Hi there, !
Today Thu 03/24/2011 Wed 03/23/2011 Tue 03/22/2011 Mon 03/21/2011 Sun 03/20/2011 Sat 03/19/2011 Fri 03/18/2011 Archives
Rantburg
533888 articles and 1862505 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 67 articles and 251 comments as of 10:12.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Gaddafi compound attacked again amid reports son killed
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
10 00:00 Procopius2k [2] 
4 00:00 Procopiuis2k [4] 
3 00:00 gorb [4] 
1 00:00 tipover [2] 
7 00:00 Mr. Bill [1] 
10 00:00 HEQD [2] 
4 00:00 Anonymoose [3] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
2 00:00 SteveS [3]
3 00:00 Frank G [4]
2 00:00 Frank G [5]
1 00:00 Gmanzato [1]
2 00:00 JosephMendiola [2]
0 [4]
6 00:00 JosephMendiola [8]
0 [4]
5 00:00 gromky [1]
2 00:00 Pollyandrew [2]
0 [6]
8 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [2]
15 00:00 CincinnatusChili [1]
0 []
1 00:00 GolfBravoUSMC [2]
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [1]
0 [3]
0 [1]
2 00:00 g(r)omgoru [1]
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
0 [2]
0 [4]
12 00:00 Dribble2716 [8]
0 [5]
8 00:00 SteveS [6]
2 00:00 Pollyandrew [1]
0 [3]
0 [6]
2 00:00 Water Modem [1]
7 00:00 OId Patriot [3]
11 00:00 gorb [2]
Page 2: WoT Background
0 [3]
9 00:00 Pollyandrew [3]
0 [10]
0 [5]
2 00:00 trailing wife [5]
0 [1]
2 00:00 Procopius2k [1]
0 [7]
12 00:00 RandomJD [5]
0 [1]
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [7]
2 00:00 JosephMendiola [4]
5 00:00 CrazyFool [1]
1 00:00 trailing wife [2]
0 [6]
0 [5]
12 00:00 gorb [2]
12 00:00 JohnQC [2]
Page 4: Opinion
5 00:00 SR-71 [3]
2 00:00 trailing wife [2]
0 [2]
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [6]
11 00:00 Grunter [4]
0 [7]
Page 6: Politix
14 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain [7]
9 00:00 gorb [8]
5 00:00 wr [3]
3 00:00 Fi [1]
11 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [1]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Righthaven loses second fair use ruling over copyright lawsuits
An Oregon nonprofit did not infringe on copyrights when it posted without authorization an entire Las Vegas Review-Journal story on its website, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan said during a hearing he planned to dismiss, on fair use grounds, a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO), in Portland, Ore.

The lawsuit was filed last year by Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas, the Review-Journal's copyright enforcement partner that also enforces copyrights for the Denver Post.
HA-HA!
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/21/2011 11:45 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Karma's a b!tch.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/21/2011 16:23 Comments || Top||

#2  "HA-HA!"

That's HA-HA! ;-p

Cockles. Warm. Cardiac unit.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/21/2011 17:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Karma's a b!tch

Especially for gold-diggers.
Posted by: gorb || 03/21/2011 23:34 Comments || Top||


Fans mourn Knut's death at Berlin zoo
[Arab News] Hundreds of fans of Knut the polar bear flocked to his zoo enclosure Sunday to mourn the sudden death of the celebrity who burst into the limelight as a cuddly, fluffy cub hand-fed by his keeper.
Posted by: Fred || 03/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Died of stress ...bullied by the three Female Bears" > Whoa, ANTI-MALE RIGHTEOUS FEMMEZ LESBO INDIGNATION; or twas it TOO MUCH? NOT ENOUGH? POLAR BEAR SEX???

OTOH, Mama Bear may had abandoned Knut as a cub becuz she knew something was physically wrong wid him, + that Knut would not survive into adulthood even iff he had enough to eat or other. SCIENCE IS STILL TRYING TO FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY ANIMALS ABANDON THEIR YOUNG.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/21/2011 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  There are many polar bear cubs that are killed and eaten by the males. It is a brutal life. The sow bear has to be constantly on the watch against males while she rears her young.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/21/2011 1:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Bear paws are yummy.
Posted by: twobyfour || 03/21/2011 4:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I will remember Knut fondly, because he about fractured Germany's large animal-rights faction. When he was born, his mother abandoned him, and some of the kookier PETA kooks demanded that he be killed, because for humans to raise him would be "unnatural".

Except for a small group of kitten stompers in Hamburg, this did not go over well with the public, who would have much preferred that members of PETA be stomped, and publicly.

Zoo keeper Thomas Dörflein, who was tasked with raising Knut, overnight became a celebrity. He had to provide 24-hour care, even sleeping next to Knut, and received a huge volume of fan mail to them both.

Their parting, at about seven months, because of Knut's size, was greeted with great sadness by the public, made more so when he died of a heart attack not too long after.

PETA, never missing an opportunity to piss people off, then demanded that Knut be castrated, supposedly to prevent inbreeding, or at least that he be kept away from the public, as he was becoming fond of having an appreciative audience.

At that point, the typical German would have enjoyed pay-per-view of PETA activists being thrown into the cage with Knut.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/21/2011 10:48 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Strong quake hits off Philippines coast
[Straits Times] A 6.4-MAGNITUDE earthquake hit off the northern coast of the Philippines on Sunday, local seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said there was no immediate tsunami alert, but said it was continuing to monitor northern areas.

The quake was located 117km north-east of Laoag city in Luzon island at a depth of 50km, the institute said.

The United States Geological Survey recorded the quake as magnitude 6.0, and said it struck at a depth of 36 km.
Posted by: Fred || 03/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Multiple spheres or oblongs of lights again oer POST-MIDNITE GUAM-WESTPAC, to include BLUE-COLORED ONES.

Even agz the blackness one could still see the blue.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/21/2011 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  That whole plate boundary is active lately. Let's hope it's just settling.
Posted by: mojo || 03/21/2011 2:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Given that big shift in Japan area,. the rest of the system probably will have some settling to do. Good thing this was relatively mild.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/21/2011 2:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Hello JM; Your post was interesting but I can find no other news source other than yours. I am just doing a followup for more information. TKY
Posted by: Dale || 03/21/2011 11:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Makes you wonder if the next wave of quakes will hit Alaska or whether the 1964 Alaska earthquake began the sequence that is traveling around the Ring of Fire.
Posted by: Oscar Spineck3066 || 03/21/2011 12:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Wikipedia says the Alaska quake was magnitude 9.2.
Posted by: Oscar Spineck3066 || 03/21/2011 12:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Ouch! 9.2 that's serious. Ring of fire would next be heading south. California has had several shallow depth tremors in the last 24 hours. It's amazing how shallow they are. If they were volcanic the alarms would be going of.
Posted by: Dale || 03/21/2011 12:45 Comments || Top||

#8  OH! your talking about the 1964 quake. Nothing reported that big at USGS. 1.3 with I recall a 4. something. Just had a quake within the hour in California but small one.
Posted by: Dale || 03/21/2011 12:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Notice that the Haliburton-Earthquake Division has been rather quiet around here recently. Hmmmmm. They need better calibration.
Tehran is over <-
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/21/2011 14:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Waziristan first. Calibration works better in mountains for some reason. Depth, I say.
Posted by: HEQD || 03/21/2011 16:39 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia's Medvedev Slams Putin Over 'Crusade' Remarks
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/21/2011 12:53 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They are both wrong. But of the two Mededev is more wrong. The politically correct BS he is spouting in that article, has rotten his brain.
This is Jihad which has out across North Africa to to establish Sharia and a new Ummam. The crusaders have been fooled, or have themselves into backing the spittle spraying Islamists against the so called secularists.
Posted by: tipper || 03/21/2011 14:35 Comments || Top||

#2  "Bad cop, good cop" or power struggle?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/21/2011 14:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Bad cop, good cop" or power struggle?

Good cop, bad cop. Putin rules with the old KGB fist.
Posted by: Gmanzato || 03/21/2011 15:39 Comments || Top||

#4  While most in the West can tag Crusade to the attempts to reclaim Christian lands lost to the Islamic conquests, there were also concurrent Crusades carried out with similar blessings against those inhabitants of the Baltic and Slavic regions which were for conquest. The resistance by the Rus against these efforts has been celebrated and sanctified in the honors attended Alexander Nevsky and his Battle on the Ice in the culture. It didn't help that Hitler tried to rationalize his invasion of Russia with a tag of a Crusade against Bolshevism. So the word has more baggage in the Russian vernacular than ours.
Posted by: Procopiuis2k || 03/21/2011 16:53 Comments || Top||


Economy
Existing-Home Sales Plunge, Setback for Housing Recovery
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell unexpectedly sharply in February and prices touched their lowest level in nearly nine years, implying a housing market recovery was still a long off.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday sales fell 9.6 percent month over month to an annual rate of 4.88 million units, snapping three straight months of gains.
Unexpectedly! (man... if I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I could fill up my gas tank on my Hummer)
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/21/2011 14:36 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  unexpectedly
Posted by: Jairt Tingle8527 || 03/21/2011 15:36 Comments || Top||

#2  "unexpectedly" applies to housing, unemployment, inflation, election outcomes....anything that doesn't match the White House expectations as they forge ahead with policies that are oblivious to reality on every front.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 03/21/2011 15:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I have heard West Virginia is sending out assessors
to evaluate properties assessment."unexpectedly" your property taxes go up. I know of one family in Pennsylvania that get property tax increases every year. Began at $4000 next year $5000 now $6000 when most homes in his area are in bankruptcy. $600,000 dollar homes now if sold are going for $200,000.
Posted by: Dale || 03/21/2011 18:09 Comments || Top||

#4  now $6000 when most homes in his area are in bankruptcy When taxes match the home's resale value, give it to the state!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/21/2011 18:45 Comments || Top||

#5  AH Hello!; Yes give it back to the state. But he built this home himself. He was Vietnamese but escaped with one sister. His other sister was killed. So he has fought for everything he has got here. He doesn't want to make waves but he feels this country is becoming like his old country where the government just takes.
Posted by: Dale || 03/21/2011 19:03 Comments || Top||

#6  But he built this home himself.

Dale, have your friend consult a competent real estate agent. "Competent" in this case is defined by an agent who has at least five years of $1 million in sales over the last decade. He'll want her to pull up at least three comparable houses that recently sold in his area, and have her explain why they got those prices compared to what his would sell for. With that information he might well win his argument with the assessment office. Without that information he most certainly won't.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/21/2011 19:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Thank you TW I'll pass that on. I should see him Thursday.
Posted by: Dale || 03/21/2011 20:57 Comments || Top||

#8  The value of your home isn't as important as the mill levy assessed against it by all your local taxing entities. Your friendly appraiser could lower all valuations by 50% but I guarantee you'll still pay the same amount in property taxes.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 03/21/2011 21:00 Comments || Top||

#9  I'd love to own a house but can't afford it. Never have, probably never will. But I do feel a tiny bit sorry for all the dumb bastards who did buy homes they can't afford. But not for all the greedy speculators who drove up prices thinking they would rake in cash for houses they never intended to live in.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 03/21/2011 21:02 Comments || Top||

#10  I just want some sort of independent check on the assessors and the treasurers offices to make sure the institutions holding the paper on those houses that have been on the market for 2+ years are paying their taxes or they're moved to the sheriff's sale.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/21/2011 23:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
States Budget Crisis (Graphic)
Shows dollars and percent of budget, areas where cuts are proposed, pension liabilities, and the preponderance of Republican governors/legislatures, on different tabs.
Posted by: Bobby || 03/21/2011 09:15 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now that's funny. Of course California has the biggest shortfall but that shortfall's percentage of the the budget is smaller than that of Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and (oh my) Texas!

OK. I understand that California's budget bloated way beyond what any sane and responsible legislature would allow. But once in a while it is fun to make fun of Texas. Hey, what's going on down there anyway? I thought they were supposed to be conservative.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/21/2011 12:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Texas operates on a two year budget. The legislature meets 140 days every two years. No full timers having to justify their phony baloney jobs.

1. When they meet, it is expected the legislators will cut the budget into balance. Just like in previous years.

2. TX has nearly $10 billion in its Rainy Day Fund to make up temporary shortfalls. CA doesn't.
Posted by: Oscar Spineck3066 || 03/21/2011 12:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Somehow, with Texas and it's buisness friendly climate, it's conservative leadership and the massive influx of people getting new jobs, I have more faith in Texas to pull through any slowdown/shortfall than I do in CA.

Especially since CA is hemorrhaging jobs and (legal) population like crazy.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/21/2011 12:32 Comments || Top||

#4  I suspect it will be easier for Texas to deal with a $13 B shortfall than California to handle a $25 B one. Rag on Texas if you will, but you can get an idea of the market price of this budget buffoonery by looking at U-Haul rates going from CA to TX vs going the other way.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/21/2011 12:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Hmm.. interesting... Illinois at 45% (that's PERCENT) defect.

Even little old Washington State with its little ole 18% - I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the state capital from here in Seattle because of the proposed cuts.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/21/2011 14:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Rag on Texas if you will, but you can get an idea of the market price of this budget buffoonery by looking at U-Haul rates going from CA to TX vs going the other way.

I keep waiting for that to translate into lighter traffic on Interstate 5 but so far no such luck.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/21/2011 14:08 Comments || Top||

#7  And for some reason, down here in Texas, while governor Perry was running for re-election last year, he kept saying we had a budget surplus...He was WRONG. And now to cut the state budget which means massive local school employee cuts to make up for lower funding for school districts. And I live in Austin, which has a pretty decent tax base. But because of the Robin Hood law, Austin has to send millions of $ to a less wealthy county. Good Job all round!!/sarc off
Posted by: Mr. Bill || 03/21/2011 20:20 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
The tiny cube that could cut your cell phone bill
But a cube that fits in the palm of your hand could help solve that problem.

It's called lightRadio, a Rubik's cube-sized device made by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) that takes all of the components of a cell phone tower and compresses them down into a 2.3-inch block. Unlike today's cell towers and antennas, which are large, inefficient and expensive to maintain, lightRadio is tiny, capacious and power-sipping.

With a combination of miniaturization and cloud technology, lightRadio just might be able to help wireless carriers keep pace with their customers.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/21/2011 10:26 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think this is the system that uses frequencies adjacent to gps. With bleed over it can easily trash the upgrade of the US airspace based on gps tech.

They SAY there won't be any interference but the testing has not been properly done as yet. The Company is spending big dollars already.
Posted by: tipover || 03/21/2011 10:52 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
57[untagged]
3al-Shabaab
2Govt of Iran
1Commies
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Govt of Pakistan
1Govt of Syria
1Taliban

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2011-03-21
  Gaddafi compound attacked again amid reports son killed
Sun 2011-03-20
  Crisis in Libya: U.S. bombs Qaddafi's airfields
Sat 2011-03-19
  Fighting reported near Benghazi - Tanks enter city
Fri 2011-03-18
  Libya declares ceasefire after UN resolution
Thu 2011-03-17
  Bahrain forces launch crackdown on protesters
Wed 2011-03-16
  UNSC Introduces No-Fly Zone Draft Resolution
Tue 2011-03-15
  Gaddafi army penetrates rebel areas
Mon 2011-03-14
  Libya: the rebels ready to defend Ajdabiya
Sun 2011-03-13
  Libyan troops 'force rebels out of Brega'
Sat 2011-03-12
  5 family members murdered by terrorist in Itamar settlement
Fri 2011-03-11
  Rebel forces retreat from Ras Lanuf
Thu 2011-03-10
  Libya no-fly zone a UN decision, "not US": Clinton
Wed 2011-03-09
  OIC rejects military action on Libya
Tue 2011-03-08
  Gaddafi sends negotiators to Benghazi
Mon 2011-03-07
  National Libyan Council to seek recognition
Sun 2011-03-06
  Gaddafi forces fight to seize Zawiyah, dozens killed


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.
18.116.51.117
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (31)    WoT Background (18)    Opinion (6)    (0)    Politix (5)