A former school district employee is accused of using school computers in an experiment to find space aliens, costing the worker his job and the district more than $1 million.
School officials say that Brad Niesluchowski, who was Higley Unified School District's information technology director, downloaded free software on district computers in 2000. The program, known as SETI(at)home, uses Internet-connected computers worldwide to analyze radio telescope data in an experiment to find extraterrestrial intelligence.
But Superintendent Denise Birdwell told the East Valley Tribune that the program also bogged down the district's system and interfered with technology use in classrooms. Birdwell said it will take more than $1 million to fix the problem, including removal of the SETI software.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/03/2009 15:03 ||
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What? What?
It's a program that runs as a SCREEN SAVER. Just delete the program from each computer and you're done.
Hell, I'll do it for them, $50 per computer plus per diem and travel. I'll make a mint and they'll be happy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2009 15:33 Comments ||
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I agree, Steve.
Beyond that, the SETI Institute and its SETI at home program have NOTHING to do with UFOs, the UFO culture, or any other kind of pseudoscience. It is a scientifically legitimate and well-vetted project that analyzes radio telescope data for intelligent signals.
#3
To clarify, SETI at Home is not a project of the SETI Institute but they do support it and vouch for its legitimacy.
Btw, this is not the first case I have heard of in which ignorant school officials have confused legitimate science with UFOolery and acted on that assumption to their regret.
They WILL regret this one, btw. SETI at Home is very popular among skeptics and science advocates.
#5
Hey Steve, it's snowing outside here. I'd be happy to spend a couple of weeks in Mesa & I'd only charge them $49.50/ea.
The per diem is negotiable and I believe I could talk my wife into springing for the travel costs out of her 'mad money'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/03/2009 16:29 Comments ||
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#6
oh fuck....
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
12/03/2009 18:15 Comments ||
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Birdwell said it will take more than $1 million to fix the problem, including removal of the SETI software.
LOL!
BS... Hell I could drop a new image on them suckers for 100K. No questions asked.
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
12/03/2009 18:18 Comments ||
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#8
I have to wonder what genius diagnosed this "problem," whether it is the same one who wants a million bucks to fix it, and just whose cousin/in-law/side-business partner he or she might be.
#11
Especially the cables. Look, d'you see those spiderweb-like thingies draped around them, and the ones that look like peripatetic dust bunnies? That's them! Eeeeek!!!! Steve ---- Richard ----- Perry ---- save us, please save us before they start the anal probes!!!!!!!!!!
#12
save us, please save us before they start the anal probes!!!!!!!!!!
I dunno..the last one was pretty gentle, almost loving, in a Greyman™ kinda way....
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2009 20:44 Comments ||
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#13
TW - Aristotelian sloth's wool?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/03/2009 22:46 Comments ||
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#14
This will roll over in about 10 minutes, but anyway...
If I'm reading this article right, the school district hasn't replaced its computers since 2000. So the inevitable decline of those hard drives is being blamed on the SETI software, and this Brad guy has to pay for new computers. Brilliant.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/03/2009 14:37 ||
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#1
According to Wikipedia, Ecstacy induces euphoria and a feeling of intimacy. After it wears off, you suffer anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, irritability, mailaise, impaired attention and focus. Overdose can lead to hallucinations, delirium, organ failure, brain damage, and death.
Now that you mention it, "Obama" is a perfect brand name for this stuff.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/03/2009 15:32 Comments ||
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Obama-branded heroin came out pretty quickly after the election. I heard from from a young waif that the back of the decks said "Yes, you can."
#4
My apology TW- a 'deck' of heroin is about $60 worth- what used to be called a bag. The slang goes on from there- a 'deuce' is a single hit, a 'cut-deck' has bad stuff mixed in, etc.
All this in the interest of having and understanding a conversation with a pleasant young boy or girl, leading up to the idea that perhaps he/she has a TEENSY LITTLE PROBLEM, PERHAPS??
#5
No apology needed, Free Radical, and no problems that I'm aware of.* Just taking advantage of the opportunity to expand my vocabulary. You are a font of information about all sorts of things I know nothing about, my dear.
*You should heat the indignation here at the idea that they even need to know the vocab. ;-)
The man who oversees Texas' criminal justice system called Wednesday for a shake-up as authorities searched for a prisoner in a wheelchair who escaped on foot Monday from two armed guards as he was being transferred between prisons.
"I just think enough's enough," said state Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat from Houston who is chairman of the state Senate's Criminal Justice Committee.
"We need a complete shake-up of the leadership of our prison system and/or an outside review by third parties," he said of the escape of Arcade Comeaux Jr., 49. "We just can't have security breaches of this nature."
The 6-foot, 200-pound Comeaux was serving a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
A van containing him and two correctional officers left the Estelle prison in Huntsville about 5:45 a.m. Monday, bound for the Stiles prison in Beaumont, where Comeaux was being reassigned, said Michelle Lyons, director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, in a written statement.
Comeaux was shackled and in a wheelchair, "which he had claimed was needed for mobility," Lyons said.
About 45 minutes into the trip, as they were driving through Conroe, 40 minutes north of Houston, the prisoner pulled out a pistol and ordered the guards to drive south to Baytown, east of Houston. There, he took one of the guards' gray uniforms, handcuffed the officers together and left them in the rear of the van, Lyon's statement said.
He fired once during the incident but hit no one, an official said.
Comeaux fled at about 9 a.m., leaving his weapon but taking the officers' two semiautomatic pistols and a 12-gauge shotgun, Lyons said. Law enforcement officers found the unharmed officers an hour later.
Comeaux was being transferred to Beaumont so he would be near John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, for treatment of the supposed paralysis he had suffered during a reported stroke, Whitmire said.
"There's a theory working that he staged the whole thing," the senator said. "He's a con; he's a manipulator, and he's outfoxing the people who are charged with the responsibility of keeping him securely incarcerated."
C'mon, to do that he would have had to fool a bunch of prison doctors ... oh, okay, I see how this worked.
John Moriarty, inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said that such lapses are highly unusual in the Texas penal system.
"We have no open gun investigations other than this one," he said. "The last one was several years ago."
Meanwhile, $16,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to Comeaux's rearrest, and more than 100 investigators are searching for the escapee, focusing on the Houston area, where he grew up and has relatives.
Among them is Comeaux's mother, Joyce Comeaux.
"I'm trying to find out what the heck happened," she said from her home in Houston. "How did my son come in contact with a gun inside the prison? I know he didn't leave and go shopping. I'm looking at a corrupt system here." He didn't have to leave to go shopping.
She added, "How did a young man who's shackled overpower two guards with a gun?"
The mother of 11, of whom Arcade was her third, said she was concerned that her son is possibly being set up to be killed.
"My husband is devastated, as I am," she said. "His record is bad, and I admit that. I'm not hiding that."
She said she hopes he returns to his parents' house "so that I can talk to him, give him a good meal, a good bath, and send him back where he come from."
Whitmire said previous discussions of contraband in the prisons had centered on cigarettes and cell phones, but Monday's escape has upped the ante. "Now we see that weapons have entered our prisons," he said.
He said the guards had failed to pat down Comeaux while he was in his wheelchair and before they began the trip.
"Sure enough, he has a firearm," he said. "The question is, are there others? I think you have to assume that there are until you find out differently."
This year, more than 900 cell phones have been confiscated from the 112 locations that house the state's 158,000 prisoners.
"I want the director to come forward and tell us what it's going to take" to solve the problem, Whitmire said.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Brad Livingston, who has been in the job since 2005, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
Comeaux's criminal record dates back more than three decades. In 1979, he received three 10-year sentences for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child and burglary of a building with the intent to commit theft, all in Harris County. He was released on mandatory supervision in 1983, but he was returned to prison in 1984 after being convicted of indecency with a child and sentenced to 20 years.
In June 1991, he was released on mandatory supervision but returned as a violator four months later. Paroled in December 1993, he was returned as a parole violator a year later. In February 1996, he was again paroled but was returned to prison in June 1998 with a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault.
Though he had been in prison ever since, his criminal record didn't end. In July 1999, he used his wheelchair to pin his wife against a wall during a contact visit and stabbed her 17 times with a homemade knife, Moriarty said. He also stabbed another prison visitor who tried to intervene; both victims survived.
For that, Comeaux was convicted on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and received two additional life sentences.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2009 7:32 Comments ||
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<>In 1979, he received three 10-year sentences for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child and burglary of a building with the intent to commit theft, all in Harris County. He was released on mandatory supervision in 1983,
So he raped a child and instead of being hanged by the balls was out just 4 years later? What kind of justice is this? Europe's?
he was returned to prison in 1984 after being convicted of indecency with a child
In other words was preparing to rape him/her.
In February 1996, he was again paroled but was returned to prison in June 1998 with a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault.
So despite being a reincident and several parole violations this guy had been released again to make another victim. How about jailing/shooting the people who released him?
Two goons tried robbing a Maryland funeral home - apparently unaware getting cash there would be a stiff challenge.
The two men might have mistaken Lee Funeral Home, in Owings, for a bank next door, Calvert County cops say. The dunderheaded duo reportedly assaulted one funeral home worker, who sustained nonlife-threatening injuries.
An employee at the mortuary explained to the two men that they were not, in fact, in a bank, Lt. Steve Jones, of the Calvert Investigative Team, said.
The pair later robbed a Suntrust bank in neighboring Dunkirk, 5 miles away, where they stole cash and fired a shot at a bystander who tried getting a look at them, law enforcement officials believe.
The bumbling bandits' spree prompted the lockdown of four schools in the area. The crooks are still at-large.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Plea hearings have been set for two of three women accused of assaulting a Fond du Lac man.
Forty-eight-year-old Therese Ziemann of Menasha and 43-year-old Michelle Belliveau of Neenah have plea hearings set for Dec. 14. Ziemann's attorney declined to discuss the status of negotiations. Belliveau's attorney says he's hopeful talks will lead to a lesser charge for his client.
Meanwhile, a third woman, 44-year-old Wendy Sewell of Kaukauna, pleaded not guilty Monday to false imprisonment.
This summer, police found 37-year-old Donessa Davis in a motel room. He had been allegedly assaulted, and his penis was glued to his body.
Davis' wife was also charged, but the case against her was dismissed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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There IS a very good story in this, I can feel it.
reminds me of the time a certain former associate of mine was stripped buck naked, had his eyelids Super Glued together and his hand Super Glued to his penis and rolled out of the Van in the middle of the early Dawn coffee and donuts New Jersey TurnPike. He didnt pay his vig.
K9 Storm's canine armor and communication systems help keep working dogs safe on the front lines of wars and police actions.
It's a tough world for man's best friend. Patrol dogs dodge bullets every day at home and risk their lives sniffing out trouble in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a result, K9 Storm in Winnipeg, Canada, makes $5 million a year selling custom armor for dogs in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Special Forces; police departments in 13 countries; and security firms worldwide.
Next up, the 12-employee firm is offering a new way to communicate with canines. In 2010 it launches the K9 Storm Intruder, a bulletproof dog vest with a wireless camera, speakers and a microphone built in. The handler can see what the dog sees and issue commands through the audio system.
"This will change the way dogs are managed in emergencies," says Glori Slater, 47, vice president and co-founder of K9 Storm. "It will extend the range of the handler to 300 yards."
Slater's husband, Jim, is a former dog handler for the Winnipeg police department. For two terrifying days in 1996, he and his German shepherd Olaf helped subdue a prison riot in which the inmates were armed with makeshift weapons. Slater worried more for Olaf than for himself.
"He was out working ahead of our lines," he says. "I realized it would be a bad way for him to go down, stabbed with a screwdriver."
After the riot, Slater retrofitted a human flak jacket for his canine partner. That prompted orders from fellow canine officers, and soon K9 Storm was in business.
The Slaters spent 11 years perfecting the vest. Quality control was crucial, given that a poorly sewn seam can inflict crippling lesions on a dog that's on its paws for 12 hours a day. The Intruder is their lightest camera and audio system, weighing less than seven ounces.
The vest is not cheap. The Intruder system starts at $20,000. But the Slaters say they have dozens of preorders. Military working dogs are major investments, costing up to $50,000 each to purchase and train.
There also are plenty of donors stepping up to help cash-strapped municipalities buy the vests. Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, gave $250,000 to the Pittsburgh police and fire departments for canine armor.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which treats 50,000 animals a year, has received a $5,000 grant for dogs at Boston's police department from Roethlisberger.
"Suspects pursued by police will stab, shoot and kick working dogs," says Brian Adams, spokesman for the MSPCA-Angell veterinary hospital in Boston. "They are like any officer of the law. We want to protect them."
[Bangla Daily Star] Khaleda Zia is going to be re-elected unopposed chairperson of the BNP as none but she has submitted nomination papers for contesting the election of party chief scheduled for the day the party's national council will be held -- December 8.
Ahead of the council, a number of influential BNP leaders are however trying to mount pressure on the party leadership for creating a post of 'co-chairperson' for Khaleda's son Tarique Rahman, party insiders said.
Khaleda neither accepted nor rejected the proposal as the BNP standing committee is still discussing proposals for amendments to the party constitution.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Get used to the cot in the Brazilian embassy scumbag.
Honduras' Congress ended hopes of reversing a constitutionally mandated sanction coup that has isolated one of the poorest countries in the Americas, voting against reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya despite intense international pressure to do so.
The vote Wednesday was part of a U.S.-brokered deal to end Honduras' crisis that left it up to Congress to decide if Zelaya should be restored to office for the final two months of his term -- and lawmakers voted against the idea by a resounding 111-14 margin. With those numbers, it could been a vote against the Global Warming scam.
Zelaya, who listened to the proceedings from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy, said even before the vote that he wouldn't return for a token two months if asked. He said he should have been reinstated before Sunday's presidential election and urged governments not to restore ties with the incoming administration of Porfirio Lobo.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2009 08:00 ||
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^5 to the Congress of Honduras for responding to our president's bullying by demonstrating integrity and leadership (both principles seem to be alien to Obama's character). From Honduras to Iran, the people of the world are slowly waking up to the fact that the US now has a president who is either indifferent or hostile to democracy and the rule of law.
NEW South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally says her elevation to state's top political job is an opportunity for a "new beginning" and "healing" within the Government.
Ms Keneally became NSW's first female premier after a special caucus meeting of Labor MPs dumped embattled leader Nathan Rees. In a day of high drama on Macquarie Street, the US-born MP won the leadership ballot 47 votes to 21.
During her first press conference tonight, Ms Keneally described herself as a "40-year-old working mum", who planned to restore public trust in the State Government.
"Today is an opportunity for a new beginning and for a time for healing," she said. "My government will be about driving economic recovery. It will be about increasing jobs and prosperity for NSW families and it will be about putting care for the most vulnerable members of our community at the heart of what we do."
Ms Keneally thanked her colleagues for their support in the caucus vote. She also thanked her predecessor, Mr Rees, for his "hard work as premier" and said she would talk with him about a role in her new government.
She also joked about her accent, but said: "I'm, first and foremost a proud Australian".
"I came here because I fell in love with a man, but immediately after I came here I fell in love with this country," Ms Keneally said.
She was accompanied by her family at the conference, including her husband Ben - the nephew of famous Australian author Tom Keneally - and the couple's two sons, Daniel, 11, and Brendan, nine. "I am a 40-year-old working mum and face the same challenges that working mums everywhere do," she said.
#2
Doubtful bman. First, she's labor, and her student history in Ohio is left/democrat. Second, the quotes and background reveal it's more party infighting, rather than outsider insurgency a-la Sarah.
The House voted Thursday to permanently extend a 45 percent inheritance tax on estates larger than $3.5 million, canceling a one-year repeal of the tax set to begin next month.
A similar effort is afoot in the Senate, but the health care debate there could preclude action on the estate tax before Congress breaks later this month for holidays. There are also disagreements among senators over the tax rate and the size of estates that should be exempt, further clouding the bill's prospects.
Under the House bill, which passed by a 225-200 vote, estates smaller than $3.5 million would continue to be exempt from the tax. Married couples, with a little estate planning, could exempt a total of $7 million. That leaves less than 1 percent of all estates subject to the tax.
Under current law, the federal estate tax is scheduled to temporarily disappear next year before returning in 2011 at an even higher 55 percent rate. During the year without an estate tax, all estates would be subject to a 15 percent capital gains tax that they now avoid.
#1
I can barely sustain interest in repealing 'death taxes.' Hardly anyone is affected. Everyone is still free to dispose of their wealth at any time prior to their demise. Death is a far more severe loss of valuables than a death tax.
#3
Existing laws and processes are on the books to transfer wealth and property to one's intended heirs prior to passing on. If you don't trust them with the stuff before you go, why should anyone else trust them with after you go.
#6
I do estate and gift tax planning for a living. The people that get hammered by it are owners of family businesses and farms that are asset rich and cash poor, big enough to have to pay the tax but not so big they can afford it easily. There's also a gift tax, so giving it away before you die only means you get to pay the tax sooner.
Even though I make my living from working around these taxes, if they repealed the whole lot of 'em tomorrow morning, it would be one of the best things they could do to restart the economy. I'd be happy to have my estate tax planning skills rendered obsolete; I can always do something else if I have to.
The first version of this bill would have changed the rules for valuing family businesses so that the tax would have hit even more people even harder than it does now. That got stripped out of the bill that passed today. Given the mood of the clowns in charge in DC toward taxes, this legislation is probably the best we can hope for.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/03/2009 21:52 Comments ||
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they got their tax clip on the earning, on the investment return, and on the death of the earner. You wanna play "covet", let's start with you. I bet you have a neighbor less-well-off than you. Aren't they deserving of "fairness" despite the fact they didn't work, go to school, or earn credentials? Why not.
The Estate tax is bullshit and a clear vision of the "what's yours is mine" attitude of this parasite Congressional majority. Think they'd be subject to it? Think again. Taxes are for losers, like us
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2009 22:05 Comments ||
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#8
my remarks were directed to Anguper, any f*ckers who want to join in
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2009 22:26 Comments ||
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#9
We don't all get advance notice of when we will die.
AKA Instapundit, for those who missed that little joke on his site.
NEW DELHI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - India will not accept a legally binding emission cut nor a peak year of carbon emissions at the global climate talks in Copenhagen, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.
Nor will China, Brazil, and one or two others... and China has surpassed the U.S. as the leading producer of carbon dioxide, not to mention actual pollutants.
Newspaper publishers will now be able to set a limit on the number of free news articles people can read through Google, the company has announced. The concession follows claims from some media companies that the search engine is profiting from online news pages.
Under the First Click Free programme, publishers can now prevent unrestricted access to subscription websites.
Users who click on more than five articles in a day may be routed to payment or registration pages. "Previously, each click from a user would be treated as free," Google senior business product manager Josh Cohen said in a blog post. "Now, we've updated the programme so that publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing."
Google users may start seeing registration pages appear when they click for a sixth time on any given day at websites of publishers using the programme, according to Mr Cohen. This will only affect websites that currently charge for content.
'Significant move'
The announcement is seen as a reaction to concerns in the newspaper industry that Google is using newspaper content unfairly.
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of Newscorp, has accused firms such as Google of profiting from journalism by generating advertising revenue by linking readers to newspaper articles.
Some readers have discovered they can avoid paying subscription fees to newspaper websites by calling up their pages via Google.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Do the publishers really think this will help them? That the use was unfair? They might have a point about Google's tendency to parasitism (I despise Google and it's holier than thou attitude, and have felt so since its inception) but then they would have to consider who would ever go to their sites if they were subscription only. I for one would not and will not pay a dime, ever. With 'thinking' like this they will drive themselves below ground even faster, not that I think that would be a bad thing.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/03/2009 3:58 Comments ||
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Thanks Google! I just changed my search settings to Yahoo.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2009 7:34 Comments ||
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Ay-Pee article. Rest at link, as if you couldn't tell already what it will say.
House Republicans pointed to controversial e-mails leaked from climate scientists and said it was evidence of corruption. Top administration scientists looking at the same thing found no such sign, saying it doesn't change the fact that the world is warming. And there you have it. Even though liberals never have to apologize, it doesn't mean that they shouldn't. I guess in order to avoid apologizing in this case, they hide in the gray area afforded by denying the obvious. Then they will wait until all the "fuss" blows over and we're off to the next celebrity scandal.
Nobama, by doing nothing, shows his tacit approval and will allow others to dig his grave for him.
I wonder what W would say about this if this broke during his tenure. Of course, it is a moot point because W was right about this subject, too.
A PACKED shopping centre in the southern US state of Georgia was evacuated after Santa Claus overheard a rather odd elf mention high-powered explosives, police said today.
"At around 7pm on Wednesday (local time), William Caldwell III - he's 45 years old, five feet tall (1.58m) and 108 pounds (49 kilograms) - was dressed as an elf and waiting to see Santa Claus at our mall," Captain James Callaway of the police criminal investigations unit in the town of Morrow, said.
"Santa Claus was alarmed by the fact that this grown man was dressed as an elf. He was also alarmed because he overheard him saying 'dynamite' two times," Capt Callaway said.
Santa notified security, who apprehended Caldwell and evacuated several thousand people who were shopping at the mall, Capt Callaway said.
Two bomb squads were called in to dispose of bags belonging to the elf, which had been left near Santa's grotto. The bags were found to contain nothing other than some personal effects: some clothing, and "an elf hat and a Santa hat," said Capt Callaway.
Caldwell is being held in a county jail on charges of "terroristic threats and acts and creating a false public alarm".
The Marine Corps has selected the infantry automatic rifle made by Heckler & Koch as the weapon that will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in infantry fire teams, a senior service official told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday.
The H&K IAR "was truly the best in the class on multiple levels and will finally allow the billet of automatic rifleman to be performed as intended without the disruption of the squad integrity that the M249 created," Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffrey Eby, the Corps' senior gunner, said in an e-mail.
The final contract competition also included two models from Colt Defense LLC and one model from FN Herstal.
Like the SAW, each IAR finalist is built for 5.56mm ammunition. Unlike the SAW, they are not designed to operate with a 200-round drum, a point of contention for some Marines concerned about a loss of firepower. The IAR is designed to use the same 30-round magazine used with the M16, although industry, including FN Herstal, is also developing high-capacity 5.56mm magazines for the weapon that could hold 100 or 150 rounds.
The H&K IAR is the lightest of the four weapons the Corps tested this summer, after selecting finalists for the competition in December 2008. It weighs 7.9 pounds empty, with a barrel length of 16.5 inches and a collapsible stock that extends from 33 to 36.9 inches, company officials have said. It has a gas-operated system and fires from the closed-bolt position.
Initial operational testing is scheduled to take place from January to May in locations ranging from Panama to the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center and Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in California.
"If successful and awarded full-rate production approval, then we should see initial operational capability by late summer 2010," Eby said.
One of the necessary steps in the road to undoing the stupidity of 'global warming' is to allow nutters like Babbling Babs to say stupid stuff in public. People will come to understand that the same ignoramuses who want the leaked e-mails prosecuted are the same ones who applauded the release of the Pentagon Papers and the Bush administration memos on the war on terrorism.
The sooner the public sees that, the sooner the public will come to understand that the leaked e-mails really are serious and really do undermine 'global warming'.
Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon. Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that the recently released e-mails, showing scientists allegedly overstating the case for climate change, should be treated as a crime.
"You call it 'Climategate'; I call it 'E-mail-theft-gate,'" she said during a committee meeting. "Whatever it is, the main issue is, Are we facing global warming or are we not? I'm looking at these e-mails, that, even though they were stolen, are now out in the public."
The e-mails, from scientists at the University of East Anglia, were obtained through hacking. The messages showed the director of the university's Climate Research Unit discussing ways to strengthen the unit's case for global warming. Climate change skeptics have seized on the e-mails, arguing that they demonstrate manipulation in environmental science.
They also demonstrate arrogance, subversion of the scientific method, a willingness to destroy the careers of critics, and perhaps even outright fraud.
Boxer said her committee may hold hearings into the matter as its top Republican, Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), has asked for, but that a criminal probe would be part of any such hearings.
"We may well have a hearing on this, we may not. We may have a briefing for senators, we may not," Boxer said. "Part of our looking at this will be looking at a criminal activity which could have well been coordinated.
While you're at it Babbles, how about prosecuting the two young folks who videoed the ACORN offices? Think of the publicity you'd have.
"This is a crime," Boxer said.
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
No one should have a degree if they hide scientific facts, period.
Boxer is stupid and not a scientist so she is just the shopping cart lady to me. The rest may get bent. This fraud is over.
#2
It's not clear the docs were obtained by hacking. They could have been released by someone with legitimate access who wanted to expose what was going on.
#3
More likely the file was placed in a location that someone else had access to and they grabbed a copy. I agree with phil_b, I seriously doubt any "hacking" went on at all.
#8
What do you expect? You pummel a man in wheelchair in St Louis and you get misdemeanor charges. You give a blood lust killer a fat lip and you get Court Martial. You engage in one of the most egregious cases of voter intimidation since the 1960s and you get the charges dropped. The Donks lived vicariously with every 'leak' for the last 8 years pushing their agenda and never once care about the legitimacy of the leak or leaker, but what damage it could do against their opponent. Now Bab's is whining that someone else is playing their game of power. You set the standards girl, live with it.
#9
Well, Ma'am, considering that they originated at a facility in the UK, and once obtained, the emails and code fragments were originally posted on a server in Russia, I'm sure your jurisdiction over the matter is precisely....zilch.
#11
So if an informant came forward with an assassination plot that was acquired from a hacking technique, would GED Boxer take the same approach, or would that person be hailed as a hero accompanied by a vigorous investigation?
THE scientific consensus that mankind has caused climate change was rocked yesterday as a leading academic called it a "load of hot air underpinned by fraud".
Professor Ian Plimer condemned the climate change lobby as "climate comrades" keeping the "gravy train" going.
In a controversial talk just days before the start of a climate summit attended by world leaders in Copenhagen, Prof Plimer said Governments were treating the public like "fools" and using climate change to increase taxes.
If you have to argue your science by using fraud, your science is not valid.
Professor Pilmer
He said carbon dioxide has had no impact on temperature and that recent warming was part of the natural cycle of climate stretching over billions of years.
Prof Plimer - author of Heaven and Earth: Global Warming, The Missing Science - told a London audience: "Climates always change. They always have and they always will. They are driven by a number of factors that are random and cyclical."
His comments came days after a scandal in climate-change research emerged through the leak of emails from the world-leading research unit at the University of East Anglia. They appeared to show that scientists had been massaging data to prove that global warming was taking place
The Climate Research Unit also admitted getting rid of much of its raw climate data, which means other scientists cannot check the subsequent research. Last night the head of the CRU, Professor Phil Jones, said he would stand down while an independent review took place.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Actually, I get hung up on the "random and cyclical" phrase but otherwise agree with him. I can't wrap my brain around random cycles (if it is cyclic it is not random) as it seems oxymoronic, but I know what he meant.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/03/2009 4:10 Comments ||
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#2
Its been my experience in life that Justice is what's to your own advantage. When a child doesnt get what he wants he says, "Its NOT FAIR!". If he DID get what he wanted he could give a flip for what is fair or not, he GOT what he wanted. That is BASIC Human Nature. You get what you want, when you want it and you get some gravy on it too, as long as you are there.
And screw Brussels and all the suits in Massachusetts. Buy a Green Coffin from Al Gore and get in it.
Global Warming is all of the above. How stupid are you? Global Warming is for stupid people. Chicken Little and Al Gore will take your money... and then laugh at you.
Hey, Dude, try not to freeze to death. And if they demand your wallet, carry a small .38 and surprise 'em. Tell 'em the Baby Seals sent 'ya.
[Straits Times] PHILIPPINE authorities announced on Wednesday all 1,092 police officers in a southern province would be replaced amid suspicion some of them may have taken part in an election-linked massacre last week.
All? Oh my.
They said the drastic move was also needed to try and stop the powerful Muslim clan linked to the killings from sabotaging the investigation, and because justice officials in Maguindanao province were living in fear.
'We cannot dismiss the possibility that they (the Ampatuan clan) may have relatives among those assigned there,' said Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the region's police chief.
'We want to make sure that our investigation will not be sabotaged from the inside.' Fifty-seven people were shot dead on Nov 23 in a remote farming area of Maguindanao in a massacre that shocked the nation.
Local mayor Andal Ampatuan Jnr has been charged with 25 counts of murder over the massacre, and authorities have said at least eight of his family members are also being investigated. The rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, said the killings were carried out to stop him from running for office.
National police spokesman Leonardo Espina said on Wednesday the entire Maguindanao police force of 1,092 personnel would be replaced in the coming days. Replacements have already been dispatched to three towns where about 60 officers were detained for their possible involvement in the massacre.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] MONKS chant. Elderly women pray. Schoolboys draw cheerful faces on get-well books.
As Thailand gears up to celebrate King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 82nd birthday on Saturday with fanfare, thousands of Thais are flocking daily to Siriraj Hospital to pray for the revered monarch, who has been in hospital since Sept 19.
Dozens are camping out overnight this week, looking forward to a rare appearance on his birthday on Saturday. 'It is going to a big day. I am waiting to see his face again and I think the whole country is waiting with me,' said Suwana Kennamtheung, a 54-year-old housewife who has been to the hospital every day since September.
Royal astrologers determined in 2007 pink was an auspicious colour for the monarch's health and well-wishers arrived in pink shoes with pink bags while some men wore tailor-made pink suits. Wearing a pink shirt with a pink wristband, Suwana prayed at the famed Temple of the Emerald Buddha for the king's health.
But the king's disappearance from public view - in his longest hospital stay in recent momory - has left his people nervous. His traditional birthday eve address has been postponed indefinitely along with an annual military parade, though he will grant an audience to royal family members, cabinet ministers, top government officials and politicians on Saturday.
'My heart sank when I heard he would not give the speech,' said Duangporn Saibumrung, who sells egg noodles at a stall near the hospital. 'But I felt better when I saw that he would still appear at the palace on his birthday.'
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] POLICE investigating the massacre of 57 people in the Philippines said on Wednesday they had made a breakthrough in the case that linked a gunman to a politician charged with masterminding the killings.
Bullet shells found at the scene of the Nov 23 murders in the southern Philippines matched the gun of a militia member who was controlled by local mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr, police said.
'Some of the empty shells that we recovered at the scene matched the gun recovered from the CVO (Civilian Volunteer Officer) who was arrested as he left the crime scene,' lead police investigator Ericson Velasquez told DZBB radio. Ampatuan Jr is the only person to have been charged with the killings, in which 100 of his gunmen allegedly participated, but Mr Velasquez indicated the new development would help police.
'This is a breakthrough,' Mr Velasquez said, referring to the results of the ballistics tests. 'We can now prove that the gun recovered from the suspect was used at the crime scene.'
Mr Velasquez said other guns recovered from other members of the militia were also being tested. 'Our investigation showed that many guns were used in the commission of the crime,' he added.
The investigator said the suspect, who, he did not name, was one of two militia members arrested at a police checkpoint near the massacre site in the province of Maguindanao shortly after the killings.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Women appearing in television programs will not be allowed to wear make-up because it is against Islamic law, or sharia, media on Wednesday quoted the head of Iran's state television as saying.
"Make-up by women during television programs is illegal and against Islamic sharia law ... There should not be a single case of a woman wearing make-up during a program," Ezatollah Zarghami was quoted as saying by the reformist Etemad newspaper.
" Make-up by women during television programs is illegal and against Islamic sharia law ... There should not be a single case of a woman wearing make-up during a program "
Head of Iranian state TV Ezatollah Zarghami
Zarghami, a former member of the elite Revolutionary Guards who has been re-appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also ordered that women guests should "preferably" be hosted by women.
Speaking at a conference of network directors, he also called for cutting down on music during programs and urged his staff to take a cue from Western action movies, which have "excellent and calm music."
"I do not mean that we should become like them, but we should use positive points. Therefore we (should) put on the agenda the reduction and refining of music," he said.
"As of today, you in the production department should launch new supervisory methods ... I do not want to tell you to filter, but you should be vigilant that nothing inappropriate happens," Zarghami said.
Zarghami told directors they should also prohibit "repulsive jokes" between men and women on television or radio, Etemad and Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
When he reappointed Zarghami to a second term last month, Khamenei reportedly told him it was essential to make an "outstanding representation of morality, religion, hopefulness and awareness" in state media programs.
The Islamic republic's state television has eight TV channels and 15 radio stations. It has seen different periods of strict or relaxed dress and make-up codes.
Women on television do not expose their hair, but have been indulging in heavy make-up in recent years.
Television is under close scrutiny and observes strict guidelines to an extent that even some local movies have been censored before being aired.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What are the girls even doing on TV without tarps over their heads? They should be in the kitchen making pie for the menfolk. Or is pie un-Islamic because it tastes good and makes people happy?
ABC didn't cover it. CBS didn't either. And NBC apparently wouldn't go near it.
The network news broadcasts have ignored a growing scandal over evidence of a potential climate cover-up -- and now they've even been scooped by the fake news at Comedy Central.
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" produced its "reporting" on Climate-gate Tuesday night, when Stewart quipped, "Poor Al Gore. Global warming completely debunked via the very Internet you invented. Oh, oh, the irony!"
Stewart described leaked e-mails from Britain's University of East Anglia, including one referring to a researcher's "trick" to "hide the decline" in some temperature readings in recent decades.
"It's just scientist-speak for using a standard statistical technique -- recalibrating data --- in order to trick you," Stewart said sarcastically.
Nearly two weeks since news broke of the e-mail scandal, climate change skeptics have gloated; a leading climate scientist has resigned; at least one U.S. lawmaker has called for an investigation, and countless prominent news outlets have deemed the story worthy of major reporting.
Still, according to a report Wednesday morning by the conservative Media Research Center, "none of the broadcast network weekday morning and evening news shows addressed Climate-Gate or the incriminating Jones development. ... This marked 12 days since the information was first uncovered that they have ignored this global scandal."
The Business & Media Institute had just as much trouble finding the networks' Climate-gate coverage.
"An examination of morning and evening news programs on ABC, CBS and NBC since Nov. 20 yielded zero mentions of the scandal, even in the Nov. 25 reports about Obama going to Copenhagen to discuss the need for emissions reductions," the Institute reported Wednesday.
But during that time, the Institute says, "the networks reported on pro-golfer Tiger Woods' 'minor' car accident at least 37 times. They also found time to report on an orphaned Moose and the meal selection at the president's State Dinner."
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacted to the findings saying, "To pretend this story simply doesn't exist is damning to journalism."
That left Stewart to fill the void -- with his analysis of the scientists' decision to discard the raw data used to formulate the adjusted data that much of the scientific community agrees confirms global warming.
"Why would you throw out raw data from the '80s? I still have Penthouses from the '70s!" he joked.
#1
Fox News and Comedy Central--definitely an unlikely pair, but they're the only channels airing anything about "Climategate". Looking daily at the Seattle area news websites for all our TV stations and our two newspapers, all I've seen is one short blurb about the original hacker intrusion nearly two weeks ago and no follow up stories at all. There is one local talkradio site (www.MyNorthwest.com) that won't let it die, fortunately.
Just like the Tea Parties, the MSM wants to keep a lid on this--we've got to keep pushing it out there.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/03/2009 12:42 Comments ||
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Congratulations to Jon Stewart who also covered the ACORN videos at a point when most mainstream "news" sources were desperately trying to ignore it. I have far more respect for an unabashed lefty like Stewart who is willing to face a few inconvenient truths than I do for those who pretend to be objective yet refuse to acknowlege anything which challenges their assumptions.
#3
Admirable indeed. Nonetheless, at the end of the Mr. Stewart's rant, he states that this does not change the fact that AGW is real. (See video here) Incidentally, I just spoke to a friend living near London a few minutes ago, and she'd heard nothing about the brouhaha.
#4
It's amazing how Climategate is almost completely ignored in the German press. How brainwashed do they think we are.
I don't think climate change is a hoax. Climates change, they always have and will.
We should spend our money adapting to the current climate, not wasting trillions on trying to "change" it.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/03/2009 16:08 Comments ||
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#5
It's not about climate change as such, European Conservative, but Anthropogenic Global Warming, ie the hypothesis that the climate changed is mainly changed by human actions, and therefore we have to drastically change how we live in order to prevent dangerous harm to the climate.
Utterly amusing given the article posted here the other day that stated our actions to prevent dangerous expansion of the ozone hole over the south pole may have caused the current, ever-so-dangerous climate situation.
If we believe those scientists, the Earth has warmed about 0,8 degrees in 100 years.
But now it's like an auction. I have 2 degrees in 50 years, I raise you 5 degrees, who says 6?
And there is nothing to back up those theories than with falsificated data.
It was much warmer in the Middle Ages. Wine did grow in Norway. Greenland... ok you get it.
How did the polar bears survive?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/03/2009 16:22 Comments ||
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#7
The press here isn't paying any more attention than absolutely necessary either, European Conservative. It's the blogosphere that originated and is expanding the story. What says the European blogosphere?
As for the amount of change, I'll believe it when the thermometers are not set up to collect skewed data (on a roof next to the building air conditioner's heat exchanger, really?) The blog Watts up with that? has collected photos of interesting instrument placements for quite some time -- 'scientists' can get so creative! Click the Projects tab at the top to see what's been discovered.
#9
And the Goracle himself has canceled his appearance in Copenhagen... Oh, my - to have been a fly on the wall - or to have installed a listening-device on the wall of the room where that was decided.
Perhaps he is coming to San Antonio, instead: they're forecasting a snowfall tonight/tomorrow, and I can't think of anyone else who could be responsible for this outrage! (No s**t, folks, really. I've covered all my plants, and we plan to stay home tomorrow. I've seen the locals drive on wet streets, no way am I taking my chance with snow...)
#10
"Perhaps he is coming to San Antonio, instead: they're forecasting a snowfall tonight/tomorrow, and I can't think of anyone else who could be responsible for this outrage!"
Then he must be flying to Virginia the next day, Sgt. Mom. We're supposed to get cold rain and then snow on Saturday.
WHERE THE HELL'S MY GLOBAL WARMING?!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/03/2009 21:58 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.
A former school district employee is accused of using school computers in an experiment to find space aliens, costing the worker his job and the district more than $1 million.
Two goons tried robbing a Maryland funeral home - apparently unaware getting cash there would be a stiff challenge.
THE scientific consensus that mankind has caused climate change was rocked yesterday as a leading academic called it a "load of hot air underpinned by fraud".
