A rampaging male elephant crushed its trainer to death and injured eighteen other people during a religious festival in southern India, witnesses said. The elephant apparently became aggressive after seeing another elephant being ill-treated by its trainer, Ummm... Elephants make some pretty fast friendships. And they can be pretty protective...
killing its handler before rampaging around the school premises where the festival was being held in Thrissur district of Kerala state. Television pictures broadcast today showed the tusked elephant carrying his trainer in its trunk and trampling over barricades, while frantic crowds scattered to get out of the way. Many people pelted large stones at the elephant, while others hit it with large bamboo sticks. Bet that calmed him down, didn't it?
It took authorities around three hours to bring the situation under control and tranquillise the animal. Authorities said they had ordered an inquiry into the incident, which happened on Sunday. Good idea. I hope he gets off.
Elephants are deeply revered in India, where the elephant-headed god Ganesha is one of the most popular in the Hindu pantheon and considered lucky.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The elephant apparently became aggressive after seeing another elephant being ill-treated by its trainer,
He'll scoot with a fair jury.
Them's africanized elephants in the picture tho.
#8
It took authorities around three hours to bring the situation under control and tranquillise the animal. Authorities said they had ordered an inquiry into the incident, which happened on Sunday.
Fred, " Good idea. I hope he gets off."
Looks like he will get off, as the man explains in this video .
Cheeta the chimpanzee, the animal star of 12 Tarzan films in the Thirties and Forties, celebrated his 75th birthday yesterday.
Officially the world's oldest chimp, Cheeta, who was 'discovered' by an animal trainer on a trip to Africa in the 1930s, is said to be in excellent shape at a primate centre in Palm Springs, California.
He has outlived both his human Tarzan costars. Johnny Weissmuller, who played the lead, died in 1984 aged 79, and Maureen O'Sullivan, who was Jane, died in 1998 at 87.
#4
Jeez, I'll tell ya there, booby, Hollywood's changed. I remember when Howard Hughes or Sinatra, I forget who it was, sent a coupla of their goons over to tell me to end that thing with Ava Gardner. Sumthin about messin up that pretty face. Mine not Ava's. And since the face is the career, I hadda end it. Broke her beautiful little heart.
The big stars are all gone now. Lassie, Rin TinTin, Flicka, Mickey Rooney. All gone. They wuz glorious days in Tinsel Town.
Anybody got a decent cigar? They won't lemme have any here, but I like to sneak one once in awhile when I can get my prehensile thumbs on one and, what the hell, it's my birthday, right?
Whaddya mean Mickey Rooney's still alive?
#7
For some reason, the goofy 60s Tarzan TV series changed the chimp's name to "Judy." The Mad Mazazine parody jumped on this and turned it into "Judas." Being a goofy 13 year old at the time, I of course thought this was LOL funny.
I haven't read Mad in years, not since the revered William M. Gaines passed on and the magazine fell into the dastardly clutches of corporate media. I may pick up a copy just to see what they have done to it.
#3
This sort of thing seems blazingly obvious to me. It's right up there with how people seem to think that one email address is enough for one person. I have a bunch - what, are emails expensive or something? If I want to do work things, I send it out under my real name. Others, get sent out under various aliases. What kind of mouth-breather thinks that sending out resumes under HtoTHEhizzy03@ is going to get responses?
#4
LOL ok what goober doesn't understand that they need two email addresses? One for professional use and one to collect all the sweepstake notifications, penis enlargment, and refi junk emails.
THE contemplative poems of William Wordsworth have drawn lovers of literature to England's peaceful Lake District for two centuries. Even without a hip hop beat.
But in an effort to make the region's most famous poet more relevant to a younger audience, local tourism officials have released a rap version of Wordsworth's 200-year-old classic of Romantic verse: I wandered lonely as a cloud.
The reworking manages to "stay true to the original sentiment with some slight variation of the lyrics", Cumbria Tourism insisted.
Accompanying the hip-hop theme on its website is a video featuring "MC Nuts" - a giant dancing red squirrel...
#1
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden imbeciles;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the imbeciles.
#4
One can only hope that when the day finally arrives whereby rap and hip hop are discerned to be the artless nonsense and utterly vacuous drooling repetitive drivel that they are, fans of this industrially manufactured tripe will have to cringe each time they think of their previous affection for it.
Rap, especially, is nothing less than a blight upon humanity's aural landscape. The ignorant Philistines who blare its monotonous unnuanced tedium into our environs are nothing short of vandals who celebrate their willingness to besmirch what little there is left of civilized peace and quiet.
#6
You are most welcome, KBK. Rap's intrinsic approval for the abuse of women, encouragement of ridiculously conspicuous consumption and glorification of the thug life make it nearly the same sort of retrograde force as Islam.
CAIRO - Thirty Egyptian women took the oath of office as judges on Tuesday, the largest such group to be appointed since 2003 when President Hosni Mubarak first named a woman judge despite opposition from conservatives.
Members of the new group, the majority of them wearing Islamic headscarves, took the oath at the High Court building in central Cairo in front of television cameras and photographers. I swear by God Almighty that I shall adjudicate between people according to justice and respect the laws, each judge said, standing behind Egypts national flag and facing the members of the Supreme Judicial Council.
Congratulations, Moqbil Shaker, head of the council, replied quietly to each of them. Every nation has a defining moment and this is a defining moment in the history of Egypt, Shaker said in a speech.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Compare women's rights wid AMERICAN THINKER > THE ANCIENT PERSIAN EMPIRE [anti-300].
Former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson announced Wednesday he's in remission from lymphoma. Thompson, who is considering a run for the White House in 2008, told FOX News that the illness is treatable.
"I have had no illness from it, or even any symptoms. My life expectancy should not be affected. I am in remission, and it is very treatable with drugs if treatment is needed in the future and with no debilitating side effects," Thompson said.
Thompson, an actor on "Law and Order," was diagnosed with indolent lymphoma about two-and-a-half years ago after a routine physical.
Thompson recently told FOX News he was considering making a bid for president. "I'm going to wait and see what happens," Thompson said. "I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November."
Thompson, 64, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on the NBC drama, said he was pondering a run after former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker and other Tennessee Republicans began drumming up support for his possible Republican candidacy, citing his conservative credentials.
#2
It's hard to understand what happened without more details -- lymphoma isn't a disease, it's a disease category; there are many types of lymphoma. Some are indeed very treatable, some less so.
Nevertheless, Mr. Thompson's campaign is over. We heard the same thing from Paul Tsongas (remember him?), and not long after he would have been elected, he had a relapse and eventually died from his lymphoma.
I guarantee you that if Mr. Thompson runs and gets any traction at all, those opposing him (primary or general election) will bring this very point up, and it will resonate with the public.
Good man, good politican, but I think this is an issue that will stop his campaign.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2007 11:43 Comments ||
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#3
Nevertheless, Mr. Thompson's campaign is over. We heard the same thing from Paul Tsongas (remember him?), and not long after he would have been elected, he had a relapse and eventually died from his lymphoma.
I'm genuinely sorry to hear that. Fred T gave me hope that I would be able to vote for somebody because I liked him, not because I disliked somebody else. I haven't been able to say that since Ronald Reagan's second term, and it bothers me.
So, back to the Mitt and Rudy show.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
04/11/2007 12:00 Comments ||
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#4
More: Bill Frist's website has a post about this, including comments from Thompson's physicians.
The statement talks about an 'indolent lymphoma', which is indeed one of the better ones to have, if you're going to have a lymphoma. I did a little quick reading on UpToDate, and here are some quick points --
Indolent lymphomas are 30 to 40% of non-Hodgkins lymphomas (NHL)
Most common takes are follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma (this can be indolent or aggressive), and small lymphocytic lymphoma
There are others but these others are rare
For all indolent lymphomas, survival of the untreated disease is measured in years, whereas with aggressive lymphomas, survival of the untreated disease is measured in months.
Indolent lymphomas generally are not curable with conventional treatment. Even if treatment results in only a partial response, survival may be in years.
More as I do more reading. The Frist statement notes that there is no sign of the lymphoma on physicial examination and that Mr. Thompson is in 'full remission' (does that mean he was treated?).
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2007 12:27 Comments ||
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#5
diagnosed in 2004 and treated with a drug, but stopped when it went into full remission, thats what his Dr. saying.
This doctor is a third-class liar. Let me explain why.
When you take a military medical scholarship, you owe one year of active duty service for every year of scholarship, plus one more. So a four-year medical school scholarship means a five year active duty commitment. The military is real clear about that when you sign up.
Further, the military decides when, after you graduate from medical school, you start your service time. That in turn depends on their needs, not yours (sounds familiar to you vets?). Some graduating medical students are allowed to sign up for full residencies, but others are told up front that theyll only get a transitional year internship, after which they start active duty. For those who are allowed to do a full residency, some may get to do advanced training (fellowship), but most who start a residency are told at that time when their service time will start. Understand that the military medical service generally likes doctors to have more training, not less; the advantages are obvious. But they know what their needs are, and they tell the graduating doctors what is going to happen to them.
This doc trained as an anesthesiologist. Thats a four year residency. He started in 2002 (inferred because his scholarship, which I presume covered medical school, was 1998 - 2002) and would graduate in June, 2006. The military not only knew that, they gave him permission to do this and did so in advance.
Thats important: if he didnt have their permission in advance, the anesthesiology training program would never have taken him, because they wouldnt know if he would be there the entire four years. Few residency programs will take a trainee with a military obligation unless they know for sure that he/she will be there for the duration. So he knew up front that he had four years of grace.
Now the military might not have told him in 2002 that he definitely would be called in 2006. They might have allowed him to get more advanced training. But absent any such commitment, he would know (just by being in the system) that in 2006, he was going to be going to active-duty status.
And indeed, in late 2005 he got orders telling him just that: youre finished with your training in 2006, and youll report to this location on this date. And its only then that he decides to be a C.O. Its horseshit -- he knew well beforehand what his obligations were and about when hed be ordered to start fulfilling them.
I dont know whether he thought he could put off his obligation, or whether he was going to try to game the system to get out of it completely. But the idea that he just suddenly became a C.O. when he was given preparatory orders is a lie. Hes a liar.
#2
I've seen this kind of crap since the '70's. Plently of guys I knew got Army/Navy college scholarships and then after graduation developed some 'medical problem' that keep them out of the service and were released from their military commitment.
They should have paid the money back and then done time for fraud. Bastards. Thieves. Cowards.
#4
Since doctors (and nurses and corpsmen) are legally noncombatants, how can a doctor claim to be a conscientous objector? Is he sayig that he will treat ordinary people who are injured, but not soldiers? As an anesthesiologist, his chances of actually serving in combat are close to zero.
#5
In addition to denying his c.o. status, the judge should also order that in addition to his military service, he owes the Army Reserve repayment over his scholarship.
Nearly half the prisoners in jail in Indonesias staunchly Muslim province of Aceh have escaped after a mass breakout involving more than 100 convicts, a warden said on Tuesday. Some 108 inmates out of 238 in the state jail escaped on Sunday after a gang of 15 took one prison guard hostage at knifepoint, the warden Jalil said. Only 12 of the prisoners have been captured again, while another voluntarily surrendered himself, said Jalil. The gang unlocked other cells in the state jail in Jantho and forced the guards to open the main gates, triggering the breakout, although 120 inmates decided not to flee, Jalil said. Most of the prisoners had been jailed on drug offences.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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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.
A rampaging male elephant crushed its trainer to death and injured eighteen other people during a religious festival in southern India, witnesses said. The elephant apparently became aggressive after seeing another elephant being ill-treated by its trainer, 
Nearly half the prisoners in jail in Indonesias staunchly Muslim province of Aceh have escaped after a mass breakout involving more than 100 convicts, a warden said on Tuesday. Some 108 inmates out of 238 in the state jail escaped on Sunday after a gang of 15 took one prison guard hostage at knifepoint, the warden Jalil said. Only 12 of the prisoners have been captured again, while another voluntarily surrendered himself, said Jalil. The gang unlocked other cells in the state jail in Jantho and forced the guards to open the main gates, triggering the breakout, although 120 inmates decided not to flee, Jalil said. Most of the prisoners had been jailed on drug offences.
