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Seven killed, 11 injured in attacks across southern Thailand
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Page 4: Opinion
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2 19:27 Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division [336148]
3 19:27 lord garth [336134]
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10 22:21 Alaska Paul [336128]
Page 6: Politix
11 14:54 JohnQC [336085]
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8 16:57 Shipman [336090]
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7 15:25 Ebbang Uluque6305 [336092]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Chicago Boy With Replica Gun, 12, Robs 11-Year-Old On School Grounds
[CHICAGO.CBSLOCAL] A 12-year-old reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
boy allegedly held up an 11-year-old using a weapon that turned out to be a replica gun, police said.

The robbery occurred at the end of the school day on the campus of Palmer Elementary School in the North Mayfair neighborhood, police sources told CBS 2′s Chris Martinez.

Police were alerted to the incident after the 11-year-old victim and some of his friends later scuffled with the suspect to get the stolen money back. During that second confrontation, what looked like bullets fell from the suspect's backpack. The ammunition was turned over to the school resource officer.

Chicago Police Department SWAT team members and K-9 units secured the school grounds late Friday afternoon and conducted a search. Police tell CBS 2′s Pamela Jones they found a realistic-looking replica gun.
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They start young in Chi!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2013 1:28 Comments || Top||

#2  If Obama had a son...
Posted by: Omavimble Elmineting1059 || 02/11/2013 9:40 Comments || Top||

#3  some of his friends later scuffled with the suspect to get the stolen money back.

That's how we used to handle this.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/11/2013 16:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Just a replica?
This kid's unmotivated...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2013 16:44 Comments || Top||


Detroit: Utility worker and home owner defend selves against punks
A gun is much like a parachute. If you need one and don't have one, chances are you'll never need one again.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Study: Asteroid Strike Did in the Dinosaurs
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wel-l-l, I dunno about the "wiping out the dinos" part -Nostradamus's "hideous beast seen near Orgon" looks awfully Reptilian or T-Rexy =
"-Zilla" to me???

Wid Jedi = Sith powers to boot.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 0:19 Comments || Top||


Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Call me in December.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  ...but only hits the Earth once every 1,200 years.

Statistically-speaking, that means we're probably safe for quite a while, since a similar asteroid hit just over 100 years ago.


Statistically speaking, huh? That's so ignorantly wrong it makes my head hurt to think about it. I just hope they used better math to calculate the orbital elements.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/11/2013 1:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Yep, somehow an Asteroid hitting the earth can somehow affect other asteroids on a interception course to delay their collision...

You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God! the
British journalist.
But, seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there's
no occasion to.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/11/2013 7:23 Comments || Top||

#4  The Xi people are quite sensitive about things falling from the sky, and we should be as well. I hope it misses entirely. Small bits of it could become items of worship and we know where that leads.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 7:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Remember folks -- ALWAYS CHECK THE MARGIN OF ERROR.

(And, Hot Fudge Sundae falls on a Fridae this year.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/11/2013 11:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't tease us, SMOD!
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/11/2013 16:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Earthlings:
Consider this your final warning. Release immediately our brother held hostage in the place you refer to as Mecca. Failure to comply will turn your stargazing into a sea of fire.
Posted by: SMOD || 02/11/2013 17:19 Comments || Top||


Suha Arafat: I Wish I'd Never Married Him
Palestinian leader's wife denies she has millions in the bank, claims to have turned down dozens of suiters.
Well, sure. Lots of people want to bed a celebrity's... love interest. It's almost like bedding the celebrity. Only in this case with a considerably lower probability of getting some deadly disease or permanent injury.
[Times of Israel] Nine years after the death of Paleostinian leader Yasser Arafat, his widow said she regrets the marriage and given the choice again, would not have wed him.
One would feel for her, had she not of her own free will and against advice married one of the most vicious men in the world at the time. When you lie down with a Komodo dragon, it is rather unreasonable thereafter to complain that when you get up various limbs are rotting and falling off.
"The marriage to Arafat was a big mistake and I regret it," said Suha Arafat in an interview published last week in the Turkish-language Sabah newspaper. "We were married for 22 years and it felt like 50."
It was so awful that you had a child by him...
Arafat added that she had repeatedly tried to leave her husband but was denied her freedom.
That's generally the way it is in a Muslim marriage, isn't it -- you aren't free to leave but he's free to leave you by saying the magic words. Didn't you know that?
"I tried to divorce Arafat more than 100 times and he didn't let me," she said. "Everyone knows about this story, especially those who were in his inner circle."

According to the report, the two first met in 1986 when she was a student in Gay Paree and engaged to a local lawyer. At the time, Suha recalled, the Paleostinian leader, 33 years her senior, was a much sought after man.

"There were many women who wanted to marry him but he only wanted me, despite the objections of my family," she said.

Suha said that although her relatives, a well-established Ramallah family, were opposed to the union, the pair married in secret on her birthday four years later. Her mother was furious at the development and flew to Tunis where she angrily berated Arafat for entering into a marriage with her daughter, which she deemed inappropriate.
And she lived? That doesn't smell right...
"Fate chose me and it wasn't easy right from the start," she said.

As soon as she became Mrs. Arafat she was locked away behind walls for security reasons, Suha said.

"I had to be careful in my phone conversations because of bugging, and we were always moving from one location to another."
Boy howdy, that's what happens when you marry a poisonous Komodo dragon terrorist. For some reason people are always out to get him. And you, just because...
Suha recalled that after her husband initiated the first intifada in 1987 -- it actually began as a spontaneous uprising -- the world's media attention was focused on him, "and it is no secret that it [the media] is controlled by Jews" she noted.

As the wife of man who spent so much time in the international media spotlight, Suha said she felt like the weakest link in the chain.
For good reason, apparently...
"My identity was completely destroyed," she said.

Since Arafat's death in a Gay Paree hospital in 2004 -- she has claimed that he was poisoned -- Suha said she has had dozens of marriage proposals, but rejected all hopeful suitors with the same answer: "Arafat was my hero."

Suha lives on a stipend she gets from the Paleostinian Authority, which she said is barely sufficient to support her and her daughter, and is a far distance from reports on millions of dollars that went to her through secret bank accounts.

"All the stories about Arafat putting millions in my bank account are nonsense and lies," she said. The money is with those who were close to Arafat and anyone who is determined can find it."
My bet is that she has plenty of Krugerrands stashed away but of course can't admit it publicly...
She also denied a rumor that the apartment she now shares with her teenager daughter Zawa in Malta was purchased as a gift by the former Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy
... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring...
. The apartment, she said, is rented.

"Even if I have regrets I accept the reality. Arafat was a great leader and I was very lonely in my marriage. I was always on the defensive because of the rumors that they spread about me. But life without him is even harder."

"If I could turn back time I wouldn't marry Arafat," she added.

Arafat was a strong supporter of the decision to exhume her husband in November 2012 amid claims he was poisoned.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336158 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Never did find all the money, eh?
Posted by: SteveS || 02/11/2013 1:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Thank Allan five times a day for not having a son, Suha.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2013 1:27 Comments || Top||

#3  "If I could turn back time I wouldn't marry Arafat," she added.

I can hear her warbling it like a bloated Cher
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2013 10:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmmmmmm, no mention of...well, you know...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2013 17:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Gee Whiz, N-O-W she tells us.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 18:40 Comments || Top||

#6  I can hear her warbling it like a bloated Cher

Thanks for the imagery, Frank.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/11/2013 22:09 Comments || Top||

#7  I aim to please, Pappy
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2013 22:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Has anyone ever seen her and Cher at the same place at the same time?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/11/2013 23:57 Comments || Top||


Guide to EMP
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336131 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also INDEPENDENT.UK > SOLAR SUPER-STORM IS COMING + WILL ONLY GET 30-MINUTES [maxima?] WARNING.

[MADONNA'S "BURN ME UP" Song, Video here].

Why, yes, yes Madonna, I would be very pleased.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 0:49 Comments || Top||

#2  A 2007 government report on "Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System" was partly declassified only last fall. The Foreword of the document used weasel words to slight the fact that some of the information remains classified:
except that several pages of information deemed classified are available to readers who have the necessary security clearance.
We regret to long delay in approving this report for public release. We understand the need to safeguard security information that may need to remain classified. But openness is also required to accelerate the progress with current technology and implementation of research and development of new technology to better protect the nation from terrorism and other threats.

Systemic vulnerability is far more extensive than just to EMP attacks. It has been stated a few men with .50 rifles could destroy sufficient key high voltage transformers that a large part of the US electrical grid would be down for months at a time.
High-voltage transformers are of particular concern because they are vulnerable both from within and from outside the substations where they are located. These transformers are very large, difficult to move, often custom-built, and difficult to replace. Most are no longer made in the United States, and the delivery time for new ones could run from months to years.
Online version of report is available here.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/11/2013 5:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I would like to take a contrarian view. EMPs were studied as weapons a long time ago. The ONLY efficient generator of EMPs is an atomic bomb. And it was found that for an EMP to have any effect, it had to be well within the range that the nuke would have a FAR more devastating effect that whatever negligible results the EMP delivers. And if you have a 1978 Chevy with a carburator the effects of the EMP are nil, provided you survive the nuke blast. I think all this hysterical EMP talk is simply alarmist blather. The information at the blog linked here can be easily debunked by anyone willing to do research and who understands science. IMNSHO.

That said, hardening infrastructure to protect against solar flares makes sense. But EMP panic? Much less so.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 02/11/2013 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Scooter,
I get your points is simply alarmist blather. but, there's an alternative that such alamism can lead to huge sums of taxes being doled out to favored sons (see global warming)and grow the power of the despot class.

Never let a crisis, real or fiction, go to waste.
Posted by: Alanc || 02/11/2013 10:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Current effects of EMP are hotly debated, including among experts advising the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Congress on such issues. The most recent publicly released report, from 2008, on the topic can be found here

The 2008 commission found that:

The electromagnetic pulse generated by a high altitude nuclear explosion is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. The increasingly pervasive use of electronics of all forms represents the greatest source of vulnerability to attack by EMP. Electronics are used to control, communicate, compute, store, manage, and implement nearly every aspect of United States (U.S.) civilian systems. When a nuclear explosion occurs at high altitude, the EMP signal it produces will cover the wide geographic region within the line of sight of the detonation. This broad band, high amplitude EMP, when coupled into sensitive electronics, has the capability to produce widespread and long lasting disruption and damage to the critical infrastructures that underpin the fabric of U.S. society.

Our infrastructure systems have become much more complex, more interdependent and more vulnerable than was the case when EMP was first studied in earlier decades. Not only are we dependent on much more complex systems today, the components of those systems have changed significantly. For instance, just looking at the components of single devices such as PCs or auto transmissions, the integrated circuitry chips in them are now designed with far greater density of transistors etc. and with much tighter expectations about clean power signals into the chips.

Now consider how much more *connected* we and our devices have become for banking, integrated supply chains in industry, etc.

Since late 2008 DTRA has funded basic research into network science with a focus on new mathematics needed to model cascading failures across networks of all kinds, including the resilience vs. vulnerability of interdependent networked systems such as power grid coupled with communications networks.
Posted by: lotp || 02/11/2013 15:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Does this mean I should learn how to get to my mailbox without depending on my GPS?
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2013 15:45 Comments || Top||

#7  It means there won't be a point if your mailman relies on the power grid still existing in order to pump gas into his truck to deliver mail or if your grocer relies on power delivered from upper Ontario in order to keep the shredded potatoes refrigerated.... und so weiter, for 300 million people....
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/11/2013 16:23 Comments || Top||

#8  They EMPed us, we nuked them.

It's all relative as it were. Our dead iPhones against your multiple craters.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/11/2013 16:45 Comments || Top||

#9  Shipman, the problem is knowing WHO to nuke. Some organization without a country EMPs us, who do we hit back? Besides Mecca, on general principles.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/11/2013 18:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Shipman, more than iPhones would be dead in the civilian sector over a relatively short period of time after an effective EMP attack.

Re: 'nuked them' - it's quite possible that there would be serious issues with regard to verifying who's in command and authorized to order such a strike.
Posted by: lotp || 02/11/2013 19:05 Comments || Top||

#11  "who do we hit back? Besides Mecca, on general principles."

Mecca work for me, Glenmore.

Add Pakistain, NorK, Somolia, Chechnya, perhaps Sudan ....
Posted by: Barbara || 02/11/2013 19:23 Comments || Top||

#12  Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) has kept the US and the fUSSR out of trouble. The problem with non-state actors and nukes is who do you blame.

We could declare that if a bomb goes off in the US that NKor and Iran get whacked, but threats have to be believable to work. I doubt anyone on the planet thinks the current admin has the stones to carry it out. "Don't call my bluff!"
Posted by: SteveS || 02/11/2013 19:32 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Obscure DR Congo rebel leader arrested in S Africa
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] South African police have incarcerated
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
the leader of an obscure DR Congo rebel group who claims to be the half-brother of President Joseph Kabila, officials said Sunday.
Oooh! I seen dis movie! He's the legitimate heir and the guy that's in there is a sneaky usurper, see? And he's got this beautiful sister and she falls in love with the good guy and talks him into helping to put the legit guy on the throne...
...and they have this sidekick who's a pickpocket and petty thief but he has a heart of gold...
"The Hawks (special police) arrested him on Friday in Cape Town," front man Paul Ramaloko told AFP without naming him.

A police source earlier confirmed the suspect is Etienne Kabila, head of the Union of Nationalists for the Renewal of the DR Congo (UNR) accused of plotting to topple the government.

He claims to be the eldest son of assassinated DRC president Laurent Kabila and half-brother of current President Joseph Kabila.
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not sure what he was doing on Long street Chief Inspector, but we've checked the upcoming Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging rally, and he isn't scheduled to speak there. I reckon we'll simply have to release him.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 6:04 Comments || Top||


Meet Hafiza Rukkayatu, 3-yr-old Islamic scholar
[Nigerian Tribune] Rukkayatu's journey towards achieving her feat, according to her mother, began when she was a toddler and was being taken to one of the Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi Foundation's Qura'nic schools at Barkin Ruwa Askulaye in Kaduna, where her mother currently teaches Qur'an recitation and memorisation.

"We were using a big parlour, which was divided into classes for the learning of the Qur'an. At that time, I always carried her on my back while teaching. From there, she started reciting along with the students and before long, she had memorised some verses. That was how she started attending memorisation class. Right now, she has completed memorising the whole Qur'an," Sayyada Maimunatu, who is a daughter of renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, told Sunday Tribune.

Sayyada Maimunatu said her daughter had little or no time to play with her peers as she had been conditioned to learning the Qur'an, which she said, was much more important than playing with her peers, adding that Hafiza Rukkayatu was always in the Qur'anic school between 7a.m. and 6p.m. daily.

She added that, "it is not as if she does not play with her mates. She does, especially with those who are memorising the Qur'an like her. This makes it easier for them, as their focus and attention are directed towards achieving the same goal, which is memorising the Qur'an."

Asked if her daughter would be allowed to have Western education now that she has completed the memorisation exercise, the 29-year-old proud mother of four, declared that her daughter would go to a proper school soon, submitting that the normal practice in their family was for every child to first and foremost learn the Holy Qur'an and start attending school when he/she reached the age of 10. According to her, all female children in the family only have the opportunity of studying up to the secondary school level.

"My husband has, however, said that the world is changing now, and that there is civilization all over the place and as such, our daughter will have the opportunity of going to a proper school whenever she reaches the age of six," she said, adding that despite the fact that there was civilization, they would not compromise giving their children Islamic education.
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Catch them young, BEFORE they realize your "Religion" is a cover for Women's slavery, when they grow older, just kill them.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/11/2013 13:00 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Colombia ELN rebels want proof seized Germans are not spies
Members of Colombia's second largest rebel group, the ELN, say they want proof that two elderly German brothers they are holding are not spies. The rebels demanded to see documents showing the men worked for private companies and letters from their relatives backing up their identities.

Uwe and Gunther Breuer, who are 69 and 72 years old, were seized in November. They had been touring South America in a jeep when they were taken in a remote area near the border with Venezuela.

In a statement published on their website, ELN (National Liberation Army) rebels asked the families of Gunther and Uwe Breuer to "send us truthful evidence that clarifies their ties with the captured men".
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 17:21 || Comments || Link || [336105 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin Turns Black Gold Into Bullion as Russia Out-Buys World
When Vladimir Putin says the U.S. is endangering the global economy by abusing its dollar monopoly, he’s not just talking. He’s betting on it.

Not only has Putin made Russia the world’s largest oil producer, he’s also made it the biggest gold buyer. His central bank has added 570 metric tons of the metal in the past decade, a quarter more than runner-up China, according to IMF data compiled by Bloomberg. The added gold is also almost triple the weight of the Statue of Liberty.

“The more gold a country has, the more sovereignty it will have if there’s a cataclysm with the dollar, the euro, the pound or any other reserve currency,” Evgeny Fedorov, a lawmaker for Putin’s United Russia party in the lower house of parliament, said in a telephone interview in Moscow.

Gold, coveted by Russian rulers including Tsar Nicholas II and the Bolshevik leader whose forces assassinated him, Vladimir Lenin, has soared almost 400 percent in the period of Putin’s purchases. Central banks around the world have printed money to escape the global financial crisis, sapping investor appetite for dollars and euros and setting off a scramble for safety
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 02:34 || Comments || Link || [336115 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jesus, he's graduated to the 1932 Republican platform.

Posted by: Shipman || 02/11/2013 16:46 Comments || Top||

#2  If I were Putin, this is EXACTLY what I would be doing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 16:54 Comments || Top||


Economy
Not enough bourbon to go round!
Maker's Mark waters down its alcohol content by 3% so it can make more

The bourbon will cut its alcohol content by three per cent, an email said
Company said it came to the decision after 'looking at all possible solutions'
Chief executives said the taste of the bourbon will remain the same
Distillers of a world famous bourbon has cut its alcohol content so it can meet increasing demand for the drink.

The owners of Maker's Mark, which is distilled Loretto, Kentucky, said they are unable to produce the bourbon fast enough.

The plans became public after an email from Maker's Mark executives Rob Samuels and Bill Samuels Jr, son of the company's founder, emerged.

It announced that the bourbon - which used the slogan 'It tastes expensive... and is' - will drop its alcohol content by there per cent.

It will now be reduced to 42 per cent ABV from 45 per cent.

Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 17:33 || Comments || Link || [336125 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Teenager pre-refilled select.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/11/2013 17:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, let's see...there's Woodford, Bulleit, Jim Beam Black...you see, Jim Beam Black is pretty darn good and reasonably priced as well...but it's a lie about the boobs.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/11/2013 18:20 Comments || Top||

#3  ".... Its a lie about the Boobs" > D *** NG, I KNEW IT!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 18:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Jim Beam Devil's Cut is to die for.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/11/2013 18:29 Comments || Top||

#5  "Hi! We make a product known for its quality. We've decide to dilute it on the grounds that people like it.
P.S. This also makes it cheaper to manufacture"

This sounds an awful lot like shenanigans to me.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/11/2013 19:18 Comments || Top||

#6  I actually think it will taste better at the lower alcohol content.

Perhaps this is because most of the whiskey I drink is at 80 proof.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/11/2013 19:24 Comments || Top||

#7  So is the price going down 3%?
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2013 21:02 Comments || Top||

#8  "So is the price going down 3%?"

Silly tu. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 02/11/2013 21:59 Comments || Top||

#9  I drink Willet Cask Strength... one of the best things America produces
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/11/2013 23:43 Comments || Top||


Europe
Pope Benedict to resign at month's end
Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday he will resign on Feb. 28 because he no longer has the strength to fulfill the duties of his office, becoming the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to take such a step.

The 85-year-old pope said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months "to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me".

"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter," he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff would step down on Feb. 28, leaving the office vacant until a successor is chosen.
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 06:57 || Comments || Link || [336127 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cardinal Dolan. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan to the white courtesy phone please. Cardinal Dolan.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 7:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Humility and self-knowledge that the mind and body fails. Godspeed
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2013 10:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Pope Benedict to resign at month's end

They going to bury him with the other Popes?
NO?
Then he Can't "Resign".
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/11/2013 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  A springtime return to Bavaria. Smart man I'd say.
Posted by: besoeker || 02/11/2013 10:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Actually, he can, Redneck Jim. It's not clear what, if any, rank he's left with in the church, but the law apparently allows for resignation.

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/11/2013 11:15 Comments || Top||

#6  He's Pope. He's the boss. Infallible, even (if he says so.) If he says he can resign, then he can.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/11/2013 11:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Will Obama be the next Pope? Another like Urban II?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/11/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||

#8  They going to bury him with the other Popes?
NO?


He could be, since he held the office. But I'll defer to your expertise.

It's not clear what, if any, rank he's left with in the church, but the law apparently allows for resignation

Official title of the Pope is "Bishop of Rome"; since he was a cardinal, that's likely what he'll be referred as.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/11/2013 12:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Relinquishing total power with humility and dignity... I know a few people who could learn from that.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/11/2013 14:41 Comments || Top||

#10  He hasn't looked healthy in the latest videos I've seen so I was wondering if he would step aside. I think it's a good decision. God doesn't ask us to bear more than we can bear.

I thank him for his service and stewardship and I admire him for his steadfastness and the quality of his writing.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/11/2013 15:49 Comments || Top||

#11  Tanned, rested, ready...Bernie Law.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2013 16:43 Comments || Top||

#12  Will he be able to get out of Committee?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/11/2013 16:48 Comments || Top||

#13  Benedict is older (85) than Blessed John Paul was when he died (84). One of the saddest things in my lifetime was watching JP II deteriorate.

Personally, I would love to see Cardinal Dolan of NYC as pope. I know it ain't gonna happen, but it would be cool.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/11/2013 16:57 Comments || Top||

#14  He never had a chance
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 16:59 Comments || Top||

#15  I'm voting for Dolan as well! :-)
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 16:59 Comments || Top||

#16  As a Catholic, this is unsettling for me as this is the first time to see a Pope resign.

In my lifetime, POPES PAUL VI, JOHN PAUL 1, + JOHN PAUL II all passed on in See - while I respect Benedict's reasons, I would think his message per having an effective Petrine Ministry for the worldwide Catholic community + Clergy would be better served or illustrated iff he stayed on in See until the end.

AFAIK the 12 Apostles never took a day/time off no matter the reason.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 18:26 Comments || Top||

#17  "I know a few people who could learn from that."

And not a damned one of them will, EC. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara || 02/11/2013 19:12 Comments || Top||

#18  FREEREPUBLIC > A MESSAGE FROM GOD? LIGHTNING STRIKES VATICAN DOME AFTER POPE BENEDICT RESIGNS.

No days off, Benedict???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 21:55 Comments || Top||

#19  Benedict is very frail and I'm very sure he did not take this decision lightly. It commands the highest respect that he does not want the Catholic church being paralyzed by a long agony.

And yes Canonic Law absolutely allows this.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/11/2013 23:47 Comments || Top||

#20  And unlike all those liberal opinions I fully support his Regensburg speech which dared to say the truth about Islam.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/11/2013 23:51 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Canadian Officer Who Spied For Russia Jailed For 20 Years
[Jpost] Canadian naval officer who handed over secrets to Russia for more than four years, damaging Canada's relations with the United States and other key allies, was tossed in the clink
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
for 20 years on Friday.

Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle had pleaded guilty to breach of trust and handing information to a foreign entity that could harm national interests. He was also fined $111,817 ($111,817), the sum he received from his Russian spymasters.
That's all he got? For 4 years? Hell, jail him for being too stupid to negotiate a better deal with the Ruskies.
Delisle, 41, worked at a security unit in Halifax that tracked vessels entering and exiting Canadian waters.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Allahabad stampede toll rises to 36
At least 36 people were killed in a stampede at Allahabad railway station on Sunday evening, the railways said today.

Most of the victims, who include 26 women and a 8-year-old girl, were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. All the bodies are at the Medical College Mortuary in Allahabad, where post-mortem is being conducted.
"Here's another one for you Dr. Quincy!"
"Great Sam, stack him in the back with the others."
The incident occured at 7 p.m. near platform no 6, where a footbridge reportedly collapsed due to the heavy rush of pilgrims who had converged on the Sangam for the Mauni Amavasya Snan.

According to eyewitnesses, there was a lathi charge which led to confusion among the pilgrims who were rushing toward the platform after an announcement for a train arrival. The railway station and the bus station, barely a kilometre apart were teeming with hundreds of people at the time.
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 02:01 || Comments || Link || [336127 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mauni Amavasya Snan = sacred bathing (snan) for the holy month (a hindu custom)
Posted by: lord garth || 02/11/2013 9:40 Comments || Top||


Science
Warning over social networking 'snooping' technology
New stalking software capable of tracking people’s movements and predicting future behaviour using data from social networking websites has been developed, it emerged today.

The sophisticated technology relies on websites such as Facebook and Twitter to build a detailed picture of people’s lives in a move that could raise concerns over breach of privacy and civil liberties.

The system has been created by Raytheon, the US giant defence contractor.

It was claimed that the technology could be transformed into a "Google for spies" and used by governments as a means of monitoring and controlling people online.

The company insisted that the software – dubbed “Riot” or Rapid Information Overlay Technology – had not been sold to any clients but was shared with the US government in 2010.

The move follows controversy over the Communications Bill in Britain which would authorise the monitoring of phone calls, emails and internet usage.

Ministers insist the reforms are vital for countering paedophiles, extremists and fraudsters but civil liberties have attacked the Bill’s scope and branded it a “snoopers’ charter”.

A video obtained by the Guardian newspaper reveals how the software system can gather personal information about people – including their friends, interests and the places they visit – from social networking websites including Foursquare, a mobile phone app that alerts friends of their whereabouts.

In the video, the software analyses the behaviour of a Raytheon employee – Nick – to show the places he has used his smartphone, the day or time of most internet activity and the location of photos posted online.

"We know where Nick's going, we know what Nick looks like, now we want to try to predict where he may be in the future,” says the video.

Ginger McCall, from the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Centre, said the Raytheon, said the technology raised concerns about how personal data could be covertly collected without people’s authorisation.

"Social networking sites are often not transparent about what information is shared and how it is shared," she said.

"Users may be posting information that they believe will be viewed only by their friends, but instead, it is being viewed by government officials or pulled in by data collection services like the Riot search."

The company's spokesman had earlier confirmed that the video was a “proof of concept" product that has not been sold to any clients.

Posted by: lotp || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From a lecture given by Commodore (eventually Admiral) Grace Hooper - privacy and automation are mutually exclusive.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2013 9:03 Comments || Top||

#2  None of this would be an issue if idiots didn't post everything about their lives online. You can be tagged in photos, investigated, etc. even if you don't have an account.
Posted by: gromky || 02/11/2013 10:13 Comments || Top||

#3  It would tickle me if ALL "Tweeters" were Guilty and had to be erased.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/11/2013 10:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Hear, hear.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/11/2013 12:36 Comments || Top||

#5  I only follow #JOESEERTHINKERPENNSTATE
Posted by: Shipman || 02/11/2013 16:51 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2013-02-11
  Seven killed, 11 injured in attacks across southern Thailand
Sun 2013-02-10
  Syrian troops, rebels clash over Damascus highway
Sat 2013-02-09
  India Executes Man Convicted in 2001 Attack on Parliament
Fri 2013-02-08
  Suicide bomber hits north Mali, troops clash in capital
Thu 2013-02-07
  Syrian Army Launches 'All-Out Attack' on Capital Region
Wed 2013-02-06
  Fat Lady Sings for Abd el Kader Mahmoud Mohamed el Sayed
Tue 2013-02-05
  Second big turban nabbed in northern Mali
Mon 2013-02-04
  Ansar Dine #3 arrested in northern Mali
Sun 2013-02-03
  Yemen Troops Kill 12 'Qaida Militants' in Restive South
Sat 2013-02-02
  Syria Suicide Attack on Regime Kills 53
Fri 2013-02-01
  Binori Mosque cleric among 10 killed in Karachi
Thu 2013-01-31
  Boko Haram 'commander' declares ceasefire
Wed 2013-01-30
  Mali and Niger forces retake Ansongo
Tue 2013-01-29
  Sahel jihadist groups splinter
Mon 2013-01-28
  Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts

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