[BALTIMORESUN] More than 40 bicycles belonging to Baltimore's Recreation and Parks department for a bike-share program were stolen this week, and the activity has been suspended indefinitely, city officials said.
The bikes, which included children's bikes and adult-size blue beach cruisers, were stolen on Monday during the city's Ride Around the Reservoir program in Druid Hill Park. Recreation and Parks spokeswoman Gwendolyn Chambers said staff had set up the bikes to lend out when a large group of youths began stealing them. One staffer was kicked by a youth, though the injury was not serious, Chambers said.
"We don't want our staff in harm's way so we don't engage in fights with them," Chambers said.
Under the Ride Around program, which began in 2006 and expanded from one day a week to four days a week, people can borrow the bikes and helmets and ride through Druid Hill Park. Similar programs also operate in Carroll Park, Lake Montebello and at City Hall for employees during lunchtime. The program is also part of the city's Camp Baltimore summer camp. All of those programs, which serve about 3,000 people each summer, will be affected by the loss of the bikes, Chambers said.
The city is asking for the public's help to recover the bikes, and residents are asked to call 911 if they spot one of them. Officials said the bikes can also be dropped off at any city recreation center or at Recreation and Parks headquarters at 2600 Madison Ave. with no questions asked.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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A pity a small group of sub humans can destroy an activity for civilised people. Stamping down on this
level of criminality can stop gang blight.
#2
"and the activity has been suspended indefinitely, city officials said". Due lack of bikes.
When asked what the missing bikes looked like, the spokeswoman said "Bikes...they look like bikes".
Just as an aside, if a private organization was to have an event such as this, they would be required to hire cops to provide security. But being as it's the city, not so much.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/31/2014 7:30 Comments ||
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#3
"youths"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2014 11:14 Comments ||
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#4
Liberalthink: If we provide free stuff and ask people to be nice they will. Why would anyone want to steal a bycicle that has been lent? Lets all join hands an sing Kumbaya.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/31/2014 13:54 Comments ||
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You’d know the savory smell of bacon anywhere—rich, smoky, unctuous, and undeniably addictive. But why is bacon’s aroma so tantalizing? The American Chemical Society recently teamed up with the blog Compound Interest in a new video that breaks down the answer in scientific terms.
There are about 150 organic compounds in bacon that contribute to its heady scent, the narrator explains. When you throw bacon into a pan, the “sugars react with the amino acids in the bacon. It’s called the Maillard reaction, and it’s basically what causes anything you cook…to turn brown.”
When melting fat comes into the mix, baconÂ’s signature bouquet releases into the air (and you, naturally, point your nose in that direction).
#4
With all due respect for our visitors who avoid the swine, if we really wanted to make friends Voyager 1 would have its gold disk wrapped with applewood smoked bacon.
[An Nahar] A policeman's handgun went off accidentally when two officers held a safety demonstration at a kindergarten in China to mark International Children's Day, injuring one child and four parents, authorities said.
A gun discharged accidentally and a bullet hit the ground, sending shards of cement flying into the air, wounding five people, said police authorities in Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan.
They had injuries to their arms and legs and were rushed to hospital but doctors said none of the wounds was life-threatening, police added on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
The two coppers are being held in solitary confinement and three of their supervisors have been suspended, authorities said in a separate posting on Thursday.
"The Zhengdong cop shoppe offers deep apologies to those injured in the incident, their relatives and society," it said.
China bans its citizens from owning firearms and police have not normally been armed for day-to-day duties.
But many places including Beijing, Shanghai and the southern province of Guangdong have recently ordered police to patrol with guns in the wake of a string of attacks targeting civilians and blamed on separatists from the restive Xinjiang region, home to mostly Moslem Uighurs.
Weibo posters were outraged by the incident. "Didn't they give a thought to whether taking a gun to a kindergarten would scare the kids?" asked one user.
"How could a gun discharge without a cause? I suspect the police officer had never played with a gun before."
Another user added: "It's lucky it was not a bomb demonstration."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Despite the quiet forecast for this year's hurricane season, the director of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned Thursday not to let guards down completely.
Rick Knabb, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NHC, emphasized that even a single storm that hits land can have a huge impact.
He cautioned residents of all hurricane-prone areas, from the Caribbean to the United States, to be prepared, "because the consequences of not preparing are way too high."
Forecasters last week predicted the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season will be "near or below average," thanks to an expected El Nino phenomenon, with between eight and 13 tropical storms originating in the Atlantic Ocean, of which three to six could rise to hurricane strength.
But, "regardless of what the season forecast says, regardless of what 'El Nino' might do, regardless of how many years it has been since you've been impacted, you've got to prepare the same every year," Knabb said.
He stressed that seasonal forecasts -- which cover the period from June 1 to November 30 -- are not an exact science.
"Last year clearly showed that," Knabb said, referring to predictions of a more active than usual 2013 hurricane season, which ended up being the calmest on record since 1982.
"But even if we could issue a perfect seasonal forecast in terms of the overall number of hurricanes and storms, that still wouldn't tell you where the storms and hurricanes are going to go," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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In other words, NOAA doesn't have a clue, so buy SPAM and camping gear.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/31/2014 7:24 Comments ||
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[DAILYCALLER] This may come as a shocker to some, but scientists are not always right -- especially when under intense public pressure for answers.
Researchers with the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) recently admitted to experienced zoologist and polar bear specialist Susan Crockford that the estimate given for the total number of polar bars in the Arctic was "simply a qualified guess given to satisfy public demand."
Crockford has been critical of official polar bear population estimates because they fail to include five large subpopulations of polar bears. Due to the uncertainty of the populations in these areas, PBSG did not include them in their official estimate -- but the polar bear group did include other subpopulation estimates.
PBSG has for years said that global polar bear populations were between 20,000 and 25,000, but these estimates are likely much lower than how many polar bears are actually living in the world.
"Based on previous PBSG estimates and other research reports, it appears there are probably at least another 6,000 or so bears living in these regions and perhaps as many as 9,000 (or more) that are not included in any PBSG 'global population estimate,'" Crockford wrote on her blog.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
You can't bring yourself to say Lie can you !
Won't believe you the next time ... global climate change is a hoax too... liars.
#6
I was watching this cartoon on history channel the other morning. Talking animals, submarines, you know the bit. So five polar bears were hugging on a lone bit of ice in the ocean. They were bemoaning their fate as polar bears unknown that our heroes had a rescue inbound. One spoke canadian naturally and said something like, "I can't believe I swam all the way out here from Canada, eh?"
So a polar bear on good dry land eating spring dead things just loads up and starts swimming north to find floating ice. It was some hippy light version of Lifeboat.
#7
Hell the white terror can swim for days Swks' and actually snooze afloat. They are bad juju, ask any nseal, ask a Exkimaux. They are worser than alligators because they are cute when young. El al Ligato is never cute, even when they are tiny lizards.
#9
Crap it was dzny channel;
Good swimmers yes but can't otter a seal. It left the ayce Chinese buffet to go dumpster diving via 10 mile swim? After five minutes of pity polar pup party I was on the side of U-96.
Posted by: Spusose Darling of the Giants1586 ||
05/31/2014 13:51 Comments ||
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#13
I was at Point Barrow for temp duty...don't ask, I don't know, maybe I was being punished for something. Anyway, they had this base wide alarm with a distinctive siren. When that alarm went off, you turned off the lights, closed the blinds and were very quiet because it was a polar bear alarm. Polar Bears look at a wooden building the same way we look at a crate of salt cod...a container of something to eat.
We were told a polar bear looks at a human as just another meal and will not do any cute tricks for fish except maybe bite your arm off as they tear you head off with one of their paws.
Polar Bears are bad dudes and the apex predator of the artic.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
05/31/2014 14:03 Comments ||
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#14
You'll be one of the few who know what this monument represents Bill. Two great Americans from long ago, and far away.
#17
My yoof swears the locals told him that the polar bear would stick his arm down the ventilation hole of an igloo and kinda shop around. It was understood that maybe something small or old might need to be offered up to the paw of friendship. Sounds like a story to scare the n00bs but who knows?
#21
If you want to get rid of the useless,
Polar bears will not leave you excuseless:
"Bereft of the toothless
Is better than roofless!
Those cold-blooded bears are so ruthless!"
Sez a carefree, careless caregiver, heading into an easy but error-intolerant stretch.
#3
The Sheriff - from his post raid comments - is an authoritative idiot asshole. Not too hard to see how this happened with leadership like him
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2014 13:20 Comments ||
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#4
Remember, only highly trained police officers should be allowed to have firearms of any sort because they're the only ones who can be trusted with them.
I found it telling that, as usual, a 'confidential informant' manages to conduct all this drug business yet the raid found no evidence in the house or grounds...
The judge agreed to the no knock raid as their was supposedly an AK-47 in the house and the guy they were going after was known to be dangerous.
Ok... fair enough.
There were no children there during the investigation. The lady and her kid were there as their other place had burned down and had just arrived a short time before.
Ok... still fair. Sometimes intel gets missed as Mr. Murphy will fuck things up.
But then when SWAT showed up, the door was "barricaded" by something so they broke the window on the door and chucked in the flash bang. Only problem it was the crib blocking the door.
First fuck up... always check where you throw.
Then the suspect that they were after... wasn't even home.
Second fuck up. Only execute no knocks when you are sure the violent perp is at the house. Otherwise shit like this happens.
My personal take, the data gathering was good. The reasons for the raid were good. The execution sucked ass. As soon as SWAT got the call they forgot to check the situation at the target area, and the balaclavas cut off the oxygen to their brain and they reacted to the situation instead of taking a second to think about what was going on. They did their programmed training instead of using their training as a tool to work the problem.
The first rule of any no knock raid is once it is requested and a warrant request goes out, keep some goddamn eyes on the fucking target so you know who is coming in and out and make a goddamn positive ID before running in like testosterone filled teenagers.
#12
Never understood storming the fort unless you had to. Meth dealers are detestable, but where is the urgancy so vital that basic questions like, "Is the target at home?" were skipped.
#14
A vet was cut to pieces in his kitchen when a family member said guys with guns were running up to his back door and he grabbed a gun and aimed it at the men who just kicked in his kitchen door.
A No Knock warrant being executed on the WRONG HOUSE at that.
#15
Another fuckup: you don't throw in flashbangs. you "bowl" them in, underhand, into the center of the room. This is for maximum effect. Otherwise they might land in something which would reduce the effectiveness, or even completely negate it. Like landing in a trash basket. Or a crib. I know, because I was trained on the M84 and its predecessors. FM3-23-30 has all you need to know.
Military weapons should be reserved for military situations, and training should be held to military standards. Neither of these things were present.
This is what really burns me: this was just a fatass rural wannabe soldier, wearing a mil haircut and using military jargon thinking it makes him into a real warrior - he is stealing honor form those who really do fight the enemies. Sorry Sheriff lardass, you and your chickens hit big-mouth SWAT team members want to do that kind of shit, join the military and do it legit. Come play with the big boys - take on well-trained fanatic Jihadis, not unarmed low income civilians, you cowardly sumbitches hiding behind your badges and mil surplus weapons and uniforms.
A 3AM military tactical entry against a house that ended up with no weapons and no drugs in it, and none of the persons named in the warrant, and your "men" disfiguring and critically injuring an innocent child. Yeah, really good indication of your shit abilities and leadership.
Or maybe, you know, you could simply try real police work: surveil (stake out) the premises for a while, see who comes and goes and when they do, and actually develop intel about the place and people. You might discover that the suspects you want can be much more easily apprehended elsewhere, away from the structure. Which, in the end, they were.
Cops, your safety cannot be achieved at the cost of disfiguring, and killing, innocent civilians - that makes you as bad as the criminals you pursue, and worthy of the same scorn. Grow up and accept increased risk for yourself in order to protect and serve innocent civilians. And recall, there is a presumption of innocence, not guilt, that must be respected. This precludes use of military force in almost all cases. Its called police work, and its what cops used to do before they turned themselves into Sturmabteilung.
There is NO reason for any rural department to have a standing SWAT team and military weapons. Leave that to the state police, like Texas Rangers. Use it only when there is imminent loss of life or harm like a hostage situation, or when there is direct urgency of a serious violent crime, not a 2 bit meth dealer raid based of a confidential informant's report.
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/31/2014 21:51 Comments ||
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#17
Clarification: overhand toss is used for breaking through glass. this was was tossed through a partial open door from the battering ram - meaning it should have been slid along the floor thru the opening, not thrown in.
These cops were incompetent and criminally negligent. Too bad they can't be held legally personally liable. I want the cop that ordered this and the cop that threw the grenade to be living on the side of the road in a box - losing their home and everything they own.
#18
What OS said.
This whole sorry episode -- and at least twenty or thirty other no-knock-SWAT-sudden-entry-on-supposed drug dens where nothing is actually found ... this will be the death of respect for law enforcement among the general public. Especially the otherwise law-abiding, LEO-supporting and tax-paying element of it.
#20
State and local SWATs should be under the consolidate control of the state NG Adjutant General with the 'mother may I' from the state Attorney General. If you want military ops, you get military control.
[SANFRANCISCO.CBSLOCAL] A security guard at a high school in Oakland has been tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! and charged with a felony for an assault on a student in a wheelchair, caught on tape by school surveillance video cameras.
According to a letter from Oakland High School principal Matin Abdel-Qawi to parents, a student in a wheelchair was lingering in a hallway as security officers urged them to get to class on May 19.
One security offcer then ordered the student -- who reportedly suffers from cerebral palsy -- to move along and either the student didn't comply or was slow to do so, according to Abdel-Qawi. That prompted the security officer to push the wheelchair-bound student by the chair handles and the student objected by slapping the officer's hands away, Abdel-Qawi said. The incident then escalated even further, according to the letter:
In response, the security officer handcuffed the student and continued to roll him toward class. At this point, the student turned around in his wheelchair and spat in the face of the [security officer].
The security officer then struck the student several times before dumping him from his wheelchair onto the floor, at which time another security officer intervened to restrain his partner.
The security officer was arrested for assault, child abuse and other charges. Abdel-Qawi said the student was taken to the hospital for his injuries but was expected to recover. "I'm shocked and deeply hurt by this behavior and apologize on behalf of the staff at Oakland High," Abdel-Qawi said in the letter. "This incident is not reflective of the kind of culture we cherish at our school or how we treat one another."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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It's OK. The guard is training to be a TSA agent.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/31/2014 7:15 Comments ||
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"This incident is not reflective of the kind of culture we cherish at our school or how we treat one another."
What? Spitting in the guy's face?
That might set me off too.
True enough. But seems to me being a security officer in a high school requires a certain amount of water resistance. Or at least the composure and presence of mind not to beat the kid.
[AnNahar] Nearly half of Yemen's population is going hungry, the U.N.'s food agency warned Friday, saying it was scaling up its aid to the impoverished country. More than 10 million of Yemen's some 25 million inhabitants are either severely food insecure -- meaning they require food assistance because they cannot find enough food for themselves -- or teetering on the edge, the World Food Program said.
The country has one of the world's highest levels of malnutrition among children, with nearly half of all kids under the age of five -- a full two million of them -- stunted, WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told news hounds.
A million of those kids are acutely malnourished, she said.
The problem is difficult to tackle.
No, actually it's simple...
Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries,
...for a good reason, though our intrepid reporter won't dare say...
has been going through a difficult political transition since veteran president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... was ousted in February 2012 after a year of deadly protests against his 33-year rule.
The country is struggling with endemic poverty, political instability, large-scale displacement of Yemenis and refugee influxes from other countries, civil strife and rife insecurity.
The causes, deciphered, are culture, war, war, culture, war and war...
At the same time, Yemen is particularly vulnerable to international hikes in food prices, since it imports up to 90 percent of its main staple foods like wheat and sugar, Byrs pointed out.
Because of war, war, culture and war, farmers aren't secure and don't grow food in the country. That does tend to make the food supply 'insecure'...
In a bid to try to get the situation under control, WFP is scaling up its food assistance program to Yemen, where it already provided aid to some 839,000 people last month, she said.
Starting in July, the U.N. agency plans to launch a special two-year "Recovery Operation," aimed at addressing long-term hunger and helping ensure food stability for some six million people.
By giving food away. That's not what is meant by "food stability", I think...
Under the program, the U.N. agency will among other things provide malnutrition prevention and treatment, give 200,000 girls in school take-home rations of food, and will help create rural jobs, improve agriculture and water supplies, Byrs said.
You won't improve agriculture until you put the hard boyz down.
The aid increase will be costly, she said, with the agency estimating the two-year program will cost around $491 million (360 million euros).
So far however, WFP remains $117.5 million short to cover its operations just until the end of this year, Byrs said.
Because more and more of the wealthier nations of the world are getting tired of countries like Yemen not being able to get its act together.
Latvian Defense Minister Raymond Vejonis and his Uzbek counterpart Kabul Berdiyev discussed the bilateral cooperation prospects in Uzbekistan, Latvian media said. Vejonis visited Uzbekistan with a delegation accompanying Latvian President Andris Berzins, during his official visit to this country on May 27-29.
So basically they've got Russia surrounded...
Reportedly, the parties also mulled the regional goals on security in Ukraine and Afghanistan.
During the discussions, Minister Vejonis offered the Uzbek soldiers to train at the Baltic Defence College, demining school and the school for divers. Vejonis and Berdiyev also reviewed the transit of non-military cargos to Afghanistan through the northern route, while the Latvian minister urged reducing bureaucracy and accelerating the review of permissions.
Uzbekistan's Defence Ministry has not commented on the talks with the Defence Minister of Latvia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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So, they'll have joint military exercises, if they can come up with bus fare to half way across Russia.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/31/2014 7:40 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Friday it had lost contact with a second four-member international team in restive eastern Ukraine.
The Vienna-based security body said it had not heard from its team in the industrial region of Lugansk since Thursday evening when it was stopped "by gunnies" at a roadblock in the town of Severodonetsk.
"The team was comprised of four international monitors and a Ukrainian translator," the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission for Ukraine said in a statement posted on Facebook.
"The team was traveling in two cars."
The organization added that another four members who were detained by separatist rebels in the neighboring Donetsk region on Monday were still missing.
The self-proclaimed "people's mayor" of the Donetsk region rebel stronghold of Slavyansk confirmed on Thursday that the OSCE team that went missing on Monday was being held on suspicions of spying.
Another pro-Russian rebel from the little-known Southeastern Front claimed in a statement issued to the Interfax news agency earlier on Friday that his men had detained the team in Lugansk.
But a front man for the self-proclaimed "Lugansk People's Republic" contacted by Agence La Belle France Presse denied that the group was being held against its will.
"Nobody jugged You have the right to remain silent... the four OSCE observers," Volodymyr Inogorodskiy told AFP.
"They finished their work late (Thursday) night in Severodonetsk and we advised them not to leave the city because of the (security) situation," said the front man.
The Special Monitoring Mission currently has 210 unarmed civilian members from European nations and 70 local staff who are supposed to facilitate dialogue between pro-Russian separatists and state authorities.
But their mission has been treated with suspicion by the rebels throughout their seven-week insurgency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[VOA News] Pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces in eastern regions say they're facing a shortage of fighters, but they seem to have found a source hundreds of miles to the east, in Russia's conflict-torn North Caucasus.
Chechens, renowned for bloody tenacity and fearlessness during two wars in the southern Russian region over the past two decades, have joined in the battle against Ukrainian armed forces around the Donetsk region.
While the presence of battle-hardened Chechens may bolster the fight on the battlefield, it's an open question whether they will actually help or hinder the separatist cause.
"It kind of undermines the whole theme that this is a local battle," said Michael Bohm, a Moscow-based journalist and an author of a book on Russian psychology. "For the average grandmother, grandfather, for the average person, who is not particularly in favor of Kyiv but doesn't want to join Russia, they are not going to look very favorably upon this."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Foreign Jihadis are now repor flocking to the Black Sea Region in the wake of the on-going Ukraine-Crimea Crisis.
Russia will soon be under new Hard Boyz assault, while China's + India's is just beginning - THE US-WEST + VATICAN HAD BETTER PREPARE FOR A DAY FOR WHEN THE HARD BOYZ MAY GET DE FACTO CONTROL OF RUSSIA, CHINA'S, + INDIA'S NUKE ARSENALS.
Nostradamus + the medieval Crusader States called - they want their Castles back from Saladin.
[Once again, 1960's-70's = 2014 TOM CRUISE'S NEW FLICK "EDGE OF TOMORROW" here].
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PRESSTV - HEADS UP, THE US IS LOSING IN UKRAINE.
* SAME > [ABS-CBN News] [Pro-Hizb-ut-Tahrir]PAN-ISLAMIC RALLY URGES PAKISTAN TO LIBERATE JERUSALEM.
* FREEREPUBLIC > IRANIAN COMMANDER SAYS COLLAPSE OF US EMPIRE IS NEAR.
[DAWN] MINGORA: The Swat administration on Thursday recovered free textbooks from a warehouse in Amankot area of Swat and arrested an employee of education department allegedly involved in sale of these textbooks. "Hey! How much are yer free textbooks?"
"$12.95!"
Additional assistant commissioner, Swat, Hameed Khan told media persons that they conducted a raid on a warehouse at Amankot, Mingora, and recovered a large number of textbooks meant for free distribution among students of government schools in the district. "That's too much! Fella down the street has 'em for $9.99!"
"Yeah, but mine are better!"
He said that earlier three booksellers, selling textbooks at their bookstores, were arrested from different markets in Mingora city. He said that during interrogation they revealed that the books were supplied to them from a store in Amankot. The official said that he along with assistant director anti-corruption raided the warehouse at the residence of an education employee, identified as Khan Zeb, and recovered 107 sacks of the textbooks. He said that Mr Zeb was personal secretary to the district education officer (male). "Why're yours better?"
"Mine got green covers!"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
It said all you can eat for $9.99?
That is all you can eat for $9.99.
[DAWN] With travel restrictions imposed by the World Health Organisation on Pakistain to check the spread of the 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... virus just a day away from being implemented, another polio case was detected in the city on Thursday.
A 30-month-old girl, Malala, daughter of Nazeeruddin, is the sixth victim of the crippling viral disease the health authorities have confirmed in the city this year.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Police on Friday arrested four more suspects in the case related to the killing of Farzana Parveen outside Lahore High Court (LHC).
The arrested suspects included the deceased woman's uncle, two cousins and a man named Nasir.
Parveen was attacked on Tuesday outside the LHC building in Lahore by more than two dozen brick-wielding attackers, including her brother and father, for marrying against the wishes of her family.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah, Lahore High Court.
When I saw the headline I thought it was the Large Hadron Collider, and this was about time travellers. AGAIN.
[Ynet] Agressive desalination program has transformed perennially parched land into perhaps the most well-hydrated country in the region.
After experiencing its driest winter on record, Israel is responding as never before - by doing nothing.
While previous droughts have been accompanied by impassioned public service advertisements to conserve, this time around it has been greeted with a shrug - thanks in large part to an aggressive desalination program that has transformed this perennially parched land into perhaps the most well-hydrated country in the region.
Continued on Page 49
#8
Take the brine and let it flow to the Dead Sea. You will start replenishing the water level. On the way down it can generate electricity could be generated. A twofer.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/31/2014 12:47 Comments ||
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#9
Also a solution (heh) to the problem of rising sea levels. Yay, technology!
[An Nahar] A sleek, white gumdrop-shaped space capsule that aims to carry up to seven astronauts to the International Space Station and return to land anywhere on Earth was unveiled Thursday by SpaceX.
The Dragon V2, short for version two, is the first attempt by a private company to restore Americans' ability to send people to the orbiting space station in the wake of the space shuttle program's retirement in 2011.
"It's all around, I think, really a big leap forward in technology. It really takes things to the next level," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
SpaceX is competing with other companies -- including Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin -- to be the first commercial outfit to take astronauts to space, possibly as early as 2017.
Until then, the world's astronauts must rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of $70 million per seat.
The Dragon V2 was shown for the first time at a jam-packed evening presser in Hawthorne, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.
The shiny Dragon V2 sat on a white stage floor, as a scorched Dragon cargo capsule was suspended above, bearing the blackened markings of a capsule that had returned to Earth from orbit.
SpaceX's Dragon capsule in 2012 became the first private spacecraft to carry supplies to the ISS and back.
Since then, Orbital Sciences has followed with its Cygnus, a capsule shaped like a beer keg that can carry supplies to the space station but burns upon re-entry to Earth's atmosphere.
Musk said a key feature of the Dragon V2 is that it will be able to "land anywhere on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter."
The crew spacecraft will be able to use rocket propulsion and deploy legs to land, instead of using parachutes to make an ocean splash-landing the way the cargo capsule does.
It will however still have parachutes that it can use for a landing in case any engine problems are detected before touchdown on Earth.
The V2 also carries an improved heat shield and will be able to autonomously dock with the space station, instead of needing the space station's robotic arm to catch it and pull it in.
"That is a significant upgrade as well," Musk said.
Musk touted the reusability of the Dragon V2, allowing it to cut back on expensive space journeys.
"You can just reload propellant and then fly again. This is extremely important for revolutionizing access to space," Musk said.
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05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Thailand's junta chief on Friday ruled out elections for at least a year to allow time for political "reforms", and defended the recent military coup in the face of rising international alarm.
In his first televised national address after announcing the army takeover last week, Prayut Chan-O-Cha said the new military regime planned to work towards returning the nation of 67 million people to democracy in around 15 months.
The general, who was given crucial royal endorsement on Monday, said a first phase of around three months would focus on "reconciliation" in the ferociously divided nation.
A cabinet and new draft constitution would then be put in place to enact reforms during a second year-long phase. Only after this could elections be held.
"Stage three is a general election under an absolute democratic system that is acceptable to all sides. Laws will be modernised so that we can have good and honest people to run the country," he said.
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[AnNahar] An Iranian court has sentenced eight people to jail terms ranging from seven to 20 years for crimes including anti-regime propaganda posted on Facebook, an opposition website has said.
Kaleme, which did not cite a source for its report, said the sentences were delivered last week giving the eight Facebook users a combined 123 years in jail.
They were charged with "insulting the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and the authorities, anti-regime activities, sacrilege and spreading lies," Kaleme said.
There was no official confirmation of the court ruling and Agence La Belle France Presse could not independently verify the report.
Access to the popular social networking site -- along with others which Iranian authorities regard as un-Islamic, immoral or undermining the Islamic establishment -- is obstructed by a massive filtering mechanism.
But tech-savvy Iranians have resorted to measures, known as anti-filters, to circumvent the restrictions.
According to Kaleme, an Iranian-born British woman is among the eight sentenced to prison.
Roya Saberinejad Nobakht was reportedly jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in Shiraz last autumn for comments she had made on her Facebook page, and was sentenced to 20 years in jail.
The report comes amid an ongoing clash between the hardliners and moderates, backed by President Hassan Rouhani, over Internet freedom in Iran.
Rouhani argues against fears that the Internet and its social media platforms pose a major risk to the Islamic republic's cultural and religious values, saying it must embrace the technology to progress.
Earlier this month, he vetoed a plan to ban WhatsApp, preventing implementation of curbs sought by a hardline committee in charge of web censorship.
But his push for social freedoms has angered conservatives who hold sway over several key institutions, including the judiciary.
Last week, the authorities arrested six young Iranians for dancing to U.S. singer Pharrell Williams' hit "Happy" in a video that went viral.
The six were later released on bail.
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05/31/2014 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.
[BALTIMORESUN] More than 40 bicycles belonging to Baltimore's Recreation and Parks department for a bike-share program were stolen this week, and the activity has been suspended indefinitely, city officials said.
[An Nahar] A policeman's handgun went off accidentally when two officers held a safety demonstration at a kindergarten in China to mark International Children's Day, injuring one child and four parents, authorities said.
[An Nahar] Despite the quiet forecast for this year's hurricane season, the director of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned Thursday not to let guards down completely.
[DAILYCALLER] This may come as a shocker to some, but scientists are not always right -- especially when under intense public pressure for answers.
You'll be one of the few who know what this monument represents Bill. Two great Americans from long ago, and far away. 
[SANFRANCISCO.CBSLOCAL] A security guard at a high school in Oakland has been 
[An Nahar] A sleek, white gumdrop-shaped space capsule that aims to carry up to seven astronauts to the International Space Station and return to land anywhere on Earth was unveiled Thursday by SpaceX.
