The spin at the beginning is bad enough but - note if your equipment floated away or was hauled off with your house... Comcast is dunning you up to $694.34 and sending collectors after you.... in your tent...
Cable provider Comcast Corp. said 81 island residents who received letters from a debt collection agency demanding the immediate return of, or payment for, converter boxes, remotes and modems lost in Hurricane Ike are owed letters of apology.
But some island residents who opened their mail Thursday didn't find apologies. Instead, they got more hounding from the collection agency advising them to pay up or return the ruined equipment. The letters come as frustration and bafflement about Comcast's post-Ike policies on flooded equipment mount.
Comcast said Thursday it had directed Carrollton-based Credit Management LP to suspend collection efforts against island customers who canceled cable service after Hurricane Ike struck Sept. 13 but did not return equipment submerged in seawater when thousands of houses and apartments were flooded.
If Comcast customers have been able to recover their converter box, cable modem or remote after the storm, they should return the equipment to one of the company's area service centers, Bybee said. In Galveston, Comcast has set up a temporary service center at the Island Community Center, 4700 Broadway. Once the equipment was returned, Comcast would remove the charges from their accounts so they wouldn't be billed, Bybee said.
Comcast would not charge for damaged equipment, he said. But if the equipment was lost because of the storm, Comcast is advising customers to file the loss on their homeowners' insurance policy at the same time they file other household claims, such as appliances and electronics.
Comcast said the charge for the equipment would appear on a customer's monthly statement. However, the company would not require payment for at least 90 days, allowing enough time for consumers to receive insurance reimbursements.
But because the equipment is rented, most insurers won't reimburse policyholders for it, said Jerry Johns, a spokesman for industry trade group Southwestern Insurance Information Service. If insurers won't cover it, or some cable subscribers don't have insurance, then they should send a letter to Comcast saying so, Bybee said. "We want to work with every one of our customers,'" Bybee said.
TAIPEI, Taiwan: A student in Taiwan has died right after winning an eating contest at a university campus, apparently choking on Chinese steamed buns filled with cheese and eggs, local newspapers say.
Apple Daily and United Daily News say 23-year-old Chen Chun-ing dashed to the bathroom after swallowing two buns in one minute. Other students found him lying on the floor soon afterward.
The papers say Chen was rushed to hospital but failed to respond to resuscitation efforts.
As competition winner, Chen would have won NT$2,000 (US$60).
Posted by: john frum ||
10/25/2008 11:05 ||
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FIREFIGHTERS dodged fallen power lines to rescue and resuscitate a dog and four kittens at a home in Melbourne's west this evening.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) found the front and roof of the single- storey home in Seddon fully ablaze just before 9pm (AEDT).
A woman and her three children had been inside but managed to escape.
An MFB spokesman said when firefighters entered the house, they found a pet dog named Leo, not breathing, beside a box of four kittens.
Firefighters rushed Leo and the kittens outside, where all were revived.
As fire crews fought the fire, they had to dodge fallen power lines that had come away from the house.
An 11-year-old girl suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to hospital for observation.
There were no working smoke alarms in the house, and the cost of damage has been estimated at about $150,000.
THIS amazing image of a mammoth spider devouring a bird was taken in the backyard of a property near Cairns. The image, which is being cirulated via email worldwide, is real, according to wildlife experts, The Cairns Post reported.
The photo, believed to have been taken earlier this week, shows the spider clenching its legs around a lifeless bird trapped in a web at a property near Atherton, west of Cairns.
Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at NSW's Australian Reptile Park, has told ninemsn the spider was a golden orb weaver. "Normally they prey on large insects, it's unusual to see one eating a bird," he said.
Mr Shakepeare said he had seen Golden Orb Weaver spiders as big as a human hand but the northern species in tropical areas were known to grow larger. Mr Shakespeare told ninemsn the bird, a chestnut-breasted mannikin which appears frozen in an angel-like pose in the pictures, is likely to have flown into the web and got caught. "It wouldn't eat the whole bird," he said.
A Polish driver who was too sure of his GPS road navigation device ended up neck-deep in a lake after ignoring road signs warning of a dead-end ahead, Polish police said overnight.
"The man took a road that was closed a year ago when the area was flooded to make an artificial lake serving as a water reservoir - he ignored three road signs warning of a dead-end," police spokesman in Glubczyce, Piotr Smolen, said.
RAMMING SPEEEEED!!!!!
"It was still night time and he didn't notice the road led into the lake. His GPS told him to drive straight ahead and he did," Mr Smolen said, adding the driver had not been under the influence of alcohol.
The road ran straight downhill into the lake.
The Mercedes mini-van was nearly entirely submerged and was unable to back out on its own after being inundated with water. The driver and two passengers escaped unharmed from the submerged vehicle and waited on its roof for police and fire rescue crews. The driver placed the first call to emergency services while still inside the sinking van.
#1
"This is OnStar. We received an automatic signal that you did something really stoopid. Would you like us to call for help while you sit there embarrassed, or do you want to swim to shore, walk home, and call your vehicle in as stolen?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/25/2008 10:14 Comments ||
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Driver and two passengers, three signs, and a lake. No alcohol? -- I'm not buying that.
GUJRAT: Pakistan was fighting a gorilla war against the militants and nothing could be said about when this war would be over, said Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar on Saturday.
He expressed these views at Awami Rabita Office while talking to the media.
Ahmed Mukhtar said American soldiers and NATO officials were providing special training to FC Jawans at Warsaq to prepare them for the war on terrorism.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/25/2008 10:21 ||
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#1
Soon, Pakland's finest will be able to declare total undeniable victory as there won't be any gorillas to be found
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/25/2008 10:26 Comments ||
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SLAMABAD: Saudi authorities have plainly refused to extend $400 million from its Development Fund for supply of urea fertiliser on deferred payment, official sources in the Economic Affairs Division told The News on Friday.
The Kingdom has serious concerns about smuggling of imported urea fertiliser from Pakistan to the Central Asian States through Chaman border, an EAD official said.
We have differences over modalities but hopefully the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) may release the amount, an official of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) said when asked for comments.
Besides a credit facility of $125 million for fertiliser, Pakistan has received Saudi credit facility of $133 million, which the Kingdom pledged after the devastating earthquake of 2005 and Pakistan imported urea fertiliser due to its shortfall in the country during the last couple of years.
Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Nazar Mohammad Gondal, addressing a press conference at B block, told media that the finance minister has authorised MINFAL to import about 0.25 million tonnes of urea for the forthcoming Rabi season as it had released $100,000 for the purchase of the commodity through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan from the international market.
After getting a nod from Saudi authorities, MINFAL with the consent of urea manufacturers are forwarding a summary to the ECC for permitting the private sector to import the commodity at their own and the government would pick the price differential under the head of subsidy.
The availability of DAP and urea fertilisers for the coming Rabi season will be quite enough to meet the domestic consumption that is around 990,000 tonnes DAP and 2.6 million tonnes urea, said a statement distributed at the press conference.
To ensure the food security, the government has planned to import an extra one million tonnes of wheat thus totalling wheat import to 3.5 million tonnes against the previous import of 2.5 million tonnes for 2008-09, the statement added.
The statement further said that up till now, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has contracted 1.7 million tonnes and 1.5 million tonnes of wheat have already arrived in the country.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/25/2008 10:02 ||
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sounds like next year they should be planting instead of waging jihad.
ISLAMABAD - The governments ill-conceived decision to withdraw a hunting ground from Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif has not only hurt the pride of Kingdoms ruling family but also put Pak-Saudi exemplary bilateral relations in jeopardy.
The decision added insult to the injury when the land in Rajanpur was withdrawn from Prince Naif, who falls third in the line of ruling hierarchy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and leased out to a dignitary in Dubai.
According to well-placed sources, the Saudi rulers felt it bad as they were having only two hunting grounds in Pakistan out of which one thirty-year-old lease (renewable every year) was withdrawn in a derogatory manner. Consequently, the Saudis are left with only one hunting ground as against the UAE rulers who have about a dozen of them.
The sources observed that the land withdrawal some three weeks ago, put the entire bilateral relationships between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on an undeclared moratorium. Now, the sources believe, the almost halted bilateral cooperation between the two countries could be rectified only after the government of Pakistan appeases the Saudi rulers. The first option, they mentioned, could be the return of lease of the same land to the Saudi Prince. Asked about other options to resolve the issue, the sources said, If one is willing to undo a wrong one could draw out alternatives but the basic question is to accord serious consideration to the gravity of the issue.
On the other hand, they said, the government of Pakistan so far had been taking the matter lightly, since Saudis request to seek return of the land placed at the apex level before the authorities in Pakistan did not yield any results as yet.
Starting from micro impact of rendering jobless the 60 to 70 people who were looking after that land on behalf of the Saudi Prince, the ground withdrawal issue could be tantamount to badly impacting even the fragile economy of Pakistan, especially in the current precarious circumstances of the countrys economy. Moreover Pakistan can hardly afford to annoy Saudis particularly at at this critical juncture when it direly needs friends like China and Saudi Arabia. According to the sources, unless the government of Pakistan addresses this issue on priority basis, the bilateral relations between the two countries would not improve.
They also mentioned that the Saudis did mind that President Asif Ali Zardari could not so far make it to visit the Kingdom despite publicly expressing his desire to do so, especially in the scenario emerging after the withdrawal of the land.
Asked about the fate of the Saudi Oil facility for Pakistan, the sources said, everything going on at the bilateral level is feared to be stuck up at as it is, where it is level in case the government continues to give a cold shoulder to Saudi request to lease back the hunting ground in Rajanpur to Prince Naif.
You are talking about Saudi Oil facility, the government of Pakistan could get budgetary or even balance of payment support from Saudi Arabia by returning the same hunting ground back to them, the sources maintained.
The sources further told The Nation that the other days announcement by the Saudi government to impose restriction of language even on the unskilled labour force imported from Pakistan was also linked with the hunting ground withdrawal. The sources feared that the government of Saudi Arabia could take more stringent measures regarding the Pakistani expatriates.
Unfortunately, it were the working class that suffered first while in future Pakistani business community could also face music in terms of conditions imposed on Saudi visa process, the sources observed.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/25/2008 09:58 ||
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#1
a lot of pretty land for hunting in the Swat valley.
They could even let Prince Naif hunt the most dangerous game in the world.....
MORE than 50 people were arrested and about a dozen injured in clashes with police in eastern India in protests against attacks on migrants in the financial hub of Mumbai.
Protesters vandalised railway stations, blocked rail and road traffic and caused shops to shut down in the eastern state of Bihar, as police struggled to control street violence for a sixth day in a row.
Migrant workers from Bihar said they were attacked and thrown out of Mumbai over the last week by supporters of the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS), a militant Hindu group.
Protesters in one district of Bihar squatted on railways lines and unscrewed the engine of a passenger train, demanding the punishment of the MNS leader, who was arrested on Tuesday for rioting and provoking attacks on migrants but later released on bail.
The protesters were later dispersed by baton-wielding police.
"The protesters tried to take possession of a train engine and blocked railway lines but we have driven them away", senior police official Rajesh Kumar said.
Many residents chose to stay indoors as the violence caused banks, businesses and schools to shut down.
The MNS is fuelling anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of national and local elections due next year and trying to hold on to its Marathi support, some political commentators say.
That in turn has provoked tit-for-tat violence in northern and eastern India, a sign of the strains that inequality is placing on society as parts of the country's economy booms.
A nun who was allegedly raped by more than 40 men during recent anti-Christian violence in eastern India demanded a federal investigation, and accused local police of shielding her attackers.
The nun said she was sexually assaulted by a rioting mob on August 25, days after the murder of a Hindu priest sparked attacks by Hindu extremists on the Christian community in coastal Orissa state.
"They pulled out my sari and one of them stepped on my right hand and another on my left hand and then a third person raped me," said Mina Barwa, who broke down in tears several times while speaking to reporters in New Delhi.
Barwa, 29, said she was dragged to a burned-out Christian home where the terrifying crime occurred. She was then beaten with sticks and paraded semi-naked in the streets as mobs threatened to gang rape her.
"They had already torn away my blouse and undergarments," she said of her attackers. "And they went on beating me with their hands on my cheeks and head and with sticks on my back."
More than half-a-dozen people have been arrested over the incident.
But Barwa, who covered her face with a scarf while speaking with reporters, said she had little faith in local Orissa police.
"State police failed to stop the crimes, failed to protect me from the attackers, they were friendly with the attackers, and they tried their best to make sure that I did not make complaints against police," she said.
"I was raped and now I don't want to be victimised by the Orissa police."
At least 35 people died in weeks of anti-Christian attacks in Orissa and nearly 50,000 fled their homes. Many of them remain in state-run shelters.
"The conditions in those relief shelters are terrible. There are no toilets and officials say tribal women don't need any toilets," said rights activist John Dayal.
Thousands of people are also living in the forests, unable to return as their houses have been burned down, Dayal said.
"People have no faith in police."
Mobs have attacked dozens of churches, prayer halls and Catholic-run schools and burned down scores of Christian homes in the state, which is ruled by a political party allied to India's Hindu nationalist party.
Hardline Hindu groups accuse missionaries of bribing poor tribes people and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care.
Catholic groups say Christians in the state are being forced to reconvert to Hinduism.
Pope Benedict XVI has strongly condemned the violence.
India's Supreme Court this week rejected a plea by a Catholic bishop for a federal investigation into the alleged rape, saying the matter should be probed by the Orissa police.
Religious clashes erupt periodically in India where only 2.3 percent of the more than 1.1 billion population are practising Christians.
#1
I guess if you are afraid to confront your Muslim problems, you 'kick the dog', so to speak - direct your animosity onto one who is of no danger to you.
The first astronauts sent to Mars should be prepared to spend the rest of their lives there, in the same way that European pioneers headed to America knowing they would not return home, says moonwalker Buzz Aldrin.
In an interview with AFP, the second man to set foot on the Moon said the Red Planet offered far greater potential than Earth's satellite as a place for habitation.
With what appears to be vast reserves of frozen water, Mars "is nearer terrestrial conditions, much better than the Moon and any other place," Aldrin, 78, said in a visit to Paris on Tuesday.
"It is easier to subsist, to provide the support needed for people there than on the Moon."
It took Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins eight days to go to the Moon -- 380,000 kilometres (238,000 miles) from Earth -- and return in July 1969, aboard Apollo 11.
Going to Mars, though, is a different prospect.
The distance between the Red Planet and Earth varies between 55 million (34 million miles) and more than 400 million kms (250 million miles).
Even at the most favourable planetary conjunction, this means a round trip to Mars would take around a year and a half.
"That's why you [should] send people there permanently," said Aldrin. "If we are not willing to do that, then I don't think we should just go once and have the expense of doing that and then stop."
He asked: "If we are going to put a few people down there and ensure their appropriate safety, would you then go through all that trouble and then bring them back immediately, after a year, a year and a half?"
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are sketching tentative plans for a manned mission to Mars that would take place around 2030 or 2040.
Based on experience culled from a planned return to the Moon, the mission would entail about half a dozen people, with life-support systems and other gear pre-positioned for them on the Martian surface.
Aldrin said the vanguard could be joined by others, making a colony around 30 people.
"They need to go there more with the psychology of knowing that you are a pioneering settler and you don't look forward to go back home again after a couple a years," he said.
"At age 30, they are given an opportunity. If they accept, then we train them, at age 35, we send them. At age 65, who knows what advances have taken place. They can retire there, or maybe we can bring them back."
Many scientists argue that sending humans to Mars is a waste of money compared with unmanned missions that deliver more science and point out the risks from psychological stress and damage to DNA from fast-moving sub-atomic particles called cosmic rays.
Aldrin, though, argued that given the time lag in communications between Earth and Mars, it made sense to have human explorers who could make decisions swiftly and on the spot.
And, he said, going to Mars provided a rationale for manned flights, which were designed to "do things that are innovative, new, pioneering."
On that score, Aldrin said the US space shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS) were a disappointment.
The shuttle "has not lived up to its expectations, neither has the space station," said Aldrin.
The United States will be without manned flight capability for around five years after the problem-plagued shuttle is withdrawn in 2010, while the ISS, still under construction, may cost as much as 100 billion dollars, according to some estimates.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/25/2008 11:06 ||
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#1
Proposed manifest:
Bawnee Fwank - Berth Assignments
Chris Dodd - Berth Assignments Photographer
Nancy Pelosi - Image Consultant
Harry Reid - Twit-in-Chief
George Soros - Purser
Michael Moore - Activities Director
Oprah Winfrey - Aerobics Instructor
Oops...looks like we may have exceeded MGVW. No problem, leave off a few of the O2 canisters....
#4
So what the hell do you have against the Martians Uncle?
What do you mean? It's no big deal. Uncle Phester is just suggesting that we send Frank, Dodd, Pelosi, Reid, Soros, Moore, and Winfrey back to their home planet is all.
#5
...coulda been that Roswell probe [not to be confused with a Congressional probe, though both seem to be rather pointless, done just for jollies, and end up in the same dark place].
#10
He's trying to be realistic but it's not practical to think NASA who are unable to really handle risk anymore would send people on a one-way mission. If NASA wants to go to Mars they will have to accept a certain level of risk, but telling people it's a suicide mission is hardly the way to build up any long term infrastructure.
A team of Greek archaeologists has unearthed the ruins of a 58-square-meter Neolithic house in the country's northern Pella region.
Excavating the area for five months, archeologists unearthed the base of the house, which was made from wooden poles, branches and mud. The team also found a kitchen area with two ovens, clay pots and stone tools, Reuters reported.
Two rooms were also discovered in the building, which showed that Stone Age farmers processed grains in the house.
"This is a rare case. All findings have remained untouched by farming or any other activity for about 6,000 years," a Greek culture ministry statement read. "The building was destroyed by fire. Residents had time to abandon it, taking with them stone tools, which were difficult and time-consuming to make," the ministry said, adding, "They left behind heavy objects, such as milling stones."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
It was burnt for the insurance in the very first credit bubble ever.
#3
Now officially the 2564867th Holiest Place of Islam (as it faces mecca), thus proving once fvor all that the roots of Europe as muslim. At least, that's what I expect to come out about it in the very near future from one scholar or an another.
Another 140 Australian reserve soldiers will be deployed to the Solomon Islands to help maintain peace and stability, the Federal Government has announced.
The soldiers will join in Operation ANODE, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) contribution to the Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands (RAMSI).
The reservists from South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, will help "maintain regional peace and stability" and help the local government improve law and order, the defence department said.
"During the four-month deployment, the soldiers will carry out street patrols alongside the Australian Federal Police and in support of the RAMSI participating police forces within Solomon Islands," Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said in a statement.
"Additionally, Army personnel will also be involved in numerous community outreach activities on behalf of RAMSI."
Mr Fitzgibbon thanked the reservists' civilian bosses for releasing the soldiers.
"Their contribution in Solomon Islands is made all the more exceptional by the fact that their civilian employers have released them to provide military service to a neighbour in need," he said.
Since 2006, the ADF has deployed five Army Reserve Company groups accounting for more than 700 part-time soldiers.
Reservists make up the bulk of the regiment currently in the Solomon Islands, with 140 full-time troops also on the ground.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/25/2008 08:19 ||
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If only they would. Sigh.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/25/2008 11:14 Comments ||
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What do you have against the Canadians who've just re-elected a Conservative Government. Dump them on the Socialist Euros who seem to love the dogma. Or Cuba is you want to save on fuel.
Not just save fuel, P2k - the ELITEs in the video bitched that Canada is cold (poor babeeees). Cuba doesn't have that problem, but it does have state-run media and socialized medicine, so I'm sure it would be an acceptable substitute.
I'd chip in for their airfare, but since one of the requirements is that they earn over $100,000....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/25/2008 21:22 Comments ||
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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.
THIS amazing image of a mammoth spider devouring a bird was taken in the backyard of a property near Cairns. The image, which is being cirulated via email worldwide, is real, according to wildlife experts, 
