"With mice and fruit flies we were able to eliminate the loss of short-term memory," Ropers, 62, is quoted saying in the German newspaper, which has dubbed it the "world's first anti-stupidity pill."
Brilliant! Now, let's start creating a list of people they should be sent to (BIIIG list)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 12:44 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Never mind you, #3 anon - get a bunch, grind them up and dissolve them in drinks, and give the drinks to the Lefties.
Hilarity will ensue. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 14:59 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Um... I don't think solving a short term memory problem is anti-stupid. Anti-forgetful, maybe. Stupid is the lack of involvement of permenate synapse connections. Can't cure stupid, or lefties, but then I repeat myself.
#6
Old joke I heard about 60 years ago:
After being coerced, a lad hands his tormentor some pills and tells him they are Smart Pills. The tormentor tosses a couple in his mouth then exclaims, "These take like rabbit shit." The lad replies, "now, you're getting smart."
#7
Actually, if this were already available, I might be a customer. One of the possible side-effects of My radiation treatment is STM loss. So far, it hasn't happened, but I have 5 weeks to go.
#8
Must have found a new way to package rat poison. Genius! Label a couple of pallets as "Allah's Israel-B-Gone Pills" and ship them to the MMs in Iran. Problem solved in less than a week.
#9
STM loss beats the results of not taking rad treatments. Best of luck Jackal, hope it all goes well for you. Not to worry about the news though, it's ground hog day round here.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/05/2006 21:29 Comments ||
Top||
South African officials set fire to a 34-tonne whale carcass on Wednesday, sending white smoke into the air near Cape Town as spectators clambered over blubber-strewn rocks for a closer look, Reuters reported.
The dead southern right whale washed up onto the quiet Kommetjie beach, 40 km (25 miles) south of the country`s top tourist city nearly two weeks ago. Officials packed tons of wood and poured 80 litres of a petrol and diesel fuel mix over the decomposing 15 metre (47 foot) whale to spark a fire expected to burn for up to two days.
"The first prize would have been to leave it here to decompose but with residents nearby, and the smell," Robin Adams, operations manager for the Table Mountain National Park, told Reuters that wasn`t an option.
"The oil and fat seeping back into the sea was also attracting sharks," he said as a strong wind blew smoke away from adjacent homes. Two hundred years ago, whale oil was the main source of fuel for lamps, which makes me think we are missing out on an important source of renewable energy. Yes, whale burning power stations, and if we run short of whales they can always burn Greenpeace activists.
Sister city activists and other Madisonians with ties to Cuba said today they fear the Bush administration will use the transition in power from Fidel to Raul Castro as the occasion to activate a plan to replace that nation's communist system. They said such a move could lead to war.
The Associated Press reported today that Bush told a Miami radio station on Monday, prior to the announcement of Castro's illness, "If Fidel Castro were to move on because of natural causes, we've got a plan in place to help the people of Cuba understand there's a better way than the system in which they've been living under."
(This) is nothing more than a plan by the United States for the annexation of Cuba...
Ricardo Gonzalez, a former Madison alderman who was born and raised in Cuba and founded the Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association, said today he was taken by surprise by Castro's illness and that he also is troubled by the reports prepared by the U.S. Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, which is headed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "(This) is nothing more than a plan by the United States for the annexation of Cuba. A section of the plan is being kept secret about what the U.S. might do in event of the death or incapacity of Fidel Castro," Gonzales maintained. "We will see if this administration chooses this moment to put into action this secret plan for transition. This is a wrong policy that will not work. I don't know what the U.S. can do other than military intervention, which at this point would be unthinkable, considering that we have our hands full in the Middle East. We ought to pursue a policy of engagement with the Cuban government that will lead to an improvement of relations and peace."
Robert Kimbrough, a retired UW-Madison English professor and prominent local Socialist who has gone to Cuba 16 times with Madison delegations, is also worried by the two reports. "It is disgusting. The 2004 report said, 'We pledge to help the Cuban people, and a new transition Cuban government, as you move away from the totalitarian Communist dictatorship and toward a free and representative democracy.' On July 10, the final report to the president is specific that when Fidel goes they will put this into motion. The president of the National Assembly in Cuba has labeled this as no less than a declaration of war. My question is how our wonderful, sophisticated government will respond. They have asked for $80 million to get the transition to democracy started, beginning with $20 million right away. They recommended this to the president and he accepted the report."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Annex Cuba? These guys picked the wrong week to quit takin' their thorazine. BTW, if Ricardo loves Castro's Cuba so much how come he left?
Former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Walter Mondale met briefly in Minneapolis on Friday night for a fundraiser that mixed a reunion with rebukes of President Bush. The two-hour event at the Mississippi riverfront home of Sam and Sylvia Kaplan served as a fundraiser -- with a suggested donation of at least $250 -- for the Nevada U.S. Senate campaign of Jack Carter, the former president's oldest son, who is favored to win his Democratic primary in two weeks and challenge Republican Sen. John Ensign.
Eleanor Mondale, daughter of the former vice president, who spent the past year beating back brain cancer, took one look at 60-year-old Jack Carter, hugged him and said dramatically, 'Look how mature you are'...
Eleanor Mondale, daughter of the former vice president, who spent the past year beating back brain cancer, took one look at 60-year-old Jack Carter, hugged him and said dramatically, "Look how mature you are."
The hundred or so guests included high-profile DFLers, from U.S. Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar to potential Senate candidate Al Franken, Mayor R.T. Rybak and congressional hopefuls Keith Ellison and Tim Walz. Many of them lined up with others to have their photos taken with the 81-year-old former president and his wife, Rosalynn, who spent an hour obliging their admirers. "I told him that I thought his work on human rights was groundbreaking. He said, 'Thank you.' And that was about all there was time for," Ellison said.
Blew you right off, did he?
Asked whether he found the photo line tiring or fun, Carter said with a smile, "Both."
Alan Sadowsky of Minnetonka brought five of Carter's books and asked the former president to sign them. Carter quickly obliged, but Kaplan razzed Sadowsky: "I can't believe it; the guy brought his whole library."
'We never dropped a bomb. We never dropped a missile. We never fired a bullet. We kept our nation at peace and secure,' Carter said...
Not everyone in the crowd was a Democrat. Uptown developer Stuart Ackerberg and his wife, Romy, an equestrian, are independent-minded but came for the meet-and-greet. "I just wanted to be in the guy's space," Ackerberg said.
Guests sipped wine and ate gumbo, endive appetizers and peanuts. Mondale said Jack Carter could help the Democrats regain control of the Senate and provide a check to the executive branch, because "nobody's pushing any Carter around anywhere."
Carter talked about his four-year presidency with Mondale in terms that many in the audience said gave them a chill. "We never dropped a bomb. We never dropped a missile. We never fired a bullet. We kept our nation at peace and secure," Carter said. "Now we come to a time that is incredibly different." He also said, "We have an ability proven through the ages to correct our mistakes."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006 20:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Lebanese-born John Atala, 27, a former football player at Central Connecticut State University and now team captain and linebacker with the minor league New England Knights of West Haven, grew up in Prospect after leaving Lebanon at the age of 7. He says he tries to return once a year to visit his extended family which lives largely in the mountainous northern region of Lebanon.
Last month, his trip to Lebanon for his cousins wedding turned horrific when Israeli missile fire just missed the beach region he and his cousins had left only minutes before. At night, back home in the mountains, they heard the sounds of bombs exploding just villages away. "We were fortunate to have houses in the (northern) mountains ... so many others are not," Atala said. But as a result, he explained, people from the more heavily bombed Muslim regions of southern Lebanon migrated north, creating chaos and heightened distrust with the heavily Catholic populations of the north.
Finally at 3:30 a.m. (on July 24), Atala and family members went down to the port city of Jounieh, where the U.S. Marines had set up a base for Americans. Hours later, a U.S. cruise ship filled with about 1,200 Americans was escorted out to sea by two naval battleships. Atala spent much of the 10-hour voyage to Cyprus with an IV in his arm from a stomach virus. "Finally we got to Cyprus and had to take a two-hour bus ride to the airport. We got to the airport at 11:30 at night, but we had to remain on the street outside the airport for the next 14 hours." Atala and his family eventually took a plane to Germany, and five hours later, flew to Maryland.
"When we got to Maryland, I wanted to kiss the ground," Atala said. "We had U.S. Air Force, Army ... there were balloons greeting us ... people clapping. Being away makes you realize how great this country is .... this coming from someone who loves Lebanon. But theres nothing like this country."
While he prays for his relatives' safety, his fervent hope is that Israel can eradicate the Hezbollah with minimal loss of civilian life. "Hezbollah is like a cult that has been destroying the country for years," Atala said. "I can only tell you from my familys point of view, but theyre all 110 percent with Israel. They want Israel to come in there and annihilate Hezbollah because theres so much tension in the country. The Lebanese who dont speak up ... its only because theyre scared of what Hezbollah might do."
Is it realistic to think that Israel can eradicate Hezbollah?
"I hope so," said Atala, ironically nicknamed the "Lebanese Missile" at Central Connecticut for his reckless abandon on special teams. "They take these little kids and brainwash them to think that terrorism is something to be proud of. So now even the Muslims are turning against them. I pray for the safety (of Lebanese civilians) every day, but if theres a cease-fire, and Hezbollah keeps power, how long will they stop? For a few months? A year? So right now, end (Hezbollah) any way you can."
Give the voters in the district the opportunity to vote for Village Idiot and she's a shoe in. Now there's a career she can still grow in. Yeah, yeah, Congressman/woman, Village Idiot, much the same, but the latter can't do as much damage.
Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney is grabbing all the face time she can get with voters between now and Tuesday's runoff election.
The embattled Georgia Democrat bought cable television ads that are scheduled to air 1,175 times in a five-day period, which began yesterday, according to public filings at the Comcast Spotlight Atlanta office.
The ads are running in four different coverage zones DeKalb County, North DeKalb, West Gwinnett County and Rockdale County and are evenly spread across seven networks: CNN, Lifetime, the Family Channel, TV One, BET, the History Channel and the Oxygen Network. Mrs. McKinney's campaign paid $9,578 for the ads, the Associated Press reports.
Mrs. McKinney did not buy cable ads before the primary, but her opponent, Hank Johnson, did. Mr. Johnson spent $5,369 for 475 cable ads that aired on a dozen networks in the same four zones.
As of yesterday, Mr. Johnson's campaign had not contacted Comcast about cable television advertising.
Mrs. McKinney and Mr. Johnson have also been battling over radio airwaves and had their first televised showdown Tuesday, which aired nationwide on C-SPAN. The candidates will again address potential voters tomorrow in the last televised debate before Tuesday's vote.
A U.S. Court redrew the boundaries of five south and west Texas congressional districts on Friday to restore political power to Hispanic voters. The three-judge panel, appointed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, vacated primary elections of candidates in the districts and said primary elections would be held simultaneously with the general election on November 7, according to the decision. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in a district, a runoff election will take place on a date to be set by the Texas secretary of state.
The court's new electoral map fulfills instructions from the U.S. Supreme Court when it ruled in June that a controversial 2003 congressional redistricting by the Texas Legislature was constitutional except for the dilution of Hispanic voting power in the 23rd Congressional District. Most affected by the change, according to political analysts is Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla's 23rd District, which saw the number of Democratic voters increase by 8 percent under the congressional district map issued on Friday. "Under today's court-ordered plan, Bonilla would be favored for reelection, but would not be considered safe," the liberal advocacy group Lone Star Project said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Three soldiers crouch in the dust behind a plastic barricade and peer up the road. They know something's coming maybe out of the deep scrub lining the road, maybe somewhere ahead on the asphalt, already steaming hot. They watch and wait.
Then they see it.
A man with his hands over his head, two cylinders and a detonator strapped to his chest, walking steadily closer and pleading in broken English: "Help me. I've got a bomb on me. Help me!"
The soldiers bellow at him to stop, to stand still. Don't touch that detonator! Now the troops get their orders, shouted from their squad leader down the road don't go to him and don't let him come to you. Just wait.
The man with the bomb pleads, he begs, he gets angry and steps forward, he stops and begs again.
"Sir, one more step and we will open fire on you," says one of the soldiers, his helmet low over his eyes, his rifle gripped tight.
Is the man aiming to get close enough to kill them? Is he innocent? Can they convince him to wait, while they wait, for a bomb expert? Above all, how do they find their way through these questions with loaded weapons, a ticking bomb, the confusion of shouted commands from behind and mangled, Arabic-inflected English ahead?
The bomb isn't real. The soldiers' guns are loaded and heavy, but the bullets are not deadly. The Iraqi man is actually an American soldier, an instructor. The road is half a world away from Baghdad, winding through upstate New York's leafy woods where West Point cadets translate classroom lessons into action.
This year, for the first time, the U.S. Military Academy has scrapped its Vietnam-era summer training for scenarios drawn straight from Fallujah and Ramadi. The idea is to train tomorrow's military leaders in warfare that's emerging today in Iraq and Afghanistan a stew of tactical maneuvers, police actions, cultural conflicts and negotiations, all framed by the laws of war.
A day with the cadets shows what they're up against.
The man call him the Iraqi victim tells his story in a jumble: Men came in a van. They told him the bomb would go off in five minutes. He has a wife and family. Won't the Americans help him?
The three soldiers at the front barricade try to keep him calm.
"We'll help you, just be patient, sir," says the female soldier. The victim quiets, his breath ragged.
The squad leader, also a cadet, tells the three that they can't let the victim get any closer or they will be endangering themselves and the FOB the forward operating base they are guarding. Each of the three soldiers tries to talk to the victim, until the squad leader orders: "Just one do the negotiating."
The female soldier, delegated to backup, grumbles just so the other two can hear: "But I was doing the best job controlling him."
The negotiator sticks his head up a little higher over his plastic wall and tries to get more information: Who grabbed you? What did they look like? Did they say anything else? But the victim is too distraught. He rambles. He steps forward again.
The squad leader yells out from behind his barricade: Fire a warning shot. If he keeps coming, engage.
"Stop right there!" the negotiator shouts.
The backup's foot rocks side to side, again and again, her toe digging deeper into a rut of mud, leaves and spent bullets. Sweat shines on the negotiator's face. Alongside him is the big guy on the M249 they call it a SAW for Squad Automatic Weapon, but it could as well be named for the ripping sound it makes when fired.
Be patient, the soldiers say. The bomb expert is coming. Five more minutes.
"But you already say five minutes," the victim shouts and lurches forward.
The backup raises her rifle to her eye.
The victim steps forward again.
The backup fires a single shot into the ground.
It seems that even the insect buzz in the brush quiets for a moment. The victim stands still, the dust floating around his feet. Hearts pound. Nobody speaks.
Then another "Iraqi" comes down the road, says he is the victim's cousin, demands help. Together now, they complain even louder and step forward and the negotiator warns them once, twice, not to come any closer.
He tells the big guy on the SAW to fire at the next step.
And the victim takes that step.
The big gun bursts a half-dozen shots and the victim falls to the ground, holding his leg, shouting in pain. His cousin yells: "American bad! American bad!"
Now it is confusion among the soldiers and their commander. Why did you fire? He kept advancing. Don't shoot! He's still alive? Is he coming closer?
The soldiers fire again. Now, the victim is dead.
Lesson over.
A few moments later, the soldiers, now clearly students, flop down in a circle on the grass to discuss what went right and what went wrong the AAR, short in the acronym-loving military for After Action Review.
With a body on the ground, can this be called a good morning? Or is it a bad one? If only it were that easy.
The cadets' superiors break down what went right and wrong. The good: they survived. "You'll die here two or three times a day," Maj. David Phillips tells them. "But you only die down the line once."
And they successfully followed some key steps: Taking it slow and steady by talking, then warning, then firing a warning shot, then firing a lethal weapon. Staying calm, trying to negotiate.
But they wound up with a dead man who may have been innocent, an enraged cousin bound to fuel anti-American sentiment or more direct action, and a live bomb if they hadn't exploded it with the imprecise machine gun and injured or killed themselves.
Some students ask if it would really take that long to get a bomb expert. (Probably longer, they're told). Another cadet warns that the way it played out would just do more damage to the perception of the American effort in Iraq. (Agreed).
And then Robert Pecha, a 19-year-old from Sonoma, Calif., pipes up. "Sir, I've got a question about shooting him again. Is that allowed at all or are you going straight to jail?"
Phillips nods his head: The victim was no longer a threat, so no follow-up shots should have been fired.
"It was a serious moral dilemma," Phillips says. "It was a brutal lesson."
#1
These cadets are getting IED detection training, live fire exercises in the field, and a lot of discussion about professional ethics and behavior -- plus some who are close to graduating are spending time with GEN(ret) Tommy Franks talking about leadership in combat.
The rising seniors chose as their class ring insignia a '911' in which the '11' is formed by the Twin Towers of the WTC.
It's not a game. Most graduates have a good chance of seeing or directly supporting combat, and they know it. And came and stayed anyway. We owe them a lot.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 20:55 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The lessons of Vietnam could be even more brutal. A SF LTC told us this one:
Way behind enemy lines, his small band of Hmong had just come back from a long mission and were exhausted, when they get an emergency mission: a major flight of US aircraft will be flying over a significant SAM battery in three hours. Unless that SAM battery is destroyed, those aircraft will be chopped to ribbons.
They grabbed whatever weapons they could and literally had to run through the jungle to get to the SAM site. En route, they chanced across an NVA soldier out by himself, and captured him.
Here was the problem. They couldn't leave anyone to guard him, or take him to their secret base; and they couldn't take him with them.
#4
The victim was no longer a threat, so no follow-up shots should have been fired
Wrong, he still had an IED strapped to his chest, he was still a threat.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/05/2006 21:39 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Personally, I think the scenario played out about right. Often, there is not the luxury of time to do what these soldiers did. Such a delay might result in the deaths of your own soldiers. The lessons of the Pacific island campaign of WW II should not be forgotten--don't do too much "navel" inspection and don't fret too much about moral ambiguties in heated combat. Winning the war has a way of sorting things. Heard the other day that Faleuja is one of the safer places to be in Iraq. Might have something to do with the Marines pacifying this city in the second battle of Faleuja.
Source is some alternative(?) local newspaper(?). Author seems kind of a goob, but he didn't approve of the stunt Code Pink pulled in KC a couple weeks ago.
The operation: Bike up to pumps, wrap a pink trash bag around the handle and prevent customers from filling up for a minute or two. Sarah Finken would lead chants with her megaphone while others would wave banners.
The first target was the QuikTrip at Westport Road and Mercier, already a cauldron of circling cars and surly customers.
Seven bicycles rolled to the pumps at 5:16, inciting a couple of anti-war honks. Out came the trash bags. To stunned motorists, the activists said things such as "no gas today," "keep driving" and "we're taking over."
At ["cheerleader" Sarah] Finken's pump, a Dick Cheney look-alike in shorts, sandals and an apoplectic rage, leapt from his red Dodge van and pushed her aside.
"I'm sorry, we're taking over right now," she said.
"Move the fuck out of my way!" He dragged her bike from the pump.
Cheney finally lost it completely when he spotted Code Pinker Andrew Badgerow snapping away with a digital camera. Cheney upended a bike and seized Badgerow's camera, which he threw to the pavement, shattering it.
Law student Badgerow chose not to confront the rampaging Cheney... More at the link, including a pic. Read the rest. There's a happy ending.
With a feathery boa wrapped around her Peaches T-shirt, Finken commandeered the easternmost pumps. She kicked off the chants with "money for health care!"
"Stop the war!" called the rest of the Code Pinkers.
Finken: "Funding for education!"
Code Pinkers: "Stop the war!"
Half the QuikTrip customers: "Fuck you!"
ROFLMAO! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 11:23 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Try to do that in some parts of town, you'd get your ass capped by a gang member. And no own would be able to provide information to the interviewing officer. Un ah, nope, didn't see nottin.
Posted by: Chinese Whuger3858 ||
08/05/2006 12:42 Comments ||
Top||
#5
BAD MISTAKE. People get psychotic at the gas pump over small stuff.
A few years ago, a "Candid Camera"-style show tried a trick at some gas pumps which made the pump still show that gas was pumping, and running up the price, even after the customers had stopped pumping.
The people pumping went violently nuts. They didn't care after the show's producer told them that it was a joke, and all the gas they had pumped was free. They were red-eyed pissed off, and both men and women pushed him and even took swings at him while using the foulest of language.
#6
"It's another indication of how addicted we've become some of us aren't willing to take the minute and a half to talk to someone about it. We've lost that willingness to have a conversation or to engage with another living person."
Yeah. Sure. Looking back on it, I've never really had an engaging conversation that started with my interlocutor wrapping a garbage bag around my intended gas pump. I could have missed one, but I don't think so.
#7
good point elarson, I was always too busy inserting the squeegee down their trachea to discuss geopolitical/religion/morality theory.
I guess I'm guilty of insensitivity. Mea Culpa
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 18:42 Comments ||
Top||
With a new school year about to begin, some female students in one Texas school district may have to rethink their wardrobes. Teen fashions often leave parents a little disgruntled. Arlington Independent School District parent Frances Henson said, I'm thinking that our daughters are growing up a little bit too fast these days.
Arlington School Board members agree with parents and this summer, they adopted an unusual amendment to the student dress code. The new dress code reads, in part, The display of cleavage is unacceptable. Low cut blouses, tops, sweaters, etc. with plunging necklines are not allowed."
It's gotten bad enough that, unfortunately, our young males are looking at more than their English book, their speech book, their science book, says school board president Sherri Wade. And it's kind of nice to have something left to the imagination.
Even some teenagers agree there is a problem. I think it's good that they're doing it, said student Tyler Edwards. Others students say it makes back-to-school shopping more difficult. I just have to be more careful with what shirts I buy. Change my style a little, said student Maria Lopez.
While most parents support the new rule, some worry that enforcing it could be a challenge. I think that's going to be a little tricky, because it puts a little bit of a policeman approach to the educators, and they really need to focus more on teaching, said Tom Pederson, AISD parent. The school board president says they'll do both and in time, she says, the no cleavage rule will be no problem. You could just pass out burkas.
#4
I know that when I'm geting on an elevator with a woman like her, I always offer to carry her fun bags. It's the boyscout in me. No thanks needed. I just like to help. I'm that way...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 18:38 Comments ||
Top||
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.
Sister city activists and other Madisonians with ties to Cuba said today they fear the Bush administration will use the transition in power from Fidel to Raul Castro as the occasion to activate a plan to replace that nation's communist system. They said such a move could lead to war.
Former President 
A U.S. Court redrew the boundaries of five south and west Texas congressional districts on Friday to restore political power to Hispanic voters. The three-judge panel, appointed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, vacated primary elections of candidates in the districts and said primary elections would be held simultaneously with the general election on November 7, according to the decision. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in a district, a runoff election will take place on a date to be set by the Texas secretary of state.
