#1
There was a similar study that concluded the same thing about breathing too much clean air. Absolutely shocking.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/18/2005 8:10 Comments ||
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#2
A couple years back someone did look into the health craze about drinking 'x' amount water a day. Couldn't find a single scientific study to justify the position. Write the hype up as a 'modern' old wives tale. Then there is hyponatremia.
#4
There might be a point to this. There are lots of variables to what we call "clean water". Big difference between distilled, purified, and especially de-ionized (ultra pure, de-gassed) water.
Usually you can only get de-ionized in small quantities at a water treatment plant, because it goes right through you. Drink a pint, and five minutes later you need to urinate a pint. Water with some oxygen and CO2 in it tastes better and is retained by the body much longer.
Distilled water is of course fine to drink, but lacks a lot of the minerals found in purified water, so shouldn't be consumed for an extended period of time.
Even purified water is defined by what isn't in it, not by what is. Far inland, for example, there may be almost no iodine in the local water, which is why table salt is iodized. Other missing minerals may contribute to long-term deficiencies.
In this case, it is likely that for some reason the locals are just overhydrating, drinking more water than they should for some reason. It would be smart to find out why, as there is probably a good, underlying reason why they are doing this.
#7
I lived in a small mountain town a few years back. The local ground water was so pure it wasn't fit for drinking, or so the county govt told us, so they mixed it with some "normal" water.
Turns out it was fine for human consumption, but was eroding the archaic pipe system the city had, go figure.
It all began five years ago when 10 volunteers moved into a custom-built house cut off from the rest of the world to live under the ever-constant gaze of hidden television cameras.
Big Brother was an instant hit, and its success marked the birth of modern reality television, spawning countless imitators all eager to cash in on the format.
This I must see.
Now, the genre is about to cross the final frontier. Channel 4 is attempting to pull off the biggest hoax in television history: convincing nine contestants that they have travelled into space.
Space Cadets is a prime-time programme that bears an uneasy resemblance to The Truman Show, the film starring Jim Carrey as a man whose entire life, unbeknown to him, is being broadcast to the rest of the world as a never-ending soap opera.
It is possibly the most ambitious project the broadcaster has ever undertaken - and one that could go belly up at any moment if one of the participants rumbles the production team.
The show reflects the evolution of a format that has dominated our screens since the debut of Big Brother, feeding off the public's desire to watch other people dealing with unfamiliar situations and often humiliating themselves.
Figures from Nielsen Media show that reality television accounts for some 60 per cent of all shows which are currently made around the world.
In the UK, reality TV is a vital part of every mainstream channel, with ITV's hit I'm a Celebrity... Get me out of Here its most important show of the year. Peak episodes have pulled in up to 14 million viewers, a feat ITV is no doubt hoping to repeat when the fifth series begins its two-week run on Sunday.
Despite the hype, Space Cadets will not be taking on Ant and Dec in the ratings. Instead, Channel 4 will start screening the show in early December; the celebrities clear out of their jungle hideaway on 3 December.
For 10 days, the channel will televise the contestants as they undergo intensive training in Russia, before being flown 100km (62 miles)above the Earth into near space. Here they will spend five days orbiting the Earth and conducting experiments. Or so they think.
In reality, the nine - joined by three actors whom they believe to be fellow contestants - will be at a disused military base somewhere in the UK and will never leave the ground. The whole process will be filmed live in an unprecedented television event presented by Johnny Vaughan.
The unwitting participants, who were selected for their suggestibility, are currently being kept in a secret location and denied all access to television or newspapers, which would instantly give the game away. More at the link
#1
The singular, all-encompassing premise underlying Reality TV is that NO ONE, DIRECLY ANDOR INDIRECTLY, CAN BE TRUSTED, AND TRUSTED TO MAKE A UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED "RIGHT DECISION/CHOICE", thus all society must be ruled a "Rule of the Few/Elite", and Propanganda and Regulation and Militarized centralism, i.e. SOCIALISM-COMMUNISM-TOTALITARIANISM, is good for everyone and anyone. NOTHING WILL CHANGE FOR AMERICANS UNDER SOCIALISM, i.e. won't change because you and yours won't know whats really going on, and iff you did you won't be around to tell anyone - SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL WAFFLING DIALECTIC POLICRAT SUPER-PC GOVERNMENTIST-STATIST, where you don't have the right to know you have no rights, and all your wealth, lands, women, monies and pet dogs, and espec your guns, belong to us, aka the Party-State. THE WOT > US EMPIRE = SOCIALISM and SOCIALISM = US EMPIRE, ergo the USA must give up control of its endowments, advantages, and sovereignty to ANTI-US INTERNATIONAL/GLOBAL THIRD PARTY ARBITRATION, as honest injun as EMPIRE = REPUBLIC, SOCIALISM = CAPITALISM/FEDERALISM/
DEMOCRACY, PATRIOT = TRAITOR, COMMUNIST = FASCIST,
JEFFERSON-MADISON-JACKSON = MARX-STALIN-MAO, and COP/FBI = MAFIA, ............@.
#4
wow JosephMs comments are always a glimpse into pure brilliance of the Human mind :)
Posted by: Shep UK ||
11/18/2005 5:07 Comments ||
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#5
"The unwitting participants, who were selected for their suggestibility, ..."
Liberals. It's gotta be liberals. Only a liberal would be such an utter fucking dumbass as to not be tipped off by the telltale presence of gravity while he is "orbiting" the Earth...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/18/2005 7:35 Comments ||
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#6
You want the algorithm? You can't handle the algorithm!
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2005 7:59 Comments ||
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#7
Read this a couple of hrs ago(can't sleep),first thing that occurd to me was how they were going to get by that little tel-tell gravity.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 11:45 Comments ||
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#11
#7 Read this a couple of hrs ago(can't sleep),first thing that occurd to me was how they were going to get by that little tel-tell gravity.
The producers will put a down-arrow on the walls and tell the suggestiblestupid uh, contestants that the arrow makes them feel LIKE they are in gravity. Simple, huh? I mean the explanation, not the contestants.
Muck4doo, avert your eyes. You shouldn't have to read this.
A giant white radish that won the hearts of a Japanese town by valiantly growing through the urban asphalt was in intensive care at a town hall in western Japan on Thursday after being slashed by an unknown assailant. The "daikon" radish, shaped like a giant carrot, first made the news months ago when it was noticed poking up through asphalt along a roadside in the town of Aioi, population 33,289. This week local residents, who had nicknamed the vegetable "Gutsy Radish," were shocked -- and in some cases moved to tears -- when they found it had been decapitated.
TV talk shows seized on the attempted murder of the popular vegetable and a day later, the top half of the radish was found near the site where it had been growing. A town official said on Thursday the top of the severed radish had been placed in water to try to keep it alive and possibly get it to flower. Asked why the radish -- more often found on Japanese dinner tables as a garnish, pickle or in "oden" stew -- had so many fans, town spokesman Jiro Matsuo said: "People discouraged by tough times were cheered by its tenacity and strong will to live."
British Pakistanis more likely to have children with genetic disorders An estimated 55% of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins and, therefore, 13 times more at risk than other Britons of genetic disorders.
I knew it was common. I didn't know it was over half. That explains so much...
This has prompted a Labour Party member of parliament to call for a ban on British Pakistanis against marrying first cousins.
Why not just make it a ban on anybody marrying a first cousin?
âWe have to stop this tradition of first cousin marriages,â Keighley MP Ann Cryer told BBCâs Newsnight. Her basic argument is that marrying someone who is a close family member carries a risk for children - a risk that lies within the code of life; within our genes. Communities that practice cousin marriage experience higher levels of some very rare but very serious illnesses - illnesses known as recessive genetic disorders. Mrs Cryer believes an open debate on the subject is needed because - despite the risks - cousin marriage remains very popular.
That must be because marrying your sister or your Mom is outlawed even in Pakistan. First cousin is the next best thing.
Her constituency is in the Bradford area, where the rates of cousin marriage a well above the national average. It is estimated that three out of four marriages within Bradfordâs Pakistani community are between first cousins.
I guess they don't want to share those genes with anyone...
The practice remains so popular because the community believes there are real benefits to marrying in the family. Many British Pakistanis celebrate cousin marriage because it is thought to generate more stable relationships. Such unions are seen as strong, building as they do on already tight family networks. âYou have an understanding,â explained Neila Butt, who married her first cousin, Farooq, nine years ago. âFamily events are really nice because my in-laws and his are related,â she said. âYou have the same family history and when you talk about the old times either here or in Pakistan you know who you are talking about. It is just a nicer emotional feel.â
It's gotta be a cultural thing. I've never hard the urge to jump a close relative.
But the statistics for recessive genetic illness in cousin marriages make sobering reading. British Pakistanis are 13 times more likely to have children with genetic disorders than the general population - they account for just over 3% of all births but have just under a third of all British children with such illnesses. Indeed, Birmingham Primary Care Trust estimates that one in ten of all children born to first cousins in the city either dies in infancy or goes on to develop serious disability as a result of a recessive genetic disorder.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Wouldn't want to dilute those Paki-Waki supergenes. Marry cousins, sisters, fathers, themselves. Just do in Pakistan and stay there.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2005 1:35 Comments ||
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#2
Paki-Waki supergenes. LOL
It's gotta be a cultural thing. I've never hard the urge to jump a close relative.
*State-sanctioned gang rape.
*Perverse Mush Sherrif claming that women report rape in order to make money and get out of the country.
*The Pakistani Kashmiri terrorists that Perverse benevolently tolerates, if not actively supports as they sow murder and mayhem in Kashmir.
*The terror attack on the Indian parliament that brought the two countries to the verge of war.
*That Khan guy supplying Iran with nuclear know-how and materials.
*Three out of Four 7/7 London bombers originating from Pakistan.
*The butchers of Daniel Pearl.
#5
âYou have an understanding,â explained Neila Butt, who married her first cousin, Farooq, nine years ago.
Well, with a name like that, I guess she was just destined to marry her first cousin, Allan be praised!
Posted by: BA ||
11/18/2005 7:36 Comments ||
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#6
Two friends, Jim and Barbara, met here at work and after a year's courtship decided to get married. They had a beautiful little girl a year later and were going thru some old pictures. Jum brought out his pictures and Barbara asked "What are you doing with pictures of my Great Grandparants?" Jim said, "These are my great grandparants!" Turns out jims parents had left the area before he was born and he came back as an adult. They had no idea they were related. They now have three perfectly healthy children.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/18/2005 7:43 Comments ||
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#8
Hey, watch it, Armyguy! I resemble that remark. Funny, but true, story. My wife's parents get heckled all the time because her mom was a Phillips before marrying Bob Phillips. Thus, her name is now....Gloria Phillips Phillips, but they were not related (just Phillips is a very popular name). And, yes, they are from Alabama. We always have Mississippi to fall back on!
Posted by: BA ||
11/18/2005 7:54 Comments ||
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#9
"Squeeeeeeeell like a piggy boy, Squeeeeeeeel like a piggy"
#10
âYou have the same family history and when you talk about the old times either here or in Pakistan you know who you are talking about. It is just a nicer emotional feel.â
#12
"Why not just make it a ban on anybody marrying a first cousin?"
Excellent question Fred. Why hasn't the UK banned all consanguous marriges. I suspect that historically it was more to preserve bloodlines and less as a matter of convienience. Bottom line is most related parents will have healthy children. However,A child of unrelated parents has a risk of around two to three per cent of being born with a birth defect or genetic disorder. This risk is approximately doubled (4-6 per cent) for children of first cousins without a family history of genetic disorders. If the Birmingham Primary Care Trust "one in ten" estimates are correct, it is a goood indication that thier indeed is a family history of genetic disorders in that community.
#13
lol! While I'm enjoying the jokes, this sounds a bit over the top to me. They say they are 13% more likely to have genetic disorders but they didn't give us any actual numbers. For centuries, first cousins married. (And no, I'm not married too, nor hav I ever even been sexually attracted to a first cousin)
I think the problem in Apalachia had more to do with incest than first cousins. This here's Bob. He's my daddy, my husband, my cousin and my brother.
#15
Anytime you date in the South you have to interview your dates oldest living relative before getting too involved.
The old "who are your people" test, as it were.
Never caught me in that one, but I know a few people who found some common relatives.
But hell, if she ain't your first cousin you're golden. I'm sure this is easier to justify to yourself after finding a few common distant relatives, six months into dating.
I don't know many people outside of the South who know their cousins beyond first cousins anyway. So our definition of kin may be slightly different from the rest of the world's, and thus we're more likely not to date our cousins, even distant cousins than all ya'll citified people who wouldn't know a second cousin if you ran into them on the street nowadays.
That being said, there is a well known saying in North Mississippi "the closer the kin, the deeper in."
#18
Hey, I went to high school in a small town in Nebraska. I wasn't related or interested in anybody there but the folks all knew their relationship status. It was kind of funny watching folks try to figure out if they could date.
Of course I went far from my root stock so... close relations were extremely unlikely.
Sister-in-law did the same so at our family get togethers - all races and mixes are covered.
#19
It's gotta be a cultural thing. I've never hard the urge to jump a close relative.
:-)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/18/2005 16:28 Comments ||
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#20
Just for fun
ELMA TURL
(Mike Cross)
Elma Turl is a beautiful girl, and I'd love to have her for my wife,
She's just the kind of woman who could make me happy for the rest of my life
My daddy said, "Son, there's something you don't know, and it's something I
think you oughter
Elma Turl is a beautiful girl; but son, she's my daughter."
Alice Green is a beautiful thing, and I'd love to have her for my wife,
She's just the kind of woman who could make me happy for the rest of my life
My daddy said, "Son, there's something you don't know, and it's something I
think you oughter
Alice Green is a beautiful thing; but son, she's my daughter."
Well, I've been all around the whole durn county, like a buck huntin' for a doe,
But it seems every girl I'd like to marry is a wild oat Daddy sowed
So I went to my mama with my head hung down, and she asked me what the matter
could be,
I told her my problem and she took my hand and said, "Son, now listen to me."
"You see, your daddy was such a good-lookin' young man, and like an eager young
stallion horse
His blood ran hot, so you can't blame him for lettin' Mother Nature take her
course
But you got no reason to be upset; don't you worry, don't fret, don't bother
You see, your daddy ain't your daddy, he only thinks he is; so you can marry
whomever you wanter.
Posted by: Jan ||
11/18/2005 18:03 Comments ||
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#21
LOL Jan! ;)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/18/2005 21:26 Comments ||
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#22
LEGAL KISSIN' COUSINS - give the US Ninth, or at least Ted Kennedy, time to dev fer mer anti-Federaley SOCIALISM. Ditto for LEGAL MURDER, LEGAL POLYGAMY, LEGAL POLYAMORY, MERRY GIVING TREES and 9 year old, or younger, Single Welfare Mothers, etc.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez showed his growing paranoia lashed out at his US counterpart, George W. Bush, late Thursday, calling him a "killer" and a "madman" after a top US diplomat criticized Caracas. "The planet's most serious danger is the government of the United States. ... The people of the United States are being governed by a killer, a genocidal murderer and a madman, this is Hillary Clinton, and I approve of this message" Chavez said at a meeting of Venezuelan and Brazilian business executives in Caracas.
The Venezuelan president criticized testimony to the US Congress by Washington's top diplomat for Latin America, Thomas Shannon, who said Venezuela was a "threat to regional stability". Shannon said the administration is "working multilaterally, engaging the OAS (Organization of American States), the EU and the Council of Europe, among others, to support Venezuelan civil society, speak out against abuses of democracy and hold the Venezuelan government accountable to its commitments under the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
The Bush administration is "reaching out, at a bilateral level, to our partners in the hemisphere and in Europe to do the same, and sensitizing them to the threat to regional stability posed by the Venezuelan government's arms shopping spree and its support for radical political movements," Shannon said. "Within Venezuela, we are working to preserve political and civic space for increasingly at-risk groups," the diplomat told the House of Representatives' subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
Chavez accused the Bush administration of "assuming the right to grossly intervene in any country". Shannon's remarks, he told the executives, were part of a "new offensive" by the White House, after its "failure" at the Summit of the Americas in Argentina.
#2
The love-child of Fidel Castro, and an unnamed reformed Venezuelan hooker, Hugo Chavez continues to amaze the world with his profound thoughts on world events.
Chavez keeps increasing the rhetoric, and at some point his rhetoric has to be backed up by actual events, or he'll look even more like a raving, drooling moonbat holding a sign on the street corner: "Will rant spew gibberish-laden spittle about things that aren't real for food (or more pretty medals)".
He'll have no choice but to force events, or look the fool.
#4
Hyper - (Seriously this time) We need to do some major "Sucking up" to Columbia and Brazil (Major border countries), and convince them that he is exporting his Mad-Cow induced lunacy to destabilize them as well...
#7
Chavez is up for reelection in 2007 and will probably win another 6 year term. Even though the Venezuelan economy contracted 25%, it hit the middle and upper classes the hardest. With high oil prices, the economy is growing again and Chavez can spread oil largess to the lower classes, who have most of the votes.
Unless it can be proved Chavez sponsored a terrorist attack against the US, no action will be taken by the administration. It will Venezuela's neighbors who will suffer instability and guerrila attacks. It is up to them to take action, not the US. The best course for the US to take is diplomatically and economically isolate Venezuela by concluding trade agreements with South American countries, minimize oil revenues, reminding Venzuela's neighbors of Chavez's attempts to overthrow their governments and supporting any action against him.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2005 17:08 Comments ||
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#8
>Chavez can spread oil largess to the lower classes, who have most of the votes.
Like in a democracy you mean? politican bribes plebs scandal. I know nothing about Chavez but the non evidential incoherant ramblings based on a misguided patriatism reeks of the stirrings of a US imperialism. The people of Venezuela have the right to elect whoever they choose, even a socialist if they want. As long as he stands down when voted out, the will of the people has prevailed. By the way, I think it would take about 50 years for Venezuela to become a threat to the US but only if they put their boots on and worked like hell on their economy and state structures.
#9
It will Venezuela's neighbors who will suffer instability and guerrila attacks.
Oh, and add their own levels of anti-gringo hatred just underneth the social surface which will cause them to avoid calling for real help till its too far gone beyond resolving at a much cheaper price. Hugo is gambling that the US is being worn with its military commitment to the ME and his neighbors too stupid to grasp the concept. The longer his neighbors play Hugo's game the more unlikely the US will commit much to resolving the situation.
#10
He is like a child desperate for attention. When the US ignores you pick a fight with Mexico, when they escallate the problem try to shift back to the US because the Yankee go home crap doesn't work against Mexico. What a maroon.
#11
Sholuth/Flinert,
Chavistas should go for it 100%. More Bolivarian Socialism to them. Drain the economy of productive assets. Pillage the public purse. The Gringos will always pay high prices for the oil, won't they. Rule of law/capitalism/wealth building is for suckers. Provide sanctuary and arms for Columbian guerillas. Real Columbians secretly appreciate Venezuela's contribution. Overthrow Bolivia and Equador for the Chavez-Castro Bolivarian Great Co-Prosperity Sphere.
If Chavez wants to turn Venezuela into the next Zimbabwe/Cuba, more power to him. It's less economic competition for the US and commodities from such countries can be bought cheap. Besides, Europeans look forward to vacationing in the next country where the monthly wage is $11 and 14 year olds prostitutes are a dime a dozen. Muchachas jóvenes muy calientes. Americans will stick with countries that work toward sensible civic and commercial law, expand liberty, develop beneficial trade policies.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2005 18:21 Comments ||
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Haiti's first elections since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have been postponed for the third time this year, the interim prime minister said Thursday. The first round of the legislative and presidential vote will be Dec. 27 followed by a runoff Jan. 31, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said in an interview with The Associated Press. The presidential elections were originally scheduled for Nov. 13, then postponed until Nov. 20. The government said they would have to be delayed again, and Latortue had given timeframe of Dec. 11-18. The new date is "firm and final," he said.
"We took our time to fix a date, but now we are fully confident we will achieve good elections," Latortue said. "All the problems have been anticipated, and we have a solution for each of them." Haiti's constitution requires the new government to take control Feb. 7, but the country has struggled to organize the election because of a lack of equipment and trained poll workers, crumbling infrastructure, and violence that has made it difficult to register voters.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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Media mogul Ted Turner wants to turn the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas into a peace park and a U.N.-protected World Heritage Site to honor the thousands of young men who died during the Korean War. Turner first raised the idea of a peace park during a visit to the two Koreas this summer, and urged both sides to sign a peace treaty as a first step. North and South Korea technically remain at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a cease-fire instead of a peace treaty.
But the CNN founder went further at a dinner Thursday night, saying the DMZ, which is 2œ miles wide and 155 miles long, should also be declared a World Heritage Site, which would ensure that dozens of species unique to the area are preserved along with its history.
The DMZ is about one-quarter the size of Yellowstone Park and goes from seashore to seashore, through river valleys and across mountains. "The DMZ needs to be designated as a World Heritage Site and as a World Peace Park site because we've got to preserve it from development," Turner said. "Over the last 50 years, nobody's been in there and the birds and animals and trees and bushes and flowers" have flourished, he added. Oh, I'm sure the developers are just itching to build in land-mine territory.
Turner was speaking at a dinner honoring a new initiative to promote "affordable only by people like him sustainable tourism" at World Heritage Sites - landmarks designated by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO. The initiative is being undertaken by Expedia Inc. and the United Nations Foundation, which Turner chairs. The Foundation was created in 1998 to distribute the $1 billion Turner pledged to support anti-American U.N. causes.
Mounir Bouchenaki, UNESCO's assistant director-general for culture, called Turner's proposal "very interesting" and said it should be explored depending on how much he could rake off. He said it would preserve the DMZ as a sea of fire place of peace.
#6
The millions of land mines in the DMZ would make for a hell of a ride and of course the myriad tunnels under it offer immense possibilities for someone like TT.
November 18, 2005: The Royal Australian Air Forceâs decision to go ahead with buying the F-35 might be surprising, but not when one looks at what the alternatives had been. The Australians had been considering ten options for the future of the RAAF. These options were a mixture of proven capability (like the F-15E and F-16), and the cutting edge (like the Eurofighter, F-22, and robotic warplanes, or UCAVs). Yet, not all of them made the cut. What is unique about the RAAF competition is the frank discussion of the pros and cons of the contenders that emerged. Usually, not a lot of information is released, either for the sake of the country doing the buying (in order to avoid tipping off potential opponents) and the companies involved (in order to preserve a chance at future sales by keeping competing aircraft firms from knowing weaknesses in another design).
Australia is planning to replace both its F-111s and F-18s with the F-35. The F-35 is a stealthy multi-role aircraft with a top speed of 1,900 kilometers per hour, and a combat radius of over 1,100 kilometers. The aircraft comes in at anywhere from $37 million (the U.S. Air Forceâs version) to $48 million (the U.S. Navyâs carrier version). Why was the F-35, which is not yet in service, chosen over other aircraft, some of which have been proven in combat (like the F-15 and F-16), or which have had most of the bugs worked out (Rafale, Su-30MK, Gripen, F/A-18E/F)?
The answer is what Australia was looking for â they wanted a modern, multi-role fighter that could last a long time (the planned retirement date is 2040). They also wanted stealth, good sensors, and long range. Looking these requirements over helps explain why some planes did not make the cut.
The F-15 and F-16 were state of the art through the 1970s and 1980s, but fell behind the Rafale and Eurofighter, and are slated to be replaced with the F-22 and F-35, respectively. To an extent, the F-18E/F also fell victim, even though it had much in common with RAAF F-18s currently in service.
The Rafale had two problems. The biggest was interoperability. Australia and the United States have fought together in a number of major conflicts dating back to World War I. There is very little expectation that this will change, and Australia wants to simplify matters like logistics. What also plagued the Rafale, as well as the Gripen and Eurofighter were issue with stealth (not enough), and sensors (the small radomes raised concerns). The Gripen also failed on range.
The F-22 was one of the planes considered. Performance and logistics were not issues â cost was. The F-22 was coming in at $150 million a plane, and it was optimized for the air-to-air role, with the attack capability added on after many of the parameters were set. The most expensive variant of the F-35 comes in at $48 million. So, for the price of one F-22, one could get three F-35Cs or close to four F-35As (the variant Australia is purchasing). One F-22 can beat one F-35, but one F-22 would have a much difficult time beating three F-35Cs or four F-35As â and it cannot be in three or four places at once.
Two the competitors were never serious possibilities. The first was the Su-30MK, which was non-stealthy, had serious inter-operability issues, and would have been extremely controversial. In essence, there were some questions as to why it was even considered despite its range and powerful sensor suite. The other competitor quickly wiped out were unmanned air combat vehicles (UCAVs). The Australians figured that UCAVs would eventually supplement manned combat aircraft, but would not suffice as replacements.
The last aircraft standing was the F-35. While it is a paper airplane, it is well under way, and Australia will be able to get a version of the F-35 that will meet its requirements through 2040. Other countries will also be buying at least one variant of the F-35, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey, and the Netherlands. The F-35 will likely be the F-16 of the early 21st century.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:48 ||
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#1
..including the United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey, and the Netherlands.
Cut them OUT, just to let them know we haven't forgotten.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Large sections of the 16th century walls surrounding Jerusalem's Old City are in danger of collapse unless they undergo immediate restoration. According to an engineering survey conducted by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, 380 metres (yards), or one-tenth, of the walls' extension are in immediate danger of collapse, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported on Friday. The survey showed 11 sections of the stone wall needing attention, most of them located along the northern stretch, which flanks the Muslim quarter, and the southern stretch, which skirts the Jewish quarter.
The area in most need of work is the section which flanks the southern supporting wall of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam. The site also houses the ruins of the ancient Jewish temple, the most sacred spot in Judaism, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly called attention to a bulge in the southern supporting wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, provoking tensions between the Jewish and Muslim communities.
Rumor has it that the muzzies are digging under the mosque to destroy as many traces of the temple as possible. They want to say they were there first.
"The examination shows that the signs of cracking and crumbling, which are evidence of structural problems, have increased and become more widespread," the report said. "New cracks were also revealed in the southern wall (of the mosque compound), which shows evidence of movement in the entire wall."
When it falls and crushes the muslims praying inside, they'll just blame the jews and inflame the Muslim Street.
Another 29 sections of the wall, extending a total of 1,280 metres, are also in danger of collapse, but the threat is not quite so imminent, the report said.
The Old City is divided culturally and historically into four parts -- the Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Muslim quarters. Built by Suleiman the Magnificent between 1536-1541, the Old City walls stretch a total length of 3.8 kilometres (2.3 miles). Seven gates in the wall lead into the Old City -- Jaffa, Damascus, Herod's, Zion, Dung, Lion's and New gates. An eighth, the Golden Gate, is sealed off.
Visited there in 1984, including a tour of the mosque and the Dome of the Rock next door. I suppose if I tried it today, I'd be beaten up at the very least. Pity, Jerusalem was a beautiful city.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 13:30 ||
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#1
"Rumor has it that the muzzies are digging under the mosque to destroy as many traces of the temple as possible."
Insert your favorite burrowing animal reference here...
South Africa signed a defence and intelligence pact with its neighbour Zimbabwe yesterday, spurning attempts by western governments to isolate the Harare government of Robert Mugabe. Under the agreement, the two countries will share information on security issues, while Zimbabwean pilots and instructors will travel to South Africa for training. At the signing in Cape Town, Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa's intelligence minister, said: "This ... further consolidates a long-standing socio-political and economic relationship between our two countries." Zimbabwe's problems were no different to those faced by other countries that had come through a colonial past, he added.
"Just a bit of post-colonial angst, you know. Nothing to see here, move along."
South Africa, roundly criticised for not taking a stronger line against Mr Mugabe, has vowed to continue working with Zimbabwe's government to try to solve that country's difficulties. Charles Nqakula, the South African safety and security minister, said: "We are not going to do anything based on some of the populism chants that happen on our soil and elsewhere that is going to upset that programme."
Translation: "All you white folk, start packing."
Yesterday's deal comes at a time when Europe and the United States are increasing pressure on Mr Mugabe's government, which has been widely accused of vote rigging and human rights abuses.
Oh looky, it's the fault of the US, again.
Zimbabwe is reeling from its worst economic and political crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, triggered nearly entirely in part by government seizures of white-owned farms. It blames its problems on a western campaign of sanctions and isolation, led by Britain and the US, following its land reforms.
Look up Zimbabwe in Crisis in the dictionary, and yup, there's a smirking picture of ol' Chimpy McHalliburton.
It has promised to continue its war of words with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the US president, George Bush, and has warned South Africa about foreigners trying to interfere in the affairs of African states. "The greatest threat to the stability of the region, and Zimbabwe in particular, is the threat of exogenous influences whose aim is to effect regime change, especially in regards to my country," Dydimus Mutasa, a Zimbabwean minister of state, said. Meanwhile, the defence minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, claimed accounts of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe were merely imagined.
#2
Unlike Bad Bob's Zimbi-land, South Africa has certain strategic natural resources which could be used to wreak havoc on the world economic system in the wrong hands. Being that they are at the top of the list in Gold, Platinum and Diamonds, we could have real problems if the high So African officials continue to drink the same too pure water that Happy Hugo in Venezuela is....
#3
Zimbabwe is reeling from its worst economic and political crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, triggered nearly entirely in part by government seizures of white-owned farms.
The MSM, refusing to publish negative reports on South Africa, has covered up the major movement by black South Africans to drive white farmers from their land through theft, intimidation, rape and murder. When I last looked, the stats were one white South African farmer murdered every three days.
The difference between South Africa and Zimbabwe is that the South African government doesn't officially sanction the murderous attempt to take over the land. They just turn a blind eye to it.
There's an official movement as well to restore land historically taken from blacks by (partly) compensating the present white owners. But the government pretends that's all that is happening.
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is attacking a children's book that depicts her as an inveterate liberal who tries to regulate a lemonade stand run by two budding entrepeneurs. The book, "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!," by Katharine DeBrecht, stars "Congresswoman Clunkton" - a kind of cartoon verson of Nurse Ratched in a pantsuit who orders the young boys to reduce the sugar in their lemonade and add broccoli to each glass.
"Canât wait for the sequel, Help! Mom! I Canât Read This Book Because Republicans Have Cut Literacy Programs!â Clinton's spokesman Philippe Reines fumed recently in comments to The Hill newspaper. A few days later, the Hillary flak lauched another attack. "Itâs not the liberal under the bed that they should be worried about,â he snapped, "itâs the sales that are in the basement.â In fact, "Help! Mom!" has been flying off bookstore shelves since its release in September, topping the Barnes & Noble bestseller list and climbing on Amazon's list to just behind ""Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
Heh heh heh
DeBrecht tells NewsMax that she wrote "Help! Mom!" because there were no childrens' books written from a conservative perspective. On the other side of the political aisle, she noted, children are inundated with books like "It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana" and "No George, No: The Reparenting of George W. Bush " "I can cite a ton of examples on the left that constantly attack conservatism," DeBrecht said. "But there was nothing there to basically teach traditional values."
The South Carolina-based writer got the idea for "Help! Mom!" after watching the 2000 GOP convention with her own young boys. Four years later, DeBrecht saw an ad on NewsMax.com for Xulon Press and self-published her story. "Help! Mom!" caught the eye of Florida talk radio host Greg Allen, who put DeBrecht on his "Right Balance" radio show.
Allen helped put her in touch with World Ahead publishing, which reissued DeBrecht's book with new artwork under its Kids Ahead imprint.
Just two days after it was re-published in Sept. 2004, "Help! Mom!" was touted by conservative mega star Rush Limbaugh, who said his "hat was off" to the conservative children's book writer. The endorsement catapulted "Help Mom" to the top of the Amazon and Barnes & Noble bestseller lists.
Liberal reaction was swift. One left-wing Web site began comparing DeBrechtâs book to Nazi propaganda. Another, the Democratic Underground, trashed her as one of their "Top 10 Conservative Idiots.â
Far from slowing DeBrecht down, however, the overheated response has only encouraged her to begin a new project - turning her "Help! Mom!" book into a full-blown series.
Pending titles include: "Help! Mom! Hollywood Is in My Hamper!," "Help! Mom! There Are Lawyers in My Lunchbox!" and "Help! Mom! The Ninth Circuit Nabbed the Nativity!"
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 10:24 ||
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This is because she was never a child. A buzzard laid an egg on a tree-stump, and when it hatched, Hillary came out fully grown, holding a greyhound bus ticket to Vassar.
#7
Worth going to Amazon just to read the bad reviews from our liberal friends. Oh my, oh my!You get a lot of this. I'm a liberal and ...
a) I don't care if you put up a cross in your home or business - just on property for which I pay taxes. I don't proselytize, even when Christians do.
b) I don't care if you eat your broccoli or not. I'd like everyone to have the OPTION of eating something other than junk food. But how they exercise that option is outside my interest.
c) Nobody is asking anyone who makes $12 a year to pay half their money in taxes. Keep eating your hate, folks. It's making America weaker.
#11
its stupid that some leftie moonbats have published an antibush kids book.
But its amusing that righties think an attack on Hillary is a response to that. In case anyones forgotten, shes just the junior senator from New York, and never held an elective office before 2000. If I wuz Hillary, Id make hay out of this, to show Reid, Feingold, Dean, etc who the REAL top democrat is.
LAHORE: Aasia Bibi, daughter of former MPA Chaudhry Hakim Ali, has accused MPA Abdur Rashid Bhatti of grabbing her husbandâs property worth millions of rupees. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Aasia said that her father Chaudhry Hakim transferred most of his property to her husband Asif Ashrafâs name before being arrested by NAB in 1999. She said that on his release from NABâs custody in 2001, Chaudhry Hakim demanded his property back from Asif but the latter could not do so because his friend MPA Abdur Rashid Bhatti had grabbed it. She said that Bhatti returned some of the property but kept 100 kanals of land titled âFaisal Gardensâ in his possession.
Aasia said that on the day of the incident, her husband Asif, brother Rizwan and brother-in-law Babar Ali went to meet Bhatti to resolve the issue, but had words with him. She accused Bhatti of shooting himself to implicate her family in a false case.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe has backtracked on its refusal to allow the U.N. to help build emergency housing for people whose homes were demolished in a government eviction campaign. U.N. officials in Harare said Thursday that Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo accepted the assistance in a letter earlier this week. Building is to start next week on the first 10 of a proposed 2,500 units.
The government had initially refused U.N. offers to provide temporary shelters for families made homeless by a campaign of evictions in May and June, saying it wanted permanent structures. Yasuhiro Ueki, the U.N. spokesman in Harare, said U.N. officials were now discussing technical details with the government. "We are not talking about tents here," he said. But he added that they would not be conventional houses, even though they would stand on a concrete base and floor. "They are rather small," he said.
I'll bet they heat hell out of having to sleep under a bush, though.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
The government wants us to build shelters for its own list of beneficiaries, while we would like to help all those in need and left homeless," said a western diplomat.
Imagine the precedent we will be setting - any country can go ahead, demolish informal settlements and ask the international community to rehabilitate them," the diplomat commented.
http://cmarlow.blogspot.com/2005/11/zimbabwe-in-vicious-circle-this-is.html
#5
"Zimbabwe has backtracked on its refusal to allow the U.N. to help build emergency housing ..."
... as long as it's built in the Sudan. That way there'll be no need to Bulldoze the temporary housing later, and all the problems will be taken care of, nice and clean like.
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.
An estimated 55% of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins and, therefore, 13 times more at risk than other Britons of genetic disorders. 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 
Haiti's first elections since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have been postponed for the third time this year, the interim prime minister said Thursday. The first round of the legislative and presidential vote will be Dec. 27 followed by a runoff Jan. 31, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said in an interview with The Associated Press. The presidential elections were originally scheduled for Nov. 13, then postponed until Nov. 20. The government said they would have to be delayed again, and Latortue had given timeframe of Dec. 11-18. The new date is "firm and final," he said.
South Africa signed a defence and intelligence pact with its neighbour Zimbabwe yesterday, spurning attempts by western governments to isolate the Harare government of Robert Mugabe. Under the agreement, the two countries will share information on security issues, while Zimbabwean pilots and instructors will travel to South Africa for training. At the signing in Cape Town, Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa's intelligence minister, said: "This ... further consolidates a long-standing socio-political and economic relationship between our two countries." Zimbabwe's problems were no different to those faced by other countries that had come through a colonial past, he added. 
LAHORE: Aasia Bibi, daughter of former MPA Chaudhry Hakim Ali, has accused MPA Abdur Rashid Bhatti of grabbing her husbandâs property worth millions of rupees. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Aasia said that her father Chaudhry Hakim transferred most of his property to her husband Asif Ashrafâs name before being arrested by NAB in 1999. She said that on his release from NABâs custody in 2001, Chaudhry Hakim demanded his property back from Asif but the latter could not do so because his friend MPA Abdur Rashid Bhatti had grabbed it. She said that Bhatti returned some of the property but kept 100 kanals of land titled âFaisal Gardensâ in his possession. 
Zimbabwe has backtracked on its refusal to allow the U.N. to help build emergency housing for people whose homes were demolished in a government eviction campaign. U.N. officials in Harare said Thursday that Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo accepted the assistance in a letter earlier this week. Building is to start next week on the first 10 of a proposed 2,500 units.
