The Smoking Gun Web site reports on a lawsuit against his jailers filed by Terry Nichols, the domestic terrorist who teamed up with Timothy McVeigh to murder 168 people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
According to the court documents on the Smoking Gun Web site, Terry Nichols, 54, says the low-fiber prison diet has given him "chronic constipation, bleeding, hemorrhoids."
This week, a federal judge rejected Nichols's bid for a preliminary injunction against the Bureau of Prisons. A lawsuit filed last month by Nichols is pending.
To support his claim, Nichols solicited testimonials from other high-profile inmates including Eric Rudolph, whose bombs killed victims at abortion clinics and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Rudolph agrees with Nichols, saying "refined and highly processed" food served to killers like him causes "constipation, gas, and stomach cramps."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 08:08 ||
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#1
oh well , your crimes caused alot more than constipation and gas and by the way you are not staying at the Ritz
#5
Well, what if we got that chick from the Puffington Host article yesterday to come over? She could give him a "master cleanse" and keep him safe from swine flu to boot! ;)
Tom Cruise's girlfriend in the 1980s hit "Top Gun" confirmed in an interview the longstanding rumor that she's gay.
Kelly McGillis told the Internet show Girl Rock! that she was single, and in the market for a female partner. "Definitely a woman," she said when asked if she's looking for a man or a woman. "I'm done with the man thing. You need to move on in life."
McGillis, 51, has been married and divorced twice, and has two daughters with her second husband, Fred Tillman.
The actress said coming out as a lesbian was "an ongoing process from the time I was probably 12."
She added that "I had a lot of things happen that convinced me that God was punishing me because I was gay." McGillis was attacked and raped in her apartment in 1982 when she was a young actress working in New York.
The actress also told Girl Rock! that now that her daughters are grown, she's looking to get back into acting, but is having a hard time - because she won't dye her hair! "Whenever I get an offer, they ask me to dye my hair," the graying star said. "And I just won't."
#3
willing to have actresses do stunts for you - check
willing to fake sex scenes withj Tom Cruise - check
willing to pretend to be whatever the script says you are - check
willing to dye hair - no way
?????????????
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/30/2009 12:58 Comments ||
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Grunter, that's a picture of her with her last lover. The lover insisted on the bag.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/30/2009 18:20 Comments ||
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#11
Rambler- Now that was funny.
Posted by: Total War ||
04/30/2009 18:24 Comments ||
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#12
When I am Empress of the Universe (any day now, don't say you weren't warned), I'm going to require all you pantingly-hot internet studs to post your pictures anytime you make a "god, she's a two-bagger" comment.
Hope the resultant mass retching won't be mistaken for a flu pandemic.
#17
she's looking to get back into acting, but is having a hard time - because she won't dye her hair! "Whenever I get an offer, they ask me to dye my hair," the graying star said. "And I just won't."
Stunt double for Judi Dench? Short gray hair not a problem.
Thousands of Kenyan women vowed Wednesday to begin a weeklong sex strike to try to protest their country's bickering leadership, which they say threatens to revive the bloody chaos that convulsed the African country last year.
Leaders from Kenya's largest and oldest group dedicated to women's rights, the Women's Development Organization, said they hope the boycott will persuade men to pressure the government to make peace.
Eleven women's groups are participating in the strike. The groups have also called on the wives of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to abstain. It was not clear how either wife responded to the request.
"We have looked at all issues which can bring people to talk and we have seen that sex is the answer," said Rukia Subow, chairman of the Women's Development Organization. "It does not know tribe, it does not have a (political) party and it happens in the lowest households." Too bad there's no goats' rights organization engaging in a similar strike - we might end this Islamofascist terrorist problem.
GENEVA, April 29 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the world is at the brink of a pandemic, raising its threat level as the swine flu virus spread and killed the first person outside of Mexico, a toddler in Texas.
"Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world," WHO Director General Margaret Chan told a news conference in Geneva as she raised the official alert level to phase 5, the last step before a pandemic. "The biggest question is this: how severe will the pandemic be, especially now at the start," Chan said. But she added that the world "is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history."
Mexico said it had suffered another 17 deaths of patients potentially linked to swine flu, bringing the total to as many as 176, and called for a suspension of all non-essential work and services. Already in Mexico City, a metropolis of 20 million, all schools, restaurants, nightclubs and public events have been shut down to try to stop the sickness from spreading, bringing normal life to a virtual standstill.
Nearly a week after the H1N1 swine flu virus first emerged in California and Texas and was found to have caused dozens of deaths in Mexico, Spain reported the first case in Europe of swine flu in a person who had not been to Mexico, illustrating the danger of person-to-person transmission.
Both U.S. and European officials have said they expect to see swine flu deaths.
President Barack Obama said during an evening news conference at the White House there was no need for panic and rejected the possibility of closing the border with Mexico. "At this point, (health officials) have not recommended a border closing," he said. "From their perspective, it would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States."
Obama also praised his predecessor for stockpiling anti-viral medication in anticipation of such an outbreak. "I think the Bush administration did a good job of creating the infrastructure so that we can respond," Obama said. "For example, we've got 50 million courses of anti-viral drugs in the event that they're needed."
Germany, Austria and Peru reported cases of the illness, bringing the number of affected countries to 10. Peru said its case involved a woman who had traveled to Mexico and its health minister immediately announced the suspension of all commercial flights arriving from that country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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The number is growing. This morning we have five lab-confirmed cases in Chicago.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/30/2009 9:26 Comments ||
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CDC lists 109 in the US. The one death (in the US) had several underlying conditions. Let me revise my morbidity rate... 0.000000302% When people in the US, with no serious underlying conditions, start getting hospitalized, then I'll worry.
The deadly H1N1 influenza virus thats fueling fears of a global pandemic is a hybrid of two common pig flu strains, scientists who have studied the disease told Wired.com Tuesday. Earlier reports called it a combination of pig, human and avian influenza strains. The findings may resolve some uncertainty about the nature of the virus, but much is still unknown about its origins and effects.
This is what we call a reassortment between two currently circulating pig flu viruses, said Andrew Rambaut, a University of Edinburgh viral geneticist. Why its emerged in humans is anyones guess. It hasnt been seen before in pigs as far as I know.
Rambaut analyzed the gene sequences of viral samples taken from two infected California children. The samples were collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and made available to researchers through an international database of flu genomes.
His conclusions were echoed by Eddie Holmes, a virus evolution specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, and Steven Salzberg, a University of Maryland bioinformaticist. Both have looked at the CDC-provided sequences. The CDC could not be reached for comment, but a document released to scientists and obtained by Wired.com affirms their analysis.
The samples from California are the same viral strain as one thats believed to have killed as many as 150 of an estimated 1,600 hospitalized Mexicans, and caused hundreds more infections worldwide, including at least 64 in the United States.
The two strains whose genes are found in the hybrid belong to influenza families known generally as North American and Eurasian pig flu. The former was first described in the 1930s, and the latter in 1979. The Eurasian strain is generally found in Europe and Asia, rather than North America.
Neither of the strains have ever proven contagious in humans. One of the genes inherited from the Eurasian strain has reportedly never been seen in humans. It codes for the neuraminidase enzyme the N1 in H1N1 which controls the expansion of the virus from infected cells.
The new neuraminidase gene that came in from Eurasian swine is one weve never before seen circulating in humans, said Rambaut. Thats one of the reasons its spreading rapidly. Very few people will have any immunity to this particular combination, which is what gives the concern that this will be a pandemic rather than just a normal seasonal flu outbreak. It remains to be seen how much and to what extent there is existing immunity.
In medical terms, the genetic origins of the virus may not matter. Whether it come solely from pigs rather than a mix of pigs, birds and humans doesnt change its immunological novelty. However, understanding the origins could eventually help scientists determine how the virus evolved and where it originally emerged.
The earliest cases occurred in the town of La Gloria in the Mexican state of Veracruz, not far from a large and notoriously unsanitary hog farm operated by Granjas Carroll, a subsidiary of giant American food company Smithfield Foods.
Vercruz residents and some journalists have alleged that the virus could have evolved in the farms pigs, then passed into humans through water or insects tainted by infected waste. Many researchers, including the authors of a report issued last year by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, have warned that unsanitary conditions at industrial hog farms could prove a breeding ground for new forms of influenza.
The World Health Organization has sent inspectors to the Granjas Carroll farm. The results of the investigation have not been announced. Smithfield issued a press release on Saturday stating that it has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in the companys swine herd or its employees at its joint ventures in Mexico. The company declined further comment, though CEO Larry Pope told USA Today that (The term) swine flu is a misnomer.
Rambaut, Holmes and Salzberg declined to speculate on whether the new H1N1 virus evolved on a hog farm or specifically in the Granjas Carroll facility.
However, it seems likely that pigs were the original host. Thats a logical conclusion, said Salzberg. It was probably two different pigs, or one who got co-infected from others. The two strains mixed, and now you have a brand-new strain.
Presumably somewhere there was a pig infected with both forms. We dont know where or when. It could have been circulating in this form for a while, said Rambaut.
What comes next is anyones guess. Influenza virus mutates remarkably rapidly so there is no doubt that the virus will mutate and evolve in humans, said Holmes. Quite what this evolution will result in is difficult to tell.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It appears from this article H1N1 is in fact H1Nx.
It is generally accepted that flu pandemics occur when a HN combination not previously in circulation in the lifetimes of most people arises.
#5
150 killed, 1600 hospitalized. Where are these numbers coming from? Last I looked, as of yesterday, the WHO website said there were 148 confirmed cases with 7 fatalities. CDC today says 104 in the US. Does anyone have a reliable source that can confirm the 150 actually died of swine flu? And of those 150, what underlying conditions did they have? And still, outside of Mexico, no one has died or even been overly sick.
#6
AllahHateMe,
The 1918 pandemic began with a first wave of patchy distribution and relatively low morbidity in the spring (non-flu season). It kind of subsided until the normal flu season in the fall, when it returned with a vengeance, and extremely high morbidity. Then in 1919 a third wave hit, catching the places missed by the second wave and still carrying high morbidity. AFter that it seems the population had built up resistance (except for the 40 million who died, of course.) This Mexican flu outbreak could follow a similar pattern - we just can't tell, but that is a legitimate concern.
[Mail and Globe] ZimbabweŽs new power-sharing government has secured $400-million in credit lines from neighbours to revive the countryŽs moribund economy. "Alrighty then, Grace! We eat!"
Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government has secured $400-million in credit lines from neighbours to revive the country's moribund economy, a state daily reported Wednesday.
Citing industry minister Welshman Ncube, The Herald newspaper said Zimbabwe had secured about $200-million in credit from nations in the Southern African Development Community. Countries in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa will extend another $200-million in credit, the paper added.
The report did not say which countries would extend the credits or what form they would take, except that the loans could only be used by private companies to meet their capital requirements to revive their businesses.
Ncube was not immediately reachable for comment.
Once a model economy and food exporter, Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downturn for nearly 10 years, battered by hyperinflation that only stopped when the government this year abandoned the local currency in favour of the US dollar and the South African rand.
The economic crisis blamed on the policies of long-time President Robert Mugabe, including controversial land reforms, saw many companies pulling down the shutters while the few which remained operated at a fraction of their capacity.
Ncube said the money secured by the government would help companies buy raw materials. "We hope to start accessing the funds in next few weeks but I must point out that this money is working capital for companies seeking to procure raw materials to improve their capacity," the newspaper quoted minister Ncube as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Mr. Mugabe? Could you spare us about $40 million? We're good for it. Thanks!
Posted by: The Boston Globe ||
04/30/2009 7:59 Comments ||
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The lawyer of an 8-year-old Saudi girl forced by her father to marry a 50-year-old man has said the girl has gotten a divorce.
The girl's mother had been seeking a divorce for her daughter, who was married in August [2008]. But a Saudi judge had twice once in Dec 2008, once in early April 2009
rejected the mother's request.
The girl's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jeteli, said he reached an out-of-court settlement with the man allowing the girl to divorce him.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/30/2009 12:47 ||
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Is there a term for a reverse bride price? I wonder how very much Mama had to pay to get her darling little girl back.
[Bangla Daily Star] A large number of hijras (hermaphrodite) are now getting involved in criminal activities specially mugging, stealing and toll collection at city's different intersections, posing a threat to law and order.
Police said some eunuchs of the city are active in snatching and stealing at different intersections, including Mohakhali, Farmgate, Kakrail, Shyampur, Karwan Bazar, Airport, Paltan, Shahbagh, Jatrabari, Uttara and Tejgaon.
People at different parks and open places, including Sangshad Bhaban area and Chandrima Udyan often fall victim of their harassment. The hijras snatch and steal valuables using various techniques like in the name of seeking alms.
Besides, they force the city dwellers to pay high amount of money and they hurl abusive words against them failing to get it.
Witnesses said, they take position on different intersections and taking the opportunity of traffic signal, they tactfully get into the private cars or other vehicles and mugs valuables including mobile phone sets and money from the passengers.
On April 21, three eunuchs got into the car of an Uttara resident and snatched away his cell phone set and money while he was returning home.
Another gang of hijras mugged Tk 2,000 along with a cell phone set from fruit trader Khalid of Mohammadpur Krishi Market at Chandrima Udyan at about 7:00 pm on April 18.
Some city dwellers alleged that the hijras also forcibly enter into their residence and demand money and they give threat to take their children outside the house while failing to get the money.
Meanwhile, six to seven hijras yesterday morning broke into several residences on Road 3, Sector 5 in Uttara and demanded Tk 5,000 from each of the residences. On information, police and Rab rushed in and saved the residents.
Sources said, the eunuchs mainly live in different places in and around the capital, including Fayedabad, Kathaltola, Ashkona and Gaoair under Dakkhin Khan police station while Rajabari, Kamarpara and Dia Bari under Turag police, Majar Bosti, Machhimpur, Station Road and Amtoli under Tongi police, Kuril Bishwa Road under Badda police and Shahjahanpur under Khilgaon police station.
Talking to The Daily Star, Rahela, a leader of the hermaphrodites who lives in Fayedabad, denied the allegation and said, "There are some males who cheat people in guise of hijra." and added that around 9,000 eunuchs are living in and around the capital.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Shahidul Huq told The Daily Star that he would ask DMP police to take action to prevent the harassment of the city dwellers by the third gender.
Police said the eunuch community can easily avoid suspicion of law enforcers while they are involved in snatching in the name of seeking alms from the victims. They have changed their traditional technique of mugging taking an opportunity of traffic jams.
Police said generally the victims do not lodge complaints with the police so they could not launch drives against the hijras involved in criminal activities.
While contacted Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA), said some of the hijras might have involvement in criminal activities, as the government do not take steps to rehabilitate them.
She said their entertainment, means of their earning, is losing its appeal gradually in this modern era forcing them to commit crimes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Geez, Bangladesh don't have enough problems, now they got a friggin tranny crime wave?
[Bangla Daily Star] A parliamentary sub-committee probing alleged corruption of former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar yesterday said it would recommend the House to take stern actions against him as it found Sircar's financial anomalies undermined the dignity of the Speaker's office.
"The post of Speaker of Parliament is a symbol of transparency and pride of the nation but we keep revealing more and more terrible examples of misappropriation of money by the former speaker," Moyeen Uddin Khan Badal, a member of the parliamentary sub-committee, told reporters after its meeting. "We are very shocked to see the misdeeds of a speaker. We have been revealing more cases of terrible theft and misappropriation of money as we went deep into the matter," he said.
The sub-committee formed by the all-party parliamentary committee to investigate the alleged corruption and misappropriation of money by the former speaker at yesterday's meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban discussed some more alleged corruption of Sircar.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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North Korean women who escaped the sex trade in China have appealed for global action, saying the Chinese treat them like "livestock" and they face brutal treatment if they return home.
The women traveled to Washington as part of a week of activism to raise attention about human rights abuses in North Korea, which is embroiled in a standoff with the United States over its nuclear and missile programs.
Bang Mi-Sun, who was an actress with a propaganda troupe in her impoverished homeland, said she fled to China with her two children after her husband, a miner, starved to death in 2002.
She said a broker sold her for 4,000 yuan (585 dollars) to an older disabled man, the first of a number of Chinese "husbands."
"The Chinese would even refer to North Korean women as pigs. We are forced to do farmwork and household chores by day and at night we were subjected to subhuman experiences," she said tearfully at a news conference.
"The world needs to know what is happening. If I had a chance to meet President Obama, I would tell him that North Korean women are being sold like livestock in China," said Bang, who escaped to South Korea in 2004.
China, fearful of a long-term economic burden or shift in ethnic makeup, considers North Korean defectors to be economic migrants and routinely deports them.
Bang said Chinese authorities sent her to North Korea when she was trying to find her children. Back home, she was put in a political re-education camp, where she said she had to do 100 squats, then run 100 times around a soccer field before undergoing intense beatings.
Bang, who walks with such a limp she is considered disabled in South Korea, stood on the table of the news conference and lifted her skirt to reveal bruises and gaping contortions on her thigh.
She said she also witnessed brutal treatment of other prisoners, including forced abortions on women returning from China. In one incident, she said she saw guards put a plank on a pregnant woman's belly and force two male prisoners to stand on it; both the woman and the baby died.
Bang was joined in Washington by Kim Young-Ae, also now in South Korea, who said she was forced to marry three men in China including one who was mentally unstable and abused her. "This was a very difficult part of my life, but I want to let the world know what is happening," she said.
The women appeared for the launch of a report of the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, which urged China to end forced repatriations and at least consider refugee status for North Koreans who enter.
A separate survey released Wednesday found that only 14 percent of North Korean defectors hoped to live in China, owing to their precarious legal status there. An overwhelming 64 percent hoped to move to South Korea while 19 percent wanted to go to the United States, despite the relentless anti-US propaganda in North Korea.
The survey, led by scholar Marcus Noland of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, surveyed 1,300 North Koreans in China and 300 others in South Korea. "The Chinese have concerns that the influx of North Koreans will upset the ethnic balance in their border provinces," Noland told a news conference earlier Wednesday.
While calling the concerns overblown, Noland said the best response would be for the United Nations or another group of nations to offer to set up resettlement camps in border regions.
"That way China can get them off their hands and it's just a question of how many go to South Korea, how many go to the United States and other places," Noland said.
Estimates vary widely but around 100,000 North Koreans were thought to be hiding out in China in recent years.
The US State Department saluted North Korean refugees for sharing their stories. "These brave souls help us all remember the importance of improving the human rights situation of the North Korean people," State Department spokesman Robert Woods said.
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Not just ethnic balance but also AGRICULTURE/FOOD BALANCE as Chin engages in vital agri-production contracts wid nations in CENTRAL ASIA DUE TO LACK OF ARABLE FRAMLANDS - by its own calc this latter dependency is expected to INCREASE OVER TIME, NOT DECREASE REGARDLESS OF CHIN LEVEL OF NATIONAL MODERNIZATION.
THERMAL scanners will begin screening international travellers at airports around Australia from today as the Government ramps up its defences against swine flu. Mandatory health declarations will also be required from all passengers entering Australia, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says.
The new measures are based on updated advice from Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop.
"The chief medical officer is now of the view that it's necessary to strengthen the identification and management of potentially affected travellers because of the increasing threat from swine flu across the world,'' Ms Roxon said. "From this afternoon the thermal scanners will be turned on progressively in all international airports and I'm advised that it will be fully operational by around 6pm tonight.''
The scanners will operate at Australia's eight international airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Cairns, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin.
Ms Roxon warned passengers to expect delays. "We believe that this is a sensible precautionary measure to be taking and obviously it's a public health issue of great concern, so we do believe that the inconvenience will be worthwhile in helping add to the protection of this country from swine flu.''
The number of Australians being tested for swine flu is 114 as of 12pm (AEST) today.
The Baltimore Sun has laid off 61 people in its newsroom, including veteran editors and managers, columnists, photographers and designers.
Maryland's largest newspaper laid off managerial employees at the end of the day Tuesday, and notified union-represented employees Wednesday afternoon, said Renee Mutchnik, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Sun Media Group.
Twenty-one managers and 40 staffers represented by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild were laid off, Mutchnik and union leaders said. The union cuts included one employee who volunteered to be laid off. The cuts represent about 27 percent of the newsroom staff at The Sun, which is owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 08:11 ||
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Twenty-one managers and 40 staffers
The chief to Indian ratio might be one clue to their problems, besides being a lying propaganda rag that people avoid like the swine flu.
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 10:14 Comments ||
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#2
Someday soon they will be the Bawlmer Pennysaver-Sun.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
04/30/2009 11:11 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Lahore police claimed to have arrested a 13-member robbers' gang and recovered the looted valuables, and cash from its possession. Sheikk Naeem gang was wanted by police in 127 cases of robberies, bank dacoities, kidnap for ransom and car snatching, Capital City Police Officer Pervaiz Rathore told at a press conference on Wednesday. He said that 13 members of this gang were detained in raids conducted in different parts of the city. The CCPO said that dacoit Basharat, who was allegedly involved in Mall Road robbery, was also arrested. The police also seized a large quantity of Kalashnikovs, hand grenades and advanced weapons, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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And it's...rubble.
Gaza Maan The de facto government in Gaza is investigating whether the rubble of bombed buildings can be ground up and re-constituted into a cement substitute that can be used in reconstruction. ...and if they run out, the Israelis will be glad to make more. No need to thank them.
Minister of Public Works and Housing Yousef Al-Mansi said the Hamas-run government will build a mosque, a school and a clinic using this method as a trial run. Later, the ministry will expand its projects to include mud construction and other techniques. Wow. Into the Bronze Age in Gaza...
We are capable of constructing such simple structures adequately, said Al-Mansi, pointing out that architects and engineers still need to work out the fine details of the buildings, including windows, doors, electricity and sanitation. Maybe they can even guilt the UNRWA into doing it for them. And pay for the privilege. Think, Yousef! Think!
Reconstruction from Israels three-week assault on Gaza has been stalled due to what the UN reports is a blanket prohibition on imports of construction materials, including cement and steel. Tired of waiting for the international community to break the blockade, Palestinians are turning to the means at hand to rebuild their houses. Clay bricks and other alternative materials are coming into use. Palestinians showing initative? This is news...
Over nearly two years of siege, Palestinians have survived in part on their own ingenuity. Lacking cooking gas, Gazans used the sand removed from the smuggling tunnels snaking beneath the Gaza-Egypt border to build clay ovens. Mahmoud, could you bring home some sand from work? We need a new oven.
Why, Fatima? Is the old one on the fritz?
Al-Mansi said that Palestinians in Gaza are insistent on overcoming the current obstacles. He also said the de facto government is in contact with foreign governments, as well as international organizations, seeking to build pressure to end the Israeli-led blockade of Gaza. Why? It's not like you're gonna run outta rubble...
#2
excellence in journalism. The ground up cement, concrete, etc. Can substitute as aggregate if clean enough (I doubt it), but not cement. I recommend Flyash in the 70%-80% range. A good sonic boom would bring their palaces down
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/30/2009 19:11 Comments ||
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#3
If the initial concrete was a poor product in the first place it would make a VERY shoddy aggregate substitute.
A computer worm that has alarmed security experts around the world has crawled into hundreds of medical devices at dozens of hospitals in the United States and other countries, according to technologists monitoring the threat.
The worm, known as "Conficker," has not harmed any patients, they say, but it poses a potential threat to hospital operations.
"A few weeks ago, we discovered medical devices, MRI machines, infected with Conficker," said Marcus Sachs, director of the Internet Storm Center, an early warning system for Internet threats that is operated by the SANS Institute.
Around March 24, researchers monitoring the worm noticed that an imaging machine used to review high-resolution images was reaching out over the Internet to get instructions -- presumably from the programmers who created Conficker.
The researchers dug deeper and discovered that more than 300 similar devices at hospitals around the world had been compromised. The manufacturer of the devices told them none of the machines were supposed to be connected to the Internet -- and yet they were. And because the machines were running an unpatched version of Microsoft's operating system used in embedded devices they were vulnerable.
Normally, the solution would be simply to install a patch, which Microsoft released in October. But the device manufacturer said rules from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required that a 90-day notice be given before the machines could be patched.
"For 90 days these infected machines could easily be used in an attack, including, for example, the leaking of patient information," said Rodney Joffe, a senior vice president at NeuStar, a communications company that belongs to an industry working group created to deal with the worm. "They also could be used in an attack that affects other devices on the same networks."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 08:01 ||
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Whoa! Hold it....
It should be a criminal offense to use a popular OS, known for virus infection, in medical equipment or war fighting equipment.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Arab investors will spend $303 million on building two "Arab Cities" to lure Arab tourists to the historic Malaysian town of Malacca, the Star daily said Wednesday.
The $1.1 billion ringgit project includes an Arabian bazaar, Middle Eastern restaurants, shopping complex, five-star hotel, water theme park, and a unisex Arabic health and beauty spa.
One of the "Arab Cities" will be built on a small island lying south of Malacca town, while the other will be located at a beachside resort just west of the historic port.
Halal tourism
Malacca chief minister Mohamad Ali Rustam reportedly said the project, due for completion by 2012, will attract more Middle Eastern tourists and give locals a chance to experience Arabic culture.
Arab tourists spend on average 10 times more than other tourists, according to recent reports on Malaysian tourism that showed an increasing number of Muslim Middle Eastern tourists are seeking "halal tourism" in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei while avoiding the U.S. and Europe because of post Sept. 11, 2001 stereotyping and racial profiling.
The country's tourism industry has seen a sharp rise in the number of big-spending tourists from the Middle East in recent years, attracted by the tropical country's Islamic image.
Muslim friendly services
Arab Muslim travelers prefer Muslim destinations where Muslim-friendly food ,halal, and hotel facilities with a copy of the Holy Qur'an and Makkah-prayer direction in each room are easily available.
Some 264,338 visitors from the region made their way to Malaysia last year, almost double the figure recorded in 2005.
The capital Kuala Lumpur has already seen the introduction of an "Arab Street" to make tourists from the Middle East feel at home, while hotel and restaurants serve West Asian food and bring Arab cooks to work in the country.
Tourism was Malaysia's second highest foreign exchange earner in 2007, raking in $14 billion in revenue from 21 million tourists arrivals. The government however said it expected tourist numbers to fall 9 percent to 20 million this year as the global economic slowdown hits.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Don't miss the animal husbandry parks, wives beating walking tours and bombed out pizza parlors.
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 0:57 Comments ||
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#2
"Come for the Islam, stay for the floggings!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/30/2009 19:16 Comments ||
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A federal judge has awarded a former Army Special Forces commander nearly $500,000 because she was rejected from a job at the Library of Congress while transitioning from a man to a woman.
Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., applied for the terrorism analyst job while she was still a man named David Schroer. He was offered the job, but the offer was pulled after he told a library official that he was having surgery to change his gender.
U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled Tuesday that Schroer was entitled to $491,190 in back pay and damages because of sex discrimination.
The Library of Congress and the Justice Department argued unsuccessfully that discrimination because of transsexuality was not illegal sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.
The American Civil Liberties Union had argued the case on Schroer's behalf. Paul Cates with the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project said the ruling was significant because a federal judge said that discriminating against someone for changing genders is sex discrimination under federal law.
Schroer is a former U.S. Army colonel who directed a classified group that tracked and targeted terrorists. Schroer retired in 2004 and worked briefly in the private sector before applying for the Congressional Research Service job at the Library of Congress.
After being offered the job, Schroer had lunch with a Library of Congress official and explained the upcoming surgery. Schroer testified the official called the next day and said the position would not be a "good fit."
#2
Colonels can go insane too; and I'd think having somebody whack off perfectly good body parts indicates loose screws somewhere.
Posted by: James ||
04/30/2009 20:13 Comments ||
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#3
As an aside, the US Army Special Forces does not have any females. CPT Kattie Wilder went through the most of qualification course in 1980 but was bounced along with a couple of guys for allegedly cheating. She took it to court charging discrimination and a judge told SWC to award her the course completion certificate. She never spend any time in a unit. The ROK's still have Unit 707 I believe. It was all female.
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.
Tom Cruise's girlfriend in the 1980s hit "Top Gun" confirmed in an interview the longstanding rumor that she's gay.
GENEVA, April 29 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the world is at the brink of a pandemic, raising its threat level as the swine flu virus spread and killed the first person outside of Mexico, a toddler in Texas.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Arab investors will spend $303 million on building two "Arab Cities" to lure Arab tourists to the historic Malaysian town of Malacca, the Star daily said Wednesday.
A federal judge has awarded a former Army Special Forces commander nearly $500,000 because she was rejected from a job at the Library of Congress while transitioning from a man to a woman.
