[An Nahar] Comet ISON, once optimistically called the comet of the century, is dead, the victim of a way-too-close brush with the sun. It was barely a year old.
The comet, which excited astronomers and the media as it zipped within 730,000 miles of the sun on Thanksgiving Day, was pronounced dead at a scientific conference Tuesday. Astronomers who had followed the ice ball mourned the loss of the sky show that once promised to light up during December.
Naval Research Lab astronomer Karl Battams, who headed the observing campaign for the comet, said ISON (EYE'-sahn) was stretched and pulled by the sun's powerful gravity. It was also hit with solar radiation. And the icy snowball just fell apart.
"At this point it seems like there is nothing left," Battams said at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. "Sorry, everyone, Comet ISON is dead. But its memory will live on."
Astronomers had hoped it would survive because some -- but not most -- comets make it past close approaches with the sun. Last year Comet Lovejoy did.
Had ISON survived it would have provided good naked-eye viewing in early December for the Northern Hemisphere, astronomers said. NASA had aimed several telescopes and spacecraft at the comet to watch its close brush with the sun, only to find it missing after the encounter.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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Iff YOUTUBE is to be believed, Comet ISON died so that our Sun's hereto unknown dead binary twin could be discovered???
[SUN-GOD PHOEBUS APOLLO + SISTER PHOEBUS CYNTHEIA here].
As for ISON, Perts now are trying to discern where its remnant is heading to.
The man accused of faking sign interpretation while standing alongside world leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama at Nelson Mandela's memorial service said Thursday he saw "angels" at the event, has been violent in the past and suffers from schizophrenia.
Thamsanqa Jantjie said in a 45-minute interview with the AP that his hallucinations began while he was interpreting and that he tried not to panic because there were "armed policemen around me." He added that he was once hospitalized in a mental health facility for more than one year.
Jantjie, who stood gesticulating three-feet (1 meter) from Obama and others who spoke at Tuesday's ceremony that was broadcast around the world, insisted that he was doing proper sign-language interpretation of the speeches of world leaders.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
12/12/2013 07:39 ||
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Well..... perhaps old Thamsanqa may not have been part of the security detail after all. I really didn't figure I could finish out the year without being wrong about something :-(
[Pak Daily Times] Uruguay's decision to legalise marijuana is in violation of an international convention on drug control, a Vienna-based body set up to monitor government compliance with such treaties said on Wednesday.
Uruguay became the first country to legalise the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana on Tuesday, in a pioneering experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalisation.
A government-sponsored bill approved by 16-13 votes in the Senate provides for regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the business from criminals in the small South American nation.
Backers of the law, some smoking joints, gathered near Congress holding green balloons, Jamaican flags in homage to Bob Marley and a sign saying: "Cultivating freedom, Uruguay grows."
But the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said the legislation contravenes the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, to which it said Uruguay is a party.
"Cannabis is controlled under the 1961 Convention, which requires States Parties to limit its use to medical and scientific purposes, due to its dependence-producing potential," INCB president Raymond Yans said in a statement.
He was surprised, the statement added, that Uruguay's legislature and government "knowingly decided to break the universally agreed and internationally endorsed legal provisions of the treaty".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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So shouldn't the INCB be pointing at the the USA for allowing WA and Colorado to legalize the stuff.... just wondering.
[Pak Daily Times] A former army chief convicted of plotting a coup against Fiji's military regime was jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! for five years Wednesday, with a judge labelling his actions "treasonous and mutinous", reports said.
Former Land Force commander Pita Driti was found guilty last month of leading a 2010 plot to overthrow military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama and assassinate Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. While the coup never eventuated, High Court judge Paul Madigan said Driti had failed to show the loyalty and discipline expected of the Pacific nation's armed forces, the Fijilive news website reported. "It is a matter of surprise and sadness that at your age and with your illustrious career behind you that you should come to be involved in this seditious undertaking," Madigan said. He described the plot as "treasonous and mutinous". "Hence the the severity of this particular crime." The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation said Driti was sentenced to five years jail, with a four-year non-parole period. Prosecution witness Lieutenant-Colonel Manasa Tagicakibau told the court last month that Driti approached him in October 2010 seeking support for a plan to oust Bainimarama, who seized power himself in a 2006 coup.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[BBC.CO.UK] The US state department has said it is considering all options, including sanctions, towards Ukraine as the political crisis there continues.
It follows attempts by riot police to dislodge anti-government protesters from their strongholds in the capital.
The president said on Wednesday force would not again be used against peaceful protesters.
But his offer of talks to resolve the crisis was swiftly rejected by opposition leaders.
The weeks of demonstrations in the centre of Kiev have paralysed this country of 46 million people.
Both EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland were in Kiev on Wednesday and met protesters as well as members of President Victor Yanukovych's government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Canada vowed Tuesday to defend the North Pole and Santa Claus, insisting the mythical figure is a citizen, after Russia ordered its military to step up its Arctic presence.
Paul Calandra, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, cited Canada's claim of the North Pole to bash an opposition party in Parliament.
"We are defending the north further by making a claim on the North Pole," he said.
"We know that the (opposition) Liberals do not think that the North Pole or Santa Claus are in Canada. We do. We are going to make sure that we protect them as best we can."
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau agreed, saying: "Everyone knows that Santa Claus is Canadian.
"His postal code is H0H 0H0," he said, alluding to a mailing address assigned to Santa by Canada Post. The postal service responds each year to tens of thousands of children's letters from around the world addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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Whoa - the Russians want control of Santa's Milk-n-Cookies ...
#3
Well, the Russkis are all gonna get lumps of coal - dirty-burning, soot-belching, CO2-producing, global-warming coal - in their stockings in a couple of weeks. I'm with the Canadians. And Santa.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/12/2013 16:22 Comments ||
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...well, it was either Canada or France...my Loonie is on Canada...
[Pak Daily Times] The Indian High Commission on Wednesday announced that all persons travelling to India from Pakistain after January 30, 2014 are required to obtain Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) at least six weeks prior to their departure to India. In a blurb, the commission said that travellers from Pakistain to India after January 30 are required to carry their vaccination record, as evidence of polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination would be requested for entry into India. Once administered OPV remains effective for a year, after which vaccination should be taken again. According to the blurb, the step is being taken to safeguard India's polio-free status attained after sustained and large efforts and investment. It is applicable to all travellers from all countries where polio disease is endemic or where cases of polio are reported. It is also applicable to Indian nationals travelling to and from these countries, the blurb said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Though the incoming Chief Justice of Pakistain Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has announced he would reconsider the limits of the Supreme Court's suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... power, but outgoing CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has urged the apex court to continue taking notice of pressing issues where fundamental rights, particularly the right to life, are being threatened on a daily basis.
Addressing the Supreme Court's full court reference regarding his retirement, Justice Iftikhar also said that if the executive fails to fulfil its duty and due to lapses on its part the fundamental rights are threatened, the judiciary has a duty to act. "The first and foremost duty of the executive is to ensure adherence to rule of law in the country. If the Executive fails to fulfill its duty and due to lapses on its part the fundamental rights are threatened, the judiciary has a duty to act.
"It is often stated that the judiciary must enforce the constitution. It is mandated to protect the public against the violation of their fundamental rights, abuse of power and arbitrariness. In ensuring over the past few years, the judiciary has been trying to improve the system of administration of justice to meet the new challenges, faced by it," Justice Iftikhar said. He said that "in cases which have been instituted on grounds of public interest, we have often been criticised for adjudicating on policy matters which fall in the domain of the Executive".
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12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[IRISHTIMES] India's Supreme Court yesterday endorsed a colonial-era law from the 1860s criminalising gay sex.
In a major setback for gay rights campaigners, a two-judge bench reversed the 2009 Delhi high court ruling that struck down the Victorian law that enables jailing of homosexuals for up to 10 years.
In its 25-page judgment it decreed that courts should not intervene in this matter and that it was up to parliament to legislate on the issue of homosexuality.
The 1861 British law under which homosexual acts are criminalised in India also applied in Ireland until it was repealed in 1993.
Yesterday's ruling in India was in response to a petition by several Indian religious leaders opposed to the 2009 Delhi high court judgment which declared that banning homosexuality infringed the fundamental rights of Indians.
"We are very angry about this regressive judgment," Arvind Narayan, a lawyer for the Alternative Law Forum gay rights group, said outside the court.
"Such a decision was totally unexpected from the top court. It is a black day for the community," he added.
Dozens of gay rights activists burst into tears outside the court after the ruling was issued and hugged each other in consolation.
"We are back to square one in our fight for the democratic rights of gays" said Ashok Row Kavi of the Mumbai-based activist group Humsafar Trust.
He said gay rights activists would continue to agitate against the draconian law -- frequently used by a corrupt police force to harass homosexual couples -- by appealing to a larger Supreme Court bench.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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The 2013 Atlantic storm season has proved one of the quietest in decades with the lowest number of hurricanes since 1982 and none of them considered 'major', according to insurance broker Willis Re.
A review of the season by Willis Re, published on Thursday shows that the 2013 season saw only two storms - named Humberto and Ingrid - classified as hurricanes.
"A season without a major hurricane hasn't occurred since 1994 and the number of hurricanes this year was the lowest since 1982," the review said.
The official hurricane season runs between June 1 and November 30 and was predicted by many forecasters to be "active or above average", the report said.
Thus widespread food shortages threaten just at the same time that world populations are growing to new highs. Indeed, less favorable climate may be the new global norm. The Earth may have entered a new little ice age
[BUSINESSWEEK] Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said protests that forced her to call a snap election earlier this week won't lead to a military coup like the one that ousted her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, in 2006.
"I don't think the military would do that again," Yingluck said at a briefing in Bangkok yesterday. "Because the past experience doesn't give any answer."
The demonstrators accuse parties linked to Thaksin of vote-buying and Yingluck's administration of corruption and economic mismanagement. They have called for an appointed committee of "good people" to implement political reforms before handing power to a new government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Air force, once a highly respected military branch, is now being groomed to be narcistic Obama's nazis, snitches and sychophants. If he can't pull off having a massive federal police force, he is clearly hoping to groom the current military structure into a snitch and tell bunch in regards to fellow Americans.
#6
It's not a new tactic. NCIS has used 'plants' and informants for decades. The difference is that the tactics are tied to specific cases, information received, or at the request of a command, and not for trolling for unspecified cases of misconduct.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[An Nahar] Comet ISON, once optimistically called the comet of the century, is dead, the victim of a way-too-close brush with the sun. It was barely a year old.
[Pak Daily Times] Uruguay's decision to legalise marijuana is in violation of an international convention on drug control, a Vienna-based body set up to monitor government compliance with such treaties said on Wednesday.
[An Nahar] Canada vowed Tuesday to defend the North Pole and Santa Claus, insisting the mythical figure is a citizen, after Russia ordered its military to step up its Arctic presence.
