A new law concerning the building of mosques was approved Tuesday night by the Moroccan parliament, aiming at tightening the supervision over Islamist elements. According to the new law, people who wish to contribute money to building mosques must register as a legal association. Also, any construction or expansion of a mosque will from now on require a special permit.
They also tightened considerably the building code for ammunition storage rooms and gun lock-ups ...
A few Moroccan religious movements have expressed their fear that the new law will hinder the process of constructing mosques. Minister of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs Ahmad A-Tawfiq responded by saying the law would thwart any attempt to take advantage of mosques for "non-peaceful purposes." A-Tawfiq denied that his ministry's reform was the result of external pressures.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2007 00:00 ||
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The U.K. should have a law like that. Hell, so should the U.S. and a bunch of European countries as well.
Egyptian parliament voted Wednesday in favor of amending 34 articles in the Egyptian constitution as part of a political reform package proposed by President Hosni Mubarak, the official Middle East News Agency reported. Mubarak asked the People's Assembly, Egypt's legislature, last month to discuss the amendments that he promised during his campaign ahead of presidential elections in 2005.
Approving the amended articles will take a minimum of just over two months besides the time it takes to prepare for and hold a popular referendum on the amendments parliament approves. MENA said Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour announced after Wednesday's vote that 316 deputies approved the amendments - more than two-thirds of the 454-seat parliament, but did not say how many voted against or abstained.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2007 00:00 ||
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More information:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/827/fr1.htm
They suggest it improves democratic reforms, and puts the blocks to the Muslim Brotherhood at the same time. Bitterly opposed by the Brotherhood, natch.
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed two Pakistani men for possessing, selling and smuggling drugs and a Saudi national for raping minors, the Interior Ministry said.
A ministry statement carried by the official news agency SPA said one Pakistani was put to death in the city of Jeddah for selling hashish and having an unspecified quantity of heroin. Another Pakistani man was also executed in Jeddah after he was convicted of smuggling an unspecified quantity of heroin in his abdomen. Saudi Arabia also executed a national in the northern city of Buraida after he was convicted of “luring minors and raping them by force”, a ministry statement said.
The executions raised to at least five the number of people put to death in the kingdom so far this year. Saudi Arabia follows strict Islamic law and executions are usually carried out by public beheading with a sword. Convicted murderers, rapists and drug traffickers are liable for the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed ... a Saudi national for raping minors, the Interior Ministry said.
And the problem is?
The drug people are one thing, but let them do to the pedophile what they will. I hope his execution was as painful and as gorey as possible...
MADRID, Spain - Fidel Castro himself told surgeons not to perform a colostomy, opting instead for a course of surgery that produced a complication leaving the Cuban leader in far worse condition, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.
After removing an inflamed piece of Castro's large intestine in an operation last year, the doctors connected the remainder directly to his rectum, rather than attaching a colostomy bag, El Pais said, quoting two medical sources at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital. The operation failed when a suture burst. "The Cuban dictator and his advisers are the ones who decided on the surgical technique that has led to the complications," the paper said.
Dumb, dumb, dumb. Surgery for diverticulitis should almost (99%) always be concluded with a temporary, diverting colostomy. You let the affected region of the bowel heal with rest and then you do a second procedure to re-attach the plumbing.
While the newspaper article did not name the sources, one of the journalists who wrote it told The Associated Press that both were doctors at the hospital. The journalist, Oriel Guell, said none of the information in articles published Tuesday and Wednesday came from surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro.
Garcia Sabrido, the hospital's chief surgeon, declined comment Wednesday but said in an interview posted on CNN's Web site that El Pais' account of Castro's condition being grave was wrong. "According to my information, there is even some progressive improvement," Sabrido was quoted as saying. "The only truthful parts of the newspaper's reports are the name of the patient, that he has been operated on, and that he has had complications. The rest is rumors."
"Please don't ruin me with all the proper-thinking progressives!"
A Cuban diplomat in Madrid said Tuesday that the newspaper's report was "an invented story." "It's another lie and we are not going to talk about it. If anyone has to talk about Castro's illness, it's Havana," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with normal diplomatic practice.
"Lies! All lies!"
Experts say it's possible Castro and his surgeons went for the riskier procedure to spare him the indignity of being temporarily attached to a colostomy bag for waste removal. In standard colostomies, patients are dependent on such bags for approximately six weeks.
That's about right. It's unsightly and it causes some real, if transient, pyschological problems for some patients. Can only imagine Fee-del thought himself too good to dump into a bag.
Attempting to reattach the colon to the rectum is an inherently trickier surgical procedure, since waste can leak into the abdomen, causing infection.
Plus the first surgery is inherently dirty -- you're resecting an infected region of large bowel. Even if you empty the large bowel prior to surgery you still have pus and bacteria all over. A primary anastamosis (reattaching the colon to the rectum) is risky because, if the anastamosis breaks down, you get rapid peritonitis and abscess formation. Not good; antibiotics frequently don't fix that. Plus you get into a situation, particularly with VIPs, where you temporize in your care -- he's such a big shot that you don't want to break bad news, so you wait and hope antibiotics and bowel preps will work. They don't, and now you're in worse trouble.
"It sounds like they took a gamble and they lost," said Dr. Peter Shamamian, an associate professor of surgery at New York University School of Medicine, referring to Castro's surgeons. Though Shamamian said it was difficult to speculate on Castro's condition, he said colostomies are a standard procedure that do not usually result in serious complications.
Which is why we do them in this situation -- they work.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2007 00:00 ||
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It took way too long, but his pride did finally kill him.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/18/2007 0:23 Comments ||
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I knew a prostitute that had a colostomy. SHe made a little money on the side.
#3
Reminds me of those myriad attempts to keep Spanish dictator and US Cold War ally Francisco Franco alive during the 1970's. Don't think even Fidel wants to go out under these auspices.
#8
Anyone want to bet on when they announce he's "stable"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/18/2007 5:45 Comments ||
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#9
I'm actually hoping he hangs on for a good long time, now.
Hang in there, Fidel! You can take the pain! Having increasingly large numbers of people doing increasingly painful and degrading things to your bunghole is small sacrifice for la revolucion.
Hahahahahaha!
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2007 9:16 Comments ||
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Joseph Mendiola says:
Reminds me of those myriad attempts to keep Spanish dictator and US Cold War ally Francisco Franco alive during the 1970's.
Joseph I never thought you would fall for this kind of cheap leftist propaganda.
What happenned was:
Franco fell ill just a few weeks before the due replacement of the head of the "Council of the Kingdom". This posiion allowed to block any move made by Franco's successor to change the regime. Now if Franco died before the replacement then the new Council's head would be appointed by the King, if Franco xwas still alive then he would be appointed either by Franco or in case he wasn't able by the Franquist Prime Minister Aria Navarro or by the Franquist Party (don't remember). That was reason for keeping him alive so long.
At the end Franco died conveniently soon enough, so the King nominated his man and with his help started the dismantling of franquism.
#11
Experts say it's possible Castro and his surgeons went for the riskier procedure to spare him the indignity of being temporarily attached to a colostomy bag for waste removal.
The most important thing to remember, Fidel is to match the bag to your belt and shoes.
Russian Duma wants Moscow to take “decisive steps” if Tallin begins to dismantle a monument to the 50,000 Soviet soldiers who died fighting the Germans in World War II, euronews informed.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: _“As far as we are concerned, this is akin to blasphemy.”
He added that TallinnÂ’s move was dictated by motives that have nothing in common with the necessity to learn lessons from the past and build a unified Europe without any borders.
Tallin says the monument, dating from 1947, has become a focus for public discontent and demonstrations. For many Estonians it is a reminder of their loss of independence after the Russian occupation of 1940. The authorities say they want to move it to a more secure site.
#2
"The authorities say they want to move it to a more secure site."
May I suggest Moscow?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/18/2007 19:38 Comments ||
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Russian Duma wants Moscow to take “decisive steps” if Tallin begins to dismantle a monument to the 50,000 Soviet soldiers who died fighting the Germans in World War II, euronews informed.
I know: cut off their gas and oil. If that doesn't work, there's always polonium-210.
#4
He added that TallinnÂ’s move was dictated by motives that have nothing in common with the necessity to learn lessons from the past and build a unified Europe without any borders.
Wasn't the monument built to commemorate soldiers who died fighting an attempt to "build a unified Europe without any borders"?
#5
I don't blame the Russians it would be like the French considering plowing through those massive US cemitaries. I would be pissed so I can see the Russians point the Estonians sided with the Germans they lost the Russians won. Choices in life have consequences the Estonians should deal with it. I have no love for the Russians but they got a point.
BEIJING – A sleek, swept-wing fighter-bomber dubbed the "Jian-10," unveiled here last week, is more than just another jet plane. It is China's calling card, announcing Beijing's arrival among the top ranks of military manufacturers.
Powered by Chinese engines and firing Chinese precision-guided missiles, the locally built Jian-10 has "allowed China to become the fourth country in the world" to have developed such a capability, "narrowing the gap with advanced nations," boasted Geng Ruguang, deputy general manager of the plane's manufacturer, Avic-I.
The latest fruit of a military modernization drive that has produced an indigenous Chinese nuclear attack submarine, early warning aircraft, frigates and destroyers, cruise missiles, and computerized command and control systems, the Jian-10 is "a decisive step by China toward becoming an aviation power," the official Xinhua news agency declared.
The plane is also a new symbol of China's role-reversal in the global arms industry. "Most technology analysts have been surprised by the speed with which China has gone from being an arms-buying country to one with real promise of being a producer of front-edge military technology," says Denny Roy, senior researcher at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.
I don't know that they're 'front-edge' yet, but Brazil (for example) has demonstrated that you don't necessarily have to be leading edge to have a profitable arms-export business. The Chinese have an opportunity to advance their arms sales from cheap, knock-off versions of old Soviet technology to newer items that might interest thugs around the world.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Looks about as stealthy as Aunt Jemima.
Allright all you jetburgers, what's with the wings up by the cockpit? I know I've seen that before, but I thougt it was on jets built about 30 years ago.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/18/2007 0:41 Comments ||
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#2
Perhaps they ripped off a Swedish Gripen?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2007 1:14 Comments ||
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The Chinese sold 36 J-10 fighters to Pakistan, slated to enter service in the Pakistan Air Force in 2009-2010. It is estimated to cost $1.5 billion USD total with a flyaway price of $41 million USD for each J-10 fighter.
#4
Allright all you jetburgers, what's with the wings up by the cockpit? I know I've seen that before, but I thougt it was on jets built about 30 years ago.
They're called canards, they allow for higher angles of attack for pitch rate and depending on the configuration can also reduce drag which in turn allows the aircraft to be faster. In turn because the plane technically adds an extra set of wings due to the canards you can then make the main wings a bit lighter or allow for the carrying of heavier payloads. Course one of the disadvantages of canards is that they're not likely to have any flaps on the plane.
#6
The J-10 is derived from the Lavi plans (and F-16+ project developed with US taxpayer dollars) that the Israelis sold the Chinese. The engine is reversed engineered from the Russian SU-27. Radar and fire control were Israeli. Weapons are Russan knockoffs. And some wonder why the Israelis won't receive the F-22 and frozen out of any F-35 development work.
Posted by: ed ||
01/18/2007 2:12 Comments ||
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The Jian-10 is a direct descendant of the Lavi project cancelled by the Israelis; and the F-16X project where canards were added to an F-16 - leading to the basis for the Lavi. This plane is part of the technology transfer agreed to by the Israelis in the early 80s, when China agreed to stop funding the PLO and related terrorists.
If you look at the cockpit/air scoop arrangement, you can see the influence earlier MiG designs on the aircraft, as well. What the Chinese have done is produced a slightly more advanced fighter than the F-20 Tigershark somewhat indigenously, with a lot of stolen/purchased/reverse engineered technology.
#9
I think the most egregious Lavi tech transfer is the digital fly-by-wire flight control system (I'm guessing stolen or reverse engineered from the F-16). That opens up whole new range of enemy aircraft capabilities. Even the SU-27 has only an analog system.
Posted by: ed ||
01/18/2007 2:33 Comments ||
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#10
OK! That's It! I'm calling it the F5/F16/SU27 MONGREL!
#11
I know that the above remarks are all true, because nothing ever gets invented---except in USA. The rest of humanity, and Israel in particular, only advance by stealing American technology. In the specific case of Israel, usually managing to steal this technology years before Americans invent it.
#12
"Purely defensive" > IOW, killing us softly, the way Grandmas do.
"Thirty years" > Chicom officios have formally admitted that they are still 20-plus years behind the West, espec agz America. WELCOME TO THE 1970's. Pragmatically, iff serious China will need to de-regulate more in order to have such competitive innovation-turnovers that they can go head-to-head agz anti-US Proliferation leader RUSSIA.
#13
Don't worry about appearances, grom. The US does this kind of thing to itself just as much or more than Israel seems to, it's just that the US does it out of studied ignorance/incompetance usually whereas Israel is at least aware of what it is doing. I can't decide which is worse, but they both have the same end effect.
The Chinese reverse engineering effort has not been too successful. They are unable to make a reliable copy of the Russian engines.
They are buying RD-93 and AL-31 engines instead.
According to the report of Russia media Kommersant, the Russian state-owned arms trading company Rosoboroneksport has concluded a US$300 million deal for the export of 100 modified AL-31FN turbofan engines from the Salyut Moscow Machine Building Production Enterprise to China. These engine will be fitted on the PLA Air ForceÂ’s latest indigenous J-10 fighter aircraft.
The report confirmed the earlier speculation that China had received 54 Salyut-made AL-31FP turbofan engines for a test fleet of J-10s between 2002 and 2004. Later Salyut, through Rosoboroneksport, successfully negotiated the sale of the engine for mass production of the fighter aircraft.
The contract with Salyut is the second within three months for the delivery of Russian engines for Chinese fighter planes. At the beginning of April, Rosoboroneksport signed a contract with Beijing for the sale of 100 RD-93 engines for the new Chinese FC-1 for $267 million. The engine was developed by the Klimov plant based on the RD-33 used in the improved MiG-29. Mass production of the RD-93 for China will be carried out at the Chernyshev plant in Moscow. Beijing's total demand for RD-93 will be about 500 pieces.
Posted by: john ||
01/18/2007 6:33 Comments ||
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Interestingly enough, the first Chinese assembled SU-27s could not fly.
Russian technicians had to be sent to dismantle and reassemble the aircraft.
Russia has also refused to transfer technology for the local Chinese manufacture of the AL-31.
Posted by: john ||
01/18/2007 6:39 Comments ||
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Lavi Funding: Over $2 billion of US aid and the latest US technology went into the Lavi project. (90% of Lavi development cost was funded by US taxpayers via FMS aid).
Examples of this technology include Pratt and Whitney PW1120 engines; graphite epoxy composite materials; electronic countermeasures (ECM) parts; radar-warning receivers and their logarithms; wide-angle, heads-up display; programmable signal-processor emulator; flight-control computer; single-crystal turbine technology; and computer and airframe system.
Arrow anti-ballistic missile system: Since 1988, the United States has provided Israel with more than $1 billion in grants for research and development of the Arrow through the defense budget. President Bush requested $60 million for the Arrow for FY2003. The 2004 budget also includes a request for $136 million for the Arrow, of which $66 million is for an improvement program and $70 million for production. The US Congress approved the funding of $81.6 million toward the cost of a third batteries. Each battery reportedly costs about $170m.
Forgot to mention, the Chinese PL-8 (primary IR missile) on the J-10. Chinese licensed copy of the Israeli Python 3, which in itself is a unauthorized copy of the AIM-9L Sidewinder (world's first all aspect IR missile). The Chinese then took the Python 3 (ex AIM-9L) seeker, put it on a Chinese missile frame and called it the PL-9 and exported it to Israel's neighbors (e.g. Iraq and Iran).
Jane's Intelligence Review 11/01/98: the transfer by Israel to China of the Phalcon airborne early warning and control system (US pressure killed the sale), the Python air-combat missile, and the F-10 fighter aircraft, containing "state-of-the-art U.S. electronics."
In 1992, the first Bush Administration launched a broad inter-departmental investigation into the export of classified technology to China. Of particular concern at the time was the transfer to China by Israel of U.S. Patriot missiles and/or technology. ... In this instance, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, aware that Israel had already been caught selling the earlier AIM 9-L version of the missile to China in violation of a written agreement with the U.S. on arms re-sales, intervened to cancel the proposed AIM-9M deal.
Missile technology sold by Israel to China found its way into tactical missiles sold by China to Iran, Syria, and Iraq, and, reportedly, into CSS-2 ballistic missiles sold by China to Saudi Arabia. American defense and state department officials are furious at Israel for so flagrantly violating the US embargo of high-tech arms to China, particularly as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise. There have even been angry demands in Congress for the value of the Israeli AWACS aircraft sold to China to be deducted from the $3-5 billion in aid Israel receives annually from the US. Fears are being expressed that US technology for Israel’s new ‘Arrow’ anti-missile system, developed with nearly $1 billion in US aid, may also be sold to China.
Would it be too much to ask that Israel not sell US funded tech to US adversaries (and eventually Israel's too)? Lots more examples are available. Though lately Israel has tranferred less weapons tech, just recently there was news of the Harpy anti radar attack drones for China. At least the Harpy was Israeli funded, as far as I know.
Posted by: ed ||
01/18/2007 8:15 Comments ||
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#17
Hey, Gromgoru? How's about you shut the fuck up about the US not giving Israel stuff. Remember Jonathan Pollard? Remember "By Way of Deception?" They name streets after people who play the game the way you guys do: ONE WAY. You motherfuckers wouldn't be breathing if it wasn't for the billions and billions given to you by the US taxpayer, who puts up with a lot of shit from the rest of the world to support you.
I'm getting set to fly overseas tomorrow and I'm going to go through a hell of a lot of horseshit because a lot of people don't like our country because WE SUPPORT ISRAEL. I agree with the support but I'm also damned well aware of what it costs us. Don't rub the cost in any more.
Posted by: mac ||
01/18/2007 9:28 Comments ||
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More Chinese Military Advances:
U.S. intelligence agencies believe China destroyed the aging Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite in a successful anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) test Jan. 11, China Daily reported Jan. 18, citing an article to appear in the Jan. 22 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. U.S. intelligence agencies are still attempting to verify the ASAT test, which would signify that China has a major new military capability.
#19
China and Russia can buils all they want. We will still dominate the skies everywhere we go. This aircraft will be sold to make third world countries think they are first world big shots.
A Communist insurgent general once told me the best fighters and bombers in the world are only as good as the security around the runway. Any country that gets these will never be able to afford to maintain them and will certainly never understand how to defend them from ground attack.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/18/2007 11:23 Comments ||
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#20
Fighters are only as good as the pilots flying them. Very few nations have the culture and cash to ensure the pilots are really, really, well trained.
China should be selling tanks for export instead. It doesn't take much training to beat down your own citizens with tanks and I suspect that is going to be a growing market amung Chinese allies.
#22
Damn, mac. But I suppose it needed to be said.
As we were discussing yesterday, the horseshit we're subjected to is ultimately because governments find it easier to hassle their own docile citizens than to crush the muzzbots once and for all. Strictly speaking, the US could totally support Israel or totally withdraw it, and Islam would still be a problem either way.
Well, in any case, don't let the zooch-grabbers getcha. :)
#23
The Lavi's fly-by-wire system was programmed by Lear-Siegler under contract to Israeli Aircraft Industries in the 1985-1987 time frame. Its avionics systems were programmed by IAI using embedded computers that conform to the then UASF MIL-STD 1732b instruction set architecture.
#24
All those vaunted Israeli imilitary inventions. I wish they could invent their own bazillions of dollars so we don't have to supply it for them.
Who ever heard of a thankless Jew? I think groms' just having a bad day.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/18/2007 13:19 Comments ||
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#25
I support Israel but I sure as hell would really think about giving them our bleeding edge stuff and plans. Israel has been known to be as leaky as the CIA.
They want guns? Check.
They want ammo? Check.
They want AIM-120s? Maybe. Depends if they are at war.
They want F-22s? Fuck you.
Have a nuke instead.
Muslim prayer leaders are leaving the Netherlands because they no longer feel welcome, increasing the risk that radicals could to fill the void, a Muslim leader said in an interview published on Thursday. Mohamed Ousalah, the vice-president of the Dutch Association of Imams, was quoted in the De Telegraaf newspaper saying that 180 of 450 mosques in the Netherlands no longer had an imam because foreign-born imams were leaving the country.
Ousalah blamed the departures on an intolerant atmosphere towards Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States and tougher immigration controls by the Dutch government.
He warned the lack of guidance from more moderate imams at leaderless mosques increased the risk that extremists could step in to fill the vacuum with radical agendas. 'The situation is critical,' Ousalah said. 'In Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, dozens of imams have left. And that trend continues in other places.'
The Dutch government has clamped down on immigration, threatened to deport failed asylum seekers and demanded new migrants learn Dutch and complete a mandatory integration course.
'Since the attacks of September 11 2001, imams have been connected with extremists and terrorists. They are faced with an enormous image problem,' Ousalah was quoted as saying. 'The government is also guilty because it is doing nothing about the problem,' he said. 'Even worse, the politicians are often calling for imams to be expelled.'
Some imams have returned home to Morocco while others have moved to other European countries such as Belgium or Spain where they face fewer restrictions.
Nearly 34 percent of American Muslims come from South Asia, with Arab-Americans representing 26 percent, followed by native-born American blacks (20 percent), mostly converts, with the remaining 20 percent coming from Africa, Iran, Turkey and elsewhere.
According to a new book, American Islam, by journalist Paul Barrett, Muslims as a group are “more prosperous and better educated than other Americans”. Almost 60 percent of them have college degrees, compared to 27 percent of American adults overall. The median family income among Muslims is $60,000, the national median being $50,000. Eighty percent of them are registered to vote. Compared to the larger and poorer, Muslim populations of Western Europe, American Muslims show the traits of “a minority population successfully integrating into a larger society”.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2007 00:00 ||
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If that's successful integration, we should bring back that "separate but equal" thingy.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/18/2007 0:45 Comments ||
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Somebody fails to grasp the difference between immigration and colonization.
#3
And still, no one's bothered to find out what's being preached in their mosques.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/18/2007 5:43 Comments ||
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Take these "statistics" with more than a few grains of salt.
This is about political influence. They need to show themselves as politically active, financially prosperous and numerous.
Posted by: john ||
01/18/2007 6:26 Comments ||
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#5
Agreed, john. Those Yemenis in Lackawanna's First Ward aren't earning beyond the national average, nor likely anywhere near it. Nor are their children likely to join the ranks of the educated upper middle class after the demands they've put on a school system already oriented to providing workers for the long since closed Bethlehem Steel plant. Some have saved enough to move to the nicer part of Lackawanna, buying neat little houses from retired steelworkers at top dollar, but it's still the same school system. Quite possibly 60% of America's Muslims do have college degrees, but I'll bet the other 40% can barely read and write in any language, nor is it likely that they vote, even if registered.
#6
I remember reading someplace a few months back that Palestinians were the most educated people in the world. If it's true, all it proves is that education don't necessarily mean shit...
#7
The between the lines here is that CAIR (with their fetish on the Arabic side of things) may not speak for the vast bulk of American Muslims although they certainly want us to believe they do.
In what has to be one of the surest signs that a return to normalcy is on the agenda for Northern Iraqis, Kurdish businessman Malashin Barzani, a member of Northern Iraqi leader Mesud Barzani's clan, has purchased the formerly Istanbul-based amusement park "Tatilya."
Kurdistan becomes more normal every day ...
Barzani's purchase of Tatilya was for 1.1 million dollars, and adds yet one more level of intricacy to the growing infrastructure of the Northern Iraqi region, which now boasts universities, ministry buildings, customs offices, and a parliament. And thus Tatilya, billed for years as being the largest amusement park in Europe under one roof, is now located in Erbil.
I'm waiting for them to sponsor a Madonna concert ...
The parts and pieces of Tatilya were packaged up in enormous containers and sent to Northern Iraq a few weeks ago, where they are being put back together on a plot of land right next to a luxurious housing compound in the Ankava district of Erbil. The amusement park, which had been known as Turkey's own "mini-Disneyland" by many, had been closed down since April, 2006.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2007 00:00 ||
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CHINA reportedly has recently canceled plans for an ambitious but giant indigenous amusement park -OTOH, still has an alleged "building"? shaped like a US NIMITZ-CLASS CARRIER.
For the first time, scientists have experimentally demonstrated that sound pulses can travel at velocities faster than the speed of light, c. William RobertsonÂ’s team from Middle Tennessee State University also showed that the group velocity of sound waves can become infinite, and even negative.
Past experiments have demonstrated that the group velocities of other materials’ components—such as optical, microwave, and electrical pulses—can exceed the speed of light. But while the individual spectral components of these pulses have velocities very close to c, the components of sound waves are almost six orders of magnitude slower than light (compare 340 m/s to 300,000,000 m/s).
“All of the interest in fast (and slow) wave velocity for all types of waves (optical, electrical, and acoustic) was initially to gain a fundamental understanding of the characteristics of wave propagation,” Robertson told PhysOrg.com. “Phase manipulation can change the phase relationship between these materials’ components. Using sound to create a group velocity that exceeds the speed of light is significant here because it dramatically illustrates this point, due to the large difference between the speeds of sound and light.”
Continued on Page 49
#1
It seems like this (and some other thought experiments on interference fringe propagation) indicates that information can be transmitted at velocities greater than the speed of light, at least under special conditions. If one could harness this one could 'see' into the 'future', and perhaps propagate a hologram (interference figure) into the future (or past).
Wow - sounds like something straight from Acme Inc., who brought us the jet-powered pogo stick IIRC. Also, hasn't this effect already been illustrated, as it were, in other experiments by W. E. Coyote?
#8
There are thousands and thousands of tiny discoveries made each day that are ignored by the MSM and are forced die a slow Fish Carb Death due to lack of ready money. It's the price we pay for being right-handed.
The Weather ChannelÂ’s most prominent climatologist is advocating that broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming. This latest call to silence skeptics follows a year (2006) in which skeptics were compared to "Holocaust Deniers" and Nuremberg-style war crimes trials were advocated by several climate alarmists.
The Weather ChannelÂ’s (TWC) Heidi Cullen, who hosts the weekly global warming program "The Climate Code," is advocating that the American Meteorological Society (AMS) revoke their "Seal of Approval" for any television weatherman who expresses skepticism that human activity is creating a climate catastrophe. Read the whole thing...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/18/2007 05:12 ||
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Religious fanatics get so touchy when you question their dogma.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/18/2007 5:42 Comments ||
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#2
Priests who feel their income is threatened allways label those who question the faith as heretics.
She's a homely, scrawny, preachy leftist who is nonetheless expert at manipulative imagery. She has the personality of, and employs the tactics of, every repressive PC campus kook we've been hearing about, and based upon her age, she was "educated" during the high water mark of political correctness in the American academy.
This call for revocation of the licensure of weather experts is no different than any of the various speech codes that are an infringement of free speech and a form of intimidation in the education industry.
To someone who is making six figures off of selling the concept of anthropogenic global warming and probably couldn't earn a tenth of what she does if nobody bought into her notion, questions are the ultimate threat to her fame and lifestyle and income stream. I suspect that (fair or not) with a face and personality like hers, without this quasi-religious global warming thing, she'd be a night time radio weather girl in some small market, or a minor professor at a state college somewhere. Don't kill the job, and all that.
If it's OK for these folks to question the sincerity of the energy industry because they make a profit from one side of the "global warming" argument, then it is just as fair to make the same charge about those "scientists" whose income stream depends on grants (mostly public sector) that depend on the other side.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/18/2007 6:31 Comments ||
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#4
"Don't know if any of you have seen this woman."
I've seen Nostrilina. The totalitarian bitch is the reason I no longer watch the Weather Channel.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/18/2007 6:47 Comments ||
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#5
"Totalitarian" is just the right word.
I saw a graphic once that accurately described the genesis of the global warming cult. In essence, it is one avenue by which leftists are attempting to rescue socialism from all of its past failures.
In reality it is the combination of changing Western ethical standards (from "wealth is good" to "wealth is bad" and from "equality of opportunity" to "equality of outcome") along with a denigration of traditional religious views - and a replacement of said views with either radical secularism or goofy new age primitivism - that is the genesis of leftist environmentalism.
The goal since 1789 has always been to produce a socialist centralized and economically totalitarian state. The global warming thing is just a recent justification.
You don't see many economic free market advocates in this cult for a very good reason.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/18/2007 7:02 Comments ||
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#6
Oh, well, give her some credit: at least she's not advocating forcing global-warming skeptics into re-education camps.
Not yet.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/18/2007 7:16 Comments ||
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#7
The left's "free speech for me, but not for thee" mantra again. Typical of most communists.
#9
I can understand where Heidi is coming from. In a previous life, I felt the same way about the Germ Theory of disease. The idea that swarms of tiny invisible animals cause illness and plagues is simply preposterous.
#10
Well, Steve, in a previous life I felt the same way about Lysenkoism. I mean, who would be fool enough to think that acquired characteristics would not be inherited? Fortunately, I learned the error of my ways, thanks to the great Stalin.
#14
Piltdown Man was widely accepted in the scientific community for a long time, though there were skeptics and naysayers right from the beginning.
Fortunately for them, this was the pre-PC west, not the post-modern media world, and Piltdown was eventually exposed as a hoax.
#15
As a scientist, I am not personally skeptical of global warming. It is a fact. The degree of anthropogenic causation is very much a matter of legitimate debate however. Heidi and the media-based alarmists are simply lying when they deny this. This is obvious from even a cursory examination of peer-reviewed journals, at least in the United States. In the UK, the entire peer-review process has been corrupted to a degree that Stalin or Goebbels might envy, as we saw last year when terrorist sympathizers managed to prostitute the once-revered Lancet. Actually, Goebbels would not have been impressed with the paper alleging 2/3 of a million civilian casualties in the Iraq war. It was too crude and obvious for him, more Streicher's style. Be that is it may, papers questioning the politically orthodox view of anthopogenic causation in global warming are sometimes still published even in Britain.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am an outspoken proponent of nuclear energy and would have every incentive in the world to push anthropogenic causation if my own agenda were the governing factor.
#17
NASA says that Mars and the Moon are warming.
How does our 'prominent climatologist' explain that ? Forest fires ? Chemical plants ? wood stoves ? bovine flatulence ?
#19
Don't know if any of you have seen this woman."
Good grief. She looks like Meredith Viera after having gone over to the Dark Side of the Force.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/18/2007 10:45 Comments ||
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#20
President Al must be jumping up and down in glee over this nonsense.
AC's right on target and the debate between scientists and non-scientists alike is huge and heated (even up here on the Hill we have those who swear anthropogenic induced global warming is real and those on the other side).
In my research for my new book I've learned some pretty scary things about global warming no matter what the cause. Insects love warmer temperatures and tend to breed in much higher numbers for example. Since they're the principle order of life on this planet and present a never-ending challenge to man's domination higher numbers of insects, especially disease and chemical resistant insects, induced by global warming of any kind could present real challenges.
#21
Lysenko - wotta chump. A perfect example of political correctness run amuck. And the reason why Soviet biology lagged so far behind. As for Gallileo, I was quite impressed when the Catholic Church declared he was right after all. Sure, it was 500 years after the fact, but better late than never, eh?
The general scientific consensus seems to be that we are currently in a warming phase. I'm personally ok with this since where I'm sitting now was under a half mile of ice not long ago, geologically speaking. The more interesting questions are what drives climate change - something we still do not understand - and is there anything we should or can do about it.
#22
Since they're the principle order of life on this planet and present a never-ending challenge to man's domination higher numbers of insects, especially disease and chemical resistant insects, induced by global warming of any kind could present real challenges.
#25
There was a sci-fi book by Isaac Asimov that postulated that ice-ages were caused by our Sun orbiting through hyrogen or some other gas that altered it's temperature (only a little change will do).
Now there is evidence that Mars has experienced global warming to some degree and the idea that variation in solar temperature might be the cause has gained some currency.
I just think it's fascinating when the old school science fiction writers (the ones who put science in the fiction) turn out to be even somewhat prophetic.
#27
Newest Scientific American has an article on plants being the largest source of methane in the atm...
Really? Are they trying to moderate their PC-ness? I gave up on them when they devoted an issue to trashing Bjorn Lomborg in decidedly un-scientific ways.
#29
I wonder if Rush Limbaugh reads R-burg? He was just talking about this story and also mentioned the one below about Prince Charles' eco-wacky posturing.
#30
So, AC, if I follow you correctly, you're implying that... Joseph Mendiola is in fact Rush Limbaugh?! Well, call me crazy if you wish, but I'l tell you, that's what I suspected all along.
#33
The fools who deny humans' role in climate change do not need to be stripped of their credentials. They will marginalize themselves, soon enough.
Posted by: The Don ||
01/18/2007 17:23 Comments ||
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#34
"The fools who deny humans' role in climate change do not need to be stripped of their credentials. They will marginalize themselves, soon enough."
Ah, openmindedness combined with threat. A shining example of leftist intellectualism.
/sarcasm off
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/18/2007 18:24 Comments ||
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#36
Here is a list of email address for the top AMS officers who should know about Heidi Cullen dragging the AMS into her wacko, left wing, gobal warming dogma and retaliation strategy against experts who dissagree with her socialist position:
#37
My email to them:
"Heidi Cullen has done you a wondrous favor, exposing your organization as a close-minded global-warming theocracy. All dissidents to be exiled and reviled, contrary grants be damned! You should thank her, publicly. You couldn't have asked for more exposre and less PR. Good job, grant-whores
Frank G*****
Santee, CA, USA"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2007 20:49 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.
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed two Pakistani men for possessing, selling and smuggling drugs and a Saudi national for raping minors, the Interior Ministry said. 
MADRID, Spain - Fidel Castro himself told surgeons not to perform a colostomy, opting instead for a course of surgery that produced a complication leaving the Cuban leader in far worse condition, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.
Garcia Sabrido, the hospital's chief surgeon, declined comment Wednesday but said in an interview posted on CNN's Web site that El Pais' account of Castro's condition being grave was wrong. "According to my information, there is even some progressive improvement," Sabrido was quoted as saying. "The only truthful parts of the newspaper's reports are the name of the patient, that he has been operated on, and that he has had complications. The rest is rumors."
BEIJING – A sleek, swept-wing fighter-bomber dubbed the "Jian-10," unveiled here last week, is more than just another jet plane. It is China's calling card, announcing Beijing's arrival among the top ranks of military manufacturers.
In what has to be one of the surest signs that a return to normalcy is on the agenda for Northern Iraqis, Kurdish businessman Malashin Barzani, a member of Northern Iraqi leader Mesud Barzani's clan, has purchased the formerly Istanbul-based amusement park "Tatilya." 
