[HOSTED.AP.ORG] Robert John Coppack, 40, of La Verne, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, will remain in jug until a detention and probable cause hearing Monday in federal court.
According to an FBI affidavit, two women sitting with Coppack complained about his behavior on the overnight US Airways flight Tuesday, prompting the crew to steer him toward the back of the plane. Coppack then groped a retired flight attendant as he walked down the aisle, the affidavit said.
Coppack, who told his seatmates he had been drinking vodka, was also aggressive and verbally abusive, the affidavit said. He was detained on board by an air marshal on the flight, and later charged with intimidating the crew and interfering with their work.
Lucky that's all that happened to him. After 9/11 the head of our Tae Kwan Do school and the local head stewardess, who is one of his senior black belts, devised a martial arts training course for the Comair cabin crew. It was, she was proud to relate, very well attended. Comair no longer exists, and the trained personnel have scattered with the winds. As I said, he's lucky.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The limbs of an 11-year-old boy have been found inside a huge crocodile and his head discovered nearby after he was attacked in Papua New Guinea, a report said Wednesday.
The four-meter (13-foot) croc grabbed the boy, Melas Mero, as he was fishing with his parents on Thursday at the Siloura River in Gulf Province in the south of the Pacific nation, police commander Lincoln Gerari told PNG's National newspaper.
"The crocodile swept the boy with its tail and then attacked the defenseless child," Gerari said.
The provincial commander said police found two hands, two legs and a hipbone inside the crocodile after they tracked it down and killed it. The head was found later and taken to a morgue.
The attack is the second to take place in PNG this year, according to a global database managed by researchers at Australia's Charles Darwin University.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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[MIAMI.CBSLOCAL] We've all gotten licks of love from our dogs. However, would you let your dog kiss you on the mouth? Share tongues with the pup? No thanks.
Urban legend has it that dog's mouths are very clean.
"That's not true," said Nova Southeastern University Microbiologist Dr. Julie Torruellas-Garcia. You probably guessed that yourself.
Saliva samples from dogs in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach were sent to the lab to be tested. Based on the cultures that grew in the lab from the samples, Dr. Torruellas-Garcia said you may want to think twice before you and your dog exchange siliva. That would make three times for me. I wouldn't share tongues with the cat, either. Of course, I wouldn't stick my tongue in the guinea pig's mouth, either, and toucans and parrots are definitely out. Maybe I'm just prejudiced that way. I probably need sensitivity training.
"There was quite a bit of bacteria that grew from the dogs' mouths," said Dr. Torruellas-Garcia.
While our testing did not reveal the presence of any e-coli or bacteria that could cause a staph infection, Dr. Torruellas-Garcia and her students found globs of other microboes.
"One plate had so many bacteria mixed together that it was difficult to test," said Dr. Torruellas-Garcia.
In swabs taken from dogs in the West Palm Beach area, the testing found evidence of Nyceria, bacteria linked to STD's, pneumonia and plaque.
"Think about where a dog tends to lick, and consider he or she might have just licked before they licked you," said Dr. Torruellas-Garcia.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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#5
Bah. All I know is after a long and aggravating day, I'd rather be welcomed with a kiss from my Springer Spaniel than from a Nova Southeastern University Microbiologist
Posted by: regular joe ||
05/15/2014 13:48 Comments ||
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#6
Hey joe, there's a picture of her at her web site.
[The Peninsula] A Swedish woman was informed by her insurance company that she had been dead for over a week following a mistake committed by her doctor, the media reported yesterday.
"I was shocked. "This guy shows up at the door and suggests I lie down..."
"It was not nice at all. "I can't stand the smell of embalming fluid..."
"I understood nothing about it," the woman named Suanne Hemphala from eastern Sweden was quoted as saying by a Swedish regional newspaper called Arbetarbladet.
The story is nothing new for Swedish doctors, with two-three Swedes reportedly "dying" each year by mistake, said the Swedish online daily the Local.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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Ha....the Swedes got nothin' on Obamacare. "You're dead and to prove it...meet my colleague, a heavily armed IRS agent to enforce it.."
[The Peninsula] The world's oldest and best-preserved sperm, dating back 17 million years, has been unearthed in Australia, scientists said yesterday.
The sperm from an ancient species of tiny shrimp was discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site, an area in the far north of the state of Queensland where many extraordinary prehistoric Australian animals have previously been found.
They include giant, toothed platypuses and flesh-eating kangaroos.
Mike Archer, from the University of New South Wales School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, who has been excavating at Riversleigh for 35 years, said the sperm was an exciting find. "These are the oldest fossilised sperm ever found in the geological record," he said.
The sperm are thought to have been longer than the male's entire body, but were tightly coiled up inside the sexual organs of the fossilised freshwater crustaceans, known as ostracods.
"We have become used to delightfully unexpected surprises in what turns up there," he added of Riversleigh. "But the discovery of fossil sperm, complete with sperm nuclei, was totally unexpected. It now makes us wonder what other types of extraordinary preservation await discovery in these deposits."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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Testimony to Nature's caprice,
These shrimps were intent on increase,
With two wieners apiece
They were keen to release
From a freakishly full ostracodpiece.
[REUTERS] At least two structures burned to the ground and some 15,000 homes and businesses were told to evacuate on Wednesday as a wind-lashed wildfire roared out of control in the heart of a Southern Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, coastal community.
The blaze, which erupted shortly before 11 a.m. in Carlsbad, some 25 miles north of San Diego, quickly became the most pressing battle for crews fighting flames across the region amid soaring temperatures and hot Santa Ana winds.
"The safety and security of the community is our top priority, and all available resources are being deployed," the city of Carlsbad said in a statement on its website that confirmed the destruction of at least two structures.
The city did not say that those structures were homes, but local TV images showed houses in the Carlsbad area consumed by flames as thick black smoke filled the sky and drifted over the Pacific Ocean.
The fires flared as Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, entered the height of wildfire season in the midst of one of the state's worst droughts on record, setting the stage for what fire officials fear could be a particularly intense and dangerous year.
Some 15,0000 homes and businesses in and around Carlsbad received the directive to evacuate ahead of the flames, according to the city, and emergency shelters were set up at area schools and community centers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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Reporting from beautiful San Diego: the local news, interviewing the various fire Heavies, have not said arson, but were very careful in choosing words. At a local eatery, I overheard another diner railing about the fact that her friend was forced to evacuate, leaving her belongings, work computer AND the dog in the house, and she was firm in her beliefs that it is arson.
[INFOWARS] As the United Nations debates legislation that could outlaw 'killer robots', scientists predict that artificially intelligent systems could one day decide to kill humans "for the greater good."
In an article for Popular Science, Erik Sofge outlines a scenario whereby robot cars would decide to sacrifice their human owner in order to prevent a collision that could kill more people.
A front tire blows, and your autonomous SUV swerves. But rather than veering left, into the opposing lane of traffic, the robotic vehicle steers right. Brakes engage, the system tries to correct itself, but there's too much momentum. Like a cornball stunt in a bad action movie, you are over the cliff, in free fall.
Your robot, the one you paid good money for, has chosen to kill you. Better that, its collision-response algorithms decided, than a high-speed, head-on collision with a smaller, non-robotic compact. There were two people in that car, to your one. The math couldn't be simpler.
Sofge cites an opinion piece by Patrick Lin, an associate philosophy professor and director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University, in which Lin delves into the "legally and morally dangerous paths" presented by the emergence of robotic vehicles. Ummm... Okay. A professor of philosophy. Can't think of anybody else who knows more about math and robotics than a professor of philosophy. Can you?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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Issac Asimov couldn't be reached for comment.
This isn't a question of math and robotics, it is a question of ethics and morality. Where does the prohibition on a Robot killing a human fit into this equation?
#3
Where does the prohibition on a Robot killing a human fit into this equation?
They get right on that, just after Obama signs off on another drone strike hit. Let's see, you want humans lacking in morality or ethics to program it into machines?
#5
How does the robot in the car know that a)The other car has two passengers and b) you are the only one in your car? What if you have your entire family with you?
Seems to me Asimov had stories around this sort of dilemma. The end always seemed to be that the robot ended up being damaged because it was faced with two impossible choices.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/15/2014 14:26 Comments ||
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[NATIONALJOURNAL] Fifty-five percent of Americans think that they are smarter than the average American, according to a new survey by YouGov, a research organization that uses online polling. In other words, as YouGov cleverly points out, the average American thinks that he or she is smarter than the average American. The average IQ is 100. Eighty percent of everybody falls in the middle of the bell curve, somewhere between IQ 80 and 120. That would make the forty percent of everybody (half the eighty percent) in the middle smarter than the other forty percent of everybody. Add in the ten percent at the right side of the bell curve, above 120, and that makes fifty percent, which is really not that far off the 55 percent's opinion.
A humble 34 percent of citizens say they are about as smart as everyone else, while a dispirited 4 percent say they are less intelligent than most people. What a bunch of dumbasses. The middle of the bell curve (IQ 90-110) looks like it contains about 40 percent of everybody--I haven't looked it up so I could be wrong. That leaves a gradual drop off of twenty percent between IQ 90 and 80 and a similar drop off between IQ 110 and 120. So they're about six percent off. Men (24 percent) are more likely than women (15 percent) to say they are "much more intelligent" than the average American. White people are more likely to say the same than Hispanic and black people. But the Hispanics know how to say it in Spanish.
So, this many smart people must mean that, on the whole, the United States ranks pretty high in intelligence, right? My guess is the U.S. ranks somewhere in the middle.
Not quite. According to the survey, just 44 percent of Americans say that Americans are "averagely intelligent." That's four percent more than the forty percent we were talking about. Tut tut.
People who make less than $40,000 a year are much more likely to say that their fellow Americans are intelligent, while those who make more than $100,000 are far more likely to say that Americans are unintelligent. My guess would be that mental horsepower would have something to do with level of achievement, though it's not a 100 percent correlation. I could be wrong, though.
What the hell do I know? 55 percent of Americans think I'm a dumbass.
And everybody knows that 78.1 percent of statistical studies like this are pulled out of somebody's butt.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, yeah. All the children are above average.
#8
Don't feel bad BP. I began noticing a recipitous decline in abilities as my IQ and age gained a correlative relationship. The two are now gaining distance, and I find I'm enjoying petting the neighbor's cat and dog much more. Sometimes I wonder if I should be concerned.
#9
"I find I'm enjoying petting the neighbor's cat and dog much more. Sometimes I wonder if I should be concerned."
If they're not, why should you be, B? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/15/2014 15:45 Comments ||
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I have the converse opinion. I know most are smarter than me. And it frustrate me that I am too dumb to live off the GIVERnment; I actual get up and got work and take care of myself.
A May 7th solicitation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks "the commercial acquisition of submachine guns [in] .40 Cal. S&W."
According to the solicitation, the Dept. of Agriculture wants the guns to have an "ambidextrous safety, semiautomatic or 2 round [bursts] trigger group, Tritium night sights front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore group) and scope (top rear), stock collapsible or folding," and a "30 rd. capacity" magazine. We need them to control varmints. Yup, varmints. Maybe they're going elk hunting...
They also want the submachine guns to have a "sling," be "lightweight," and have an "oversized trigger guard for gloved operation." Those varmints got big teeth. We need gloves.
The solicitation directs "all responsible and/or interested sources...[to] submit their company name, point of contact, and telephone." Companies that submit information in a "timely" fashion "shall be considered by the agency for contact to determine weapon suitability." Further militarization of gubmint agencies. Is this Obama's Volksgrenadiers?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/15/2014 10:44 ||
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the gov't obviously seems to think it's outgunned by the hoi polloi.....
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/15/2014 16:16 Comments ||
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Good lord, I see it now. Some short fat USDA guy with an S&K get his pocket protector stuck in the trigger guard and before he runs out of ammo slaughters a bunch of angry milk cows... Hilarity ensues!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/15/2014 16:33 Comments ||
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#4
Oh, George, not the livestock!
Posted by: Cousin Avi ||
05/15/2014 17:12 Comments ||
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#5
You gotta enforce the allotments, else every Good 'ol boy and his cat will be raising up peanuts and fucking up the market.
#6
The USDA connection seems a bit strange at first glance. Actually however, using existing USDA field offices as contingency forward operations bases makes sense.
[Dhaka Tribune] Stern action will be taken if the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... stages movement demanding disbandment of RAB, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu has warned.
Refuting BNP Chairperson Khaleda's logic behind disbandment of the RAB, Inu said: "Ziaur Rahman was rubbed out by some army officials. In view of it, would Khaleda now propose that the armed forces should be disbanded too? Would she propose the same thing because there are lots of allegations against police?"
He made the comment while talking to news hounds after inaugurating electricity services in villages of Mirpur upazila in Kushtia yesterday.
The minister termed Khaleda's demand irresponsible, conspiratorial, anti-democratic and politically motivated. He said dissolution of RAB was nothing but a conspiracy for lending Bangladesh to krazed killers.
Communication Minister Obaidul Quader, meanwhile, also defended RAB and said an entire force could not be discredited because of wrongdoings committed by a handful of its members.
Talking to news hounds on Dhalai bridge, Quader said Khaleda's demand was ridiculous.
"Would she [Khaleda] take back the Independence Award bestowed upon RAB if she re-assumes power?" he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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One should be very careful before trying to take on the RAB; skilled in finding unlocatable upazilias and unlimited source of rounds of bullet and then there is the phantom-like shuttergun....
[Dhaka Tribune] The issue of arresting the three former RAB officials suspected of their involvement in the Narayanganj seven murders still seems wrapped in mysteries even after four days of the High Court order for their arrest.
None of the authorities -- the Home Ministry, the police, the Armed Forces Division and the Directorate of the Inter-Services Public Relations -- have so far made their stances clear and explained the delay in arresting the trio. They have been rather engaged in pushing the ball in another's court.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea, one that didn't involve kerosene... the high-powered probe committee formed to investigate the seven murders in Narayanganj submitted its primary progress report to the High Court, but details from the report were not revealed.
The Home Ministry and police have been claiming that they are following the "required procedure," but have not yet elaborated what procedures they have completed so far.
Attorney General Mahbub-e-Alam yesterday claimed that the delay in arresting the former RAB officials would not be a contempt of court as the court did not fix any timeframe for the arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Venezuela's riot police forces have clashed with protesters following their attack against the Tourism Ministry building in the capital Caracas.
On Wednesday, the demonstrators gathered in the eastern part of the capital to demand the release of those detained during protests.
The protest turned violent after the protesters targeted the ministry, which prompted police intervention to put an end to the demonstration.
According to Manuel Quevedo, the commander of the National Guard regiment, 80 people were detained during the festivities.
"Fewer and fewer people are heeding protest calls," said one of the protesters.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
Of course, there's also good, old fashioned hatred of the overbearing next door neighbor.
Hell, they were fighting the Chinese at the same time they were fight us. It's why the Russians had to send stuff by ship instead of by rail.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/15/2014 19:59 Comments ||
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#3
China is making such good friends with its neighbors....~
#4
By most accounts the Viets appear to be burning factories or businesses owned by Taiwanese andor Indians, not Mainland Chinese per se.
Reminds me more of the LA Riots back in the early 1990's - all that's missing is African-Americans destroying so many Black-owned businesses it allowed non-African Americans to come in + take over from the locals.
[LATE GREAT JOHN CANDY END-OF-BASIC-TRAINING FIGHT SCENE FROM "STRIPES" here, when John pushed the trainee whom was NOT seemingly insulting him].
[An Nahar] South Korea's defense ministry said Wednesday that a suspected crashed drone spotted by a walker was a false alarm -- it was actually the door of a portable toilet.
A passer-by had reported seeing what he thought was the wreckage of a drone caught among rocks and trees in a fenced off military area, while walking on a hillside in southern Seoul.
But an investigation team sent to the area found that the object was actually the broken door of a portable toilet, a defense ministry front man said.x/ess_north_korean_134.jpg' border=0 align='right' />The door was a similar sky blue color to three drones recovered by South Korea in March and April.
"The shape from a distance and the color was probably what created the confusion," the front man told AFP.
Seoul said last week that a joint investigation with US experts had provided "smoking gun" proof that the three recovered drones were flown from North Korea and had been pre-programed to fly over South Korean military installations.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Must have been some really bad kimchee to blow the door off the toilet.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/15/2014 16:19 Comments ||
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Unexpectedly...
U.S. producer prices recorded their largest increase in 1-1/2 years in April as food prices surged, in a potential sign inflation pressures may be creeping up.
The Labor Department said on Wednesday its producer price index rose 0.6 percent, the biggest gain since September 2012. That built on a March increase that was nearly as large.
The department revamped it PPI series at the start of the year to include services and construction. Since then, it has been surprisingly volatile, largely because of big swings in prices received for trade services.
Still, economists, who had expected only a 0.2 percent gain, saw the latest rise as an indication that price pressure may be building. Officials at the Federal Reserve have long worried that inflation was running too low.
#1
I believe we've had food inflation for some time now. The Labor Department is just now admitting it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/15/2014 10:51 Comments ||
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Companies have been "hiding" it by making smaller packaging and charging the same amount. They can't go any smaller so now the costs will have to go up.
#3
NO, the cost incease is all taxes, you pay and the Giverment reaps.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/15/2014 11:37 Comments ||
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#4
I'm in agreement with Darth; looking at fast food places some joints I have ordered what I have always ordered and come away hungry all too shortly or the ingredients are packed with fillers like what the yum! bell of tacos is doing.
Also going into it will be the increased costs of production and transportation. Increased health and transport regs will choke distribution.
#5
Increased taxes are part of it, but watch what happens when that booger picking worth $5/hr high schooler gets a hike to ten tin, ironically the name of the butcher in the movie The Crow.
#7
They don't hire teenagers to work the fast food restaurants anymore in southern California. Now the fast food workers are all, uh, immigrants. Yeah, immigrants, that's right. And they fully expect to be able to buy a house and raise a family on the money they make flipping burgers at McDonalds.
#9
Food prices at the store have in several cases doubled since 2008. Obama media ignored that along with any other bad news. Yesterday stopped in at McDonalds for a fish sandwich. Price was 150% of what it was three years ago. The slice of fish is now the size of a cracker.
#11
Food inflation to hit shelves by the fall of 2008
FIFY
It's call quantitative easing (aka debasing the currency). Unless there is a tech breakthrough. most commodities stay pretty constant against each other in value. It's when the government creates a lot of monetary units (coin, paper, digital fiat) without value to back it that these things run their usual pattern. See-Economic Creationism (aka Magical Money Tree).
#13
Everyone here is correct. Prices have been skyrocketing ever since Zero showed up. It's going to get worse.
In November the employer mandates for ACA kick in. Healthcare costs for employers, especially small business, will jump a minimum of 8% right off the bat. All other healthcare costs jump too.
All of these costs will impact the entire "food chain" from field to table which will ratchet up all the increases just like compound interest.
Hope you were looking forward to your government mandated diet.
#15
the drought in California and Brazil and a disappointing 2013 for soybeans has already moved prices up quite a bit
however, the Mexican vegetable harvest is expected to be up and, assuming a decent summer growing season for the grains, the inflation should be over by the fall -- coffee and meat will probably remain high well into the winter
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/15/2014 12:51 Comments ||
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#16
Hope you were looking forward to your government mandated diet. Posted by: AlanC
#18
Actually, I think the proper answer is "all of the above". My wife and I have noticed the changes in package size and content across the board, as well as price increases per pound. Our food expenditures have gone up about fifteen percent, and we're actually eating less. Some of the price increase is due to drought, freezes last year that killed fruit blossoms, etc. Beef prices have almost doubled, and even fish is a third higher than it used to be. A lot of the increase in prices can be attributed to increase in government regulation, including Obamacare, the EPA, the FDA, and of course, the Agriculture Department.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/15/2014 15:19 Comments ||
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#19
TO hit?
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/15/2014 15:40 Comments ||
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Concerned their agents will be attacked by bovines with Mad Cow Disease or zombie bears or ravenous feral hogs? There is a funded department in the government already to handle those who jump the reservation national forests and wetlands.
#23
Procopius2k----USDA is arming up for this threat, which we all though was one big joke, but it's not.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/15/2014 19:11 Comments ||
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#24
Then there's this: Young men earn much less now than in 1973
Check out these sad statistics for the percentage change in men's median income from the year it peaked to 2012 (adjusted for inflation):
Ages 25-34. Down 27 percent. Peaked in 1973.
Ages 35-44. Down 19 percent. Peaked in 1973.
Ages 45-54. Down 17 percent. Peaked in 1999.
Ages 55-64. Down 13 percent. Peaked in 2003.
#26
Higher food prices is a feature in the Obama Tyranny's plan. The higher food prices will force more people to apply for food stamps snapping that government slave collar around their neck.
#27
Meanwhile corn harvests for biofuel (spit) are at an all time high. also to be fair, the huge increase in fracking and oil by rail pipeline resulted in grain being delayed by 3 weeks or more, as well as delays in the class 1 RRs being able to backhaul grain empties to the elevators. The backlogs are finally just about all gone.
[Iran Press TV] A German university has approved a proposal to give US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden an honorary doctorate.
Members of the philosophy faculty of Germany's Rostock University voted on Wednesday to grant Snowden the title in recognition of the "outstanding academic achievement" he made by exposing surveillance practices in the digital age.
The faculty's scholars voted 20-1, with one abstention, but the decision can still be blocked on procedural grounds by the rector of the 600-year-old university.
On May 12, a German hacking group, the Chaos Computer Club, also offered him an honorary membership and a five-digit contribution towards his legal costs.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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Staff and format conflicts, it is said.
Natalie Nougayrede, the first female editor-in-chief of the prestigious French daily Le Monde, has quit after a power struggle with top staff who staged a protest last week over her plans to revamp the newspaper.
Last week, seven senior editors stepped down from their posts after disputes over a planned new print format, a tablet edition and disagreements about planned personnel changes.
"The personal and direct attacks against the management and myself prevent me from implementing the transformation plan I put to shareholders and which requires the broad agreement of the editorial teams," Nougayrede said in an email to staff.
[VOA News] Ukraine launched talks Wednesday on national unity without the participation of pro-Russian separatists who are seeking autonomy from Kyiv in the country's east and southeast.
In opening remarks, interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said his government is ready for dialogue. He also insisted, though, that Kyiv will not talk to the pro-Russian gunnies who have seized buildings and killed government troops near the Russian border.
The talks, which opened 11 days ahead of Ukrainian presidential elections, are part of a "road map" backed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Analysts, however, say the deliberate omission of separatists from the discussions raises doubts about whether the meetings will ease ethnic tensions threatening to rip the country apart.
Separatists who declared "illusory sovereignty" in two eastern regions this week dismissed the Kyiv talks. Rebel leader Denis Pushilin told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that any such dialogue must take place in the east. "If we go to Kyiv, they will arrest us," he said.
National politicians and regional officials, religious leaders and civic activists are attending the talks, part of a "road map" laid out by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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Talks on constitutional amendments + decentralization of power in Ukraine - IOW, WHAT PUTIN WANTS.
Not specifically RUSSIA but still applicable ...
* WORLD NEWS > [WaPo] A BEIJING POWER PLAY IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA IS MET WITH US INACTION.
[REUTERS] Furious Turks heckled Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and jostled his entourage on Wednesday as protests erupted in several cities over a coal mine disaster in which at least 274 people died, making it the worst industrial accident in the nation's history.
With rescuers still pulling bodies from the site in western Turkey, anger swept a country that has seen a decade of rapid economic growth but still suffers from one of the world's worst workplace safety records.
Erdogan expressed his regret after visiting the site in Soma, about 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul, where around 100 miners are thought to be still trapped underground following Tuesday's fire. "We as a nation of 77 million are experiencing a very great pain," he told a news conference.
But he appeared to turn defensive when asked whether sufficient precautions had been in place. "Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time. It's not like these don't happen elsewhere in the world," he said, reeling off a list of global mining accidents since 1862.
Angry residents broke windows at the local government offices in Soma, some chanting "Erdogan resign", while parts of the crowd lining the street booed as the prime minister walked through the town, jostling with members of his entourage.
Protesters later kicked Erdogan's car as it left the area.
Opponents of Erdogan - who has already faced mass protests against his rule in the past year - have attacked his government for leasing mines to parts of the private sector cozy with the ruling party, and accuse it of ignoring repeated warnings about their safety.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2014 00:00 ||
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Earlier this week (on or about April 28)
the U.S. Navy announced a contract with General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls to build ten new Virginia-class submarines over the next ten years. The deal, one of the largest in the history of military acquisition, ensures a continued global role for the USN's silent service. These will be block IV. The cost per Block IV Virginia is about $1.78 billion over the contract, compared to $2.6 billion for the first Block III boat.
Including boats already under construction, between now and 2023 the USN will introduce 17 new nuclear attack submarines to the fleet. Depending on construction decisions in Russia and China, this will very nearly equal the production of the rest of the world combined. The existence of a proven design, an experienced workforce, and an industry capable of high-quality submarine construction puts the U.S. ahead of nearly every competitor. This contract suggests that, defense austerity notwithstanding, the U.S. continues to see the submarine force as playing a central role in the projection of U.S. power and the defense of U.S. interests over the next several decades.
[The Peninsula] Police killed three people after opening fire to break up religious festivities in southern India Wednesday, officers and reports said.
The violence broke out in the old quarter of Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh, which has a sizeable Mohammedan population.
Trouble erupted after some people attacked houses and shops of a religious minority following rumours that a religious flag had been burnt.
Continued on Page 49
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[DAWN] NAWABSHAH: Five persons, including a policeman, died after consuming tainted liquor in Jamshed Colony on Tuesday.
While hospital officials said two persons died at the hospital due to consumption of Kickapoo Joy Juice, a police brass hat confirmed that a total of five persons died after taking the locally made liquor.
The dear departed have been identified as police constable Rafiq Bhangwar, Rashid Ali, Mohammed Ameen, Abid Rangar and Shafiq Malik.
Prof Dr Shamsuddin Sheikh, head of the medicine department at the PMU Hospital, Nawabshah, said that only two persons brought to hospital died. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... sources said, the families of the remaining three persons did not shift them to hospital. After consuming the liquor in Jamshed Colony, the three persons had returned home where they later died.
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[NikkeiAsianReview] Israel is working hard to build stronger security and economic ties with China and India, looking to broaden its options as the U.S., its closest ally, starts to play a smaller role on the world stage.
Israel has high hopes for help from Beijing in dealing with Iran's nuclear weapons development. "China has a central role in the efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb," Israeli President Shimon Peres told Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a trip to China early last month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China last May, and top defense officials from the two countries have been deepening their ties. The high-profile visits underscore Israel's aim of improving its diplomatic position in the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... by growing closer to China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
India agreed in February to work with Israel to devise anti-terrorism measures and develop a missile defense system. They also plan to set up a fund to support joint ventures between technology companies in both countries.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind: I can do this! I can do this! Then the trap sprung... the increasingly complex global landscape has created various sources of friction between Washington and its Middle Eastern ally.
On March 27, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution rejecting Russia's annexation of Crimea. But Israel abstained, choosing to maintain relations with Moscow, which has significant sway over the course of the war in Syria and the Iran situation, both of which directly affect Israel's national security.
This reportedly infuriated the White House. But "our security interests should not be defined as identical to that of anyone else, even the U.S.," a top Israeli defense official told local media.
Israel's trade with Beijing has also become a source of discord. Israeli exports of high-tech products to China jumped 170% in five years to reach $1.58 billion in 2013. It was reported at the end of last year that advanced missile technology had reached China via Israeli companies.
In the 1990s, an Israeli plan to sell surveillance aircraft to China was derailed by U.S. pressure. If Israel keeps growing closer to such countries as China and Russia, it could invite interference from Washington again.
Two anti-government demonstrators have been killed and 22 others wounded in an attack in Bangkok. Witnesses reported explosions and gunfire at a protest camp at the city's Democracy Monument.
Protesters have been pressuring the Senate to replace the cabinet with an appointed administration. This comes after former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed by a Thai court last week.
Reports say grenades were thrown during the latest attack early on Thursday, followed by gunfire. A doctor at an emergency center said the injured had been hit by shrapnel.
Major Wallop Prathummuang said, "The first victim was a protester who was sleeping at Democracy Monument, while the second was a protest guard who died from gunshots."
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.
[HOSTED.AP.ORG] Robert John Coppack, 40, of La Verne, 
[An Nahar] The limbs of an 11-year-old boy have been found inside a huge crocodile and his head discovered nearby after he was attacked in Papua New Guinea, a report said Wednesday.
[MIAMI.CBSLOCAL] We've all gotten licks of love from our dogs. However, would you let your dog kiss you on the mouth?
[The Peninsula] A Swedish woman was informed by her insurance company that she had been dead for over a week following a mistake committed by her doctor, the media reported yesterday.
[The Peninsula] The world's oldest and best-preserved sperm, dating back 17 million years, has been unearthed in Australia, scientists said yesterday.
[INFOWARS] As the United Nations debates legislation that could outlaw 'killer robots', scientists predict that artificially intelligent systems could one day decide to kill humans "for the greater good."
[NATIONALJOURNAL] Fifty-five percent of Americans think that they are smarter than the average American, according to a new survey by YouGov, a research organization that uses online polling. In other words, as YouGov cleverly points out, the average American thinks that he or she is smarter than the average American.
Men (24 percent) are more likely than women (15 percent) to say they are "much more intelligent" than the average American. White people are more likely to say the same than Hispanic and black people.
[An Nahar] South Korea's defense ministry said Wednesday that a suspected crashed drone spotted by a walker was a false alarm -- it was actually the door of a portable toilet.
[REUTERS] Furious Turks heckled Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and jostled his entourage on Wednesday as protests erupted in several cities over a coal mine disaster in which at least 274 people died, making it the worst industrial accident in the nation's history.
Earlier this week 
[DAWN] NAWABSHAH: Five persons, including a policeman, died after consuming tainted liquor in Jamshed Colony on Tuesday.
