Hence "bling kits" of adhesive crystals to adorn phones. And T-Mobile, which swiftly sold out of its $400 Juicy Couture bejeweled pink phones, now has a limited-edition cellphone line designed by Diane von Furstenberg.
Gucci bag? No, thank you. This year it's about the Dolce & Gabbana Motorola V3i, a $400 golden-colored phone so gilded and so thin it evokes a supermodel.
Companies are trying to get technology in touch with its inner fashionista, marketing to the fairer sex by tickling them with pink and smaller, lighter and easier-to-use devices that speak to a more feminine sensibility.
Continued on Page 49
#2
When I first joined "M" I tried to get them to decorate their phones with silver and turquoise for a west motif and semi precious stones for other motifs. I was told I was a idiot for suggesting it. Now that I am long gone... they begin to approach it.
FARGO (AP) - Hunter, a black lab whose barking awoke a family in time to escape a house fire, is now looking for a house of his own. Melisa Sherrard said she and her two sons must spend the next three or four months in a hotel until damage to their home is repaired. Hunter and Riley, a dachshund-Pomeranian mix, are being put up for adoption.
"We tried him (Hunter) in the hotel for two days, and that was very interesting," Sherrard said. "We couldn't keep him in (the hotel). It's very tough for all of us, especially the kids." A third dog, 11-year-old Amber, a cockapoo, will remain with the family, Sherrard said.
The 4-year-old Hunter and 1-year-old Riley are being boarded at Sheyenne River Kennels in West Fargo, said manager Jamie Floan. Adopt-A-Pet of Fargo-Moorhead has the dogs listed on an emergency list for a foster home or adoption.
Hunter was a hero about 3 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, when he woke up Sherrard and alerted her to a fire in the living room of the family home. No one was hurt. The cause of the fire was believed to be a malfunctioning power strip.
She said she had tried to place Hunter and Riley with friends, without success. She hopes to find a farm where Hunter can run off his energy. "The kids haven't adjusted to it yet," Sherrard said. "That will be a while." Well that's gratitude for ya.
Moved to today from yesterday. AoS.
Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter vetoed plans to commission the Makin Island, the Navy's newest and most powerful warship, in San Francisco in 2008 because of a perception that the city is anti-military. Gee, where would he get that idea?
Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. J. Michael Myatt, chairman of a high-powered committee that was to support a commissioning ceremony for the Makin Island, said he has been informed that the ship would not be commissioned in San Francisco, as scheduled, but in San Diego. Myatt said he had been told that the Navy was concerned about San Francisco's refusal to provide a homeport for the retired battleship Iowa, which would be turned into a museum, and for the city school board's decision to abolish junior ROTC training in San Francisco high schools. Payback
One of the factors that turned the Pentagon against San Francisco, he said, was widely quoted anti-military remarks made by various city politicians. Some of the remarks got considerable attention, especially ones made by Gerardo Sandoval, a member of the Board of Supervisors, who was quoted on national television as saying national defense should be left to "the cops and the Coast Guard.''
Myatt said the Navy had mistaken the views of some political leaders for the views of the majority of citizens in the Bay Area. Ya think? Now just who elected hosers like Sandoval?
"There are lots of veterans living here,'' he said. "One in every nine members of the military now serving come from California. Sure, Mojave, Compton, Bakersfield... but how many from SF?
These people in Washington don't understand. They understand cause and effect, something that escapes Myatt.
"Bringing this ship here is a great opportunity to showcase what great people we have in the military. Instead, they are trying to poke a stick in the eye of local politicians. I think it is shortsighted.'' "and it leaves the whole world blind..." When oculesic metaphors attack....
A commissioning is a ceremony where the officers and crew formally take charge of the ship on behalf of the Navy. It differs from a christening ceremony in that the warship is fully operational and ready for service. The Navy had decided several months ago to commission the ship in San Francisco on the recommendation of Capt. Bob Kopas, the new ship's commanding officer. Kopas, Joseph Hanna, who coordinates all ship commissionings for the Navy, and other officers paid at least three visits to the Bay Area to inspect facilities and make arrangements. And what does the Captain say about this now? Nothing if he is smart...
Myatt was commanding general during the 1991 Persian Gulf War of the 1st Marine Division, which captured Kuwait City. Now CEO of the Marines Memorial Association in San Francisco, he and several others formed a committee with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and Stephen Bechtel Jr. of the Bechtel Corp. as honorary co-chairs. The group was organizing an elaborate program and preparing to raise money for a big ceremony in the summer of 2008. Good, these fatcats can afford to build their own ship, the USS Sensitivity, and donate it to the homeless or something. When the taxpayers of flyover country foot the bill, it's our call and Secretary Winter has made it.
The Navy officers, who attended meetings of the commissioning committee, were enthusiastic about San Francisco's Fleet Week and two previous occasions when Navy ships were commissioned in the city.
The last ship to be commissioned in San Francisco was the frigate McCampbell, which went into commission at Pier 32 in the summer of 2002. At the time, retired Rear Adm. Tom Brown described San Francisco's support for the ceremony as superb.
The Navy recommendation for the Makin Island went up the chain of command early this fall, only to be rejected earlier this week by Winter's office. The secretary's office did not return calls Friday seeking comment, but other military sources indicated that the Navy had in fact vetoed San Francisco as a venue for commissioning the Makin Island.
The ship, which is under construction in Pascagoula, Miss., was christened in August. It would have to steam from the Gulf Coast around South America to the Pacific on its inaugural voyage because it's too wide for the Panama Canal. After commissioning, the Makin Island will be part of the Third Fleet, based in San Diego.
#1
Hey, Gerardo? What are you gonna say after the Big Earthquake when only the "cops and the Coast Guard" show up? Think the AIDS Brigade and the homeless advocates will make everything all better?
#3
If the people of San Francisco think that their representatives on the board of supervisors are way out of line in their hostility to the military, then they better change their leadership. Cause ===> Effect. SF has made it very clear that the Navy is not welcome there, so off to San Diego, where they will be welcomed with open arms.
Rantburg will have a representative on hand for the ceremonies, who will give us a full report of the goings on in text and pictures. Commodore Frank G, you have your orders. That is all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/02/2006 20:10 Comments ||
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#4
San Diego welcomes and salutes them. Remember that when you want to knee-jerk bash Californians
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/02/2006 20:11 Comments ||
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#5
Gerardo Sandoval, a member of the Board of Supervisors, who was quoted on national television as saying national defense should be left to "the cops and the Coast Guard.''
Interesting... that was what another leftist type, Nehru, said in another country, India.. only he had to power to implement things..
He had to eat his own words when the Chinese attacked...
The roots of politicisation of the army are to be found in Nehru's hatred for the man in uniform. Soon after Independence the first commander-in-chief of the Indian armed forces, General Sir Robert Lockhart, presented a paper outlining a plan for the growth of the Indian Army to Prime Minister Nehru.
Nehru's reply: "We don't need a defence plan. Our policy is non-violence. We foresee no military threats. You can scrap the army. The police are good enough to meet our security needs."
He didn't waste much time. On September 16, 1947, he directed that the army's then strength of 280,000 be brought down to 150,000. Even in fiscal 1950-51, when the Chinese threat had begun to loom large on the horizon, 50,000 army personnel were sent home as per his original plan to disband the armed forces.
After Independence, he once noticed a few men in uniform in a small office the army had in North Block, and angrily had them evicted.
"I remember many a time when our senior generals came to us, and wrote to the defence ministry saying that they wanted certain things... If we had had foresight, known exactly what would happen, we would have done something else... what India has learnt from the Chinese invasion is that in the world of today there is no place for weak nations... We have been living in an unreal world of our own creation."
Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajya Sabha, 1963
Posted by: john ||
12/02/2006 20:27 Comments ||
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#6
The military should petition Congress to preemptively declare San Francisco an open city so that no civilian lives are unnecessarily lost defending it in the event of an invasion.
#7
San Francisco's refusal to provide a homeport for the retired battleship Iowa, which would be turned into a museum
Fucking idiots! Few machines on earth are as impressive as a teak-decked Iowa class battleship. That San Francisco turned down what should easily have become a major tourist attraction and job site is nothing short of idiotic. I've stood on the USS Missouri's deck at the exact spot where Japan's surrender was signed. The like of these boats will never be built again. Despite San Francisco's deservedly poor reputation at the Pentagon, it still remains one of the top-rated shore leave spots on earth. There's a lot of people in the bay area who were part of the WWII ship building and general military service in that era. They still have a lot of respect for those who serve our nation, even if our moron politicians do not.
#9
With a conflict of interest, I have to welcome the Makin Island to San Diego (hometown and current location). In fact, I actually talked to some folks about grabbing the Iowa for San Diego when SF f**ked that situation up. I'm afraid an east bay city might have moved in on it - but nothing would match the combo of the Midway downtown, and the Iowa on the south bay waterfront, all basking in this perfect climate .....
(and now I'll have to go re-read all about the Makin Island raid)
#10
Considering that the Bay area lost nearly all its military installations thanks to that region's attitude (and its politicians), the commissioning-veto is the cherry on the just-dessert.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 13:40 Comments ||
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#14
Too bad the Army turned over the Presidio instead of turning it into a bombing range or chemical weapons dump.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 14:47 Comments ||
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#15
Too bad the Army turned over the Presidio instead of turning it into a bombing range or chemical weapons dump.
Because of corrupt pork barrel politicians, too bad DoD didn't get an opportunity to bid the land to commercial interests. Would have brought a pretty penny into the Treasury. Instead the ungrateful parasites got a gift.
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait is to sign a security agreement with NATO during an international conference it will host on December 12 that will discuss boosting security links with Gulf Arab states, an official said on Saturday. The agreement will regulate the exchange of security information between the 26-member NATO and oil-rich Kuwait as part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), said the deputy head of the National Security Agency, Sheikh Thamer Ali Al Sabah.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, his assistants and member country representatives will lead 120 NATO delegates to the International Conference of NATO and Gulf Countries: Facing Common Challenges through ICI, Sheikh Thamer said. Nice junket.
Through ICI, NATO offers practical cooperation with interested nations in such areas as counter-terrorism, cooperation on border security, participation in NATO exercises and counter-WMD. ICI stands alongside NATOs long-standing Partnership for Peace program and Mediterranean Dialogue.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006 00:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
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The widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan saw a Wiccan symbol placed on a memorial plaque for her husband Saturday, after fighting the federal government for more than a year over the emblem. Roberta Stewart, widow of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, and Wiccan leaders said it was the first government-issued memorial plaque with a Wiccan pentacle a five-pointed star enclosed in a circle. More than 50 friends and family dedicated the plaque at Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery, about 30 miles east of Reno. They praised Gov. Kenny Guinn for his role in getting the Nevada Office of Veterans Services to issue the plaque in September. The agency cited its jurisdiction over maintenance of the state cemetery.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes more than 30 symbols, including more than a dozen variations of the Christian cross and the atomic whirl used by atheists, but not the pentacle. VA officials have said they are rewriting rules for approving emblems, but the process requires a public comment period. Last month, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the VA on behalf of Stewart and others for its refusal to include the Wiccan emblem. "Our people are on the front line in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's not right they're not getting equal treatment," said the Rev. Selena Fox, one of the Wiccan organizers of the event.
Stewart and four other soldiers died Sept. 25, 2005, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.
#1
My Aunt lives in Fernley, and my Uncle (WW2 Marine vet - Iwo Jima, Saipan) is buried there. It's a real small, conservative town. I asked her about this and she said there's no controversy. Everyone says "he was a vet who gave his life for this country, and he should get the symbol he wanted"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 8:21 Comments ||
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#2
btw - nice job, AP. "Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery, about 30 miles east of Reno" is in the town of Ferley. I bet the writer never bothered to go there
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 8:22 Comments ||
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#3
*shit* Fernley....I've gotta have some coffee
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 8:33 Comments ||
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#4
Thanks for doing this for her, Guys :)
Bless them.
What does it mean that the U.S. Constitution is a constitution of limited powers? Nothing, anymore.
Name one responsibility that is only for United States citizens.
Name one of the writers of the Federalist Papers.
If you are an American citizen, you should know the answers. If you intend on becoming a naturalized citizen, you may want to bone up on U.S. history and civics. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office will enlist 5,000 citizenship applicant volunteers in 10 cities, including Tucson, next year to test-drive the questions. The proposed 144 questions will be whittled down for a new citizenship exam.
The questions, found at www. uscis.gov, deal more with "concepts of democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship," according to the agency. The pilot questions are several degrees more difficult than the current ones. Not only should immigrants be required to pass some sort of reasonable citizenship test (in English); prospective voters should have to pass the same test in order to register to vote. h/t: FR
#2
Why ? I know what I'm doing. I saw on the news that Senator Allen said 'macaca' so I voted against him.
Posted by: Joe Union ||
12/03/2006 10:59 Comments ||
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#3
While a few history lessons are useful, I can think of a whole slew of important concepts that immigrants should be tested for:
1) All people are equal under the law and all people have protection by the law. This means men, women, children, people of different races and from origins in different nations, people of other religions or no religion at all, homosexuals, etc.
2) The laws written by men are totally dominant over the laws and practices of any culture or religion. This means that while people may choose to obey religious laws *also*, they may not force or carry out those laws against anyone, even members of their own religion, who do not wholeheartedly and proactively agree to it. If there is a conflict between secular and religious law, secular law must be obeyed.
3) Slavery is forbidden. All labor must be freely offered and paid for according to US legal rules. Any slave entering the US is instantly free from any obligation to their owner. Children are only permitted to work at all under strict rules. People cannot be detained without their permission.
4) Polygamy is forbidden. Performing any variety of surgery without a license is forbidden. Forced marriage and dowry is forbidden. Honor killing is strictly forbidden. Child and spouse abuse is forbidden.
5) All children must be schooled. All vehicles and drivers must be licensed and insured. All males between 18-? must be registered for military draft. Statements of payment for employment and all other income must be submitted annually as part of our national tax, the "income tax". Most individual States also require an annual income tax payment, supported by these documents.
6) All immigrants are strongly encouraged to learn to read and write the English language, as it is almost essential to becoming self-sufficient and economically successful. All immigrants are strongly encouraged to integrate into the culture of the US as soon as possible, to interact with and respect other citizens beyond your local community.
#4
Portillo is an apologist for the transnational / colonization movement in southern Arizona. He writes for the local daily which is heavily pc. Gang crime is rising rapidly in Tucson - a fact mentioned in today's paper - you won't see Ernesto agressively comment on that issue. Of course there is no tie in between rising gang crimewaves and illegal immigration...
#8
borgboy: I had a good laugh at the gang war article in the Tucson newspaper. Trying to stimulate public fear by an increase in dead gang bangers from like 8 to 14 in a year, average, is pretty weak.
Hell, up in Phoenix, they had like 35 bodies recovered in a year from a stretch of desert west of the city, and their news media did everything they could *not* to make an issue of it. Bad for tourism and all.
Put it in the "Rooooaaaaddd Raaaaaagggge!" department.
#11
Aw heck, Pappy. Years ago the cartoonist Bob Boze Bell did a great illustration of a typical Tucson family: a mullet haired lesbian with a sneer and her two AKC dogs. That also pretty well describes their cultural scene.
Tucson even looks democrat. Sorry looking streets full of potholes, most of the city looks run down and stuck in the 1960s, lots of homeless hanging out. Plenty cheap brown snorting heroin up from Messico, marijuana by the boatload. I think landscaping is forbidden.
Any gang violence will be between Messicans, most probably illegal or worthless, so nobody will give two hoots.
From Iguanas to Armadillos, New York State Cracking Down on Mystery Meats
NEW YORK Dec 2, 2006 (AP) A food safety inspector noticed an interesting special posted in the front window of a market in Queens: 12 beefy armadillos.
In Brooklyn, inspectors found 15 pounds of iguana meat at a West Indian market and 200 pounds of cow lungs for sale at another store. A West African grocery in Manhattan sold smoked rodent meat from a refrigerated display case.
All of it was headed for the dinner table. All of it was also illegal. All of it diverted to school lunch programs instead.
Authorities say the discoveries are part of a larger trend in which markets across New York are buying meat and other foods from unregulated sources and selling them to an immigrant population accustomed to more exotic fare. State regulators have stepped up enforcement, confiscating 65 percent more food 1.6 million pounds through September than they did in all of 2005.
In this ethnically diverse city, everything from turtles and fish paste to frogs and duck feet make their way onto people's plates. "At one time or another, we've probably seen about everything," said Joseph Corby, director of the state's Division of Food Safety and Inspection.
Continued on Page 49
#1
This is important for national public health because the best theory for the interspecies jump of Simian Immunodeficieny Virus (SIV) to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) occurred some time back in Africa when a human ate or processed infected "bush meat" - a chimp with SIV.
#9
"Exotic fare"? I have seen Mexican peasants carrying Iguana that they caught for food. They eat it as a last resort. Same with South Americans who eat Guinea Pigs (Cuy). However, there is a huge Texas export market for Cattle heads; Mexicans hack off the soft flesh and peddle it in tortilla as "Tacos de Cabeza."
#10
Bor Kee Food Market has been caught selling unidentified red meat and mysterious fish paste
Well, that's very encouraging! If you're not eager to eat "unidentified red meat" and "mysterious fish paste", then, you've got no sense of mystery and adventure!
#11
Philb -- viral infections are nearly all caused by inhaling, eating or absorbing viral material into conjunctiva. This is how the commonest viral diseases, upper respiratory infections, common viral gastroenteritis, and influenza are contracted, which together have to make up the vast bulk of viral infections world-wide. Limiting viral exposure to "ingestion" - the taking of material as food, is too restrictive for this topic. Some exceptions to this are by needle injection, by implantation/transplantation of tissue, or when virii are transmitted by sexual contact as in HIV or Herpes simplex.
--- A 2004 The Lancetstudy Naturally acquired simian retrovirus infections in central African hunters confirmed:
simian retroviral zoonosis in people who have direct contact with fresh non-human primate bushmeat, and suggest[ed] that such zoonoses are more frequent, widespread, and contemporary than previously appreciated
The researchers went into the jungle of Central Africa, interviewed and tested > 1000 residents: 10 carried antibodies and 3 were infected by conventional medical standards, with a specific non-SIV/HIV simian retrovirus that could be tracked by DNA analysis back to specific types of simians which the victims recognized as "bush meat" and acknowledged being exposed to. The researchers also found other simian retroviruses have been transmitted to human beings there.
Due to economic and other social conditions in Africa, the exposure of people to simian viruses through "bush meat" is increasing, and this poses a danger for emergence of yet another deadly and hard-to-treat condition like HIV.
The theory as I've outlined it is neither PC nor BS. Exposure of humans to simian "bush meat" continues to be a danger to public health whether it occurs in Africa or NYC.
#12
Ah, come on now. Do you really really know where that piece of meat slapped down on that plate at some fancy or not fancy restaurant or even nicely wrapped and packaged for retail sale came from? Ever check how many real meat inspectors there are against the number of distribution points between the living breathing donor and you? Its all mystery meat. Which is one of the four major food groups along with protein, carbohydrates and grease.
It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people. - Det. Thorn
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/03/2006 11:21 Comments ||
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#17
Yeah, they just pulled eggs and flatfish off the shelves here in my city in China. The eggs were injected with a carcinogenic industrial red dye, and the flatfish were fed toxic fertilizer to make them grow. Yippee.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/03/2006 15:12 Comments ||
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#20
However, there is a huge Texas export market for Cattle heads; Mexicans hack off the soft flesh and peddle it in tortilla as "Tacos de Cabeza."
In reality, the facial muscles or "cheeks" are some of the most tender meat on the entire animal. Ask your fishmonger for salmon cheeks sometime. These small collops of meat are incredible. Same goes for the "collar" from around the neck area (on fish).
It has to do with muscular tissue that does not undergo extensive use. This is why mammilian leg meat tends to be tough and stringy whilst the finer cuts come from "high on the hog". If you wish to confirm this fact, merely try a salmon filet from the tail end and one from far forward on the fish.
Ok, now everybody go read The Jungle.
Upton Sinclair's exposé of Chicago's meatpacking industry was a prime mover in the enactment of food processing regulations. While certainly a fiction, it is nonetheless based largely in historical fact. Note the intense racism against "hunky Swedes".
My "favorite" part in the book was when the waste water reservoir next to the slaughterhouse would freeze over during winter and the plant would hack up the frozen effluent and sell it to the locals as block ice for food refrigeration purposes.
It's a tough call between "The Jungle" and Scrapple as to where the old saying came from; "Everything but the squeal."
#23
Cultural thing...eggs with a red yolk are supposed to be healthier or good luck or something. Red eggs are sold at a markup, which makes it pretty obvious that someone is going to cheat. Being Chinese, they can't just use food coloring...nooooo...they have to save 10 cents a gallon and use Sudan IV instead. Yet another totally stupid cultural oddity from our friends the Chinese.
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#26
AH9418, You are right, while you can't catch HIV from ingestion, there are viruses you can. And handling HIV infected raw meat with cuts on your skin would expose you to risk of infection.
#27
So expect the capitalists amonnst the populations affected to open a pet store that features armadillos, rodents and other assorted "housepets."
think of it as a free range petshop.....
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.
Diamonds on a cellphone are a girl's best friend.
From Iguanas to Armadillos, New York State Cracking Down on Mystery Meats
