[ICE] NEW YORK ‐ A Queens man was convicted Friday for enticing a 16-year-old girl to travel from abroad to engage in sexual activity. The initial arrest stemmed from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York led investigation, with assistance from the Australian Federal Police and the New York City Police Department (NYPD), which led to the recovery of the missing girl.
[Quartz] At least 6 people have been killed and scores more injured in a passenger train derailment near Tacoma, Washington. The Associated Press reports that an Amtrak train carrying 78 passengers derailed while traveling at more than 80 mph, sending several cars onto the busy Interstate 5 below.
The train was making its inaugural trip along a new route from Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon aiming to allow for higher speeds and faster service between cities. At least 50 people were sent to hospitals, more than a dozen with critical or serious injuries, the AP reported. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
#2
So, evidently the speed goes from highway speed+ to school zone speed for the curve. The engineer should have slowed down about a mile back, cause it's a train.
I think they do need one of these in California; make the legislature ride it.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/19/2017 9:35 Comments ||
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#3
I wanna know what is the meaning of LABRAT KNATS? Is it mere coincidence that this graffiti shows up on that bridge?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2017 10:05 Comments ||
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#4
The tight bend appeared to be directly in front of the locomotive still on the tracks. Maybe he braked for the turn and due to a system failure the cars and/or locomotive behind didn’t, causing the train to jackknife.
#5
The tight bend appeared to be directly in front of the locomotive still on the tracks.
The train was southbound, had a front locomotive and a rear locomotive. The front locomotive derailed & fell onto I-5. The rear locomotive never derailed & was still on the tracks. NTSB in a TV interview stated they retrieved the event recorder from the rear locomotive & verified the train was going 80 mph when the derailment started. They haven't yet spoken to the engineer.
#8
So speed appears to be the problem rather than something on or done to the tracks.
Human error is always a strong possibility. I don't know anything about automated controls and signalling on rail systems, but given our current crop of enviro-anarchists, I have to wonder if there was a warning signal that was disabled or a control system tampered with.
#9
Wow, thanks Anguper. So you've seen the photo of the other engine on the tracks with a tighter curve beyond the direction it's pointing? The train managed to (almost) negotiate that at 80 mph?
#10
King5 also has animation of wreck. Train was running west parallel to I-5 before reaching a curve and overpass south bound.
Actual fatalities so far are _3_, not 6. But I’ve also heard/read that 2 trains cars may have more bodies—the cars are not secure so recovery has been delayed.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/19/2017 16:09 Comments ||
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#11
#8 - signalling systems are nearly idiot-proof. The drivers - not so much. Engineers are supposed to know every curve and every speed restriction before the leave the terminal. Driving a passenger train while texting killed 25 in California in 2008.Chatsworth, 2008
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/19/2017 17:25 Comments ||
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#12
#3 I wanna know what is the meaning of LABRAT KNATS? Is it mere coincidence that this graffiti shows up on that bridge?
Googling around a bit suggests it has been there from some time, like a few years. Lots of curiosity about it.
#13
If there is Auto Train Stop on this route, the engineer wqasn't using it. Also, this was the FIRST run on a NEW route, pulled by a NEW engine, with notables aboard (most of whom got off a stop behind the wreck), so where was the Road Foreman of Engines who by tradition for such a run, would have been in the cab with the engineer?
[MSN] A man cops are calling "Criminal Santa" had to call 911 when he reportedly found himself trapped in a California business's chimney this week. Is there such a thing as a chimney that one can slide down and not get caught where it necks down into a damper or deposits the intruder in a locked incinerator or something like that? He's lucky someone didn't light a fire under his ever-so-deserving @$$.
Citrus Heights Police allege 32-year-old Jesse Berube was not trying to spread Christmas cheer when he allegedly crawled down the chimney Wednesday.
According to a police statement, Berube slid down the chimney in an attempt to gain entry into the business.
However, cops say Berube was unsuccessful and became lodged, and unable make his way back out. Fortunately for him, Berube was able to move just enough to call for help.
"Criminal Santa does not have the same skills as the real deal," police joked.
With the help of fire officials using special equipment, Berube was soon able to escape a sooty demise uninjured.
Berube was, however, arrested for burglary and has since been released.
Please set articles you post after 2:00 p.m. ET for publication the next day — use the Tomorrow button you’ll see to the left of the text box in lonely splendour — unless it is an on-going terror attack or the imminent arrival of a dinosaur-killer meteor. Because this was neither, I unpublished it to be held for today, where it will have the entire 24 hours to be enjoyed, and won’t be the last of 71 articles.
#3
I know a guy who was revamping an old industrial building as loft spaces. There was a twisty chimney "that had never worked right" so he had a mason cut into it to try make it functional.
There was a skeleton in a jumpsuit in it. It seems he was going down the flue and got caught in the turns and couldn't get out. The police said he'd been there since the 40's or '50's.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/19/2017 9:42 Comments ||
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#4
Our cat did the same thing one subzero night after he refused to come inside, even though we called for him. Next morning his yowls for help echoed all over the house. Finally we zeroed in on the upstairs chimney damper. When we opened the damper, the cat fell out like Santa Claus.
[All Africa] President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama says he is stepping down at the end of his term in office a happy man, and that he has learnt a lot from Batswana.
Addressing residents of Bokspits, Rapalspan, Vaalhoek and Struizendam, President Khama said he learnt about the diverse culture of different tribes. "That is why I decided to promote culture including polka music which is predominantly enjoyed in the area," he said.
The four villages are known as BORAVAST, and is an acronym for Bokspits, Rapalspan, Vaalhoek and Struizendam.President Khama said amongst the things that he learnt was the diverse culture evident in different tribes.
He added that the idea of constituency tournaments emanated from Bokspits. He added that during one of his visits to the village some youth complained that the Botswana Football Association (BFA) did not recognise them because they were far from the cities. President Khama told the multitudes who came to bid him farewell that they should be proud of their constituency because it had unique features such as sand dunes that made it to be known worldwide.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2017 00:00 ||
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[All Africa] A bogus CIO spy who landed in the dock on allegations of taking a firearm to events attended by President Emmerson Mnangagwa will spend Christmas holidays behind bars after he was denied bail by a Harare magistrate.
Guthrie Chirodzero, 40, was remanded in jug to December 28 by magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa who ruled that he was a danger to the society.
Chirodzero is on charges of taking a firearm to a public gathering, impersonation and forgery after he was also caught in possession of fake Central Intelligence Officer's (CIO), Zim-bob-we Anticorruption Commission identity cards and a fake driver's licence.
According to the state, Chirodzero attended the swearing in of new cabinet ministers by Mnangagwa.
It is alleged that he went on to position himself close to the President while pretending to be a CIO officer.
Chirodzero had used the fake ID's to gain entry into the State House.
On December 6, armed with the same fake cards and a pistol, Chirodzero went to Josiah Magamba Tongogara army barracks where the Zanu PF leader was officiating at the renaming of the former KGVI facility.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2017 00:00 ||
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[All Africa] South Africa witnessed a watershed transition in politicianship today when a succession of governing party leaders who were formerly in exile or prison was replaced by a leader of the internal resistance to apartheid.
Cyril Ramaphosa, 65, a lawyer who first made his name in the 1980s by organising workers in the country's mining industry into its most powerful union, won the presidency of the governing African National Congress (ANC) at its five-yearly conference in Johannesburg.
This puts him in line to become South Africa's president, succeeding Nelson Mandela ‐ who served 27 years in prison, Thabo Mbeki ...former president of South Africa, succeeding Nelson Mandela. He now pops up periodically as a mediator when something catches fire in Africa... ‐ who fought apartheid from exile, and Jacob Zuma ‐ who served time both in prison and in exile.
Ramaphosa won 2440 votes from conference delegates, against 2261 votes for Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, immediate past chair of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Commission and a cabinet minister under presidents Mandela and Mbeki.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2017 00:00 ||
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[RT] In an effort to get Moslem men to grow out their facial hair, a Moslem preacher has claimed that clean-shaven men with long hair "cannot be distinguished from women," which can cause "indecent thoughts" to occur between males.
"Men should grow beards. One of the two body parts that separate men from women is the beard," Ottoman Turkish preacher Murat Bayaral told religious station Fatih Medreseleri TV on Saturday, as quoted by Hurriyet. He went on to describe a possible scenario in which a man could find himself having "indecent thoughts" about another man.
"For example, if you see a man with long hair from afar you may think he is a woman if he does not have a beard. Because nowadays women and men dress similarly. God forbid! You could be possessed by indecent thoughts," he said, apparently referring to same-sex relationships.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Wouldn't it be simpler to compel women to wear false beards in public?
#2
In the grand bulk of the Arab word, a proclivity toward homosexuality might be expected, where your only alternative is Arab women. But I don't get what this Turkish guy is up to, I mean there's lots of cute chicks in urban areas, maybe he's referencing rural areas.
[Independent] Meet the woman who can smell Parkinson’s disease.
Joy Milne, a retired nurse, has an extraordinary sense of smell. However, it goes beyond simply having a very sensitive nose.
Milne has the ability to detect Parkinson’s disease years before a doctor’s diagnosis.
As described by Milne herself: "I’m in a tiny, tiny branch of the population somewhere between a dog and a human."
She first stumbled across her unusual gift when her husband Les started omitting a strange odour.
At first, Milne attributed the smell to bad hygiene on her husband’s part, but everything changed when the couple attended a Parkinson’s meeting.
She then realised that her husband smelt the same as the other people in the room. 10 years later, Les was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
"I smelled it 10 to 12 years before Les was diagnosed," Milne explains. "As the Parkinson’s got worse, the smell got worse.
"It became just part of him, but I with my sensitive sense of smell, I could smell it all the time and it became quite uncomfortable really, but I had the sense not to nag too much."
According to Milne, Parkinson’s disease has a very thick, musky smell.
#1
We looked into this years ago. Turns out there are a remarkable number of diseases you can detect based on odor. We were looking at a TB sniffer for airports, but it never got off the ground.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2017 10:15 Comments ||
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#3
We were looking at a TB sniffer for airports, but it never got off the ground.
Did you folks ever have a working product Ilbis, or was it just 'wish-ware'?
Something like that would be huge. Especially given the nature of current air travel arrivals.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/19/2017 11:12 Comments ||
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#4
People with florid pneumococcal pneumonia have always had a strange odor on their breath, AFAICT, and I usually have an extremely poor sense of smell. This type of ability is probably more common that we are now aware of.
[MSF] For many people living in war-torn or remote areas, medical care is sometimes only available from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The mission of Doctors Without Borders is to help people around the world where the need is greatest. This includes delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disaster, or who lack access to basic medical care. Through its swift mobilization of resources and personnel, Doctors Without Borders is able to enter underserved regions to provide crucial medical care to patients who wouldn’t survive without it. With over four decades of experience conducting field missions, Doctors Without Borders has focused on improving and innovating its mobile medical facilities. It is these facilities that are instrumental in helping the organization’s doctors respond rapidly. These are the stories of three mobile facilities that have helped doctors save lives around the world.
#3
They aren't the only people using that tech, nor are their locations the only places it is in use. There are people working to get more of this tech to good people in some tight spots. Its a shame they are in the process of being screwed by regional enemies as well as former allies.
#4
The US Army has been using this approach for awhile. The CASH unit (Combat Army Surgical Hospital, which replaced the MASH's of Korea and Vietnam) are built around a modular container. each of which is basically an equipped ER or crash room. The pods are designed to hook together, usually in a four way cross, and seal up. The whole thing basically hooks together like building blocks.
The system mostly wasn't used in the late unpleasantness in the Middle East because buildings were already available (i.e. Ibn Sina in Baghdad and the facility at Bagram).
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/19/2017 8:31 Comments ||
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#5
Just wait until they come up with prefab medical personnel.
A newly formed commission comprised of top Hollywood executives has chosen Anita Hill to chair its efforts to combat sexual harassment across the entertainment industry, it was announced Friday.
A powerhouse committee including studio, talent agency and guild leaders from across the film, television, digital and music industries attended the meeting convened by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, Nike Foundation Co-Chair Maria Eitel, attorney Nina Shaw and venture capitalist and activist Freada Kapor Klein.
Among those involved in the new effort to create "safer, fairer, more equitable and accountable workplaces" in Hollywood are Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos, Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, Atlantic Records Chair and COO Julie Greenwald, William Morris Endeavor Co-CEO Ari Emanuel, Creative Artists Agency Co-Chairman Bryan Lourd, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Dawn Hudson and SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris.
The Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace aims to create a "comprehensive strategy" to address the epidemic of sexual harassment and misconduct that has rocked Hollywood and the country in recent months, exposing alleged abuses by figures such as Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Russell Simmons. Next steps will follow in the new year, according to the group.
"The Commission will not seek just one solution, but a comprehensive strategy to address the complex and inter-related causes of the problems of parity and power," Kennedy said in a statement. "The fact that so many industry leaders ‐ across film, television, music, digital, unions, agencies, ATA, AMPAS, television academy and guilds ‐ came together, in one room, to explore solutions speaks to a new era."
Hill is a professor of social policy, law and women’s studies at Brandeis University and a National Women’s Law Center board member who previously chaired the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Assn. She became an emblem for women’s rights when she brought sexual harassment allegations against then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
Exactly how the new commission will present best practices to curb sexual harassment remains to be seen.
"We will be focusing on issues ranging from power disparity, equity and fairness, safety, sexual harassment guidelines, education and training, reporting and enforcement, ongoing research, and data collection," Hill said. "It is time to end the culture of silence. I’ve been at this work for 26 years. This moment presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to make real change."
#2
Note on the Imprimis Article: the author gives you an excellent background on the history of identity politics, but he falls short by way of a solution, especially regarding education, which I would argue is the root of the problem.
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.
[Quartz] At least 6 people have been killed and scores more injured in a passenger train derailment near Tacoma, Washington. The Associated Press reports that an Amtrak train carrying 78 passengers derailed while traveling at more than 80 mph, sending several cars onto the busy Interstate 5 below.
[MSN] A man cops are calling "Criminal Santa" had to call 911 when he reportedly found himself trapped in a California business's chimney this week.
[RT] In an effort to get 
[Independent] Meet the woman who can smell Parkinson’s disease.![]("https://i.pinimg.com/236x/41/cd/0f/41cd0fab558720cc8cbae2c96b73ce6d.jpg")
