Hi there, !
Today Sat 11/29/2008 Fri 11/28/2008 Thu 11/27/2008 Wed 11/26/2008 Tue 11/25/2008 Mon 11/24/2008 Sun 11/23/2008 Archives
Rantburg
533822 articles and 1862271 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 78 articles and 346 comments as of 6:14.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion    Politix   
80 killed, 900 injured, 100 taken hostage in attacks on Hotels in Mumbai
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
4 00:00 Whiskey Mike [2] 
1 00:00 Lonzo Thomolet8930 [1] 
6 00:00 Silentbrick [1] 
2 00:00 Anonymoose [1] 
4 00:00 bigjim-ky [] 
7 00:00 Canuckistan sniper [] 
3 00:00 SteveS [] 
2 00:00 Bright Pebbles [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [2]
0 []
46 00:00 djh_usmc [11]
4 00:00 g(r)omgoru [3]
3 00:00 Lonzo Thomolet8930 []
9 00:00 GolfBravoUSMC [2]
2 00:00 tu3031 [3]
8 00:00 .5MT []
12 00:00 USN, Ret. []
8 00:00 tipover []
0 [1]
0 []
4 00:00 remoteman []
0 [6]
0 []
0 [4]
4 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 []
8 00:00 remoteman []
Page 2: WoT Background
3 00:00 ed [3]
3 00:00 Alaska Paul [2]
1 00:00 Lonzo Thomolet8930 []
1 00:00 ed [1]
2 00:00 newc []
0 [1]
1 00:00 newc []
2 00:00 Procopius2k []
1 00:00 gorb []
6 00:00 crosspatch [3]
13 00:00 Alaska Paul [4]
3 00:00 g(r)omgoru []
8 00:00 Lonzo Thomolet8930 []
3 00:00 Lonzo Thomolet8930 []
2 00:00 anymouse [1]
13 00:00 SR-71 [1]
0 []
0 []
2 00:00 newc [2]
0 []
Page 3: Non-WoT
2 00:00 ed [1]
3 00:00 Darrell []
3 00:00 bigjim-ky []
4 00:00 SteveS []
4 00:00 GolfBravoUSMC []
12 00:00 crosspatch [3]
0 [4]
1 00:00 g(r)omgoru [5]
0 []
13 00:00 ed []
4 00:00 newc []
1 00:00 Mitch H. []
5 00:00 Redneck Jim []
0 [2]
7 00:00 ed [1]
0 [4]
24 00:00 john frum [1]
Page 4: Opinion
0 [4]
7 00:00 ed [1]
4 00:00 GolfBravoUSMC []
0 [1]
5 00:00 Mitch H. []
2 00:00 Besoeker [2]
1 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain [1]
0 []
8 00:00 Verlaine [6]
22 00:00 Procopius2k []
Page 6: Politix
7 00:00 Nimble Spemble []
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 [9]
6 00:00 Lonzo Thomolet8930 []
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Dubai frees 'sex on the beach' Brits
A Dubai appeals court Tuesday freed two British citizens convicted of having sex on a public beach, sex outside of wedlock and assaulting a police office. The court suspended three month jail terms against Michelle Palmer, 37, and Vince Acors, 34, and the pair will now be deported.
Posted by: Fred || 11/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Which is NOT the same as "Free sex on the beach.."
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/26/2008 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably the right thing to do.

Make sure everyone knows this is unacceptable in that culture.

Scare the shite out of the miscreants.

Boot them out "in leniency", rather than jail them and let them get "sympathy".
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/26/2008 5:17 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Britney Spears feels old and boring
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears says her life is so dull under her father's watchful eye that she feels old and boring.

With her new album "Circus" out next week, the 26-year-old singer is working on a comeback after seeing her life spiral out of control with a run of strange behavior, a bitter custody battle over her two sons and the loss of her rights to administer her own affairs.

"I feel like an old person now," Spears told Rolling Stone in an interview for the music magazine's December 11 issue.

"I do! I go to bed at, like, 9:30 every night and I don't go out or anything, you know what I mean? I just feel like an old fart."

In 2007, the Louisiana native was a near-constant figure on the Hollywood party scene. She shaved her head, then wore a pink wig and spoke with a fake British accent. By early this year, she was hospitalized twice for psychiatric evaluation.

By February, a California court named her father as a conservator of her estate, giving Jamie Spears control over her personal and business affairs. Since then, she seems to have put her life back in order.

"Womanizer," the first single from "Circus," reached the top of Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart in October. The album is set for release on December 2, the singer's 27th birthday, and she plans to tour this spring to promote it.

In excerpts posted online on Tuesday, the story "Britney Returns" -- www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24612561 -- details limitations put on her life by her conservatorship and notes she is watched constantly by guards hired by her father.

The interviewer was restricted from asking Britney about her troubled months.

Instead, she talks about her current life and going on chaperoned dates with men who failed to impress her. She jokingly describes one as "an older version of Harry Potter but skinnier."

Spears also discusses being a mom to her two sons, Sean Preston, 3, and Jayden, 2, whom she sees three days a week.

"To be a really good mom, I feel your child needs to be your full-time job," Spears told the magazine. "I want to raise my kids and share all of those precious moments with them."
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/26/2008 16:20 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why, I can remember when she was young and boring.
Posted by: Lonzo Thomolet8930 || 11/26/2008 18:30 Comments || Top||


YJCMTSU, Perkins Patent Porous Plaster Dept.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/26/2008 09:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  i don't really think an ad for Preparation H would be wise in this, er, placement situation....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/26/2008 16:13 Comments || Top||

#2  "Mr. Perkins from Portland" was a famous American humor short story written in 1900. Mr. Perkins was the ultimate ad man who saw advertising as more important than the product. It was later added to a collection of short stories in the book "Pigs is Pigs", which is a classic in its own right.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/26/2008 16:32 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
California "Slippin n Slidin"
Officials in Southern California issued mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday for residents of a sparsely populated area in the city of Yorba Linda after torrential rain threatened to spark landslides in canyons denuded of vegetation by recent fires.

"We have had no slope failures at this point," said Mark Alders, a public information officer for the city.

He estimated the number of houses under the mandatory evacuation order -- all of them in the city's North Fairmont neighborhood -- at 300 to 400.

Ground crews were evaluating the slopes' safety, he said.

The alerts started after 1.5 inches of rain fell in four hours overnight, he said. Concerns grew Wednesday morning, when a 3.1-magnitude earthquake struck. Though it was not strong enough to be felt, officials felt that it might increase the odds of a landslide, Alders said.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued before dawn for nearby Box Canyon, Brush Canyon and San Antonio, but they were changed to voluntary orders later Wednesday morning, he said.

The structural integrity of the area's canyons was threatened November 15 and 16, when the Triangle Complex Fire, also known as the Freeway Complex Fire, swept through the area. The blaze destroyed 118 houses and damaged many others, but no one was killed.

Don't Miss
Bonfire sparked wildfire, California authorities say
The fire stripped the area's slopes of trees and brush and left behind a layer of ash that could easily be washed away by rain.

But $1 million in mitigation efforts undertaken in the past 11 days appears to have worked, Alders said.

With the heavy rain ended and only light showers forecast, he predicted that the last of the mandatory evacuation orders would be rescinded Wednesday.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/26/2008 20:43 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The alerts started after 1.5 inches of rain fell in four hours overnight

O.M.G! Get Noah on the phone.
Posted by: ed || 11/26/2008 20:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Call Noah? Wellll, better read this before you call him!

I'll tell you an old-fashioned story
That Grandfather used to relate,
Of a joiner and building contractor;
'Is name, it were Sam Oglethwaite.

In a shop on the banks of the Irwell
Old Sam used to follow 'is trade,
In a place you'll have 'eard of, called Bury;
You know, where black puddings is made.

One day, Sam were filling a knot 'ole
Wi' putty, when in thro' the door
Came an old feller fair wreathed i' whiskers;
T'ould chap said 'Good morning. I'm Noah.'

Sam asked Noah what was 'is business,
And t'ould chap went on to remark
That, not liking the look of the weather,
'E were thinking of building an Ark.

'E'd gotten the wood for the bulwarks,
And all t'other shipbuilding junk,
And wanted some nice Bird's Eye Maple
To panel the side of 'is bunk.

Now Maple were Sam's Mon-o-po-ly;
That means it were all 'is to cut,
And nobody else 'adn't got none;
So 'e asked Noah three ha'pence a foot.

'A ha'pence too much,' replied Noah,
'Penny a foot's more the mark;
A penny a foot, and when rain comes
I'll give you a ride in me Ark.

But neither would budge in the bargain;
Whe whole daft thing were kind of a jam,
So Sam put 'is tongue out at Noah,
And Noah made 'Long Bacon' at Sam.

In wrath and ill-feeling they parted,
Not knowing when they'd meet again,
And Sam had forgot all about it,
'Til one day it started to rain.

It rained and it rained for a fortni't,
And flooded the 'old countryside.
It rained and it kep' on raining,
'Til the Irwell was fifty miles wide.

The 'ouses were soon under water,
And folks to the roof 'ad to climb.
They said 'twas the rottenest summer
That Bury 'ad 'ad for some time.

The rain showed no sign of abating,
And water rose hour by hour,
'Til the only dry land were at Blackpool,
And that were on top of the Tower.

So Sam started swimming to Blackpool;
It took 'im best part of a week.
'Is clothes were wet through when 'e got there,
And 'is boots were beginning to leak.

'E stood to 'is watch-chain in water,
On Tower top, just before dark,
When who should come sailing towards 'im
But old Noah, steering 'is Ark.

They stared at each other in silence,
'Til Ark were alongside, all but,
Then Noah said: 'What price yer Maple?'
Sam answered: 'Three ha'pence a foot.'

Noah said 'Nay; I'll make thee an offer,
The same as I did t'other day.
A penny a foot and a free ride.
Now, come on, lad, what does tha' say?'

'Three ha'pence a foot,' came the answer.
So Noah 'is sail 'ad to hoist,
And sailed off again in a dudgeon,
While Sam stood determined, but moist.

Noah cruised around, flying 'is pigeons,
'Til fortieth day of the wet,
And on 'is way back, passing Blackpool,
'E saw old Sam standing there yet.

'Is chin just stuck out of the water;
A comical figure 'e cut.
Noah said: 'Now, what's the price of yer Maple?'
Sam answered: 'Three ha'pence a foot.'

Said Noah: 'Ye'd best take my offer;
It's last time I'll be hereabout;
And if water comes half an inch higher,
I'll happen get Maple for nowt.'

'Three ha'pence a foot it'll cost yer,
And as fer me,' Sam said, 'don't fret.
The sky's took a turn since this morning;
I think it'll brighten up yet.

'Thou art WRONG,' said Noah
'It will rain a lot more, I'll be bound,
Now sell me some of yer maple'
'Bugger off,' said Sam, and then drowned.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/26/2008 21:10 Comments || Top||

#3  we got an inch last night and some more tonight, but no slides, and I drove up by the Cedar fire burn area (SR67/SR78) this afternoon to get some real Mom's Pies in Julian for tomorrow....mmmmmmm

Those who've lived here know what I'm talking about....
Posted by: Frank G || 11/26/2008 21:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Stay safe, Frank, and enjoy the pies.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 11/26/2008 23:25 Comments || Top||


Britain
Muslim convert introduces 'Islamic Yoga' to UK
After searching for a year for a fitness routine compatible with her Islamic faith, Fatima Ismael, a 32-year-old British mother of three discovered Rakha, a new yoga-like workout that incorporates Islamic chants rather than Hindu mantras.

The new Islam-inspired total body fitness routine, designed by a British convert, may be the yoga alternative Muslims are searching for following a fatwa, or religious ruling, by a Malaysian sheikh denouncing yoga as un-Islamic.

Rakha, the Arabic term for prosperity, is gaining popularity among British Muslims eager for healthy lifestyles. A basic routine begins stretches and light cardiovascular exercise, which raises energy and increases awareness. This is followed by a series of steps emulating prayer movements mixed in with tai chi techniques. Yoga breathing and stretching techniques are used throughout the routine to help center the body and relax.

Instead of Hindu mantras, anasheeds or Islam-inspired religious hymns are used to trigger the spiritual state of mind.
Posted by: Fred || 11/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Islamic Yoga = put both ankles behind your head and kiss your ass goodbye
Posted by: Frank G || 11/26/2008 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like the chants are out.
Posted by: tipper || 11/26/2008 13:43 Comments || Top||

#3  The advanced version of Frank's asana involves kissing a thousand years of cultural progress goodbye.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/26/2008 14:27 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: JORDAN, 20% APPROVE TO BE BEATEN
Around 20 percent of Jordanian women approve being beaten by husbands to discipline them, according to a survey conducted by the department of statistics that was published today. The study included nearly 15,000 families and 11,000 women who got married, said the report. Most of the respondents aged between 15 to 49 years old. Luck Steve, representative of UN Agencies which helped conduct the study, said measures must be taken to fight violence against women following surprising results of the survey. "The result of the survey shows we have work to do regarding state of women in the society and how they are being treated," said Steve. The study was conducted during 2007 and made public during a public ceremony held at the department of statistics. Activists have been campaigning to improve conditions of women in this tribal community, but they are faced with resistance from traditional politicians. Queen Rania has been pushing for more rights to women since she was crowned nine years ago, with her efforts resulting in allowing married women to divorce their husbands, a measure that has been an exclusive right for men since decades. Every year between 15 to 20 women are killed in the name of honour, with killers receiving sentences for just a few months behind bars.
Posted by: tipper || 11/26/2008 02:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Do you like being beaten?"

"No."

(Smack!)

"Let's try that answer again."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/26/2008 8:50 Comments || Top||

#2  A little higher than the US.
Posted by: Carbon Monoxide || 11/26/2008 8:52 Comments || Top||

#3  What's wrong with the other 80%? Heretics?
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/26/2008 10:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Give me a couple, I'll make em giddy with delight.
It would be my pleasure.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/26/2008 18:13 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Vintage Project Orion Video
This was a brave project killed in the end by the Test Ban treaty. Conventional explosives in these videos but nukes were the intended fuel
Posted by: 3dc || 11/26/2008 10:53 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ah yes, good old Putt-Putt. I've always liked the NPP idea, though today they wouldn't be using big whopping great nukes.

But the subhumans always whine so nobody has the stones to go ahead and do it. I forget what magazine it was, but it came with a poster of a drawing of an Orion. Always liked that poster. Much more than of the white ape we used to use to chase our sister around with.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 11/26/2008 14:06 Comments || Top||

#2  That would be National Geographics World magazine. :)
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 11/26/2008 15:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Rhys Taylor's terrific Orion launch animation at the Nuclear Space website.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 11/26/2008 15:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Read George Dyson's book on Orion. Not necessarily great big nukes and not weapons as such but nuclear directed energy charges.
Posted by: Aussie Mike || 11/26/2008 16:58 Comments || Top||

#5  And when the Snouts show up we'd have Micheal
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 11/26/2008 17:09 Comments || Top||

#6  1st Generation was whopping big nukes.
2nd Generation was micro nukes fired much faster
3rd Generation (Daedalus Project) was basically a pellet version triggered by deuterium/tritium.
4th Generation is antimatter catalyzed nuclear fuel. (Sub critical masses set off by thumping them with a bit of antimatter.

Sadly, nobody is going much beyond computer models, despite the fact that Nuclear Pulse Propulsion would be the fastest, most effective drive system we can currently produce.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 11/26/2008 18:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Ottawa university boots cystic fibrosis from charity drive
Posted by: tipper || 11/26/2008 02:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I won't even ask about Tay-Sachs.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/26/2008 5:43 Comments || Top||

#2  The ironic part is this factually incorrect "argument" was proposed by someone representing science students. That does not speak well of the caliber of instruction at Carleton.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 11/26/2008 7:49 Comments || Top||

#3  How about Sickle Cell?
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/26/2008 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  So I take it Breast Cancer is off the list too right?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/26/2008 11:08 Comments || Top||

#5  One of the councillors who voted in favour of switching the charity said Monday night that the information provided to the panel prior to the vote was factually incorrect, and he will be seeking support from other members to hold an emergency meeting to reconsider their decision.

I'll translate. "We got caught. But it wasn't our fault."
Harrrumph harrumph harrumph...
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/26/2008 11:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, CrazyFool, men do get breast cancer - killed my neighbor's brother a few years back.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/26/2008 12:16 Comments || Top||

#7  It's not referred to as "Cartoon University" for nothing, you know.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 11/26/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
62[untagged]
3Taliban
2al-Qaeda
2Govt of Iran
2Pirates
1Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1TTP
1Fatah
1Fatah al-Islam
1Govt of Pakistan
1Hamas

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2008-11-26
  80 killed, 900 injured, 100 taken hostage in attacks on Hotels in Mumbai
Tue 2008-11-25
  Somali pirates jack Yemeni ship
Mon 2008-11-24
  Holy Land Foundation members found guilty of supporting terrorism
Sun 2008-11-23
  Iraqi forces bang AQI Mister Big in Diyala
Sat 2008-11-22
  Rashid Rauf dronezapped in Pakistain: officials
Fri 2008-11-21
  US strikes inside Pakistain 'intolerable', says Gilani
Thu 2008-11-20
  U.S. Dronezap Kills 6 Terrs in Pakistain
Wed 2008-11-19
  Indian Navy destroys Somali pirate mothership
Tue 2008-11-18
  B.O. vows to exit Iraq, shut down Gitmo
Mon 2008-11-17
  Pirates take Saudi supertanker off Mombasa
Sun 2008-11-16
  Lankan Army seizes entire west coast from LTTE
Sat 2008-11-15
  Al-Shabaab closes in on Mog
Fri 2008-11-14
  U.S. missiles hit Pak Talibs, 12 dead
Thu 2008-11-13
  Somali pirates open fire on Brit marines. Hilarity ensues.
Wed 2008-11-12
  Philippines ship, 23 crew seized near Somalia


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.
3.137.218.230
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (18)    WoT Background (20)    Non-WoT (17)    Opinion (10)    Politix (5)