AN online casino that bought Pope Benedict XVI's old Volkswagen Golf intends to take it on the road "allowing people to enjoy the experience of sitting in the divine car".
GoldenPalace.com, which paid 189,000 euros ($314,240) in an online auction, will use the scheme to raise money for charity.
Vatican sources have said the Pope does not have a driver's licence and probably never drove the car, which was sold to a German for 9900 euros ($16,000) in January.
The vehicle shot up in value after the Pope's election last month.
The casino owns a collection of pseudo-religious artefacts, including a 10-year-old toasted cheese sandwich on which some claim to see the face of the Virgin Mary, a chicken breast that to some resembles the late Pope John Paul II and a potato crisp resembling a bishop's mitre.
#1
Article: The cause of death was a form of cancer now appearing with increasing frequency among Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliants called Agents Orange and Blue.
He died at 74. That Agent Orange stuff (active ingredient - dioxin) sure was lethal - finally killed him after 35 years. Yushchenko, who ingested the largest dose of dioxin ever recorded, will probably die in a few decades as wll. Such are the dire effects of dioxin.
#3
I have been down on Hackworth for a while now. He became a professional curmudgeon who seemed more interested in promoting himself. His appearance in the CBS phony documents story opining that President Bush was AWOL really rubbed me the wrong way, and reading that he was really harsh to Mike ''Blackhawk Down'' Durant back in 1993 sealed the deal for me. I honor him for his service to the country, but his rep will always be tarnished in my eyes when he started to believe his own hype.
Posted by: Tibor ||
05/06/2005 17:18 Comments ||
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Hack was a battle-god in his time, but unfortunately started believing his own press clippings - and even worse, kept up the automatice naysaying crap long past the time it deserved it. He comitted the one cardinal sin a military strategist cannot do: he refused to change, and continued to reflexivly fight the last battles instead of the next war.
Hack saw everything through his Vietnam goggles. And was dead wrong much of the last decade because of it. Hack was right about Vietnam, and wrong about damn near everything else militarily since 1991.
Don't take me wrong on this: Hack was a hell of a soldier and commander in his day, and much of the eternal truths about soldiering he rediscovered and popularized were incorporated into the Army in the 80's to produce the forces we have now that perform so brilliantly.
Sorry to see him die leaving a trail of drooling stupidity behind him in his last years.
#6
He was all infantry and only infantry. He failed to understand the combined arms battlefield and had a lousy grasp of logistics.
On the other hand, he was one of the most formidable warriors that America has ever produced and a real American hero. Ten Silver Stars, just to begin the list.
#7
I agree with OS and CS. One of the things to be aware of, having been in the military, is seeing it all in the terms of your own service and time. He was an infantry officer, of the 1940ies-1950ies cohort, so I think he strained everything about the military through the seive of that specific experience... anything outside of that... Well, does not compute. I never met him, never interviewed him,but I edited an interview he did for AFKN in 1994 or thereabouts. (I would take the audio track of various AFKN-TV interviews and re-edit them for the AFKN-Radio news program, "Seoul Source")It was a wonderful interview: he was coming back to Seoul when it was this huge, cosmopolitan city, with a subway and skyscrapers and all... when the first time he had seen it, it was in ruin, with rats nibbling corpses in the streets, and he and his patrol the only people alive in it, save for the Communist snipers in the mountains around.
It's another crashing stupidity to be laid at the door of Robert Macnamera, to loose the dedication of someone like Hackworth.
ZWICKAU - Two cooks from India who got into a knife fight with Pakistanis operating a pizza bar in a German tourist town have been jailed for manslaughter for 75 and 78 months.
I know when I'm looking for a good pizza place in Germany, I always think Pakistani
The brawl that the German media later dubbed the 'war of the pizza cooks' erupted in January 2004 in Schneeberg, a pretty hill town close to the Czech border. After friction between rival pizza stands, the Pakistanis assaulted the Indians, who wanted to even the score.
"They's only room fur one pizza place in dis here burg..."
In the knife fight, two Pakistanis were stabbed to death near the town square and a third Pakistani was critically wounded.
"The Showdown in Schneeberg, tonight on Pay-Per-View!"
After the eight-month trial at a court in Zwickau, defence lawyers said they would appeal the convictions because their clients, aged 29 and 27, had acted purely in self-defence.
"Pure as the driven snow, your honor!"
The court only recognised self-defence in one of the killings, and said the Indians had acted out of revenge after the initial assault by the Pakistanis had ceased.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/06/2005 12:49:23 PM ||
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Sounds like Zwickau needs to be partitioned.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/06/2005 13:14 Comments ||
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#2
Damn--even Mackie Messer is outsourcing these days.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/06/2005 13:19 Comments ||
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#3
They held an ''eight-month trial'' to figure this one out? Revenge fueled knife fights in the town square between rival pizza merchants sounds kinda shakespearian. In my neck of the woods paki's just spit at indians.
#4
Pakistani and Indian pizza guys? Screw 'em. Next time your in Zwickau, come on down to ''Tommy O'Flaherty's'' for the best Chinese food in the border region. Don't forget to tell 'em Tommy sent ya!
Posted by: Tommy OFlaherty ||
05/06/2005 14:02 Comments ||
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#5
Sliced 'em up, did they?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2005 14:20 Comments ||
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#6
Yes, in eight equal pieces - 12 with the large guy.
WASHINGTON — In case you needed more reasons not to kiss a mouse, health investigators have found a good one: salmonella.
Funny, of all the things I've ever considered kissing, mice never came up.
"Pocket pets" — rodent species such as hamsters, mice and rats — can infect their human owners with salmonella, including drug-resistant forms of the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Insert "Is that a ________ in your pocket...." joke here.
The warning follows an outbreak in which 14 pet owners in 10 states contracted a rare strain of salmonella, a gastrointestinal bacteria that causes diarrhea, vomiting and, in rare cases, death. Doctors suspect that many more people could have been infected by the rodents, which have been traced to pet distributors in 11 states and Canada. "It's basically all over the eastern half of the United States," said Kirk Smith, supervisor of the Foodborne, Vectorborne and Zoonotic Disease Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health, which discovered the outbreak. "There's a lot of movement between the breeders and the distributors and the pet stores."
Posted by: Steve ||
05/06/2005 11:39:00 AM ||
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What if the rodent is stuffed and cleaned daily? I have a morning OC ritual. Am I at risk?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/06/2005 23:01 Comments ||
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#7
lol - AP - was expecting a large fish singing torch/jazz songs
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2005 23:03 Comments ||
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#8
Yeah, Frank. Thought that you'd like that one. They did some great artwork on Everett's C-46. It flew fish out of lots of places in Alaska. So an employee with an artists flair made a real nice nose art pic of a mermaid called Salmon Ella. I've loaded and unloaded many tons of cargo in this bird. Even flew her once. Fire warning came on shortly after takeoff. Got my attention! False alarm. Bought the print from New Horizons gallery in Fairbanks last week.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/06/2005 23:07 Comments ||
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I was wondering when we were gonna have another hooker story...
It's sweeps week for blogs, I think ...
SAN FRANCISCO - The 25 students in jeans and T-shirts could have been in any career that requires hustle. The classes, covering topics such as effective marketing, stress reduction and legal issues, could have been part of any professional development seminar. But this was "Whore College," and any illusion it was just another corporate how-to for young go-getters abruptly ended at the sex toy display and was stripped away for good during a graphic demonstration that put a whole new twist on the concept of hands-on training. "We are still illegal," instructor Kimberlee Cline said before her 20-minute demonstration. "If we want to be treated as business professionals, we need to act ethically within the industry." Ethical whores? You mean, like politicians?
Hey, don't insult hookers like that!
Presented in conjunction with the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival, the class Wednesday at an erotic art gallery was billed as a way for working girls and guys to polish their skills in a supportive atmosphere. The San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival? No, I'm not surprised...
It was the first time the biennial festival, begun in 1999 to showcase films about and by sex workers, included a session devoted to how to maintain a satisfying career. I dunno? Get screwed a lot? Make a lot of money?
Catch the clap every now and then? Die of AIDS?
Marry Richard Gere?
Although famously permissive San Francisco has long been a hotbed for prostitutes' rights activism, the school reflects the movement's maturation away from a focus on decriminalization toward a broader agenda that includes occupational health and safety and community-building, said organizer Carol Leigh. Hi, hon. I'm from OHSHA for Whores. Where's your hard hat?
Other cities, including Tucson, Ariz., Portland, Ore., Montreal and Taipei, Taiwan, have similar events, said Leigh, a veteran activist who takes credit for coining the term "sex worker" as an anti-euphemism. And thanks so much for that, Leigh. Who coined the term "anti-euphemism", by the way?
Are there sex peasants, too?
By light of day, the women and men of the night swapped tips, argued over personal grooming choices and heard from others considered experts in their field. Many of the attendees said they were motivated as much by the networking opportunity and doing what they could to normalize the world's oldest profession as furthering their education. During Cline's workshop, for example, some in the audience skimmed magazines and chatted despite the carnal knowledge unfolding in front of them. Participants who stuck it out for the whole day received diplomas certifying them as G.S.W's — graduates in sex work. Certification, as we all know, is a must in all your top of the line whorehouses...
An asset for any resume. I always look for it...
Just you wait until they start offering advanced degrees ...
Several students went to lengths to explain that they see themselves as inheritors of a proud tradition — specialists with a choice instead of exploited victims. Sporting nary a stiletto heel among them, their expressed reasons for turning to sex work — an umbrella term that encompasses everything from exotic dancing and acting in pornographic films to turning tricks — were as varied as their hair colors and body types. The noble foot soldiers of whoring the sex industry...
"My own personal experience has been negative and positive, as with any job," said Kymberly Cutter, 36, a mother of two from Tucson who returned to prostitution two years ago to boost her income and regards it as part of a journey in "personal self-discovery." Her children, ages 7 and 9, know what she does for a living, she said. "Personal self discovery"? Hey! I think I'm a whore!
Just how many ways are there to spell "Kimberly"? Are there any hookers who aren't named some variant of Kimberly?
The more shadowy aspects of the profession were covered in the curriculum. Lawyer Erin Crane explained that accepting money for a specific sex act could land someone in jail, but she repeated several times she couldn't advise anyone on how to break the law. Well I can see why Erin's a lawyer. She looks like she's up on all the latest "lawyer" stuff...
I guess accepting money for a generalized sex act wouldn't land you in jug:
"Wanna do somethin'?"
"Yeah! How much?"
"Fifty bucks!"
Students practiced using assertive screaming for self-defense and they were told how to assess dangerous situations, and how to break free from an assailant's grasp. Unless that's what they paid for maybe?
Assertive screaming as opposed to mouthing obscenities?
Erin O'Bryn, 36, who has appeared on adult television networks, worked in massage parlors, owned an escort referral service and last year ran for Congress in Hawaii, said wearing a power suit and good heels dissuades clients from thinking they can take advantage of her. Hey, she ran for Congress! I was right earlier!
She lost, though. That's because she's not a real Kimberleigh.
Maybe she was a Kymberlay.
"Sex work is work. Prostitution is work," Leigh said. "The most important thing is that we are diverse. Some are on the streets and in a very desperate situation. Others are in a working-class situation and maybe bored in their jobs. And others see sex work as their calling." So hug a hooker today!
... some are on salary and some do... ummm... piece work. But the important thing is that they're diverse. That gives them something in common. I guess.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
05/06/2005 10:07:02 AM ||
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Lol, tu! Excellent in-line commentary.
I think we're all whores, at journey's end, discovered or not.
#12
There's a photo of ''organizer Carol Leigh'' accompanying the article. Reminds me of something George Bernard Shaw once said: ''[She] who can, does; [she] who cannot, teaches.''
Posted by: Mike ||
05/06/2005 17:27 Comments ||
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Unremarkable article in Arab news about vanity exhibition sponsored by one of the princelings. Key point:
The exhibition portrays the history of science and its evolution and development. The exhibition will also demonstrate what Arabs and Muslims offered in various fields of science. Director of Al-Turath Organization, Dr. Zaher Othman, explained that the exhibition is an opportunity to recall the most important scientific achievements accomplished by Muslim scientists in the fields of observation, measurement, mathematics, experiments, medical treatments, architecture. Dr. Zaher added that the exhibition was launched from Paris and has been organized in several Arab countries. The scientific advances on show were made between the 8th and 15th century. The scientists traveled the world from Baghdad to Samarqand, from Grenada to Cairo and from Damascus to India and other nations. The Arabic language was their common language. In order to highlight the role of these scientists, the science center in France organized "When Science Spoke Arabic" expedition. It demonstrated some of the Arab scientists' contribution to knowledge.
But nothing about why science hasn't spoken Arabic in at least 600 years.
Posted by: seafarious ||
05/06/2005 1:01:03 AM ||
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And nothing about the fact that most of that ''Arabic'' science was merely the translation of ancient science.
And nothing about the fact that most of the original work in ''Arabic'' science was in good part the work of dhimmis and for the remainder the work of Muslims in name-only (did I mention that many were from Persian ascent?).
There have been many notable scientists who were daily church goers (the name of great mathematician Cauchy comes to mind) but no mosque-going mainline Muslim has ever done any
scientific contribution worth mentionning.
#2
Absolutely spot-on, JFM. This shop-worn bullshit keeps resurfacing and it requires a thorough smackdown bitch-slap, such as what JFM applied here. Islamic Science, ROFL! Yewbetcha.
#3
The one thing the Arabs did do is retain much of the ancient greek knowledge that was lost in Europe. Its debateable whether this was primarily by accident or design.
#5
Phil, once they ran out of Greeks to translate, end of story. The same with science, once they sucked the conquered culture dry, the parasites, not capable on their own of anything worthwile, rendered it infertile.
#7
Now, now, you guys are being too hard on the repressed jihadis. I think they've contributed a lot in the following sciences, even recently:
Observation: ''Ahmed, we must observe these specific buildings, which the grand pubah wants to take down with jets from Afghanistan.''
Measurement: ''Jahini, yep, you look like you need a size 12 burka.''
Math: ''Let's see...2 lbs of explosives + a box of nails = X dead Joooooos and 72 Virginians? Where do I sign up?''
Experiments: SEE American meth labs
Medical Treatments: ''I sware, Doctor Fookyou, that infidel had a headache, so I just sawed his head off. Plus, Achmed got it on tape for the website.''
Architecture: SEE all the mudhuts falling to pieces in a 2.0 earthquake in Iran.
Posted by: BA ||
05/06/2005 8:45 Comments ||
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#8
Anybody know how the ''Islamic Sattelite'' is going?
#9
One nearly bankrupt and stagnant culture trying to make a completely backward and bankrupt one feel better about itself through perpetuating what is largely myth and lies. Sponsored by some idiotic inbred prince who was lucky enough to be born into a family who controls oil cash. Wonderful!
#10
''The scientists traveled the world from Baghdad to Samarqand, from Grenada to Cairo and from Damascus to India and other nations.''
Khan stole nuclear technology in the Netherlands and traveled the world from Pakistan to Libya, from Iran to North Korea...
Posted by: Tom ||
05/06/2005 9:26 Comments ||
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#11
phil b,
Thats another myth. That the Arabs preserved Greek knowledge and without them we wouldn't have it today.
A little island called Ireland gives lie to that myth. It was the Irish who as they say, saved civilization. Irish monks preserved Western learning and developed a culture of learning and art which they later imported back to mainland Europe via missions and new monasterys.
Its true that there were advanced civilizations that the Arabs conquered. Once these cultures ie the Persians and the Greek Byzantines were decimated, driven to Europe, or converted to islam, islamic ''science'' started its inevitable decline. Every idea attributed to them these days was originated by some other creative culture. They are given credit for algebra, which was a development of Greek mathmatics begun in Greece. They are given credit for the concept of zero and yet they actually got that from the Hindus in India.
This is a culture which has not ever had an original idea. They have displayed a rather normal human intelligence for the developing the ideas of others and they have shown a rather average interest in astronomical observation that is equalled elsewhere by every other civilization. It takes a civilizational genius of an entirely different order to originate as the Greeks did and as the modern West has done.
Its an accident of history that a branch of greek math is now called algebra. Its an accident of history that many stars have arabic names and not say Mayan or Hindu or Chinese names. It is junk PC history to say any different.
#12
Peggy's right about the importance of the Irish in preserving Western Civilization. The Moors also kept a good sized depository of important ancient Greek and Roman manuscripts long after the eastern arabs had entrenched themselved in the stone age. A number of European clergy got their classical education in Moorish Spain shortly before the Renaissance. The Moorish documents, together with the documents and art and icons stolen from Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, together with those salvaged around the time of the fall of Constantinople, spurred the Italian Renaissance.
However, in the cradle of Islam, the people that eschewed any education outside the Koran gained the upper hand by the 11th Century. These are probably the descendants of those who burned the Alexandrian Library when the Arabs conquered Egypt.
#13
And in that period between the consolidation of the empire and the victory of the fundamentalist factions, there was a flowering of learning in Persia. It was of course driven at first by what they had inherited (don't forget that the Babylonians made contributions to math that the Greeks drew on), but for a few years both dhimmi and Muslim scholars did good work in a number of fields.
A number of factors (as usual) conspired to squelch this, but the victorious fundamentalist views on the nature of knowledge and the purpose of education pretty much prevented anything like it from rising again.
Posted by: James ||
05/06/2005 12:07 Comments ||
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Was the official language of this conference English? When can we expect the follow-on Paris conference entitled, ''When Science Spoke French''?
A British ministry is proposing to deny medical treatment to patients based on age — a move seen as the "ultimate end" for universal health care.
A spokesperson for The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said that "if there is a justifiable clinical reason to not provide a treatment for certain age groups, not just older people, that will be O.K., if this treatment...could not be offered.
"We have said there has to be clinical evidence when discriminating on grounds of age."
Critics have raised concern that the policy could lead to the elderly being denied some services...
Commenting on the rationing proposal, Britain's Birmingham Post said: "The fact that people in their 80s and 90s regularly undergo successful operations underlines how dangerous it would be to assume that old age automatically equates to a hopeless case."
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 6 (UPI) -- A Russian contractor abducted in Haiti has been freed, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Friday. Russian officials would not release the man's full name, referring to him in a statement as "D.Y. Khmelevsky, a Russian national." No ransom was paid, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. It was unknown who was behind his kidnapping.
Some very practical people with a highly developed sense of survival
Two foreigners had been abducted in recent days, the first such incidents since fighting broke out early 2004, a U.N. official said. An Indian businessman remains in the hands of unknown captors.
Indians don't send hit squads. Don't know if they have friends who are presidents of oil producing countries south of Hati who shop for Russian arms.
Armed rebel groups began taking over parts of the country at the beginning of last year to force then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. Aristide finally left the country in February 2004. U.N. peacekeeping forces are helping Haitian police control the violence and assisting the interim government to prepare for elections set for the end of the year.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/06/2005 1:55:02 PM ||
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In a menacing sign, Fidel Castro of Cuba has just announced a new shipyard construction project in Venezuela, bringing on Cuban workers. Considering their trade, may well be 'enforcers.'
In Grenada, it was airport construction, right?
You remember Grenada, Hugo? I'll bet El Supremo does...
#3
We have an arc of instability forming in our own backyard. Honduras is a narco-terrorist state. Mexico's well on its way to leftist nutland (if not revolution). Gran Chavezia is arming itself to the teeth and reaching it to rogue states around the world.
How long before Al Qaeda inserts itself into this chaos and exploits the gaping vulnerability on our southern border?
Mexico may well move left - not surprising considering their unmet social problems, that poor folks would vote for a populist. It will either work or it wont.
In Brazil Lula has kept to market reforms, under left rhetoric. In Argentina Kirchner has pissed off the IMF to some degree, IIUC, again not surprising.
Other than Venezuala I see no threats. OTOH there we kinda screwed up by winking at a coup that failed. Best bet with Chavez is watch him very carefully.
As growing concerns about dwindling global reserves help maintain oil prices close to the $50 a barrel mark, a major supply route linking newly developed oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea with western markets is due to be opened. The pipeline is expected to spark an economic boom in Baku
Within the next few weeks, oil from the Caspian will start flowing into a 1,762 kilometres long pipeline. The pipeline will run from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, via near Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and across eastern Turkey to the port of Ceyhan, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is being built by a consortium of companies led by energy giant BP. The project, costing an estimated $3.6bn (£1.9bn), is described by BP as the world's biggest energy scheme. "Building work is generally progressing on schedule," says a BP spokesperson in Baku. "We expect to be loading tankers in Ceyhan with Caspian crude before the end of the year."
The pipeline project is highly controversial. Governments involved have welcomed the project. "The whole region needs this pipeline," says Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's president.
However, from long before work started on the pipeline in early 2003, concerns were raised about running it through such a volatile political region. In Azerbaijan, the pipeline goes close to the ceasefire line separating the forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia, its neighbour and bitter enemy to the west. The two countries are locked in a bloody territorial dispute and, despite the ceasefire, clashes often occur.
Elsewhere en-route, concern has been raised about the pipeline's vulnerability to attack from anti government groups. Georgia battles various separatist conflicts, while in Turkey the pipeline skirts the heartlands of Kurdish areas. "We have secured the pipeline to the highest standards," insists Tamam Bayatly, BP's communications manager in Baku.
Non-governmental organisations have complained.
Well yeah, of course they did.
Some about human rights being abused, others about the pipeline's environmental impact. Green groups question the presence of such a project in what is a highly active seismic zone, saying any rupture of the pipeline would cause widespread damage. In Georgia in particular there have been strong protests about the pipeline's route through the Borjomi Valley, one of the country's most scenic areas and a centre of tourism.
"I cannot say that there are not any problems," says Faig Askerov, who monitors the environmental impact of the project for BP. "We use technology that makes the minimum impact on the environment. We are not ideal, but we're good."
Western governments and financial institutions have given strong backing to the project. The United States has given significant political support, seeing the pipeline as a way of transporting vital energy supplies out of the Caspian, avoiding alternative routes to the south through Iran, or to the north through Russia.
But Russia has been unhappy with the project, seeing it as further evidence of the West seeking to exert power and influence in an area Moscow has traditionally seen as its own backyard.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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As growing concerns about dwindling global reserves Typical of the BBC to start with a statement that is both false and irrelevant. Just gotta take every opportunity to push the agenda. The world's proven reserves of oil continue to increase and the oil price is determined by available supply and not by reserves.
#2
Heh. Spot-on, phil_b. Much of what follows is just more hand-wringing wanking in agenda-land.
It's always rather comical to me that the agenda-driven folks are foolish enough to believe that their idea of right and wrong is universally held - and only the means and the players are in need of exposure and debate. Nah, Beeb, you're blinded by your own BS.
The pipeline is being built because the price is high enough to cover the costs and increase profits over other forms or distribution. That there are risks because of instability is factored in. Economics 101, which everyone at Beeb seems to have failed. Who wants it and who doesn't are predictable points on the political curve - so fucking what, Beeb? Have a nice lie-down, K?
#3
Georgia in particular there have been strong protests about the pipeline's route through the Borjomi Valley, one of the country's most scenic areas and a centre of tourism.
#4
LOL, Ship! And the Beeb probably thinks the area around Chernobyl is REALLY a ''scenic area'' because NO ONE'S there now, but nature has reasserted herself in the area (just don't eat the pine nuts from around there).
Posted by: BA ||
05/06/2005 8:18 Comments ||
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and a centre of tourism
...for saudi tourists, syrian tourists, yemeni tourists, pakistani tourists....
Posted by: Steve ||
05/06/2005 8:28 Comments ||
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Dutch blogger Arjan Dasselaar of "Zacht Ei" posts some beautiful pictures in salute to V-E day. And Pieter Dorsman of PeakTalk has the schedule for Bush's visit to Holland and an oustanding remembrance of Pim Fortuyn, three years after he was assassinated.
''To you from failing hands we throw the torch--Be yours to hold it high.'' -- Beautiful quote.
1LT Walter Will, MOH recipient, died 30.March.1945 -- just 5 weeks before the end.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/06/2005 13:12 Comments ||
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Em, great links, especially the first. I ad forgotten that Lileks quote that he uses:
''They can talk for hours about how wrong it was to kill babies, busboys, businessmen, receptionists, janitors, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers - and then they lean towards you, eyes wide, and they say the fatal word: But.''
Posted by: Matt ||
05/06/2005 13:47 Comments ||
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German Defense Minister Peter Struck said Friday he planned to broach the subject of a withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from German soil at NATO.
"I agree with Foreign Minister (Joschka) Fischer that we should take up this issue in NATO committees," Struck said during a visit to the US air base Ramstein in western Germany. When asked whether he backed calls by members of the ruling coalition for a total withdrawal of the US weapons, Struck said: "We will have to discuss that with the other European allies that also still have nuclear weapons stationed."
During an international conference in New York this week to review the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), Fischer said that calls from his Greens party and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats for a removal of all US nuclear weapons stationed in Germany were "a reasonable initiative". Struck noted that "95 percent of the nuclear weapons stationed in Europe were withdrawn after the fall of the Berlin Wall" in 1989.
The only US nuclear weapons remaining in Europe are those that can be transported by aircraft. US short-range missiles, cruise missiles and nuclear submarines have been withdrawn, according to German sources. An estimated 150 atomic weapons are stationed on German soil out of a total of about 480 in Europe. In a case of self-defense after a nuclear attack, they would be carried by German Tornado jets under current pacts. Proponents of a removal of the weapons argue that they are a Cold War relic and undermine the international non-proliferation process.
Not a problem, Minister. We'll just take them with us when we all leave.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
05/06/2005 10:07:32 AM ||
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Next, of course, we will be asked to leave NATO as we are too warlike and not part of the EU.
#3
We need to present Germany with a bill for the costs of reconstruction and protection since 1945. France too. Until they pay, with interest, we'll store our weapons anywhere we damn well please.
#5
It still freaks me that a 2nd party air force was gonna do the deeed if necessary. Perhaps moving the warheads to Poland might have all kinda effects if we used the same treaty language.
AUSCHWITZ, Poland - The wail of a Jewish shofar horn signalled the start Thursday of a huge march at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in southern Poland to remember victims of the Holocaust. "Today is the day of remembrance. Thousands of us from 50 countries around the world are going to march from Auschwitz to Birkenau to remember what happened here," the voice of one of the organisers of the March of the Living said over the loudspeaker system at Auschwitz shortly before the march began at 1:15 pm.
Dressed in blue anoraks the marchers passed through the notorious camp gate with its sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" at the start of the three-kilometre from the Auschwitz camp to Birkenau, where some 1.1 million Jews were gassed to death by the German Nazi regime which occupied most of Europe in World War II. A remembrance ceremony for the six million Jews, and countless others who died in the Holocaust, was to be held later in the day, attended by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his Polish and Hungarian counterparts Marek Belka and Ferenc Gyurcsany, and survivors of the German camps.
Thursday's commemoration, expected to attract a record 20,000 people, comes 60 years after the end of World War II and the liberation of the camps by allied forces.
Never again. And we have to mean it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/06/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Hollywood's top Democrat diva, Barbra Streisand, is blasting President Bush for "controlling" the nation by ginning up fears of another terrorist attack, saying the president's tactics remind her of Nazi Luftwaffe Commander Hermann Goering. In a statement posted to her Web site headlined "A Country Controlled by Fear," Streisand complains: "Bush's actions remind me of Herman Goering's quote during the Nuremberg Trials, where he stated: '...it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.'"
Streisand continued to quote the Nazi Reichsmarschall, contending that his words provided an insight into Bush's thinking: "Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders," said Goering, according to the disgruntled songstress. "All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism. ..."
The Democrat diva said that Goering's tactics, as adapted by Bush, have been extremely effective, arguing that the American people have been "unable to recognize they are being manipulated when they are paralyzed by fear because their government is constantly reminding them of an impending terrorist attack." She griped that Bush's propaganda blitzkrieg managed to obscure his terrible performance in office during last year's presidential campaign. "Despite all of the administration's mistakes and shortcomings, Bush was re-elected by the American people (regardless of the many accounts of possible voter fraud)," lamented Streisand.
#4
Well, Babs old girl, judging from that V-8 sized olfcatory appendage of yours, you'd be the first in the ovens of Dachau if you were to reside in a real fuckin' Goering Reich, wouldn't you?
#10
How did she pull that off, tu? Did she promise something exceptional? I don't get it. I mean, nobody would would force me to go through that kind of ordeal!
I hope the Canadian government actually lets them wear them.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
05/06/2005 11:10:08 AM ||
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#1
Anyone else ever read the real story of the First Special Services Brigade? The movie version left out a lot, mainly because it was frankly unbelievable.
o They beat Marine records for loading a landing craft.
o They were part of the operation to re-take the Aleutian islands from the Japanese.
o Despite being 1/5th the size, they held the same length of front at Anzio as entire divisions did elsewhere.
o Despite orders at Anzio to hold still, they slowly advanced. Rather, the Germans tried to slowly disengage from them...
Then there are the legends of their various, um, extra-legal activities.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/06/2005 12:32 Comments ||
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This is a hint to the remaining Canadians who haven't contracted a serious case of dhimmitude.
You once produced men who were deeply admired for courage and guts. Look at what you're becoming now!
Sen. John Kerry has angered LGBT civil rights groups after telling a Boston newspaper that the Massachusetts Democratic Party will be making a mistake if it puts an endorsement of same-sex marriage in the party platform next week. "I think it's a mistake," Kerry told the Boston Globe. "I think it's the wrong thing, and I'm not sure it reflects the broad view of the Democratic Party in our state." He made the comments following an event he hosted in Louisiana to promote his proposed KidsFirst Act, which would bring health care to uninsured children.
Whoa! ... You mean he's finally going to sponsor a bill? Quelle shock!
Although he supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage in last November's presidential election this is the strongest statement Kerry has made on gay marriage. "John Kerry is out of touch with reality Massachusetts voters and Democrats in the state," Josh Friedes, the advocacy director of the Freedom to Marry Coalition told 365Gay.com. Friedes points to a study released this week that shows that 80 percent of voters who typically vote Democratic support marriage equality. The poll, taken by Decision Research for the Mass. Equality Education Fund, also shows that 62 percent of all voters support same-sex marriage.
That's why all those Gay marriage bans were voted down in the last....oh, wait.
You gotta love it -- JFnK is out of touch with the nation and with his own state.
"John Kerry needs to learn that on basic issues of civil rights the electorate respects elected officials who take principled stands," Friedes said.
Kerry wouldn't know a principled stand if he ran his snow board into one.
Not true; he's spent his whole life deftly avoiding principled stands.
Kerry's position also puts him at odds with the chairman of the Massachusetts Democrats, Philip W. Johnston. Johnston says that Kerry's remarks will have little effect on delegates to the party's meeting in Lowell. "I have great affection and respect for John, but I disagree on this issue," Johnston told the Globe. "It is important that the state Democratic Party march in lockstep off a cliff support civil rights. We need to take a stand." Kerry's remarks also are opposed by Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Kennedy said he supports the inclusion of the same-sex marriage language in the party platform.
"didsomebodysaysex? i'llberightthere"
National Stonewall Democrats are also distancing themselves from Kerry's position. "We respectfully and strongly disagree with Senator Kerry and urge him to follow the example of the state's senior Senator by supporting the enforcement of state law," said Eric Stern, NSD Executive Director. "Senator Kerry has been a champion for gay and lesbian families in the United States Senate for decades. That is why we are so deeply disappointed by his remarks." On May 17 thousands of same-sex couples in Massachusetts will celebrate the first anniversary of gay marriage. Same-sex marriage became legal on that date following a ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to legalize gay weddings.
And energized millions of Red State voters across the country. Thank you, Massachusetts!
Posted by: Steve ||
05/06/2005 2:43:51 PM ||
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#1
I am just so friggin HAPPY to live in this lunatic asylum of a state!
#7
LGBT wants them to act on principle rather than just say whatever they need to say to get elected? Silly gays! Don't you know this is the ''Democratic'' Party?
McCain wants Kerry to stop looking ahead
By Noelle Straub
Friday, May 6, 2005 - Updated: 10:24 AM EST
WASHINGTON - Straight-talking Sen. John McCain wants his friend Sen. John Kerry to ice his ``obvious'' desire to run for president again and focus on his day job. That would be a first, wouldn't it?
``It's pretty obvious, the way he's acting, he'd like to try it again,'' the Arizona Republican said of a 2008 Kerry bid. Ima thinkin' McVain's still holding a grudge...
``I'd advise him to be the best senator he could be and put those ambitions aside for a while.'' McCain said he ``absolutely'' wants to be president himself but will focus on the Senate and ``wait a couple years'' to decide on a 2008 run. The best Senator he can be? That'll mean, what, one or two co-sponsored bills during his term?
Assessing Kerry's odds as infintesimally small in the June issue of Men's Journal, McCain said, ``I think it would be difficult for John, for the same reason it's hard for all candidates who don't succeed.'' "You're a loser!"
He said he spurned Kerry's overtures last year to become his running mate. While the prone position ``was never officially offered,'' McCain said they discussed it during trips to the Vineyard``three chats'' despite his being endlessly cock-teased``not interested from the beginning.'' Asked why Kerry continued to pursue him, McCain said, He's as vain and pompous as I am ``You'll have to ask him that.'' McCain, who campaigned for President Bush last year, praised GOP efforts but added, When's my freakin' chance?``I also don't think Kerry ran a very good race . . . At the Democratic convention, I can't tell you anything they did besides say, kissing Michael Moore's massive backside`Reporting for duty.' ''
Kerry spokeswoman Jenny Backus responded, Ha ha ha ha ha!!``It's always fun to watch Sen. McCain quarterback, especially when he was the captain of the Bush/Cheney team.'' McCain also predicted Sen. Hillary Clinton is a lock for has ``a good shot'' at the Democratic nomination and that ``it would be a mistake to underestimate her.'' Yep - just ask Vince Foster.
When will Democrats return to power? Three of the most influential legislators in the Democrat party — Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and Nancy Pelosi — reside in and came out of the San Francisco Bay area, which for all its undeniable beauty has created a culture still at odds with most of America. John and Teresa Kerry would have been the nation's first billionaire presidential couple. The head of the Democratic party is a New England condescending liberal, with a vicious tongue, who ran and lost on a platform far to the left of an unsuccessful liberal.
In contrast the only two men elected president from the Democratic party in 30 years were southerners, hammed up their rural and common-man roots — the son of a single mother in Arkansas and a peanut farmer in Plains, Georgia — and were narrowly elected largely due to national scandals like Watergate or third-party conservative populists like Ross Perot. The aristocratic media — CSB News, the New York Times, NPR — is often liberal and yet talks of its degrees and pedigree; the firebrand populist bloggers, cable news pros, and talk-radio pundits are mostly conservative and survive on proven merit rather than image.
When we see Democrats speaking and living like normal folks — expressing worry that the United States must return to basic education and values to ensure its shaky preeminence in a cutthroat world, talking of one multiracial society united by a rare exceptional culture of the West rather than a salad bowl of competing races and tribes, and apprising the world that we are principled abroad in our support of democratic nations and quite dangerous when attacked — they will be competitive again.
Posted by: RG ||
05/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Makes clear the interest the Democrats have in portraying the UN as the final arbitor of everything, in effect the fourth branch of our government. Keeps the ball in their court so to speak...
Posted by: DanNY ||
05/06/2005 8:43 Comments ||
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P.S. Gotta love that SUN, I buy it all the time and promote it to others as an alternative to the NYT.
Posted by: DanNY ||
05/06/2005 8:45 Comments ||
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India has expressed its displeasure at the insinuation by French envoy Dominique Girard about Air-India's decision to purchase aircraft from Boeing.
Foreign secretary Shyam Sharan used a scheduled meeting with the French ambassador for a reproof to him. Sources say Girard was on the defensive and claimed he had been misquoted.
Acknowledging the meeting, the MEA spokesperson said: "The foreign secretary drew his attention to the press reports and told him that if these reports were correct, the French ambassador's remarks were not in keeping with diplomatic propriety."
Sharan's annoyance reflected the deep resentment within government over Girard's outburst over Airbus losing the $7 billion deal to arch rival Boeing. Civil aviation ministry, in particular, is bristling with resentment. Although its minister-in-charge told The Times of India that since this was a deal between two corporate entities, government would rather stay out of it, his officials are angry with the French for imputing motives to a sovereign nation.
It may not have a political fallout until the G-8 meeting in June, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would meet French president Jacques Chirac on the sidelines. But the strong riposte by India seems to have already led Airbus to ponder if Girard's intervention was going to hurt its cause by making the authorities here averse to reopening the Air-India deal even if they wanted to check out allegations of foul play.
Posted by: john ||
05/06/2005 5:06:39 PM ||
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#1
This doesn't have anything to do with the Hands-on-Training per above does it?
All signs point to Kingdom of Heaven having something to do with the Christian Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries. If, that is, by "all signs" you mean the synopsis at Yahoo! Movies. Actually slogging through the film is another experience altogether. Director Ridley Scott's apparent stab at recapturing the success of Gladiator is a staggeringly lazy, leg-twitchingly dull, unholy mess.
This reign of dreariness stars Orlando Bloom, who has a frankly bizarre attraction to costume dramas (see Pirates of the Caribbean, Troy), as a blacksmith. The year is 1184. The place is France. The atmosphere is bleak. (Oh, and boring.) Bloom's character, Balian, is recently widowed and prone to staring moodily at fire. By tragic circumstance of era, he cannot simply get his life back together by appearing on a Dr. Phil episode about healthy grieving. So when Liam Neeson shows up, all "I am your father, Luke," Balian sets off on this fateful (boring) journey to Jerusalem.
If any of this sounds remotely diverting, it is important to remember that it is not. And the problem is not simply that Kingdom of Heaven is about 97 million hours long. It's as though Scott, along with first-time screenwriter William Monahan, has declared a jihad on entertainment value. The most engaging part of the movie comes a mere (and yet interminable) 15 minutes in, when Neeson's character suffers some grievous (and tedious) injury and is told of his uncertain fate. "Get me some more wine," he says wearily, and already you're right there with him.
Just how mind-numbing is this pseudo-epic? When I first scratched out most of these words, it was actually in the darkened theater while the movie was still playing -- despite my increasingly desperate entreaties to every deity imaginable. Nearly two hours in, the movie showed absolutely no indication it would ever stop. And it would be an exercise in futility to bother keeping track of the muddled plot.
When it comes right down to it, the measure of any movie is if it's worth your time and money. This is especially true for a major-budget summer action piece. Other than accomplishing the awesome feat of making Alexander look triumphant in comparison, this was utterly without value even when it was free and viewed as part of a workday.
As such, it seems amazing that Muslim anti-discrimination groups have been concerned about their religion's portrayal. The only thing Kingdom of Heaven is in danger of inciting is mass napping.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/06/2005 1:14:25 PM ||
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#1
I read it has CAIR's Seal of Approval so it wasn't on my list of weekend things to do. The fact that it also seems to suck makes me feel even better about taking a pass.
#2
Steve: Wow. A lot of words to say only that YOU happened to have found the film boring.
Any decent writer can craft a clever insult session and call it a ''critique'' or a ''review,'' but few can actually provide a reasoned discourse on films.
As evidenced in Steveâs overblown treatise here, I found his âslash-and-burnâ approach to be a case in point. Steve's so-called âreviewâ lacked substance and amounted to nothing more than pretentious drivel couched in media-speak. Iâm certain he will be welcomed by the worthless cadre of self-acclaimed ''film critics'' overpopulating many of the nation's newspapers and magazines, who offer much of the same inflated nothingness.
Therefore, I would urge people to make their own decisions about the ENTERTAINMENT they choose, and stop taking movies (i.e., fiction) so seriously. Besides, Iâm sure itâs worth $8 for the spectacle/escapism aspect alone. After all, itâs a fact that Ridley Scott does a pretty good job directing/producing. At least some think so.
All that said, I'm not sure if Orlando Bloom is mature enough, or has enough depth of experience or personal character to handle the role he was selected for. From the previews it looked like he was working hard, but struggling. We shall see. Many other fine actors worth noting, though--and you can be sure Ridley has, as usual, expected a lot from them and has pushed them in their acting abilities.
So ignore Steve, calm down, and go see it. Remember that you probably waste more money each month on uneaten groceries. And if youâre still worried about it, bring a pillow.
#4
The movie review is one of my favourite writing genres, not least because in these PC times, its one of the few places that people can actually say what they think about something. I think we should have more RB movie reviews.
#2
Jablonski, an expert in the evolution of skin color, says it takes at least 15,000 years for skin color to evolve from black to white or vice versa.
#3
There has been a major dumbing down of science during my lifetime and I fear for the consequences. I talked to my 13 year old daughter's science teacher a couple of days ago and I asked her whether I should tutor her in the basics of physics and chemistry. I was told it wasn't necessary becuase she wouldn't be learning any.
#4
whether I should tutor her in the basics of physics and chemistry
The answer is yes. Apparenly no one else will.
Else in 20 years, when kids would be reading sci-fi, they would think that entropy is some kind of decaying foliage. And that would be the less important consequence.
Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) have challenged the belief that the Earth - 4.5 billion years ago - was a violent, hot and hellish place.
A unique method of testing the temperature at which rocks were formed shows the early Earth environment would have been similar to today.
Geologist Professor Mark Harrison says that period in time had been labelled Hadean Eon, "the hellish time".
"However, this would have produced rocks that were formed at very high temperatures and bone dry but we found the opposite," he said.
Their research, the findings of which have been published in Science magazine, used a unique method of finding out the temperature at which rocks were formed.
The scientists examined titanium content in crystals known as zircons, which are created during rock formation.
The zircons, which are usually no longer than the width of a human hair, were extracted from ancient rock found in the Jack Hills, in Western Australia.
By measuring the titanium concentration in more than 50 ancient zircons, the scientists were able to get an accurate measure of the temperatures at which the rocks were formed.
Professor Harrison says they found the Hadean period could not have been chaotic.
"What weâve discovered is that the Earth was in fact a much more benign place, there were continents in a modern sense, there were oceans," he said.
"Rocks were made in a controlled and ordered way, in many ways similar to the modern era.
"The chances are that if you showed up for an afternoon on the early Earth, you would have seen blue oceans and sky, continents sticking out with roughly the same mass that we have today, and a fairly ordered environment."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
05/06/2005 9:45:47 AM ||
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#1
Well this certainly will be interesting. If the rocks were just forming, where did the oceans come from and what held them apart?
Seems this may totally invalidate current theories as to the beginning of life, no?
#4
.com, what? They ate too many strawberries? Static electricity zapped'em? Give me a sign. ;-)
You're not saying they were all cooked by volcanic eruptions?
The one thing I know is that some of them would not be able to be so big at the present gravity. For the land animals, elephant is as big as it gets. The recorded max. is about 11 metric tons and 4 m. The same dimensions apply to mammoth.
#5
AlanC, no. It invalidates the accretion disk theory. It may be interpreted that the earth was made in a blink in the present composition and that it cooled down very fast, perhaps a few 1ky.
#14
While ABC news sees no reason to differentiate one rock from another, here is a link for the more scientifically inclined. The sheep station where the rocks were found is a real science hotspot. 2 next generation radio astromy projects are located there.
#16
Phil - What's a ''Ga''? (I'm assuming a unit of measure... but of what?) I'm no geologist, so I'm having some difficulty sussing what they are talking about on your first link.
Turning into oil, though ... There is a huge graveyard of dinos in Gobi. You find tons of them skeletons over each other, but no oil.
I was under the impression that there was oil in the Gobi Desert, and that oil exploration there was still ongoing. Remember, the oil is liquid, it seeps away, leaving the bones in place. :-)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/06/2005 20:04 Comments ||
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Phil, The oils that is found in Gobi is on the eastern boundary. The dinos are located in western portion. The bedrock is fairly even, so one would expect the oil to be found anywhere. Yea, and Gobi is big. It would be like saying that because there are dinos found in Utah, it is connected to oil fields in Northern Texas.
Sure oil is liquid, but the funny thing is that it seeps upward. Even more funny thing is that it has been located at great depths, without a trace of residual crushed biota. The more it is located toward surface, the more remnants of bacteria and other, mostly monocellular biota is found. Logically, it has been exposed to these critters because of the proximity.
I don't want to exlude dinos, it may be considered profiling... ;-)
But the above seem to suggest that we did not nail the origins of the substance down.
From the Payroll survey: Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 274,000 over the month. Job growth was widespread, with gains in construction, mining, and several service-providing industries
From the Household survey: Total employment grew by 598,000 in April to 141.1 million, and the employment-population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with
jobs--edged up to 62.6 percent. The civilian labor force increased by 605,000 in April to 148.8 million; the labor force participation rate, at 66.0 percent, also was up over the month.
If the MSM wants to spin these into a negative, the way to do it will be to say that the numbers will lead to more inflation, higher interest rates and a more difficult time curtailing gasoline use.
Posted by: mhw ||
05/06/2005 9:22:59 AM ||
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There is something interesting happening in the world economy. The USA, Australia and the UK are enjoying record levels of employment while the Eurozone, notably France and Germany have record levels of unemployment. As globalization progresses, speaking the global language has its advantages.
#2
I suspect it has more to do with attitudes than linguistics. The Germans and French have turned inward looking for security. The Anglos are looking outward, willing to take risks to make gains. 20 years ago the Irish and Indians would have been in the same boat as the French and Germans. But they've had an attitude adjustment, thanks to Russian failure and Chinese success, and now they're growing too. It's not hard, just a little uncertainty. In the French case you get uncertainty at the macro level and certainty at the micro level, at least for a while and with the Americans you get certainty at the macro level and uncertainty at the micro level
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/06/2005 11:24 Comments ||
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Mr. Cottone, whose duties at the Federal Bureau of Investigation include investigating military imposters, subsequently followed his hunch, determining, he says, that Mr. Carlson, 59 years old and a local bus dispatcher, didn't earn the medals he was wearing;
Well, we now know where Kerry's medals wound up...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2005 10:17 Comments ||
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#4
At some point, the civilized side of society is going to start taking the law into their own hands to discipline the uncivilized side. This will involve, with increasing frequency, frauds like this, invited speech hecklers, and other agitators being punched in the face.
#5
'For every actual Navy Seal, at least 300 falsely claim to be one'
Same in Hereford (SAS base HQ) , people going round the pubs with tan's and tattoo's puffing out their chests recounting war stories and other such chivalrous acts , saying alot of 'if i told you ,i'd have to kill you crap'
Just fix the damned thing and leave my personal life out of it, OK, pal?
(Kip Adotta, ''Wet Dream'')
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/06/2005 13:18 Comments ||
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#7
McN - Met one of the very type you describe here in the USA at a pub. We let em drink and got a slew of whacky stories out of him. Comical in the end it was. Best of all was the clown's description of service in Belfast (hometown of one of my friends who has lost most of his accent after 17 years!) and ''North Africa.''
Air polution may be a good thing! I love comedies! Our planet's air has cleared up in the past decade or two, allowing more sunshine to reach the ground, say two studies in Science this week. Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more transparent. That sounds like very good news. But the researchers say that more solar energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and this may add to the problems of global warming.
Yeah. We were damned when we didn't. Now we're damned when we did.
More sunlight will also have knock-on effects on cloud cover, winds, rainfall and air temperature that are difficult to predict. The results suggest that a downward trend in the amount of sunlight reaching the surface, which has been observed since measurements began in the late 1950s, is now over. The researchers argue that this trend, commonly called 'global dimming', reversed more than a decade ago, probably following the collapse of communist economies and the consequent decrease in industrial pollutants. The widespread brightening has remained unnoticed until now simply because there wasn't enough data for a statistically significant analysis, says Martin Wild, an atmospheric scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and an author on one of the reports.
That means there wasn't grant money available, I'd guess...
Wild and his team looked at data on surface sunshine levels from hundreds of devices around the planet. They found that since the 1980s there has been a transition from decreasing to increasing solar radiation nearly everywhere, except in heavily polluted areas such as India and at scattered sites in Australia, Africa, and South America1. A second study, led by Rachel Pinker from the University of Maryland, College Park, found a similar trend by looking at satellite data, although their research suggests the extent of the brightening is smaller. Unlike ground stations, satellites can sample the whole planet, including the oceans. However, satellite data are difficult to calibrate, and so are considered less accurate than measurements from the ground.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Sobiesky ||
05/06/2005 3:11:43 AM ||
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It makes my head hurt. Even without the effects of nasty capitalists, this globe swings between ice ages and nearly total tropical climate, yet neither of those supposedly self-reinforcing extremes ever do end up totally running away.
I mean, glaciation should promote more cooling and further glaciation to the point of freezing the entire planet, via increased albedo effect. And tropification should promote even hotter climate due to blanketing the entire atmosphere with heat absorbing clouds.
Some huge effects obviously control and reverse these runaway senarios. How can the puny work of man be more than a tiny blip in the vast natural cycles of this globe?
#2
Uncertainties remain part of the game because scientists have only a limited ability to track cloud cover and particulates, says Macke
This is the ultimate disclaimer. The same programs that are used to predict rain tomorrow (and we all know how accurate they are) are plugged full of skewed data to show a 1 deg C change in 50 years. Total bullshit.
#4
Anyone remember the ''throw another log on the fire'' song from ''Fallen Angels''?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/06/2005 8:37 Comments ||
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The researchers argue that this trend, commonly called âglobal dimmingâ, reversed more than a decade ago, probably following the collapse of communist economies and the consequent decrease in industrial pollutants.
Gotta hand it to him, at least he didn't find a way to pin it on Pres. Bush or the Joooooos, even though it was 10 years ago!
Posted by: BA ||
05/06/2005 8:57 Comments ||
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Yeah, if they're not seeing a dimming in China, then maybe, just maybe, their methods are crap. Cleaner air technology my fat flabby white ass.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/06/2005 9:15 Comments ||
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Ice Age? Bah! It was all the fault of those Cro-Magnons and their Thatcherite economics.
#8
this can only be solved by massive financial grants to Academia with no strings attached (to avoid the apparent conflict of interest....)
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2005 10:27 Comments ||
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craig
there are several factors that keep the earth from going to a runaway ice age or runaway tropics
one easy to understand factor is that during glaciation the ocean level drops and carbonate rocks are exposed which allows more carbon dioxide in the air which eventually raises temps
during warm epochs, the carbonate rocks are underwater and they absorb carbon dissolved in the ocean which eventually cools temps
#13
why don't we just melt the polar icecaps Back in the 70s when global cooling and the next 'ice age' was the big concern, a number of experiments were conducted to assess the feasibility of doing just that.
#14
mhw, back in the early days of Kyoto people showed a graph of global temperature and CO2 levels side by side as evidence that CO2 was the cause. They all got pulled when someone pointed out that CO2 levels lag temperature changes and hence this is conclusive proof that CO2 can not be the primary causative agent.
Put another log on the fire,
Cook me up some bacon and some beans,
Go out to the car and change the tire,
Wash my socks and sew my old blue jeans.
Fill my pipe and then go fetch my slippers,
Boil me up another pot of tea.
Put another log on the fire, girl,
Come and tell me why youâre leaving me.
Donât I let you wash the car on sunday ?
Donât I warn you when youâre getting fat ?
Hey, fatso!
Ainât I gonna take you fishing some day ?
Well, a man canât love a woman more than that.
Ainât I always nice to your kid sister,
Donât I take her driving every night ?
So sit here at my feet because I like you when youâre sweet
And you know that it ainât feminine to fight.
Put another log on the fire,
Cook me up some bacon and some beans,
Go out to the car and change the tire,
Wash my socks and sew my old blue jeans.
Fill my pipe and then go fetch my slippers,
Boil me up another pot of tea.
Put another log on the fire, woman,
Come and tell me why youâre leaving me.
Yeah, come and tell me why youâre leaving me.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2005 18:41 Comments ||
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A banner carried by the outraged crowd as they chanted "death to the apostate"
The general prosecutor demanded that the chief editor should face the death penalty in accordance with the Sudanese law, the independent al-Mashaheer said. A member of the prosecution team Musa Mohamed Ali said that the article is considered to be a violation of the criminal law which punishes anyone who insults religion or faith. Apostates face the death penalty under Islamic law, which was implemented in Sudan since 1983. A large angry rent-a-mob crowd thronged in front of a criminal court north of Khartoum yesterday morning to follow court proceedings against the Chief Editor of Al-Wifaq's newspaper, Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmad. Mohamed Taha -- who is a prominent Islamist journalist, former member of the National Islamic Front, and has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood political group -- is charged with publishing an article on 21 April 2005 that cast doubt on the parentage of Prophet Mohamed and also defamed one of his companions, Omar Bin al-Aas.
Hmmm. A prominent Islamist and dues-paying member of the Muslim Brotherhood being prosecuted for apostasy? Not terribly likely. Bet he wrote something else unpopular with the government and they're shutting him down by feeding him to the Islamonutz, prolly right after prayers. This has that "Olde Tyme Religion" mothball-n-imam smell to it.
Security authorities decided to bar the crowd from following the proceedings a decision which angered them. The crowd then confronted the police, who were in turn forced to use batons and tear gas canisters to break up the crowd leading to the injury of one protester who was later taken to Khartoum Hospital for treatment. The judge decided to postpone the hearing till tomorrow, Thursday 5 May so that the court can study the documents which were presented by the lawyers of the applicant.
Posted by: seafarious ||
05/06/2005 12:41:41 AM ||
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Here is another take:
''Ahmed, prominent Islamist journalist and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, had reviewed an old Islamic manuscript written more than 500 years ago, which casts doubt over the parentage of the Muslim Prophet.
The manuscript entitled ''The Unknown in the Life of the Prophet'' by Maqreezi, a well-known Islamist historian, says that the prophet Mohammed's father was not Abdullah, as Muslims believe.''
Something does not add up. MB has never been in vogue with Arab governments, they've always considered it a threat to their power structure.
Of course, MB's are no angels. They may be 'pro-democracy' at the present as that would enable them to get some political capital. Once the goal would be achieved, democracy would be replaced by more 'just' system, uber-sharia.
In the light of some wide sweeps on MB in Egypt lately, maybe the same is planned in Sudan. Accuse someone of apostasy and link to MB, and viola, causus belli!
Hell, if it's the ''law'', well, then so be it. This might be the only time I'll ever find myself thinking the ''Sudanese Govt'' is doing a good thing. So fry 'im up, then eat your Drano, like good little genocidal asstards.
Popcorn goes so well with asshat-on-asshat displays.
Power cuts along with fuel and water shortages have become common occurrences in Zimbabwe. Critics of President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party say his policies have crippled a once vibrant economy and that things have got worse since the party's re-election in March 2005. Former Zimbabwe correspondent Grant Ferrett returned to the country to find out.
I'd been in Zimbabwe just a few minutes when President Robert Mugabe's face appeared. I was in an airport lounge, and state-run television was broadcasting archive footage of Mr Mugabe. But each time his picture came on, a young shop assistant held up her hand in the flat-palm sign of the MDC opposition over the television screen, obscuring the view of the 81-year-old leader. It was a very public expression of defiance in a country where criticising the president is a criminal offence and where many people live in fear.
Brave woman.
She didn't have to keep up her show of disapproval for long. The electricity in the airport failed and the television screen went blank.
Power cuts have become a common occurrence in Zimbabwe, an indication of the country's economic demise. Another sign was provided by the cost of just a short taxi journey into the centre of the capital, Harare, which came to 250,000 Zimbabwe dollars. When I first arrived in Harare seven years ago, the exchange rate was 38 Zimbabwe dollars to the pound. The unofficial rate is now about 25,000 to one. The plunging value of the local currency and the correspondingly breathtaking rise in inflation - currently down, officially, to a relatively modest 130% a year - has made life very complicated, as well as very expensive for most Zimbabweans.
For a start, it is difficult to keep track of prices which are constantly changing and you have to carry wads of notes. One celebrated cartoon shows robbers holding up a man who is pushing a wheelbarrow full of cash. The attackers demand that their victim throw out the worthless banknotes and hand over the wheelbarrow.
The introduction of a 20,000 dollar note reduced the inconvenience. But close examination reveals that the notes, known as bearer cheques, have an expiry date of 31 December 2004. They were clearly intended to be a temporary measure, but because Zimbabwe's economic collapse has continued, they are still needed. They also have the number 50 written in the corner. They were introduced in such a hurry that the authorities simply used the template of the old 50 dollar note.
In what used to be my local shopping centre in Harare, there were empty shelves. Shortages have afflicted the country for the past five years. The staple food, mealie meal, was available, but only the more expensive variety, which is beyond the means of many Zimbabweans. There was no sugar, even though there are vast sugar plantations in the south of the country. Uneconomically low, government-controlled prices ensure that much of it ends up being sold at a higher price outside the country.
P. J. O'Rourke once said that the first basic problem with socialism is that it tried to define the value of a good or service as being something other than what people would pay for it.
And yet, if the official results are to be believed and who is that ignorant, Zimbabweans voted in favour of more of the same in the parliamentary elections. Despite presiding over the world's fastest-shrinking economy, the ruling Zanu-PF party apparently received a bigger share of the vote than in the last such polls five years ago.
President Mugabe can claim little support in the capital. A widely circulated phone text message asked why it was the Pope who had died rather than the Zimbabwean leader. "I said please take Bob," says the message, "not the Pope."
It was impossible for me to tell if the ruling party had much support in rural areas. I was working as a journalist in Zimbabwe without accreditation, an offence punishable by two years in prison.
I had hoped to visit some of the previously white-owned farms which had been redistributed over the past few years, but was advised that the risks were too great. I did speak to some unemployed farm workers, who had been without jobs since their farm was reallocated three years ago. There are hundreds of thousands in a similar position.
I also interviewed a friend who is a successful black commercial farmer. He bought his farm legally, long before the government's redistribution programme. When I phoned to suggest I visit him at home, he quickly dismissed the idea. He said he was being watched on his farm, his new neighbours apparently didn't trust him. He is viewed as an ally of the white farmers who used to live in the area. So instead he came to meet me in the anonymity of the capital.
Sitting in a borrowed car, I spent much of the time glancing in the mirror hoping no passers-by had noticed the microphone. He was anxious, too, and told me that he was thinking of spending some time away from the farm in the hope that things would calm down. He said there was still a lot of intimidation by ruling party supporters. This man, who told me five years ago that he wanted to be a role model for aspiring young Zimbabwean farmers, is even wondering if he will be able to farm at all in another five years' time.
It is a terrible comment on President Mugabe's government, and shows perhaps why one young Zimbabwean tried to prevent Mr Mugabe's face appearing on television.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/06/2005 12:03:51 AM ||
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#1
Runnin' on empty,
Runnin' on,
Runnin wiiiiild...
Posted by: Jackson Browne ||
05/06/2005 2:11 Comments ||
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#2
You see... but Mbeki thinks ZimbaBob is a swell guy and that his ''farm reform'' is worth emulation in SA.
Are there at least 10 African countries that did not turn into thuggistans? How about one? No?
#3
There was no sugar, even though there are vast sugar plantations in the south of the country.
Not if Bob has something to do with it! At least, not for much longer.
And yet, if the official results are to be believed and who is that ignorant, Zimbabweans voted in favour of more of the same in the parliamentary elections. Despite presiding over the world's fastest-shrinking economy, the ruling Zanu-PF party apparently received a bigger share of the vote than in the last such polls five years ago.
I've forgotten...did Jimmuh Cahter ''certify'' this election?
President Mugabe can claim little support in the capital. A widely circulated phone text message asked why it was the Pope who had died rather than the Zimbabwean leader. ''I said please take Bob,'' says the message, ''not the Pope.''
''Sorry, heaven don't want ya and hell's full..those Yanks have been killin' jihadis left and right, ya know!''
I also interviewed a friend who is a successful black commercial farmer.
No wonder this guy's nervous. ''We can't have no successful farmers, nope! It's slash and burn baby!'' This, right here, is what gets me...Africa could be such a beautiful and vibrant continent, and yet thugs just drive their countries into the ground. Much like Mexico, they have almost unlimited resources and they are all just squandered away on the latest two-bit thug in charge. What is it they say...oh yeah, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Posted by: BA ||
05/06/2005 8:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I hear Bob's ordered the wildlife refuges stripped for food. Elephants, giraffes, the whole deal.
Wonder if PETA's heard about it?
#5
Probably. It's that a) It's Africa, not some civilised Western nation, b) It's Zimbabwe, not KFC, and c) It's a matter of their own skin being punctured by an AK-47 round, rather than some giraffe's.
TUNIS - About 50 Tunisian lawyers went on hunger strike on Thursday to protest against the jailing and beating of their colleagues, which they said was part of a wider government crackdown on their profession. "The hunger strike is to protest against the daily abuses by the government against lawyers including the jailing of two colleagues, barring lawyers from visiting them and finally the beating of our colleague Sonia Ben Amor," the fasting lawyers said in statement.
Human rights activist and lawyer Radhia Nasraoui, one of those fasting, told Reuters about 50 lawyers were on hunger strike at the headquarters of a lawyers' association in front of the main court in Tunis.
A Tunisian court on Tuesday imprisoned lawyer Faouzi Ben Merad for four months for "contempt of court", five days after another lawyer, Mohamed Abbou, was jailed for 3-1/2 years on charges related to Internet articles, lawyers said. "That is part of larger crackdown against lawyers. Our profession is threatened here. Lawyers are in danger because they are defending human rights, freedom and the respect of the law," Abdessalem Ben Moussa, the head of the Tunisian bar association, told reporters on Wednesday.
The authorities defended the convictions of Merad and Abbou on the grounds that lawyers should be the first to show respect for the law, court integrity and magistrates. The government-controlled Supreme Magistrates' Council criticised unidentified lawyers for "abuses and excesses at some court hearings and at the offices of investigating magistrates, which were against the lawyer's mission".
Lawyers said Merad had in recent court hearings repeatedly criticised the government for controlling the judiciary and using courts to punish its opponents. Ben Amor told Reuters that she was beaten earlier this week by three prison officials when she visited Abbou in jail, and showed a doctor's certificate saying she had suffered "violent aggression". Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
US-based Human Rights Watch and three Tunisian human rights groups said last week the government had subjected political prisoners to years of torture, rape and solitary confinement. Tunisia denies the existence of such prisoners.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/06/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 6 (UPI) -- A Russian contractor abducted in Haiti has been freed, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Friday. Russian officials would not release the man's full name, referring to him in a statement as "D.Y. Khmelevsky, a Russian national." No ransom was paid, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. It was unknown who was behind his kidnapping. 
As growing concerns about dwindling global reserves help maintain oil prices close to the $50 a barrel mark, a major supply route linking newly developed oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea with western markets is due to be opened. The pipeline is expected to spark an economic boom in Baku
Hollywood's top Democrat diva, 
Sen. John Kerry has angered LGBT civil rights groups after telling a Boston newspaper that the Massachusetts Democratic Party will be making a mistake if it puts an endorsement of same-sex marriage in the party platform next week. "I think it's a mistake," Kerry told the Boston Globe. "I think it's the wrong thing, and I'm not sure it reflects the broad view of the Democratic Party in our state." He made the comments following an event he hosted in Louisiana to promote his proposed KidsFirst Act, which would bring health care to uninsured children.
WASHINGTON - Straight-talking Sen. John McCain wants his friend Sen. John Kerry to ice his ``obvious'' desire to run for president again and focus on his day job. 
All signs point to Kingdom of Heaven having something to do with the Christian Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries. If, that is, by "all signs" you mean the synopsis at Yahoo! Movies. Actually slogging through the film is another experience altogether. Director Ridley Scott's apparent stab at recapturing the success of Gladiator is a staggeringly lazy, leg-twitchingly dull, unholy mess.
Our planet's air has cleared up in the past decade or two, allowing more sunshine to reach the ground, say two studies in Science this week. Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more transparent. That sounds like very good news. But the researchers say that more solar energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and this may add to the problems of global warming. 
Power cuts along with fuel and water shortages have become common occurrences in Zimbabwe. Critics of President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party say his policies have crippled a once vibrant economy and that things have got worse since the party's re-election in March 2005. Former Zimbabwe correspondent Grant Ferrett returned to the country to find out.
