[LATIMESBLOGS.LATIMES] Students have been evacuated from Taft Union High School in Kern County after a shooting Thursday morning that reportedly left two people injured, a city official confirmed.
Debra Elliott, with the city manager's office, confirmed that a shooting was reported at the high school shortly after 9 a.m. Two people have been reported injured, Elliott said, although she stressed that the number has yet to be confirmed by public safety officials.
The suspected shooter was believed to be in jug, Elliott said.
Parents were beginning to pick up their children from a football field where they had been moved to after the incident, Elliott said. As of about 10 a.m., the campus remained on lockdown.
A local television station, KERO 23 in Bakersfield, reported that the station had received calls from students who said they were huddled in closets. Sheriff's officials were going classroom to classroom clearing the campus, the station reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
!#&#&#@(o@)@!!! Now I'm going to have to go out and buy 12, 20, and .410 gauge ammo before it disappears or is outlawed.
The shooter entered a class he was a student in and shot one 16 y.o. boy. The teacher in the class is being called a hero for talking to the shooter while students fled the classroom through a back door. The shooter reportedly attempted to shoot a 2nd student who he named but the teacher apparently prevented it. As the teacher was talking to the shooter an unarmed campus supervisor approached and began talking to him as well. The shooter eventually put the gun down at which point police had reached the scene and arrested him. The teacher was injured in the head by buckshot but declined treatment at the scene. Taft Union High usually has an armed School Resource Office on campus but he was not there today because he was snowed in at home.
Finally, the media on scene claims that multiple parents have told them that a student at Taft Union was suspended last year for making a "hit list." Some are claiming that individual is the shooter in today's incident but police have not offered any confirmation of this.
[An Nahar] Swedish prosecutors have issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of criminal masterminding a smuggling ring involving Chinese garlic.
The men first shipped the garlic to Norway by boat, where it entered the country duty-free since it was considered to be in transit, prosecutor Thomas Ahlstrand said Wednesday. They then drove large shipments of garlic across the Norwegian-Swedish border, avoiding customs checks and thus Swedish import duties.
Ahlstrand said the men avoided paying some 10 million ($13.1 million) in Swedish taxes with the scheme, which took place in 2009 and 2010. A lengthy police investigation led to the identification of the two Britons.
Ahlstrand initially said they smuggled in 1.2 tons of garlic, but later said the exact amount was unclear.
It was not the first time smugglers have shown a preference for garlic from China, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of world output and is often significantly cheaper than local varieties.
In 2010, Polish authorities seized six containers with 144 tons of Chinese garlic that had been smuggled into the country via the Netherlands.
It was not immediately clear whether the Polish smuggling was linked to the Swedish case.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[TMZ] It's damn time the Washington Redskins changed its racist name ... at least if the team ever plans to move inside D.C. city limits -- so says District mayor Vincent Gray.
Now that the Redskins are winning again, there's been a lot of talk about bringing the team back to D.C. -- instead of leaving them in nearby FedEx Field, located in Maryland.
But Mayor Gray has some conditions before the Redskins move a muscle -- claiming, "I think that if they get serious with the team coming back to Washington, there's no doubt there's going to have to be a discussion about [changing the team name]."
Gray added, "I think it has become a lightning rod, and I would love to be able to sit down with the team ... and see if a change should be made. There's a precedent for this, and I think there needs to be a dispassionate discussion about this, and do the right thing."
FYI -- the federal government controls the land where a new Redskins stadium would be built in D.C. ... so it does have some say.
There's no question, the term "redskins" is flat-out racist ... but we still gotta ask ...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2013 00:00 ||
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Even a clock that loses a minute a day is right once every 720 days, people. The above comments confirm what Aesop said:
There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so he thought upon a plan by which he could get a little company and some excitement. He rushed down towards the village calling out "Wolf, Wolf," and the villagers came out to meet him, and some of them stopped with him for a considerable time. This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterwards he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help. But shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the forest, and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried out "Wolf, Wolf," still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them, and nobody stirred to come to his help. So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy's flock, and when the boy complained, the wise man of the village said:
"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth."
And a race hustler will not be believed even when he speaks the truth, either. Race hustling may bring racism back, through this and/or through self-fulfilling prophecy.
#8
Naming the team in admiration of great warriors, noted for both courage and ferocity, is racist.
Maybe just rename them the Washington Senators, since the baseball team isn't using it this time around. Expect them to do as well as the Washington Senators have ever done.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2013 11:12 Comments ||
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Back in college we had this debate on a campus newsgroup. When a sane person said, "So what about the Notre Dame 'Fighting Irish'?" one of the panties-in-a-bunch crowd shot back with "We'll never get ANYWHERE if you insist on bringing every little group into this!"
Which elicited a chorus of "exactly the point" from the sane.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/11/2013 12:14 Comments ||
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#16
My boss is a big 'Skins fan, told me they came to DC from Boston, and Redskins was a tribute to the Boston Tea Party.
Now, he has pulled my leg before...
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/11/2013 12:45 Comments ||
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#17
If we had a game between Syracuse and Notre Dame, could we please have the refs dressed as lobsterbacks?
I do find the name Lakers quite offensive to the indiginous peoples of Minnesota/Great Lakes as not only is the indiginous peoples of California three realms of culture apart, but is also a sad reminder of when the wooly mammoth baked corn muffins for baby colt orphanages before the white man hunted them down, causing global warming which made so many lakes. Yes, those lakes are the tears of gaia, thus saith na'vi.
#26
Redskins is to broad a term. Seek out a tribe and work with them. Sioux, Blackfoot, Crow, Flatheads etc. FSU has done this with the Seminole Nation and it works out nicely for both parties.
Ravens - reference to a poet, if you have an education, so racist
Bengals - racist vs. India
Browns - racist vs. nonEuropeans.
Steelers - greedy ruiners of environment, racist
Texans - promotes inequality, racist
Colts - dogwhistle handgun or malt liquor racist joke, racist
Jaguar - sacred animal of Central Americans Natives killed by Europeans, racist
Titans - pagan reference insulting to mooselimbs, racist
Bills - reminder of the great buffalo slaughterers, racist
Dolphins - tuna overfishing by Europeans, racist
Patriots - flag waiving jingoism, racist
Jets - trivialises gang violence, so racist
Broncos - taken from the Natives, racist
Chiefs - are not a good team, racist
Raiders - don't you mean undocumented property borrowers you racist?
Chargers - a slur on what people do with obamaphones, racist
#29
Packers - What some poor downtrodden proletariat have to do, often in CO2 pollution producing factory conditions, with supervision overlords watching, for below 'living wages', so racist
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/11/2013 18:07 Comments ||
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#30
Call them the Washington Generals, after another famous Washington team.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/11/2013 18:11 Comments ||
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Climate change ranked among the top global risks in the annual World Economic Forum survey of more than 1,000 experts released Tuesday. Experts? In what? I'm an expert, and they didn't ask me. Obviously you weren't the expert they were looking for...
The group, most associated with its yearly conference in Davos, Switzerland, said leaving environmental issues unaddressed compounded with global economic stress could handcuff policymakers.
And that's only one of the advantages ....
"A sudden and massive collapse on one front is certain to doom the other's chance of developing an effective, long-term solution," the report said of the interplay between the global environment and economy. Shirley, that was taken out of context. A massive collapse of the envirnoment would doom the economy? Or a collapse of the economy dooms the greenies? A booming economy also dooms the greenies...
By replacing "rising greenhouse gas emissions" with "the failure to adapt to climate change" as a top global risk, respondents conveyed a "shift in the conversation on the environment from the question of whether our climate is changing to the questions of 'by how much' and 'how quickly,' " the report noted. Another name-change?
The report said governments should invest in infrastructure upgrades to bolster resiliency to climate change and associated natural disasters. Give them more control AND more money, knaves!
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/11/2013 06:30 ||
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Davos Group Worried About "Failure to Adapt to Climate Change"..to maintain their collective power and positions.
FIFY. Mankind has adapted to multiple climate changes for the last 50,000 years. We're still here living from the arctic to the equator, from islands to mountain tops, from rain forests to deserts. There are many creatures who are larger, quicker, and stronger, but none roam the climatic expanse of the planet like man.
#2
It's over. Global Warming (renamed climate change due to the entirely predictable lack of actual warming) has run its course. It'll take a decade to undo the damage, and there will be a new cause celeb long before that, but the tide has turned. It has always been hocus pocus and too many people know that now.
#10
tipper, the ironic bit about Gore's new money is that the oil ticks thought they would get influence through the investment. If we can keep that from happening (and it will take vigilance) that's a little the west has recouped from them in exchange for billions and blood we've spent.
#11
Pert $$$ grant award controversies aside,
"Green Techs" comes down to how much the US-World Mainstream can take or survive domestically on Earth while the majority or bulk of National, World resources is organized + used by the future OWG-NWO for Deep Space Exploration + Colonization.
ITS NOT GONNA MEAN DIDDLY SQUAT IFF ALL THE PERT MODELS, THEORIES ARE JUST WRONG ANDOR "OVER-POLITICIZED/CORRUPTED" ABOUT SOLAR ACTIVITY + THE SUN ENTERS SUDDEN OR EARLY "RED GIANT" PHASE" + BEGINS TO EXPAND TO UNKNOWN DIMENSIONS IN THE NEAR-TERM.
The mighty OWG Govts-Perts consensus is that there is no consensus - they do, however, "agree to disagree" forever.
["THE FLINTSTONES" WILMA, BETTY, KIDDIES + PETS WATCHING FRED + BARNEY ARGUE UNDERWATER ABOUT WHOM SANK THE FISHING ROCKBOAT here].
[An Nahar] Breeding season is underway for the endangered tortoises of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, whose mating and nesting habits are carefully watched by wildlife specialists hoping to save them from extinction.
Nesting began last month at Galapagos National Park and will be monitored through June to determine how many female tortoises have prepared nests and how many hatchlings are likely to emerge.
During the peak nesting period, as many as 50 female tortoises can be found preparing nests on the same stretch of beach, said Eduardo Espinoza, a marine biologist at the park.
The Galapagos, located some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off Ecuador's coast, is an archipelago of 13 islands and more than 100 rocks and micro-islands.
The islands became famous when Charles Darwin visited in 1835 to conduct landmark research that inspired his revolutionary theories on evolution.
In 2007, UNESCO declared the island chain's environment endangered due to the increase in tourism and the introduction of invasive species.
Experts estimate there were once some 300,000 giant tortoises on the remote Pacific archipelago, but the population dwindled during the 18th and 19th century after they were hunted by whalers and pirates as fresh food.
The invaders also introduced predators, including rats, which have reduced the tortoise population.
Today, between about 30,000 and 40,000 tortoises remain on the Galapagos, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 because of their unique plant and animal life.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2013 00:00 ||
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Benefit Babies and Government Crèches creating evolutionary pressure in that direction...
[An Nahar] At least 10 people, five of them children, were killed in a retaliatory raid Thursday in Kenya's volatile Tana River delta region, the latest outbreak of violence ahead of elections due in less than two months, officials said.
Red Thingy officials said the victims in the Pokomo village of Kibusu were killed by raiders carrying guns and machetes.
"There are 10 dead and two critically maimed, with gunshot wounds, machete cuts and burns," local Red Thingy official Caleb Kilunde told AFP.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] Five activists from Morocco's February 20th Movement (M20F) had their sentences reduced to six months on appeal Wednesday (January 9th), AFP reported.
The five young men were previously given prisons terms ranging between eight and ten months. The appellate court in Casablanca also ordered them to pay 7,500 dirhams each in civil damages and fines.
A sixth female defendant saw her sentence reduced from six to three months.
The activists were tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! in July 2012 after taking part in a demonstration that saw festivities break out between protestors and police.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2013 00:00 ||
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A sixth female defendant saw her sentence reduced from six to three months.
"Carl, see that Major Strasser gets a good table, one close to the ladies".
[MAGHAREBIA] Libya's General National Congress (GNC) unanimously voted to adopt "State of Libya" as the country's official name on Tuesday (January 8th), Libya Herald reported. The decision ends the multiplicity of official names used under the former regime. The new name will stay at least until the approval of the new constitution.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[Maan] These days, craftsmen, shopkeepers and other inhabitants of the Egyptian Delta town of Zagazig are often too busy making ends meet to ponder why life seems to be getting harder every day.
But when, exhausted, they finally come home and sit down to their evening meal, conversations inevitably turn to growing hardship and the frightening prospect of cuts in food subsidies as the economy slides further into crisis.
With their patience already stretched after years of upheaval, Egyptians - from the capital Cairo to smaller towns like Zagazig - appear to be nearing the point where discontent could explode into a new wave of unrest.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/11/2013 00:00 ||
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Don't like it now? Wait 'till you're exhausted, hungry and broke.
Meet Diego-san, the oversized robot baby that has a semi-realistic, uncanny-valley head on a naked robot skeleton.
With 27 servo motors, patented "Frubber" skin, a head built by Hanson Robotics and a body built by Kokoro Company, Diego-san is helping researchers at the University of California San Diego's Machine Perception Laboratory understand the development both physical and mental of infants.
According to Phys.org, the robot is part of the "Developing Social Robots" project that aims to "make progress on computational problems that elude the most sophisticated computers and artificial intelligence approaches, but that infants solve seamlessly during their first year of life."
That is, can a computer be programmed to learn like a human infant?
"Basically," head of the Machine Perception Lab Dr Javier Movellan told Gizmag, "We are trying to understand the computational problems that a baby's brain faces when learning to move its own body and use it to interact with the physical and social worlds."
He's a pretty big baby, coming in at 1.3 metres tall and tipping the scales at 30 kilograms. Forty four pneumatic joints allow Diego-san to hold itself as a human might.
Dear FBI - My wife has requested that you sent Special Agent Paul Krendler to interview me......
According to IT Pro, phrases like "nobody will find out," "cover up" and "off the books" are among the more than 3,000 words and phrases in new software developed by the accounting firm Ernst & Young with the FBI. In addition to these more obvious phrases, IT Pro reported that the software can identify change in tone, can be targeted to specific employees and also picks upon indications of nervousness, like "call my mobile."
Do you haff ze plans? Wound my heart with a monotonous langor
Fred has a long moustache
Not only can it identify specific words or groups of words in massive volumes of data, by hitting the "merge" command, you can link everyone else who uses the term with a line and graphically depict the entire network of users.
Besides we all know the real terrorists are you 'white crackers' and returning veterans - and the Tea Party of course.
/SARC
As I recall the old 'emacs' text editor used to have a 'spook' command which would insert one of the terms the CIA was supposed to be monitoring emails for...
#11
In the Chiefs secondary nobody will cover up, and that the payroll vs talent return is off the books horrible. I just hope nobody will find out, especially thoz Ray-dahs.
That the Chiefs are going to be horrible for two more years is supposed to be a secret, jeesh!
What about Hot Carl, or is that Secret Service territory?
#12
Mucky is the ultimate encrypter. His messages will give the software migraines.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/11/2013 16:56 Comments ||
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#13
Does the software understand Bavarian, too?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/11/2013 17:23 Comments ||
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#14
How does the software handle strikethroughs?
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/11/2013 18:05 Comments ||
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#15
Does anyone have eyes on all that uranium in Niger and Argentina or is it better for the poor people rot have mining jobs kinda like farmers growing poppy in Afghanistan.
#17
This is an area in which I have some expertise. To answer the questions above:
There are many ways (and many off-the-shelf software packages, and many custom systems) that handle natural language data, including in text form (documents, web pages, tweets, email etc. as opposed to transcribed conversations, which tend to have a different linguistic structure). The state of the art goes well beyond just finding specific words or phrases, but the capabilities of specific systems outside of R&D shops differ greatly. IARPA is already several years into an R&D program on cross-language, cross-culture metaphor identification and interpretation, for instance. NIST has been running text retrieval, topic modeling, content extraction, machine translation etc. challenges / competitions for almost 20 years now. DARPA has a Deep Exploration and Filtering of Text effort that is expected to transition to operational use within DOD within a few years.
l33t sp34k would be fairly easy to deal with. Deleted text is just the regular text surrounded by formatting markers, so no problem there. Tweets / text conventions are already addressed here and there. Many packages handle various languages, including Arabic. Palantir primarily displays and links rather than interpreting the text itself - document information is imported into the tool, but tagging is done manually by analysts before the tool can display and cross-correlate based on those tags.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[An Nahar] Swedish prosecutors have issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of 
[TMZ] It's damn time the Washington Redskins changed its racist name ... at least if the team ever plans to move inside D.C. city limits -- so says District mayor Vincent Gray.
Climate change ranked among the top global risks in the annual World Economic Forum survey of more than 1,000 experts released Tuesday.
