraying an innocent 21-year-old woman...
Animals can be Deadly
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:53:17
Authorities in Nepal tranquilized an elephant and trimmed its tusks after it was blamed for a dozen deaths in the country's east over the past six weeks... Nepal's elephant population has dwindled to about 100...
Under Tyranny
upi.com/ ... 10:59:18
China will restrict broadcast reporting on vicious crimes so the country's young people have a healthier media environment, the Beijing government says...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:51:03
A human rights group urged China on Sunday to disclose details surrounding the removal of body organs from executed prisoners for transplants, after health officials recently acknowledged the practice. Little information about China's transplant business is publicly available, and critics contend it is profit-driven with little regard for medical ethics. China has long defended the practice as legal...
Nature vs Transport
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:48:59
A local train derailed Sunday in western Japan, injuring all 25 passengers and the driver... two-car train... fell on its side while traveling early Sunday in mountainous areas between Makiyama and Tamagashi stations in Okayama prefecture, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) west of Tokyo... none of their injuries were life threatening, though two people were seriously hurt... Investigators found a large rock near the rail tracks... apparently had rolled down from the mountain, might have hit the rail tracks and damaged them...
Nature can be Deadly
thestate.com/ ... 10:40:02
CHARLESTON A Bamberg utility worker checking downed power lines was electrocuted Thursday as severe storms plowed across South Carolina, toppling trees and bringing heavy rains that flooded city streets... electrocuted as he worked from a bucket truck to clear power lines...
Violence
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:52:22
Several people were injured when an Israeli missile struck a car carrying Hamas militants in Gaza... The Israeli army said Sunday's air strike had targeted a vehicle carrying several senior members of the Hamas rocket-launching unit but gave no further details... The Hamas militants inside managed to escape the wreckage... exact number of injured and their condition was not clear... wounded included passengers and passers-by, among them teenagers and children...
Hours earlier, Palestinian militants fired rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, injuring three Israelis...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:50:36
A former Russian spy poisoned in Britain and now gravely ill and under guard in the hospital may have been targeted for his outspoken criticism of former colleagues in Moscow, fellow dissidents said Sunday. Col. Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and Federal Security Service (FSB) agent, told reporters earlier this week that he fell ill on Nov. 1 following a meal with a contact who claimed to have details about the slaying of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who was gunned down last month in her Moscow apartment building... victim of poisoning by thallium - a toxic metal found in rat poison...
baltimoresun.com/ ... 10:41:57
The crowded food court of the Westfield Annapolis mall turned into a scene of panic last night as a gunfight broke out and wounded three people - including an off-duty Secret Service agent who tried to stop the shooting... witnesses said... at least 10 gunshots... a group of youths surrounded a young man about 7:15 p.m. and began hitting him just inside the food court entrance. The Secret Service agent, who had come upon the scene while shopping with his family, tried to break up the fight... After one youth began shooting, the agent pulled out his weapon and "engaged in fire" with the shooter... The agent and the shooter were both transported to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Police did not identify them last night, but said they were in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries... The third wounded person... was treated... for a gunshot wound to his lower left leg and was released before midnight.... is a 16-year-old junior... who was involved in one of the many fights that have broken out at the school this year, said his mother...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:34:56
The Israelis have called off a planned air attack on a house in Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza after hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield. Mohammedweil Baroud said he was warned by Israeli forces to leave his home. He instead ran to a mosque and summoned neighbours to help defend the house. Mr Baroud is a commander in the Popular Resistance Committees militant group...
gulfnews.com/ ... 10:34:41
Baghdad: At least 20 labourers were killed when a suicide car bomber crashed into a group waiting to be hired in... in the mainly Shiite town of... the southern Baghdad town of Hilla on Sunday... as construction workers were in a yard waiting to be hired... At least 40 people were also wounded...
Virtual Future is Now
money.cnn.com/ ... 11:09:47
General Motors' Pontiac division is spending thousands of dollars to create a make-believe dealership that will sell make-believe cars for as little as a few dollars a piece. The dealership will exist, so to speak, in Second Life, an on-line virtual world...
Geology
msnbc.msn.com/ ... 11:08:16
A section of the Appalachian Mountains discovered in Mexico
is forcing scientists to redraw their maps of ancient Earth... Previously, scientists thought that 420 million years ago Earth contained two main land masses that were separated by a large expanse of sea, called the Rheic Ocean. In the south was Gondwana, a supercontinent consisting of South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica. And to the north was Laurussia, made up of North America, Greenland, Europe and parts of Asia... According to this scenario, the Acatlan Complex remained a part of Gondwana, and the entire supercontinent slammed into North America. The collision closed the Rheic Ocean, created the Appalachian Mountains and formed the goliath land mass known as Pangea...
US Military
seattletimes.nwsource.com/ ... 11:05:10
Shortly after Jeffrey "Toz" Toczylowski's last mission in Iraq a year ago this month, friends received a message. "If you are getting this e-mail, it means that I have passed away..." The Army Special Forces captain, 30, said he would like family and friends to attend his burial at Arlington National Cemetery, "but understand if you can't make it..." added: "There will also be a party in Vegas with a 100k to help pay for travel, room and a party..." a bash that drew family and childhood friends from her son's hometown in Upper Moreland, Pa., near Philadelphia, men and women from his days at Texas A&M University, and comrades in arms who had bonded with "Toz" on missions they could not discuss with civilians. By 7 p.m., the last of 120 or so guests were offering hotel bouncers the password and trooping into the Palm's 10,000-square-foot Hardwood entertainment suite...
baltimoresun.com/ ... 10:39:23
American military doctors in Iraq have injected more than 1,000 of the war's wounded troops with a potent and largely experimental blood-coagulating drug despite mounting medical evidence linking it to deadly blood clots that lodge in the lungs, heart and brain. The drug, called Recombinant Activated Factor VII, is approved in the U.S. for treating only rare forms of hemophilia affecting about 2,700 Americans. In a warning last December, the Food and Drug Administration said that giving it to patients with normal blood could cause strokes and heart attacks. Its researchers published a study in January blaming 43 deaths on clots that developed after injections of Factor VII...
Repeal! Repeal! Repeal!
abclocal.go.com/ ... 11:11:05
After seizing nearly three tons of marijuana in less than two weeks, a U.S Border Patrol official here says this may be a sign of a successful growing season that was helped by unusually heavy summer rain fall...
Why People Go Vegan
orlandosentinel.com/ ... 11:10:42
Growing so large that they are now called "factory farms," livestock feedlots are poorly regulated, pose health and ecological dangers and are responsible for a deteriorating quality of life in America's and Europe's farm regions, according to a series of studies published this week by scientists. Animal feedlots are contaminating water supplies with pathogens and chemicals, and polluting the air with foul-smelling compounds that can cause respiratory problems, but the health of their neighbors goes largely unmonitored... Feedlots are operations where hundreds, often thousands, of cattle, hogs, dairy cows or poultry are confined often in very close quarters. About 15,500 medium-to-large livestock feedlots operate in the United States, and it is roughly an $80 billion-a-year industry...
Digital Culture
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:49:59
CORVALLIS, Ore.... An iPod screen glowing in the middle of the night from thick underbrush led rescuers to a mushroom picker lost in the woods... lacking a flashlight, had been using the music device for light...
SAT 2006-NOV-18
Nature can be Deadly
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 22:53:05
At least 56 people have been killed in recent flash floods in western Afghanistan... Dozens more were declared missing... around the remote town of Balamurghab in the western Badghis province... Several villages have been washed away and thousands of homes destroyed along the Murghab river... Nato-led troops are preparing to airlift aid to the region, much of which is inaccessible by road...
WW3 - still with us
gulfnews.com/ ... 22:50:51
The top US general in the Middle East said yesterday that
if the world does not find a way to stem the rise of Islamic militancy, it will face a third world war...
[Some say we're already in it...]
compared the rise of militant ideologies, such as the force driving Al Qaida, to the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s...
If not stopped, Abizaid said extremists would be allowed to "gain an advantage, to gain a safe haven, to develop weapons of mass destruction, to develop a national place from which to operate. And I think that the dangers associated with that are just too great to comprehend"...
Family Tragedy
cbsnews.com/ ... 13:13:09
ELKHART, Ind... A woman hospitalized after being found near death next to the bodies her four young children was arrested Thursday for their deaths... police... did not give any details on what caused the deaths of the two girls and two boys, ages 2 to 8... husband found her and the four children... when he returned home Tuesday night...
War of Independence still with us
courier-journal.com/ ... 13:10:37
Nearly 200 years after Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Lawrence was buried in eastern Jefferson County, he has been rediscovered by a Desert Storm veteran who is making sure Lawrence is honored...
9/11 - still with us
nypost.com/ ... 13:02:26
A Jordanian-born college student swept up in an FBI dragnet after 9/11 was acquitted yesterday of lying to a grand jury about how well he knew two of the hijackers. Osama Awadallah, 26, smiled at his weeping dad as the verdict was read... was never accused of any terrorism-related crime... was arrested in San Diego 10 days after 9/11 as investigators checked his connection to hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi. The two had briefly lived in the same community and attended the same mosque, and the FBI had found Awadallah's phone number in al-Hazmi's car...
Under Digital Tyranny
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:55:43
China's easing of a ban on the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia appears to have been short-lived. Users reported Friday that the site was unavailable in several parts of China, barely a week after it suddenly became accessible... wasn't immediately clear if user-contributed encyclopedia was unreachable due to technical glitches or because government censors had blocked the site again...
Scary Times
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:43:16
GAINESVILLE, Fla... A small black object that was found attached to the bottom of a woman's Jeep and prompted an evacuation of a three-square block area on Friday wasn't a bomb after all. It was a tracking device planted by the woman's husband...
Violence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 22:53:18
Iraqi and American forces fought Sunni insurgents in an hours-long street battle Saturday in the increasingly violent city of Baqouba, as residents fled indoors under the rattle of automatic weapons fire and the blasts of rocket-propelled grenades. City police said at least 18 people were killed and 19 wounded...
today.reuters.com/ ... 22:52:26
Gunmen in Baghdad killed a prominent Shi'ite Islamist politician on Saturday... In what looked like a sectarian assassination, Ali al-Adhadh of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was shot dead with his wife as he drove in mainly Sunni west Baghdad...
chron.com/ ... 22:51:38
AURORA, Ill... An armed patient was fatally shot when he exchanged gunfire with police at a suburban Chicago hospital, ending an hours-long standoff... had briefly held a 71-year-old patient hostage in the hospital room, but released him unharmed after police intervened. No one else was injured...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:39:57
Two Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian residents and medics... Israeli army seized two houses in a raid near the town of Beit Lahiya. Palestinian militants went to confront them and at one point Hamas fighters struck with an anti-tank weapon...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:39:25
Seven people including three police have died in violence in a small town in India's north-eastern Assam state... More than 20 people, including some policemen, were injured in the mayhem... police detained two young men allegedly involved in a road accident in Moirabari, in Moregaon district... More than 1,000 people encircled the town's police station demanding their release... Police charged with batons to break up the protest, but the mob turned more violent and set fire to the building. Some of the protesters dragged out and lynched three policemen who subsequently died. The police then opened fire, killing four protesters...
WW2 - still with us
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:36:27
This vast archive - 16 miles of files in six nondescript buildings in a German spa town - contains the fullest records of Nazi persecutions in existence. But because of concerns about the victims' privacy, the ITS has kept the files closed to the public for half a century, doling out information in minimal amounts to survivors or their descendants on a strict need-to-know basis. This policy, which has generated much ill-feeling among Holocaust survivors and researchers, is about to change...
1960s - less with us
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:34:01
William Lee Brent, a Black Panther who hijacked a passenger jet to communist Cuba in 1969 and spent 37 years in exile, has died on the island, his sister said. He was 75... he used a handgun to hijack TWA Flight 154 from San Francisco to Havana on June 17, 1969...
Antiquity - still with us
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:55:17
They come from one of the world's most disputed holy places - the square in the heart of Jerusalem that is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary... Among finds that have emerged are a coin struck during the Jewish revolt against the Romans, arrowheads shot by Babylonian archers and by Roman siege machinery, Christian charms, a 3,300-year-old fragment of Egyptian alabaster, Bronze Age flint instruments, and - the prize discovery - the imprint of a seal possibly linked to a priestly Jewish family mentioned in the Old Testament's Book of Jeremiah... it is odd, perhaps, that this is an excavation that was never supposed to happen...
US Military
defenselink.mil/ ... 12:48:25
The Department of Defense announced today that it
released three detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
, to Albania. One of the detainees is an Algerian national, one is an Egyptian national, and one is an ethnic Uzbek who was born in the former Soviet Union. All three detainees were determined to be "No Longer Enemy Combatants" (NLEC) through a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT), a review process held at Guantanamo during 2004-2005 to determine classification status of all detainees.... With today's release, approximately 110 detainees remain at Guantanamo who the U.S. government has determined eligible for transfer or release through a comprehensive series of review processes.... This release increases the number of detainees who have departed Guantanamo this year to approximately 80. Since 2002, approximately 345 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries including Albania, Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and Yemen. Approximately 430 detainees remain at Guantanamo....
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 22:49:43
Army Cpt.
John R. Dennison
, 24, of Ijamsville, MD, died on Nov. 15 in Balad, Iraq, as a result of small arms fire. Dennison was assigned to 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 12:46:57
Army Capt.
Rhett W. Schiller
, 26, of Wisconsin, died Nov. 16 in Balad Ruz, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. He was assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 12:46:39
Army Sgt. 1st Class
Schuyler B. Haynes
, 40, of New York
Army Spc.
Mitchel T. Mutz
, 23, of Falls City, Texas
died Nov. 15 in Baquba, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations. They were assigned to 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 12:46:03
Army Spc.
Eric G. Palacios Rivera
, 21, of Atlantic City, N.J., died Nov. 14 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.
defenselink.mil/ ... 12:45:45
Army Col.
Thomas H. Felts Sr.
, 45, of Sandston, Va., assigned to the Command and General Staff College, School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Army Spc.
Justin R. Garcia
, 26, of Elmhurst, N.Y., assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
died Nov. 14 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations.
Healing Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:44:29
Stem cells extracted from amniotic fluid can be induced to grow on a polymer scaffold into a fully functional human heart valve that will open and close like a native valve.... The process may eventually find application in infants with damaged heart valves...
Rebuilding
news.independent.co.uk/ ... 22:51:51
Tony Blair has come close to admitting that the Iraq war has been a "disaster" but insisted that British troops will not be withdrawn prematurely...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 22:49:30
Iraqi forces are gradually taking the lead in policing Kirkuk, where sectarian violence is scant compared to places like Baghdad 156 miles south. The transition gives the American troops training them hope that they are closer to going home. U.S. soldiers transferred authority to one Iraqi unit in Kirkuk in early autumn, and two others are scheduled for mid-January. By the time the Army's 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry heads home to Hawaii next summer, about half the Iraqi forces in Kirkuk - army and police - will be under Iraqi command, said Lt. Col. Michael Browder, a 45-year-old Clarksville, Tenn., native in charge of training the units...
But is it Art?
msnbc.msn.com/ ... 13:11:57
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - An art exhibit featuring deep-fried American flags, complete with peanut oil and black pepper, has been removed by a museum director in this military-friendly town. Art student William Gentry said his piece, "The Fat Is in the Fire," was a commentary on obesity in America. "I deep-fried the flag because I'm concerned about America and about America's health..."
Supernatural
thisislondon.co.uk/ ... 13:10:54
Devout Christians are flocking to a church on the French riviera where both Jesus and the Virgin Mary are said to have appeared to worshippers. The holy 'visions' are being taken so seriously they are being investigated by a French Bishop and the Pope has been informed...
Military Culture
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:59:34
Miss Israel has been given permission not to carry her assault rifle during service in the Israeli army because she says it bruises her legs...
Theory of Education
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:44:05
KNOXVILLE, Tenn... An Anderson County teenager has filed a lawsuit over her temporary dismissal from a weightlifting class by a principal who feared male students might try to rape her...
Digital Business
thisislondon.co.uk/ ... 13:09:37
Passports which have rocketed in value to make them more secure can be easily cloned using a microchip reader bought over the internet for less than £100. The revelation is a huge embarrassment for the Home Office, which has increased the cost of travel documents by 60 per cent in less than a year...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:57:57
A Sheffield man has won a refund from Dell for not installing Microsoft's Windows XP on a laptop he bought from the PC giant... Freelance programmer Dave Mitchell... an active member of the open source community, said he knew that other Linux fans had tried to get refunds in a similar fashion with varying degrees of success... To bolster his case, Mr Mitchell shot photographs of every stage of the process that ended with him declining Microsoft's licence terms. "I had a clear record of what the licence did or did not say," he said. "I fully intended to take it as far as the small claims court," he said, "just to be bloody-minded..." "They only took two days to respond," he said. "I was pretty gob-smacked that it was so easy." The total refund was for £55.23, which Mr Mitchell took to be the value of a pre-installed version of Windows XP Home. A couple of days after the refund was agreed, an invoice from Dell arrived through the post, which described the refund as "goodwill unspecified"... Dell has not asked for the installation disc to be returned. "I've cost Dell £50, not Microsoft, which is a slightly annoying," said Mr Mitchell...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:38:18
Universal Music Group is suing MySpace - claiming the online social network site is encouraging its users to illegally share music and music videos... accuses MySpace of allowing people to illegally upload videos and of providing the technology for users to share the content with others... MySpace said it acted legally and dismissed the "meritless litigation". It added that its procedures for removing illegal downloads were good, and that it fully complied with copyright laws...
Aftermath
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 12:37:41
President George W Bush has said a lesson from the Vietnam War for the US is that it must be patient in Iraq...
[Wrong lesson. The lessons from Vietnam were: Don't let politicians fight the war; fight like you mean to win; have a goal in mind...."]
Human Right
msnbc.msn.com/ ... 13:14:48
BURLINGTON, Vt. - A commuter airline has disciplined a flight attendant who ordered a passenger off a plane for refusing to cover herself with a blanket while breast-feeding her toddler... was breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter in a window seat in the next-to-last row, with no part of her breast showing and her husband between her and the aisle... On Wednesday, about 30 parents and their children protested the airlines treatment of Gillette by staging a "nurse-in" at the Burlington airport...
tulsaworld.com/ ... 13:11:18
A Tulsa County judge granted a divorce to a same-sex couple on Monday but says he only discovered Thursday that both people involved were women. Because same-sex marriages aren't legal in Oklahoma, the same-sex divorce could end up being set aside...
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:44:39
A congressional report has criticized the Bush administration for failing to check if federally funded abstinence-only programs actually work to curb teen sex...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:35:14
The Bush administration, to the consternation of its critics, has picked the medical director of an organization that opposes premarital sex, contraception and abortion to lead the office that oversees federally funded teen pregnancy, family planning and abstinence programs. The appointment of Eric Keroack, a Marblehead, Mass. obstetrician and gynecologist, to oversee the federal Office of Population Affairs and its $283 million annual budget has angered family-planning advocates...
Business Culture
usatoday.com/ ... 13:16:11
Retailers are particularly concerned about gangs, which have established supply chains that make organized theft, known as "boosting," too profitable to give up without a fight. A single shoplifter operating as part of a gang can steal up to $200,000 worth of merchandise in a weekend...
usatoday.com/ ... 13:13:30
TAR HEEL, N.C. (AP) About 1,000 non-union workers, mostly Hispanics upset with the recent firing of immigrants for allegedly providing false documents, walked off their jobs at a Smithfield Foods (SFD) slaughtering plant Friday...
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:59:13
A court in Germany rejected a man's compensation claim against an airline after a cabin crew ordered him off a plane because other passengers were offended by his smell... upheld an earlier ruling that British Airways (BA) had acted within its rights by removing the man from the aircraft after a female passenger sitting next to him complained about his smell... other passengers were upset by the smell...
indystar.com/ ... 12:26:38
A Hancock County couple have filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, accusing a Fishers store of serving scalding hot chocolate that seriously burned their little girl... According to the lawsuit, Starbucks' policy is to serve child drinks at lower temperature than adult drinks to avoid kids getting burned. Brennan handed her daughter the child drink, and as she pulled away from the window, it spilled into Rachel's lap. The child was "screaming in pain," and her mother pulled over, got Rachel out and removed her clothes to find the "skin on Rachel's leg was falling off of her..."
FRI 2006-NOV-17
Sex can be... disturbing
sanluisobispo.com/ ... 17:52:22
DULUTH, Minn. - Prosecution of a case involving alleged sexual contact with a dead deer may hinge on the legal definition of the word "animal..." accused of having sex with a dead deer he saw beside a road on Oct. 11... public defender... argued that since the deer was dead, it was not considered an animal and the charge should be dismissed...
Nudity can be Dangerous
breitbart.com/ ... 17:43:46
India's most celebrated artist M.F. Husain says he is very homesick in London where he lives in voluntary exile to escape prosecution over his paintings of nude Hindu gods and goddesses...
Rage -- not a good idea
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:43:25
A British man convicted of what has been described as the country's first "web-rage" attack, was jailed for 2-1/2 years on Friday for assaulting a man he had exchanged insults with over the Internet...
breitbart.com/ ... 17:42:56
An 80-year-old New York cemetery worker has been charged with using a rake as an offensive weapon after allegedly beating a man who caught him urinating on a relative's grave... was walking his dog in the cemetery when he spotted the 80-year-old relieving himself in a vase on his grandmother's grave...
Nicotine is a Drag
thedenverchannel.com/ ... 17:40:49
GOLDEN, Colo... A judge has upheld a homeowners association's order barring a couple from smoking in the town house they own... responding to complaints from... neighbors who said cigarette smoke was seeping into their units, representing a nuisance to others in the building... The couple now has to light up on the street in front of their condominium building. "I think it's ridiculous. If there's another blizzard, I'm going to be having to stand out on the street, smoking a cigarette..."
Threats
worldtribune.com/ ... 17:50:08
China continues its planning to invade Taiwan and now
has more than 900 missile targeted on the island
, Taiwanese officials said last week...
breitbart.com/ ... 17:39:33
An al-Qaida operative... Dhiren Barot... conducting surveillance on U.S. soil in 2000 favored using a limousine packed with explosives or a hijacked oil tanker truck to attack financial institutions in Manhattan and New Jersey, police officials said... Police say Barot was fixated on the black sedans regularly used by corporate executives in New York because they were given easy access to parking around corporate areas. The memo was quoted during a New York Police Department briefing Thursday on terror threats for private security officials from Wall Street firms and other businesses. The memo and briefing shed more light on the designs of Barot, a 34-year-old British convert to Islam who was sentenced to life in prison in Britain last week after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit mass murder...
Violence
starbulletin.com/ ... 17:38:41
Marine Lance Cpl. Michael D. Scholl never got to hold his daughter, who was born a month after he left Kaneohe Bay in September. He was killed in Iraq on Tuesday. Scholl, 21, of Lincoln, Neb., was the third Kaneohe Marine from the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment, to die in Al Anbar province this week. Friends said Scholl was killed by a roadside bomb. Also killed in Al Anbar on Tuesday were Lance Cpl. Mario D. Gonzalez, 21, of La Puente, Calif., and Lance Cpl. Timothy W. Brown, 21, of Sacramento, Calif...
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:35:53
Iraqi police freed two American hostages in a raid on Friday but a third foreigner was found dead a day after they were kidnapped when their truck convoy was hijacked at a bogus security checkpoint. It was not clear if the dead man was one of two other American private security contractors or an Austrian taken hostage in the same incident near the Kuwaiti border...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:16:11
Israeli troops in the West Bank say they killed a Palestinian militant... said troops had spotted an armed gunman in al-Ein camp near Nablus and opened fire. Earlier, the Israeli air force also hit the homes of several senior Palestinian militants in Gaza, wounding at least one person...
Animal Culture
stuff.co.nz/ ... 17:54:36
Brazilian student Cassia Aparecida de Souza, 18, claims her cat's offspring has been born with dog traits last Friday, three months after mating with a neighbour's dog in the Brazilian city of Passo Fundo... A geneticist from the Passo Fundo University plans to take blood samples from the animals to verify the claim...
Extraterrestrial Threat
guardian.co.uk/ ... 17:42:05
The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036...
Future is Now
worldtribune.com/ ... 17:41:17
TEL AVIV A university here has developed and patented nano-battery technology suitable for military applications... new battery, with the thickness of a strand of hair, was safer and could recharge faster...
Science Marches Onnnnnn
today.reuters.com/ ... 13:18:16
Israel is using nanotechnology to try to create a robot no bigger than a hornet that would be able to chase, photograph and kill its targets... would be able to navigate its way down narrow alleyways to target otherwise unreachable enemies such as rocket launchers...
Antiquity - still with us
hosted.ap.org/ ... 13:17:39
Mexican archeologists are investigating if the tomb of an Aztec emperor lies beneath a recently excavated stone monolith depicting a fearsome god. It would be the first burial site ever found of a leader of the 1427-1521 Aztec empire...
Feeding Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 13:17:19
China has killed more than 5,000 ducks which farmers fed with a dye to make their eggs look redder and fresher, state media said on Friday as the country tackles the latest in a series of food safety scares... samples of red-yolked duck eggs sold in some cities were found to contain Sudan II, a cancer-causing red dye...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 13:14:52
Army Col.
Thomas H. Felts Sr.
, 45, of Sandston, Va. He was assigned to the Command and General Staff College, School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Army Spc.
Justin R. Garcia
, 26, of Elmhurst, N.Y. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
died Nov. 14 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations.
defenselink.mil/ ... 13:14:22
Army Sgt. 1st Class
Tung M. Nguyen
, 38, of Tracy, Calif., died Nov. 14 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
US Military
hosted.ap.org/ ... 13:15:08
The U.S. military is planning to build a $125 million compound to hold war crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, including a two-courtroom facility, dining areas and accommodations for as many as 1,200 people...
defenselink.mil/ ... 13:14:09
The Department of Defense announced today the first of the major units scheduled to deploy as part of the next Operation Iraqi Freedom rotation. This announcement involves one Army division headquarters and five Army combat brigades consisting of approximately 20,000 service members. The scheduled rotation for the forces identified in this announcement will begin in early 2007.... For Operation Iraqi Freedom, the major units announced today are: 3rd Infantry Division Headquarters, Fort Stewart, Ga. 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Ks. 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wa. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga. 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C 173rd Airborne Brigade, Vicenza, Italy The department also alerted approximately 27,000 active duty and 10,000 reserve component troops in combat support and combat service support units smaller than brigade-size elements for deployment beginning in 2007.
Citizenship
csmonitor.com/ ... 17:50:47
To gain American citizenship, immigrants must be able to answer such questions as: What was the 49th state added to our Union? What color are the stars on our flag? And who wrote the Star Spangled Banner? Sound trivial? The US government thinks so, and plans to roll out a new pilot test this winter... It will continue to be an oral test, conducted in English, and will have 10 questions. Six correct answers will earn a passing grade. But the content, which is tightly under wraps, is expected to shun simple historical facts about America that can be recounted in a few words for more explanation about the principles of American democracy, such as freedom...
US Judicial Branch
dfw.com/ ... 17:45:13
[Retired] Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O'Connor... "Every member of the Supreme Court received a wonderful package of home-baked cookies, and I don't know why, the staff decided to analyze them," she recounted. "Each one contained enough poison to kill the entire membership of the court..."
Digital Threat
news.bostonherald.com/ ... 17:37:55
Two armed thugs got wise to PS3s $500-plus price and tried to rob a line of people waiting outside a Putnam, Conn., Wal-Mart store at 3 a.m. Michael Penkala of Webster, Mass., refused to give up his money and was shot... in stable condition... with "non-life threatening" injuries...
Digital Culture
blogs.zdnet.com/ ... 17:36:40
Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google have aligned on a new, standardized sitemap protocol that allows webmasters to give all three companies' search engine spiders a complete listing of their site's pages...
Rebuilding
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:16:38
The Afghan government has begun deploying more than 11,000 auxiliary police in the south of the country to combat worsening lawlessness. President Hamid Karzai says the move is aimed at curbing the insurgency there. But there is growing opposition to the auxiliary police from ordinary Afghans complaining of corrupt behaviour. One diplomat has described the auxiliary police as legalised militias loyal to their warlords, and not the central government in Kabul...
Supernatural Threats
hosted.ap.org/ ... 13:13:07
The Dutch government announced plans Friday for legislation banning full-length veils in public places and other clothing that covers the face - putting the Netherlands at the forefront of a general European hardening toward Muslim minorities... "The Cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing - including the burqa - is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens," Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk said... The main Dutch Muslim organization CMO has been critical of any possible ban. The idea was "an overreaction to a very marginal problem" because hardly any Dutch women wear burqas anyway, said Ayhan Tonca of the CMO. "It's just ridiculous..."
THU 2006-NOV-16
Criminally Stupid
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:23:15
a thief in southwestern France who returned to the home from which he had just stolen a TV to pick up the remote control -- and was arrested...
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:23:02
LONDON... Two elderly women whose pictures were plastered across newspapers Thursday after they were caught on camera stealing a bag at a railway station have turned themselves in...
Animals can be Dangerous
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:20:54
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky... [Furniture store]... a four-point buck leapt through the front window.... [owner] rushed out of his office and watched while the buck crashed into queen-sized beds, marble top end tables and rocking chairs. After regaining his wits... hurried to the gun safe and pulled out his .38-caliber pistol... "I got off a couple shots, but it didn't kill him..." Officers eventually shot and killed the deer in the rear of the store...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:19:08
A California sea lion has bitten at least 14 people and chased 10 others out of the water this week at a public park's lagoon, prompting the city to temporarily close the area to swimmers...
Under Digital Tyranny
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:11:45
Online enyclopedia Wikipedia was accessible again in China on Thursday after being blocked for more than a year, a move hailed by free media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. The main page of the Chinese-language version of Wikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org) could be displayed and searches for apolitical terms turned up results, but searches for subjects taboo to China's Communist leadership, such as "June 4", remained blocked...
Violence
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:42:31
Up to 14 people, including four American contractors, were kidnapped in an ambush of a convoy near the southern Iraq city of Nasiriyah on Thursday...
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:27:10
Passengers from up to six Baghdad minibuses may have been abducted after being stopped at a fake security checkpoint in the Iraqi capital on Thursday...
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:18:01
A gunman shot five people seemingly at random in a 10-minute period on Detroit's West Side on Thursday, killing two of them...
Nature can be Deadly
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:17:14
A tornado ripped through a North Carolina trailer park on Thursday, killing at least six people... "It was just like a war zone as you would imagine, cars on top of cars, cars on top of houses, people's clothing everywhere...."
Industrial Tragedy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 12:15:27
All 47 miners trapped after an explosion in a northern Chinese coal mine were confirmed dead after rescuers found the last body Thursday... This brought the death toll from two coal mine accidents in Shanxi province in recent days to 81, a day after rescuers at another mine mishap said all 34 miners trapped after a fire on Sunday had died...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:38:55
Army Pfc.
Daniel J. Allman II
, 20, of Canon, Ga.
Army Pfc.
Jang H. Kim
, 20, of Placentia, Calif.
died Nov. 13 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations. Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:38:25
Marine Lance Cpl.
Mario D. Gonzalez
, 21, of La Puente, Calif., died Nov. 14 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:38:11
Marine Lance Cpl.
Michael D. Scholl
, 21, of Lincoln, Neb., died Nov. 14 from wounds sustained while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Lasting Contributions
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:29:32
Nobel prize-winning US economist
Milton Friedman
has died at the age of 94... a key advocate of deregulation and privatisation... coined the phrase "there's no such thing as a free lunch", was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 1976... influenced the policies of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan... Lady Thatcher paid tribute to Mr Friedman, calling him "an intellectual freedom fighter". "He revived the economics of liberty, when it had been all but forgotten... Never was there a less dismal practitioner of the dismal science. I shall greatly miss my old friend's lucid wisdom and mordant humour... And Chancellor Gordon Brown described Mr Friedman as "one of the great economic theorists" of the 20th century. "He had a major influence on post-war economic policy not least in establishing the importance of credibility in monetary policy making..."
He was also a libertarian campaigner who supported home schooling as well as the decriminalisation of drugs and prostitution. As part of his campaigning Mr Friedman advocated the abolition of the military draft in the US after the Vietnam War, something he said was one of his proudest achievements...
Digital Future is Now
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:24:02
Scientists said on Thursday they created a brainy, four-legged robot resembling a starfish that can sense damage to its body and, on its own, think up a way to recover...
Cosmology
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:14:30
The Hubble Space Telescope has shown that a mysterious form of energy first conceived by Albert Einstein, then rejected by the famous physicist as his "greatest blunder," appears to have been fueling the expansion of the universe for most of its history. This so-called "dark energy" has been pushing the universe outward for at least 9 billion years, astronomers said Thursday...
Healing Ourselves
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:14:13
Vaccination could eradicate India's persistent polio problem, health experts say... a third of all polio cases in the world occur in India... the main factors that let the virus rage here - poor sanitation and overcrowding...
Digital Convergence
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:18:36
MotherLoad will be integrated deeper into Comedy-Central.com while offering a syndication capability allowing users to grab and embed their favorite clips for posting on their own Web pages. The new video player is part of a makeover of the channel's Web site...
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:15:47
Hutchison Whampoa has unveiled plans on Thursday to offer fixed-line broadband services such as Web calling and home TV on cell phones, as it looks to attract users to its third-generation (3G) businesses. The Hong Kong-based ports-to-telecoms conglomerate said its 3 UK mobile operation in Britain would offer services next month such as unlimited Web calling, instant messaging, search and other applications on mobile handsets for a flat monthly fee...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:13:44
Video-sharing site YouTube will show clips of NHL games, its first agreement with a professional sports league... within 24 hours of the original broadcast... will become available this month...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:13:19
EMI Music has agreed to license music videos by its slate of recording artists to an online video portal and on-demand cable service operated by Gotuit Media Corp... calls for the companies to share revenue from advertising on Gotuit.com. The deal allows only U.S. computer users who visit the site to access EMI's videos...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:12:53
Mobile firm 3 has agreed a tie-up with top internet firms in a move it claims will make the mobile internet work properly for the first time...
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:12:18
Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. said on Wednesday it will place Microsoft Corp's search engine on its cell phones, marking the software maker's most significant step to gain a U.S. foothold in the budding mobile Internet search market...
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:12:06
Television ratings giant Nielsen Media Research said on Thursday it plans to launch a system to measure viewership of so-called video-on-demand programming...
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:11:17
Time Warner divisions HBO and AOL are collaborating to launch a comedy Web site, This Just In, early next year, marking the first time advertisers will be able to work with the premium cable channel...
To Tell the Truth
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:40:39
The United States could discredit al Qaeda in the Muslim world by challenging its violent Islamist ideology and muzzling its leading proponents
, an independent report released on Thursday said. The 364-page study, published by the RAND Corp. think tank, described al Qaeda's Islamist ideology of violent resistance as a "global revolutionary creed" akin to the Marxism-Leninism philosophy that the West defeated with "a robust political warfare" campaign during the Cold War.
"If the ideology is countered and discredited, al Qaeda and its universe will wither and die.... It follows that a comprehensive U.S. strategy needs to move beyond the boundaries of conventional counterterrorism theory and practice, and address these ideological and political factors...."
Repeal! Repeal! Repeal!
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:29:45
Islamist fighters in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, shot at a crowd angered at shortages of the mild narcotic khat, killing one person...
Christmas 2006
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:22:25
The Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program has decided to accept a donation of Bible-quoting Jesus dolls, reversing course after saying earlier this week that it couldn't take them...
Theory of Justice
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:21:23
NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va... A man facing robbery charges will receive a new trial after a
juror was overheard to say the defendant should be convicted quickly so jurors could go home...
Big Nanny
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:18:51
Burger King should yank an ad campaign for its monster XXL burger - the caloric equivalent of eating 10 fried eggs - because it violates a Spanish initiative against obesity...
It's Only Money
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:15:26
merely showing [money] to people can change their behavior... "The mere presence of money changes people.... The effect can be negative, it can be positive. Exposure to money, or the concept of money, elevates a sense of self-sufficiency...."
Digital Culture
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:12:41
A smart system that can recognise and label the content in photos and videos is being developed by researchers. They believe it will help people to organise, find and share the mass of multimedia data being generated by cameras, camcorders and phones...
US Congress
today.reuters.com/ ... 12:28:09
A week after winning back control of the U.S. Congress, divided Democrats in the House defied incoming speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday and elected Steny Hoyer to be majority leader... Pelosi, a California liberal, had endorsed Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who helped lead the charge against the Iraq war...
WED 2006-NOV-15
Alcohol Was Involved
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:39:15
An Australian driver threatened police with a live snake after he was pulled over for a breath test for driving under the influence of alcohol...
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:28:59
A drunken elk is terrorizing children at a school in southern Sweden... was probably eating fermented apples in a garden... "The children are really scared..."
Transport Tragedy
desmoinesregister.com/ ... 10:33:20
An Atlantic lawyer and four young professionals from a Des Moines marketing company have been identified as the victims of a Monday night plane crash in LaPorte County, Ind...
Nature is Dangerous
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:35:07
the danger appeared to pass after a series of tiny waves hit the northern Japanese coast. The waves did not swell higher than 16 inches and rapidly diminished in size, but Japan's meteorological agency said that it would wait for at least several hours before withdrawing its warning of possible larger waves...
ecanadanow.com/ ... 10:25:01
A
tsunami alert
has been issued by the Japanese Meteorological Agency after a 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Kuril islands.The alert warns that a 2 metre high tsunami could hit the Pacific coast of Hokkaido & Honshu 1210 GMT. Coastal residents have been asked to move to higher ground...
Sex Slavery
breitbart.com/ ... 02:43:02
A Canadian couple, described as "evil incarnate" by a prosecutor, were sentenced for kidnapping neighborhood girls and forcing them into sex slavery since 1999. The judge in the Winnipeg court, released the woman, 25, after she spent two years in custody awaiting trial. Her common-law husband, 34, was sentenced to seven years in jail -- half of what prosecutors had sought, citing the pair's "depravity and perverseness..."
Violence
cnn.com/ ... 10:29:31
In a deadly attack from northern Gaza, Palestinian militants hit the Israeli town of Sderot with four Qassam rockets Wednesday morning, killing one woman and wounding a man... Two militant groups, the Islamic Jihad and the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attacks... "This is precisely the type of murderous attacks that we are trying to prevent," an angrily worded statement from the Israeli prime minister's office said. "Israel will take any means necessary in protecting our citizens..."
nytimes.com/ ... 10:25:49
the American military announced the deaths of five American troops on Tuesday. Three marines and one soldier were killed in combat in Anbar province, the center of the Sunni insurgency in the countrys west, and two soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb during combat operations in northwestern Baghdad...
All but two of the estimated 39 people kidnapped from an education ministry office have been released, Iraqs senior government spokesman said today. He described the brazen daylight abduction on Tuesday as the work of "criminal gangs" taking part in a rivalry between militias...
english.chosun.com/ ... 02:33:19
Gunmen in Iraq dressed as police commandos have kidnapped as many as 100 people during a lightning raid on a Baghdad research institute. Authorities say at least three people were later released. It is believed to be the largest mass abduction since the start of the conflict...
Threats
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:35:55
Al-Qaida has purportedly issued a statement threatening to topple Lebanon's "corrupt" Western-backed government...
ynetnews.com/ ... 02:26:14
According to the Iranian media Monday, Iranian President Mahoud Ahmadinejad declared... [regarding] Israel... "we will soon witness its disappearance and destruction..."
Scary Times
wcbstv.com/ ... 02:25:33
...man... claims the soft tacos he bought at a... Taco Bell... contained some sort of drug... claims he suffered from stomach cramps and numbness in his mouth and lips... says he checked another taco he bought and noticed a strange white powder in the meat. Worried about the mysterious powder and his slurred speech, Daggett says he went to the hospital where he allegedly tested positive for opiates, a form of morphine...
Sex can be Dangerous
breitbart.com/ ... 02:23:19
A couple's ill-concealed sexual play aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles got them charged with violating the Patriot Act... could land them in jail for 20 years... were allegedly snuggling and kissing inappropriately, "making other passengers uncomfortable..." On a second warning from the flight attendant, Persing snapped back threatening the flight attendant with "serious consequences" if he did not leave them alone...
Sick, Sick, Sick
breitbart.com/ ... 02:22:15
A man pleaded guilty in the deaths of his ex-girlfriend's four small kittens, which were tossed into a fire pit after the couple argued... sentenced Monday to 1 1/2 years in jail for aggravated animal cruelty... suspended... except for the 134 days Tomlin has served since his arrest... charges of assault for allegedly striking former girlfriend... and destruction of property were dropped... told her from jail that "he should have finished what he started..." judge ordered [him] to have no contact with [her] or her family or with any animals or pets, and to undergo mental health and substance abuse evaluation...
[Judge doesn't seem to have a handle on this....]
Digital Future is Now
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:36:54
Although he hasn't built a device yet, Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor Marin Soljacic said he has figured out how to wirelessly recharge batteries... using specially tuned waves of electromagnetism that don't radiate like normal waves... the recharge device and the receiver would be on the same acoustic frequency... so that the energy would mostly go straight to the intended battery...
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:26:19
British scientists said on Tuesday they have developed a virtual reality system that can help amputees cope with phantom pain by giving them the illusion that their missing limb is still there... uses a headset and sensors to transport patients into a virtual world where they see themselves with two limbs which they can control and move to do tasks and play games...
Antiquity - still with us
sun-sentinel.com/ ... 23:12:04
Following directions in the Dead Sea Scrolls, archeologists have found the latrines used by the sect that produced the scrolls, discovering that efforts to achieve ritual purity inadvertently exposed members to intestinal parasites that shortened their lives... Had the waste been dumped on the surface, as is the practice of Bedouins in the area, the parasites would have quickly been killed by sunlight. Buried, they could persist for a year or longer, infecting anyone who walked through the soil. The situation was made worse by the fact that the Essenes had to pass through an immersion cistern, or miqvot, before returning to the settlement. The water would have served as a breeding ground for the parasites. The ritual cleansing "is a total immersion, which means that it gets in your ears, in your eyes and in your mouth," Zias said. "It is not hard to imagine how sick everyone must have been..." in the Qumran cemetery... Fewer than 6% of the men buried there survived to age 40...
US Military
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:10:02
This week, the Marine Corps and Coast Guard announced a increase in the number of reservists on active duty in support of the partial mobilization, while the Army, Navy and Air Force had a decrease. The net collective result is
561 fewer reservists
mobilized than last week.... This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to
97,967
, including both units and individual augmentees....
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:35:31
An Army soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to testify against three colleagues charged in the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing of her family. Spc. James P. Barker agreed to the plea in exchange for a lighter sentence... Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty against two others in the case...
People Live
voanews.com/ ... 10:31:40
...the secret to living a long, healthy life?.. a new study tracked more than 5,000 men for several decades... shows that a youthful old age is possible if one remains fit and active... "Nine risk factors became very important..."
not overweight...
low blood pressure...
low blood sugar...
low bad cholesterol...
drank moderate amounts of alcohol...
did not smoke...
high hand-grip strength...
higher education levels...
married...
World Zookeeping
tcpalm.com/ ... 02:43:46
Robert Wagner's split-second decision to attempt to save his friend's puppy being pulled into a stump grinder Sunday in Lake Wales became a fatal mistake... suffered "major trauma to his head and body" after becoming entangled in the machine Sunday morning... The 6-month-old Weimaraner, Maggie, also died...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:10:31
Marine Lance Cpl.
Timothy W. Brown
, 21, of Sacramento, Calif., died Nov. 14 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:10:18
Marine Lance Cpl.
Kristopher C. Warren
, 19, of Resaca, Ga., died Nov. 9 from a non-hostile incident in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 4th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Chattanooga, Tenn. The incident is currently under investigation.
defenselink.mil/ ... 02:20:16
Army 1st Lt.
Michael A. Cerrone
, 24, of Clarksville, Tenn.
Army Pfc.
Harry A. Winkler III
, 32, of Clarksville, Tenn.
died Nov. 12 in Samarra, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations. Both soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 02:19:41
Army Staff Sgt.
William S. Jackson II
, 29, of Saginaw, Mich.
Army Staff Sgt.
Misael Martinez
, 24, of Chapel Hill, N.C.
Army Sgt.
Angel De Jesus Lucio Ramirez
, 22, of Pacoima, Calif.
died Nov. 11 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations. All soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 16th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Giessen, Germany.
defenselink.mil/ ... 02:18:54
Marine Sgt.
Bryan K. Burgess
, 35, of Garden City, Mich., died Nov. 9 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Perrysburg, Ohio.
Animal Culture
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:48:27
Panbanisha the bonobo is up to her tricks again. For the second time in two months, the 20-year-old animal triggered a fire alarm at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa research center...
Defending Ourselves
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:45:09
The bandit should have paid closer attention to the used car salesman's "Friends of the NRA" ball cap before pulling his gun... has offered free rifles with car purchases in the past, was ready with his own .380-caliber pistol... The suspect fled, but left behind his driver's license...
Digital Whoops Cascade
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:41:56
Hard drives kept in dirty socks and the dangers of oiling your PC feature in a top 10 list of data disasters...
Headline of the Day
hosted.ap.org/ ... 23:40:49
Terrorists Lure Young Online With Comedy...
Reasons for Repeal
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:32:28
A crackdown on illegal use of prescription narcotics like the powerful painkiller OxyContin has caused some addicts to switch to heroin...
Supernatural Threats
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:24:06
U.S. Catholic bishops said on Tuesday that gay men and women should be welcomed in the church but that those who engage in same-sex activity should not receive Communion...
Theory of Justice
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:21:01
Pakistan's national assembly has voted to amend the country's strict Sharia laws on rape and adultery. Until now rape cases were dealt with in Sharia courts. Victims had to have four male witnesses to the crime - if not they faced prosecution for adultery. Now civil courts will be able to try rape cases, assuming the upper house and the president ratify the move...
Blurring Lines of Reality
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:12:52
The KFC Corp. on Tuesday launched a rebranding campaign with an 87,500 square-foot image of Colonel Sanders in the Nevada desert which the company says makes Kentucky Fried Chicken the world's first brand visible from space... 65,000 one-foot by one-foot painted tile pieces that were assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle... built at the remote Area 51...
Supernatural Consequences
news.yahoo.com/ ... 02:42:36
Pope Benedict XVI has called a meeting Thursday with top Vatican officials to discuss lifting the celibacy requirement for priests seeking to marry or who have already married...
Christmas 2006
breitbart.com/ ... 02:38:27
A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program... quote Bible verses...
the charity balked because of the dolls' religious nature...
Human Right
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:39:34
A woman lost her fight to have a child without the consent of her estranged husband on Wednesday when an Irish judge ruled frozen embryos did not enjoy the same constitutional right to life as those carried in the womb...
kten.com/ ... 10:32:21
Southern Baptists in Oklahoma want businesses, organizations and the government to not provide family benefits to same-sex and unmarried couples... Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma... executive director Reverend Anthony Jordan calls the homosexual lifestyle abhorrent and says companies that accept same-sex partners are eroding the foundations of traditional marriage and family...
breitbart.com/ ... 02:36:52
The South African parliament on Tuesday approved new legislation recognizing gay marriages...
Digital Culture
tampabays10.com/ ... 02:37:30
St. Petersburg, Florida - The video is hard to watch and it's littered with profanity and racial slurs. For nearly two minutes, adults, possibly even parents, cheer on two young boys to duke it out. It was posted on the popular website, MySpace.com by a teen claiming to be from St. Petersburg...
today.reuters.com/ ... 02:36:44
Microsoft... on Tuesday issued five "critical" security patches to fix flaws in its software that the company warned could allow attackers to take control of a user's computer...
dailytech.com/ ... 02:34:29
Sun... announced that it is releasing a number of key Java implementations under the GPLv2 Open source license. Sun has released Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE), Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME) and Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE) under the GNU General Public License...
Disinformation Propaganda & Spin
humanevents.com/ ... 23:13:48
In the past week, there are 476 documents on Nexis heralding the magnificent achievement of Nancy Pelosi becoming the FIRST WOMAN speaker of the House... The media yawned when Condoleezza Rice became the first black woman secretary of state... There were only 77 documents noting that Rice was the first black woman to be the secretary of state, and half of them were issues of Jet, Essence, Ebony or Black Entrepreneur magazine...
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 02:27:09
Tony Blair... offered Iran and Syria the prospect of dialogue over the future of Iraq and the Middle East. Mr Blair said there could be a new "partnership" with Iran if it stopped supporting terrorism in Iraq and gave up its nuclear ambitions. Syria and Iran could choose partnership or isolation, he said...
[spun by the UK Times as]
The first cracks in the united front over Iraq...
Repeal! Repeal! Repeal!
cnn.com/ ... 02:23:50
TORONTO, Ontario... The use of medical marijuana has given two Toronto professors the right to something that many students could only dream of -- access to specially ventilated rooms where they can indulge in peace...
MON 2006-NOV-13
Industrial Incident
breitbart.com/ ... 09:54:17
Nearly 200 factory workers fell ill in southern China after eating food cooked in oil believed to have been mixed with a wood-finishing chemical...
Prison Sucks
guardian.co.uk/ ... 09:52:45
California prisons quietly halted what was supposed to be a sweeping review of employee safety spurred by a guard's stabbing death last year... Just seven of the expected 41 evaluations were completed... "They were pretty much ceased because of fiscal issues and no more have been completed," said spokeswoman Cheryl Campoy in response to the records request. "We got a new secretary. ... There were some fiscal issues and other demands on the agency." She said the department had no specific plans to restart the reviews... Both prisons are so crowded that gymnasiums and classrooms were turned into dormitories... Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said similarly dangerous crowded conditions exist statewide... urged state legislators to approve $6 billion for new prisons and renovations this summer. When lawmakers balked, he ordered that 2,260 inmates be sent to private prisons in other states, transfers that are now under way...
Fun can be Dangerous
cbs4.com/ ... 09:50:30
A Florida man skydiving in the Keys was severely burned when he hit and became entangled in power lines... Both he and the power lines fell to the ground, but the power lines... were tangled up with his parachute, and remained live for roughly 10-15 minutes until Florida Keys Electric Coop employees arrived on the scene and cut the power... could feel electrical surges periodically the whole time he was lying there... suffered burns over an estimated 15 to 20 percent of his body...
Sex Slavery
tennessean.com/ ... 09:45:41
Tenn... At the age of 13, they say, she was smuggled into the U.S. from Oaxaca, Mexico, the first leg of a horrific journey that led her to a Harding Place area apartment. There she was beaten, raped and forced into a life of prostitution an ordeal requiring her to have sex with as many as 40 men a day... This week federal authorities said they arrested two people and charged them with the sex trafficking of children... [Officials] said it is the first case to their knowledge involving children smuggled into the country to be forced into the sex trade... The girl, now 15, is the only juvenile victim identified... court documents say the victim's cousin and other women also have been forced to sell their bodies. Like the teen... they were lured to this country by a promise of honest jobs in the U.S. so they could send money back to their families...
Violence
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:24:36
Eleven people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a minibus in northern Baghdad... At least 18 others were injured... in Shaab, a majority Shia area...
Earlier on Monday, a car bomb exploded on the edge of the heavily-fortified Green Zone, damaging 13 cars and injuring one civilian...
A traffic police brigadier was also killed by gunmen in the north of the city, while a motorcade carrying an Iraqi official came under attack as it drove through the western district of Mansur. At least two bodyguards were killed in that attack...
Transport Tragedy
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:23:42
At least 27 people have been killed in South Africa after a train collided with a truck carrying farm workers... At least six other workers were injured... Three were in a critical condition... Witnesses said the truck stalled at a level crossing, which had no barriers...
Theory of Education
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:23:04
Two Japanese children killed themselves over the weekend because they were being bullied at school, say police. The deaths of the 12-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy bring the number of children in Japan who have committed suicide since August to five... Bullying is a serious problem in Japan and the authorities have been trying to come up with ways to tackle the problem, but finding agreement on the way forward is not proving easy. Last week, several schoolchildren wrote to the Education Minister, Bunmei Ibuki, threatening to kill themselves. Mr Ibuki responded by urging students not to write to him but instead to try and find people they could talk to about their difficulties...
Industrial Tragedy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:22:00
At least 24 miners were killed and 10 others trapped Monday by an explosion in a coal mine in northern China, and the death total in another mining accident in the region rose to 35...
Under Tyranny
tulsaworld.com/ ... 09:16:24
Cuba says Fidel Castro's revolution will last forever. But the aging cadre of leaders who devoted their lives to building a communist utopia on this Caribbean island must eventually turn things over to new generations -- and Cuba's young people don't seem to share their revolutionary zeal. There is a profound disconnect between the world of this younger generation and the ideology they see in state media. After 47 years of rule by Fidel, many youths say they're tired of politics, and that the official rhetoric doesn't match their reality. They dream of less propaganda and more material comforts...
Threats
washtimes.com/ ... 09:15:49
A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected... highlights China's continuing efforts to prepare for a future conflict with the U.S.
[so says the Wash. Times]
, despite Pentagon efforts to try to boost relations with Beijing's communist-ruled military...
Transport Incident
breitbart.com/ ... 09:06:45
...at a Veteran's Day parade in this Detroit suburb
[what suburb?-- no dateline]
Sunday... a [56yo] member of a motorcycle group in the parade attempted to turn off the main boulevard... opened up his throttle and lost control, veering into a crowd of at least 50 people... sending 11 spectators... Six adults and five children ages 10 to 17... to the hospital with non- life threatening injuries...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:01:22
Army Sgt.
Courtland A. Kennard
, 22, of Starkville, Miss.
Army Staff Sgt.
Gregory W. G. McCoy
, 26, of Webberville, Mich.
died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Nov. 9 after an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle. Both soldiers were assigned to the Army's 410th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:00:42
Army Staff Sgt.
Richwell A. Doria
, 25, of San Diego, Calif., died on Nov. 7 in Kirkuk, Iraq, after being struck by small arms fire during an air assault mission. Doria was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Regiment, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:00:25
Army Sgt. 1st Class
Rudy A. Salcido
, 31, of Ontario, Calif., died on Nov. 9 in Baghdad, Iraq, after an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle. Salcido was assigned to the Army National Guard's 1114th Transportation Company, Bakersfield, Calif.
Digital Future is Now
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 09:53:39
The computer that haunts Martyn Amoss dreams literally comes to life when he switches it on. With the potential of awesome computing power it bears little resemblance to a conventional machine. Where you might expect silicon chips to lurk is a noodle soup of cells, chemicals and DNA strands. And to keep it going, Amos has to ensure it is supplied with nutrients, not electricity. For
the computer of the future will not be a mass of inert circuitry. It will be alive...
Science Marches Onnnnnn
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:29:20
Scientists have used computer software to come up with what they say is the perfect comedy face...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:28:44
Scientists announced Monday that they have developed a high-tech T-shirt that turns the strumming of an air guitar into music... adaptable to both right and left-handed would-be rock stars...
US Military
drudgereport.com/ ... 09:14:23
video... howing male soldiers in Iraq aggressively duct-taping a female soldier to a pole!.. appears obvious the soldiers are not harming the woman... top Pentagon source expressed concern...
World Zookeeping
breitbart.com/ ... 09:03:40
Ellenburg [NY], about 180 miles north of Albany... A deer being kept in a pen attacked and killed his owner Sunday...
Wild Oklahoma
tulsaworld.com/ ... 15:00:02
The widow of an Oklahoma governor -- who also had been his niece and was once his daughter -- drove her 1949 green Studebaker out of Ponca City in March 1953 and disappeared for 22 years. Thus, Lyde Roberts Marland created one of the state's strangest mysteries that wasn't explained until the eulogy at her funeral in 1987...
US Executive Branch
forbes.com/ ... 09:35:26
Gerald R. Ford has surpassed Ronald Reagan to become the longest-living U.S. president... turned 93 on July 14, 2006, became the oldest president Sunday by living to 93 years and 121 days. The milestone is based on full days...
Disinformation Propaganda & Spin
cwnews.com/ ... 09:49:11
A group of 52 biblical "specialists" have released a new version of the Bible in which inclusive language and "political correctness" have replaced some "divisive" teachings of Christianity in order to present a "more just language" for groups such as feminists and homosexuals... has Jesus no longer referring to God as "Father," but as "our Mother and Father..." Jesus is no longer referred to as the "Son" but rather as the "child" of God...
The devil, however, is still referred to with masculine pronouns...
[hmmm... a mere oversight, or perhaps not interested in true equality?]
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 09:43:27
The Russian publication Kommersant has published a newly located photograph of a U.S. hostage-taker in Iran circa 1979 bearing a striking resemblance to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad... The Iranian leader has steadfastly denied he was involved in the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran...
washtimes.com/ ... 09:33:52
Nov. 7 needs to be remembered for something even Republicans don't have the stomach to address at the moment: that the remnants of objectivity in the mainstream media were all but exterminated by some on the left. A chilling and ominous development that played some role in the Democratic wave that is still splashing around the red states... left-of-center mainstream media helped to manufacture this election victory for the Democratic Party. For parts of the last two years,
many in the media have worked in concert with the Democratic spin doctors to indoctrinate the American voter into believing this election had to be a referendum on President Bush and the "failed" war in Iraq
...
Recall
ctv.ca/ ... 09:32:33
[Follow-up:]
Fears of salmonella contamination drove chocolate-maker Hershey to recall a wide variety of its chocolate bars and candies made at its Smiths Falls, Ont. plant. HoweveThe source of the contamination is believed to be an ingredient from an outside supplier sent to the company's plant. But that has not been confirmed... r, a company spokesperson said the risk to consumers is low...
Digital Culture
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 09:47:17
An ambitious communication service launched last year under the name AskGod.com, claiming "We know it all," has evidently learned something about marketing recently. AskGod.com has changed its name to PersonalMaestro.com...
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:29:02
MP3.com, the once massive music download site that settled copyright infringement suits with major record labels, said on Monday it is allowing the sharing of music and videos but this time with the authorization of independent artists...
Transport
tulsaworld.com/ ... 09:16:51
Old U.S. Highway 66 marked its 80th anniversary on Saturday, and even though the roadway has fallen into disrepair in some places, efforts to preserve the spirit of the highway continue...
Blurring Lines of Reality
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 09:14:51
Two policemen dressed as Batman and Robin captured a suspected drugs offender - in a bizarre sting operation...
Language Culture
wcbstv.com/ ... 09:13:05
A teenager was shot and killed in front of a Bronx Burger King and the manager of the fast-food restaurant is being charged with the murder...
[Today's example of language abuse:]
The two had apparently been engaged in a dispute that had
culminated for well over a week's time
...
[either "culminated after" or maybe (not quite) "fulminated"?]
Digital World Without Borders
guardian.co.uk/ ... 09:09:04
Google has provoked the wrath of Iran's notoriously suspicious authorities by appearing to question the country's sovereignty over the province of Azerbaijan in an entry on its Google Video website... the Azeri provincial capital, Tabriz, is located "in southern Azerbaijan, currently in the territory of Iran"... Tabriz and southern Azerbaijan have belonged to Iran for more than 4,000 years...
Surreality TV
latimes.com/ ... 09:02:39
...MTV... gauzy reality show "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County..." Laguna Beach High School, where many of the students on the series attend class, recently ranked No. 1 for alcohol and drug abuse in Orange County, according to the California Healthy Kids Survey... The show, which premiered two years ago, follows a clique of attractive teenagers as they navigate a minefield of romance and serial "hookups" while engaging in bitter, often banal feuds. And it's all shot against a backdrop of sweeping ocean vistas, plunging cliffs and shimmering sunsets in one of the nation's most beautiful cities. Some parents, once mostly annoyed at how their city appeared on television, say they now worry for the safety of their children...
SUN 2006-NOV-12
Violence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 18:58:27
The Shiite prime minister promised Sunday to reshuffle his Cabinet after calling lawmakers disloyal and blaming Sunni Muslims for raging sectarian violence that claimed at least 159 more lives, including 35 men blown apart while waiting to join Iraq's police force. Among the unusually high number of dead were 50 bodies found behind a regional electrical company in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, and 25 others found scattered throughout the capital....
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:01:08
Four British servicemen have been killed following an attack on a patrol boat in southern Iraq. Another three suffered serious injuries in the attack which took place during a routine patrol along the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:00:16
More than 20 Taliban fighters were killed in five days of fighting in eastern Afghanistan, including eight foreign fighters whose bodies were returned to Pakistan...
Transport Tragedy
rense.com/ ... 16:51:50
Is it possible to show that the in-flight actuation of the left thrust reverser is the actual cause of the Flight 587 Crash? Yes. But you would probably ask, "How do you know such things?" First, I have been a pilot since 1962. I have put planes in almost every possible flight configuration. I am not a flight instructor, but for years I taught ground school classes in airframes, aircraft engines and air navigation. Second, I have degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering and physics, and for many years I was assigned to do failure analysis for many NASA Space Shuttle incidents...
snopes.com/ ... 16:44:53
Claim: A woman who had survived the destruction of the World Trade Center died on American Airlines Flight 587 just two months later. Status: True... On September 11, 2001, when the terrorists struck the World Trade Center, Hilda Yolanda Mayol had the good fortune to escape from the ground floor restaurant where she worked in that complex. Her luck only lasted a further two months she was one of those aboard the doomed American Airlines Flight 587 that crashed in the New York borough of Queens on November 12, killing all aboard...
apnews.myway.com/ ... 13:53:25
ALAPAHA, Ga... A tractor-trailer plowed into a mule-drawn covered carriage that was returning from the annual town festival Saturday, killing three people and injuring three others... Both mules pulling the carriage were also dead - one was killed in the crash, the other was shot after being gravely injured...
abcnews.go.com/ ... 11:56:43
New York... Bells tolled in a beachfront neighborhood Sunday as families clutching red roses and photographs gathered to read the names of loved ones killed five years ago in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587... [and] to dedicate a memorial wall bearing the victims' names... 260 people killed aboard the airliner and the five killed on the ground... The curved memorial wall also bears a quote, in English and Spanish, from the writings of Dominican poet Pedro Mir: "Despues no quiero mas que paz/Afterwards I want only peace..."
Threats
today.reuters.com/ ... 13:54:13
Democrats... said on Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq to begin in four to six months... "First order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:22:02
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman has warned Tehran will not hesitate to retaliate with a crushing blow if Israel attacks its nuclear sites. This follows comments by Israel's deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh. He had suggested Israel could launch military strikes against Iranian nuclear installations as a last resort...
Nature is Dangerous
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:21:01
Typhoon Chebi... which has caused major flooding in the northern Philippines is heading towards central Vietnam.... is expected to strengthen as it moves westwards on Sunday... At least two people were injured and more than 8,00 evacuated from their homes as the storm passed over the north-eastern Philippines...
Hospitals Suck
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:19:11
About 2,000 people protested outside a hospital in southwest China after a boy died after mistakenly drinking pesticide... Doctors told Xiong Hongwei's grandfather he did not have enough money for treatment... At least 10 people were injured in clashes with police...
Mass Madness
allheadlinenews.com/ ... 19:00:03
Hundreds of protesters were injured as violence erupted all over Bangladesh on Sunday. It came as a result of an indefinite transport blockade that was called by leaders of the opposition 14-party alliance. The transit strike has virtually cut Dhaka off from the rest of the country...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:18:38
Thousands of protesters demanding electoral reforms in Bangladesh targeted major transport links on Sunday, attacking trains and other vehicles and leaving at least one person dead...
Mass Murdering Monsters
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:18:15
Two suicide bombers have killed 35 people and wounded 60 at a police commando recruiting centre in western Baghdad... Crowds of young male volunteers were gathered at the base when the bombers detonated explosive belts...
World Water
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ ... 10:13:57
Tiny crystals of magnetite, a mineral similar to rust, could provide a simple and inexpensive option for removing hazardous levels of arsenic from drinking water, a breakthrough that could save millions in India and Bangladesh every year...
World Zookeeping
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:06:40
[Follow-up:]
A deer whose head was stuck in a plastic Halloween jack-o'-lantern for nearly a week has freed itself and will be fine, animal rescuers said Saturday... Two children found a dented, hair-lined plastic pumpkin in their yard Friday night, and other neighbors saw a thin deer running free... It was rainy Friday, which rescuers think helped the young deer wriggle free...
Recall
ctv.ca/ ... 18:59:38
Products recalled by Hershey Inc. bear date codes 6417 to 6455. The codes can be found on the back of each product...
ottsun.canoe.ca/ ... 18:59:05
Officials will decide on Tuesday if the Hershey chocolate plant in Smiths Falls will reopen on Wednesday. Yesterday, employees still weren't sure what was responsible for shutting operations down on Friday... Chocolate production was halted on Friday after an ingredient was found to be contaminated by an outside source... Hershey has still not elaborated on the problem, only to say that it involves an "externally sourced ingredient" that didn't meet its standards...
Lost & Found
news.com.au/ ... 13:57:23
On Easter Sunday, 1976, the then 18-year-old Marie Myatt of Ipswich had just attended a Christian camp on Great Keppel Island when she slipped the note inside a clear wine bottle and threw it into the sea. She then headed home to her job as an accountant's stenographer in Ipswich. In a bizarre coincidence, Ipswich-born and raised Mark Hutchins discovered the bottle on a beach near Yeppoon in September this year, just kilometres from where Ms Myatt, 48, tossed the bottle...
Defending Ourselves
kltv.com/ ... 13:55:23
the owners of the home in South Tyler were asleep when a man tried to break into their home. "They were woken by hearing something beating on the front door, and then the door was actually caved in as the person was making entry..." the homeowner... grabbed his handgun for protection. When the alleged intruder got the door open, police say the homeowner shot and killed the man...
Digital Culture
dfw.com/ ... 13:52:31
Crime victim advocates are upset that at least 30 Texas death row inmates have had pages on the popular Internet site MySpace created for them...
World Without Borders
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 13:52:10
Undercover American agents are staging secret 'sting' operations in Britain against criminal and terrorist suspects they want to extradite to the US... Urgent questions were being asked about whether the British Government had been aware of the operation. If so, it raises issues of the State collaborating with foreign agencies to entrap suspects - and if not it raises the spectre of American spies working unchecked on British soil...
US Election 2008
forbes.com/ ... 10:26:59
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a centrist Democrat seeking an early edge in an all-but-certain crowded presidential field, launched a long-shot bid for the White House Thursday...
Christmas 2006
poconorecord.com/ ... 10:09:28
...a ministry called Operation Christmas Child, a branch of Samaritan's Purse headed by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham. This is a ministry that delivers shoeboxes full of gifts to children around the world. Last year alone more than 7.6 million shoeboxes were delivered to more than 90 countries. Their goal is to share God's love and his Son, Jesus Christ, with each and every child. For many children this will be the only Christmas gift they receive...
Rebuilding
nytimes.com/ ... 10:14:29
President Bush selected Robert M. Gates as his new defense secretary in part to close a long-running rift between the Defense Department and the State Department that has hobbled progress on Iraq, keeping the two agencies at odds on issues ranging from reconstruction to detaining terrorism suspects, according to White House officials and members of Mr. Gatess inner circle...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:08:28
Romania has no intentions of withdrawing its troops
from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, President Traian Basescu said Saturday, vowing to stay "because it's a dishonor to leave your allies..."
[Let's hear it for good & honorable people who understand opposing tyranny....]
"An exit strategy is a matter of concern for us, and we are building it with our main allies, the U.S. and the U.K. But the states that form the coalition cannot abandon Iraq as it is now....
We have an obligation to the Iraqi people.
We will leave when the local authorities can provide security for the people...."
US Election 2006
sptimes.com/ ... 10:13:37
State and local voting officials have said that it was likely the intent of voters to skip that race it was a particularly nasty one, with plenty of attack ads and mudslinging and not an equipment malfunction. Undervotes occur in all races no matter the voting method, officials say. Yet Gov. Bush on Friday said the unusually high number of voters who didnt choose a candidate in a congressional race in Sarasota County was worth investigating...
miami.com/ ... 10:13:07
SARASOTA... Some voters complained that the touch-screen machines weren't registering votes for Congress, prompting Rowland to shut two down briefly for inspection. And more than a dozen poll workers said voters complained of missing the race entirely due to how it was displayed on the screen -- an issue so serious that Sarasota County elections chief Kathy Dent had pointed it out three days earlier in an e-mail to poll workers handling early voting... some people had such trouble getting the screen to register their votes that she devised other techniques for ballot casting. "I was telling people to use their knuckles..."
news.com.com/ ... 10:11:32
Headlines after Tuesday's election tended to categorize reports of electronic voting machine troubles as mere "hiccups." But as it turns out, irregularities in one Florida county could carry far more weight--and are already spawning renewed calls for paper trails on so-called "black box" electronic voting machines... Sarasota County election officials revealed there were more than 18,000 undervotes in the congressional race--that is, ballots that didn't have votes recorded either for... Democratic U.S. House of Representatives hopeful Christine Jennings... or for her Republican opponent Vern Buchanan... fewer than 400 votes separating the two candidates... But how would a recount work on a machine that lacks a voter-verified paper trail? One computer scientist interviewed by the Times said there's simply no way to do it, and that's precisely why her tech-savvy colleagues and fair vote advocates have been lobbying for years mandatory voter-vetted receipts...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:05:44
WALDENBURG, Ark.... Randy Wooten figured he'd get at least one vote in his bid for mayor of this town of 80 people - even if it was just his own. He didn't. Now he has to decide whether to file a formal protest... Poinsett County results reported Wednesday showed incumbent William H. Wood with 18 votes, challenger Ronnie Chatman with 18 votes and Wooten with zero. "I had at least eight or nine people who said they voted for me, so something is wrong with this picture..."
Supernatural
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:04:30
SAO PAULO, Brazil... A woman was
released from the hospital a day after she was shot in the head six times
in an attack police blamed on her ex-husband... Doctors could not explain... .32-caliber bullets didn't break through her skull and didn't even need to be immediately extracted... also was shot once in the hand...
"I know this was a miracle.... Now I just want to extract the bullets and live my life...."
Sexual Equality??
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:02:05
Spain... Fuenlabrada, which lies south of the capital Madrid... town council has vowed to
banish sexism from street signage
by demanding half of all road signs and traffic lights show female figures with skirts and ponytails...
[Badly-constructed sentence of the day:]
The council, which said it would ask manufacturers to incorporate female figures in their signs, would not cost taxpayers a penny.
SAT 2006-NOV-11
Transport Incident
nypost.com/ ... 17:09:10
A tanker carrying home heating oil ran aground in an inlet on the Atlantic coast of western Long Island early yesterday, but luckily didn't spring a leak...
WW2 - still with us
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 17:08:53
Sixteen people were arrested after neo-Nazis, some shouting "Sieg Heil", rampaged through a Germany city and destroyed wreaths placed to mark the anniversary of the 1938 Nazi pogrom against the Jews. Police in the eastern city of Frankfurt on Oder said the group had launched an attack last night, shortly after a memorial service by community and Jewish leaders at a monument where a synagogue once stood...
Transport Tragedy
breitbart.com/ ... 17:04:07
A hit-and-run driver struck a couple crossing a street with a stroller, killing a woman and her two young children and injuring the youngsters' father, police said. Two men were arrested early Saturday... The license plate of the red pickup was knocked off in the crash, leading police to the vehicle's owner and to the arrests... witness... told the Rocky Mountain News it appeared to be going about 50 mph... "It was really fast, and it hit this family and didn't even stop and didn't even slow down..."
Disturbing Family Patterns
tulsaworld.com/ ... 16:58:01
The father of a 4-year-old boy was jailed Friday after he couldn't remember with whom he had left his son... The woman said [he] appeared to be high when he dropped off the boy for her to baby-sit.... Other witnesses told police [he] was intoxicated when he took the child to the baby sitter and during the search [for the boy]....
WW1 - still with us
tulsaworld.com/ ... 16:56:13
The war to end all wars was over over there, and Oklahomans celebrated with parades, noise, gunshots, a goat riding on the roof of a taxi cab and even a mock hanging of German Kaiser Wilhelm...
Sex can be Dangerous
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:40:04
UK... Young adults are to be urged to carry condoms when they are out "on the pull", as part of a government sexual health campaign. It will focus on 18 to 24-year-olds. Just 20% of people in this age group say they carry condoms on a night out... Public health minister Caroline Flint said: "Improving the nation's sexual health is a key government priority and improving access times to sexual health clinics, chlamydia screening and this campaign will all help to drive down the number of cases of STIs.... Some STIs like chlamydia are on the increase amongst 18 to 24 year-olds and it is vital that we deliver strong messages about using condoms to prevent them..."
Vandalism
cnn.com/ ... 11:08:48
NEW YORK... Vandals beheaded a statue of George Washington at one of the world's largest cathedrals... and left a dollar bill on what was left of the neck... part of a church collection of historical figures spanning 20 centuries... Cathedral of St. John the Divine, near Columbia University... the principal church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York...
Under Tyranny
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:38:47
YANGON, Myanmar... Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner held under house arrest by Myanmar's junta, left her home for the first time since May on Saturday to meet with a U.N. official...
Violence
tulsaworld.com/ ... 16:59:26
[Follow-up]
"My grandson and the friend of my son, they were underneath my little white truck out front of my house, and my neighbor was trying to shoot them with a shotgun.... They were trying to get away from him..... I yelled out real loud, 'Howard, stop that! What in the hell are you doing? Have you gone crazy, or what?' ...He didn't say anything. He just looked up at me like he was in outer space or something." Doherty was so close to the gunman that he realized that he could be shot next, "and I don't have a gun or anything, so ran I back in and called 911...."
forbes.com/ ... 14:40:44
Gunmen ambushed minibuses south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 10 passengers and kidnapping about 50 others...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 14:38:36
Two Jordanian UN peacekeepers have been shot dead in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince...
thisislondon.co.uk/ ... 11:07:36
UK... A [22yo] fugitive paedophile seduced a girl of 12 then secretly lived under her bed for three months.... cut a hole in the bottom of the youngster's divan and used it as a secret den.... then systematically abused her.... girl's mother was 'totally unaware' of his presence because he would hide whenever she was about to come into the room... in January this year... the girl left a note saying she had left home and that her parents need not worry. Police went to the house and the girl's ten-year-old sister confessed... [the pair were found] at a flat in Fallowfield, Manchester, later the same day...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:43:47
At least eight people were killed and more than 30 injured when two bombs exploded in a crowded market in central Baghdad... The blasts, both believed to be caused by car bombs, happened almost simultaneously...
A suicide car bomber attacked a police station and killed two people in the town of Zaghinya near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad...
two soldiers of the US-led coalition in the southern Polish zone - one Polish and one Slovak - were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb near Kut, 160 km south-east of Baghdad...
an intelligence officer was found dead in Baghdad...
US authorities offered a reward of up to $50,000 to find... kidnapped soldier... Iraqi-born Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a reservist...
The US government's representative office in the Iraqi town of Hilla came under mortar attack, reportedly sparking a fire in the complex...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:39:06
They're not very accurate, but they're portable, easy to fire and can cause plenty of death and destruction. Mortars are quickly becoming the weapon of choice as Sunnis and Shiites fight it out in Baghdad. Having mortar rounds fall like rain is now a daily occurrence in some parts of the Iraqi capital...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:38:27
ZIHUATANEJO, Mexico... A newspaper editor was found dead in a hotel room in this Pacific resort city, a day after running stories about organized crime and corruption in the city government... Misael Tamayo Hernandez, editor of El Despertar de la Costa, was found early Friday nearly naked, with his hands tied behind his back, in a room at the Venus Motel...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:37:40
JAKARTA, Indonesia... A bomb exploded at an American fast food restaurant in the Indonesian capital on Saturday,
seriously wounding a man believed to have been carrying the device
...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:37:13
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil... Police raided a hijacked bus Friday and arrested an armed man who had seized hostages, including his ex-wife, during a 10-hour standoff. No one was hurt...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:36:52
Seven members of Algeria's security forces were killed in an ambush during a cleanup operation in a forest used as a hideout by Islamic extremists, and 13 others were injured, four of them seriously...
canada.com/ ... 10:29:14
The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported that three U.S. soldiers and a marine were killed Thursday in Iraq...
WW3 - still with us
telegraph.co.uk/ ... 11:09:08
Iran is sustaining the insurgency against British and American forces in Iraq by supplying terrorists with weapons and cash, senior military figures have claimed...
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 11:02:25
"This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," said Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency today. "Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation,
this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation..."
canada.com/ ... 10:28:40
The group "Al-Qaida in Iraq"
claimed
in a new audiotape Friday
to be winning the war faster than expected in Iraq
and said it had mobilized 12,000 fighters who had "vowed to die for God's sake..."
smh.com.au/ ... 10:18:38
AL-QAEDA'S chief in Iraq used an audio message posted on the internet yesterday to threaten that the terror network would "blow up the White House". "We announce today the end of a phase of the jihad [holy war] and the start of a new one to usher in the project of an Islamic caliphate and restore Islam's glory," Abu Hamza al-Muhajer said in the message. "
We swear we will not rest from our jihad before blowing up the filthiest house, dubbed the White House....
"
usatoday.com/ ... 10:17:59
After arguing during the campaign that Democrats would undermine national security, President Bush changed course
[spins the AP]
Saturday and said America's enemies should not read this week's ground-shaking election results as a sign of U.S. weakness. With two years remaining in his presidency, Bush is trying to keep the nation focused on the global war on terror and prevent a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq before victory is achieved. "The elections will bring changes to Washington.... But one thing has not changed: America faces brutal enemies who have attacked us before and want to attack us again. I have a message for these enemies:
Do not confuse the workings of American democracy with a lack of American will.... Our nation is committed to bringing you to justice, and we will prevail..."
World Zookeeping
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:52:26
A Thai zoo, which has hosted a couple of pandas for four years, will play "porn" videos for the male next month to encourage them to breed in captivity... "They don't know how to mate so we need to show the male how, through videos... We'll play the video at the most comfortable and intimate time for him, perhaps after dinner..."
Healing Ourselves
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:48:50
Federal investigators are looking into patient care at the hospital made famous in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," where there have been reports of abuse, short staffing and overcrowding... one of the oldest and most dilapidated state mental institutions in the nation... The movie was filmed there in 1975...
US Military
imediaconnection.com/ ... 11:10:22
In 2006 the Army bounced back from its worst recruiting year in 20 years, and with this new campaign by McCann Worldgroup, it's angling to stay ahead of the curve... the campaign, launching in time for Veterans Day, includes TV spots, a microsite, and Google, Yahoo!, MySpace and YouTube initiatives...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:39:29
The top U.S. operational commander in Afghanistan on Saturday told hundreds of troops at a Veterans Day memorial that American forces are preserving freedom from terrorism just as World War II veterans preserved freedom in Europe and Asia. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley thanked troops gathered at Bagram, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, for pausing to remember veterans who lived and died before them...
eyewitnessnewstv.com/ ... 10:32:49
Some National Guard combat brigades could be sent back to Iraq for a second tour of duty. That's according to the Guard's top general, Lieutenant General Steven Blum. He says the Pentagon's plan would force it to depart from a previous decision not to deploy reserves for more than a cumulative 24 months in Iraq. For some units, a second tour would mean they would likely exceed that two-year maximum...
Feeding Ourselves
boston.com/ ... 10:32:17
SCIENTISTS AT the US Food and Drug Administration have reported that morale is at an all-time low because they are not allowed to do their jobs properly. But the FDA today is suffering from more than morale problems. It also suffers from a lack of independent leadership, clear legal authority, and adequate resources...
science is still not driving the FDA's decisions...
Rebuilding
hosted.ap.org/ ... 17:01:10
U.S. soldiers, automatic rifles buckled to their body armor, filed into a community center in a dangerous Shiite neighborhood of north Baghdad Saturday and for a few hours became social workers, cops on the beat and referees between feuding tribesmen. Tea was passed around, notes were taken, local sheiks spoke in wise tones, heads nodded vigorously in agreement and mundane problems such as garbage collection and distributing electricity generators were tackled...
Supernatural
nbc4.tv/ ... 11:11:27
A search for gold in the Arizon desert has turned up something that's inspirational as well as valuable... nugget... shaped like the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus... At first, he thought it looked like a horse. His wife was the one who spotted the holy shape... weighs less than an ounce and is smaller than a BB... "I don't see how anyone could think we're nuts, because they could look at it and they could see it..."
Supernatural Threats
news.com.au/ ... 11:09:37
THE Dutch government has announced that it would seek a way of banning the wearing of burqas and other Muslim face veils in public places, possibly becoming the first European country to impose such a ruling...
US Election 2008
abcnews.go.com/ ... 10:54:24
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his political team have decided it's full steam ahead for his 2008 presidential campaign though he has yet to make the final, official decision...
Digital Culture
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:51:27
Arianna Huffington, the high-profile political commentator, delights in the obsessive nature of blogging that allows her to write about issues "again, again and again" on her Web site, The Huffington Post...
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:49:34
Blogs are becoming a force to be reckoned with as a means of advertising products... poll found that the Internet journals are a more trusted source of information than TV advertising or e-mail marketing. But among their European counterparts, Britons are the least switched on to web logs. The French are far more savvy... But the rest of Europe is barely logged-on when it comes to online diaries either...
Transport Pre-Automation
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:46:09
the most dangerous road in the world. And, as you start your descent, and your driver whispers a prayer, you begin to see why... Drivers stop to pour libations of beer into the earth - to beseech the goddess Pachamama for safe passage. Then, chewing coca leaves to keep themselves awake, they are off at break-neck speeds in vehicles which should not be on any road, let alone this one. Perched on hairpin bends over dizzying precipices, crosses and stone cairns mark the places where travellers' prayers went unheeded. Where, for someone - the road ended... Every year it is estimated 200 to 300 people die on a stretch of road less than 50 miles long. In one year alone, 25 vehicles plunged off the road and into the ravine. That is one every two weeks...
Reasons for Repeal
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:36:23
Jose Luis Delgado, a police officer in Guadalupe, about 25 miles southeast El Paso, Texas - said he and two colleagues encountered some U.S. Border Patrol agents on Mexican territory... Mexican police responded Thursday with guns drawn to a report that a marijuana-laden pickup truck had been abandoned in the Rio Grande. "When we arrived (the U.S. officials) drew their weapons," Delgado said. Delgado said he identified himself as a police officer and that the American agents returned to their side of the border without further problems... U.S. agents seized about 300 pounds of marijuana from the truck...
History Marches On
iht.com/ ... 10:31:12
Daniel Ortega
returns to Nicaragua's presidency a shadow of the fiery revolutionary who in Cold War times vowed an endless fight against a U.S. government determined to overthrow him. Balding, weakened by heart trouble and often appearing
almost docile
, he now
preaches reconciliation and stability
. He has traded his wartime military fatigues for a white shirt and jeans, and promises to maintain
close ties with the U.S.
and the veterans of the Contra army it trained and armed against him.
His guide is God
, not Karl Marx...
Human Right
sfgate.com/ ... 10:29:57
A group of gay Palestinian Americans canceled a planned pride march in East Jerusalem on Friday after one of them was beaten unconscious by a local man who said he was from the Waqf Muslim religious authority... The beating incident occurred on the same day an Israeli gay pride rally went ahead as scheduled, though without a planned march through city streets. The march had been called off after threats by religious and right-wing opponents to mount huge counterdemonstrations. Only minor violence marred the event...
FRI 2006-NOV-10
WW1 - less with us
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 22:05:37
France's oldest World War I veteran, Maurice Floquet, has died at the age of 111... fought in Belgium and France and was seriously wounded twice, losing his hearing in one ear. He retired from his job running a garage in 1952, and had kept fit by riding an exercise bike. In 2005, he received a Legion of Honour medal.
There are now only four surviving French veterans of the 1914-18 war...
Mass Murdering Monsters
hosted.ap.org/ ... 22:05:01
A new recording Friday attributed to the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq mocked President Bush as a coward whose conduct of the war was rejected at the polls, challenging him to keep U.S. troops in the country to face more bloodshed...
Hospitals can be Dangerous
today.reuters.com/ ... 15:24:06
Alcohol-based hand cleaners for hospital staff, easier and faster to use than soap and water, could save lives and slash health care costs, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday... 1.4 million people worldwide are sick at any given moment with infections they catch in hospitals, mainly spread when doctors and nurses do not clean their hands every time they tend to a new patient...
Transport Incident
toledoblade.com/ ... 10:05:46
[Family] suing Greyhound Lines Inc... over a load of human waste one of its buses released on their sport utility vehicle as they were on I-75 in Toledo on a spring day in 2005... The waste from the bus' sanitary tank went through the open windows and sunroof of their 2002 Ford Explorer, contaminating the outside and inside of the SUV and drenching the occupants, including their son, 9, and daughter, 10... covered with urine, feces, toilet paper, and human waste... vehicle was declared a total loss by their insurance company because the stench and filth couldn't be removed, even though the interior was steam-cleaned several times...
Sick, Sick, Sick
post-gazette.com/ ... 10:02:44
A Somerset County man has been accused of abusing his newborn daughter -- smashing her head into a bathroom sink and onto a dining room table, bending her leg over his shoulder until he heard it break and twice using an electric cattle prod on the baby... Police say the abuse occurred over a period of 7 weeks... told police that on a number of occasions, he could not comfort the newborn, or get her to stop crying...
Theft
hosted.ap.org/ ... 22:10:23
VALPARAISO, Ind.... Not paying a restaurant tab will cost a teenager a day in the county jail... in the kitchen. A judge ordered [19yo female] to wash dishes at the Porter County Jail on Thanksgiving after she was convicted of a misdemeanor conversion charge for walking out of a restaurant without paying her $18.19 bill...
thisislondon.co.uk/ ... 09:56:16
Residents of a crime-free island today vowed life would go on as normal after the community was rocked by a theft... Colonsay in the Hebrides... earlier this week a visitor to Colonsay was convicted of stealing £60 from the home of an elderly man...
Viet Nam War - still with us
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:38:52
Vietnamese and Americans on Friday began the next phase of clearing hundreds of thousands of tons of unexploded Vietnam War ordnance and landmines that still kill and wound people more than 30 years after the conflict ended... During the initial phase in 2004 and 2005, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and the Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal of Engineering Command at Vietnam's Defense Ministry cleared 421 hectares... found and destroyed 6,025 pieces of unexploded ordnance and landmines... Since the war ended in 1975, bombs, artillery shells, mortar bombs and rockets have killed 38,000 people and wounded 64,000... The Defense Ministry estimates that 350,000 to 850,000 tons of weaponry remains scattered across all 64 provinces...
Police Riot
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:51:22
An investigation is under way after a video of a man being repeatedly beaten by Los Angeles police officers was posted on the internet site YouTube...
cnn.com/ ... 09:35:41
The FBI announced it is investigating Los Angeles police after viewing a videotape that shows officers repeatedly beating a suspect in the face while he cries out that he cannot breathe...
Transport Tragedy
cbs2.com/ ... 22:03:54
Authorities have found the body of a missing railway worker buried under the wreckage of a Union Pacific train that derailed in the Sierra Nevada. The discovery brings the death toll in Thursdays crash to two... Eight other workers were aboard the train were hurt, but did not suffer serious injuries... Crew members aboard the train say they felt something was wrong a few minutes before the accident. Some workers say they felt "irregularities" and hoped the westbound train would slow down as it went through a tunnel. Minutes later, on a curve, six of the train's ten cars derailed...
cbs5.com/ ... 01:50:04
BAXTER, Calif. One person was dead and another missing Thursday after a Union Pacific maintenance train derailed in the Sierra Nevada, igniting thousands of gallons of fuel in an area surrounded by thick forests. The derailment delayed rail traffic on the heavily used east-west route, forcing Amtrak to bus passengers around the wreckage, located in a canyon about two miles south of Interstate 80...
9/11 - still with us
eagletribune.com/ ... 01:46:25
Workers have found three bone fragments in a second manhole at the World Trade Center site, close to the place where some 200 bones had already been recovered...
Threats
today.reuters.com/ ... 22:12:28
Al Qaeda may be planning to attack rail and air travel in Europe -- possibly targeting the busy holiday travel season -- according to intelligence findings, the "CBS Evening News" reported on Friday...
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:51:38
A purported audio recording by the leader of Iraq's al Qaeda wing gloated over the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:51:12
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a new audio tape on Friday to be winning the war in Iraq with 12,000 fighters mobilized in the wartorn country and praised the Republicans' defeat in U.S. midterm elections as "reasonable..."
telegraph.co.uk/ ... 01:46:03
the head of MI5... when the director-general of the security service steps out of the shadows to talk, not in general terms about policy but in specific terms about current operations, it is time to listen... Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller yesterday used the unlikely platform of the Mile End Group, an academic organisation based at Queen Mary College, in east London, to set out in the most graphic even chilling detail the nature of the terrorist threat... The big concern now is the number of young jihadis on MI5's radar who are linked to plots involving suicide tactics... the next crop of terrorists are still at school, preparing for their GCSEs or A-levels. They are probably bright, politically interested and easily susceptible to the ideology of victimhood. They receive a daily diet of anti-western propaganda through TV stations and websites. Almost certainly, they will be of Pakistani background, though some will be white converts to Islam. It is the Pakistan link that makes Britain so important to al-Qa'eda. What has become increasingly clear to MI5 in recent months is that most of the plots are being run directly by al-Qa'eda leaders based in Pakistan. British Muslims whose families are from the area can travel to and fro to visit relatives without arousing any obvious suspicion. It means potential jihadis can be identified and recruited in Pakistan or those who have already been radicalised can go to training camps there. It also means that al-Qa'eda can use Britain as a springboard for attacks on America, as they allegedly tried to in the summer...
Digital Whoops Cascade
news.com.com/ ... 01:44:18
Google on Tuesday inadvertently sent the Kama Sutra e-mail worm to the 50,000 subscribers of a Google Video e-mail group... W32/Kapser.A... better known as the Kama Sutra worm...
Violence
examiner-enterprise.com/ ... 22:18:38
SKIATOOK, Okla... Howard Hawthorne appeared calm when he complained to sheriff's deputies that neighbors were damaging a short length of fence on his property. The deputies told him to take up the matter in civil court, and left his home north of Tulsa about 4 p.m. Thursday. An hour later, Skiatook police went to the property to investigate a report of shots fired. As they rolled up, they saw Hawthorne commit suicide. The bodies of his neighbor, his neighbor's son and another man were found nearby...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 22:08:22
WAUKESHA, Wis.... An unknown man has been bugging women - and police - by using an insect story to try to persuade women to disrobe. Police said the man, who remains at large, has told female workers in at least seven businesses they have a tick on their clothes and should remove clothing to find it...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:37:26
At least five people have been killed in a grenade attack close to a mosque in Indian-administered Kashmir... Around 36 people were wounded...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:36:00
Sri Lankan separatist rebels clashed with government navy and air forces Thursday off the northern Jaffna peninsula, with rebels claiming they killed 26 sailors and captured four others...
news.scotsman.com/ ... 01:43:33
TENS of thousands of Palestinians wept and screamed for revenge yesterday as they buried 18 civilians killed in Gaza by Israeli shells that Israel's prime minister said were fired in the wrong direction... Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, said he was very distressed by the deaths of innocent people, adding the carnage was the result of a "technical failure" by Israeli artillery...
apnews.myway.com/ ... 01:43:00
Iraq's health minister said about 150,000 have been killed by insurgents since the war started, giving the government's first overall casualty estimate...
Transport Future
today.reuters.com/ ... 22:11:32
General Motors Corp.... will likely unveil a prototype plug-in hybrid at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, a local paper reported on Friday... Plug-in hybrids are gas-electric vehicles that can recharge their batteries with an extension cord and a normal wall outlet...
Digital Future is Now
hosted.ap.org/ ... 22:10:55
If Cisco Systems Inc. has its way, the Oakland Athletics' new ballpark in Fremont will be the stadium of the future... Fans will swipe electronic tickets stored on cell phones. Bleacher bums will view instant replays at their seats with laptop computers. And digital advertising displays will be able to switch images based on the buying habits of the people walking by through data embedded in their cell phones...
Lasting Contributions
ctv.ca/ ... 22:02:10
Jack Palance, whose gravelly voice and rugged features netted him choice roles as the heavy in such films such as the Western classic Shane, died on Friday at age 87... In contrast to his on-screen personality, Palance the man was a man of letters. When not on set, he spent his time writing poetry and fiction. He also painted...
US Military
forbes.com/ ... 21:59:43
There's growing evidence of a potential link between military service and developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease... Of the five studies, three that were done among Gulf War veterans found that the chance of veterans developing ALS was two times higher than for the general population, or for veterans who weren't in that 1990-1991 war....
kwtx.com/ ... 21:58:33
President Bush helped dedicate the National Museum of the Marine Corps Friday in Quantico, Va., saying the museum "will not make you into a Marine," but will leave you with an appreciation of the corps...
cnn.com/ ... 21:58:12
President Bush announced on Friday that the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, will be awarded posthumously to Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham. In April 2004, Dunham was leading a patrol in an Iraqi town near the Syrian border when the patrol stopped a convoy of cars leaving the scene of an attack on a Marine convoy, according to military and media accounts of the action. An occupant of one of the cars attacked Dunham and the two fought hand to hand. As they fought, Dunham yelled to fellow Marines, "No, no watch his hand." The attacker then dropped a grenade and Dunham hurled himself on top of it, using his helmet to try to blunt the force of the blast. Still, Dunham was critically wounded in the explosion and died eight days later at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland...
Future is Now
businessweek.com/ ... 10:06:51
smog-eating cement that Italian inventors claim will help cities clean themselves... containing an active agent that, in presence of light, breaks air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, benzene, and others through a natural chemical process called photocatalysis...
World Zookeeping
forbes.com/ ... 22:04:39
A plastic jack-o'-lantern meant for collecting Halloween candy is threatening the life of a young deer that frequently visits a gated community. The fake pumpkin has been stuck on the animal's snout for at least six days... On Friday, officials from the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids and wildlife experts could not get close enough to the animal to shoot it with a tranquilizer. They planned to try again Saturday...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:46:16
A pair of men are facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly shooting an ostrich that attacked them when they trespassed on a ranch on Halloween...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:46:05
Veterinarians at Oklahoma State University Veterinary Hospital successfully used maggots to clear away dead flesh from a horse that had been bitten by a rattlesnake...
Antiquity - still with us
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:45:49
Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance. Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali have already collected 150,000 brittle manuscripts, some of them from the 13th century, and local historians believe many more lie buried under the sand...
Virtual Future is Now
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:45:17
IBM is ramping up its push into virtual worlds with an investment of roughly
$10 million over the next 12 months
, including an expanded presence within the popular 3D online universe Second Life... IBM has already established the biggest Second Life presence of any Fortune 500 company. It uses the world primarily for training and meetings but has also built a simulation of the Wimbledon tennis tournament...
Business Culture
hosted.ap.org/ ... 22:08:59
WORCESTER, Mass... Is a burrito a sandwich? The Panera Bread Co. bakery-and-cafe chain says yes. But a judge said no, ruling against Panera in its bid to prevent a Mexican restaurant from moving into the same shopping mall... Panera has a clause in its lease that prevents the White City Shopping Center in Shrewsbury from renting to another sandwich shop. Panera tried to invoke that clause to stop the opening of an Qdoba Mexican Grill... The difference, the judge ruled, comes down to two slices of bread versus one tortilla...
Philately
today.reuters.com/ ... 22:07:12
A Florida voter may have unwittingly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by using an extremely rare stamp to mail an absentee ballot in Tuesday's congressional election...
The 1918 Inverted Jenny stamp... Only 100 of the stamps have ever been found, making them one of the top prizes of all philately...
The nominal value of the four vintage U.S. Post Office stamps was 87 cents... envelope... had no return address and the ballot was disqualified because it gave no clue as to the identity of the voter...
People are Trashy
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:23:17
Zanzibar's ban on the import and production of plastic bags has come into effect. Authorities on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian islands say discarded bags damage the marine environment and hurt its crucial tourism industry... The government... has suggested the use of raffia bags as an alternative...
Democracy in Action
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:20:47
In the midst of an election season for local congresses, a tug-of-war is under way across China between social activists demanding a say in local politics and a communist leadership determined to maintain strict limits on the low-level democracy it has promoted for some years. The government allows direct elections of the largely powerless district legislatures and seems to be holding the upper hand over candidates it doesn't like... the elections underscore a slow shift in China as people, given greater mobility and prosperity by free-market reforms, are challenging the Communist Party's political monopoly. The party has the power to harass candidates off the ballots, "but the more significant point here is that it has to do this at all," Bruce Gilley, a China politics expert at Canada's Queens University, said in an e-mail...
Christmas 2006
msnbc.msn.com/ ... 10:11:48
This holiday season, Wal-Mart... [is] bringing "Christmas" back into its marketing, after several years of playing down the term... several other retailers including Kohls Corp. and Macys... are also stepping up their Christmas marketing... Wal-Mart... will launch its first Christmas-specific TV ad in several years, feature Christmas shops, previously called Holiday Shops, and increase the number of seasonal merchandise labeled "Christmas" instead of "holiday" by 60 percent... Best Buy... advertising omits any reference to Christmas...
[And will any of them mention Christ??]
1960s - still with us
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 10:09:42
Its haunting organ fused Bach with pop to create one of the most enduring hits of the flower-power era...
A Whiter Shade Of Pale...
Procol Harum song... Released in 1967, it became a global smash, selling 10 million copies... regularly features in "greatest song of all time" polls... is at the centre of a million-pound royalties dispute to be heard at the High Court in London on Monday... has always been credited to Gary Brooker, Procol Harums frontman, and lyricist Keith Reid. Now almost 40 years on, Matthew Fisher, the bands classically trained organist, claims that the songs signature winding melody line was his work. Fisher, 60, now a computer programmer in Croydon, South London, is claiming a share of the songs copyright and past sales, which could earn him up to £1 million. The dispute is complicated because all sides agree that Johann Sebastian Bach originally inspired the songs mournful melody... Musicologists will tell the court that [Fisher] transformed the organ melody into something far superior to the chord structure that Brooker borrowed from Bach... includes lines running in counterpoint to the vocal melody and also the memorable eight-bar solo that appears between verses. He transformed the tempo and rhythm of the cantata "lift", cleverly disguising its classical source...
Big Whoops Cascade
sunherald.com/ ... 09:54:50
JACKSON, Miss. - A Democratic congressman from New York says he wasn't trying to insult Mississippi in published remarks Thursday... Mississippi gets more than their fair share back in federal money, but who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?.."
Theory of Education
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:54:22
Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government. The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule...
Modern Family Life
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:50:51
A Japanese hospital plans to set up the country's first "baby hatch" where mothers can drop off unwanted babies, who could then be offered for adoption... what it is calling a "stork's cradle," consisting of a flap in an outside wall which opens on to a small incubated bed. An alarm bell would ring within minutes after a baby was deposited so hospital staff could come and care for the infant...
Transport Pre-Automation
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:47:02
New York... A 12-year-old took his 7-year-old brother for a two-hour joy ride in the family car while their mother was napping... cruised the busy Grand Central Parkway and even parallel parked before police finally found them at a friend's house...
US Election 2006
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:23:33
A statement purportedly from the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq hails the defeat of Republicans in the US mid-term polls...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:36:57
A dead woman, whose name was on the ballot paper in a local US election, has won the poll in a small town in South Dakota... beat a Republican rival by 100 votes to 64 and became a county commissioner posthumously... Voters knew she was dead but wanted to make a point, a local official said...
Digital Culture
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:47:28
Shoppers are likely to abandon a website if it takes longer than four seconds to load, a survey suggests... The time it took a site to appear on screen came second to high prices and shipping costs in the list of shoppers' pet-hates...
businessweek.com/ ... 09:34:48
Google Inc.'s online video service has been sued for copyright infringement, providing a possible preview of the legal trouble that may plague the Internet search leader after it takes over YouTube Inc. and its library of pirated clips...
Theory of Justice
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:36:20
A man in northern India will be publicly slapped 51 times as punishment after village elders found him guilty of raping a neighbor who is deaf and mute...
chron.com/ ... 09:34:25
Three Vietnamese-Americans were convicted on terrorism charges Friday after being accused of trying to take over radio airwaves and call for an uprising against Vietnam's communist government... judge sentenced the Americans and four Vietnamese to 15 months in prison, with credit for time served. They all are expected to be freed within one month, and the Americans required to leave the country within 10 days of their release...
US Executive Branch
deseretnews.com/ ... 01:49:38
President Bush was moving by late summer toward removing Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary, people inside and outside the White House said Thursday...
Supernatural Consequences
seattletimes.nwsource.com/ ... 10:03:43
The summer camp featured in the documentary "Jesus Camp," which includes scenes with disgraced preacher Ted Haggard, will shut down for at least several years because of negative reaction sparked by the film... "Right now we're just not a safe ministry..."
nytimes.com/ ... 01:42:37
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania took brain images of five women while they spoke in tongues and found that their frontal lobes the thinking, willful part of the brain through which people control what they do were relatively quiet, as were the language centers. The regions involved in maintaining self-consciousness were active. The women were not in blind trances, and it was unclear which region was driving the behavior...
THU 2006-NOV-09
Modern Medicine can be Dangerous
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:38:39
Doctors discuss the cost of drugs only about a third of the time when they prescribe them to patients... Doctors also failed to discuss important issues like getting refills, options for generics and insurance coverage...
Violence
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:33:38
U.S. forces killed 38 suspected insurgents and wounded nine in fighting in northern Baghdad that lasted nearly an hour-and-a-half on Sunday...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:30:03
At least 30 people have died in renewed violence across Iraq following the lifting of a curfew imposed for the sentencing of Saddam Hussein. The attacks included two car bombs set off in busy markets, which killed at least 10 people as they shopped. The latest deaths follow a suicide bomb attack at a cafe in Baghdad on Tuesday, which killed at least 17...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:26:54
NATO launched airstrikes as clashes in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar killed 28 suspected Taliban militants...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:26:44
Rebels ambushed a police convoy in Chechnya, killing seven police officers... fired on police cars near the village of Dai in the Shatoi region in Chechnya's forested southern mountains, killing the officers and wounding one more...
bloomberg.com/ ... 19:10:04
Israeli aircraft attacked a vehicle in Gaza carrying the Hamas chief in charge of rocket production, Israel's government said. The commander and an aide were killed in the raid...
Mass Murdering Monsters
casperstartribune.net/ ... 19:09:31
ROCKVILLE, Md. - Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for six murders in Maryland that were part of a three-week shooting spree that terrorized the Washington area in 2002... maximum six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole... apologized and said he was a different person than the impressionable teen who killed at the command of John Allen Muhammad, his accomplice and mentor... has already been sentenced to life in prison in Virginia for sniper shootings there...
People Die
thestar.com/ ... 18:52:13
the 67-year-old hiker never made the daily trek during hunting season, her family says, because she was wary of hunters shooting at deer or wild turkeys that amble through the pines a 45-minute drive north of Toronto. Schmid didn't know hunting season had begun on Monday, and, despite wearing a red sweater and jeans, was shot dead by a hunter who thought she was wild game wandering the woods that afternoon...
Nature can be Pesky
upi.com/ ... 18:49:03
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov. 8... A large buck ran into a Super Target store in West Des Moines, Iowa, causing quite a stir before racing out a door 20 minutes later... "But the customers were laughing. I didn't see anyone who was completely freaked out..." caused no damage and left no droppings...
Recall
hosted.ap.org/ ... 18:46:37
A major manufacturer of acetaminophen sold by Wal-Mart, CVS, Safeway and more than 100 other retailers recalled 11 million bottles of the widely used pain-relieving pills Thursday after discovering some were contaminated with metal fragments...
Nature can be Deadly
allheadlinenews.com/ ... 18:45:59
Portland, Oregon... The dead body of a woman who went missing on a storm-battered beach has been found. It is the third incidence of death in the wake of stormy weather in the Pacific Northwest that broke rainfall records. A search is still being conducted for her companion...
Digital Sex can be Dangerous
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 18:45:38
An internet paedophile who repeatedly took control of schoolgirls computers from his own home and "terrorised" them into sending him intimate pictures was jailed today for ten years thanks to the courage of a young Canadian who ignored his threats and told her parents what he was doing... By threatening to crash their systems, he then blackmailed his victims into stripping and sending revealing poses of themselves. [He] backed up his warnings by visibly taking control of their computers, moving cursors around, switching on printers and, in one case, opening and closing the CD-ROM drawer. One of his victims said that his considerable IT expertise reminded her of the cult science fiction film Matrix. Another described her ordeal as "internet rape," while a third threatened suicide...
Extraterrestrial Threat
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 19:52:14
when a former MoD chief warns that the country could be attacked by extraterrestrials at any time, you may be forgiven for feeling a little alarmed. During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope was persuaded into believing that other lifeforms may visit Earth and, more specifically, Britain. His concern is that "highly credible" sightings are simply dismissed...
[cue "Dr Who" theme...]
Feeding Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:38:17
Preschoolers with a taste for fruit juice may pack on excess pounds, but only if they already have a tendency toward being overweight...
Geology
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:38:02
A cave believed to have the biggest chamber in Britain has been unearthed in the Peak District in Derbyshire. Titan's main shaft is 460ft (140m) deep, as high as the London Eye, sculpted out of limestone by rain water over millions of years...
Healing Ourselves
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:37:35
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan... A woman thought to have Lou Gehrig's Disease has resumed talking after a silence of nearly three years - the second such surprise recovery at a south-central Kansas facility... "quite remarkable.
We dance around miracles
..."
Extraterrestrial
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:45:49
A colossal, swirling storm with a well-developed eye is churning at Saturn's south pole, the first time a truly hurricane-like storm has been detected on a planet other than Earth... about 5,000 miles wide, measuring roughly two thirds the diameter of Earth, with winds howling clockwise at 350 mph (550 kph)...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:32:42
The chief scientist on Nasa's Mars rover mission is contemplating whether to send Opportunity into a large crater with no means of getting back out... Victoria Crater, a 60m-deep (200ft) depression on Mars' Meridiani plains...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 18:43:08
Army Sgt.
Lucas T. White
, 28, of Moses Lake, Wash., died Nov. 6 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces while on patrol. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
defenselink.mil/ ... 18:42:51
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. Air Force officer missing in action from the Vietnam War have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Air Force Col.
Charles J. Scharf
of San Diego. His funeral is scheduled for Nov. 30 at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C. Col Scharf and a fellow crew member took off in their F-4C Phantom IIs from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand on October 1, 1965. Their mission was to attack an enemy concentration and a major highway in North Vietnam. After the lead aircraft developed problems en route, Scharf assumed the lead of the two other F-4s in the flight. After he completed two bombing runs, Scharf's aircraft was hit by enemy fire. His radio transmission of "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" was heard by the other two aircraft. One radioed "Gator 3 [Scharf's call sign], you're on fire, you'd better get out! Bail out, Gator 3!" Scharf's plane began to disintegrate and a parachute was seen leaving the aircraft. The other two aircraft lost sight of the parachute, and circled the area for about 10 minutes where Scharf's aircraft had crashed and burned but no radio or visual contact was made then nor in subsequent aerial search and rescue operations. In January 1990, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) provided information to U.S. officials indicating two men were buried near their crash site, but that one had been washed away during flooding....
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:08:04
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Army Air Force 1st Lt.
Robert H. Miller
, of Providence, R.I.
Army Air Force 2nd Lt.
Robert L. Hale
, of Newtonville, Mass.
Army Air Force Staff Sgt.
Joseph A. Berube
, of Fall River, Mass.
Army Air Force Staff Sgt.
Glendon E. Harris
, of North Monmouth, Maine
Miller, Hale and Berube were buried last month and Harris's burial is being set by his family. On Oct. 24, 1943, a B-25D-1 Mitchell bomber crewed by these airmen departed Oro Bay Airfield in New Guinea on a bombing run of enemy targets in Rabaul. As the aircraft neared its target, it was attacked by Japanese fighter aircraft. Crewmen from other aircraft said they saw the B-25 crash near a plantation at Kabanga Point. There were no survivors. In 1946 and 1947, Australian War Graves search teams recovered some of the crew's remains from the crash site. Identifications were not possible at the time and the remains were ultimately buried at the Manila American Military Cemetery in the Philippines....
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:05:24
Marine Lance Cpl.
Ryan T. McCaughn
, 19, of Manchester, N.H., died Nov. 7 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:05:10
Army Chief Warrant Officer
John R. Priestner
, 42, of Pennsylvania
Army Chief Warrant Officer
Miles P. Henderson
, 24, of Amarillo, Texas
died Nov. 6 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when their AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed. Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
US Military
defenselink.mil/ ... 18:40:24
The Department of Defense announced today its recruiting and retention statistics for the active and reserve components for the month of October.
All services met or exceeded their recruiting goals in October.
...
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:04:25
This week, the Army announced a increase in the number of reservists on active duty in support of the partial mobilization, while the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps had a decrease. The Coast Guard number remained the same. The net collective result is
41 fewer reservists
mobilized than last week.... This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to
98,528
, including both units and individual augmentees....
Sex -- always attractive
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:49:51
A condom seller has been ordered to shut his shop for displaying his wares without Chinese instructions and in "inappropriate packages," including ones bearing a likeness of Mao Zedong...
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:49:42
The United Church of Canada hopes an ad featuring a can of whipped cream and the question, "How much fun can sex be before it's a sin?" will fill its pews as Christmas nears...
Yeah, Sure!
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:46:10
The Chinese government said Wednesday accusations by a press freedom group it was one of the worst culprits of systematic online censorship were "groundless" and that
its citizens could freely access the Internet.
..
Be Prepared!
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:45:22
Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans, German researchers said on Thursday... Waters are rising and warming, increasing the destructive power of storms... seas are becoming more acidic, threatening to throw entire food chains into chaos...
Digital Culture
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:46:55
So you just got a 42-inch high-definition TV set and you think you've caught up with the Joneses. Well, how about I tell you I was just watching a 90-inch image at home, with equipment that cost about the same as a plasma TV? Any buyer's remorse? Maybe you should feel a little bit of regret, but don't take me too seriously. I've been trying out two new home theater projectors, each of which gave me sharp, gigantic images, at the cost of some significant drawbacks...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:46:39
In hopes of soothing privacy fears about radio-frequency tags on consumer products, a manufacturer of retail product labels plans to give consumers a way to dramatically cut the tags' wireless range... labels with RFID circuitry stretched across perforated paper. Consumers who buy clothing or other products with such a label can tear it like a ketchup packet, separating the tag's radio antenna from the chip that stores product information - and thus shrinking the chip's wireless range from several feet to a few inches...
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:44:23
Searching the worldwide web with engines such as Google Inc may also help doctors to diagnose perplexing medical conditions, Australian researchers said on Friday...
Digital Whoops Cascade
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:44:07
A U.S. landscaping firm has been inundated with hate mail after an e-mail it sent rejecting a client because he was gay was made public...
But is it Art?
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:30:36
A 1903 Picasso painting, which was to have been auctioned by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, has been withdrawn at the last minute due to its Nazi-era history. A descendant of a previous owner claims his ancestors were forced by the Nazis to sell the painting in the 1930s...
People are Born
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:29:43
Two [29yo] Colombian men exchanged by mistake at birth have described their feelings after a DNA test confirmed they had been raised by the wrong families... [one] grew up in an affluent neighbourhood in Cartagena, while [the other] was sent to a poor area... The two boys have met and become friends and have also bonded with their genetic families...
Human Right
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:27:12
Mexico City's assembly on Thursday voted for the first time in the country's history to legally recognize gay civil unions, a measure that will provide same-sex couples with benefits similar to those of married couples...
US Executive Branch
breitbart.com/ ... 19:12:29
After years of defending his secretary of defense, President Bush on Wednesday announced Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation within hours of the Democrats' triumph in congressional elections. Bush reached back to his father's administration to tap a former CIA director to run the Pentagon... Bush said Robert Gates, 63, who has served in a variety of national security jobs under six previous presidents, would be nominated to replace Rumsfeld... a Bush family friend and a member of an independent group studying the way ahead in Iraq...
Supernatural Consequences
telegraph.co.uk/ ... 19:07:56
UK... A family planning doctor told a patient that she had "something sinister" moving in her stomach and needed an exorcism to ward off evil spirits... informed the young woman that she was being tormented by black magic and sent her away with crosses and stones to protect her... told the patient that her mother was a witch who was planning to kill her... is accused of serious professional misconduct...
Defending Ourselves
israelnationalnews.com/ ... 19:06:49
The Israeli Armament Development Authority (Rafael) has developed a laser system to diffuse destroy roadside bombs, which have killed hundreds of US and Israeli soldiers in Iraq and Lebanon...
Big Whoops Cascade
nebraska.statepaper.com/ ... 19:54:13
[mistaken arrest...] the women have very similar looks, and that the mistake was easily understood because of it. "They have the same color hair, theyre about the same size and they wear the same earrings," Ryan said. "But they are two different people..."
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 19:06:11
...The soldier was on all fours with his trousers down and a certain part of his anatomy pointing at the stars with a Black Cat Thunderbolt rocket firmly in place. The stunt, which mimicked a scene in the controversial film Jackass: The Movie, went off with a bang at the end of the display in Sunderland, but it backfired on the intrepid squaddie. The man, aged 22, ended up in his local hospital, where he is being treated for a scorched colon and other injuries.
In something of an under-statement, safety experts said yesterday that launching a rocket from the backside was a practice that contravened the firework code...
"It exploded within a few seconds and he fell to the ground. No one thought he was hurt, we all thought it was hilarious...." An ambulance was called and when they arrived they thought it was hilarious as well. No one really took it seriously..." The injured man was captured on video performing his bizarre stunt while onlookers roared with laughter...
[Coming soon to a YouTube near you....]
Reasons for Repeal
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:33:56
Taliban insurgents have fought back against Afghan government and Western forces with surprising intensity this year,
strengthened by drug money
and the ability to shelter in Pakistan...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:31:12
Police in Italy say they have broken a major drug-trafficking ring - their second operation in two days. Fifty people were arrested in co-ordinated raids in several cities in central Italy... suspected of smuggling cocaine and heroin from Africa to several European countries...
courant.com/ ... 18:49:31
An untold number of otherwise law-abiding professionals in New York are having their pot delivered to their homes instead of visiting drug dens or hanging out on street corners...
US Election 2006
hosted.ap.org/ ... 19:49:21
Turn in those ubiquitous campaign signs and get some free food. That's the message from Southeast restaurant chain Sticky Fingers, which is offering a free appetizer to anyone who cleans up the campaign clutter and brings in a sign...
today.reuters.com/ ... 19:33:21
Young Americans voted in the largest numbers in at least 20 years in congressional elections, energized by the Iraq war and giving a boost to Democrats... About 24 percent of Americans under the age of 30, or at least 10 million young voters, cast ballots in Tuesday's elections...
philly.com/ ... 19:10:48
Anna Urban has been voting since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and wasn't about to miss an election. When the 95-year-old Reading [PA] resident didn't have a ride to the polls Tuesday, she didn't hesitate. She dialed 911... "All my life I voted," said Urban, a Democrat, who cast her first ballot in the 1930s. "You need to vote to be a good citizen..."
humanevents.com/ ... 18:47:38
Ann Coulter... History was made this week! For the first time in four election cycles, Democrats are not attacking the Diebold Corp. the day after the election, accusing it of rigging its voting machines... the left won the House and also Nicaragua... In fact, if the Democrats' pathetic gains in a sixth-year election are a statement about the war in Iraq, Americans must love the war!..
WED 2006-NOV-08
Threats
jpost.com/ ... 09:32:26
Signaling a change in tactics, Hamas' military wing on Wednesday called on Muslims around the world to attack American targets after an apparent misfiring of an IDF artillery shell in the Gaza Strip...
Violence
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:26:18
At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 40 wounded by Israeli tank fire in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun... a barrage of tank shells hit civilian homes, and women and children were among the dead. Israel has expressed regret for the civilian deaths and says it is investigating the incident...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:24:04
Militia loyal to Somalia's Islamic courts have stormed and recaptured a ship hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast... Six of the pirates were captured after a gun battle and all 14 crew members are reported to be unharmed...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:19:23
A suicide attack at Pakistan's main army training base killed at least 42 soldiers Wednesday... suspicion fell on pro-Taliban militants who had vowed revenge for a deadly helicopter attack on an Islamic school last month...
Under Tyranny
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:18:31
First it was one child. Now authorities say Beijing families will be allowed only one dog. The restriction is part of efforts to stamp out rabies... follows a campaign in August in which thousands of dogs were killed in order to fight the disease...
Criminally Stupid
tulsaworld.com/ ... 09:12:05
Tulsa... The events that led to his arrest began about 5:40 a.m., when a man forced his way into a home.... A resident confronted the man, who ran away.... A little more than an hour later, a man forced his way into [a nearby] apartment... and stole several items, then fled after encountering a resident.... While officers were searching for the burglar after the second break-in the first victim saw the burglar get into his car and drive away.... Officers found the car and began chasing it. The pursuit ended when the car hit a pole.... The driver... then ran away.... While attempting to elude officers, the fleeing man ran down an alley, where he encountered another man. He pulled a knife on the bystander and threatened to use it....
The bystander drew his legally concealed gun
and pointed it at the fugitive, who ran away.... Police found [him]... and arrested him...
[Not this guy's day!]
Extraterrestrial
newscientistspace.com/ ... 10:14:49
The space shuttle's computer software is about 30 years old and does not recognise when the calendar year switches. On 1 January 2007, for example, it will think it is day 366 of 2006 a problem NASA calls 'year-end rollover'. To reset the time, the shuttle's main computers would have to be 'reinitialised', which would mean a period without navigation updates or vehicle control, a situation NASA obviously wants to avoid...
Only Natural
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:27:06
Scores of icebergs have floated to within about 300 km (186 miles) of New Zealand, with the largest measuring about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) in length and standing some 120 meters (360 feet) above water...
Healing Ourselves
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:25:46
Cell transplants have successfully restored vision to mice which had lost their sight, leading to hopes people could benefit in the same way... by transplanting immature retinal stem cells into their eyes...
Sex Liberty
lifesite.net/ ... 10:20:14
A professor at Montreal's McGill University has come out publicly against a bill designed to raise Canada's age of consent to protect children from pedophiles and sexual predators. Robert Leckey, a Professor of Family Law at McGill stated his opposition to raising the age of consent from 14 to 16 during a panel discussion on C-22 last Wednesday, arguing the Conservative bill would disproportionately effect
[um... affect...]
"straight people and sexual minorities..." argued C-22 perpetuated the notion of young people as "helpless children needing to be protected by the state..."
But is it Art?
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 10:18:52
retired lorry driver... bought the paint-splattered canvas at a California junk shop for a joke... paid $5 for the drip painting in 1991, bartering the price down from $7. Now a fingerprint on the painting has raised the possibility that it is in fact a masterpiece by Jackson Pollock, the worlds priciest artist... If it is accepted as authentic, the picture would be worth $40 million to $50 million... took it to a friends trailer home, where they laughed at it. "We were going to throw darts at it, but we sat there and drank beer and never did get around to it..." when told that the painting might be by the abstract expressionist, she asked: "Who the f*** is Jackson Pollock?" now the title of a documentary about her ensuing 15-year struggle with the art world...
World Without Borders
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:32:45
Japan has decided to temporarily suspend beef imports from one U.S. plant after a cargo from the plant arrived without the necessary documentation...
Human Right
apnews.myway.com/ ... 09:39:08
Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin approved... amendments to ban gay marriage... Similar amendments have passed previously in all 20 states to consider them...
cnn.com/ ... 09:37:28
Arizona Proposition 107: Ban Same-Sex Marriage... No
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 09:23:26
Voters in South Dakota have
rejected a near total ban on abortion...
In several states, voters rejected gay marriage by limiting marriage to unions between a man and a woman...
Disinformation Propaganda & Spin
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:22:41
(AP) -- Democratic gains in Congress were seen around the world Wednesday as a rejection of the U.S. war in Iraq...
[And "the world" they consult and quote are...]
the manager of a Tokyo business consulting firm... president of the Malaysia-based think-tank International Movement for a Just World... a prominent, anti-American Muslim cleric in Thailand... Indonesian lawmaker...
[and oddly enough]
an Afghan analyst and former deputy Afghan information and culture minister, said he hoped that Democratic victories would lead to more reconstruction money for his war-torn nation... Some, however, doubted that there would be a major shift in Iraq... a political science professor at the Australian National University... While some in South Korea have speculated that a Democratic victory could erode Bush's hardline approach toward Pyongyang, others were skeptical...
Rebuilding
hosted.ap.org/ ... 09:18:52
The United States ambassador sought to reassure Iraqis on Wednesday that American policy in Iraq would not dramatically change after Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives in U.S. midterm elections...
US Election 2006
apnews.myway.com/ ... 09:39:31
minimum... wage hikes passed in Arizona, Colorado. Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Nevada.
apnews.myway.com/ ... 09:38:11
Missouri approved a measure backing stem cell research...
cnn.com/ ... 09:37:11
Arizona Proposition 103: English as Official Language... Yes
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:26:49
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won re-election by a landslide on Tuesday
[and then the Reuters spin]
after distancing himself from fellow Republican President George W. Bush and taking a moderate stance...
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:09:19
President George W. Bush, disappointed at the Democrats' seizure of the House of Representatives, will hold a news conference on Wednesday to urge his opponents to work with him...
today.reuters.com/ ... 09:09:00
Democrats swept Republicans out of power in the House of Representatives and made gains in the Senate on Tuesday... The win is likely to slam the brakes on Bush's legislative agenda in his final two years, make Democrat Nancy Pelosi the first female Speaker of the House and give Democrats a chance to investigate his administration's most controversial policy decisions such as the war in Iraq...
TUE 2006-NOV-07
Mass Madness
today.reuters.com/ ... 22:00:42
BERLIN... A young woman's rooftop suicide bid in Germany sparked a mass brawl... involving around 40 people... between spectators encouraging the 21-year-old to jump and a group of homeless people trying to protect her... Some 35 officers, six of whom were injured during the fight, were needed to break it up. Eight participants were arrested, most of them school children aged between 16 and 19...
[she didn't jump]
Yuck!
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:56:48
A Rapid City house that's filled with the stench of cats and animal waste was to be torn down Tuesday. Neighbors had complained about the foul smell, and authorities who searched the home found piles of cat waste and dead cats both inside and outside the home...
Alcohol Was Involved
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:45:44
LONDON... The number of middle-aged men drinking themselves to death has more than doubled since 1991...
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:45:25
Smoking and heavy alcohol use may curb the likelihood of survival among men diagnosed with cancer...
WW1 - still with us
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:58:44
One of the most poignant events of World War One, described by a soldier in a letter home to his "dear mater," is to be auctioned Tuesday. The rare letter, which gives an account of the Christmas Day truce in 1914, is one of the few uncensored accounts of life in the trenches. Nothing is known about the writer and whether he survived the horrors that were to come...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:41:50
Britain's lawmakers Tuesday granted posthumous pardons for soldiers executed during World War I, ending years of campaigning by the families of men condemned to death for cowardice. Around 300 soldiers, who were executed during the 1914-1918 conflict for failing to return to the front lines, were included in the pardon...
Nature is Dangerous
komotv.com/ ... 21:38:59
SEATTLE - The storm has gone from very wet to historically wet, as the National Weather Service declares that 7 rivers are now expected to reach record severity for flooding, with heavy rain now expected to fall through Monday night and into early Tuesday before finally tapering off...
Violence
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:43:37
Canadian troops have broken the back of an insurgency by Taliban militants near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar...
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:43:26
An Israeli warplane on Wednesday bombed and destroyed the home of a leading Hamas militant in the Gaza Strip, in a raid that caused no injuries because occupants were warned in time to leave...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:42:49
Suspected Palestinian militants from northern Gaza have launched at least four rockets into the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon... No-one was hurt...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:42:17
BAGHDAD, Iraq... The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that it had brought the first-ever charges of torture against members of the Iraqi police, who are accused of close ties to the Shiite death squads...
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:36:44
Two grenades exploded at a Mexican beach resort late on Monday, hours before a visit by conservative President-elect Felipe Calderon, increasing fears Mexico could descend into political unrest and violence...
Nature can be Deadly
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:00:56
At least nine people have been killed and more than 15 injured when a tornado swept through a town in northern Japan. Officials said two other people were still missing in the town of Saroma, on the island of Hokkaido...
Evolution Isn't Easy
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:53:15
Neanderthals may have given the modern humans who replaced them a priceless gift -- a gene that helped them develop superior brains...
Nature can be Healthy
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:52:57
Getting in touch with nature can help keep people fit, reducing the burden of sickness on the health service, conservation experts say. Natural England is launching a campaign to get people to spend more time outside among the country's wildlife and natural environment... can cut stress and increase physical activity...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:03:02
Army Sgt. 1st Class
William R. Brown
, 30, of Fort Worth, Texas, died Nov. 6 in Sperwan-Gar, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:02:50
Army Pfc.
Kevin J. Ellenburg
, 20, of Middleburg, Fla., died Nov. 1 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:02:34
Marine 2nd Lt.
Mark C. Gelina
, 33, of Moberly, Mo., died Nov. 4 from a non-hostile incident in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:02:21
Marine Lance Cpl.
James E. Brown
, 20, of Owensville, Ind., died Nov. 2 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Staff Sgt.
Jason D. Whitehouse
, 27, of Phoenix, Ariz., died Nov. 2 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Intelligence Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:01:56
Army Spc.
Douglas C. Desjardins
, 24, of Mesa, Ariz., died Nov. 5 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M1A1 Abrams tank during combat operations. Desjardins was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Ray Barracks, Giessen, Germany.
defenselink.mil/ ... 21:01:42
Marine Cpl.
Kyle W. Powell
, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died Nov. 4 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
Marine Cpl.
Jose A. Galvan
, 22, of San Antonio, Texas, died Nov. 5 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
Both Marines were assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Feeding Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:59:43
Maple Leaf Foods, Canada's largest meat processor, recalled ham and turkey products on Tuesday that it warned may have been tampered with after it found syringe casings at its Kitchener, Ontario, plant...
Gardeners of Earth
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:58:49
Indian scientists working in a tropical forest in the country's remote northeast have found a rare medicinal plant last seen 115 years ago... "Begonia Tessaricarpa..." once regarded as having medicinal properties by the region's ethnic tribes, and reportedly was used to treat stomach aches and dehydration. It's juices were also reportedly used to ward off leeches. The plant was first listed in scientific literature by British scientist C. B. Clarke in 1879 and 1890, but had not been seen since...
Extraterrestrial
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:57:11
Nasa's Swift satellite has seen a giant flare explode from a nearby star... equivalent to about 50 million trillion atomic bombs... If the Sun was ever to produce such an outburst, it would blast the Earth with radiation and almost certainly cause a mass extinction...
World - Energy
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 20:49:38
The world could be
dependent on "dirty, insecure and expensive" energy by 2030
, an influential report has warned. Current trends showed that demand for power was set to grow by 53% by 2030, the International Energy Agency said...
World of Water
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:49:11
Water levels in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, China's second longest, have hit a historic low, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday, after a senior official warned that
China might run out of water by 2030...
World Zookeeping
hosted.ap.org/ ... 20:48:51
About 1,000 Yellowstone cutthroat trout, feared in jeopardy from the aftereffects of a major Montana wildfire, are being captured and moved temporarily to streams not threatened by fire damage...
Defending Ourselves
tulsaworld.com/ ... 22:20:41
A burglary and car-theft suspect got more than he bargained for Monday when he allegedly pulled a knife on a man while fleeing from the police. The man, a bystander who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, pulled a gun on the suspect...
People are Born
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:59:19
Two Chinese families are suing a hospital 15 years after they took home the wrong newborn babies...
Supernatural Consequences
apnews.myway.com/ ... 22:05:02
A southeastern Kentucky woman was bitten by a snake during a church service and later died... the church practices serpent handling... Handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:58:19
JACKSONVILLE, Fla... A 54-year-old Orange Park man credits two small Bibles in his shirt pocket for saving his life when they stopped a bullet... two men who he didn't recognize ambushed him with a rifle as he carried bags of garbage to a trash bin... was carrying two New Testament Bibles in his shirt pocket to give to friends...
Digital Culture
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:49:04
A shortage of information technology graduates from Western universities is leading companies to call on developing countries to meet research demand, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Tuesday...
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:48:52
A Christian video game based on prophecies from the Bible's Book of Revelation... "Left Behind: Eternal Forces..." takes a new twist on video game violence -- draining the "spirit" of characters who slay enemies rather than making them stronger...
Reasons for Repeal
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:43:11
The Afghan government has for the first time accepted that
aerial chemical spraying could be considered to curb the cultivation of opium poppies.
Poppy production across Afghanistan has increased by 60% since 2005...
Human Right
forbes.com/ ... 21:37:58
Amendments to ban gay marriage won approval Tuesday in South Carolina, Wisconsin and Virginia...
World Without Borders
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:43:54
Nicaragua's former Marxist guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega bounced back to power on Tuesday in a presidential election victory that bolsters an increasingly assertive anti-U.S. bloc in Latin America...
voanews.com/ ... 21:36:59
The World Trade Organization has voted to accept Vietnam as a member...
Digital Threat
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:53:42
A surge in "phishing" in the first half of 2006 has produced a sharp rise in the amount of money being lost to online banking fraud... number of recorded incidents rose 16-fold...
informationweek.com/ ... 21:36:17
For the second time in less than a week, Microsoft has acknowledged that attackers are exploiting a critical, unpatched flaw in Windows to snatch PCs from their owners. The new bug, which is in an ActiveX component of Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 -- a service that lets developers use scripting languages such as JavaScript and Visual Basic to access XML documents -- is being put to work now by attackers... A hacker can hijack PCs running Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2, or Windows Server 2003 by enticing Internet Explorer-equipped users to a malicious Web site, where the vulnerability would be exploited. The bug is probably related to the XML Core Services vulnerability patched last month... Microsoft is essentially admitting that the October patch didn't plug every hole...
Rebuilding
news.com.au/ ... 21:35:02
NEPAL'S governing parties and Maoist rebels clinched a historic peace deal today that will see the movement join an interim administration in a bid to end a bloody 10-year insurgency...
US Election 2006
ctv.ca/ ... 22:11:31
Up for grabs are 435 House seats, 33 of 100 Senate seats, governorships in 36 states, and thousands of state legislative and local races...
usatoday.com/ ... 22:04:16
Branded a traitor and rejected by the Democratic Party, Sen. Joe Lieberman completed a dramatic political comeback Tuesday by defeating anti-war challenger Ned Lamont to win a fourth term...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:57:21
A poll worker was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and interfering with an election for allegedly choking a voter and pushing him out the door... apparently started as a dispute between the two over marking the ballot...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:56:26
Even Gov. Mark Sanford needs the right ID to vote in South Carolina... forgot his voter registration card and was turned away from the polls, returning 90 minutes later to cast his ballot...
washingtonpost.com/ ... 21:34:35
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton romped to a second term Tuesday...
Eliot Spitzer became the state's first Democratic governor in 12 years...
Digital Liberty
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:00:37
A list of 13 "enemies of the internet" has been released by human rights group Reporters Without Borders... Egypt has been added to the list while Nepal, Libya and the Maldives have all been removed...
THE 13 COUNTRIES BLACKLISTED
Belarus
Burma
China
Cuba
Egypt
Iran
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Theory of Justice
today.reuters.com/ ... 21:00:04
Two days after being condemned to death, Saddam Hussein was back in court on Tuesday urging Iraqis "to forgive ... and shake hands..."
People Do Drugs
today.reuters.com/ ... 20:59:23
Using anabolic steroids is linked to antisocial behavior such as illegal weapon possession and fraud, according a Swedish study published on Monday that provided a fresh warning about the dangers of the muscle-building drugs. But the researchers said they were somewhat surprised to find that steroid users were no more likely than nonusers to commit violent crimes such as murder and assault. Sexual offenses such as rape and property crimes also were not linked to steroid use...
MON 2006-NOV-06
Sex Liberty
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:41:11
Chinese sociologists said that the country should promote bolder attitudes toward sex, but that wife-swapping was off the agenda...
Slavery - still with us
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 17:18:49
A mother of six was jailed for seven years today for turning her sister-in-law into a domestic slave... assaulted her, forced her to work naked and made her beg for food over a number of years... sentenced to a total of seven years after being found guilty earlier of false imprisonment, making threats to kill and six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm... Her partner ... was jailed for two years after being found guilty of one count of aiding and abetting an assault... judge also said she had gone to great lengths to avoid the trial, including making an attempt on her life, and even initially refused to enter the dock for the sentencing hearing today...
[comment]
7 years? 2 years? That's all? with leniency like this, it's no wonder crime is on the rise in the UK...
Theft
thestarpress.com/ ... 17:15:54
MUNCIE -- A burglar stole a television set from a Muncie man's living room -- and left a broken television in its place...
Alcohol Was Involved
msnbc.msn.com/ ... 17:15:09
Drinking a shot of beer in New York could get you arrested for drunken driving, thanks to a typo in a New York law passed this year. Lawmakers approved a bill that sets the standard for driving while intoxicated at 0.18 grams of alcohol in a person's blood. But a person's body can produce that much alcohol naturally... Instead of using grams, the law should have used blood alcohol content as a measure...
Animals can be Dangerous
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:18:20
A single 30-minute treatment with a hair dryer-like device kills head lice more effectively than chemical preparations, apparently by drying the bugs and their eggs to death, researchers reported on Monday. If the device, called the Louse Buster, wins U.S. regulatory approval, it could be on the market for schools, clinics and other institutional settings within two years...
Transport Threat
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:17:24
New national data show school bus-related accidents send 17,000 U.S. children to emergency rooms each year...
Scary Times
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:11:37
New rules permitting small amounts of liquids in hand luggage on European and UK flights have come into effect. Liquids are limited to 100ml per container and no more containers than would fit in a one-litre plastic bag...
1960s - less with us
seattlepi.nwsource.com/ ... 11:09:32
Ellie Dahmer found little comfort in the death of the Ku Klux Klan leader who ordered the assassination of her husband, saying Samuel H. Bowers lived a much longer life than the man she married. Bowers, who was serving a life sentence for the 1966 bombing death of Vernon Dahmer Sr., died Sunday in a state penitentiary, officials said. He was 82...
Violence
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:11:58
Iraqi authorities have begun to lift a round-the-clock curfew in Baghdad, a day after Saddam Hussein was sentenced...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:10:37
17 people died in a series of bomb blasts in India's north-east. At least 45 others were injured in the explosions in Assam state...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:10:01
A female suicide bomber approached Israeli troops Monday in the northern Gaza Strip and blew herself up.... One soldier was lightly wounded in the blast...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:07:58
A bomb exploded near police barracks in Beirut Sunday night.... No one was hurt and there was little damage... It was the third explosion targeting Lebanese police and the sixth blast to have rocked Beirut in recent weeks...
Science Marches Onnnnnn
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:40:48
UK scientists have applied for permission to
create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs
... would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days...
Raising Ourselves
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:22:14
A machine has been invented to encourage children to work out while they are playing computer games...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:22:03
Illustrations in picture books go beyond entertaining children and teach them how to navigate the world...
Transport Future
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:20:34
a team of researchers in Britain and the US has come up with a revolutionary new aircraft design that could make a dramatic contribution to curbing climate change. The SAX-40, which has been developed by the Cambridge-MIT Institute, is a radically different shape of aircraft. Officially, it is what is known as a "blended wing". It has a tailless wedge-shaped body with two bat-wings. The Silent Aircraft Initiative (SAI) team has succeeded in coming up with a radically quieter plane. Crucially, the SAX-40 is also 35% more fuel-efficient than any airliner currently flying...
World Zookeeping
local6.com/ ... 17:19:27
A massive fire tore through one of Central Florida's oldest attractions, Gatorland, killing up to four animals... may have claimed two 5-foot long crocodiles and two 8-foot pythons...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:19:51
Some 100 of the UK's 130 native breeds are at risk of disappearing.
It is hoped a combination of sperm and egg banks, along with the protection of existing live animals, will help to safeguard the future of rare breeds. The efforts are an attempt to protect genetic diversity that may prove to have valuable traits in the future...
Digital Convergence
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:19:14
Tuesday's midterm elections will play out not only in the voting booth and on TV but also on the
Web, which will be offering the most coverage ever for an election...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:18:56
U.S. newspaper publishers Gannett Co. Inc., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co. have invested an additional
$15 million
in Topix.net, the news search and archive company said on Monday. The Palo Alto, California-based Topix plans to use the money to expand its news communities, where people discuss local news issues across the United States in online forums. It also plans to develop and market new consumer news services, as well as increase its exposure among online news consumers...
US Military
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:12:49
Two U.S. soldiers were killed when a helicopter crashed in Salahaddin province north of Baghdad on Monday... "No activity fire was observed in the area at that time," a U.S. statement said, adding that the crash was under investigation...
Healing Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 23:39:15
Duct tape
does not work any better than doing nothing
to cure warts
in schoolchildren, Dutch researchers reported on Monday in a study that contradicts a popular theory about an easy way to get rid of the unattractive lumps...
today.reuters.co.uk/ ... 23:38:51
An AIDS virus genetically engineered to fight other AIDS viruses worked better than expected, suppressing the virus and renewing the immune systems of a few patients...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:12:23
Stimulating the brain with gentle electric currents during sleep boosts memory... they applied several currents that mimic natural slow oscillating brain waves in sleep...
Feeding Ourselves
poughkeepsiejournal.com/ ... 17:14:18
The demand for organic foods from fruits, pizza, breakfast cereals and cookies to pasta, ketchup, sirloin steaks and baby food is growing stronger: Sales of organic food have grown about 20 percent during the last five years, with this year's tally expected to top $15 billion, the Organic Trade Association reports. More than one-fourth of Americans are eating more organic products than a year ago, according to a 2004 survey by Whole Foods Market. At the same time, more than half of Americans have tried organic products...
theglobeandmail.com/ ... 11:26:37
Canadian adults continue to get fatter, but they appear to be packing on the pounds at a much slower rate...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:17:50
...belly fat of children and teenagers had increased by more than 65 percent since the 1990s -- directly in line with rising obesity rates. But belly fat is more dangerous than general weight gain, because abdominal and visceral fat -- found surrounding the internal organs -- is more clearly and strongly linked with disease than general body fat...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:16:55
Cornell University marketing professor Brian Wansink... wants to know if people grab more M&M's from a bowl if there are more colors (yes), if people tend to eat less popcorn at comic films like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" than during gloomy films (yes) and whether people are tuned into the subtle prompts like mood and setting that affect their eating (generally, no). After years of sometimes unorthodox research, Wansink argues that a good way to lose weight is not by obsessing over carbs or banning trans fats, but by addressing dietary "hidden persuaders..."
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:10:21
60 Million Chinese Are Considered Obese...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:07:13
Army Spc.
James L. Bridges
, 22, of Buhl, Idaho, died Nov. 4 in Baghdad, Iraq, when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. Bridges was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Ala.
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:06:44
Army Lt. Col.
Paul J. Finken
, 40, of Mason City, Iowa
Army Lt. Col.
Eric J. Kruger
, 40, of Garland, Texas
Army Staff Sgt.
Joseph A. Gage
, 28, of Modesto, Calif.
died Nov. 2 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an IED detonated near their vehicles. Finken and Gage were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. Kruger was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado.
defenselink.mil/ ... 11:05:45
Army Maj.
Douglas E. Sloan
, 40, of Evans Mills, N.Y.
Army Sgt.
Charles J. McClain
, 26, of Fort Riley, Kan. He later died in Asadabad, Afghanistan.
Army Pfc.
Alex Oceguera
, 19, of San Bernardino, Calif.
died of injuries suffered when an IED detonated near their vehicle Oct. 31 in Wygal Valley, Afghanistan. All soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
US Election 2006
poughkeepsiejournal.com/ ... 17:17:04
New York... The new statewide database of registered voters contains as many as 77,000 dead people on its rolls, and as many as 2,600 of them have cast votes from the grave, according to a Poughkeepsie Journal computer-assisted analysis...
Digital Threat
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 23:41:30
The authorities in Chile have arrested four people who the police say are members of one of the world's most successful groups of computer hackers. The men are accused of breaching more than 8,000 websites, including that of US space agency Nasa...
news.com.com/ ... 11:26:24
A Wikipedia page has been used by hackers in an attempt to spread malicious code. The entry for the W32.Blaster worm in the German version of the popular online encyclopedia was altered to include false information about a new version of the Lovesan/MS Blaster worm, with links to a supposed fix. The fix was actually a piece of malicious code, according to antivirus vendor Sophos. It's not clear how long the vandalized page was live, but the editors of Wikipedia.de moved quickly to delete the links once they were discovered...
People are Trashy
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:21:49
Old toothbrushes, beach toys and used condoms are part of a
vast vortex of plastic trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,
threatening sea creatures that get tangled in it, eat it or ride on it... an area between Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast... swirling vortex, which can grow to be
about the size of Texas.
.. 80 percent of this debris comes from land and 20 percent from the oceans, the report said, with four main sources: tourism, sewage, fishing and waste from ships and boats...
Supernatural Consequences
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:11:18
Morocco's state airline Royal Air Maroc has banned its staff praying at their offices and headquarters. The company says that in the past its workers have abused the privilege of praying, by taking too much time away from their desks and their customers. But the airline's workers as well as Islamist politicians say it is part of a crackdown on their religious freedom...
SUN 2006-NOV-05
Infrastructure Failure
bloomberg.com/ ... 18:38:15
Power failure in a German electricity grid operated by E.ON AG caused blackouts across western Europe last night, depriving millions of homes of electricity, disrupting trains and risking outages to hospitals and airports... some 10 million households across Belgium, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Eastern Europe may have been affected... biggest pan- European power collapse in at least 30 years through a domino effect that swept through Western and Eastern Europe... E.ON, Germany's biggest utility, said today it may have triggered the blackouts by disconnecting a high-voltage power line over the river Ems in northwest Germany to let a ship pass safely...
Sick, Sick, Sick
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 15:19:28
Children are now so addicted to television that they would prefer to look at a blank screen than a smiling human face, a new study has found...
Now
That's
Funny!
myrtlebeachonline.com/ ... 15:17:54
Some gas station owners in Oklahoma are dropping the Venezuelan state-owned Citgo brand, saying sales have dropped significantly since the Venezuelan president criticized President Bush in a speech last month...
Sex can be Dangerous
gazette.com/ ... 13:14:11
"I am so sorry for the circumstances that have caused shame and embarrassment to all of you," he stated. He said he had confused the situation by giving inconsistent remarks to reporters denying the scandal. "The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it all my adult life.... The accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true, but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed" from my church leadership position, Haggard also wrote. He did not give details on which accusations were true...
Theory of Sex Education
wnbc.com/ ... 11:01:42
Prosecutors want a former Newark teacher accused by a student of infecting him with the virus that causes AIDS to be tested for the disease...
Nudity can be Unappetizing
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:57:03
EL CERRITO, Calif.... A [nude] man was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon....
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:56:35
...The woman... was staying in a room with [man] when he took a hit of cocaine, started trashing their room and choked her. She ran in the buff to the nearby [Waffle House] and locked herself in the bathroom. [He], also naked, followed her into the restaurant and then fled in a car...
Animals can be Dangerous
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:55:20
RATCLIFF, Texas... A freak accident left a man hospitalized on Friday after he was apparently stabbed by antlers... [he] got out of their pickup to check the vehicle... another vehicle came along and hit the dead animal or part of the mangled remains. The antlers apparently flew up and stabbed [him] in the side... in fair condition in the intensive care unit... second vehicle didn't stop...
Industrial Tragedy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:53:25
Forty-seven primary school children in eastern China have been found to have excessive lead in their blood... the Meiheng Smelting Co. in the village was the suspected the source of the lead...
Violence
iht.com/ ... 11:02:11
BAGHDAD, Iraq: Kidnappers released a blind Iraqi athlete and paralympics coach after determining neither man was linked to the Sunni insurgency...
alertnet.org/ ... 11:00:17
security and other developments in Iraq as of 1800 GMT on Friday:...
Television journalist... killed...
Greek woman... kidnapped in Baghdad around a week ago... released...
Three U.S. Marines died of wounds sustained in combat in the western Anbar province on Thursday...
Iraqi police backed by U.S. Marines arrested three bodyguards working for the mayor of Falluja and five other people...
Police clashed with three gunmen at a police checkpoint, wounding two and arresting a third, in Numaniya... Four police were killed and their car destroyed by a roadside bomb in Madaen...
Two boys tending sheep were killed by a landmine and three more were wounded in Kermashia...
Police in Baghdad found the body of freelance journalist Abdul Majeed Ismael Khalil bearing bullet wounds...
[and on and on....]
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:51:32
At least 15 people have been killed and about 30 others injured in two bomb blasts in India's north-eastern state of Assam... The first explosion took place in a crowded marketplace in the state's main capital, Guwahati, killing 13 people. The second bomb went off in a stone quarry in the south of the city, killing two people... police believed United Liberation Front of Assam rebels were behind the blasts...
US Military
bloomberg.com/ ... 15:29:26
A group of military-targeted trade publications is calling on President George W. Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, citing a lack of support from military leaders over the Iraq war... Gannett Co.'s weekly Military Times newspapers, which include the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times... White House spokesman Tony Snow dismissed the editorial as a "shabby piece of work" and said its assertions were mistaken...
Evolution Isn't Easy
medicalnewstoday.com/ ... 13:20:14
As medical science progresses the number of seriously disabled babies that survive is growing - we should therefore consider having a debate on allowing active euthanasia, for the good of families, says the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology. The College explains families who have the most severely disabled babies, babies who until recently would not have survived, are suffering enormously, both emotionally and financially...
breitbart.com/ ... 11:00:59
Japanese researchers said Sunday a bottlenose dolphin captured last month has an extra set of fins that could be the remains of back legs, providing further evidence ocean-dwelling mammals once lived on land... Though odd-shaped protrusions have been found near the tails of dolphins and whales captured in the past, researchers thought it was the first time one had been found with well-developed, symmetrical fins...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 10:50:40
Marine Lance Cpl.
Luke B. Holler
, 21, of Bulverde, Texas, died Nov. 2 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, San Antonio, Texas.
Marine Cpl.
Michael H. Lasky
, 22, of Sterling, Alaska, died Nov. 2 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.
Rebuilding
cnn.com/ ... 18:47:02
A series of secret U.S. war games in 1999 showed that an invasion and post-war administration of Iraq would require 400,000 troops, nearly three times the number there now. And even then, the games showed, the country still had a chance of dissolving into chaos...
[Hmmmm.... sorta sounds like... we've actually done pretty good with the number of troops we had... not the spin others are making of this, of course....]
Sportsmanship
dailysouthtown.com/ ... 18:45:36
The Bears have four straight wins at Soldier Field by 27 points or more. In their four home games in 2006, the Bears have outscored the opposition by a collective 152-30...
Christmas 2006
palmbeachpost.com/ ... 15:18:54
Sither started writing city officials about her request in September, after she received a city-published newsletter about upcoming end-of-the-year events. The magazine mentioned a "Hanukkah Celebration," a "Tree Lighting" and "Breakfast with Santa." But there was no mention of Christmas. "Being 74 years old, I'm just not used to that in America," she said...
Beatles - still with us
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 15:17:32
Sir Paul McCartney has secretly paid £200,000 to secure audio tapes which reportedly contain explosive allegations about his marriage to his first wife Linda...
Supernatural Consequences
chron.com/ ... 11:05:18
Katharine Jefferts Schori took office Saturday as the first female leader of The Episcopal Church and the first woman priest to head an Anglican province, two landmarks that could quickly be overshadowed by divisions over the Bible and sexuality throughout world Anglicanism... Jefferts Schori, who supports ordaining gays... She said the U.S. church should be willing to compromise "for a season" to stay in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion... That may not be enough to appease other branches of the Anglican family, which take a traditional view that gay relationships are prohibited by Scripture. Some Anglican leaders also reject the idea of women's ordination: Jefferts Schori has said they'll have to "get over it..."
Digital Culture
sciam.com/ ... 10:57:39
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southampton in England today announced they would jointly start
a new branch of science: the science of the Web...
Repeal! Repeal! Repeal!
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:52:45
Dr. Mollie Fry never thought telling her patients where to get the medicine she recommended for pain, depression and nausea would be a problem. Federal drug agents who raided her home and office thought otherwise, and she was indicted last year on felony charges of conspiring to distribute marijuana. "I assumed the fact that I had 'M.D.' at the end of my name gave me the right to make judgments about people's health," said Fry, who estimates she has issued thousands of cannabis recommendations since setting up her thriving practice northeast of Sacramento in 1999...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:52:00
A group that claims marijuana use is safer than drinking ran newspaper ads Saturday mentioning allegations that President Bush once drunkenly challenged his father to fight and Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a friend after drinking...
Theory of Justice
dw-world.de/ ... 18:43:35
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the death sentence passed against Saddam Hussain a verdict "all Iraqis are entitled to celebrate..."
Great Britain, one of the main powers behind the invasion of Iraq, was among the few western countries to give an openly positive reception to Sunday's verdict...
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the former Iraqi dictator should be held accountable for his actions, but added that Spain remains firmly opposed the death penalty...
Swedish Foreign Minister Bildt called Saddam verdict "deeply satisfying...."
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he was pleased Hussein's "reign of terror" was brought to an end... adding that the Netherlands also is opposed to the death penalty...
France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy focused his remarks on Iraq's future... "I hope this decision will not lead to new tensions and that the Iraqis will show restraint, whatever community they belong to..."
Human rights groups slammed the trial for not providing victims with a clear record of facts of what occurred under Hussein's dictatorship and emphasized their rejection of the death penalty under any circumstances...
news.com.au/ ... 13:24:11
The only lingering concern for Iranians was that death by hanging was somehow not enough for one of the most reviled men in the Islamic republic and his demise could impede justice for his "crimes" against Iran...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:18:42
Thousands of Iraqis are celebrating the death sentence handed to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
following his conviction for crimes against humanity... sentenced over his role in the killing of 148 people in the town of Dujail... dancing in the streets... celebratory bursts of gunfire... driving around in their cars delightedly hooting their horns... In Dujail... images of the ex-president were burned in delight... But there has been anger in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit... where a large crowd of protesters, many carrying pictures of Saddam Hussein, marched through the streets denouncing the verdict... in Samarra... Saddam Hussein's portrait was carried around the town by police, while a crowd shouted
"Hail to Jihad. Hail to al-Qaeda. Hail to Islam..."
in Falluja... masked gunmen attacked the US military's headquarters with machine guns - though no-one was hurt...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:50:01
AGHDAD, Iraq...
Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced Sunday to hang for crimes against humanity
in the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single Shiite town, as the ousted leader, trembling and defiant, shouted "God is great!.."
SAT 2006-NOV-04
Digital Theft
usatoday.com/ ... 11:17:03
In its latest crackdown on cybercrime, the FBI planned to announce Friday the arrests of 16 people in the USA and Poland suspected of participating in a website where stolen personal data were traded and phishing attacks were launched. Individuals were arrested in Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio. Raids were conducted in New York, Texas, Tennessee, Nebraska, Georgia and Ohio, the FBI said. Search warrants on three individuals in Romania also were performed this week as part of the ongoing investigation...
WW2 - still with us
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 11:16:37
Children born on Nazi baby farms who were intended to be the germseed for Hitler's Ayran master race are meeting in public to break a taboo that has lasted more than 60 years... the lack of affection and poor education besides Nazi indoctrination led many to be educationally backward and emotionally crippled. The results of this genetic engineering experiment have lived in silence, and often shame, for decades... the Lebensspuren, or "Traces of Life", association that the children formed last year. Of its 60 members, nearly two-thirds are Lebensborn children who, now in their 60s, feel a growing need to uncover their past and break one of the last taboos about the Nazi era in Germany. For the first time, parts of their meeting today will be open to the public. "To this day, many of them suffer from the consequences of secrecy and the Nazi ideologies of race..." Conservative estimates put the number of Lebensborn children in Germany somewhere around 5,500, but exact numbers do not exist...
Transport Incident
chron.com/ ... 11:13:23
To an experienced pilot, Runway 29 at Newark Liberty International Airport is hard to miss. It is half a football field wide, and like all jet runways, is marked by white lights on each side and down its center line. All of which has left some aviation officials surprised and alarmed that a Boeing 757 mistakenly landed on an adjacent taxiway last weekend. Aviation experts said the incident last Saturday night points up the potential for tragedy and the need for better runway safety technology...
Missing
time.com/ ... 11:10:19
The family of Iraqi-American Specialist Ahmed al-Taie tells TIME that his captors have demanded $250,000 for his release. But his family wants proof that he is alive...
Masses can be Deadly
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:43:44
At least four people have been killed and 18 others injured in a stampede at a Hindu temple in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. The incident happened as thousands of devotees lined up to get into the Jagannath temple in the town of Puri to usher in a Hindu festival. Witnesses blamed the authorities for opening the gates too late...
Violence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:39:33
NATO forces struck a suspected insurgent compound in rare violence near Kabul and battles continued Saturday in the area... Afghan authorities reported a dozen people dead in attacks...
Threats
newschannel5.tv/ ... 11:08:33
A NEWSCHANNEL 5 investigation reveals what the feds don't want you to know. Suspected terrorists are hiding inside the U.S. and they got here by sneaking across the Mexican border... Al Qaeda commander he talked to gave a grim warning that another attack on America is coming very soon. "We can attack America anytime..." "Abu Dawood told me,
'We are determined to attack America again and that attack will be bigger than 9/11..."
Dawood said Brother Adnan "had smuggled some dangerous materials from the Mexican border to inside the United States of America..." former special agent tells us the U.S. government is well aware Al Qaeda's been working hard to get a dirty bomb into the country, an explosive packed with nuclear materials small enough to carry in a suitcase. Smugglers have been caught 300 times in the past four years trying to sneak in radioactive material, which could be used to make a dirty bomb... a chemical attack is more likely and the Valley could be a launching ground. Burton says there are several specific locations in Houston, which if hit, could carry out a devastating terrorist attack on U.S. soil...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:38:21
Egyptian police on Friday found more than 3,000 pounds of explosives buried in two caches in the Sinai desert, one of them near the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip...
Cryptozoology
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:48:11
Jeffrey Meldrum holds a Ph.D. in anatomical sciences and is a tenured professor of anatomy at Idaho State University. He is also one of the world's foremost authorities on Bigfoot, the mythical smelly ape-man of the Northwest woods. And Meldrum firmly believes the lumbering, shaggy brute exists... Over the summer, more than 30 professors signed a petition criticizing the university for hosting a Bigfoot symposium where Meldrum was the keynote speaker...
Digital Convergence
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:44:51
Gannett Co. Inc. plans to overhaul its local newsrooms to report stories around the clock using text, audio and video, as it tries to retain readers who are deserting newspapers for other media...
Feeding Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:44:41
Tomatoes eaten in restaurants were probably the source of an outbreak of Salmonella food poisoning that sickened 183 people in 21 states and Canada, federal health officials said on Friday...
World Zookeeping
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:37:32
A herd of [about 100] horses marooned on a lowland knoll for three days by rising floodwaters waded to safety on Friday, led by wranglers following an underwater path marked out by half-submerged stakes. The horses were neck deep at times and had to swim at some spots, especially the foals. But they began to canter as they neared the edge of the brackish water, and burst into a gallop once they reached solid land, apparently relieved at being able to stretch their legs...
Marriage Today
chron.com/ ... 11:14:11
NEW YORK A detective suspended after testing positive for drugs says his wife served him meatballs spiked with marijuana because she wanted to keep him out of harm's way by forcing him into retirement. An administrative judge believed him, and recommended earlier this week that Nicholas Chiofalo be reinstated. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has yet to decide what to do...
World Without Borders
mysanantonio.com/ ... 11:12:44
LAREDO One woman died and at least 20 others were injured after a passenger van stuffed with up to 60 undocumented immigrants rolled over on a Zapata County road... Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez was at the scene and said he counted at least 52 people. "I have not seen anything like that in my 30-year career," he said. "So many people, so many injured, I had never seen anything like that..."
Reasons for Repeal
sonorannews.com/ ... 11:11:50
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), four of Arizonas six national forests, Coconino, Kaibab, Prescott and Tonto have been involved in marijuana plant eradication since 2004. The majority of those eradications occurred on two sites in Coconino National Forest, for a total of 19,982 plants and 13 sites in Tonto National Forest for a total of 132,047 plants... On Sunday, forest service law enforcement officers were performing a marijuana eradication operation at the site when they encountered four armed suspects. One of the suspects pointed a loaded rifle at one of the law enforcement officers, who responded by firing at the suspect three times. On Tuesday, the USDA, Southwest Region, reported the suspect, a 20-year old Hispanic male illegal alien, was in stable condition in a local hospital and cooperating with authorities...
Big Nanny
seattlepi.nwsource.com/ ... 11:10:51
Under a new federal policy, children born in the United States to illegal immigrants with low incomes will no longer be automatically entitled to health insurance through Medicaid... would make it more difficult for such infants, who are U.S. citizens, to obtain health care needed in the first year of life...
Under Liberty
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:40:53
Thousands of nationalist Turks marched in the capital Saturday, vowing to defend the secular regime against radical Islamic influences and urging the government not to make too many concessions in order to gain European Union membership...
Lost & Found
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:37:59
An Italian photographer kidnapped in Afghanistan was freed Friday in good health and said he was kept in chains and never saw daylight during his three weeks in captivity...
Digital Culture
informationweek.com/ ... 10:36:53
Microsoft and Novell announced an unusual partnership Thursday, involving intellectual property protection as well as an agreement to jointly work on virtualization technology to simplify the process of running Linux on Windows and vice versa. Both companies also pledged to provide sales support for each other's products. In announcing the deal at a San Francisco news conference, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer implied that in signing the patent deal, Novell's version of Linux was safer against intellectual property claims than its competitors' products...
US Election 2006
nypost.com/ ... 10:35:37
Exit-poll data will be under lock and key Election Day to help networks avoid the Bush-Gore debacle of 2000 - and prevent bloggers from trumpeting results before the polls close. The crucial info - which could provide an early hint if a Democratic wave is in fact under way - will be squirreled away in a windowless New York office room dubbed the "Quarantine Room," the Washington Post first reported. A media consortium established to track polling results has set up ironclad rules to prevent leaks to news-hungry Web sites like the Drudge Report...
FRI 2006-NOV-03
Under Sexist Tyranny
jpost.com/ ... 18:01:56
A Saudi court has
sentenced a gang rape victim to 90 lashes of the whip because she was alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married...
Transport Tragedy
breitbart.com/ ... 17:35:57
A light wind... coupled with the pilot's inability to turn sharply... was cited by federal investigators Friday for blowing a small airplane carrying Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle... away from its intended path over the East River... and into a New York City high-rise on Oct. 11...
Threats
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 23:00:09
THE SPECTRE of a nuclear race in the Middle East was raised yesterday when six Arab states announced that they were embarking on programmes to master atomic technology... could see a rapid spread of nuclear reactors in one of the worlds most unstable regions, stretching from the Gulf to the Levant and into North Africa... Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Tunisia and the UAE have also shown interest...
washingtonpost.com/ ... 18:02:53
A group of alleged terrorists arrested in London in August
planned to blow up airliners over U.S. cities to maximize casualties
, rather than over the Atlantic Ocean as many intelligence officials originally thought...
breitbart.com/ ... 17:33:41
Iran test-fired dozens of missiles, including the Shahab-3 that can reach Israel, in military maneuvers Thursday that it said were aimed at putting a stop to the role of world powers in the Persian Gulf region...
Digital Theft
cbsnews.com/ ... 17:29:17
The recent security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory was very serious, with sensitive materials being taken out of the facility
possibly including information on how to deactivate locks on nuclear weapons....
no evidence the information taken from Los Alamos was sold or transferred to anybody else, but there is no way to be sure right now...
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:25:02
Starbucks Corp. on Friday said four laptops, two of which contained the names and social security numbers of about 60,000 U.S. employees, have gone missing from its corporate headquarters...
Animals can be Deadly
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:53:48
A 10-year-old girl who was diagnosed with
Indiana's first confirmed case of rabies in nearly half a century died Thursday
... had been bitten by a rabid bat in June and had been hospitalized since early October... More than 30 of the girl's relatives, friends and classmates were offered injections to prevent the spread of the disease. Some parents whose children attend the girl's school in Bourbon, 25 miles south of South Bend, worried about possible exposure since rabies can stay dormant for more than a year...
Alcohol Was Involved
suntimes.com/ ... 18:06:56
A highly intoxicated Oak Park man faces several charges after driving up to the Braidwood nuclear power plant in search of gasoline Saturday... earlier incident Oct. 18... [another drunken man] drove in and tried to pay a guard, thinking he was at an interstate toll plaza...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:52:50
In a country renowned for hard drinking, most people aren't surprised to hear that
42,000 people die from counterfeit alcohol in Russia each year...
Perfumes, aftershave, cleaning liquids and other fluids have been passed off by counterfeiters as vodka for decades, and have long been on the drinks list of Russia's more desperate alcoholics... a malaise that has helped lower Russia's average life expectancy rate to 66, 14 years shorter than the European Union average...
Sex can be Dangerous
worldtribune.com/ ... 17:32:13
Saudi King Abdullah has been hearing steady reports of a sharp decline in morals in his country... requests for help from thousands of married couples on the verge of breaking up... The threat is not divorce, heavily frowned upon in the kingdom, but of the husband establishing a second home with a concubine or prostitute... reports of wife swapping, of husbands pressuring wives to sleep with their friends and of orgies. He said these requests reflect the influence of Western culture, easily accessible on satellite television or the Internet...
apnews.myway.com/ ... 17:30:11
The president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, has given up his post while a church panel investigates allegations he paid a man for sex... The Rev. Ted Haggard... a married father of five, denied the allegations, but also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church...
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:51:58
London... Social and cultural factors, not just unavailability or ignorance, influence why young people do not use condoms... Some sexually active under 25s associate condoms with a lack of trust, while others believe carrying them could imply sexual experience, which might be a plus for men but not necessarily for women...
Digital Whoops Cascade
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:48:09
The US government has closed one of its websites that contained documents found during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Weapons experts had complained that
the site contained details on making nuclear bombs
...
Scary Times
hosted.ap.org/ ... 17:12:24
OSLO, Norway... A police bomb squad raced across Norway by helicopter Thursday to investigate a mysterious, wired package that turned out to be a discarded Halloween prop left behind by a young man who had dressed up as a suicide bomber...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:47:15
Unions at France's main airport, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, have threatened to call a strike over alleged bias against Muslim workers. Seventy-two workers, mostly Muslims, have lost security clearance at the airport since May 2005... The workers, who include baggage handlers, were said to have visited Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some of them are suing the authorities, claiming they are being discriminated against because of their religion...
9/11 - still with us
wnbc.com/ ... 23:01:07
To millions of Americans, he's the face of evil; the only man convicted for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. For five years, we've seen a still picture of Zacarias Moussaoui, but WNBC.com's Jonathan Dienst has obtained the only known video of the man found to be responsible for the thousands of...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:46:24
DNA tests have identified the remains of three more people who died in the attacks on World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. They were American Airlines Flight 11 stewardess Karen Ann Martin, passenger Douglas Joel Stone, and a man whose relatives have requested anonymity... The remains identified on Thursday were not found in recent searches. Ms Martin and Mr Stone were both on board the first plane which hit the World Trade Center...
Digital Sex can be Dangerous
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:59:23
A man who posted his own sex offender registry photo on the social networking site MySpace.com is back behind bars... on charges of failing to register his MySpace account with the State Police...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:45:12
TORONTO... A man who was sexually abusing a young girl... a preschooler... in his home was arrested after he transmitted images of the assault via the Internet to an undercover detective... what Toronto police's child exploitation unit said was its first case of observing a live assault...
Violence
home.bellsouth.net/ ... 18:05:36
LOGANSPORT, Ind.... A convicted child murderer who was paroled in March faces a murder charge in the death of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found the day after the two left a restaurant where they worked...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:49:39
Baghdad police say they have found 83 bodies, some showing signs of torture, in various locations around the city in the past 36 hours. The fresh killings came as the US said seven more US soldiers had died, and that troops had killed 13 insurgents... 56 bodies between Thursday and Friday... Another 27 were found during Friday... all men... Correspondents say some were probably victims of sectarian attacks, while others could have been targeted by criminal gangs seeking ransoms....
Three soldiers were killed on Thursday in Baghdad when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb...
The same day, three soldiers were killed in the western Anbar province and another died "due to non-combat causes..."
The US military said troops had killed 13 insurgents during a raid involving both air and ground forces in Mahmoudiya, 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:47:30
Militias backing Sudan's government have killed at least 63 people in attacks in Darfur in the past week... At least 27 of the victims are thought to be children under the age of 12...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:42:41
Hundreds of Palestinian women in robes and head scarves streamed into a Gaza combat zone Friday to help free gunmen besieged by Israeli troops at a mosque. Two women who came under fire were killed and at least 10 wounded, but some gunmen managed to escape...
[Hiding behind women & children!]
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:17:45
A California car mechanic already jailed on suspicion of arson was charged on Thursday with setting a wildfire that killed five firefighters, destroyed 34 homes and charred an area nearly three times the size of Manhattan... charged with five counts of murder, 11 counts of arson and 10 counts of using an incendiary device and could face the death penalty if he is convicted. He proclaimed his innocence in a jailhouse interview with a local newspaper...
Hang Those Who Betray Public Trust
forbes.com/ ... 16:17:00
A sheriff and 12 current and former officers in... Henry County, a former textile hub situated about 50 miles from Roanoke... were charged Thursday in a scheme to sell drugs seized from criminals back to the community.... A former postal worker, a former probation officer and five other people also were indicted by federal prosecutors.... Prosecutors said that for the past eight years, cocaine, steroids, marijuana and other drugs that had been seized by the sheriff's department were resold to the public. A sergeant who agreed to cooperate with investigators was paid off by the ring to use his house for distributing drugs...
[Remove the profit motive for the black market -- repeal repeal repeal!]
Healing Ourselves
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:09:58
Yulka, a whale in a Spanish zoo, has given birth to the first Beluga born in captivity in Europe. After a six-month pregnancy and an eight-hour labor, Yulka gave birth to the gray blue baby of undisclosed sex on Thursday... weighed 90 kilos (198 lbs.) and measured 1.20 meters (3 ft 11.24 in)...
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:09:22
Lowering the body temperature of mice extended their life span by up to 20 percent, said scientists studying how to prolong life on Thursday, but they said it was impractical to do this with people...
Extraterrestrial
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 17:09:10
The new Japanese spacecraft sent into orbit in September to study the Sun has returned its first scientific data... The platform has three telescopes to study solar flares... will attempt to find out more about the magnetic fields thought to power these dramatic events and try to identify the trigger that sets them off. The ultimate goal for scientists is to use the new insights to make better forecasts of the Sun's behaviour...
Antiquity - still with us
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 17:07:50
The Unesco World Heritage site Stonehenge is "a destination in trouble..." Survey panellists said Stonehenge was a "mess", "over-loved" and "crowded"...
World Zookeeping
hosted.ap.org/ ... 17:13:10
It took an urban cowboy from the farms of South Africa to corral and lasso a 600-pound bull running loose Friday in the streets of New Jersey's largest city. For Denton Infield, now an animal control officer, rounding up wayward cattle was second nature, even if the scene was not...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 17:08:12
Urgent efforts are needed to save the Balkan lynx, the largest of Europe's wild cats, from extinction, conservationists say. Only around 100 of the big cats are thought to remain in existence...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 17:06:47
Conservation officials in Nepal have vowed to step up anti-poaching measures after a spate of killings this week of an endangered rhinoceros species... poachers had killed four single-horned Asiatic rhinos in and around Chitwan National Park. Many more have been killed this year. The horn of the animal is sought after for its alleged aphrodisiac qualities. Chitwan now has fewer than 400 rhinos...
US Military
examiner-enterprise.com/ ... 23:24:02
Three of Gilkeys grandsons have made national headlines recently. As brothers and members of the U.S. Armys 1st (Ironhorse) Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, 1st Sgt. Allen Craig Mouton, Staff Sgt. Reginald Mouton and 1st Sgt. Michael Mouton were scheduled to be deployed to the same base in Iraq today. In keeping with Army policy, the Moutons could have asked to be separated. But instead, they chose to serve together, a decision which hardly came as a surprise to their grandmother. "Them boys, Im so proud of them," says Gilkey. "They could be going back and forth to the penitentiary, but instead, theyre going back and forth overseas serving their country. They have one bad habit driving fast. I said, If you boys drove the speed limit, you wouldnt have any bad habits at all. Theyre wonderful boys..."
azdailysun.com/ ... 17:30:50
A Flagstaff soldier who died in Iraq committed suicide after she refused to participate in interrogation techniques being practiced by her U.S. Army intelligence unit, according to a report about an Army investigation aired by a Flagstaff radio station. U.S. Army Spc. Alyssa R. Peterson, 27, died Sept. 15, 2003, in Tel Afar...
defenselink.mil/ ... 16:18:38
The Department of Defense today announced the identity of a soldier currently listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN) while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc.
Ahmed K. Altaie
, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich., has been unaccounted for since Oct. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, at about 4:30 p.m. GMT. The soldier is assigned to the Provincial Reconstruction Team Baghdad. Efforts continue to gather information and locate Altaie.
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 23:28:53
Army Pvt.
Michael P. Bridges
, 23, of Placentia, Calif., died Nov. 2 in Taji, Iraq, from a non-combat related incident. Bridges was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 16:20:16
Army Spc.
Isaiah Calloway
, 23, of Jacksonville, Fla., died Oct. 30 in Marah, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. Calloway was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, Hohenfels, Germany.
defenselink.mil/ ... 16:20:03
Army Sgt.
Michael R. Weidemann
, 23, of Newport, R.I., died Oct. 31 in Hit, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Light Medium Tactical Vehicle. Weidemann was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Giessen, Germany.
defenselink.mil/ ... 16:19:41
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Marine Pfc.
James E. Widener
, U.S. Marine Corps, of Churchville, N.Y. He will be buried Nov. 10, at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On June 11, 1967, Widener was one of 11 passengers on board a CH-46A Sea Knight helicopter that was inserting ground forces into Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, when the aircraft crashed. Pilots from two nearby helicopters saw the crash and reported that none of the men on board could have survived. Aircraft flew over the site for several hours, but aircrew members did not observe any survivors. A patrol was sent the next day to confirm the status of the 11 crewmembers, but the site could not be accessed due to enemy forces in the area. Later that month, enemy activity prevented a second attempt to patrol the site....
defenselink.mil/ ... 16:18:56
Marine Lance Cpl.
Minhee Kim
, 20, of Ann Arbor, Mich., died Nov. 1 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Lansing, Mich.
defenselink.mil/ ... 16:18:11
Marine Cpl.
Gary A. Koehler
, 21, of Ypsilanti, Mich., died Nov. 1 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Feeding Ourselves
seattletimes.nwsource.com/ ... 17:34:33
other scientists question that forecast. "It's just mind-boggling stupid," said Ray Hilborn, a University of Washington professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. "I'm worried about some areas of the world like Africa but other areas of the world have figured out how to do effective fishery management..."
sciam.com/ ... 16:17:22
In 1994, seafood may have peaked. According to an analysis of 64 large marine ecosystems, which provide 83 percent of the world's seafood catch, global fishing yields have declined by 10.6 million metric tons since that year. And if that trend is not reversed,
total collapse of all world fisheries should hit around 2048.
..
But is it Art?
news.independent.co.uk/ ... 18:09:36
one of the largest paintings [Jackson] Pollock completed - unromantically entitled No. 5, 1948 - has quietly changed hands for no less a sum than $140m...
World Without Borders
news.yahoo.com/ ... 17:36:22
Texas has started broadcasting live images of the U.S. border on the Internet in a security program that asks the public to report signs of illegal immigration or drug crimes...
US Election 2006
examiner-enterprise.com/ ... 23:28:36
There is a campaign spokesman. And yes, theres also a Web site. But a vote for Jim Lemons is, well, pretty much impossible. Because Jim Lemons doesnt exist...
foxnews.com/ ... 18:05:09
a single law enforcement effort during a 24-state sweep that netted a total of nearly 11,000 fugitives... included gang members and others wanted on a variety of charges from kidnapping to weapons offenses... 1,659 sex offenders including 971 who failed to register with authorities as required by law... 3,609 arrested on narcotics charges. More than 230 weapons were collected...
[Just a coincidence that they announce this near election time... uh-huh...]
nypost.com/ ... 18:00:17
The Minnesota soldiers in Iraq who issued a hilariously misspelled smackdown to Sen. John Kerry were psyched yesterday as their witty response to his bungled "joke" about their education hit home in the United States... "They're astounded by the reaction," said David Ward, whose daughter Heather was among the GIs holding the banner. "They were having fun with it..."
smallgovtimes.com/ ... 17:28:18
Political insiders have expressed alarm after
12 voter smartcards have gone missing from one Shelby County, TN early vote location! The cards are used to activate electronic voting machine.
..
cbsnews.com/ ... 17:25:38
It's the man who turned "macaca" into a household slur versus the man who told us a Naval Academy dorm is a "horny woman's dream..." charm-challenged contenders... have turned the hotly contested Virginia Senate race into the most closely watched congressional election in the nation...
Theory of Justice
jurist.law.pitt.edu/ ... 17:24:39
Iraq's defense minister Friday canceled leave for Iraqi soldiers and summoned all military personnel currently on leave to return to station in preparation for potential violence after the anticipated announcement of a verdict in the first Saddam Hussein trial on Sunday...
Big Whoops Cascade
hosted.ap.org/ ... 17:12:55
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa... A teenager pointed his BB pistol at the wrong car. The car stopped and the two men inside pulled out their real .40-caliber Glock handguns. They were undercover police driving an unmarked car...
Lost & Found
tulsaworld.com/ ... 23:12:27
more than a month after he left his home in Washington and woke up in Denver with no memory, Jeff Ingram still has no idea who he is... "Family vacations, high school graduation, prom night . . . your first dance, your first kiss. That's all lost," Ingram said. "It's very hard to put into words.... It's probably the most frustrating thing that a person can ever go through, is to lose their identity. Because your past is what makes you who you are today -- good or bad... There's actually three things that we're probably going to be working on.... One is an ID bracelet of some kind, and a tattoo, as well, and, possibly a GPS track device embedded somewhere. We're just going to cover all the bases right now..."
hosted.ap.org/ ... 17:12:09
Laura Durham of Belvidere, Ill., is thrilled to have her high school class ring back more than 20 years after she lost it and several other rings in a car crash... thanks to the efforts of workers at D&S Manufacturing, a metal products and equipment company in Black River Falls... was then 17... had taken off the class ring and five others, secured them to a watch band and put them in her car, which she drove as she headed to work at an Illinois horse farm in July 1984. The car left the road, rolled over several times, and she fractured her skull, collarbone and pelvis... Bob Windsor, who now is a welder at D&S Manufacturing, worked at the salvage yard in South Beloit, Ill., where her car was taken and found the rings while cleaning out the vehicle. He added them to his coin collection. His mother encouraged him to try to find the owner, but he said he didn't get around to it until a co-worker helped...
Supernatural Consequences
msnbc.msn.com/ ... 18:01:07
The Rev. Ted Haggard admitted Friday he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals... Haggard told reporters outside his home, "I bought it for myself but never used it. I was tempted, but I never used it..."
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:06:13
A U.S. man who found 300 letters to God floating in the Atlantic Ocean said on Friday he will donate them to a church instead of selling them on eBay following protests from religious people... sent to a deceased Baptist clergyman, mysteriously wound up in a sealed plastic shopping bag near a beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey...
Sex -- always attractive
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:05:15
Indian authorities want to stop the daytime airing of a television advertisement promoting flavoured condoms saying it is obscene and in bad taste... A senior DKT official told the newspaper the flavored condoms were not meant to promote oral sex, but to encourage couples who do not like the smell of latex. Conservative attitudes to sex and contraception and a lack of awareness is common, especially in rural India...
today.reuters.com/ ... 17:04:23
Hot pants and miniskirts will soon be legal in South Korea...
Digital Culture
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 17:00:14
Microsoft has restated its position on China following comments by one of its senior legal staff... Microsoft has said it is "committed" to staying in the country...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:59:49
Google is trying to win permission from media companies to broadcast output legally on YouTube and avoid the threat of legal action... offering groups upfront payments for the right to use film and TV clips, music and other work on the site...
Digital Politics
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:58:47
"Virtually anything anyone of note says is going to be public and repeatable and visible. There is almost no margin for error among public people any more..." Even when a professional camera crew is not on hand to catch a politician's mistake, it will likely be caught on video by someone at the event. That video can then easily be uploaded onto the Web and shared quickly. Political experts say the proliferation of videos clips, even those taken by amateurs armed with no more than a cell phone camera, has shaken up traditional politics and forced politicians to watch what they say...
Digital Threat
chron.com/ ... 18:08:44
The organization that oversees global Internet functions warned Wednesday that
a mistake in a creating more Web addresses using non-Latin letters could "permanently break the Internet..."
atrik Falstrom, a Cisco Systems consulting engineer who is working on the project, said the venture is riddled with difficulties. "We have 6,000 languages in the world. So should we register the name of countries like Greece in all 6,000?.." people in China and the U.S. might reach entirely different Web sites if they type in the same address, or a browser might not recognize the address at all...
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:57:35
An Internet advertising firm called Zango Inc. has agreed to pay $3 million to the U.S. government to settle allegations that its pop-up ad software was secretly installed on millions of personal computers, federal regulators said on Friday. As part of the settlement, Zango must give consumers a way to remove disruptive adware and is barred from future downloads of its adware without consumers' consent...
Ummm....
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:57:00
In a weekly show made for local cable television in the Los Angeles area, a man in a suit shows how to paint, exercise, cook and answer the phone, all at the same time. Perhaps not surprisingly he doesn't do any of these things very well, but he does do them at the same time...
Reasons for Repeal
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:42:18
Afghan farmers now planting opium poppies will probably reap a harvest comparable to this year's record crop, in part because insurgents are preventing effective counter-narcotics work, officials said Thursday...
THU 2006-NOV-02
Under Tyranny
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:48:32
Seven people, including three Vietnamese-born U.S. citizens, will be prosecuted on charges of plotting violence against Vietnam's communist government... linked the seven to a Vietnamese-born resident of the United States, Nguyen Huu Chanh, who was suspected of plotting to bomb Vietnam embassies in recent years...
Transport Tragedy
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:44:35
The flight recorder transcript from the executive jet involved in Brazil's worst air disaster shows that the jet's American pilots were told by Brazilian air traffic control to fly at the same altitude as a Boeing 737 before the planes collided over the Amazon rainforest... flight recorder shows American pilot Joseph Lepore receiving instructions from the tower in Sao Jose dos Campos to fly northwest at 37,000 feet "until Eduardo Gomes," the airport in Manaus. That altitude contradicted the pilots' filed flight plan and as an odd-numbered altitude should be reserved for southbound flights...
Violence
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:43:12
A motorcycle rigged with explosives blew up Thursday in a crowded market in Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City district, killing at least seven people and wounding 45... the first bombing in Sadr City since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the lifting Tuesday of a weeklong security blockade on the district...
Threats
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:38:00
Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired missiles with the capability of carrying cluster warheads during military maneuvers that started on Thursday and which will last 10 days... Experts say Iran's Shahab-3 missiles have a maximum range of some 2,000 km (1,240 miles), making them capable of hitting Israel as well as U.S. military bases in the Gulf. They say the Shahab-2 missile has a range of up to 700 km (435 miles)...
History - less with us
timesonline.co.uk/ ... 11:31:43
The ashes of the child conceived aboard the Titanic by a runaway couple, whose romance inspired the blockbuster film, have been scattered on to the Atlantic... Ellen Walker, who died, aged 92, in October last year... In her will, Mrs Walker left the majority of her estate to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution...
Cryptozoology
theherald.co.uk/ ... 11:28:48
FOR 70 years it has been the defining image of Scotland's shyest inhabitant: a grainy photograph of a creature with a swan-like neck gliding through the choppy waters of Loch Ness... Not even an admission in 1994 that the photograph was faked could dissuade the theory's most ardent proponents... paleontologists have discovered that the bone structure of the plesiosaur's neck means it would not have been able to lift its head up swan-like out of the water...
Healing Ourselves
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:54:51
A hospital has developed a computer keyboard which it says could cut cases of the MRSA superbug by 10%. Research shows as many as 25% of keyboards carry MRSA - one of a number of hospital-acquired infections which kill 5,000 people each year in the UK... The University College London Hospitals NHS Trust keyboard is flat and so easy to clean - and is coated in silicone to help ward off bacteria...
Antiquity - still with us
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:54:13
Archaeologists said Monday they found more than 1,000 silver coins in a Viking-era hoard discovered by chance on the Swedish island of Gotland. The treasure, believed to have been buried in the 10th century, also included several silver bracelets and weighed about 7 pounds...
Digital Convergence
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:09:46
There's no telling what a $10 investment in U2 in 1985 would be worth today, but a start-up Web site called
Sellaband
is offering music fans the chance to put their money behind artists they think can climb the charts...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:06:28
Switzerland's dominant telecommunications company has launched a TV-over-broadband service that offers more than 100 television channels and more than 70 radio stations...
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:52:57
Yahoo Inc. is going into the food business... said on Wednesday it was offering Yahoo users thousands of recipes, advice from regional celebrity chefs, video cooking guides and easy-to-use Web tools to help cooks...
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:52:33
Cingular Wireless has agreed to team up with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc and Web music subscription services Napster Inc., Yahoo Inc. and others, to let its customers play songs on their cell phones...
World Zookeeping
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:43:36
Rescuers worked Thursday to save a herd of about 100 horses stranded two days ago on a tiny knoll when a fierce storm flooded their wilderness area. Many of the animals have spent two nights knee-deep in water, and 18 have drowned in the area outside Marrum, 90 miles northeast of Amsterdam...
Feeding Ourselves
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:55:15
A chemical found in red wine could make guilt-free gluttony a reality... When given to mice, it countered some effects of a high-calorie diet, improving their health and increasing their life-span... However, the chemical could not reverse all consequences of overeating - the mice did not lose any weight...
forbes.com/ ... 10:37:05
A salmonella outbreak that sickened dozens of people in 19 states appears to be over, while investigators remain unsure how it began...
US Military
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:53:34
The U.S. Air Force plans to set up what could become a major command aimed at safeguarding U.S. military and civilian cyberspace... U.S. vulnerabilities in cyberspace included financial networks, satellite communications, and radar and navigational jamming...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:45:24
The U.S. military confirmed Thursday that a kidnapped soldier was an Iraq-American man who was married to an Iraqi woman. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell identified him as Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve soldier... was visiting his Iraqi wife when he was handcuffed and taken away by gunmen during a visit to the woman's family... [There is] "an ongoing dialogue" in a bid to win the soldier's release...
breitbart.com/ ... 10:36:20
A U.S. Army soldier who fled to Canada rather than return to Iraq has disappeared again, this time just a day after surrendering to the military... Pvt. Kyle Snyder, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo... said he went AWOL after Fort Knox officials told him he would be sent back to his unit, the 94th Engineer Battalion... returned to the United States on Saturday, after his lawyer said he had reached a deal to receive an other-than-honorable discharge. "I came back in good faith," Snyder said Wednesday by phone. "I put my trust in them one more time. Why should I put my trust in them again when I can just go back to Canada?" He did not disclose his location...
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 10:35:19
Army Sgt.
Kenneth E. Bostic
, 21, of Hawthorne, Nev., died Oct. 30 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered from contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during check point operations. Bostic was assigned to the 204th Military Police Company, 519th Military Police Battalion, 1st Combat Support Brigade, Fort Polk, La.
defenselink.mil/ ... 10:34:57
Army Sgt.
Kraig D. Foyteck
, 26, of Skokie, Ill., died Oct. 30 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. Foyteck was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Policing Ourselves
usatoday.com/ ... 11:29:48
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. Police Chief Paul Goward was tired of looking around his department and seeing blubber hanging over the belts of some of his officers. So he sent out a memo exhorting the "jelly bellies" to shape up. In the end, the department lost 190 pounds all of them belonging to Goward. He was forced out as chief because some of his officers took offense at the memo...
Language Culture
dailymail.co.uk/ ... 11:29:28
A council has warned staff against using the phrase 'political correctness' at work because it might offend people. A booklet outlining 'equality' policy to council workers claims using the term at work can be damaging and even linked it to the Ku Klux Klan... also orders staff not to use words like 'policeman', 'fireman' and 'chairman', suggesting they are classic examples of 'exclusionary language.' While the word 'ethnic' is also outlawed for being not 'appropriately descriptive.'...
Theory of Education
seattletimes.nwsource.com/ ... 11:16:14
An Issaquah school bus driver fired for allegedly "flipping off" President Bush during a visit to Seattle in June is appealing her termination. According to Issaquah School District officials, the incident happened when a district school bus stopped for the president's motorcade while returning from a field trip in Seattle. As the president waved to the school children from his limousine, the bus driver made an obscene gesture...
Opposing Tyranny
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:15:44
A senior executive for
Microsoft has said the firm could pull out of non-democratic countries
such as China...
Headline of the Day
iht.com/ ... 11:10:16
Kerry assumes old role: Political punching bag...
Digital Threat
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:08:58
The growing popularity of online video has caught the attention of malicious hackers and hi-tech criminals. Security firms are reporting more and more instances of booby-trapped Windows codecs - file compressors - required to play some video formats...
Some of the codecs let users play types of net-based video, but also have spyware and adware wrapped inside. Others, say experts, are outright fakes that just want to infect victims with data-stealing programs...
Music industry is dead
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:08:20
Patricia Santangelo wouldn't concede in her fight with record companies that accused her of pirating songs over the Internet. Now the companies are hoping for an easier tussle against her kids. Five record companies, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America, filed a lawsuit in federal court in White Plains on Wednesday against Santangelo's son and daughter...
Sex -- always attractive
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:03:56
MUMBAI... Indian police have an unusual undercover surveillance job this week, scanning the ramps and observing models at a top fashion show to check that no one intentionally displays too much flesh...
[tough gig!]
It's Only Money
nbc10.com/ ... 11:32:28
A Dover, Del., coin dealer deliberately put a valuable penny into circulation a few days ago and attracted media attention all week as interested consumers waited to see if it would turn up in their pocket. Dealer Steve Bryan said an unidentified man brought the coin to his store Tuesday after finding it in a Dover towing company's cash drawer. Bryan made good on a promise to pay the finder $500. The penny is a 1914-D Lincoln cent...
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:03:24
German banknotes have been falling to pieces due to a mysterious acid attack in recent months... more than 1,000, banknotes worth between five and 100 euros ($6.38-$128) have crumbled shortly after being withdrawn from cash machines...
People Die
today.reuters.com/ ... 11:02:39
A Dutch woman, who had meticulously planned her own funeral after the death of her husband last year, died... of a heart attack... next to the grave in Amsterdam where she wanted to be buried...
Big Whoops Cascade
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:01:59
about 1,000 gallons of water pouring into a northeastern Kentucky arts center began when a scholarship pageant contestant hung her dress from a sprinkler head on the ceiling to remove the wrinkles before the Miss Ashland Area Scholarship Pageant on Saturday...
[A literal whoops cascade!]
Marriage Today
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:01:13
GRAND ISLAND, Neb.... The bride dressed in black carried chains, handcuffs and a bouquet of black roses, while wearing a ball on top of her head. The groom skipped the tuxedo and dressed like a skeleton. The couple exchanged vows in the middle of Elm Street in Grand Island Tuesday night, and began their lifelong nightmare together...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:00:52
HELL, Mich...
Catherine Greene was admittedly a little nervous when she said "I do" to fiance Nicholas Doubleday during a Halloween-themed wedding ceremony in this unusually named hamlet. "It was her idea," Doubleday said. "When I asked her to marry me, she said she wanted the wedding in Hell..."
Digital Culture
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:09:28
Google is about to overtake the UK's main commercial TV channels in the race for advertising revenue...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:09:15
A bill of rights for the internet age has been proposed at a United Nations' conference in Athens. The bill would update and restate rights that have been enshrined for centuries, said Robin Gross of civil liberties group IP Justice...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 11:07:25
Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corp. said the cost of hosting its Web site - utube.com - has grown significantly in the last two months. "We've had to move our site five times in an effort to stay ahead of the youtube.com visitors..." has sued the online video-sharing portal... asks that YouTube Inc. stop using the youtube.com or pay Universal Tube's cost for creating a new domain. It did not specify damages...
[My guess is... they won't win...]
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:56:51
The British developer of the world wide web... Sir Tim Berners-Lee... says he is worried about the way it could be used to spread misinformation and "undemocratic forces"...
[Well, duh! Free expression is like that....]
Rebuilding
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:48:59
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Thursday U.S. troops should remain in Iraq for up to three more years to help bring peace to the country, envisaging a slower withdrawal programme than that suggested by Washington...
today.reuters.com/ ... 10:48:50
A senior U.S. general compared Iraq on Thursday to a "work of art" in progress, saying it was too soon to judge the outcome and playing down violence and friction with Iraqi leaders as "speed bumps" on the road...
Disinformation Propaganda & Spin
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:47:23
The former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, has
branded US attempts to impose Western-style democracy in the Middle East as "a great joke"...
In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, Mr Khatami, said he was committed to fighting extremism around the world. He also called on US and UK to leave Iraq in an effort to reduce violence...
Raising Ourselves
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 10:46:18
Britain's teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe.... On every indicator of bad behaviour - drugs, drink, violence, promiscuity - the UK was at or near the top, said the Institute for Public Policy Research...
The researchers believe the country's record can be explained by a collapse in family and community life in the UK...
World Without Borders
hosted.ap.org/ ... 10:43:50
Syria on Thursday denied U.S. accusations that it was seeking to topple Lebanon's Western-backed government with the help of Iran and Hezbollah...
US Election 2006
humanevents.com/ ... 13:15:19
Ann Coulter... Despite the precedent of big wins in midterm elections for the party out of power -- especially in a sixth-year midterm election -- something is depressing the Democrats' popularity with Americans this year. I suspect it's the perception that many of them are Democrats...
startribune.com/ ... 11:27:31
A group of Minnesota National Guard members apparently are the creators of an intentionally misspelled sign that takes a mocking shot at Sen. John Kerry, the New York Post is reporting...
apnews.myway.com/ ... 11:15:19
During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to "the perpetuation of war crimes..." made the observations in answers to a 1972 candidate questionnaire from a Massachusetts peace group...
tbo.com/ ... 10:34:39
Sen. John Kerry issued two apologies for remarks that seemed to impugn U.S. troops, and he abandoned his public schedule Wednesday but denounced what he called the "campaign of smear and fear" against him as the surreal sequel to the 2004 presidential election echoed across the campaign trail...
WED 2006-NOV-01
Sex -- always attractive
breitbart.com/ ... 16:09:45
An Australian company claims to have produced the men's equivalent of the "Wonderbra" -- a range of "Wondercup" underwear designed to enhance the apparent size of the contents...
Industrial Threat
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:43:31
Water supplies to 28,000 people in northern China have been cut after an overturned truck spilled 33 tons of toxic oil into a river...
Nature can be Deadly
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:42:00
Flooding from torrential rains killed 22 people across Turkey, including 14 who died when a minibus carrying wedding guests was swept away...
Alcohol Was Involved
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:50:55
Alcohol has become the leading cause of death in Finland for men, and is a close second for women...
thesmokinggun.com/ ... 15:31:26
While the [37yo] Nevada man should be saluted for knowing that he was too drunk to get behind the wheel last night, he probably should not have tabbed his seven-year-old son as his designated driver... is facing a felony child endangerment rap...
Sex can be Boring
sciam.com/ ... 15:27:19
the first worldwide study of sexual behavior appears online this week in the British medical journal The Lancet... Some of the primary findings of this meta-analysis are unsurprising: Monogamy is the dominant sexual pattern globally. Married individuals--which constitute most people studied--have the most sex. Men report having engaged in sex with more partners than women in a given year. Instances of males with multiple partners, however, were more frequent in industrialized nations... than in places such as Africa, where sexual health education is relatively unsophisticated...
Animals can be Deadly
abcnews.go.com/ ... 15:25:52
PEKANBARU, Indonesia... Starving wild elephants trampled a farmer to death and destroyed several houses in a rampage in a village on Indonesia's Sumatra island... The people of Lubuk Embut, a village on Riau province 600 miles northwest of the capital, Jakarta, have been terrorized by a herd of around 20 elephants in search of food...
Criminally Stupid
today.reuters.com/ ... 15:32:33
A Maine attorney who released information in 2000 about President George W. Bush's drunken driving conviction was arrested on Tuesday after he
dressed up as al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and waved a fake gun at traffic
...
therepublic.com/ ... 15:24:09
Two men robbed a pizza delivery driver at knife-point for two large pizzas and some cash but were arrested when a deputy smelled the pizzas while questioning them at their home...
Violence
apnews.myway.com/ ... 16:08:20
A man who is being described as a person of interest in last week's deadly wildfire was arrested in connection with two arson wildfires this summer - just hours before a fifth firefighter who battled the latest blaze succumbed to his injuries... arrested Tuesday afternoon on two counts of arson...
breitbart.com/ ... 16:07:56
Sixteen houses, most of them vacant, burned during a pre-Halloween arson spree on what is known as Devil's Night... Widespread arson fires on the night before Halloween, dubbed Devil's Night, started years ago in Detroit. Saginaw, a city of about 60,000 residents, later began seeing copycat arsons. At least five of the 16 fires this year were rekindles _ symptomatic of a fire department understaffed to deal with the high volume of fires...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 16:07:32
SAN FRANCISCO... Gunfire broke out between two groups at a massive Halloween street party in the city's Castro district, wounding at least 10 people, including innocent bystanders...
today.reuters.com/ ... 15:53:02
[Reuters has a more balanced spin than the AP article...]
Shi'ite and Sunni leaders sparred on Wednesday over a government order to lift U.S. checkpoints around a Baghdad militia stronghold as data showed more than 40 Iraqi civilians died on average every day in October... Supporters of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr celebrated in the streets of Sadr City... But Iraq's Sunni vice-president condemned the move. The once dominant Sunni minority blames sectarian death squad violence on the Mehdi Army...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:51:17
Italian PM Romani Prodi has said he is considering sending troops to Naples to help tackle a crime wave that has left seven people dead in five days... Seven suspected members of the local mafia, the Camorra, have been arrested, following a spate of murders, daylight armed robberies and muggings...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:44:00
Israeli troops, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, killed at least eight Palestinian militants early Wednesday in one of the military's largest strikes since re-entering the Gaza Strip over the summer...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:43:48
Hundreds of leftist rebels bombarded a remote police station with makeshift mortars in a pre-dawn attack Wednesday and ambushed a column of police reinforcements, killing at least 16 officers...
iht.com/ ... 15:33:13
U.S. forces said Sunday that they had killed about 17 Iraqi insurgents in air and ground attacks after determining they were preparing to ambush an American column. The U.S. military said its troops encountered insurgents near Balad, 80 kilometers, or 50 miles, north of Baghdad early Sunday, tipping them off to the planned ambush. U.S. warplanes killed three insurgents in an initial attack and 14 more in a second in conjunction with ground forces, the military said...
voanews.com/ ... 15:29:56
Authorities in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region say police there have killed four Georgian agents trying to enter the country secretly. Government officials in South Ossetia say police shot the alleged agents early Tuesday near a mountain village Kvaisa...
boston.com/ ... 15:29:37
Thousands of people favoring the Taliban denounced Pakistan's air raid on a seminary that killed 80 people, accusing the United States of involvement in the attack and vowing yesterday to send waves of suicide bombers to retaliate...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:22:40
Exploiting GOP vulnerability in the Nov. 7 elections
[or so says the AP spin]
, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flexed his political muscle Tuesday and won U.S. agreement to lift military blockades on Sadr City and another Shiite enclave where an American soldier was abducted...
Anthropology
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:59:26
Archaeologists have identified fossils belonging to some of the earliest modern humans to settle in Europe. The research team has dated six bones found in the Pestera Muierii cave, Romania, to 30,000 years ago... The human bones were first identified at the Pestera Muierii (Cave of the Old Woman) cave in 1952, but have now been reassessed... Only a handful of modern human remains older than 28,000 years old are known from Europe... 30,000 years old and had the diagnostic features of modern humans... But Professor Trinkaus and his colleagues argue, controversially, that the bones also display features that were characteristic of our evolutionary cousins, the Neanderthals...
World Zookeeping
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:57:43
A rare Mexican bird that died out in the wild in the 1970s has been successfully bred at London Zoo. The Socorro dove is native to Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Islands, 600 miles off the west coast of Mexico. The species was last sighted in Socorro in 1972 and there are now thought to be fewer than 100 in captivity...
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:57:23
Researchers on a three-week mission to the remote French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands discovered 100 species never seen in the area before, including many that may be entirely new to science. "There were lots of organisms that people were saying, 'Wow! What's that?'..."
History - still with us
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:56:56
The earliest confirmed autopsy in North America was conducted more than 400 years ago by French colonists desperate to determine what was killing them as they endured a rugged winter on St. Croix Island... the skull of a man buried on the island over the winter of 1604-05 showed evidence of having undergone an autopsy... Nearly half of the 79 settlers led by explorers Pierre Dugua and Samuel Champlain died over that winter from malnutrition and the harsh weather... The top of the skull had been removed to expose the brain; the skull cap was replaced before the body was buried, the scientists said. "This is the same procedure that forensic pathologists use to conduct autopsies today..." Scientists using modern techniques have concluded that the French settlers died from scurvy, which is caused by a lack of vitamin C...
Animal Culture
sci-tech-today.com/ ... 15:30:20
Elephants being studied at the Bronx Zoo have shown a surprising affinity for mirrors, with one elephant even using her trunk to examine a spot on her cheek that could only be seen in her reflection. The research indicates that elephants not only recognize their mirror image but use the mirror as a tool for self-examination...
In the Line of Duty
sbsun.com/ ... 15:29:20
The fifth firefighter of U.S. Forest Service Engine 57 died Tuesday hours before investigators announced the arrest of a "person of interest" in the Esperanza Fire. Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley suffered burns over 90 percent of his body in the firestorm that also killed four of his colleagues Thursday morning while fighting the blaze south of Banning...
Healing Ourselves
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 16:00:16
Scientists in the UK say they have
grown tiny sections of human liver
... created using stem cells from umbilical cords.... It is hoped the "mini-livers" will be used to test drugs, avoiding incidents like the Northwick Park trial in which six patients became seriously ill... other experts warned, because the work was unpublished, it was not possible to assess its worth and that cells made in this way were unreliable...
today.reuters.com/ ... 15:54:31
Coffee drinkers have a substantially lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people who abstain from the beverage...
today.reuters.com/ ... 15:54:18
Depression can be beaten in more than two-thirds of patients, but it takes time and trying several combinations of treatments, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday...
foxnews.com/ ... 15:28:44
Researchers have identified a brain defect they think is a major contributor to sudden infant death syndrome...
Feeding Ourselves
courier-journal.com/ ... 15:28:19
A salmonella outbreak possibly linked to produce has sickened 16 people in Kentucky, one person in Indiana, and at least 155 people in 16 other states. No one has died in the outbreak... Eleven people have been hospitalized... Federal health officials think salmonella bacteria were spread through some form of produce, perhaps lettuce or tomatoes. But the illnesses have not been tied to any specific product, chain, restaurants or supermarkets...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:27:42
Kentucky Fried Chicken has announced it will stop using trans-fatty acids for most of its products from next April... Its biscuits will still contain trans-fats, but the US fast-food chain will not be frying food in them...
Extraterrestrial
ansa.it/ ... 15:23:43
Italian UFO buffs are excited about a mysterious ball of light caught on film in Sicily at the weekend... "It was a huge object, sending out a shimmering light of different colours from its core," said the restaurant owner, Gian Paolo Guarraci . "It appeared to be pulsating.... I rushed home and got my video camera. As it turned out, I needn't have hurried - it hovered in the sky for about two hours..."
US Military
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:21:27
This week, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps announced a decrease in the number of reservists on active duty in support of the partial mobilization, while the Coast Guard number remained the same. The net collective result is
1,763 fewer reservists
mobilized than last week.... This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to
98,569
, including both units and individual augmentees.
US Military Casualties
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:21:41
Army Sgt.
Michael T. Seeley
, 27, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, died Oct. 30 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Seeley was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:20:57
Marine Pfc.
Jason Franco
, 18, of Corona, Calif., died Oct. 31 from a non-hostile incident in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 11, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Miramar, Calif. The incident is currently under investigation.
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:20:42
Army Staff Sgt.
Kyu H. Chay
, 34, of Fayetteville, N.C., died on Oct. 28 in the Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his combat patrol. Chay was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:20:26
Marine Lance Cpl.
Troy D. Nealey
, 24, of Eaton Rapids, Mich., died Oct. 29 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Lansing, Mich.
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:20:05
Army Pvt.
Michael V. Bailey
, 20, of Waldorf, Md., died on Oct. 27 in Salerno, Afghanistan, from non-combat related injuries. Bailey was assigned to 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York. This incident is under investigation.
defenselink.mil/ ... 15:19:44
Marine Sgt.
Luke J. Zimmerman
, 24, of Luxemburg, Wis., died Oct. 27 from injuries suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Digital Age Violence
today.reuters.com/ ... 16:05:51
An explosive device blew out a thick, plate-glass window Tuesday evening at the Silicon Valley headquarters of PayPal... No injuries resulted...
World Without Borders
bloomberg.com/ ... 16:05:06
The Bush administration today accused Iran and Syria of plotting to depose the government of U.S.- backed Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora...
Digital Culture
today.reuters.com/ ... 15:55:47
The U.S. intelligence community on Tuesday unveiled its own secretive version of Wikipedia, saying the popular online encyclopedia format known for its openness is key to the future of American espionage... Intellipedia, which allows intelligence analysts and other officials to collaboratively add and edit content on the government's classified Intelink Web much like its more famous namesake on the World Wide Web... A "top secret" Intellipedia system, currently available to the 16 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, has grown to more than 28,000 pages and 3,600 registered users since its introduction on April 17. Less restrictive versions exist for "secret" and "sensitive but unclassified" material. The system is also available to the Transportation Security Administration and national laboratories...
Big Nanny
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:54:03
As part of its assault on obesity,
New York City's health department has a plan to require some restaurants to list the calorie content of their food on their menus...
Marriage Today
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:53:45
what happens to rural women's health after their marriage ends, compared with women who stay married... "What we found was that the act of getting a divorce produced no immediate effects on (physical) health, but it did have effects on mental health... Ten years later, those effects on mental health led to effects in physical health..."
Unclear on the Concept
hosted.ap.org/ ... 15:43:12
A leading Turkish cleric called criticism of Islam a serious threat to world peace...
[Criticism is freedom of expression... and those who can't take it are usually dangerous... and are themselves the most serious threat to world peace....]
US Election 2006
worldnetdaily.com/ ... 16:15:24
In a photo circulating the Internet today, soldiers were shown holding a banner with intentional misspellings reading: "Halp Us Jon Carry We R Stuck Hear N Irak..."
bloomberg.com/ ... 16:04:52
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts canceled campaign appearances... in Minnesota, Iowa and Pennsylvania... with Democratic congressional candidates after members of his own party criticized his remarks about the Iraq war and U.S. troops that he said were a "botched joke" directed at President George W. Bush... Bush said yesterday that Kerry's remarks were "shameful" and that he owed the troops an apology.... Kerry said the comments were aimed at Bush, not the armed forces, and Republicans were feigning outrage over a poorly delivered joke... Kerry's office today released the remarks as they were prepared for delivery: "I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." Kerry said today he was sorry he had failed to convey that he was making a joke about Bush. "Look, everybody knows I botched a joke," he said on the syndicated "Imus in the Morning" radio talk show. "Of course, I'm sorry about a botched joke. You think I love botched jokes? I mean, it's pretty stupid..."
apnews.myway.com/ ... 15:38:10
Kerry said the comment in question was "a botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops ... and they know that's what I was talking about..."
[uh-huh....]
eyewitnessnewstv.com/ ... 15:35:25
A Democratic Congressional candidate from Iowa is canceling a campaign event later this week with Senator John Kerry. Brucy Braley says Kerry's recent comments about the Iraq war were inappropriate...
abcnews.go.com/ ... 15:34:56
"You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq..." It was a rhetorical gift for the embattled Republican Party, which is eager to run against Kerry again...
thebostonchannel.com/ ... 15:34:19
BOSTON -- The mother of a local Marine who was killed in Iraq spoke out Tuesday about the comments that Sen. John Kerry made about U.S. troops and education... "I am very disturbed. I am very insulted and very sad that he doesn't understand how highly educated and well trained our military men and women are," said Debra Booth, whose son was killed in Iraq...
breitbart.com/ ... 15:33:39
The National Commander of The American Legion called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for suggesting that American troops in Iraq are uneducated...
Supernatural Consequences
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:52:06
A court in the Turkish city of Istanbul has acquitted a 92-year-old academic of charges of insulting Muslim women and inciting religious hatred... Archaeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig was prosecuted over a book in which she linked the wearing of headscarves with ancient Sumerian sexual rites... said that headscarves were first worn more than 5,000 years ago by Sumerian priestesses who initiated young men into sex... The issue of headscarves has polarised Turkey in recent years...
news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 15:50:43
The Supreme Court in Nepal has ordered an inquiry into whether the tradition of worshipping a "living goddess" has led to the exploitation of girls. The tradition among a Hindu sect of worshipping the "goddess" - or Kumari - in Kathmandu is centuries-old... A Kumari is typically chosen at the age of five to six years old, and is deemed ineligible after she starts menstruating around the age of 12 or 13... Kumaris are installed in the temple of Taleju Bhawani in the heart of Kathmandu. Incumbents are cut off from normal life, and have limited contact with their families. They are not allowed to attend regular schools. Some human rights activists argue that this can cause long-term psychological damage...
breitbart.com/ ... 15:32:06
Nearly half of Americans are not sure God exists, according to a poll that also found divisions among the public on whether God is male or female or whether God has a human form and has control over events. The survey conducted by Harris Poll found that 42 percent of US adults are not "absolutely certain" there is a God compared to 34 percent who felt that way when asked the same question three years ago...
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