Continuing with todays Animal theme Full text at link
A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday. Mohammed, why do lions hate us?
Mega-snip to something less amusing
The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where most of the country's 71 million people live.
I'd rather take My chances with lions. They are vicious killers, but not mass-murderers
#2
I think aprayer of thanks is order here. And praise for the peole who often in situations like this risk their own lives looking for those that are lost
PORT KLANG: A puppy with two extra legs and a second penis is drawing curious stares at a temple in Pandamaran town near here. The puppy, found by a temple caretaker at the entrance on Thursday morning, is being cared for by the temple committee. Kwang Sung Temple committee member Tee Kim Huat said the caretaker saw the white puppy with dark brown patches sleeping at the temple entrance at 7am. âHe lifted the canine to place it elsewhere and was shocked to see that the puppy had six legs! Not only that, the male puppy also had an extra penis,â said Tee.
The other dogs will be envious, he can do two hydrants at once
âWe believe someone dumped it at the temple,â he added. However, since it was an unusual dog, devotees felt that it was a bearer of good fortune and named the puppy Ong Fatt (Lucky One), said Tee. The temple committee obtained a dog-rearing permit from the Klang Municipal Council on Friday to allow the caretaker to take care of the puppy at the temple.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 12:34 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I put it back. Couldn't pass that one up...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2005 13:29 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Interesting. Probably two ova fused at or soon after conception .... in dogs, each embryo ends up with its own sac inside the uterus so the fusion had to have happened prior to the sac forming and attaching to the uterine wall. The embryos are free-floating until then.
#6
When I wuz just a simple fat, dumb, akward country kid (not that I've evolved much since), one of our many cats had trouble giving birth to her kitten, with one head sticking out, and labor being very painful.
A veterinary intervention later, the cause was revealed to be a eight-legged kitten, with two rear ends (and thus two genitalias, one fact that really made laugh one of my youngest sisters, I remember that) and another pair of front paws protubering from its back.
Too bad it was dead, we would have been delighted to keep it around.
My mother never let me bring the body at school, which is a shame.
A RB favorite! A COBBLER suspected of sorcery was attacked and nearly lynched by outraged villagers in central Kenya today after being caught having sex with a female sheep, witnesses and officials said.
"Of course it's a female! Whaddya think I am? Some kind of pervert?"
Joshua Kiplagat, 36, sustained a serious head wound when the sheep's owner threw a machete at him after finding him in flagrante delicto with a prize ewe in the Rift Valley district of Bomet, they said.
"Hey, get away from my girlfriend!"
He was then tied to a tree stump for five hours before being frogmarched naked with the violated ovine in tow to a police station where he confessed to several acts of bestiality that he blamed on the devil, they said. "I was sent by the devil to do that," Kiplagat told the angry crowd which included several people who accused him of being a warlock.
Classic "The Devil made me do it!" defense
"That's right! The Devil sent me to doink your sheep! All your sheep!"
One woman claimed to have seen him engaging in sex acts with a dog.
"And yer little dogs, too!"
"I saw this man mounting a dog two weeks ago at around seven in the evening and I was so surprised," said the woman, who gave her name as Leah. The bloodied shoe repairer adamantly denied allegations that he was a wizard and insisted that his affection for animals was limited to sheep.
"And sometimes goats. But usually just sheep..."
"... But not cats. No, never cats ..."
"What do you think I am, a pervert?"
"I only made love to the ewe twice using two condoms but I never do it regularly," he said in his defence.
Well, as long he's practicing safe sex...
Bomet assistant district chief Paul Kikwai, who was present at the police station, expressed shock at the incident and vowed that Kiplagat would be punished although he made no comment on the villagers' actions. "We have never seen such incidents here and we are just wondering how many people around here engage in this kind of acts," he said.
That's more information than I want to know, thanks
#5
Enough of these sheep thrills and baaad puns. Ewe should be ashamed of yourselves. It's getting too wild and wooly around here.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/21/2005 13:20 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"I only made love to the ewe twice using two condoms but I never do it regularly," he said in his defence.
...because it's only gross if you make it a habit, right? Besides, he wasn't "having sex" with the the sheep -- he was "making love". Bought her a bag of oats and everything.
Wanted: Stolen car. Make and model: Ford Crown Victoria. Owner: D.C. police department.
Reported stolen by: Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey.
Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey's car was stolen while he was out of town at a conference. So goes the saga of car theft in the District, where even the police chief's department-issued car can get swiped a block from his home. "There is not a whole lot to add to it," Ramsey said. "The car was taken, and there was nothing of real value in it. Cars are getting stolen every day."
D.C. police officials said Ramsey's black unmarked car was stolen between Friday night and Sunday morning from a street in Southwest Washington. It had been left there Friday by a member of the force's motor pool so Ramsey would have it when he returned from a one-week trip to a counter-terrorism conference in Scotland. Ramsey arrived home early Sunday. When he awoke to go to church later that morning, he couldn't find the black Crown Victoria, and he and his wife went to church in her personal car, he said. The chief said initially he thought there was simply a misunderstanding about where the motor pool officer had left the car. But yesterday morning, after another fruitless search for the vehicle, he concluded that it had been stolen. Police officials said they do not believe the thieves knew they were taking the police chief's car. No weapons were left in the Crown Victoria, but it was equipped with a police radio. Its trunk contained a large duffle bag filled with some of the chief's riot gear, police said.
Union officials said the chief should be investigated for leaving the gear unattended because officers would be disciplined in a similar situation, a claim that the chief denied. "It's embarrassing," said Sgt. Gregory I. Greene, chairman of the D.C. police labor committee for Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1. "The chief is responsible for his own equipment."
D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the council's Judiciary Committee, said the theft of Ramsey's unmarked car shows how serious the area's auto theft problem has become. "People are going to say, 'If the chief's car is stolen, how do I know that my car is safe?' " Mendelson said. "This just points to the fact that lots of cars are stolen in the city."
A few hours after Ramsey reported the theft, investigators passed out fliers to commanders and other supervisors that described the missing Crown Victoria, which has District tags AL-6072. Although police do not distribute fliers for most stolen cars, investigators said they routinely do so when departmental vehicles are pinched. Ramsey and other police officials said the theft of the car is not indicative of crime trends, which show auto theft dropping substantially in the city. Through mid-June, police recorded 2,759 auto thefts, down 29 percent from the 3,880 tallied during the same period last year. In all of last year, 8,136 cars were stolen in the District -- a decrease of almost 15 percent from the 9,549 car thefts recorded in 2003, according to FBI statistics. The county's auto theft rate has almost doubled in the past five years, with 18,485 cars reported stolen in 2004.
Posted by: too true ||
06/21/2005 09:46 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oh, like it's still around. Chopped, within 20 minutes of being boosted.
#3
Here's a very good question: Why is any part of Washington, D.C., private property? There seems to be no reason to have businesses or residences in the city, except those subcontracting to, and inside government buildings. If the government started a program to mosey inhabitants out of the city, giving them more than fair value for their property, most D.C. crime would end; traffic would be halved; parking could be structured to government employee, government business, and tourism; and there would be lots of space to enlarge or annex government offices *and* public spaces.
"The car was taken, and there was nothing of real value in it. Cars are getting stolen every day."
That attitude is at least part of the problem, dipshit.
And I wouldn't call a police radio and riot gear "nothing of value." But that's just me.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/21/2005 13:30 Comments ||
Top||
#7
'Moose - I've long proposed that Congress declare the area around the Mall (encompassing Congress, the White House, the gov't buildings, monuments, etc. - probably something in the area of the Potomac to H or K Street and from maybe 2nd St. NE to 23rd St. NW) as "Washington, D.C." and cede the rest of presentday DC back to Maryland. I suppose they'd have to make some provision for Embassy row, but who knows? That's just a detail.
The trick, of course, would be making Maryland take it. It would probably entail LOTS of money. (Though probably no more that we waste on DC now.)
Any owners of private residences left in the new DC would have a choice: sell to the gov't (with some sort of clause in the deed that it couldn't be sold to another private party, only rented at market rates), or continue to live there and SHUT UP about voting. Their choice.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/21/2005 13:41 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Follow the money.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/21/2005 14:39 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Barbara - I've had the same idea, especially considering the idiots Jesse Jackson who want DC to be a state. Just as Arlington was given back to Virginia in the 1850s, the residential part of DC should be given back to Maryland. Wth regard to embassies IIRC some are in Maryland already.
#11
Spot - If the idiots would read the original documents cedeing land from VA & MD to make DC, they would know that part of the agreement is that DC can't become a state.
Of course the leftist MSM will never report that. And Jesse "Extortion" Jackson doesn't care about agreements, rules, deeds, etc. - he just wants his self-centered way and the hell with everyone else. Jackass.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/21/2005 16:32 Comments ||
Top||
#2
We have 19h 22m of daylight today in Anchorage. Sure hope thate we never have to sign up for solar ration cards, heh. Let 'em bring on the carbon ration cards! We have enought beetle-killed spruce trees to get around any ration scheme.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/21/2005 11:12 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Damn, I gotta work late tonight - gonna miss the sacrifice. Maybe I'll catch the Beltaine or Samhain festivities.
#4
AP - heard on the radio that they're having midnite baseball without lights in Fairbanks. Y'going to the game?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2005 14:55 Comments ||
Top||
#5
They have had the midnight sun baseball game in Fairbanks for years. Pretty neat tradition. Ima down in Anchorage. Gotta work. No baseball for me. I put some good darkening blinds on the windows, otherwise one wakes up and its got plenty of light at 3 or 4 am.
Needless to say we have only hens in the chichen coop, no roosters, heh. The extra light makes the chickens lay eggs like there is no tomorrow.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/21/2005 15:38 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Uh, AP, I profess to know nothing about livestock, but don't chickens need roosters to, you know, make eggs?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/21/2005 16:09 Comments ||
Top||
#7
It just happens that today is my birthday, I was born into this world (which else?) on midsummers day 1949 in the old cathedral city of Salisbury. If you climb a really high tower, you can see Stonehenge from there.
Some years ago, between my two marriages, I got friendly with an attractive but some somewhat eccentric woman who was heavily involved in the New Age movement and various pseudo-Celtic beliefs. She was awestruck when I remarked on my date and place of birth, and remarked that I must have great paranormal powers for having been born within sight of Stonehenge on midsummers day. She was disappointed to learn that I was a hard-core skeptic on such matters.
#10
Barbara---laying hens lay sterile eggs. When they are on a roll they lay about one sterile egg a day.
A rooster is needed to fertilize the eggs and to raise hell with anyone who wants to take the chicken eggs out of the nesting box.
Basic goings-on in a hen that you need to know:
The Formation of an Egg:
The Yolk: The chicken egg starts as an egg yolk inside a hen. A yolk (called an oocyte at this point) is produced by the hen's ovary in a process called ovulation.
Fertilization: The yolk is released into the oviduct (a long, spiraling tube in the hen's reproductive system), where it can be fertilized internally (inside the hen) by a sperm.
The Egg White (albumin): The yolk continues down the oviduct (whether or not it is fertilized) and is covered with a membrane (called the vitelline membrane), structural fibers, and layers of albumin (the egg white). This part of the oviduct is called the magnus.
The Chalazae: As the egg goes down through the oviduct, it is continually rotating within the spiraling tube. This movement twists the structural fibers (called the chalazae), which form rope-like strands that anchor the yolk in the thick egg white. There are two chalazae anchoring each yolk, on opposite ends of the egg.
The Eggshell: The eggshell is deposited around the egg in the lower part of the oviduct of the hen, just before it is laid. The shell is made of calcite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate.
This entire trip through the oviduct takes about one day.
The egg-production unit (hen) runs on feed (with source of calcium), water, oxygen, and light, producing CO2, eggs, and chicken poop. End of lecture. Heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/21/2005 18:41 Comments ||
Top||
#11
I love the 'burg.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/21/2005 18:44 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I'm in awe.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/21/2005 18:58 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Chickens, along with fetal pigs, make good analogs to humans in some studies. Our friend the poultry scientist teamed up with researchers from China to study a disease that strikes children in China and chickens in other places to see if they could work on a cure. Sorry, no more details; it's been a while.
Our local abortion champion claimed that aborting a child is no different from breaking an egg. Local chicken farmers were happy to set her straight.
#16
My grandparents ran a Purina feed store. My grandmother was a champion egg-candler, lol, honest. I know poultry. Poultry (KFC-style / Southern Kitchens-style or as 6-egg crab omelettes from the Captain Cook Hotel, Anchorage, I'm easy) is a friend of mine. I have no phreaking idea what it has to do with the Solstice, lol.
#17
I have 9 hens and one extremely happy rooster. I get between 5 an 9 eggs a day. Any one need any eggs?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/21/2005 19:29 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Atomic Conspiracy wrote:
Some years ago, between my two marriages, I got friendly with an attractive but some somewhat eccentric woman who was heavily involved in the New Age movement and various pseudo-Celtic beliefs. She was awestruck when I remarked on my date and place of birth, and remarked that I must have great paranormal powers for having been born within sight of Stonehenge on midsummers day. She was disappointed to learn that I was a hard-core skeptic on such matters.
First off, happy birthday. Second, have you considered that you might have mysterious paranormal powers of skepticism?
Finally, what's that old Marx Brothers joke, about the guy whose brother thinks he's a chicken?
"We'd like to get him help, but we need the eggs..."
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/21/2005 19:38 Comments ||
Top||
#19
The egg-thread started with the large amount of daylight we ge up in the northern latitudes at time of the summer solstice. I remarked that our chickens lay lots of eggs during time of lots of daylight hours. Connections. Heh heh. RB is like a James Burke show.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/21/2005 20:01 Comments ||
Top||
#20
Lol, AP - thx! Burkean, Joycean, lol!
Just for the helluvit, lol, Molly Bloom's soliloquy from James Joyce's Ulysses...
"...I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. "
EFL:
British residents could face a form of energy rationing within the next decade under proposals currently being studied to reduce the U.K.'s carbon dioxide emissions to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Under the proposals, known as Domestic Tradable Quotas (DTQs), every individual would be issued a "carbon card," from which points would be deducted every time the cardholder purchased fossil fuel, for example, by filling up a car or taking a flight. Over time, the number of points allotted to each card would decline. High-energy users would be able to purchase points from low-energy users, with the end result being a trading market in carbon similar to the one already in place in the U.K. for industrial users.
Or, you could just freeze in the dark like a good little peon
A report set to be released this week by the Sustainable Development Commission, which advises Prime Minister Tony Blair on environmental issues, will recommend that by 2007, the British government should seriously consider introducing DTQs. The report, a draft copy of which was obtained by Cybercast News Service, calls for more research into how the proposals would work in practice. British Environment Minister Elliott Morley said in a telephone interview that the DTQ plan, also called personal carbon allowances, is one of several being considered by the government. "Personal carbon allowances are a very attractive intellectual idea," he said.
And everyone knows the intellectuals know what's best for you
"The implementation would potentially be very expensive, but that shouldn't stop us from looking at the arguments," he said. Morley said the government was also considering a straightforward carbon tax, and acknowledged that the complexity of a centrally run system could be a major barrier. "There is a big job involved in explaining the idea of carbon allowances to the public (but) we shouldn't rule any idea out just on this basis," he said.
"We'll implement it and explain why it doesn't work later"
One of Britain's leading scientists looking into the proposals characterized DTQs as a form of rationing and said the project would start from a point of strict equality in the allocation of "carbon points," despite wide current disparities in individual energy usage. "Every individual, whether you're the Queen or someone living in a poor neighborhood, will get the same carbon allocation," said Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Center at the University of Manchester.
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"
"We have to get far more personal in the ways we tackle carbon emissions," Challen said in a phone interview. "A voluntary approach will only get through to about 20 percent of the population." Challen said his proposals have support among senior government officials in the U.K.'s Department for the Environment, Food and Silly Walks Rural Affairs, but said that some ministers were "understandably wary" of a mandatory plan with potentially sweeping economic consequences. Researchers also have suggested that the plan could be linked to the Blair administration's proposed mandatory ID card, a controversial bill that is scheduled to be reconsidered in Parliament later this month. A proposal to issue every U.K. resident with a card containing biometric information such as fingerprints and an iris scan was opposed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in the last legislative term, and the bill failed after time ran out.
Envision having to have an iris scan before turning up the thermostat in your house
Anti-card campaigners have expressed worries about the possibility that the vast majority of U.K. energy transactions would be logged in a central database.
Well, of course they will. I mean. what's the point of having all that data without using it. Then they can check and see if you are a good energy saver and drag you into court if you aren't
"There's clearly many other ways such a (carbon trading) scheme could be offered without adding the massive bureaucracy of an ID card system," said Michael Parker, spokesman for the NO2ID group. However, the plan's proponents suggest that the rationing system could be implemented within the decade. "I'm not a betting man, but I think this could realistically be up and running within four to ten years," Anderson said.
Unless the peasents tire of your ways and opt for pitchforks and rope
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 08:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bet this'll do wonders for the British economy, won't it?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/21/2005 9:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Two words: free market.
We already have such "points"; they're called dollars/pounds/euros/etc. A free, open market (which includes all costs) for energy goods and usage does the same thing and without all the bullsh*t. But hey, then the envirowacko "intellectuals" couldn't control how to live so I guess it won't be done.
#3
Just what I was thinking Dave D
Seems like the polis are thinking, "Well, Koyoto hasn't hamstrung our economy enough, let's do more! Energy rationing for everyone!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/21/2005 9:54 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Under the proposals, known as Domestic Tradable Quotas (DTQs), every individual would be issued a "carbon card," from which points would be deducted every time the cardholder purchased fossil fuel, for example, by filling up a car or taking a flight.
#7
A proposed massive govt game of fool yourself. The wealthy will just buy up carbon credits or say AMF to Britain and leave. Like I said before, Kyoto will be dead in 5 years when all the bad science and aritmetic comes home to roost to the signers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/21/2005 11:06 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Look on the bright side guys - Cherie wouldn't be able to fly over to bore poor 'merkins to tears with her interminable speeches. Oh, I forget - this rationing stuff woouldn't ever apply to our Esteemed Socialist Overlords.
#10
Bulldog, just remember that you have an open invitation to flee the tyranny of the UK and settle in the colonies with us. I live in California and we threw out the Gov when he started to "ration" (another word for brown outs) electricity. Not that they would be moved to build a NEW power plant or two, but that is a nother story.
#12
Are you sure this crap was thought up in London?
Sounds more like Brussels to me....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/21/2005 13:45 Comments ||
Top||
#13
I see a great opportunity in dried cow dung futures. That, or guillotine sales.
Posted by: ed ||
06/21/2005 14:06 Comments ||
Top||
#14
The wealthy will just buy up carbon credits
Well, isn't that what Kofi and Third World tyrants hope will take place on a worldwide scale in order for Kyoto to be deemed "successful?" Kyota was the brainchild of Kofi's sidekick, Morris Strong, communist China lover par excellence- no accident that China, bigtime polluter, is exempt from Kyoto. That Blair is still twisting GWB's wrist about this hoax of a treaty is very irritating.
#16
Spot is right and technically what they are doing is creating a new form of money which is restricted to the purchase of energy. I am reasonably sure I know why this idea has been floated, which is that restricting demand by increasing the price isn't working (enough). One has only to look at the current price of oil to see this is a general phenomena. Increasing the price of energy to the point it restricts demand sufficiently to meet Kyoto would cause riots and a severe recession/depression.
MEXICO CITY, June 20 - Mexico wants to build relations with Russia, Mexican President Vicente Fox said on the eve of his visit to Russia. "We are seeking to build new, more dynamic relations with Russia and this policy corresponds with our strategy of diversifying our markets and increasing foreign trade sales with European countries," Fox said. I wish Fox would start exporting people to Russia instead ofthe US
"Our countries have a lot in common. We've boths got lots of oil we can't get out of the ground by ourselves and lots of people kept who don't do much work. We've both lost wars to the Americans, but at least we were willing to shoot at them. We're both jealous of the Americans but not jealous enough to educate our people or let them be free. Both Mexico and Russia are creating new economic models and conducting similar economic and social reforms, while the development of their economies is driven by the energy sector," he said.
"In foreign policy, our countries are advocating a multi-polar world and working jointly in this direction. That's working pretty well for Jack Chiraq too. Mexico considers it important to develop its relations with Russia, which is a permanent UN Security Council member."
Fox will be his country's first top official to visit Russia. In June 2004, the President Vladimir Putin visited Mexico for the first time in the two countries' history of bilateral relations to sign agreements.
"We are working actively to implement the agreement on establishing a large joint helicopter repair and maintenance center in Mexico and the use of Russian Ural trucks in our country," Fox said.
According to Fox, a large group of major Mexican business people would accompany him during the visit to discuss mutual investment.
"The potential of economic cooperation between Mexico and Russia is far from being used up and it is necessary to fill in the gap with concrete issues, like investment, joint projects and trade," Fox said.
President Fox said the obstacles on the way of a bilateral agreement on Russia's accession to the WTO and Mexico's recognition of Russia's market status were important to further boost bilateral relations.
"The WTO has the strongest levers of influence on the international trade processes. Hundreds of treaties and agreements defining trade relations between countries are operational within the organization. That's why all the WTO member states should have equal rights, be guided by uniform rules and have equal foreign trade opportunities," Fox said.
He said that he and Putin have discussed the issue and reached a mutual understanding and that Mexico has prepared proposals for the visit to conclude negotiations on the matter.
Start building the wall now.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/21/2005 20:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fox is trying to play the old Russia/USA game but it just won't work Vincinte. You'll find those Zapatist rebels armed with Venezuelan financed AK-47s bought from your new Russian friends no matter what you do and the Ruskies are unlikely to help.
Just as the US is unlikely to help after all the help Vincente's offered since 9/11 with the whining and illegal imigration assistance during our time of war.
Start building the wall now, indeed. It's long past time.
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's leftist Zapatista rebels issued an order Monday closing their offices and sending their leaders into hiding, but did not explain why. The order appeared to come in response to some perceived threat, but the statement, signed by rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, said only that the decision was made to move local rebel officials to "ensure their safety." "We are evacuating the members of governing councils and autonomous authorities to ensure their safety. For an undetermined amount of time, they will carry out their work clandestinely," the statement said.
Hummmmm
The Zapatistas, who champion the cause of Indian rights, have complained of government attempts to co-opt their movement through aid programs, but there was little to suggest that officials were planning to launch a military attack. The rebels, however, also fear potential attacks by conservative Indian communities and organizations which the rebels have described as paramilitary groups. Attacks are often motivated by disputes over land and other natural resources in the poverty-stricken mountains of Chiapas. Marcos, the military commander of the movement based in Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost state, called for all rebel combatants to return to their bases, and suspended broadcasts by tiny rebel radio stations. They also asked foreign supporters to leave rebel communities, or "to stay, at their own risk."
Sounds to me like they are planning to launch an offensive
In a statement issued Sunday, Marcos broke off fragile relations with the Chiapas government and criticized leftist Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the front-runner ahead of presidential elections in 2006. Also mentioned as a possible affront to the Zapatistas was a Monday announcement that about Mexican troops had destroyed a total of 9 acres of marijuana plants in rebel-controlled territory. The rebels oppose any military presence, and also deny there are any drugs or contraband in their communities. The Zapatista movement operated in secrecy for about a decade between its founding in November 1983 and its brief armed uprising in January, 1994. The rebels and the government entered a cease-fire that month that has largely held since.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 13:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Repressive dictatorships vs communists. A cold war slugmatch made in heaven.
Pyongyang, June 20 (KCNA) -- Researchers of the forestry sector of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has developed an acacia seed treatment machine. The sprouting rate of acacia seeds, not treated, is only 20-30 percent because of their solid hulls. The seed treatment methods by hot water and reagent, which have been applied in nurseries, ensure only 70 percent of sprouting. After finding out the properties of acacia seed, the researchers have succeeded in making a seed treatment machine. It properly hurts seed hulls by the method of friction and bombardment. The budding rate of the acacia seeds treated by the machine is more than 90 percent. The machine saves several dozen kilograms of acacia seeds per hectare. It, which is simple in structure, is easy to operate anywhere. Its production cost is low. The machine has already been introduced in many units.
I've been using something similar on tough seed hulls for years. It's called sandpaper.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 12:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well if my acacia seeds ever need treatment, I know where to send them.
What the hell are acacia seeds?
#2
TU3031:
I have some in My back yard (still attached to the Shoestring Acacia tree). Want some? They're not treated, though, so that may be a deal-breaker.
Acacias make decent shade trees, but I didn't know there was any economic justification for growing them. I suppose you could eat the leaves and bark -- oh, this is NK? -- that explains it.
#3
Some species of acacia make good cattle fodder and grow without much tending once the seed germinates.
Posted by: too true ||
06/21/2005 14:43 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Several Acacia species provide commercial returns both in Australia and overseas. The bark of A.mearnsii (one of the "Black Wattle" group) is valuable in the tanning industries and commercial plantations exist in a number of countries (eg.South Africa, Brazil). Unusually, Australia actually imports much of its need for A.mearnsii bark tannin from South Africa where the tree has unfortunately escaped from plantations to become a pest species. The quick-growing characteristics of many of the larger species makes them useful for soil erosion control and for providing fuel for cooking and heating. Australian aborigines traditionally used the seeds and roots of a number of Acacia species as a food source but it is only fairly recently that research has started to be undertaken by a number of organisations to determine the nutritional potential of several species as well as any potential toxic effects. Some limited use of Acacia as a food is occurring in the "bush food" industry with, for example, ground Acacia seeds being used as a component of a bread known as "Wattle Damper" and as a flavouring for ice cream.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 14:46 Comments ||
Top||
It could happen, and here are some ways to play it:
Making my recommendation to buy the General Motors debt in the April issue of the Forbes/Lehmann Income Securities Investor and subsequently in my Forbes column was one of the easiest calls I've ever made. Here you had a company being threatened with a downgrade to BB yielding more than 10% when the average bond rated BB was yielding 6.79% and the average preferred 7.29%. As I indicated then, General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) was suffering from a lack of buyers in what is a trillion-dollar high-yield market faced with having to absorb up to $300 billion of new supply. The absorption of so much debt was not being helped by the negative media attention, which portrayed GM as being on the road to bankruptcy.
All this changed dramatically when billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, as savvy an investor as ever lived, stepped up with a bid for GM common stock to increase his holdings to over a billion dollars. Only Warren Buffet could have created a greater stir or quicker turnaround. At 87 years of age, however, one can assume that Kerkorian is not looking for a long-term investment.
As I mentioned in my Forbes column, at a market price of half its book value, GM is an attractive takeover candidate for entities like China's biggest automobile manufacturer, the Shanghai Automotive Industry (nyse: SAIC - news - people ), which would like to become a leading exporter of cars. SAIC and GM already have a strategic joint venture which currently has a capacity of 500,000 vehicles in China per year, including autos like the Buick Regal and Chevy Sail.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Bottom line is that a Chinese acquirer could ship all of GM's plants over to China and ditch the unionized workers currently digging GM into a hole, while retaining a core of lavishly-paid line workers to train their Chinese counterparts.
#2
Talk about the Union not looking out for the employee's best intrests, Zhang. I always thought it was in the employee's best intrest to have a company and a job to go to the next day.
#3
Well... what a fantastic idea! Toss in all the DoD contracts that GM has too! That way we could do the thumper on those nasty ChiComs a lot cheaper! We'll fool them!
#4
FF6690: Well... what a fantastic idea! Toss in all the DoD contracts that GM has too! That way we could do the thumper on those nasty ChiComs a lot cheaper! We'll fool them!
Past foreign purchases of American companies have involved the divestment of sensitive American operations. A GM buyout would be no different. The fact is that GM has no monopoly on metal-bending skills or on industrial design. Its below-par quality and design are testament to its perennial also-ran status in the past several decades. The divestment of GM's defense-related operations would be a boon for the division and for DOD, neither of which would have to continue to deal with GM's hide-bound corporate and union culture.
#5
Divestment would certainly follow, but as far as avoiding the bureaucratic mish-mash that GM has created for everyone to deal with and its sub-standard products, that would rise again as a phoenix. Selling out to the ChiComs isn't the answer for long-term benefit to the country. Short-term benefits to stockholders and those with hidden agendas would happen. Collectively, we are paying for our sins through shoddy managership rather than leadership, self-serving union leadership rather than employees managing it's affairs better, and returning to self-instilled pride and integrity inspite of dishonest business managers and owners. What a mess... but to sell out to the ChiComs is just another cop-out. I hope the traitors choke on their lo mein.
#7
FDP: Short-term benefits to stockholders and those with hidden agendas would happen.
The only benefits to stockholders are short term ones, unless you enjoy framing the stock certificates of defunct companies. In the long run, companies go bust, or are acquired - just check out the Dow roster from the turn of the 20th century.
FDP: Collectively, we are paying for our sins through shoddy managership rather than leadership, self-serving union leadership rather than employees managing it's affairs better, and returning to self-instilled pride and integrity inspite of dishonest business managers and owners.
Back in Coolidge's day, what was good for GM was good for the nation. We are now in a different era. GM acts as a drag on the nation's finances. Odds are that the government will have to step in to pay off GM's pension obligations. Since the government doesn't actually generate any income, that means we, the taxpayers, will be helping to pay off GM's pensioners. We don't need to enlarge the roster of GM's pensioners we need to pay off.
FDP: What a mess... but to sell out to the ChiComs is just another cop-out. I hope the traitors choke on their lo mein.
GM can be sold to the Chinese (or whatever acquirer comes calling) or it can be shut down. That's the choice that has faced other moribund companies, American or otherwise, in the past. As to the sellers being traitors, that's silly - how are stockholders obligated to use their money to subsidize the incompetence and greed of GM's management and unions? As of 2003, 326,000 people worked for GM. If each of these employees did a home equity loan for $60,000, they could raise $20B and buy out GM's current shareholders. Why don't they? Because leeching works only when it's done with other people's (stockholders') money - when you do it to yourself, it's called spending yourself into the poorhouse.
#8
"Its below-par quality and design are testament to its perennial also-ran status in the past several decades."
Id say Toyota or Honda could deal with that. Both have made quality vehicles, and marketed them successfully, and Honda at least has done so with UAW employees. And both have a commitment to selling in the North American market, and might want the capacity.
But that wouldnt fit your agenda as well a Chi Com buy out, would it.
Chi "coms" fitting an anti-union agenda - it doth make the head explode, no?
#9
LH: But that wouldnt fit your agenda as well a Chi Com buy out, would it. Chi "coms" fitting an anti-union agenda - it doth make the head explode, no?
The curious thing is that Communists are the ultimate union-busters. But the reality is that China will not tolerate independent unions for the same reason that they won't tolerate other non-governmental religious or social organizations - because they threaten the absolute power of the Chinese state.
#11
Japanese companies committed early to quality (largely due to Demming) and gained mind and market share. Detroit was late to the party (produced crap in the '70's and early '80's) but have improved dramatically since. China is competing (thus far successfully) on price. If a Chinese company were to buy GM and shut down the US factories, both price and quality would drop. They lose considerable market share on the high end and gain on the low end. Margins would drop and ultimately they'd lose a lot of money.
#12
Didn't a japanese auto exec recently suggest that the death of GM would causing rising anti-japanese feeling in the US. If the Japanese bought GM to prevent the chicoms only an idiot couldn't spin that one as help from a dutyful ally that would save American jobs (even if many were lost at least American plants wouldn't be shut down).
I'm not sure the Japanese are in the position but it's intreging.
Haier is one of China's premier appliance manufacturers. This will help keep the Maytag brand alive, just as Thomson's acquisition of the RCA brand kept that brand alive.
THE International Whaling Commission (IWC) has rejected a bid by Japan to push through a document aimed at eventually resuming commercial whaling, with anti-whaling nations labelling it "an insult". The measure, which would have required a three-quarters majority, was voted down by 29 votes to 23, failing even to secure a simple majority of the 66-member bloc. Senator Ian Campbell, who is also opposed to Japan's effort to extend its scientific whaling program, described the vote as a historic victory. "It's a really historic victory for whale conservation, this has been a historic day," he told ABC TV.
OWNERS of big farms struggling with debt across Australia's drought-ravaged southern states should leave the land as the weather worsens, a climate expert says. Australia was fast becoming a desert with changing weather patterns making fewer areas across the southern part of the country suitable for farming, University of Newcastle lecturer and meteorologist Martin Babakhan said today. By 2070, he said, the environmental catastrophe as outlined in the Hollywood movie The Day After Tomorrow would become a reality.
Moonbat Alert!
The movie shows an apocalyptic view of what would happen if the polar ice caps melted, triggering a new ice age. The whole of the northern hemisphere freezes solid. However, unlike the movie, Australia was getting hotter and drier, Mr Babakhan said. "That movie is reality," he said.
Yeah, right. And it was going to get Kerry elected
It was based on the best science the Democrats had.
"I said 2070 but from 2030 we shall start to see some massive changes in the Australian climate."
Mr Babakhan said he would leave the land if he were a farmer on a big farm struggling with debt in the eastern and western wheatbelts. "I reckon the time is right," he said. "Just start doing it now because there isn't any hope.
"You're doomed, I tell you! Doomed! Hey, come back here!"
"You know on the television a couple of weeks ago, there was little bit of rain coming in and the farmers were praying for more because they wanted to harvest. "They are kidding themselves. It's not going to happen."
Northern states were helped by monsoonal rains — the best falls in the desert regions of north-western Australia, Mr Babakhan said. The industrial expansion of northern hemisphere countries such as China had resulted in a huge increase in carbon dioxide in the southern hemisphere, he said. This in turn had led to the warming of Antarctica, affected the hole in the ozone layer above the frozen continent, and resulted in changed weather conditions for Australia.
"The end product will be we are going to get less rain and our temperature starts rising, the number of days exceeding 35C are going to increase by 60-70 per cent, and the water evaporation will increase because of the high temperatures," Mr Babakhan said. "The continent will dry up."
"Soon you'll see roving bands of nomads terrorizing the highways of the Outback, raping and pillaging.....oh, wait. Wrong movie"
The federal Government had to sign the Kyoto Protocol on environmental change, so Australia was at the forefront of discussions, Mr Babakhan said.
He also advocated a change from coal to nuclear power, and he suggested Australia export uranium to countries such as China so they followed suit.
A further measure to ease the pain was to exploit the 31 billion cubic metres of water that fell during the wet season in northern Australia.
Mr Babakhan said the water could flow down the Murray-Darling basin to southern states. "We have got a lifeline in Australia today, we could tap into that water in the north and feed it into dams," he said."This would provide one-and-a-half to two years of water supply a season.
"This is the idea we would like to float."
At present, NSW is in the grip of one of the worst droughts in history, with June figures showing 91 per cent of the state drought declared, five per cent only marginal and only four per cent satisfactory. A spokeswoman for Primary Industries minister Ian Macdonald said showers last week had allowed farmers to plant some crops but much more rain was needed if those crops were to prosper.
The New South Wales Government has pumped $160 million into drought assistance since July 2002, when the problem first became apparent on a wide-scale basis. But some regions have been in drought for four years.
#4
Jackal, I've really had that happen to me. Amazing what urban idiots DON'T know. Like Reagan used to say, "It's not that they don't know anything, it's that they know so much that isn't true!"
Posted by: BA ||
06/21/2005 9:20 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"...if the polar ice caps melted, triggering a new ice age."
I am not a Climatoligist,but that statement makes no sense at all.Correct me if I'm wrong,but wouldn't an iceage mean the icecaps are growing?
#6
another Kyoto effect - logic doesn't apply, raptor
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/21/2005 10:01 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The industrial expansion of northern hemisphere countries such as China had resulted in a huge increase in carbon dioxide in the southern hemisphere, he (Babakhan) said.
So tell me again why China along with India and some other so called developing nations are exempt from the Kyoto Protocol. Even this "the sky is falling" Moonbat recognizes the fallacy of that clause.
#10
I like a good disaster movie as much as the next person, and am willing to ignore a lot of crap in order to watch one, but I could never bring myself to watch The Day After Tomorrow, just based on the previews.
It's so ridiculous I'd be screaming at the screen. What the hell happened to Roland Emmerich? He must have taken as looooong drink of leftist kool-aid. :-(
I'm with #9 tu3031.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/21/2005 14:35 Comments ||
Top||
THE Solomon Islands has awarded Prime Minister John Howard the nation's highest honour for Australia's role in restoring security in the Pacific country. The Star of the Solomon Islands was awarded to both Mr Howard and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark as co-leaders with the Solomons Government in the peace effort, the New Zealand Government said. An Australian-led contingent of 3000 military police and civilian personnel known as the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) began operations in the troubled nation in July 2003.
The Solomons Government invited the mission after law and order broke down on the islands amid fighting between warring factions. Solomon Islands Governor-General Sir Nathaniel Waena presented the award to Ms Clark yesterday in Wellington. "I am honoured to accept this award, on behalf of those New Zealanders who made a dedicated contribution towards the restoration of peace and stability in the Solomon Islands," Ms Clark said.
I dunno. I heard it was impossible to insult Finnish cuisine...
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi repeated one of his most famous diplomatic gaffes on Tuesday by insulting the cuisine of Finland which Italy beat to host the new European Food Safety Authority. "I've been to Finland and I had to endure the Finnish diet so I am in a position to make a comparison," Berlusconi told local dignitaries ahead of the inauguration of the EFSA in the northern Italian town of Parma.
The 68-year-old media tycoon also said he had used his masculine charm to persuade Finland's president, Tarja Halonen, to give up her country's claim to host the European Union agency. "I had to use all my playboy tactics, even if they have not been used for some time," said Berlusconi.
At the opening ceremony later in the day, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso would have the chance to sample Parma's famous smoked ham, Berlusconi said, and see for himself that it was better than traditional Finnish food. "Barroso today will be able to taste our 'culatello' as opposed to smoked herrings from Finland," he said to laughter from the audience.
Italy fought hard to host the EU agency and Berlusconi reportedly told a summit of European leaders in December 2001: "Parma is synonymous with good cuisine. The Finns don't even know what prosciutto is." The line has become one of the most memorable of Berlusconi's long list of indiscretions.
It's indiscrete to tell the truth, y'know. As far as I know, people go to Finland to go skiing, to mingle with Lapplanders, to ogle the women, and have a sauna. They may even go there to drink excellent vodka. Nobody goes there to eat...
In October 2002 he told a joint press conference with Denmark's Anders Fogh Rasmussen the Dane was "the best-looking prime minister in Europe".
Cue drumroll...
"He's so good looking, I'm even thinking of introducing him to my wife," he added, chuckling to himself.
"Now, take my wife... Please!"
During a photograph with other EU leaders in Spain in February 2002, Berlusconi raised two fingers behind the head of the then Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, in the traditional Latin gesture for a cuckold. What makes it all the worse, is that it is very, very true.
#9
This is a man, although , after Tony Blair , one of our staunchest Iraq allies, sill hjad publicized that he had his liposuction leaving made into soap...
Well, what more can you say?
Except that he is right if he is saying that Finninh food is bland... Not bad... BLAND... They have decent cheese, and decent booze, if the imports are indication, but after that meat and potatoes, etc is all that they have...
#12
I'm thinking that the underlying aspects (the motivations to wank in public, the obviously enthusiastic encouragement of such pointlessness, etc) of mucky's video is where the Euro population problem originates.
MANILA - Cardinal Jaime Sin, a driving force behind two Philippine "People Power" revolts, died in hospital on Tuesday morning, church officials said. He was 76 years old and the officials said he died from an infection relating to a longstanding kidney ailment. "Jaime Cardinal Sin, archbishop emeritus, died early this morning," Sin's spokeswoman, Peachy Yamsuan, told reporters.
The main Roman Catholic radio station played hymns to mourn Sin, who retired as archbishop of Manila in 2003, and said a wake would be held at Manila cathedral. "The nation lost a spiritual leader," said Senator Aquilino Pimentel. "He was irreplaceable."
Sin was once called "the divine commander in chief" by former President Fidel Ramos for marshalling huge protests in the mostly Roman Catholic country that drove presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada from office in 1986 and 2001, respectively. "My duty is to put Christ in politics. Politics without Christ is the greatest scourge of our nation," Sin said at his retirement ceremony.
In February 1986, Sin rallied a million people to form human barricades on Manila's main highway and protect a puny band of 300 army rebels against advancing Marcos tanks. His radio broadcasts in support of mutineers ignited the now legendary "People Power" revolt that drove Marcos into exile and swept political novice Corazon Aquino to the presidency.
His departure from the office he had held for 27 years marked the end of an unprecedented period of political activism by the Church, although it remains a potent force and a key backer of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. His death comes as Arroyo faces allegations of electoral fraud that the government says are part of a plot to unseat her. A Congressional inquiry into the allegations was due to start on Tuesday.
Ordained in 1954, Sin became the youngest member of the Vatican's College of Cardinals when he was made a prince of the church at the age of 47.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/21/2005 00:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Cardinal Sin"???
Items from Scrappleface should be clearly marked as such.....
#2
LOL does this surprise anyone? Was anyone surprised when the ACLU wonks showed up at teh border last time and smoked pot. I bet they all had some sort of 'medical' condition that needed to be medicated. Friggin idiots.
Corwyn (Cory) William Zimbleman Tucson, AZ (formerly of Champaign, IL)
Age 53. Born April 18, 1952 to the late Willard and Gilda (Ebert) Zimbleman, died June 10, 2005. Throughout his life Cory was an extraordinary artist. His artistic talent and imagination would bring awe to all who viewed his work. His works grace an LP cover and numerous books; using Computer Aided Design (CAD) he designed home and business exteriors, interiors, and furniture for several architectural firms. His talent went beyond the fine arts as he added sculpturing, woodworking, metals, and other mediums to his repertoire. Having never gained the recognition he deserved in his own lifetime his family hopes to publish a book of his works.
If only he'd done sofa art ...
Another of his passions was herpetology. As a child he was always bringing home reptiles. His friends nicknamed him "Snake." He even built a turtle pond in his backyard.
An avid atheist, he studied the bible and religion with more fervor than most Christians. He had strong political opinions and followed Amy Goodman's radio broadcast "Democracy Now." Alas the stolen election of 2000 and living with right-winged Americans finally brought him to his early demise. Stress from living in this unjust country brought about several heart attacks rendering him disabled. Cory, a great man, so very talented, compassionate and intelligent, dedicated to the arts and humanities and the environment, will be greatly missed by his wife, family, and friends.
He is survived by his wife, Patricia Montiel; his step-daughter, Esperanza Hernandez both of Tucson; his brother, Mike (Dana) of St. Louis, MO; his sisters, Susan St. Claire of San Jose, CA and Laura Zimbleman of Ypsilanti, MI, and his turtles Heidie, Skinhead and Studley and many other pets. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, June 21, 2005 from 6:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m., please call 883-xxxx for information. Cremation has taken place.
I guess it's wrong to mock the dead. Me bad.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 13:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
What the hell is an "avid atheist"? I mean, I suppose I'm an atheist too but it's not something I get excited about. It's like saying "I'm an avid non-user of coupons" or something.
#2
Any more weak-(bleeding-?)hearted libs dropping like flies because of living with right-wingers like me? This is really encouraging! I didn't realize I had such powers.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/21/2005 14:22 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Stress from living in this unjust country brought about several heart attacks rendering him disabled.
Not the fact that he weighed 590 lbs, smoked like a chimney, and who's favorite beverage was brown gravy had anything to do with it. Oh and apparently he was "a little" on the obsessive side.
Alas the stolen election of 2000 and living with right-winged Americans finally brought him to his early demise. Stress from living in this unjust country brought about several heart attacks rendering him disabled
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH! Good one! :-D
Oh, wait.... They're serious?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/21/2005 14:37 Comments ||
Top||
#6
An avid atheist, he studied the bible and religion with more fervor than most Christians.
#11
right-winged Americans What is the world coming to? Obituaries are the last bastion of good writing style. Using a non-existent verb in the past tense as an adjective - shudder!
#12
98Z--Sorry! I don't know my own strength. I was trying to crush Michael Moore's thorax Darth-style. I need to work on channeling and focusing my powers. I think I'll run out to Circuit City and look at their amps!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/21/2005 16:57 Comments ||
Top||
#13
...living with right-winged Americans finally brought him to his early demise.
#14
I've got a lot of sympathy for Cory. I used to live in the SF Bay Area. If only we'd known sooner, we could have swapped houses...if they have any that expensive in Tucson.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/21/2005 19:01 Comments ||
Top||
#15
What can I say. We have a university here.
I gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing I ever do.
Twelve French peacekeepers are due to be charged with stealing money from a bank in Ivory Coast, which they were supposed to be guarding last year. Some allegedly bought digital cameras and mobile phones with the money and sent them to their families in France. They are alleged to have stolen the equivalent of about $100,000 from the bank in the western town of Man. They were part of a 4,000-strong French force sent to restore order in Ivory Coast after a rebellion began in 2002. Six other French soldiers have been accused of stealing nearly $20,000 worth of local CFA francs from another branch of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in the rebel headquarters of Bouake last year.
So, I guess we can add "Thieving" to the "Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey' meme
The robbery in rebel-held Man came as banks throughout the eight countries of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) were in the process of replacing a 1992 series of banknotes with more secure bills. The branch where the theft was recorded had been put under extra surveillance following a series of thefts from Ivorian banks in 2003. "These soldiers profited from their assignment, protecting this bank branch, to rob it of these monies," said French military spokesman Colonel Henry Aussavy last year. "We are dealing with these accusations very severely so that they do not tarnish the rest of our forces in the country," he added. Officials said no force was used during the theft. In addition to the French troops, there are also some 6,000 United Nations peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 08:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
"All the burning bridges that have fallen after me
All the lonely feelings and the burning memories
Everyone I left behind each time I closed the door
Burning bridges lost forevermore"
Posted by: Steve ||
06/21/2005 9:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
These guys were just following Jacques "the Worm" Chirac's MO. The only surprise to me is that there was that much money in the Ivory Coast to steal.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
06/21/2005 15:26 Comments ||
Top||
#8
They stole $100,000 dollars and bought mobile phones and digital cameras with the money? How poorly paid are the French peacekeepers? The poorest Americans have mobile phones and digital cameras.
#9
I expect few cars were available for sale and they had to get the loot home someway. With more time they could have disassemble the fighting Citroens and sent 'em back....... Ya! Ya! Ya! One piece at a time..
India successfully tested an Indian-built surface-to-air missile Monday for the second time in two days, a defence ministry official said. The missile Akash - meaning sky in Hindi - was tested at a range in eastern Orissa state.
It was fired at 11:15 am (0545 GMT) from a mobile launcher at the Chandipur-on-Sea testing range, 200 kilometres (125 miles) northeast of Bhubaneswar, Orissa's state capital, the ministry official said. The 700 kilogramme (1,540 pound) missile, which hit a flying drone, was last tested on Friday.
Akash, which can track 100 targets simultaneously with onboard radar, can move at a speed of 600 metres (1,980 feet) a second and deliver a 55 kilogramme (121 pound) warhead across 27 kilometres (17 miles) in 50 seconds. Akash is being developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation which launched in 1983 a project to build an array of weapons. It hopes to cap the programme with a ballistic missile which can fly 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles).
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/21/2005 8:15 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Photo removed: not appropriate for Rantburg.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/21/2005 8:17 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Photo removed: not appropriate for Rantburg.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/21/2005 8:18 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Just lovely, Deacon Blues. (/sarcasm) Is this your usual level of discourse?
Posted by: too true ||
06/21/2005 9:33 Comments ||
Top||
#5
No, too true, but somehow it just seemed appropriate. If India can develope a viable missle defense The Pakistanis, and to some extent the Chinese, will have to re-think their attitudes about confrontation with India and I think we should strengthen ties with India as a counter to Pakistan especially. It's true Pakistan did help us in Afghanistan for a time but it seems their actions now have gone back to at least clandestinely helping our enemies in Afghanistan. I'm not sure anyone knows just how much control Musharraf has. Evidence to this is Bin Laden is most likely in Pakistan (if he is still alive) and the Pakistani Army is unable or unwilling to go get him. There are people in Pakistan who know the utter folley of allowing the Islamofascists to get control of a nuclear weapon and I think Musharraf knows that would be the death of Pakistan but the Islamofascists are hell-bent on achieving martyrdom and if they go out in a blaze of niclear fire and just happen to take millions of innocent people with them they don't care. Having India with a viable missle defense seems to me to be a good thing.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/21/2005 10:17 Comments ||
Top||
#6
*Darn* i didn't get a chance to see those pics!
Posted by: Red Dod ||
06/21/2005 11:11 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Missile tested for third time
India Completes Hat-Trick of Surface-To-Air Missile Tests
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BHUBANESWAR, India
India successfully tested June 21 a locally-built surface-to-air missile for the third time in five days as part of final trials before its military induction, defense officials said.
The missile Akash -- meaning sky in Hindi -- was tested at a range in eastern Orissa state, defense ministry officials said in Orissaâs state capital of Bhubaneswar.
It was fired at 1:00 pm (0730 GMT) from a mobile launcher at the Chandipur-on-Sea testing range, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Bhubaneswar, they said.
The 700 kilogram (1,540 pound) missile was tested June 21 and last June 17.
âComprehensive trials are now on to test various subsystems. Todayâs launch was to monitor its propulsion and communications systems,â a scientist at the state-run Defense Research and Development organization said in New Delhi.
âThe trials are reaching a conclusion and this missile will be soon handed over for induction into the (defense) services,â he told Agence France-Presse.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, who came close to war in 2002 but whose relations have warmed since, frequently test-fire missiles.
Akash, which can track 100 targets simultaneously with onboard radar, can move at a speed of 600 meters (1,980 feet) a second and deliver a 55 kilogram (121 pound) warhead across 27 kilometers (17 miles) in 50 seconds.
The missile is being developed by DRDO which launched in 1983 a project to build an array of weapons. It hopes to cap the program with a ballistic missile which can fly 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles).
In 1999, a year after India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, the two countries agreed to notify each other ahead of missile tests.
Posted by: john ||
06/21/2005 17:16 Comments ||
Top||
#8
There are reports that the US has cleared the Patriot PAC-3 for export to India.
Russia is offering the S300.
Posted by: john ||
06/21/2005 17:18 Comments ||
Top||
NASA has been officially recognized for setting the speed record for a jet-powered aircraft by Guinness World Records. NASA set the record in November during the third and final flight of the experimental X-43A scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet) project. The X-43A demonstrated an advanced form of air-breathing jet engine could power an aircraft nearly 10 times the speed of sound.
Data from the unpiloted, 12-foot-long research vehicle show its revolutionary engine worked successfully at Mach 9.6 (approximately 7,000 mph), as it flew over the Pacific Ocean west of California.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/21/2005 11:16 Comments ||
Top||
#4
That's 2 miles per second. What's escape velocity? 7 miles/sec? Of course a jet won't work in space, but if you zoomed it, could you go ballistically to LEO?
Haunted by the threat of global warming, the world may very well be on the verge of a renaissance in the use of nuclear power and the time has come to gear up uranium mining, the head of the world's largest uranium producer said Monday. "All of the things that we now see coming out of media reports around the world on a daily basis (show that there) is a very, very strong renewed interest in nuclear energy," said Gerald Grandey, president of the Canada-based Cameco Corporation. "That gives us a lot of confidence that the market for our primary product, which is uranium, will be growing in the future," Grandey told reporters. He was speaking as the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened a five-day symposium on uranium resources.
IAEA deputy director for nuclear energy Yuri Sokolov said that nuclear power could "help to resolve the problem of climate change (as it is a) sustainable and secure supply of energy." Echoing the conclusions of an IAEA conference on nuclear energy that was held in Paris in March, Sokolov said: "Nuclear power has a good and lengthening track record in terms of safety and economics" and produces 100 times fewer greenhouse gases than fossil fuel. "New environmental constraints on greenhouse gas emissions favor low-emission energy sources like nuclear power," Sokolov said. He said this made it important to "know how many uranium resources we have" as even current Russian-US programs to recycle highly enriched uraniums from nuclear weapons into nuclear fuel could not supply growing demand.
#1
The Dafur region of Sudan may just well reach new heights of exploitation... lots of free labor milling about in the wasteland.... so many many empty hands with so few picks and shovels. Watch this one closely.
In the land rush known as extrasolar planet hunting, the most prized real estate is advertised as "Earth-like." On Monday, June 13, scientists raced to plant their flag on a burning hunk of rock orbiting a red star. This newly discovered planet is about seven times the mass of Earth, and therefore the smallest extrasolar planet found to orbit a main sequence, or "dwarf" star (stars, like our sun, that burn hydrogen). There are even smaller planets known to exist beyond our solar system, but they have the misfortune to encircle pulsars, those rapidly spinning husks of dying stars. Such planets aren't thought to be remotely habitable, due to the intense radiation emitted by pulsars.
Planets that are ten Earth masses or less are thought to be rocky, while more massive planets are probably gaseous, since their stronger gravity means they collect and retain more gas during planetary formation. 155 extrasolar planets have been found so far, but most of them have masses that are more comparable to gaseous Jupiter than rocky Earth (Jupiter is 318 times the mass of Earth).
Continued on Page 49
#2
"Because the planet is in a two-day orbit, it is heated to oven-like temperatures, so we do not expect life," says science team member Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Obviously this guy doesn't need any more funding since he already knows everything there is to know about everything -- I say we stop all scientific spending and just let this asswipe answer all our questions. Why the hell can't life exist in 'ovenlike' tempratures? Because they don't on earth?
Sorry but people who make broad statements like this are too closed minded. Dont forget that for most of history the earth was 'flat' (otherwise we would fall off!).
#3
OK, who didn't know that, astronomically speaking, 'Earth-like' is a very, very broad term?
I mean, Christ, in our system we have Mercury, Venus, Mars, and possibly Pluto that could be classified as 'Earth-like'. It's a structural thing, not climate.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/21/2005 8:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Feeling a little cranky this morning, CF? Maybe this 'asswipe'is making 'broad statements' about not expecting life because he knows something about the chemistry of complex organic molecules and how they behave at high temperatures. He didn't say finding life was flat-out impossible. He said he did not expect to find any.
#5
Why in the hell life can't exist in these conditions?
Because theare fundemental chemenicals in action For instance life needs a solvant, not a mere liquid, a solvant who will transport nutriments. In the earth it is water. But in that planet you don't have water but vapor, so water would not work. You need another solvant with the right physical (like fluidity) and chemical characteristic. Molten lava or rivers of lead don't work. And that solvant must be abundant enough to form oceand. Otherwise you don't play roulette enough for that very imporobable miracle (life) having sporting chance of happenning. Did I mention that water has some very sopecial characteritics like the fact it is nearly the only body (with uiodine) who has a point where it becomes lighter when coldening it. Without it ice would accumulate at the bottom of oceans thus stiffling life instead of flotaing to the surface and thus being melted by the sun. Your solvant should be better to have that property.
There are also some specvial properties in the basic molecular links in organic reactions. Plus the fact that the number of atoms who canbe a base for life is very exactly two: carbon and silicium because both can combine with electron-deficient chemicals (sorry but I don't know the english exact term) like oxygen or chlorine and with electron-exceeednt bodies like hydrogen or metals.
And thus because they have four electrons in the peripheral orbit. There are other elements with 4 electrons like germanium but they are very rare (so they will not do) and not only on Earth but, judging by the spectrographical analyis of stars, everywhere.
Carbon is different from Silicon in that the Si-Si bonds are much weaker than Si-O or Si-H bonds. In fact, you will never find a Si-Si bond in nature (obviously, we have made synthetics). In Carbon, the C-C bond is almost as strong as C-O or C-H, so that you can have C-C bonds in nature. So, if you want Silicon life, you need to have a planet with no free Oxygen or Hydrogen, and I think no Nitrogen. That makes it rather difficult to sustain reactions, though.
Carbon is not just one of many, or even the best, but the one and only way to form life.
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.
PORT KLANG: A puppy with two extra legs and a second penis is drawing curious stares at a temple in Pandamaran town near here. The puppy, found by a temple caretaker at the entrance on Thursday morning, is being cared for by the temple committee. Kwang Sung Temple committee member Tee Kim Huat said the caretaker saw the white puppy with dark brown patches sleeping at the temple entrance at 7am. âHe lifted the canine to place it elsewhere and was shocked to see that the puppy had six legs! Not only that, the male puppy also had an extra penis,â said Tee. 
A COBBLER suspected of sorcery was attacked and nearly lynched by outraged villagers in central Kenya today after being caught having sex with a female sheep, witnesses and officials said. 
Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey's car was stolen while he was out of town at a conference. So goes the saga of car theft in the District, where even the police chief's department-issued car can get swiped a block from his home. "There is not a whole lot to add to it," Ramsey said. "The car was taken, and there was nothing of real value in it. Cars are getting stolen every day."
Pyongyang, June 20 (KCNA) -- Researchers of the forestry sector of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has developed an acacia seed treatment machine. The sprouting rate of acacia seeds, not treated, is only 20-30 percent because of their solid hulls. The seed treatment methods by hot water and reagent, which have been applied in nurseries, ensure only 70 percent of sprouting. After finding out the properties of acacia seed, the researchers have succeeded in making a seed treatment machine. It properly hurts seed hulls by the method of friction and bombardment. The budding rate of the acacia seeds treated by the machine is more than 90 percent. The machine saves several dozen kilograms of acacia seeds per hectare. It, which is simple in structure, is easy to operate anywhere. Its production cost is low. The machine has already been introduced in many units. 
Twelve French peacekeepers are due to be charged with stealing money from a bank in Ivory Coast, which they were supposed to be guarding last year. Some allegedly bought digital cameras and mobile phones with the money and sent them to their families in France. They are alleged to have stolen the equivalent of about $100,000 from the bank in the western town of Man. They were part of a 4,000-strong French force sent to restore order in Ivory Coast after a rebellion began in 2002. Six other French soldiers have been accused of stealing nearly $20,000 worth of local CFA francs from another branch of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in the rebel headquarters of Bouake last year. 
> 
