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Pak: 13 dead in dronezap
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Page 6: Politix
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Pilot -- "Help, I'm Flying Blind" Guided to Landing by RAF
Please do click on the link to see the pics
Help! I'm flying blind: RAF hero guides down 65-year-old pilot unable to see after a stroke

A pilot who suffered a stroke at the controls of his light plane found himself totally blind at 15,000ft.

Jim O'Neill, 65, was alone in the cockpit of his four-seater Cessna and frantically radioed a mayday alert.

Air traffic controllers attempted to guide him to the nearest airfield, Full Sutton, near York.

But so complete was his loss of vision that it proved to be an impossible task. Thankfully, an RAF Tucano used for training military pilots was already in the air and was soon alongside the stricken pilot.

Having established radio contact Mr O'Neill was ordered to turn left and right, go lower or straighten up.

He was guided the 15 miles to RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire and after three failed attempts he touched down.

'I should not be alive,' said Mr O'Neill, from Marks Tey, near Colchester, Essex.

'I owe my life - and those of dozens of people I could have crash-landed on - to the RAF.

From his hospital bed in Romford, where he is undergoing tests, he added: 'It was terrifying. Suddenly I couldn't see the dials in front of me. All there was in front of me was a blur. I was helpless at the controls.'

The astonishing drama happened as Mr O'Neill headed for Earls Colne airbase in Colchester after taking off from Glasgow Prestwick airport following a holiday in Scotland.

The stroke put pressure on his optic nerves, rendering him completely blind.

Flt Lt Terry O'Brien, Linton's Air Traffic Control Officer, said: 'When Mr O'Neill contacted us we knew he had a vision problem but we thought he had been dazzled by the sun.

'He just kept apologising for not being able to land. He kept saying he couldn't see the airfield but I didn't realise he was blind.

'He came in but missed the runway, even though we are on a massive airfield.

'We then realised he couldn't see the runway and clearly the problem was getting bigger and bigger.'

Wing Commander Paul Gerrard, 42, a former Tornado display pilot, was then contacted in the Tucano.

He flew within 300ft of the Cessna and guided it down. It landed at high speed, bounced twice and stopped at the very end of the runway.

Group Captain Mark Hopkins, station commander at Linton-on-Ouse, said: 'The RAF has the best pilots and air traffic controllers in the world.

'Shepherding aircraft in this way is something we do from time to time, but this is a very strange case.'

Mr O'Neill runs a travel, hotel and conference booking agency.

Doctors are confident some vision will be restored when the swelling in his brain recedes.

His wife, Eileen, 63, said: 'It's a miracle Jim is here today. The RAF are heroes. They were so cool and calm and talked Jim down. Without them, he wouldn't be alive.

'We are a very religious family and I believe there was an angel on his shoulder as he came in to land, helping Jim alongside the RAF crew.'
Posted by: Sherry || 11/07/2008 23:25 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Pilot -- "Help, I'm Flying Blind" Guided to Landing by RAF
Please do click on the link to see the pics
Help! I'm flying blind: RAF hero guides down 65-year-old pilot unable to see after a stroke

A pilot who suffered a stroke at the controls of his light plane found himself totally blind at 15,000ft.

Jim O'Neill, 65, was alone in the cockpit of his four-seater Cessna and frantically radioed a mayday alert.

Air traffic controllers attempted to guide him to the nearest airfield, Full Sutton, near York.

But so complete was his loss of vision that it proved to be an impossible task. Thankfully, an RAF Tucano used for training military pilots was already in the air and was soon alongside the stricken pilot.

Having established radio contact Mr O'Neill was ordered to turn left and right, go lower or straighten up.

He was guided the 15 miles to RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire and after three failed attempts he touched down.

'I should not be alive,' said Mr O'Neill, from Marks Tey, near Colchester, Essex.

'I owe my life - and those of dozens of people I could have crash-landed on - to the RAF.

From his hospital bed in Romford, where he is undergoing tests, he added: 'It was terrifying. Suddenly I couldn't see the dials in front of me. All there was in front of me was a blur. I was helpless at the controls.'

The astonishing drama happened as Mr O'Neill headed for Earls Colne airbase in Colchester after taking off from Glasgow Prestwick airport following a holiday in Scotland.

The stroke put pressure on his optic nerves, rendering him completely blind.

Flt Lt Terry O'Brien, Linton's Air Traffic Control Officer, said: 'When Mr O'Neill contacted us we knew he had a vision problem but we thought he had been dazzled by the sun.

'He just kept apologising for not being able to land. He kept saying he couldn't see the airfield but I didn't realise he was blind.

'He came in but missed the runway, even though we are on a massive airfield.

'We then realised he couldn't see the runway and clearly the problem was getting bigger and bigger.'

Wing Commander Paul Gerrard, 42, a former Tornado display pilot, was then contacted in the Tucano.

He flew within 300ft of the Cessna and guided it down. It landed at high speed, bounced twice and stopped at the very end of the runway.

Group Captain Mark Hopkins, station commander at Linton-on-Ouse, said: 'The RAF has the best pilots and air traffic controllers in the world.

'Shepherding aircraft in this way is something we do from time to time, but this is a very strange case.'

Mr O'Neill runs a travel, hotel and conference booking agency.

Doctors are confident some vision will be restored when the swelling in his brain recedes.

His wife, Eileen, 63, said: 'It's a miracle Jim is here today. The RAF are heroes. They were so cool and calm and talked Jim down. Without them, he wouldn't be alive.

'We are a very religious family and I believe there was an angel on his shoulder as he came in to land, helping Jim alongside the RAF crew.'
Posted by: Sherry || 11/07/2008 23:25 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


The ten most annoying expressions in the English language
Not all University of Oxford researchers are uptight and humorless, "irregardless" of what you might think. In fact, a bunch of them compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English language -- just because we needed one. . . .

The great hierarchy of verbal fatigue includes:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

The list appears in a new book, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare, by Jeremy Butterfield. . . .

With all due respect, I personally at this moment in time absolutely intend to watch my own fairly unique rhetoric, 24/7, to insure I never use one of these phrases, mor others like them, ever again. You might say that it's a nightmare to even try, and I shouldn't of posted them here at Rantburg, but at the end of the day it's not rocket science.
Posted by: Mike || 11/07/2008 14:06 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  1A - Hope and Change
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 14:52 Comments || Top||

#2  11. Hope and Change
Posted by: ed || 11/07/2008 14:54 Comments || Top||

#3  paradigm
at this point in time (more American than 'moment')
really
strawman
ad hominem
BFF
these ones
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/07/2008 15:10 Comments || Top||

#4  That's hot.

The above saying always sends me into a homicidal rage.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/07/2008 15:22 Comments || Top||

#5  I think "Thrown under the bus" should be added to the list.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/07/2008 15:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Q ships?
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/07/2008 15:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Looks like Hope and Change is leading the ballot.
Posted by: ed || 11/07/2008 15:49 Comments || Top||

#8  My personal teeth grinder is "I feel" instead of "I think".
Posted by: ed || 11/07/2008 15:50 Comments || Top||

#9  using mute when intending moot.
Posted by: Hellfish || 11/07/2008 15:56 Comments || Top||

#10  How about "healing" and "cleansing" when not applied to cosmetic or health products/procedures?

"Game-changer" is up there, too, though.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 11/07/2008 16:04 Comments || Top||

#11  "journalistic integrity"
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 16:11 Comments || Top||

#12  Please add....."Fair and balanced" "Spin Zone" "Don't be a pinhead" "Surge" "Disenfranchised citizens"
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/07/2008 16:31 Comments || Top||

#13  "One of the only..."

This makes me hit my head on the desk. It's written by people who would like to say that something is the only thing of its kind, but aren't sure of their facts, so they create this abomination. Try "One of the few..."

Also: most for almost. "Most everyone agrees that words mean what you want them to mean." Grrr.

Ah, there. I feel healed and cleansed!
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 11/07/2008 16:38 Comments || Top||

#14  "I could care less" - which means exactly the opposite of what's intended! It should be "I couldn't care less".
Posted by: Bulldog || 11/07/2008 16:53 Comments || Top||

#15  Iwas like
He/she was like
or commentator instead of comentor. A commontator is something you dig out of the ground to eat.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 11/07/2008 16:55 Comments || Top||

#16  Presently I'm to bussy to contribute to this discussion.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/07/2008 17:11 Comments || Top||

#17  Oh, totally!!!
Posted by: Adriane || 11/07/2008 18:33 Comments || Top||

#18  Okay-y-y, so we're NOT talking about "ZOMG, like, IDK my BFF Jill ...TSUF"???

Gut Nuthin.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/07/2008 18:44 Comments || Top||

#19  "Quantum Leap"

Which we all know from Physics would be the smallest-possible leap.
Posted by: BigJonC || 11/07/2008 18:55 Comments || Top||

#20  Boo - Yaaaa!
Posted by: Stuart Scott || 11/07/2008 19:27 Comments || Top||

#21  "He took control of his own destiny"

NO!! If he had control, by definition it wasn't destiny!
Posted by: GORT || 11/07/2008 19:30 Comments || Top||

#22  Bling. Worse, bling-bling.
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/07/2008 20:09 Comments || Top||

#23  ARCLIGHT
Posted by: Thererong Turkeyneck2094 || 11/07/2008 21:55 Comments || Top||


Kim Jong Il Spotted On Links
Maybe not. Real headline:
On a roll: Golfer records 5 holes-in-one in a week
Posted by: ed || 11/07/2008 07:36 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kimmie knocking out a few hole-in-ones before brunch? Knocking back a few Corvossier VSOPs along with it?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/07/2008 12:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Feats...don't fail me now.
Posted by: Kim Jong Il || 11/07/2008 12:46 Comments || Top||

#3  REDDIT > NORTH KOREA IS BEING GOVERNED BY KIM JONG-IL's BROTHER-IN-LAW; + WORLD MIL FORUM > CHINA AND US REFUSE TO DISCUSS CONTINGENCY ACTION PLANS IN CASE OF NORTH KOREAN COLLAPSE [China desires pragmatic "Wait and See" Approach]. China believes USA is being PREMATURE + that any post-Kimmie transition may be ORDERLY/SMOOTH.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/07/2008 20:09 Comments || Top||


THE CITY OF BATMAN TO SUE WARNER BROS
ANKARA, NOVEMBER 6 - The major of Batman, the small city in South-East Turkey, announced its intention to sue Warner Bros. for its Batman movie franchise. According to press reports in Turkish dailies, the major Huseyin Kalkan has said that they are preparing to sue the producer of the Batman film, who is claimed to make money by using the towns name, and has that they are investigating on the matter whether the case should be opened in the US or in Turkey. "There is only one Batman in this world," said Kalkan. "Without telling us, the US makers of the films have taken the name of our region." Kalkan said that they will use the compensation that they will obtain from the case for women and street children in Batman. Kalkan has criticized that, in spite of the large revenues of the worldfamous Batman film, the Batman Municipality, where women commit suicide and where children live on the streets, have not undertaken anything on this topic. About their expectations about the compensation he said: "If we win compensation, we will see in court how much of the revenues it will be. We expect our share from the revenues. If we win the case, we will use all the rights we won for service to the Batman people and to the street children there." When it comes to the statement that the English version of Batman and the name of Batman city are being used in different meanings, Kalkan said that Batman means "weight, heaviness", and that different meanings did not interest them. The very first filmed Batman was the 1943 serial with the first full-length feature being the 1966 movie with the television cast. More recently, The Dark Knight amassed USD 992,764,009 in global box office receipts according to Box Office Mojo.
Posted by: Classer || 11/07/2008 03:41 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile, at stately Wayne Manor, . . .

"Holy cause of action, Batman! We've been served with process!"

"That's a strange religion you have there, Robin, taking the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as a sacred text, but don't worry, the First Amendment protects it all the same. That's the American way!"

"No, I mean, the town of Batman in Turkey is suing us."

"Suing us? Why?"

"For trademark infringement."

"It's a riddle what these jokers think they'll accomplish. Maybe Commissioner Gordon knows a good intellectual property lawyer we can use. To the Bat-poles!"
Posted by: Mike || 11/07/2008 8:34 Comments || Top||

#2  "There is only one Batman in this world," said Kalkan.

Plenty in Melbourne, founded by John Batman ...

(Wikipedia)
Batman was born in Rosehill, Parramatta (now a suburb of Sydney)...
Posted by: The Penguin || 11/07/2008 9:06 Comments || Top||

#3  When Europeans first encountered turkeys in the Americas they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl (Numida meleagris), also known as a turkey-cock from its importation to Central Europe through Turkey, and the name of that country stuck as the name of the bird. The confusion is also reflected in the scientific name: meleagris is Greek for guinea-fowl.
OOhhh OOhh, counter-suit!

The name given to a group of Turkeys is a rafter, although they are sometimes incorrectly referred to as a gobble or flock.
Funny story bout this term. As a kid, was eating breakfast at my dad's house in the country. Had an ice-rain overnight and a group of wild turkey was outside our window trying to flap onto the roof. After watching them get onto the roof and slide right back off for about 30 minutes dad says, "Well, they don't call them turkeys for nothin."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/07/2008 9:52 Comments || Top||

#4  They should sue DC Comics. Or Bob Kane. They started it.
But I guess ya go where the money is.
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/07/2008 10:35 Comments || Top||

#5  "If we win compensation, we will see in court how much of the revenues it will be.

And if you don't win, you will forever be known as the grasping losers that you are.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/07/2008 10:47 Comments || Top||

#6  I suspect the Mayor of Gothem Sweden is watching this case closely.

Batman is short for Batı Raman, it is Kurdish.

I think they have a case because people often mistake comic book characters for entire cities and the chance that the town is targeted by a super-villain by mistake has got to be worth a couple of million.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/07/2008 10:48 Comments || Top||

#7  It's got to be a publicity stunt, Batman is around 60 years old, I doubt they have a leg to stand on here.

Dismissed as not filed timely, far exceeds any statute of limitations.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/07/2008 11:43 Comments || Top||

#8  swksvolFF, remember that passage of an article here a while back, where the (islamic) writer attributed the fact americans named turkeys "turkey" was due to anti-muslim racism? This makes about as much sense as that suit. Morons.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/07/2008 12:47 Comments || Top||

#9  I took that writer's advice to heart and changed by anti-turkey ways. This Thanksgiving I will be chopping off the head and roasting a mohammed.
Posted by: ed || 11/07/2008 13:01 Comments || Top||

#10  So will this spill over to Bruce Wayne being sued by Wayne Indiana?

Or Jimmy Olson being sued by Charmin for premeditated tissue squeezing?

my boggle just went into hyper drive.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/07/2008 14:45 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
My battle with the Kei Ripper (No way I was gonna give him my genitals, nope)
A BUTTERWORTH man came face-to-face with the Kei Ripper this week and fought for his life as the crazed knifeman demanded his genitals.

The wounds on Macebo Langeni's face and head are vivid after his brush with the suspected serial killer on Tuesday night. The 41-year-old recognised his assailant from posters around town and knew instantly he was confronted by a man wanted for a string of muti murders in the area.
IIUC, "muti" or "muthi" seems to mean the parts are to be used for witchcraft.
The man, wearing dreadlocks, approached Langeni on the dirt road to Ngxalatha village after dark, pulled out a large knife and said he only needed his private parts. "I laughed at him thinking he was just joking," said Langeni from his home yesterday. "Then when he grabbed me by my private parts I knew he was being serious. He was so powerful and we wrestled. I was tired but never gave up."

Langeni said the suspect fitted the description of the man who butchered little Vika Nqwiliso, 9, of Mcucuzo village last month at a site only 2km away. The child was disembowelled in front of his three friends, who later helped police with the identikit.

Three other people have since been murdered in Butterworth and Dutywa, about 30km away, and in each case organs and external body parts were removed. Police have now linked all five cases to the same suspect.

Langeni's ordeal began just after 8pm as he went home from work. The attacker jumped out of a bush. Langeni instinctively grabbed an empty bottle for protection. "He told me straight what he was looking for and he never said any word after that."

In their struggle, the man kept targeting Langeni's genitals with his knife. "It was painful and when he pushed a knife into my trousers, I pushed him and he lost balance. ... he kept on touching my private parts. I was just lucky as his knife wouldn't reach them, but he stabbed me several times.

Eventually, the man ran away but not before stabbing Langeni in the back of his neck and in his head, and the tip of his nose which was nicked off. "I was bleeding and I think a prayer saved me."

Three villagers found Langeni and took him home. The next day he went to hospital and was discharged after treatment.

Police are still searching for the suspect, who has terrorised the area for three weeks.

A week after the chilling murder of young Nqwiliso the body of an unidentified man was found dumped in Tutura village with his genitals missing. Nobijolo Dulini, 75, and a 47-year- old man were found dead last weekend at a Dutywa quarry. Both had their faces mutilated and body parts removed.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/07/2008 16:08 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You know, there's so much territory for snark here that I just can't choose the right one.
Posted by: Grunter Smith1584 || 11/07/2008 18:39 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahrain Islamists, Liberals unite to ban alcohol
Liberals and Islamists in the Bahraini parliament joined forces to issue a resolution that bans the sale of alcohol and closes night clubs throughout the country.
That's pretty much the alliance we've come to expect. The liberals no doubt join in the occasional stoning, too.
The unprecedented alliance came in the aftermath of a complaint by the Islamist bloc , which called upon the government to implement a decision taken by the former information minister last year banning the sale of alcohol in all hotels except those with stars, but no action was taken.

Liberals declared solidarity with Islamists on Tuesday not only regarding the implementation of the former minister's decision but also calling for a general ban on alcohol and the closure of nightclubs. Islamists differed on how to implement the new policy, however, with some urging immediate action and others calling for a gradual change.

"The situation is grave. Teenagers are drinking alcohol and partying in nightclubs."
Mohamed Khaled from al-Menbar al-Islami bloc called for the ban to be imposed within one month. "The situation is grave. Teenagers are drinking alcohol and partying in nightclubs," he said in an interview with AlArabiya.net.

Salafi MP Adel al-Moawda argued that the ban should be gradual, while Salafi independent MP Jassem al-Saedi said a complete ban would be difficult to implement and suggested imposing restrictions on selling and buying alcohol.

Adel al-Maasoumi, from the liberal bloc, said he supported the ban because Bahrain is an Islamic country.

On Monday, authorities closed five alcohol stores in the Bahraini capital Manama. Several alcohol companies in Bahrain as well as scores of hotels and stores sell alcohol.

Observes questioned the feasibility of implementing the decision for touristic reasons, especially since the complaint MPs submitted was not binding for the government. Former MP Abdul-Nabi Suleiman thought it was unlikely that the government would consider the proposal, but downplayed the negative economic a ban could have since "the economy is basically dependent on oil."

There are no official statistics of the effect of alcohol business on the national economy, but specialists have it that its annual revenue exceeds 20 million dinars ($52 million).
Posted by: Fred || 11/07/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excellent action by your Government !!
Now, read, pay attention & remember.....
Your Legislation Dictators could very well be saving many of you, from permanent health afflictions. Most of which, there is NO cure!
Every drop of Alcohol, contains sufficient Satan like Minions, that once you invite them into your body, they won't ever leave !!!
Then suddenly, without warning, one day they might decide to take their boredom out on you.
And then nothing will ever be the same again !!!
It maybe a legal substance, but it is basically the strongest, most accepted SCOURGE of our society !
So, hats off to your authorities !!
I pray that they will be successful, in removing this parasite from their people !!!!
/sjg
Posted by: Sheila Joyce Gibbs || 11/07/2008 8:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone is hopefully missing either a tinfoil hat or a /sarcasm tag.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/07/2008 10:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Just leaves more for the REST of us.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/07/2008 11:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Naw, she's a holdover from prohibition era 90 year old nannys, scared of their own shadow and Church taught to fear "Demon Rum"
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/07/2008 11:48 Comments || Top||

#5  I've conferred with My good friend Mr.Jack Daniels, and he says Sheila is a dipshit whose loss of self to the eeevil alcohol causes her to think everyone else must never be allowed to imbibe. Note to Sheila: "Moderation" in all things, even fanaticism
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 12:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Google Shelia. I think she has responded to every alcohol related posting ever submitted on the internet.
Lighten up, baby. Get laid once in awhile.
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/07/2008 12:45 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Children buried alive after School collapses


Posted by: Oztralian || 11/07/2008 20:42 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
S Korea arrests 5 Pakistanis over 'money scam'
Five Pakistanis have been arrested over illegal cash transfers worth millions of dollars, including payments from Afghanistan's Taliban for materials for heroin production, South Korean police said on Thursday.

The five were accused of operating two 'hawala' money transfer networks in South Korea since 2005, police said, adding that 53 other hawala brokers including Koreans have been charged but not detained. 'Hawala,' is a paperless system that is used in some Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries but is illegal in South Korea.

Police say the informal hawala networks, widely used in the Middle East, provide a fast and convenient way to transfer money both for illegal foreign workers and terrorists. "They have set up phoney firms or acted as traders here to cover up their underground operations," investigator Kim Ki-Hun said. The total sum illegally transferred by the two networks is about $100 billion won ($75 million), including $50,000 sent by the Taliban, he said.

"In co-operation with Interpol, we have been hunting for 140 others believed to be involved in the networks," Kim said. He said the hunt began in July when nine people including one Afghan and two Pakistanis were arrested in South Korea for allegedly trying to smuggle tonnes of chemicals for heroin production to the Taliban.

Police confiscated 12 tonnes of acetic anhydride destined for Afghanistan. The chemical is heated along with morphine, an opium derivative, to make heroin. At that time police said about 50 tonnes of the chemical had already been shipped to Afghanistan between April last year and March this year. It was labelled as disinfectant.

The suspects had money transferred from accounts linked to hawala networks, and they acknowledged they had received orders from the Taliban, police said.

The investigation started in March after Interpol discovered 14 tonnes of acetic anhydride, which had been shipped from Korea in the southern Pakistani port of Karachi.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Afghanistan produced 8,200 tonnes of opium base last year, 92 percent of the worldwide total. The report also noted that 80 percent of the output came from five southern provinces where the Taliban profit from drug trafficking.

South Korea is a relatively drug-free nation, with just 7,709 people arrested in 2006 for drug offences. But officials say it is becoming a more popular international transit point for cocaine and 'ice'.
Posted by: Fred || 11/07/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Down Under
Cutting off healthy limbs OK, says Australian Dr.
TO most people, the thought of amputating a perfectly healthy limb is unimaginable.

But for at least three Australians, possibly dozens more, cutting off their leg has felt perfectly normal. These so-called "amputee wannabes" have a very rare condition in which they feel one of their limbs is not truly their own, and they become obsessed with cutting it off.

And people suffering from the bizarre body image disorder should be able to opt for amputation, a Sydney psychiatrist says. Christopher Ryan, a psychiatrist at the University of Sydney, says there is a good argument for allowing patients with body integrity identity disorder (BIID) to have their unwanted limb removed.

"I am not saying we should unthinkingly cut off people's legs," Dr Ryan said. "I realise that the idea strikes almost everyone as lunatic when they first hear it. However, there are a small number of people who see themselves, and have always seen themselves, as amputees," he said.

"They are often miserable their whole lives because of their 'extra limb', and we know that at least some of them feel much better if it is removed."

Dr Ryan has examined the ethics of the issue in the international philosophy journal Neuroethics and says doctors have a moral duty to amputate for the health and safety of the patient.

He said one 30-year-old patient of his lived his whole life feeling he was truly an amputee, but was so ashamed of how he felt he did not tell anyone. "Eventually he took the only step he thought he had open to him and placed his leg in a bucket of dry ice until it died and had to be removed," Dr Ryan said. "Now, a year later, he is living happily as an amputee and getting on with his life."

The paper said the operations should be likened to plastic surgery, with elective amputation offered to BIID sufferers only. "Unless these patients know that doctors will take their concerns seriously, and at least consider their requests, more people will risk their lives trying to remove their own limbs," he said.

The disorder hit news headlines in 2000 when it was revealed that a surgeon in Scotland had amputated a healthy leg from two patients with the disorder. At the time, appalled Scottish politicians called the procedure "obscene" and tried to ban such operations.
Posted by: Oztralian || 11/07/2008 08:46 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  why not get two of them together and have them swap?
Posted by: ed || 11/07/2008 9:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe someone can explain to me why this condition is not simply a more extreme version of the condition that causes homosexuality and trans-gendered?

Aren't they all variations on "body integrity identity disorder"?
Posted by: AlanC || 11/07/2008 9:49 Comments || Top||

#3  You could try to cure the disorder if you were any kind of psychiatrist at all.
I assume these people would be crippled and need benefits for the rest of their lives in any case.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/07/2008 11:14 Comments || Top||

#4  A form of Munchausen Syndrome?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/07/2008 11:24 Comments || Top||

#5  In the SF movie "Aeon Flux" you could get "Body modifiation, one character had her feet replaced with a second set of hands, after getting over the "Yuck" factor, it's not really a bad idea.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/07/2008 11:54 Comments || Top||

#6  start with the neck, k?
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 12:31 Comments || Top||

#7  I'll become a cyborg.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/07/2008 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  I'd go for the brain stem first
Posted by: Angoger Black9540 || 11/07/2008 13:34 Comments || Top||

#9  And we all thought BDS was bad.
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/07/2008 13:36 Comments || Top||

#10  This happened a decade or more ago down in South America. A new surgeon at an insane asylum where there was four people with this rare condition. They were basket cases, totally unable to function, and any number of therapies and drugs had been tried on them without success.

After extensive discussion and argument lasting many months, he removed a healthy leg from each of them.

Two completely normalized and were happy, and were returned to their families. Two wanted additional amputations, but one of the two felt he could live without it, so after extended observation, he was allowed to leave as well. The fourth's condition was improved far beyond what it had been.

It created a huge controversy in that country, as well.

Importantly, such victims often have to be confined, or they will repeatedly attempt to amputate their own, or each others limbs, or most commonly among men, their testicles.

Finally, because of the Internet, people with this condition are learning about each other and networking. This reinforces and aggravates their desire for amputation. Some castraters especially have removed the testicles of many men.

Three of them were arrested in NC just two years ago.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/07/2008 15:23 Comments || Top||

#11  Dang! Commodore Frank beat me to the snarky comment! Foiled again....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/07/2008 16:40 Comments || Top||

#12  These people would give an arm and a leg to feel normal.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 11/07/2008 16:59 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Election defeat stuns incumbent Harris Co. judges
District judges at the Harris County civil and criminal courthouses were shocked and somber a day after voters gave nearly every incumbent seeking re-election their walking papers.

"Though we anticipated it would be close, to see really good judges swept out is still stunning," said civil District Judge Patricia Kerrigan, a Republican who won her race by about 2,500 votes. Kerrigan said most of the civil judges who lost were in the courthouse working on Wednesday. Other judges said some of their colleagues were shell-shocked.

The straight-party Democratic voting that ushered in a new batch of civil and criminal district judges in Harris County was not the biggest surprise. But the fact that four Republican judges survived Democratic challenges left courthouse observers to speculate how they did it.

The most common theory is that voters were wary of Democrats with uncommon names. The GOP judge with the highest percentage of votes was civil Judge Sharon McCally, whose opponent was Ashish Mahendru. Other Democrats who lost were Mekisha Murray, Andres Pereira and Goodwille Pierre. They lost to incumbent judges Mark Kent Ellis, Patricia Kerrigan and Joseph Halbach, respectively.

"How common a person's name is has always been a factor in judicial races," said civil District Judge Mark Davidson, who lost the bench he's had since 1989. "Up until 1987, people named Smith ran 14 times and won 14 times." Smiths have lost a couple of times since.

Unspoken rule tossed
Davidson and others said the names matter because judicial races are just too hard for voters to research. One factor is low media coverage. Another is that judges can't say much that distinguishes themselves, since they can't comment on the cases they handle.

Civil District Judge Sharolyn Wood, who lost the seat she's had since 1985, lamented that voters have lost "about 250 years of judicial experience" in this sweep. She said Harris County's judiciary has been kept stable by an understanding that experienced judges weren't challenged, but that unspoken agreement was tossed out this year.
Posted by: Fred || 11/07/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too much smoke in here to see the fire. Why were tese incumbent judges fired? I don't buy the funny name theory. If that was the reason, why did they get elected in the first place? It sort of hints that it was a Democrat sweep. If so, why not be more fortright about it?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 11/07/2008 2:35 Comments || Top||

#2  "an understanding that experienced judges weren't challenged"

Simple: Dems changed the rules to grab power. Now the Dems will go back to asking the old tradition be followed.
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/07/2008 3:22 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess this explains why I can't get elected....
Posted by: Carbon Monoxide || 11/07/2008 9:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Sorry, CM. I just can't see a lawn sign with "Vote for Monoxide" doing much to up your poll numbers. I think a bumper sticker would be even worse, particularly if it was on an old beater that burned oil...
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 11/07/2008 10:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Definitely need something more catchy. How about:
A vote for CO is a vote for Yo!
Posted by: SteveS || 11/07/2008 10:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe they just wanted to take out the trash. Houston's residents are prolly tired of watching liberal judges flush their city down the crapper with ridiculous decisions on issues like immigration and schools.
That large of a consensus probably isn't wrong.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/07/2008 11:23 Comments || Top||

#7  My persoanl policy is to vote against all incumbent judges. Party affiliation doesn't matter. These assholes think they are royals after a couple of terms. Clear the dead wood and let someone else get to the slop trough is my theory.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 11/07/2008 12:13 Comments || Top||


Prop. 8 defeat could cost Newsom in long term
Election night was not kind to Gavin Newsom, who may end up one of the biggest losers after suffering a potentially crushing loss with Proposition 8 and at best breaking even in the local contests he had a stake in.

Political analysts have long argued that Newsom has short coattails in local politics - a theory in play with the Board of Supervisors races, in which at least three of the seven seats up for grabs seem likely to go to candidates he did not endorse.

With the local ballot measures, voters for the most part sided with Newsom's choices, but two propositions that were of particular interest to the mayor - one supporting his special court to prosecute quality-of-life crimes and the other changing the makeup of the San Francisco Transportation Authority - failed spectacularly.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 11/07/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Crazy Town Express, now boarding!
Posted by: mojo || 11/07/2008 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  he's an arrogant obnoxious jerk, porking his aide's wife while lecturing others. F*ck him and his career
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 6:23 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm surprised his aide didn't put a .45 slug through Newsom's head. Newsom certainly had it coming.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 11/07/2008 7:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Clean up on isle 3.

(please replace ".45 slug through Newsom's head" with the acronynm TWEP)
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/07/2008 7:57 Comments || Top||

#5  I guess his aide took my advice to avoid consuming Hostess Twinkies™.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 11/07/2008 8:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey, Besoeker, I didn't advocate it, I just said I'm surprised it didn't happen. It certainly does lots of other times in that situation. In some places, a person who catches one's spouse in flagrante delicto and does both adulterous parties down may well receive reduced sentencing since the murderer is presumed to be non compos mentis at the time of the criminal act.

BTW, what is a TWEP?
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 11/07/2008 8:22 Comments || Top||

#7  One more thing: this wasn't like him hitting on the new girl in town. The aide, Alex Tourk, was supposedly Newsom's best friend and had been so for a long time, in addition to being Newsom's campaign manager. Newsom is one cold bastard to have pulled that crap and people who do that kind of stuff generally find out that payback, when it comes, is a real bear.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 11/07/2008 8:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Terminate With Extreme Predjudice
Posted by: Hellfish || 11/07/2008 8:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Gavin is a one trick pony. Anybody thinking he had a chance at statewide office is smoking something you can only buy in San Francisco.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/07/2008 10:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Actually, NS, you can buy it just about any where.

Newsom is a novelty that only an extraordinarily wealthy and insulated city like SF can afford. Prop 8 does not affect his career. He could not have won any state wide office, but he could be elected to represent SF in congress or the legislature.

For the rest of us, Newsom will become the answer to future trivia questions.

Posted by: DoDo || 11/07/2008 12:16 Comments || Top||

#11  I can't understand what anyone expects to gain from gay marriage unless it's just a vehicle for jerks like Newsom to promote their careers. Looks like they ran outta gas but they won't give up. Now they're trying to figure out how they can get the courts to override Prop 8. I don't know how but I'm sure some liberal judge somewhere, most likely a Clinton appointee, is just waiting to oblige.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 11/07/2008 13:01 Comments || Top||

#12  Want to know someone dumber than Newsom? That would be his new wife, Jennifer Siebel. How dumb do you have to be to marry a divorced guy who, during his divorce (maybe just after it) screws his "best friend's" wife? Do you think the 'vow" he's going to make to you could hold water? Of course not! Stupid bimbo. Maybe she did it for the publicity or to help her struggling acting career. But if she did it thinking it was for true love, life-long honesty/mutual support she is going to be sorely dissapointed.
Posted by: remoteman || 11/07/2008 16:07 Comments || Top||

#13  Don't worry, Gav. Ya got that illegal alien crack dealer vote sewed up. They may need the absentee ballots sent down to Guatemala though.
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/07/2008 16:10 Comments || Top||

#14  TWEP = "Tween Ear Parts".
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 11/07/2008 18:39 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Jirga declares couple karo kari
A tribal jirga declared a couple karo kari and ordered their murder for marrying of their own will in Sukkur, ARY OneWorld reported. According to the channel, Aqil Dhareejo, an influential figure of the Dharejo tribe, allegedly held a jirga, which declared Dr Ali Akbar Naich and Aaisha Dharejo karo kari for contracting a 'love marriage'. On receiving information, Sukkur Deputy Inspector General Basheer Memon immediately ordered police to take action against the culprits and provide protection to the couple. Police registered an attempted murder case against Aqil, Ghulam Farid and Nizamuddin and arrested them late on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred || 11/07/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Huh?
Posted by: mojo || 11/07/2008 1:43 Comments || Top||

#2  "it's Chinatown Pakland, Jake"
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 6:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Seems like not following the family-arranged marriages thingie warrants the death penalty. You know, you've got to protect yer Family Honor and such. Nice people.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/07/2008 6:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Let's give these folks more visas.
Posted by: ed || 11/07/2008 7:10 Comments || Top||

#5  "it's Chinatown Pakland Neptune, Jake"
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/07/2008 10:39 Comments || Top||


Youth walks on fire to prove innocence
A youth walked on fire to prove his innocence in an alleged adultery case in the Zain Kot area of Dera Bugti, ARY OneWorld reported on Thursday. According to the channel, Pir Bux alleged that his nephew Muhammad Sharif had had illicit relations with his wife. A jirga heard the case and decided that Sharif would have to walk on burning coal to prove his innocence. The jirga also decided that Sharif would be declared a Karo if any pustules were seen 18 hours after he walks on fire, in that case he would also have to pay a fine of Rs 300,000 to his uncle. The practice of making people walk on fire to prove their innocence is a tribal tradition in Balochistan and called Charbeli in the local language.
Posted by: Fred || 11/07/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A Karo!!
Oh god not a Karo!!


What's a Karo?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/07/2008 11:26 Comments || Top||

#2  ask Cornsilk Blondie
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 12:33 Comments || Top||

#3  What's a Karo?

Syrup
Posted by: Beavis || 11/07/2008 12:56 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Mexican Scientists Turn Tequila Into Diamonds
Whoever thought that science was a dry subject might change their mind after learning about a new discovery in which tequila is turned into diamonds. A team of Mexican scientists found that the heated vapor from 80-proof (40% alcohol) tequila blanco, when deposited on a silicon or stainless steel substrate, can form diamond films.

The key to the surprising discovery is tequila's ratio of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, which lies within the "diamond growth region." The resulting diamond films could have inexpensive commercial applications as electrical insulators, say researchers Javier Morales, Luis Miguel Apátiga, and Víctor Manuel Castaño from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Morales is also with Nuevo LeónŽs Autonomous University).
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/07/2008 19:49 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I knew a woman who could do this.
Posted by: Formerly Dan || 11/07/2008 21:38 Comments || Top||

#2  tequila blanco? Try a good Anejo. It's worth more in liquid form, IMHO
Posted by: Frank G || 11/07/2008 22:03 Comments || Top||

#3  I know a much better use for tequila.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/07/2008 22:09 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2008-11-07
  Pak: 13 dead in dronezap
Thu 2008-11-06
  Iran: We can block off Persian Gulf in blink of an eye
Wed 2008-11-05
  America Votes. B.O. wins.
Tue 2008-11-04
  IAF strike zaps four Gazooks
Mon 2008-11-03
  Sheikh Sharif returns to Somalia
Sun 2008-11-02
  Gilani will complain about drone strikes to US
Sat 2008-11-01
  U.S. strike killed Abu Jihad al-Masri deader than Tut
Fri 2008-10-31
  Dronezap kills 15 in Pakistain
Thu 2008-10-30
  Serial kabooms kill 68, injure 470 in Assam
Wed 2008-10-29
  Canadian al-Qaeda bomb-maker guilty in British fertiliser bomb plot
Tue 2008-10-28
  Haji Omar Khan is no more
Mon 2008-10-27
  US strike kills up to 20 in Pakistain
Sun 2008-10-26
  U.S. Troops in Syria Raid
Sat 2008-10-25
  Paks bang 35 hard boyz in Bajaur
Fri 2008-10-24
  Qaeda big turban Khalid Habib titzup in Pakistain


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