#1
Invisible re-weaving? Sounds like some one desperately wants this to be the actual burial shroud of Yeshua. Personally, I think there are a great number of people that want or need to find actual physical evidence that Yeshua, aka Jesus, really lived. The search for the Holy Grail is another. Since Christianity is based on faith that all that is depicted in the New Testament really happened and Jesus was who he said, I doubt very much if there will ever be actual physical evidence of this. He was the leader of a small but growing sect that threatened the status quo of the Jewish leadership. There was no reason for anyone to save either the burial shroud or the grail. If you need physical proof of what Jesus was all about you miss the point of his message and the whole reason for his existance. "If you have faith as the grain of a mustard seed you could move mountains."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/19/2005 19:52 Comments ||
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#2
DB, while I agree with your points, it would be fascinating to learn the true origins of the shroud of turin. Not as confirmation of the truth, mind you.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/19/2005 20:52 Comments ||
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#3
Generic Questions....
Would people be happy if it turned out to be the shroud of Ethel circa 1954? Many, in spite of the wisdom of avoiding it, will have an emotional investment in the outcome of such an investigation. Everyone enjoys (some crave) being told they're "right" - and few gracefully accept it when their notions are not confirmed.
I think there's great wisdom in DB's attitude - and I share CA's curiosity. I have no dog in the fight, so I see both in the positive. Should be fascinating, regardless.
#4
I've always guessed it was a prop from one of the old passion plays. Wrap it around the star of the show during the performance and you'll get body oils in the fabric (and maybe a little blood, depending on how realistic they were) which'd oxidize over time and might serve to leave the traces people discovered. Not genuine, but not an intentional fake either. Be interesting to know the chemical composition of the marked areas relative to the rest.
Posted by: James ||
01/19/2005 22:42 Comments ||
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Wait'll Fox hears about this.
A new reality TV show has been launched in Germany to find the man with the fastest sperm. The sperm will be attracted to the finishing line by a chemical lure identical to that emitted by the female egg in the womb. Good luck, TGA! We're all rooting for you!
The aim is to find Germany's most virile man in a new reality show being dubbed Sperm Race. We can come (sorry) up with better titles then that lame thing.
Twelve men, including two celebrities and a 'health freak', will take part in the show set to be aired later this year. The show will follow the contestants as they make donations at a sperm bank. The frozen sperm will then be transported to the studio in Cologne. Borris Brandt, 43, head of production company Endemol in Germany, rejected protests that the show was unethical, saying no human eggs would be fertilised. "The main prize in the competition is a Porsche, not a baby. It's actually a very scientific programme and the topic of fertility is massive in Germany at the moment," he said. ananova Two celebrities? But look! You can win a Porsche!
Posted by: tu3031 ||
01/19/2005 8:50:15 AM ||
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#1
You can bet there will be plenty of folks ready to prostate about all this.
We can come (sorry) up with better titles then that lame thing.
Hmm. Spunkathon. Sack Race. The All New In Vitro Tubes Test. The Ball Cannon RunHope and Spray...
#8
DB - Check out Baker Media - I like the Hilarious... category. I donate some images there, but download tons. Funniest thing, though, is I'd be a better contributor if they'd let me - they reject about 90% of my submitted offerings as being too, uh, "racy", heh. Can you imagine that shit? Lol!
#11
I haven't heard of this proposed show. I asked the wife and she hasn't either. Then again Endemol is the same company that came up with "Big Brother" so anything is possible
A Saudi medical team removed a toothbrush from the stomach of a man who had swallowed it 22 years ago, the official SPA news agency reported yesterday. The toothbrush caused the 70-year-old patient no ill effects until a few days before he was operated on, said Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Zahrani, the head of the team at King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital in the western town of Taif. The operation was successful, Zahrani added.
A second, simpler operation is scheduled to remove the floss from his small intestine.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
oh my gosh...if I go to OSR reading of rantburg...I will miss graphics like this one.
#9
So.... how much of a bandwidth spike are we talking about if we post a picture to Rantburg? I'm at the bottom of a 256K dyn DNS DSL; will my provider cancel me, or will the Rantburgers come after me out of frustration that my pic loads so slow?
Moscow plans to erect a new statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, returning his once-ubiquitous image to its streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said Wednesday. Since President Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000, a number of Soviet symbols -- including the national anthem and an army flag -- have been restored to use, reflecting widespread nostalgia for Russia's communist years.
"Ah, Yuri, remember when we used to lay awake at night waiting for the knock on the door, expecting to be hauled off to the Gulag? Those were the good old days!"
But rehabilitation of Stalin, who was denounced after his death in 1953 by the Soviet leadership for encouraging a cult of personality and killing millions of real and imagined opponents, has previously been out of bounds. Statues of Stalin were removed from Moscow's public spaces in the 1960s. "A monument will be erected to those who took part in (leading the war against Adolf Hitler), including Stalin," Oleg Tolkachev, Moscow's senator in the upper house of parliament, told Ekho Moskvy radio. Interfax news agency reported earlier that a Stalin monument would also be built in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border to mark the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany 60 years ago -- seen as the country's greatest military triumph.
That'll make the Ukranians sleep well at night
In another sign of Stalin's growing appeal, state television channels have shown a number of prime-time television shows in recent months depicting him in a positive light.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/19/2005 1:06:55 PM ||
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#1
"In Russia the statue erects you!"
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/19/2005 13:28 Comments ||
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#2
An old German saying: "RuÃland bleibt RuÃland", "Russia remains Russia".
#3
When Putin did nothing except centralize State control after Beslan, I worried about Russia retrograding. When they came up with this harebrained idea of resurrecting the most murderous dictator of the 20th century (one of the top two at least), I despaired for Russia.
They have a lot of issues, and they are not starting to work on them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2005 15:04 Comments ||
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#4
That they see their country's greatest military triumph in a grinding campaign on their own soil, which cost the lives of millions of their own people, and gave Russia temporary dominion over a variety of hostile nations which drained them of manpower and treasure for a generation, leaving them with the broken remnants of empire... not much comfort there!
Moscow plans to erect a new statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, returning his once-ubiquitous image to its streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said Wednesday. Since President Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000, a number of Soviet symbols -- including the national anthem and an army flag -- have been restored to use, reflecting widespread nostalgia for Russia's communist years. Interfax news agency reported earlier that a Stalin monument would also be built in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border to mark the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany 60 years ago -- seen as the country's greatest military triumph. In another sign of Stalin's growing appeal, state television channels have shown a number of prime-time television shows in recent months depicting him in a positive light.
#4
Nothing new here....there's always been a big fan club for that old psycho in Mother Russia. It gets bigger any time the political situation is unstable. I remember seeing a huge medallion with Stalin's face on it for sale in Leningrad in the summer of 1989.
The Russians, sadly, have always been willing to sacrifice freedom for someone who promises security....which is why they have had precious little of either one.
MOSCOW: Russia's Communist Party mounted a campaign Tuesday to oust the government in a direct challenge to President Vladimir Putin following weeks of nationwide protests sparked by drastic cuts in social welfare benefits. The State Duma lower house of parliament's left wing said it would collect the 90 signatures required in the 450-seat chamber to hold a confidence vote on the year-old government of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. The challenge is unlikely to succeed because the chamber is dominated by the pro-Putin United Russia party that voted for the drastic cut in Soviet-era social benefits which sparked the largest protests of Putin's five-year rule. "I see no reason for the government to resign," said Duma speaker and United Russia chief Boris Gryzlov. "They are just playing politics," agreed his deputy Oleg Morozov.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Progrom against the communists staritn in 3...2...1...
WOMEN, rejoice! One of the last bastions of gender inequality is about to be banished and with it the long, long line for the ladies' loos.
And while it might not be every gal's cup of tea, the organisers of this year's Big Day Out concert in Melbourne reckon the girls-only urinal will get a standing ovation.
The Shee Pee, as its affectionately known in Europe, will make its Australian debut at this year's Melbourne event in a bid to cut loo queues and offer women a more hygienic option to conventional toilets.
And while organisers agree it might take some a little practice, they believe women will quickly adapt to the idea of peeing while standing.
"After the huge success of the female-only urinals at the Glastonbury music festival in Britain last year, we thought it was definitely a service that women at the Big Day Out in Melbourne would really appreciate," Big Day Out promoter Vivian Lees said.
TSUNAMI-struck Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry. While millions of Europeans are sending aid to Thailand to help its recovery, trade authorities in Brussels are demanding that Thai Airlines, its national carrier, pays £1.3 billion to buy its double-decker aircraft. The demand will come as a deep embarrassment to Peter Mandelson, the trade commissioner, whose officials started the negotiation before the disaster struck Thailand - killing tens of thousands of people and damaging its economy. While aid workers from across Europe are helping to rebuild Thai livelihoods, trade officials in Brussels are concluding a jets-for-prawns deal, which they had hoped to announce next month. As the world's largest producer of prawns, Thailand has become so efficient that its wares are half the price of those caught by Norway, the main producer of prawns for the EU. To ensure the Thais cannot compete, EU officials five years ago removed its shrimp industry from the EU's generalised system of preferential tariffs - designed to share Western wealth with developing countries by trade.
Well, we can't have them developing too much now, can we?
The EU has instead slapped a tariff of 12 per cent on its fish - three times that imposed on prawns from Malaysia, its neighbour. This is still less than the US tariff on Thai prawns: 97 per cent. The prawn tax is one in a series of protectionist measures expected to cost east Asia some £130 million each year - money being taken from its economies while EU citizens donate millions in charity. Five days after the tsunami struck, the EU legislated against Thailand by slapping a new tariff designed to extinguish its booming trade in cumarin, a plant extract used in perfume. On 31 December, the EU imposed duties of â¬3,480 (£2,430) a tonne for Thai exports of cumarin - a move entirely designed to protect Rhodia, a French chemicals firm and the EU's only producer of cumarin. Oxfam has attacked the tariffs, saying: "When countries are lying prostrate before us, it is criminal to continue to tax them on what they sell." Sri Lanka has already pleaded to be exempt from EU and US textiles tariffs as it tries to recover.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/19/2005 2:08:08 PM ||
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#1
Am I the only one who suspects that the buy-Airbus-or-else extorsion deal was the original plan all along?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/19/2005 14:31 Comments ||
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#2
The EU -- organized crime without the machine guns.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/19/2005 14:34 Comments ||
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#3
Buy our planes! You can use 'em for... paperweights or doostops!
To be fair, I saw a story that said the US is not suspending its shrimp tariff either...
#5
Except I think our tariff is actually a tarrif.
If the Europeans aren't doing what I suggested, then they're offering to screw over their shrimping industry in order to help Airbus a little.
It's interesting, either way.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/19/2005 14:41 Comments ||
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#6
This reminds me: The Royal Thai Navy has an operational aircraft carrier, albeit a very small one, which is more than can be said for any of the Continental EU powers.
#7
TSUNAMI-struck Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry.
Now that is some real sennnnnnnnnnnnnsitivity for you. I would hope that the US strengthen its ties (no pun intended) with Thailand, and the rest of Asia to make a real market. This type of extortion REALLY sucks. Tying shrimp to Airbuses is a lousy way to do business.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2005 15:13 Comments ||
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#8
The Thais are not to be screwed with lightly. I recall a conversation from some 15 years ago when they were letting the contracts for a large petrochemical refinery down south on the peninsula. I was in the Hog's Breath Saloon in Nana Plaza (Bangkok) and the guy I was talking to (a VP for the primary contractor) laughed when I asked him how various firms were doing in the bidding on subcontracts. He pointed out that TotalFina, for example, had been invited to participate in the bidding for one reason: they had screwed over several Thai companies and even the Thai Oil Ministry a few years before. When I said I didn't understand, he laughed and said they would be "buying lunch". Further inquiry revealed that they would be expected to grease palms, throw lavish parties, fly some Officials and their spouses to Europe for some subsidized shopping, and a raft of other bribery schemes and, in the end, would be told in a style that is uniquely Thai: "Now the slate is clean. Please fuck off."
It was Chili Movie Sunday, for those who recall such minutia.
#9
"The Thais are not to be screwed with lightly."
From what I saw of them in the military back in '70-'73, they are not to be screwed with, AT ALL. Ever. They can be truly nasty.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/19/2005 15:39 Comments ||
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#10
Lol, Dave - too true. The average Thai kids grow up in some, uh, tough neighborhoods, heh. Seems they are all prett good at muaythai by the time they hit their teens... and have seen (participated in) some hardcore shit, heh. I used to have a book for Westerners who want to do business in Thailand, I think it was titled "The ABC's of Doing Business in Thailand". A was for assassination. Think silvered aviator sunglasses, wearing a helmt, and packing a MAC-9 on the back of a motorcycle, heh. They're always sitting ducks in the traffic jams...
#11
I am inclined to believe everything bad about the Euros but I would take this particular one with a grain of salt: journal tells about EU taxing Thai prawns in order to favour Norway but Norway isn't part of the EU. Think anti-euro journalist vecame over-zealous.
#12
Correct me if I'm wrong, RB'ers, but I believe that Thailand was the one Southeast Asian country never colonized, and always independent. I recall one Thai lady who was quite proud of that. She was half my size and sweet as could be, but I wasn't gonna cross her if she got pissed off.....
Gee. Golly. Shucks. Whoever expected something like that?
International S.O.R.E.L.O.S.E.R. is on the scene. They have 16-feet tall paper mache puppets...
I'm hoping the puppets will freeze their, um, handles off.
While Republicans and most other sane Americans will be celebrating the inauguration of their president's second term of office in Washington, simple-minded rustics activist groups
Oh, no Steve. "they" are the suave, nuanced, urban sophisticates. "We" are the simple rustic sheeple who consistently vote against what's good for us...
plan to counter his inauguration on Thursday by making faces and rude noises demonstrating against President Bush's economic agenda, the legitimacy of his election and the war in Iraq. Despite this week's record cold, Inauguration Week will feature rallies, marches and demonstrations with the focus on peaceful, family-friendly gatherings, said Shahid Buttwipe Buttar, a protest organizer.
Hundreds of fools, rubes and tools groups throughout the country will participate, Buttar said, including Mobilization for Global Justice and the Committee to ReDefeat the President, a public affairs committee that sees Bush's presidency as illegitimately won. But the anti-war activists said Friday that the Bush administration is attempting to "privatize Pennsylvania Avenue" by reserving the inaugural parade route for political contributors and keeping protesters off "America's Main Street." The privately funded Presidential Inaugural Committee is raising about $40 million to pay for the parade, inaugural balls and other events, and it plans to erect bleachers for some paying supporters along the route.
The organizers say thousands of demonstrators from around the nation will show up early on inauguration day anyway and claim the sidewalks to show the passing President Bush and a watching world that they object to "an unprovoked war of aggression" in Iraq. "It is lawful to come to the parade," declared Mara Veheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer for the Partnership for Civil Justice, one of the protest groups. "Everyone has a right to be there."
"Democracy is not by invitation only," said Katherine Stecher, campaign coordinator for the Nicaragua Network, another of the dissident groups. The anti-war "counter-inaugural" is being organized by the ANSWER Coalition. ANSWER stands for "Assinine Nincompoops Swilling Wickedly Egregious Ratpoop" "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism." Brian Becker, the national coordinator, told journalists at a recent briefing at the National Press Club, that the coalition of liberal groups was formed shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in anticipation of the Bush administration using this terrorism as an excuse "to protect the country in spite of some of its citizens" "to carry out a previously planned, aggressive, right-wing, militaristic foreign policy."
My guess is, they haven't "moved on".
The organizers said they had asked the National Park Service for permits for protest space along the parade route, and said their requests had been denied in order to accommodate the Presidential Inaugural Committee. ANSWER and attorneys from the Partnership for Civil Justice and the National Lawyers Guild filed a lawsuit on Jan.14 saying the US government was engaged in political screening to grant exclusive access to financial and political supporters of the administration and curtail freedom of speech and assembly along Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day.
Well yeah. Come back next week, it's all yours. Clean up after yourselves.
Protesters say the lawsuit reveals internal documents from the 2001 Bush/Cheney Presidential Inaugural Committee. Four years ago, thousands of protesters massed along the inaugural parade route to show their anger over the contested election in which President Bush gained his first term. Bearing signs such as "Hail to the Thief" and "Supreme Injustice," they crowded the subways, got into sidewalk debates with inaugural guests and gave the historic day what some called "a real sense of idiots in motion democracy in action."
This year, as George W. Bush is sworn in for a second term, the atmosphere promises to be calmer. Many of the mainstream liberal and antiwar groups have opted not to attend, saying the security planned for the first inauguration since the Sept. 11 attacks will make protesting difficult. "We felt our focus has been and should continue to be this war," said Tom Andrews, national director of Win Without War, an antiwar coalition of MoveOn.org.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#5
I really do hope that it's 30 degrees outside and the rubes 'force' the police to use water hoses. Hell if it were me I would use hoses on them at the beginning of the parade.
#7
Well, it has just started snowing rather heavily in DC - watching it on FoxNews... The forecast for tomorrow is a high of 36F and 55% chance of precipitation after an overnight low of 24F - so sleet / snow are on...
#11
.com, well, look at it this way.....it's the first time in a long time Ol' JF'nK showed up for work in a long time. Wish my job had personal leave like that.....I need a federal government job. State & local ain't that kind!
Besides, you gotta love a group called "The Committee to ReDefeat the President". I mean, the dorks don't realize that their favorite cowboy CAN'T run for a third term? I mean, DUH...I'm blonde and I knew that!
#14
Korora, they don't need a reason to protest or bitch. They are sore losers and can't come to grips with reality. I only wish I could be part of the security detail on these clowns. The first one that looked at me crosseyed would get a crack on the noggin. Yes I am seething because they represent EVERYTHING that is not American. I didn't vote for Billy Jeff (nor did 57% of the country) but I didn't seethe about his Presidency. These people are the ones wanting to divide the nation, not the President and they don't represent even 1% of the population, yet they will get plenty of air time. They want to call Republican 'facists', ok show them what 'facists' do to protestors and maybe they will rethink their opinion. Still looking for an Anti-Bush Rally in California to break into.
#15
I plan on hanging out with my counterpart, the senior senator from Massachusetts, getting blind, stinkin drunk and hitting on every hooker I see with "Do you know who I am?" Ted says it usually works for him.
#16
I plan on hanging out with my counterpart, the senior senator from Massachusetts, getting blind, stinkin drunk and hitting on every hooker I see with "Do you know who I am?" Ted says it usually works for him.
JF'nK: just be careful you don't ask "do you know what I am" by mistake. You might not like the answer
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2005 13:16 Comments ||
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#17
In defence of blondes - that picture looks like a rough and ready Photoshop job.
#19
You know, flamethrowers are legal in my state. I wonder if that can be counted as a concealed weapon? I mean, I wouldn't want to walk unarmed amongst the little terrorists wanna be's at such a protest.
#20
JQC - :) I wish - fully 90+% are other people's work that I've snarfed up. And now, with my new 'puter, I've got plenty of storage space for it, lol!
#21
Bulldog, yea, it is photoshoped, the letter shapes should follow the path of the edges. I wonder what other inane thing was on the board originally. BTW, I am blonde, so I naturally enjoy blonde jokes. :-)
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., urged Europe to "get over" the fact President Bush was re-elected and work with the United States on common problems. Too bad he didn't tell his own party the same...
"I spent a little time in Europe recently, and I have one simple message: Get over it. Get over it. President Bush is our president for the next four years, so get over it and start to act in your interest, Europe," Biden said during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to confirm U.S. Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice. "But that requires us to engage in the hoped-for diplomacy from the gentle lady from Stanford." Rice was provost of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., before Bush tapped her to become national security adviser in 2000. Rice has vowed to work with Europe and other U.S. allies on issues, including Iraq. Trans-Atlantic relations were hurt following the U.S.-led decision to ignore Chirac invade Iraq.
#1
I am all for open, honest, and productive bilateral relations. But these relations must be based on mutual trust and interests. We can work together if we establish a good basis for working. However, France has shown that it will work with our enemies against us, so the government should be considered an enemy, as far as diplomacy goes, until they get their act together, the first step of which is to dump Chiraq.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2005 18:56 Comments ||
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#2
If even Biden is getting pithy with the Euros, they must really be obnoxious. They should never have put so many emotional chips on Kerry. What fools.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/19/2005 19:09 Comments ||
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#3
Biden has nothing to lose. He won't be a presidential candidate, and it's unlikely he'll ever be sec'y of state, either. A free man, capable of speaking the truth.
This is schizophrenic. It's sad that there is any need, what so ever, to treat this event as anything other than a celebration of democracy. It is funny that it is being treated as a military operation to combat the Dark Forces - until one realizes that the fascist / socialist / communist / onanist forces (aka The Dark Force) have so much more practice at this than normal non-professionally-insane people.
EFL. The BBC ran it, so who knew it would turn out like this?
A majority of people surveyed in a global poll think the re-election of George Bush has made the world more dangerous and many view Americans negatively as well, the BBC said Wednesday. America: Nation of evil, fanatic, cowboy maniacs or semi-retarded monkeyboys? Or both? The BBC wants you to make the call world.
The survey by the British broadcaster showed that only three countries -- India, the Philippines and Poland -- out of 21 polled thought the world was safer following Bush's election win in November. Bush will be inaugurated for his second term Thursday. In yours, world.
On average across all countries, 58 percent of the 22,000 surveyed said they believed Bush's re-election made the world more dangerous. "This is quite a grim picture for the U.S.," said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at America's University of Maryland. Oooooooh... grim. The Thought Police will be by to visit with you, Perfesser.
The survey found that 56 percent of Americans thought Bush's win was good for the world with 39 percent disagreeing. That'd be a blowout if it were election results.
Traditional U.S. allies in western Europe, such as Britain (64 percent), France (75 percent), and Germany (77 percent), were among the most negative about Bush's re-election. A majority in Italy (54 percent) and Australia (61 percent), which both have troops in Iraq (news - web sites), also thought his win had made the world more dangerous. Anti-Bush sentiment was strongest in Turkey, with 82 percent thinking his win was bad for peace compared to just 6 percent in support. A large majority in Latin American countries, including 58 percent in close neighbor Mexico, were also negative. Then don't come up here looking for work, amigos.
Analysts said the poll had far-reaching implications, suggesting a serious rise in anti-U.S. feeling in general, with 42 percent saying it had made them feel worse about Americans compared to 25 percent who made it think more of them. Any names on your analysts? Just wondering.
"Our research makes very clear that the re-election of President Bush has further isolated America from the world." Except when there's a tsunami or something. Then we're the first people they want to show up.
The survey found that 47 percent of those questioned now see U.S. influence in the world as largely negative. "Those saying the U.S. itself is having a clearly negative influence in the world still do not constitute a definitive world-wide majority, suggesting there may be some underlying openness to repairing relations with the U.S.," he said. Gee, thanks. Let us know how much it's gonna cost us first though, okay?
#1
Hmmm... I just ran a survey and found that I don't care what they think.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/19/2005 14:57 Comments ||
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#2
The question here is how the poll was conducted. With a sample size averaging 200 per country, are the country numbers statistically significant? Did the BBC poll people until it got the result it wanted or was the poll a random sample? I think journalists, who are some of the stupidest and most ignorant people around, don't seem to understand that non-journalists have figured out that they are no longer simply reporting the news.
#7
Ok...here's my poll....I think Chirac is an idiot, Schroeder needs to learn how to make a marriage work, and Mexico needs to get it's average education level up to the third grade. Oh, and Turkey can go to hell. (Yeah, I know, it already has.....)
#8
"You know, I'm starting to take unseemly pride that Bush's re-election is causing so much wailing and moaning."
Flip that coin over onto the other side and imagine how shitty you'd feel if Kerry had won, and we now had to listen to the EUnuchs' smarmy bullshit about what a "wise" choice we'd made.
[*SHUDDER*]
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/19/2005 17:25 Comments ||
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#9
Dave D. If Skerry had won it would be the same BS. The Anti-US non stop hate mongering of the all the worlds Press is astounding. Most of it is pure crap too. I has to do with the fact that most other countries need a wookie to look at because their own domestic situation is a total POS. The US makes a good distraction since we are so unlike anyplace else.
#10
Global Poll Shows Negative Reaction to Bush Win
Tibor's Internal Poll Shows Negative Reaction to Rest of Globe (Australia, Britain, Poland and a few others excluded).
Posted by: Tibor ||
01/19/2005 18:28 Comments ||
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#11
Being right is more important than being loved. Why lower our sights to the levels of France, Germany, etc.?
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/19/2005 19:23 Comments ||
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#12
How many different ways do we need to say it before "the world" (read: BBC) realizes that WE DON'T GIVE A GOOD RAT'S ASS WHAT YOU THINK!
Get a life. Or better yet, dump socialism worldwide and get a future.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/19/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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#13
I've taken my own little poll. M-1 Garand says, "Didn't I already shoot half those people?" Damn heavy competition AR-15 says, "You need to practice more. I like Blue Helmets." Mr. .45 was quiet and refused to answer. And Plinky the .22 just kept repeating "Kneecaps! Kneecaps!"
Frankly, I have no idea what their poll answers mean, but then, being a red-stater Imperialist Warmonger, I'm sure that their answers are more important to me than what a bunch of kooks from Eurostan say.
Pictures and everything...
BANGKOK (AFP) - Having taught Thailand's elephants to paint, dance and play musical instruments, their Thai handlers are now toilet-training the beasts, media reported. Handlers -- known as mahouts -- have installed giant human-style toilets at a camp in the northern city of Chiang Mai to try to rid the tourist attraction of unsightly droppings, according to the Nation newspaper. Giant toilets for Giant... droppings.
Some seven elephants at the privately run camp beside Chiang Mai Zoo are being trained to sit like a human on the giant white toilets, which can be flushed by pulling on a rope with a gentle tug of the trunk, said the daily. And they flush too. I'm just...speechless...
It showed a picture of a five-year-old elephant named Diew testing out one of the oversized concrete toilets, which has been fitted with equally jumbo-sized plumbing. The elephants were reportedly rescued from the streets of Bangkok where people were using them to collect money from tourists. Wonder if they leave the seat up?
#1
Elephant sewage system should end on Chirac's dinner table.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/19/2005 21:35 Comments ||
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#2
When my dad was in high school in Sacramento, the coach got them jobs at the California State Fair. Dad's job was shovelling elephant dung. He said that they can generate A LOT of product. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2005 21:47 Comments ||
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#3
Finally, a toilet I can be proud of.
Posted by: Al Bundy ||
01/19/2005 22:42 Comments ||
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From the Rantburg Diplomacy Desk:
The head of US armed forces in the Pacific region today visited Thailand with a message of thanks for the Thai government in allowing the US to use the Utapao airbase in the country's eastern province of Chonburi for regional tsunami relief efforts, while praising Thailand for its rapid response in helping survivors of last month's disaster. Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, Commander of the US Pacific Command, made his comments during talks with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In a meeting marked by each side praising and thanking the other, Mr. Thaksin expressed gratitude to Washington for the way it had provided immediate support for the Thai and regional relief efforts. He also reiterated that Thailand has no need of US financial support, but needs technical help to assist the survivors and draw up a national emergency management plan.
"Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister!"
"No, thank you, Admiral!"
Adm. Fargo, meanwhile, praised Thailand for the way in which it had searched for victims and helped those who survived the 26 December's disaster, noting that the government's response had been effective and rapid. He also thanked the government for allowing the US to use the Utapoa airbase as a centre from which to coordinate relief efforts in the region as a whole. Pledging Washington's backing for a tsunami warning system, he noted that the US was experienced in disaster management, and already had a tsunami warning system operating in Hawaii. At the same time, he promised close cooperation on training rescue workers in preparation for possible future disasters.
Hey, everybody! I'm back! ME!! Mike Newdow!!! It's ME again!
Chief Justice William Rehnquist rejected Wednesday an emergency request from a California atheist who sought to stop the recital of prayers at President Bush's inauguration.
A federal judge and a U.S. appeals court earlier ruled against atheist Michael Newdow. He is best known for trying unsuccessfully to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance that millions of U.S. schoolchildren recite every day. Actually, he's becoming best known as the biggest egomaniacal asshole in America.
Newdow, a doctor-lawyer who is acting as his own attorney in the case, argued that clergy-led prayers at the inauguration Thursday would violate his constitutional rights. "As an atheist, he cannot in good conscience attend an exercise where his government forces him to endure religious dogma he finds highly disagreeable," Newdow wrote in his motion filed with the Supreme Court. "Newdow's rights of religious freedom should be protected." Talking about himself in the third person. That's always a such a loveable quality in a person.
Newdow, who lives in Sacramento, California, said he would drop his plans to attend the inauguration if forced to confront the prayers by two Christian ministers. OH, NO!!! NOT THAT!!!
Newdow also had suggested that Rehnquist, who plans to administer the oath of office to Bush at the inauguration, remove himself from considering his request. He said Rehnquist took part in the 2001 inauguration when prayers were included. In seeking Rehnquist's recusal, Newdow said the chief justice would feel "awkward" at the ceremony if he rules in Newdow's favor. "George, can you have this guy taken for a ride in the Ghost Jet?"
"I'll see what I can do, Bill."
Although Rehnquist denied Newdow's request for an injunction, he still could ask another Supreme Court justice to stop the prayers. Oh, I will! I'll show YOU!!! I'll show ALL of YOU!!!
#2
Soft foods -- or Bubba. His choice. Or he could STFU and quit trying to foment an utterly unecessary war. The self-aggrandizing little prick sure as hell doesn't speak for me - or anyone I know.
January 19, 2005: On January 13 Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, pled guilty to helping plot and finance a coup in Equatorial Guinea. Thatcher was fined $500,000, in lieu of a jail term. Thatcher was arrested in South Africa August 2004. Prosecutors said the Thatcher and his group intended to topple Equatorial Guinea's long-time dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema. In March 2004 Equatorial Guinea arrested 15 allegeded mercenaries inside the country and claimed the 15 were "an advance group." 60 more men allegedly connected to the conspiracy (a follow-on force?) were arrested in the Zimbabwe. Equatorial Guinea is one of the bleakest spots in sub-Saharan Africa. The government is corrupt and cruel. The dictator has been accused of cannibalism (no kidding). The country now has large oil reserves --which means more money for the elites. This is a round about way of saying Equatorial Guinea needs a change in government. However, it is unclear who was behind the coup that Thatcher helped finance. No doubt this is a huge embarrassment for his family and particular his mother. There is also this sidelight: Equatorial Guinea has fascinated mercenaries and adventurers for years. The miserable, fictional West African country of Zamboanga in Frederick Forsythe's novel THE DOGS OF WAR --where a small band of mercs topples a corrupt dictator-- is based on Equatorial Guinea. In Forsythe's book, however, the mercs pull it off. (Austin Bay)
Equatorial Guinea was a poor, and thinly populated (600,000 people), tropical dictatorship, when oil was discovered in the 1990s. By 1997, $100 million a year in oil revenue was coming in, which doubled the nations GDP. Oil revenue has since expanded five time, and most people are as poor as ever. Only a few percent of the population benefits from the oil income. President (for life, and since 1979 when he deposed his uncle) Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo rules by offering potential opponents the carrot (money) or the stick (jail or death.) There are only about 1,200 people in the armed forces, and another thousand police and security agents. All well taken care of. Generous payments are made for information about any threats to the government, and several attempted coups have been short circuited by these arrangements.
Did somebody say "Coup"?
CONAKRY (Reuters) - Soldiers in Guinea ramped up security in the capital Conakry on Wednesday after unconfirmed reports of an attempt to oust ailing President Lansana Conte, witnesses and diplomats said. "We have been told that around 11 o'clock (1100 GMT) this morning men in military uniform tried to attack Conte," said a senior Western diplomat in the capital, Conakry. Conte, a diabetic chain-smoker who is rarely seen in public, has ruled the former French colony since seizing power in a 1984 coup but there have been growing concerns about his health. A second diplomatic source said gunshots had been heard in a Conakry neighborhood as Conte's convoy passed through earlier in the day. "President Conte was not hit," he said.
Guinea, which holds a third of the world's known bauxite reserves, the raw material used to make aluminum, has long been seen as a bulwark against instability in neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia, and more recently Ivory Coast. However analysts say there is no obvious successor to Conte and they fear his death may spark a violent scramble for power in the West African country. Guinea has been shaken by riots in several towns in recent months over price rises for items such as rice and electricity.
Witnesses said members of the presidential guard, known as the Red Berets, were stopping cars around Conte's palace and had told residents and workers in a nearby hospital to leave the immediate area. "The presidential guard are searching cars and given that they are Conte loyalists, it would seem that they have put down any attempt," the Western diplomat said. The second source said soldiers were also rounding up people in other parts of the coastal capital. A change in the constitution in 2001 allowed Conte to run for a third term in 2003. He won a landslide victory after the opposition boycotted the poll saying it would not be fair. Conte, who says he was born around 1934 and has been treated abroad for illness in the past two years, voted in the December poll by handing his ballot from his Toyota Land Cruiser.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/19/2005 1:18:09 PM ||
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Prosecutors said the Thatcher and his group intended to topple Equatorial Guinea's long-time dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Seems like I got an e-mail from his wife (the queen) recently wanting to give me millions! Who knew Thatcher was behind it all? (/sarcasm off/)
Posted by: BA ||
01/19/2005 14:31 Comments ||
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#2
After reading the article I wonder why anyone would use his books? He isn't qualified to write about history. He is a freeking english lit professor. I guess being laughed at by your more serious peers isn't a problem for some LLLs. This guy more than qualifies.
#4
The English Department is the great flaming joke of any university in the US today.
It would be nice to see literature studies in general cut by some 60-80% from most universities and the savings applied to means-based scholarships for undergrads. The academic cost would be minimal, insofar as most of the research put out by lit profs today is sheer silliness of no use to anyone. THe only lit courses that are really necessary for undergrads are Great Books survey courses taught by the very best and most experienced instructors in the university.
#5
My annoyance with this toad is that, by his endorsement, he condemns a real issue, that is, prison abuse in the US. Living in Maricopa County, AZ, home of the psychotic sadist Sheriff Joe Arpaio, I can attest to both his willingness to openly abuse his prisoners *and* to his great public popularity. The public *likes* prisoners to be abused. And by abuse, I don't mean his well publicized use of pink underwear and chain gangs. I mean things like forcing people to live outdoors in tents in 115 degree heat, feeding them *only* coarse and often spoiled bologna and trail mix, which often causes mass food poisonings, and then, just under the amount they need to live so that they are constantly hungry, though it would take them a year or two to starve to death. Denial of medical services, even inexpensive support medicines for chronic diseases (which resulted in an inmate needing four horrifically major operations (split from crotch to throat) and a $300K lawsuit, for want of a 25 cent a day pill). Forcing prisoners to bury the indigent dead and perform their last rites (the local reverends and priests boycotting such services). He even wanted to force his inmates to kill shelter animals with injection needles, a task so horrible that no one can be paid to work that job for even $25/hr. He even interfered with an FBI investigation into the murder of prisoners by his guards, destroying evidence and intimidating witnesses. So, to his credit we can proudly say that he beat the FBI.
He is the most popular elected official in Arizona.
#6
It's a good point, Anonymoose. Just like the "torture" of the Abhu Gharib and and political hacks human rights groups wasting breath over the "torture" at Guantanmo. It deflects from meaningful discussion and makes people just scoff when you say "torture" or "prison abuse".
I have taught at a major research university for 25 years. It is certainly the case that almost all faculties in almost all universities are astonishingly liberal. But it is also the case that most surveys indicate that young adults today are remarkably more conservative in their views than their baby boomer parents. I believe there is a cause and effect relationship here. Students go to college, get direct ongoing exposure to loonies like this guy, and pretty soon figure out that the whole liberal schtick is bogus claptrap.
#8
RA - Lol - thanks for confirming our kids aren't dupes, heh. Definitely a good thing, since so many of my (our) peers are insane, lol! You might enjoy conversing with AC (Atomic Conspiracy) - a regular RB poster / commenter and also a Professor (patiently?) enduring the loonies of the academic world. ;-)
#9
You made my point for me, Professor. As the left becomes increasingly incoherent, its good for the students to be exposed to what it used to be. Then downsize the English departments.
#10
Large universities faculties tend to look like the UN in makeup. Universities faculties, more and more, are made up of foreign nationals who have become citizens--not all of which have allegiance or are friendly to the U.S. Conservative students tend to cloister in business and engineering.
#11
When I went to UMASS in the mid '70's, the entire Economics Department was all self professed Marxists. The business majors were all thrilled when they found that out.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2005 13:41 Comments ||
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#14
Don't know, Raj. I figured by now they'd taken their bloated state pensions and retired and became overpaid consultants at Hampshire College down the road. Hampshire makes UMASS look like West Point.
#17
Typical lefty, refuses to walk his talk. Why didn't he move to Cuba?
Posted by: Chinese Unomoger1553 ||
01/19/2005 15:48 Comments ||
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#18
Tu: yeah, you don't get grades, you get "evaluations" (which is a feature I actually like). As for the nude senior class picture, I shall have to make inquiries.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/19/2005 16:53 Comments ||
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#19
I got a call last night from the University of California Berkeley Alumni people, talking about the 25th reunion coming up, blah blah blah. Then they started talking about money, like gifts to the University. That got my boiler pressure going so I started off in fine Rantburg style about how I did not send my children there, due to the sick leftist atmosphere, and how I really want nothing to do with them any more. I told them that all is not well, especially with many of the professors, and I am voting with my pocketbook. Good luck and have a good life and I hope you get that stinking town of Berkeley, California cleaned up. Then I hung up and eventually calmed down. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2005 18:51 Comments ||
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This week's [Jan. 13, 2005] Treasury report on the nation's finances for December shows a year-to-date fiscal 2005 deficit that is already $11 billion less than last year's. In the first three months of the fiscal year that began last October, cash outlays by the federal government increased by 6.1 percent while tax collections grew by 10.5 percent. When more money comes in than goes out, the deficit shrinks.
At this pace, the 2005 deficit is on track to drop to $355 billion from $413 billion in fiscal year 2004. As a fraction of projected gross domestic product, the new-year deficit will descend to 2.9 percent compared with last year's deficit share of 3.6 percent.
Wire reports are loaded these days with accounts of an expanded trade gap (driven mostly by slower exports to stagnant European and Japanese economies, along with higher oil imports from the peak in energy prices). But there's not a single report I can find that mentions the sizable narrowing in U.S. fiscal accounts. Behind this really big budget story is the even-bigger story: The explosion in tax revenues has been prompted by the tax-cut-led economic growth of the past eighteen months.
With 50 percent cash-bonus expensing for the purchase of plant and equipment, productivity-driven corporate profits ranging around 20 percent have generated a 45 percent rise in business taxes. At lower income-tax rates, employment gains of roughly 2.5 million are throwing off more than 6 percent in payroll-tax receipts. Personal tax revenues are rising at a near 9 percent pace.
Meanwhile, in the wake of strong stock market advances over the last two years, non-withheld revenues from individuals — including investor dividends and capital gains that are now taxed at only 15 percent — have jumped by over 14 percent.snip
According to the Washington Post, the Bush budget totals planned for fiscal year 2006 may be essentially unchanged from the totals for fiscal year 2005 (excluding defense and homeland security). ...the administration's first really tough budget request (due out next month) "would freeze most spending on agriculture, veterans and science, slash or eliminate dozens of federal programs, and force more costs, from Medicaid to housing, onto state and local governments."
The rapid growth of federal health care and other entitlements would also be slowed markedly. snip. This includes, by the way, Bush's plan to reduce Social Security benefits by replacing wage indexing with a price-level formula and extending the retirement age — one or the other, or both — in return for personal saving accounts.
By the way, Treasury Secretary John Snow just completed a Wall Street tour where leading bond traders told him not to sweat the transitional costs for personal accounts. The traders said that an additional $100 billion a year over the next decade for transitional financing will be easily manageable. "A rounding error," one senior trader told Snow. snip
— Larry Kudlow, NRO's Economics Editor, is host with Jim Cramer of CNBC's Kudlow & Cramer and author of the daily web blog, Kudlow's Money Politic$.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/19/2005 7:45:48 AM ||
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In other news today, authorities announced the bizarre discovery that several hundred Americans have mysteriously died from what can only be described as terminal constipation. The victims were geographically scattered, but the pattern seemed centered upon large East Coast cities.
Another shocking aspect is that all of the victims appear to be economists or former economists currently on book and lecture tours or writing for newspapers. Common Sense News has learned that, at least in several cases, the victims had left crude messages scrawled in excrement - apparently with their fingers.
There are conflicting accounts, as no journalists have been allowed to examine the evidence, but the message was remarkably similar in all known such cases. It appears that the victim wrote "[unintelligible] is an flaming asshole.", a wryly macabre phrase, under the circumstances. Law Enforcement who have witnessed the scenes are in dispute, but Common Sense News has learned that the first word is generally agreed to be either "Keynes" or "Krugman".
(2005-01-18) -- Harvard University President Lawrence Summers today sent a dozen roses to MIT biology professor Nancy Hopkins after she nearly fainted last week during Mr. Summers' remarks about potential biological differences between the sexes which might explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers.
Ms. Hopkins told The New York Times, "When he started talking about innate differences in aptitude between men and women, I just couldn't breathe."
If she hadn't walked out of the conference, she said she "would have either blacked out or thrown up."
Mr. Summers expressed regret today that the female scientist was "hurt by my brutal suggestion that further research was needed to find reasons for the observable phenomenon of male dominance in science and math. I hope the dear lady can forgive me for bringing up such coarse subjects in mixed company. In the future, I shall show more sensitivity in the presence of the fairer sex."
Meanwhile, a spokesman from the National Organization for Women (NOW) decried the institutionalized bias against women in academia.
"The laboratory is like a football locker room at most Ivy League schools," said the unnamed NOW source. "The guy scientists think nothing of mocking each other by saying 'You research like a girl' or 'Careful with that mass spectrometer, you might break a fingernail.'"
Posted by: Korora ||
01/19/2005 12:25:12 AM ||
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#2
.com ...love the software. It's kind of strange with the quips read in such a straight face manner. Looks like I'm going to need a mp3 player. Any recommendations?
#3
2b - MP3 player - on your 'puter? WinAmp - the free version. The add-on stuff is crap, heh. And if you have a firewall - don't let Winamp get out - doesn't need to.
#4
scuse my ignorance - but I'm mp3 illiterate. I don't see how I could down load to my myfi. So...(and I'm too tired to read the instructions right now) it looks like I'm going to need an mp3 player if I want to take this on the go. Any insight would be appreciated
#8
Well, I had to google myfi - so it's a portable XM radio... does it have storage of some sort for your MP3's? I don't see that in any of the Delphi models. If yours does, you need to figure out how it hooks up to your PC - then you can download your MP3's onto it. Sorry, but you're gonna have to break down and read your instructions, lol!
#9
no..I think you can only download XM programming...i'll get the instructions out to be sure..but I'm flaming out right now. Looks like I'm gonna need an mp3 :-)
#10
Ignoring the myfi for a moment, you can, indeed, burn music CD's - not necessarily with MP3 files. What you burn depends upon the player - what formats does it recognize. Most would not understand a directory of MP3's. Most burning software has the option to make a "music" CD and that would be a universal format for CD Players.
Okay, bringing the myfi back in - it sure doesn't play CDs! If anything, it hooks up by cable or InfraRed (IR) to your PC to manage what files you put on it - and one would hope it's a drag 'n drop to the device within Windows Explorer - but it might not be that straightforward. That's all I can offer without have your instructions to look at!
#11
Its scary: Ott has been moving asymptotically closer to reality lately. This is indeed what feminist PC nonsense leads to. As a post-feminist myself, I deeply resent what today's feminists are working to do to the ability of women to function in the heterogeneous work world.
#12
.com - thanks! I missed this last night as I nearly fell asleep in my chair.
I'm going to do some exploring today. It would be nice if the myfi could do it since I already own it, but maybe I can just download to CDs for use with regular CD player. This is pretty cool..though I have to admit much is lost without the graphics and yellow journalism. But - I have to feed it, so I can catch much of that then.
#13
The fine lines between Dilbert, ScrappleFace, and reality are beginning to fade.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/19/2005 10:15 Comments ||
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#14
Mr. Summers expressed regret today that the female scientist was "hurt by my brutal suggestion that further research was needed to find reasons for the observable phenomenon of male dominance in science and math. I hope the dear lady can forgive me for bringing up such coarse subjects in mixed company. In the future, I shall show more sensitivity in the presence of the fairer sex."
Some people just don't know when to shut up. His comments, ignorant of the effects of opinion and public discourse on the lives of women, are as indefensible as those of someone who ignores science completely so she won't have to face up to some uncomfortable facts.
#16
Jules 187 & trailing wife:
Many say that it is a right brain /left brain issue among the sexes. There are neuropsychology
studies that support's the topic. I was eating Chinese food last week and a young (age6) chinese boy was in the restaurant with his hard working parent's. I remember Jiang when he was three- I would bring him in a truck or lego's. I had a friend for life! I asked Jiang to sit in the booth with me as I ate that 6 year old
new the square root of 169 = 13 ;12 X 12 = 144
5X 5 = 25 he even knew what pie r square was ****
What do you have to say about the Chinese and Math?
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
01/19/2005 11:45 Comments ||
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#17
Earlier this week I raised the point that there was a time women were thought incapable ("scientifically") or running marathons. That "science" was challenged and, through defiance in the face of public ridicule, with training and a can-do attitude, disproven. Prejudice can frontload failure.
Since I am an individualist, I say let a person's talent and interests take her as far as she can go-and let small minds and prejudice be damned. If the science is disproven, then that's great. But if it is proven, it should be accepted, however uncomfortable that may make us.
As far as the Chinese and Math-I have no scientific genetic data to add. I would say it seems not unimportant that the Chinese culture (as well as some other cultures) exhalts educational excellence.
#18
Korora-I don't know ScrappleFace, but I am guessing from your comment that it's a tongue-in-cheek kinda website? That would make sense. As Rosanne RosannaDanna would say, "Never Mind".
:)
Trailing Daughter woke us up at six a.m. (ugh!!) one Saturday morning when she was three, to demonstrate the commutative principle of multiplication, which she had just figured out ("2x3=6 and 3x2=6. Give me two fingers, Daddy, and I'll show you!"). Both girls had memorized the multiplication table through 25 and squares/square roots ditto, by first grade. Its what we used to do in the car as we tootled around town. (Mostly because I had refused to memorize any of that when I was a child, believing at that age that rote memorization was pedagogically unsound (yes, I was wrong in that instance, but the principle still holds -- and remember I was still in single digits.)) Your little friend Jiang neatly demonstrated the ability of small children to memorize vast amounts of what is -- to them -- totally useless information. Now, if he should start proving mathematical theorems, then I'll be impressed.
As for the Chinese/math thing, that's because non-native speakers can more easily grasp non-language based subjects, so that's where they tend to concentrate their efforts, at least for those coming from learning-focussed cultures. They also tend toward practical, career-oriented studies. My immigrant mother, who'd always wanted to study chemistry, instead became an Physical Therapist because she would be self supporting with only a BS, instead of the PhD chemistry requires.
As for the physiological brain differences between the sexes, that is indeed a real tendency, but not an absolute. The many female engineers out there demonstrate that! Not to mention the growing number of young house-husbands whose wives more capably bring home the bacon, and the numerous male writers and poets.
#23
This story was SO comical. A Professor was so stunned about the speech that she ran out crying like a little GIRL! Only because the speaker had the audacity to point out an obvious fact and tried to spark debate? So glad I do have her for an instructor, she sounds too emotional and I might make her cry.
#24
Jules # 17 you are correct in your response.
You can re-think /train ones mind to be creative
or analytical. It can be hard work for some, but it can be achieved. I had a female chemistry professor at the private highschool that I had attended- she was a WIZ...also have had female
math and computer science professor's- they all knew their material. Let knowledge and skill prevail NOT gender ***
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
01/19/2005 18:47 Comments ||
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The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest opposition group, has said he expects President Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal to become Egypt's leader, but not just yet. Muhammad Mahdi Akef said on Tuesday he expects parliament, dominated by the ruling party, to nominate 76-year-old Mubarak in May for a fifth six-year presidential term, which the Brotherhood and other opposition groups oppose. Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981, has strongly hinted but not confirmed that he will seek the fifth term. The candidate parliament picked for the post is put to a public referendum in September. Egyptians expect Mubarak to stand again, mainly because he has no obvious successor. Akef said: "President Husni Mubarak grasps all the matters of state in his own hand - executive, judicial or legislative. We are in a police state governed by one man."
Gamal Mubarak has become a prominent figure in the ruling party, but observers say he has yet to build up enough support to bid for the presidency. Mubarak has dismissed the idea he would hand power to his son. But Gamal could pursue the presidency through constitutional means. "When they want to bring (Gamal), they will bring him," Akef said. "All the while there is emergency law, all the while there is the political parties law, all the while there are political prisoners ... they can do anything." "Don't forget that we are a state which is almost a police state. Everything is in the hands of security," he added. Egypt's emergency laws allow the state to detain suspects without charge and political parties must be licensed by a committee dominated by the ruling party.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2005 00:00:00 ||
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of course if the muslim brotherhood got in it wouldn't be a police state--only vice and virtue guys with beards running amok--sharia courts--and a religious totalitarian theocracy--so let's vote for them
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/19/2005 2:01 Comments ||
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Rioting has erupted south of the Algerian capital and in the northeast of the country demonstrators blocked roads to protest government plans to increase gas prices. According to Algerian newspaper reports on Tuesday, hundreds of youths set fire to public buildings in the town of Birina, in the Jilfa region 270kms south of Algiers. Security forces used tear gas against the demonstrators, carrying out several arrests, the reports said. Meanwhile in the country's northeast, angry demonstrators in the town of Khirrata reportedly blockaded the region's main road. Butane gas and fuel oil are the only available sources of energy in Algeria's remote mountain regions and high plateaus. The government's decision to raise the price of a litre from 170 to 200 dinars ($2.3 to $2.8) goes against a recommendation from the national parliament.
It's kinda nice to see them rioting over more routine issues...
"Look! A hockey match!"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Saudi medical team removed a toothbrush from the stomach of a man who had swallowed it 22 years ago, the official SPA news agency reported yesterday. The toothbrush caused the 70-year-old patient no ill effects until a few days before he was operated on, said Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Zahrani, the head of the team at King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital in the western town of Taif. The operation was successful, Zahrani added.
Moscow plans to erect a new statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, returning his once-ubiquitous image to its streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said Wednesday. Since President Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000, a number of Soviet symbols -- including the national anthem and an army flag -- have been restored to use, reflecting widespread nostalgia for Russia's communist years. Interfax news agency reported earlier that a Stalin monument would also be built in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border to mark the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany 60 years ago -- seen as the country's greatest military triumph. In another sign of Stalin's growing appeal, state television channels have shown a number of prime-time television shows in recent months depicting him in a positive light.
MOSCOW: Russia's Communist Party mounted a campaign Tuesday to oust the government in a direct challenge to President Vladimir Putin following weeks of nationwide protests sparked by drastic cuts in social welfare benefits. The State Duma lower house of parliament's left wing said it would collect the 90 signatures required in the 450-seat chamber to hold a confidence vote on the year-old government of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. The challenge is unlikely to succeed because the chamber is dominated by the pro-Putin United Russia party that voted for the drastic cut in Soviet-era social benefits which sparked the largest protests of Putin's five-year rule. "I see no reason for the government to resign," said Duma speaker and United Russia chief Boris Gryzlov. "They are just playing politics," agreed his deputy Oleg Morozov.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., urged Europe to "get over" the fact President Bush was re-elected and work with the United States on common problems. 
The leader of the 
Rioting has erupted south of the Algerian capital and in the northeast of the country demonstrators blocked roads to protest government plans to increase gas prices. According to Algerian newspaper reports on Tuesday, hundreds of youths set fire to public buildings in the town of Birina, in the Jilfa region 270kms south of Algiers. Security forces used tear gas against the demonstrators, carrying out several arrests, the reports said. Meanwhile in the country's northeast, angry demonstrators in the town of Khirrata reportedly blockaded the region's main road. Butane gas and fuel oil are the only available sources of energy in Algeria's remote mountain regions and high plateaus. The government's decision to raise the price of a litre from 170 to 200 dinars ($2.3 to $2.8) goes against a recommendation from the national parliament. 
