PAGE 10 INTERNATIONAL

Non-invasive early test for Alzheimer's

2006-10-04T00:02:00.000-07:00

And, heeeee's back!

Lee Goldstein, an neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, may have discovered a non-invasive test for Alzheimer's disease, allowing treatment to begin before the onset of brain damage.

In 2003, Goldstein and his colleagues discovered that the exact same malformed amyloid beta proteins that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease are also found in the eye's lens and its surrounding fluid. Now, they have created two noninvasive tests that scan the eye for these telltale molecules to potentially detect the disease in its earliest stages.

Both tests safely and painlessly shine a low-power near-infrared laser into the eye. One test scans for clumps of the amyloid beta protein in part of the lens where they collect to form cataracts. In the other test, special eye drops that bind only to the molecules are used. They glow when hit by the laser. While the eye-drop test provides more detailed molecular information about the proteins, the other test yields more biophysical data, such as the number and size of the particles.

Man-Chimp breakup pinpointed

2006-05-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

By using genetic markers, scientists think they've found the point at which humans diverged from chimpanzees.
According to the new theory, the two groups split about 10 million years ago. then the two groups, um, reunited for a while, until a final split about 6 million years ago.
"It's a totally cool and extremely clever analysis," said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard. "My problem is imagining what it would be like to have a bipedal hominid and a chimpanzee viewing each other as appropriate mates, not to put it too crudely."
You've obviously never met a shepherd. Not to put it too crudely.

Hamas sanctions

2006-04-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Friday that the suspension of Western aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority would neither bring down his Hamas-led government nor break his people.

Why do people keep trying this?
It hasn't worked against Cuba, despite the fact that a) Cuba's an island, b) It's right beside the main blockading power, and c) it's been kept up for over a generation.

It has been said that insanity is trying the same thing and expecting different results.

April 1

2006-04-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

Today is April Fool's Day.
I doubt you'd believe anything I wrote anyway, so No News Today.
Enjoy yourselves, and don't fall down.

The US spites it's face again - Castro and Katrina

2006-03-24T19:06:00.000-08:00

Cuba finished 2nd in the World Baseball Classic. This normally would mean that the Cubans would have received 7% of the profits. Castro said he wanted to donate the money from the World Baseball Classic to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
But U.S. officials say Cuba isn't getting any prize money, in accordance with the 1962 U.S. trade embargo.

Talk about sour grapes! Hasn't this Castro-hatefest gone on long enough? The USA has made up with war criminals easier - and earlier - than this!
Another chance lost for America to prove they can be big about things.
At this rate, I'm going to start thinking that they can't be big about things.

Better a Refugee than a Pensioner

2006-03-23T18:06:00.000-08:00

This is in fact a forwarded message I received, but it seems to fit the format.

"Do not apply for your old age pension. Apply to be a refugee instead.
It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00 and each can get an additional $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00.
This compares very well to a single pensioner who, after contributing to the growth and development of Canada for 40 or 50 years, can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement. Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees! Let's send this thought to as many Canadians as we can and maybe we can get the refugees cut back to $1,012.00 and the pensioners up to $2,470.00 , so they can enjoy the money they were forced to submit to the Canadian government for those 40 to 50 years."

Pentagon developing cyborg bugs.

2006-03-19T18:22:00.000-08:00

The Pentagon's defense scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions.
The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled later.
This is the latest brainstorm from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which has a budget of $2 billion, and a mandate to keep US military technology ahead of rivals.

Well, now we know where some of the budget's $8 trillion is going.

Cloning the pancreas/Saving the Great Lakes

2006-03-17T20:49:00.000-08:00

Two stories today.

First, good news for diabetics. Scientists are on the threshold of cloning pancreatic cells. This could mean that a simple operation could restore a diabetic's ability to produce insulin. Expect in in a few years.

The bad news is, the Bush government has cut funding for a cleanup of the Great Lakes. Somehow, that 2.8 trillion dollar budget couldn't squeeze out enough to help the environment.

The Boomer, the Bad, and the Bush.

2006-03-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

"In order to win the war on terror, we've got to strengthen our relationships and friendships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East," Bush told a meeting of the National Newspaper Association in Washington.

Good luck finding one. I think they've all been implicated one way or another, from Morocco (the Spanish bombings) to Iran.
Thanks to CNN for the info.

Milosevec commits suicide.
People seem to think that the death, having disrupted his trial, will have repercussions. Why? Goering did the same thing during his trial. They just went on to the next defendant.
Anyway, I guess Milo felt he had nothing to lose. What's one more mortal sin, after all?

Also, farewell to Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Canadian hockey legend.

Canadian Website to correct America's opinion of Canada

2006-03-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

The Canadian Embassy in Washington is preparing Connect2Canada, an Internet site primarily that will provide weekly news highlights from Canada, Canadian positions on top issues, statistics and what U.S. journalists are saying about Canada.
Allow me to help with some of the news for Americans.
From the Globe and Mail:
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday the power to make cabinet appointments lies with his office and he won't turn relinquish it despite the threat of a pending inquiry by Canada's ethics czar into a former Liberal's move to the Tories' ranks."
"Canada won't “cut and run” from Afghanistan, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and there's no need for a House of Commons debate that could potentially sap the morale of troops overseas."

See, America? We're just like you in so many ways.

The Bonobo are becoming extinct

2006-03-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

The bonobos are dying out.
The bonobo, or pan paniscus, is native only to the vast rain forest in the Congo, living high off the ground in treetop nests. As few as 5,000 may now remain, down from an estimated 100,000 in 1984.
You know what bonobo are, although you probably think of them as chimpanzees.
True chimps, though, are big, often mean, primates. The movie and TV industry prefer to use the smaller, more friendly bonobos.
Tarzan's Cheetah was a bonobo. So are all the chimps you see wearing clothes and doing things in commercials, movies, and TV series.
The Congolese consider them delicious. And they don't believe all the hype about them being endangered.

Shows what a lack of education in the environment will get you.

Cyberlibel - watch what you say.

2006-03-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

Cyberlibel is the newest wrinkle in the evolution of blogs.
From now on, people who post defaming entries on their weblogs will face legal action.
From the Globe and Mail -
"Whatever the readership, libel lawyers and technology watchers say as more people use the Internet, the number of people getting in trouble for electronic words whether on websites and blogs, e-mails or electronic bulletin boards is also rising."
Also -
"The technology may be new but the law isn't.
“It's as though this person was putting up flyers or putting them under people's doors,” said Toronto lawyer David Potts, who specializes in the fast-growing field known as “cyberlibel.”
“It seems new because it's out in the ether, but cyberlibel is just a form of information warfare.”
Marc-Andre Blanchard of Gowling Lafleur Henderson said such cases are more prevalent, particularly in labour law, where collective agreements may make it difficult for a company to sue an employee they consider to be slandering them.
But that doesn't prevent disciplinary action.
“It's more and more common in labour relations,” Mr. Blanchard said, noting that many of the cases go unpublicized because the processes are rarely public."

Hopefully, I won't get into trouble for quoting the Globe and Mail.
But can you imagine what's going to happen to most of the American political blogs?

Diebold defrauds California; whistleblower arrested

2006-03-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

Stephen Heller, a whistleblower in Los Angeles, is in legal trouble,
Stephen Heller is alleged to have exposed documents in Jan. & Feb. 2004 which prove that Diebold was using illegal, uncertified software in California voting machines, and that Diebold's California attorneys (the powerful international law firm Jones Day) had told them they were in breach of the law for using uncertified software.
The documentss Heller is accused of exposing show that Diebold and their attorneys, Jones Day, conspired to mislead the California secretary of state, and that the lie they told was material, and resulted directly in the disenfranchisement of voters. Another document demonstrates that Diebold lied to the secretary of state when it represented that certain problems with its software were "fixed", when they were not fixed. The documents show that Diebold had been advised by Jones Day that what it had been doing with its uncertified software was illegal, and that Jones Day advised Diebold that it was subject to criminal prosecution. According to Bev Harris, author of the book Black Box Voting, the docs "provided evidence that the Jones Day law firm was helping Diebold to cover up the fact that they were installing uncertified software which, as it turns out, caused thousands of voters to be unable to vote just weeks later."
Diebold was knowingly defrauding the state of California.
Nonetheless, it is Heller who is being prosecuted by the District Attorney, on three felony charges. Diebold and Jones Day have not been charged.
In fact, Heller's lawyer believes the 2 year wait to file charges was due to the then-impending 2004 election, and that Diebold and their attorneys didn't want the information to be made public in the lead up to the election.

Thanks to The Huffington Post and Who Hijacked Our Country for the info.

Chocolate may reduce risk of death

2006-02-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death.
The researchers say, however, that it is too early to conclude that the chocolate led to better health. “It's way too early to make recommendations about whether people should eat more cocoa or chocolate,” said Brian Buijsse, a nutritional epidemiologist at Wageningen University in The Netherlands.

They're right, of course. The reduced risk of death may just be a result of having more to live for.

Al-Jazeera goes international/Fortune teller dodges cops

2006-02-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

A Two-fer today.
Al-Jazeera is set to launch its 24 hour English news channel, Al-Jazeera International. One of its first programs will feature Sir David Frost. He will be hosting a program from London, similar to his BBC program Breakfast with Frost.
Here's hoping the network doesn't bomb.
Meanwhile,
Sophie Evon, a fortune teller who preys on the lovelorn, and who has defrauded thousands of dollars out of people, skipped town just before being arrested in Toronto for extradition to the U.S. on first degree fraud charges.
Guess she has some talent at clairvoyance, after all.

Corpses harvested for their organs, skin.

2006-02-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

Reason #2936 why everyone should read more science fiction.
The owner of a biomedical supply house was charged along with three other men Thursday with secretly carving up corpses and selling the parts for use in transplants across the country.
Prosecutors said the defendants obtained the bodies from funeral parlors in three states and forged death certificates and organ donor consent forms to make it look as if the bones, skin, tendons, heart valves and other tissue were legally removed. Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke, who died in 2004, is believed to be one of the bodies so violated.
Michael Mastromarino, owner of Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, N.J., was charged along with Brooklyn funeral home owner Joseph Micelli.
The other defendants were Lee Crucetta and Christopher Aldorasi.
All four were charged with enterprise corruption, body stealing and opening graves, unlawful dissection, forgery and other counts.
Thanks to the Associated Press.

This sort of thing has been mentioned in various stories by Larry Niven, as well as Coma by Robin Cook. Maybe if our elected officials read more, they could make these things illegal quicker.

Joint US/Canadian naval exercise Monday

2006-02-18T19:06:00.000-08:00

Canadian warships and aircraft, including Canada's only operational submarine, will head out of Halifax harbor on Monday to begin naval exercises with the US Navy.
The three week mission is designed to test combat capabilities in anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare, and boarding operations.

An unnamed source prays that the test comes off without serious losses for the Canadian forces, which recently lost another Sea King helicopter, due to using it. Another source stated that the Canadian Navy will consider the exercise a success if the fleet manages to find the US fleet and return home safely.

Tiger poop the new critter repellent

2006-02-17T18:29:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the University of Queensland said on Friday they had successfully created a "critter" repellant out of tiger excrement.
"Goats wouldn't have seen a tiger from an evolutionary point of view for at least 15 generations but they recognize the smell of the predator," repellent creator Peter Murray said in a statement.
"If we can show this lasts weeks ... we've just tapped into probably a billion-dollar market. It's enormous," he said.
Murray said the repellant, made of fatty acids and sulphuric compounds extracted from tiger excrement, also worked on feral pigs, kangaroos and rabbits and might deter deer, horses and cattle too.
Thanks to Reuters for the item.

So why doesn't it work on humans? When did our midbrain stop being afraid of large striped maneaters?

Alternative therapies may be lethal in the end

2006-02-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

Ben Goldacre, columnist in The Guardian , points out the danger of using plants whose constituents had recently been discovered to have antibiotic properties, as preventatives, to stop you getting a disease.
From his column, Bad Science:
"Now my objection to this at the time was, in some ways, a subtle point. Think about how "superbugs", bacteria resistant to antibiotics, come into existence: they are exposed to antibiotics in lower doses, but killed off incompletely, some survive, and so, by a process of mutation and natural selection, the bacteria evolve to be resistant to the drugs. The bacteria that survive the battle are the ones that are most resistant.
Now I realise evolution may be a problem area for some of you, but this really is an incredibly clever process: for example, once new resistance genes have evolved, bacteria can then share these genes with completely different bacteria nearby. They literally swap genes between each other. This is happening right now, in your body. They are clever, clever little buggers. To prevent resistance to antibiotics, you want to keep your best antibiotics out of farming, and away from pushy patients with viral coughs, to give a couple of examples.
But this kind of thing doesn't occur to alternative therapists. And the problem is that malaria, for which (Susan Clark, columnist, What's the Alternative) was recommending artemisinin, prophylactically, without any evidence, to travellers, isn't a decadent westerners' playground. Malaria kills more than a million people a year, mostly children. As recently as 2004, in the Lancet, there was hope that artemisinin could be used to eradicate malaria for good, if used carefully to treat people with the disease.
And now, here is the punchline. Just this month the new chief of the World Health Organisation's malaria programme warned that the growing misuse of artemisinin - which you can still buy from the usual "health food" outlets - could create an incurable strain. The same thing happened with resistance to chloroquine, our magic bullet for malaria in the 1940s, of course: it's now virtually useless. Dr Arata Kochi from the WHO says any drug companies even selling the drug artemisinin alone, instead of with other drugs in the same tablet - which ensures a cleaner kill of the malaria in your blood - will face boycotts of their other products. This kind of threat is almost unheard of."

Malaria is only one of the many diseases we may be breeding into a super-bug through alternative therapies. If we don't start using methods that work, and stop using methods we wish would work, then our children are going to have to be satisfied with faith healing.

Millenium Falcon, yeah!

2006-02-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

Everyone else seems to be posting these contests, so . . .
What SF ship's crew would I fit into?

You scored as .

Moya (Farscape)

88%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

88%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

75%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

69%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

63%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

63%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

63%

Serenity (Firefly)

63%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

63%

SG-1 (Stargate)

63%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

56%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

25%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Hulk Smash Crime!

2006-02-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

54 year old Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk in the old TV show, has become an L.A County Sheriff's department reserve deputy.
Presumably, the idea is that victims of road rage, or armed street youths, will look at the arresting officer they're about to kill and say "Hey, I know you! I loved that show! I'm your biggest fan!"
Then kill him.
Oh, well that's California. The B list become cops, the A list become governors.

A Roundup of February Quotes

2006-02-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

From Salon.com, Rebecca Traister on Vanity Fair's Tom Ford issue:
"But let's get the cover out of the way: Rachel McAdams, one of the women scheduled to pose for this year's cover, arrived at the photo shoot only to learn that Ford wanted her naked. I had not thought a willingness to disrobe was a condition of appearing on the front of Vanity Fair, but reluctant ecdysiast McAdams not only lost her spot, she is mentioned in the magazine only as "a certain young actress" who "bowed out when the clothes started coming off," thus squelching "Ford's plan of having a gorgeous female threesome." There you have it, ladies, straight from Vanity Fair: We don't care if you star in three successful movies in one year; if you won't get naked for a "threesome," you can forget your spot in our pages!"

From The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, in a mock-interviewing Comedy Central's Rob Corddry as a "Vice-Presidential shootings analyst":
Jon Stewart: Rob, obviously a very unfortunate situation. How is the vice president handling it?
Rob Corddry: Jon, tonight the vice president is standing by his decision to shoot Harry Whittington. According to the best intelligence available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time there were quail in the brush. And while the quail turned out to be a 78-year-old man, even knowing that today, Mr. Cheney insists he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face. He believes the world is a better place for his spreading buckshot throughout the entire region of Mr. Whittington's face.
Jon Stewart: But why, Rob? If he had known Mr. Whittington was not a bird, why would he still have shot him?
Rob Corddry: Jon, in a post-9/11 world, the American people expect their leaders to be decisive. To not have shot his friend in the face would have sent a message to the quail that America is weak.
Jon Stewart: That's horrible.
Rob Corddry: Look, the mere fact that we're even talking about how the vice president drives up with his rich friends in cars to shoot farm-raised wingless quail-tards is letting the quail know "how" we're hunting them. I'm sure right now those birds are laughing at us in that little "covey" of theirs.
Jon Stewart: I'm not sure birds can laugh, Rob.
Rob Corddry: Well, whatever it is they do -- coo -- they're cooing at us right now, Jon, because here we are talking openly about our plans to hunt them. Jig is up. Quails one, America zero.
Additional thanks to Salon.com

Glenn Greenwald, on the Bush apologists:
"The blind faith placed in the Federal Government, and particularly in our Commander-in-Chief, by the contemporary "conservative" is the very opposite of all that which conservatism has stood for for the last four decades. The anti-government ethos espoused by Barry Goldwater and even Ronald Reagan is wholly unrecognizable in Bush followers, who – at least thus far – have discovered no limits on the powers that ought to be vested in George Bush to enable him to do good on behalf of all of us.
And in that regard, people like Michelle Malkin, John Hinderaker, Jonah Goldberg and Hugh Hewitt are not conservatives. They are authoritarian cultists. Their allegiance is not to any principles of government but to strong authority through a single leader...And as excessive as the Bush Administration’s measures have been thus far -- they overtly advocate the right to use war powers against American citizens on American soil even if Congress bans such measures by law -- I am quite certain that people like John Hinderaker, Jonah Goldberg and Jeff Goldstein, to name just a few, are prepared to support far, far more extreme measures than the ones which have been revealed thus far. And while I would not say this for Jeff or perhaps of Jonah, I believe quite firmly that there are no limits – none – that Hinderaker (or Malkin or Hewitt) would have in enthusiastically supporting George Bush no matter how extreme were the measures which he pursued..."

Ann Coulter, from her column:
"Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back.
The little darlings brandish placards with typical Religion of Peace slogans, such as: "Behead Those Who Insult Islam," "Europe, you will pay, extermination is on the way" and "Butcher those who mock Islam." They warn Europe of their own impending 9/11 with signs that say: "Europe: Your 9/11 will come" -- which is ironic, because they almost had me convinced the Jews were behind the 9/11 attack.
The rioting Muslims claim they are upset because Islam prohibits any depictions of Muhammad -- though the text is ambiguous on beheadings, suicide bombings and flying planes into skyscrapers. "

Ted Rall, from his column:
"Hypocrisy abounds: Everyone supports the free speech they agree with.
Which is why, in a nation with a truly free media, there is no line. To hell with the nanny media. Free speech is like a Ferrari: What good is it if you don't use it or if you barely use it, only driving it in town, in stop-and-go traffic? It's useless until you can head out to the Arizona desert and push it past 150 mph. Short of libel, slander and impersonation, anything goes--that is, if you believe in the First Amendment.
What if millions of people take offense? What if some of them turn violent, even murderous? So what? No one can make you angry. You decide whether or not to become angry. If journalistic gatekeepers worry about the mere possibility of prompting outrage, they'll validate mob rule and undermine our right to a free press, one that covers the controversial along with the bland."

From David Letterman's Top 10 Lists:
Top Ten Slogans For The New Sex Soda
8. "Goes down nice and easy...just like you"

Enjoy.

White House defends silence on Cheney accident

2006-02-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

The White House is defending its delay in disclosing Vice President Dick Cheney's weekend hunting accident, telling reporters Monday the focus was on making sure the man Cheney shot got medical attention.

See, this is just the sort of stupid statement that gets our goat out here on Page 10. It's not just the lie, but that it's such an obvious lie, and that they tell it to our faces.
"The focus was on making sure the man Cheney shot got medical attention." What, the White House doesn't multitask? Scott McClellan runs Cheney's ambulance, and so was unavailable to make a statement?
They didn't want anyone to know, because they didn't want any more bad press than what they have been getting lately. There. Was that so hard to say?
Instead, they make a bald-faced lie, and get more bad press, plus the attention of anyone with a late-nite talk show. Idiots.

Canadian Border Guards Flee

2006-02-11T18:29:00.000-08:00

For the third time in a month, Canadian border agents at Vancouver's Peace arch border crossing closed the gates and left their posts, after receiving a report of an armed American fugitive coming their way.
The border agent's collective agreement gives them the right to walk off the job if they believe their safety is threatened.
Canadian border agents are not armed.

On the one hand, one would think that their job included handling dangerous individuals trying to cross the border. Good thing the Army doesn't have their union negotiator.

To be fair, though, the report didn't mention what the fugitive was armed with.

Great Lakes becoming More polluted, not Less.

2006-02-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

The amount of dangerous materials being discharged into the Great Lakes has increased by 21% between 1998 and 2002. Environmentalists have blamed a false sense of security that has made us lax, along with increased output from industries that have grown during the rising economy.
The five biggest polluters were US Steel Corp, of Gary Ind.; Anheuser-Busch, Inc, of Baldwinsville, NY.; Imperial Oil, of Sarnia, Ont.; Eastman Kodak Co., of Rochester, NY.; and Parmalat Canada, in Winchester, Ont.
The biggest pollutants were nitric acid and nitrates, but other major pollutants include metals such as magnesium, nickel, and chromium, and Ethylene Glycol.

Tracking device to end car chases

2006-02-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

The Los Angeles police have unveiled a new weapon on crime.
Adhesive darts containing global positioning transmitters are to be supplied to selected patrol cars. Compressed air launchers will fire these darts at fleeing cars, allowing them to be tracked without the dangers of close pursuit.

Hope they didn't plan to patent these things - I saw Spider-Man using them back in '64.
And I'll bet Hollywood's crying - now they'll need something new for exciting scenes in movies.

"Eden" in Western New Guinea

2006-02-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

A "lost world" has been found in New Guinea.
The 3,000 square mile area in the Foja Mountains is never visited by indigenous natives. The animals there are unafraid of humans. Several new species have been discovered already.
The Indonesian Government is keeping the area off limits to most visitors - including prospectors and loggers.

We'll see how long that lasts. Environmentalism is for countries that can afford food and Ferraris. Animals not afraid of humans? They will be.

Blue light keeps you more alert at night. That's the color of the light bulb, not the beer, guys.

Confidential data? Not any more.

2006-02-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

Confidential information on hundreds of United States citizens, including social security numbers, health information and bank account numbers, is being sent mistakenly by fax to the offices of North Regent Rx, a herbal remedy distribution company near Winnipeg.
The company has been trying to stop the faxes from coming in, but has been unable to reach an agreement with Prudential Financial, the U.S.-based company that is the intended recipient.
The problem started as soon as North Regent Rx began operating 15 months ago. The company's toll-free fax number is almost identical to the number used by Prudential's insurance division, which receives faxes from doctors' offices about medical benefits given to patients with Prudential insurance.

In other words, insurance companies never move fast, even when it's in their own interests.

NASA's Head Investigator under Investigation

2006-02-05T17:41:00.000-08:00

According to the Washington Post, NASA Inspector General Robert W. Cobb is under investigation after subordinates complained that he failed to investigate safety violations and retaliated against whistle-blowers.
The Post said at least 16 people provided documents and written complaints about Cobb to Integrity Committee of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency.
Several sources also told the Post that Cobb suppressed audits and stopped investigations to avoid embarrassing NASA or its leadership.
Robert W. Cobb took office as NASA's Inspector General on April 22, 2002, following nomination by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the United States Senate.
Mr. Cobb was previously Associate Counsel to the President. In this role, he handled the administration of the White House ethics program under the supervision of the Counsel to the President and was responsible for administration of the conflict of interest and financial disclosure clearance processes for candidates for nomination to Senate-confirmed positions.
Prior to joining the Office of the Counsel to the President in January 2001, Mr. Cobb worked for almost nine years at the United States Office of Government Ethics.
Prior to Government service, he worked for five years as an associate attorney at Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver.

Church Arsonist in Alabama

2006-02-03T18:44:00.000-08:00

Investigators are trying to determine if a string of fires at three churches in Bibb County, Alabama, were arson. No one was injured in the blazes.
"We're clearly investigating these as arson," said Ragan Ingram, assistant state commissioner of the Alabama Department of Insurance, which includes the state fire marshal's office.

You know, if I were a Muslim terrorist, I would probably set fire to churches.
Where's the DHS in all this? You'd think they would put in a token appearance, at least.

Birds do it, BS do it.

2006-02-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

About 100 mobile phones belonging to top Greek military and government officials, including Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis and his wife, the ministers of foreign affairs, defence, public order and justice, many of Greece's top military and police officers, foreign ministry officials and some journalists and human rights activists, were tapped for nearly a year beginning in the weeks before the 2004 Olympic games, Greek government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said at a news conference Thursday.
Mr. Roussopoulos said it had not been possible to identify who was behind the tapping, discovered in March 2005.

Probably not the NSA - we'd have heard about it by now.

The First Promise is Broken.

2006-02-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Why does he even bother?
In his State of the Union speech, President Bush promised to reduce America's dependence on Middle Eastern oil, by 75%, by 2025.
Forget it.
Bush's energy secretary, Samuel Bodman, said the president's real goal is to reduce foreign oil imports from anywhere, not from the Middle East in particular.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute's Myron Ebell, director of energy policy, said "As bad as the policies proposed by President Bush are, the addiction rhetoric is much worse. President Bush might as well have said, 'We're addicted to prosperity, comfort, and mobility, and I've got the policies to do something about it.'"
"The goals and methods the president announced in his State of the Union address will be hindrances and obstacles to creating a bright energy future for American consumers. They will interfere with the working of the market that provides incentives for increasing supplies and for technological innovations. In taking these steps in the wrong direction, President Bush also seems to have forgotten the positive energy policies that he has promoted in the past. These include removing the political and legal obstacles to exploiting America's vast conventional energy resources, such as opening portions of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas development."

In other words, shut up about all this alternative fuels crap and let us get back to making obscene profits.

Don't Draw Mohammed

2006-02-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

An apology from Copenhagen newspaper Jyllands-Posten over caricatures of Mohammed they published last September has apparently not worked. Another bomb threat was received on the evening of Jan 31.
American pundits have blasted the Muslim critics, citing their religious intolerance to free expression as a symptom of their problems.
In other news, the TV show The Gospel According to Daniel has been pulled by NBC, due to complaints from fundamentalist groups about the depiction of Jesus.

Lohan gets a tattoo

2006-01-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

Lindsay Lohan, the 19-year-old singer/actress/celebrity, has had the word "breathe" tattooed onto her wrist. The choice of body art may have to do with either her New Year's asthma attack, her smoking habit, or her unfamiliarity with the word "think".
An unnamed source confirmed that, no, she didn't choose her wrist because her butt is full.

Female guppies go through menopause. If they live that long.

Did Jesus live only 1,000 years ago?

2006-01-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

That is the claim of Florin Diacu, and his counterpart, Anatoli Fomenko.
They have matched descriptions of human events in ancient documents with astronomical data, such as eclipses. The results show that the standard dates we accept for ancient events, based on Greek, Roman, biblical, and other histories, may be off, and that, if you add in bad translations of dates, medieval "fixes", and plain old errors, then our current history, the number of years since the birth of Christ, may only amount to one millennium.

Look for The Lost Millennium, by Florin Diacu, in bookstores.

Canadians are Liberal and Hedonistic

2006-01-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

Paul Weyrich, of the conservative Free Congress Foundation, said today that Canadians have become so liberal and hedonistic that the public ethic in the country immediately could not be reversed. (italics mine)
I suppose that means the US is doomed. Anyone who is aware of the current top ten TV programs in the country knows how hedonistic Americans have become.
What? You mean that doesn't make sense? Oh, dear.
Unfortunately, Mr. Weyrich neglected to explain what he meant by "public ethic" or "hedonistic" in this context. Canadians as a group are neither decadent nor corrupt.
Nor are they stupid enough to elect a pig in a poke. They don't overlook past performances, nor excuse behavior in their leaders just because of party loyalty - something CERTAIN individuals south of the border could and should try sometime.

A Sign of the Apocolypse

2006-01-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

This weekend's conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology will see data from a study in which dedicated Democrats and Republicans were scanned by an MRI machine while presented with facts critical of John Kerry and George W. Bush. The brain scans showed that the participants did not use the reasoning portions of their brains. Instead, they used the emotion circuits.

This is not a funny story. This is a report that shows that certain people CANNOT - WILL NOT - think!
Will not think about their candidate. Will not harbour the idea that their candidate might be wrong. Wrong about anything. No matter what proof is offered.
And these people are the people who run the campaigns, put up the signs, write the blogs.
No wonder they all seem one sided. No wonder none of them, on either side, ever says "Wow. I guess I was wrong about this." This study implies that these people are incapable of such a change in opinion. They only feel emotions. Loyalty towards their champion, or anger against his detractors.
That's what's powering politics in the United States right now.
Wow.

Walking backwards has been used successfully to treat lower body problems - back, hip, and leg pains.

Political Perks in Canada

2006-01-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

Canada has just elected a new government.
Want to know what each new member of Parliament gets for winning?
- $144,300 salary
- $275,000 staff budget, or thereabouts.
- $258,100 office budget
- free Blackberries, day-care, train rides, and cellphones.
- travel budget of $20,000 per year.

On the plus side, their Blackberries will be useless soon.

Next pregnant firefighter can breathe easier

2006-01-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

A firefighter who was forced to leave her newborn baby in order to take a promotion exam says the department could have made things easier by letting her take the test at the hospital.
The Houston Fire department stated that it is considering changing the rules to accommodate unusual situations like this one. The problem was the rule that forced all participants in the test to take it at the same time, in order to prevent earlier testees from passing the answers on to the next set.

Solution 1) Create several thousand questions. Let a computer print up a random set for each participant.
Solution 2) Only allow honest firefighters to take the test.

Gun that Won the West now history?

2006-01-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

U.S. Repeating Arms Co. Inc. said Tuesday it will close its Winchester firearm factory.
The company has been plagued by slumping firearm sales. More than 19,000 people worked there during the Second World War, but the plant employs fewer than 200 now.

Imagine that. A gun that isn't flying off the shelves.
Guess with all the Glocks and assault rifles on the market, the John Wayne gun is history.
So much for the idea that most people buy guns to hunt with.
You hunt with a Winchester. You murder with a Glock.

Rent a Sophomore - his skin, anyway.

2006-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

Four college students from Arizona State University are offering their bodies for ad space.
Kyle Kittleson and his four buddies hope to raise money for Spring Break by auctioning off their skins on eBay. Bid right, and they will wear your logo, email address, or promotional material. One buyer per body, however.

With their luck, all they'll get is four liposuctionists and the makers of "Almond Joy".
Sometimes you feel like a nut . . .

A "shonky molly-dooker" is what an Australian might call a left-hander.

Canada considers polygamy

2006-01-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

A report by three law professors to the Canadian government has recommended that the laws against polygamy be repealed, in order to protect the rights of women in multiple spouse marriages. The Canadian government does not seem to be considering the subject; the report was only released to the media through the Freedom of Information Act.

Yes, a woman was one of the professors. No, polyandry was not mentioned. Yes, Canada is known for its permissiveness. No, there are better ways to insure the rights of women in fringe religious groups.

No, nobody needs more than one set of inlaws at once.

Satanist for Governor

2006-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Jonathon Sharkey, a satanic priest, plans to run for governor of Minnesota as a member of the Vampyres, Witches and Pagans Party.
He states that he drinks blood, and considers the Christian God his mortal enemy. He has also filed to run in the 2008 Presidential Election.

An unofficial spokesperson stated today that he plans to run on the slogan of "Why settle for a wannabe, when you can elect a true evil madman to the White House?"

Chinese cars coming to America

2006-01-12T00:52:00.000-08:00

By 2008, at least two Chinese companies will be selling cars in the United States.
Geely (pronounced Jee-ly) will be marketing a sports car and a compact. Chery will be marketing five models, including a convertible and a utility vehicle.
Geely's 7151 CK compact sedan was displayed at the North American International Auto Show. The Geely model made for export to the US is expected to cost around $10,000, while the Chery's US models are expected to sell for 55% of a comparable US car.

China's trade surplus is now $101.9 billion. Attention parents: the ideal gift for your kid this year would be a Chinese tutor. Before he hires you to teach HIS kid.

Computers will soon sense your emotional state

2006-01-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany are working on computers that can sense the emotions of their users. They use, among other things, special gloves equipped with sensors to record your heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing rate.

So if you're looking at a x-rated site and the computer goes down, you now have a brand new dirty joke.

Today's factoid: A survey of churchgoers discovered that, when asked for their favorite saying from the Bible, gave "God helps those who help themselves" as their number one choice.
That saying does not appear anywhere in the Bible.

4 year old banned from airlines.

2006-01-06T01:10:00.000-08:00

Four year old Edward Allen was almost prevented from boarding a plane for a visit to his grandmother, last Dec. 21, because Continental Airlines had his name on a list - the Transportation Security Administration's "no-fly" list, established immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, which is supposed to prevent people who may have terrorist ties from boarding commercial flights.
Other names that have appeared on the no-fly list are those of Rep. John Lewis and Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Page 10 finds this story interesting for several reasons.
1) How did people with names like Lewis, Kennedy, and Allen get onto a list of people who may have terrorist ties? These are not the surnames you expect to find in the Baghdad phonebook.
2) A name like "John Lewis" is pretty common - how many people have been kept off airplanes because some guy in NY or somewhere made a deal in the Middle East once?
3) What good is this list, anyway? Supposed the real Edward Allen, friend of Osama, tried to board a plane, was turned away, and complained. Would he eventually be allowed to board, or is there somebody, somewhere, who can point to this particular guy and say "You're the one we intended to ban from flying, not all those other guys!"?
4) Is the name ever taken off if the actual person with terrorist ties is arrested and sent to prison? Or do people still get turned away for having the wrong name, even though Mr. Right Name is gone?

Page 10 would like to know.

Robertson Strikes Again!

2006-01-06T00:40:00.000-08:00

"He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'" stated Pat Robertson, speaking of Ariel Sharon today.
He also compared Sharon's fate with that of Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the Oslo peace accords that granted limited self-rule to Palestinians. "It was a terrible thing that happened, but nevertheless, now he's dead," said Robertson.
Robertson has not yet apologised for today's statement. An unnamed source blames the delay on the difficulty of getting Mr. Robertson's shoe out of his mouth.

Oh, and to Angell Watts, the Robertson spokeperson who said, concerning people like me who are making fun of Mr. Robertson: "What they're basically saying is, 'How dare Pat Robertson quote the Bible?'"
Where in the Bible does it mention smiting leaders for signing peace accords, or withdrawing from disputed lands, or, for that matter, where does it mention assassinating South American leaders, Ms. Watts?

The Obligatory Year End List

2006-01-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

At this time of the year, Page 10 is usually blessed with an overabundance of goodies - and, unlike the fruitcake, none of them have to be refrigerated. Here are the editor's picks for this year.

In January, a 1.2 million RV was unveiled that can protect against hard radiation, chemical, and biological attacks. One wonders where these guys plan to go on vacation. And in Fort Worth, an drunk woman involved in a collision got out of her car to have a look at the damage, and was killed when a beer truck ran into her. The truck driver was also drunk. Guess Bud doesn't make you Weiser after all.

In February, Prince Charles wedded Camilla, and the fairy tale finally ended.

In March, Congress approved a bill to allow parents to filter out obscenity, sex, and violence out of DVDs. Thereby killing off that end of the movie business, too. Also, Knoxville, Tenn., prosecutors ordered 582 parents of continually truant students to a meeting to tell them they needed to get their kids to school. 241 parents didn't show up.

In April, The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, after days of meetings, failed to come up with any ideas for reducing Third World debt. An unnamed source confided in us that someone almost mentioned paying third world workers proper wages for things like crops, T-shirts, and shoes, but was shot by department store moguls before getting into the building. And, a report this month claimed players of the online role-playing game Second Life have actually paid money to online-game detectives to learn whether their mates are committing "virtual adultery" with other players' characters. Get a Second life, guys!

In May, Star Wars Episode 3 premieres, shocking fans with its revelations. And Justin Breakspear, 18, is charged with illegal possession of three firearms, one of which, a .380-caliber pistol, is tattooed on his hip.

In June, The US announced plans to begin producing Plutonium 238 again, also stating that it is to be used for "secret missions". Given the fact that they can't even keep things like the names of agents, the existence of foreign prisons, and illegal surveillance programs a secret, one wonders how they intend to conceal a mushroom cloud the size of Mt. St. Helens. Oh, well. Oh, and Kentucky officials selected the state's goat show in Erlanger to test its emergency anti-terrorist program. Said a Kentucky Homeland Security official - really! - "We try to focus on what really matters to Kentucky." No chicken, this guy.

In July, a survey showed that 12% of Americans believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. Thus explaining much about the Religious Right. And, French bus line Transports Schiocchet Excursions filed an unfair-competition lawsuit against a group of cleaning ladies, who began car-pooling to their jobs. The bus line wanted the ladies fined and their cars seized. An unnamed source states they dropped the suit after a horse-drawn carriage owner threatened his own suit.

In August, British troops in Iraq are issued germ fighting underwear. Apparently the terrorist fighting underwear wasn't ready yet. Also, South Korean scientists announce that they successfully cloned a dog. And that he was delicious.

In September, a restaurant in China selling illegal tiger meat steaks turns out to be selling donkey meat soaked in tiger urine. According to sources, the cooks were arrested for fraud - and the customers for cannibalism. Also, weatherman Scott Stevens of KPVI-TV in Pocatello, Idaho, quit his job in order to spend more time proving that Hurricane Katrina was caused by a Russian-made electromagnetic generator employed by the Japanese Yakuza in retaliation for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. An unnamed source laughed at him.

In October, 20 year old Tyler Ing enters the record books for having the world's longest nipple hair - three and a half inches long. Also, we learned of a FEMA truck, supposed to bring ice to New Orleans, which a) went to Greenville, Pa., then b) drove to a Carthage, Mo., FEMA facility, then c) drove to Montgomery, Ala., then d) went to Camp Shelby in Mississippi, then e) went to Selma, Ala., then f) went to Emporia, Va., then finally went to g) Fremont, Neb., where the ice was put into storage.

In November, pirates off the Horn of Africa attack a cruise ship, only to be driven off by loud noise. An unnamed source claims that plans to equip future cruise liners with Nine Inch Nails CDs for defense have been halted by claims that they would violate the Geneva Convention. A spokesperson for the band complained "They aren't real nails, you idiots!". And in a supreme case of cosmic irony, Star Trek actor James "Scotty" Doohan's ashes are not shot into space on schedule, due to mechanical problems with the rocket.

And, finally, in December, researchers announce that they have successfully injected mice with human brain cells. No increase in intelligence has been reported. And, judging by the events of the past year, none ever will be.
Happy New Year.

Fake Drug cover-up a worldwide health risk

2005-12-29T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that around 10 percent of all available medicines are now faked in a racket earning $35 billion a year. A database of all the fake drugs discovered by the world’s 18 largest drug companies is kept at the Pharmaceutical Security Institute, but this information is not available to the media or the public.
Professor Nicholas J. White and Dr. Paul Newton of Oxford’s Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine concluded that most fake-drug data is kept secret because drug companies fear that publicity will harm sales of brand-name drugs in a fiercely competitive business.
China, Southeast Asia, Russia, India, and the Middle East are major manufacturers of fake drugs. Nigeria, the hub of West Africa’s fake-drug trade and a country notorious for corruption and violence, destroys tons of fake drugs every month. A typical list includes faked versions of products from GSK, Pfizer, Hoffman La Roche, Novartis, Unilever, Janssen, Astra Zeneca, and Upjohn.
High profits, low costs, minimal legal risks, and little publicity are drawing crime gangs away from arms and narcotics. High-tech photocopiers turn out perfect drug packaging for every type of drug. Out-of-date and damaged drugs get relabeled and sold. When GSK put holograms on its Halfan, trying to stop the counterfeits, the criminals faked their hologram.
Once taken, a fake pill made of rice starch or water is virtually untraceable in the body.
Anti-malarial drugs are a very common target, and probably the reason for the current upswing in the disease. The use of fake drugs is helping the malaria parasites to quickly mutate to become resistant to new drugs.
And just in case you think it can't happen here: on December 5, 2002, Kansas City pharmacist Robert R. Courtney pleaded guilty to diluting the cancer drugs Gemzar, made by Eli Lilly, and Taxol, made by Bristol Myers-Squibb. Since 1992, Courtney had diluted 72 different medicines, affecting some 400 doctors and more than 4,000 patients. 17 died.

We spending so much to prevent terrorists from flying more planes into buildings. We give up freedoms to stop terrorists from killing a few hundred people. How ironic if millions die from terrorists selling fake drugs, while we ignore them.

My thanks to The American Prospect Online for most of this information.

Home Schooling vs. Universities

2005-12-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

A lawuit claims the University of California is biased against students who were home-schooled in, among other things, the tenets of creationism. The University claims that the students do not meet their science requirements; the parents claim that the university is discriminating against their kid's religion.

This is, I think, only the tip of the iceberg. Home schooling has no set standards; only state schooling does. What happens when students applying for admission start saying things like:

"My mother didn't want me learning anything about that subject. She says it's filthy."
"Humans had H-bombs in ancient times. My teacher showed me a book . . ."
"Only commies think that."
"My teacher said that the Holocaust never happened."
"My teacher said that history was rewritten by the blacks and liberals to make it look like blacks were slaves once, so they can use guilt to dominate whites."
"Psychiatry is a hoax. Only EST works."
"Grades are a mysogenistic system of diminishing achievements. My empathic and psychic leves are sufficiently advanced for higher education."

And so on.
No doubt, new "universities" will spring up, willing to take these paying students, and issuing them whatever papers they want. Then we will start hearing about businesses being sued for not recognizing degrees from Fred's University, or whatever.

There are standards.
A degree means you have been taught this and this and this - belief not included.
When you can get a degree for being taught anything, correct or not, then no degree is worth anything.

Mistletoe shortage

2005-12-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

A report from England states that overcutting of this rare plant is making it even more rare, to the point that supply may not be able to keep up with demand.

Two words. Plastic ornament.

Nuclear Power a short term fix

2005-12-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

It is estimated that global exploitable reserves of uranium will likely be depleted within 30-40 years. If all the world’s existing fossil fuel based power stations were replaced by nuclear, there would only be enough uranium for 3-4 years.
The global nuclear industry requires approximately 68,000 tonnes of uranium ore a year to operate, and nearly half of all uranium supply is now provided from military sources.

In other words, we need more than reactors to kep us going after the oil runs out.

Sources:
Uranium Information Centre, www.uic.com.au. WISE-Uranium, www.wise-uranium.org.

Nuclear Energy: the Energy Balance, Jan-Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith, 2005. Nuclear Monitor, WISE/NIRS.

Merry Christmas to Conrad Black

2005-12-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

Lord Conrad Black, on trial for several counts of fraud over allegations he and four other former executives at Chicago-based Hollinger International Inc. took $84-million (U.S.) from the company, acted almost like a Hollywood star yesterday. He told reporters "It's going to be a great trial."
Edward Genson, one of his lawyers, said “When this thing comes to trial, and it's going to come to trial, they are going to find, and that is the jury and all you guys, that he didn't do a darn thing wrong,” Mr. Genson said. “We are going to have an opportunity to show that all of this negative publicity has been unjustified, that he didn't commit any crime.”

Why they're trying him before trying Ken Lay is a mystery. But then, they tried Martha Stewart before Ken Lay, too.
Maybe it is who you know . . .

Things go better in Columbia

2005-12-15T15:16:00.000-08:00

A company in southern Colombia has created a golden, carbonated drink made from coca leaf extract called Coca Sek, or Coca of the Sun. They plan to market it as an alternative to foreign soft drinks.
"Six years ago we took on the job of trying to re-establish the good name of the coca leaf, which is a plant with enormous medicinal properties," said David Curtidor, head of the company.
Mr. Curtidor also said the drink is a political statement against companies such as the Coca-Cola Co., which "symbolizes imperialist domination."
The amount of cocaine is miniscule, if any.
The drink will not be exported into the US, due to restrictions against importing anything containing raw coca.

I wish them luck. If their sales go worldwide, there may not be enough coca plants left to be turned into narcotics.

Policeman tasers partner over pop dispute

2005-12-15T13:42:00.000-08:00

A police officer in Hamtramck, Mich., has been charged with using a Taser on his partner over whether they should stop for a soft drink.
Ronald Dupuis began arguing with partner Prema Graham after Dupuis demanded she stop their car at a store so he could buy a soft drink. The two then fought over the steering wheel, and Dupuis hit her leg with his department-issued Taser.

Another example for the "If you take away their guns, they will fight with knives." folder.
One can only imagine what would have happened if these two had been members of a SWAT team.

Principal of Space Travel

2005-12-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

Victoria Principal is set to be the first female tourist in space.
The actress and former start of Dallas has apparently paid out $200,000 to British businessman Sir Richard Branson, in order to be on his first commercial space flight in 2008.
Tom Hanks also said to be interested.

An unnamed source stated that William Shatner withdrew his request for a ticket upon learning that he would not be in command.

Actually, I hope this catches on. A new frontier may be just the thing our species needs to distract it from idiocy.

Can we become immortal?

2005-12-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

Since 1900, the average human lifespan has increased 60%, due to, among other things, education on hygene and new medicines. New research may extend this generations lifespans by 500%.

Meanwhile, obesity, violence, and poverty are doing their best to reverse the trend.
Either way, we need to really look into better nursing homes.

Ban the Bombs

2005-12-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

Chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said Saturday, in accepting the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, that we must ban nuclear arms worldwide.

1) duh.
2) Most terrorists are making the switch to biological weapons anyway - no need for exotic metals and big reactors, just a little lab and some pond scum. Oh, and some germs for the pond scum to breed into bioweapons.

I hope Mr. ElBaradei is careful - 30 years ago this week, the last man to say "Give peace a chance" was gunned down.

Ethiopia to gain it's own sea

2005-12-10T05:47:00.000-08:00

The Afar desert is being torn off the continent at a rate of about two centimetres each year.
A fissure, now four metres wide, formed in three weeks after a Sept. 14 earthquake in a barren region called Boina, some 1,000 kilometres northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa.
Believed similar to the basin of the Red Sea, the split is the beginning of a long process that will eventually lead to Ethiopia's eastern part tearing off from the rest of Africa - in about a million years. Scientists plan to monitor the process.

An unnamed associate states she is "fairly certain" that the armed disputes in the area will finally be brought to an end once the sea forms. She also hopes to be alive to see the monitoring process through, although she admitted this is "unlikely."

UFO Anniversary

2005-12-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

On Dec. 9, 1965, in Kecksburg, about 50 kilometres southeast of Pittsburgh, something many believe was a UFO landed. A metal "acorn", about four metres high and three metres in diameter, landed in the woods. Military personnel cordoned off the site and removed the object, which the military later called a meteor.
Two years ago, Leslie Kean, an investigative reporter, sued NASA two years ago under the Freedom of Information Act. Apparently, NASA studied whatever it was came down, and declared it was a Soviet satellite. But government records documenting it have been lost.
Ms. Kean doesn't believe them. She says an expert, Nicholas Johnson, NASA's chief scientist for orbital debris, studied the orbital paths of known satellites in 1965, and determined that it could not have been a manmade object.

Gee - could it be the government is lying?
The truth is out there.

Quebec hockey

2005-12-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

Canada's Bloc Quebecois, the only party outside of the third world devoted to fragmenting its own country, yesterday began its election campaign by promising to ask for a Quebec national hockey team. Citing the fact that both Scotland and Wales both had national soccer and rugby teams, despite being a part of Great Britain, the Bloc leadership called for a Quebec hockey team to compete alongside Team Canada.

Well, I noticed them.

Palistinians corrupt?

2005-12-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

Reporter Abu Toameh of the Jerusalem Post states he is mystified by the billions of dollars that the U.S. and other countries sends to the Palistinian Authority, a group that refuses to abide by any conditions imposed on the receipt of that money.
“It’s your money, don’t you care?” he asked the American audience. "You keep rewarding gangsterism and violence with increasing levels of funding, so it’s no wonder the Arab Palestinian leadership doesn’t reform."

Apparently the man has never heard of Ken Lay, or he wouldn't be so suprised.

Thanks to Power Line for this story.

Sexsomnia grounds for acquittal

2005-11-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

Jan Luedecke, 33, was acquitted Tuesday of sex assault after an Ontario judge ruled he was asleep while committing rape. A physician said he has "sexsomnia", a condition where sufferers behave sexually while sleeping.

An unidentified friend of Mr. Luedecke's last victim stated that after she kills Mr. Luedecke, the victim plans to plead not guilty due to her condition, called "killsomnia".

Chinese heading for the Moon

2005-11-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

"I think about 10 to 15 years later, we will have the ability to build our own space station and to carry out a manned moon landing," announced Hu Shixiang, deputy commander in chief of China's manned space flight program, on Sunday.

Following this, officials from Paramount Pictures announced that the new Star Trek series would reflect the current view of the future by casting an all-Chinese crew. "Maybe a caucasian could be the science officer." one unnamed executive said.

U.S. using banned pesticide

2005-11-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

Methyl bromide, a soil fumigant that an international treaty has banned as of this year for all but the most critical uses, continues to be used in the United States because the Bush administration, at the urging of agriculture and manufacturing interests, has convinced other treaty signatories that U.S. farmers can't do without it. Berries, tomatoes, and even melons are grown using this powerful soil purifier, but it is dangerous to humans, and potentially lethal.

Administration officials did not say why they weren't just paying these farmers not to grow food, like all the others.

High School censorship

2005-11-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

Copies of the Oak Ridge High School's newspaper, The Oak Leaf, were seized on November 22, 2005.
The reasons given were the birth control article, which listed success rates for different methods and said contraceptives were available from doctors and the local health department, and a photo of an unidentified student's tattoo.
The student had not told her parents about the tattoo, and "I have a problem with the idea of putting something in the paper that makes us a part of hiding something from the parents," said Superintendent Tom Bailey.

(ed note: How is publishing something in a newspaper a part of hiding something?)

University of Tennessee journalism professor Dwight Teeter said "This is a terrible lesson in civics."

On the contrary - this is an excellent lesson in civics. So long as the right lesson is learned.

Church opposes Stem cell Research

2005-11-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

Roman Catholic priests across Missouri urged their parishoners to oppose a petition seeking a constitutional amendment that would protect embrionic stem cell research.
"The similarities of the arguments behind the destruction of life by the Nazis and the use of human embryos (for stem cell research) are scary," said the Rev. James Smith of St. Peter Catholic Church.

The Rev. James Smith did not comment about the report that the government was still experimenting with samples of the smallpox virus.

Anti Speeding devices to be tested

2005-11-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

Transport Canada is road-testing cutting-edge devices that use global positioning satellite technology to both detect speeding, and to deter speeding.
When a driver hits a certain point above the posted speed limit, a device would make it difficult to press the accelerator.

And, if history is any judge, the device will require all of 10 minutes and a screwdriver to remove.

Tin Hats Useless!

2005-11-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

At MIT recently, they tested the permeability and opacity of aluminum-foil hats to various emissions, to see how well they actually work to block any telekinetically-imposed outside behavioral patterns on an otherwise innocent population. They published their results!
They found that the hats do block some transmissions, but amplify some wavelengths of electromagnetic energy… including a band reserved by the government!

We can only hope that terrorists and ad agencies don't get their hands on this technology. . . Thanks to the Bad Astronomy Blog for this story.

Naked bust in Fort Myers

2005-11-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

Jeremy J. Miljour, 26, while naked and asking women to touch him, tried to run away when Fort Myers sheriff's deputies approached. One of them used his Taser, and one of the gun's prongs accidentally hit Miljour's genitals.

Experts still not sure who was more shocked by the incident.

Gingivitis attacks caregivers

2005-11-27T16:34:00.000-08:00

According to the latest issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, spouses who act as caregivers for patients with Alzheimer's disease develop gum disease at twice the rate of their non-caregiver counterparts.

Well, it had to happen. Now that Brush has teamed up with Listerine, the evil Gingivitis has had to seek out its own ally - Alzheimer's!
Can humanity survive? Can caregivers brush?
Tune in tomorrow - same floss time, same floss channel!

WW1 vet dies

2005-11-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

Clare Laking, 106, died at Toronto's Sunnybrook and Women's Health Sciences Centre on Saturday.
It is believed that he was the last Canadian World War I veteran to have fought on the front line. His death leaves only four living Canadian vets from that war.

And so does the War To End All Wars fade away.

Tamil tigers issue deadline

2005-11-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

The leader of the Tamil Tigers said the Tigers will intensify its struggle for self-government next year if the administration of new President Mahinda Rajapakse doesn't achieve a political settlement.
Velupillai Prabhakaran, said in a statement yesterday that "Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration."
He went on to say that if a suitable political settlement was not reached, "we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination."

An unofficial source states that former President Clinton's offer to define "suitable political settlement" for them has been met with death threats.

Turkey goes to Disneyland

2005-11-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Marshmallow, the 35-pound turkey"pardoned" by President Bush, was the grand marshal in Thursday's Thanksgiving parade at Disneyland.

And they wonder why other cultures don't understand us.

Mentally Ill buy Guns.

2005-11-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System is not being provided with the names of people who have been involuntarily committed to mental institutions. As a result, some of these people have been allowed to purchase guns. And use them.
Legislation to make it manditory for states to provide these names to the NICS has been defeated twice, in 2002 and 2004.
Michael Faenza, president and chief executive of the National Mental Health Association, said "It's just not fair. On the one hand, we want there to be very limited access to guns. But here you're singling out people because of a medical condition and denying them rights held by everyone else."
Larry Pratt, executive director of the Gun Owners of America, said "Our idea of improving NICS is to abolish it. There is this continuing assumption that a gun buyer is guilty until proven innocent."

Political correctness strikes again.
Dear Mr. Faenza. They are being singled out because, unlike me, they have a diminished capacity. At least, that's what their defence lawyers claim.
Dear Mr. Pratt. Commitment to an institution is not an assumption. A person may be innocent until proven guilty, but these people have been proven guilty.
No guns. Nohow.

NEA lawsuit thrown out of court

2005-11-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

News item: The NEA's lawsuit against the No Child Left Behind program has been thrown out of court by U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman. The NEA had charged that the expenses of impementing the programs were greater than the federal money the programs were providing.
The NEA states it will appeal.

Is the program underfunded? Certainly we have heard a lot recently about program cutbacks. Maybe expectations need to be cut back as well.

Associated news item: says the United States education system needs at least a quarter million more math and science teachers.

Presumably teachers that teach intelligent design top the list, along with math teachers willing to show how $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 = $0.

Slavery rampant

2005-11-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

Reports state that two million people, mostly women and children, are being trafficked as slaves worldwide. A large number of these work in the sex industry. At least 10,000 people within the US are in forced labor situations including the sex trade industry.
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7728/1/286

An unofficial official at the Department of Energy has gone on record as stating that generators connected to Abe Lincoln's rapidly spinning body are now powering all of Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia.

Smallpox still a threat

2005-11-26T16:56:00.001-08:00

Despite the eradication of smallpox, strands still exist in two laboratories in the US and Russia. Research is being done to develop even more deadly versions of the smallpox virus. The Department of Homeland Security claims they are experimenting with the virus in order to facilitate the development of vaccines to combat the possible use of smallpox in a terrorist attack. Despite criticism that accidental release of the virus could threaten millions of lives, the World Health Organization has approved the genetic modification of the deadly smallpox virus and continuing research.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=268
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/smallpox041105.cfm
http://www.comeclean.org.uk/articles.php?articleID=92

An unnamed DHS official stated today that "We cannot destroy this disease until we have a defence against this disease to use should somebody steal this disease from us." He then tried to tie himself into a reef knot, but only managed a granny.

Ex-Green goes for Senate

2005-11-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

Steven Greenfield, a professional saxophone player, says he will challenge incumbent Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2006 Democratic nomination for Senate.

Insert Clinton/saxophone joke here.
Greenfield who?

Lego with legs

2005-11-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

In the news today . . .
William Swanberg, of Reno, Nevada, is charged with stealing $200,000 worth of Lego bricks, in the form of the expensive sets like the Lego Millennium Falcon playset. He apparently stole them with the intention of trying to resell them on EBay.

A "poke", in medaeval times, was a leather drawstring bag. Con men would try to sell simpletons a moving bag, telling them there was a piglet (valuable) inside, when in reality there was just a cat (not valuable) inside. The idiots would buy a pig in a poke, while the smarter peasants would insist on looking inside first, thus letting the cat out of the bag.
EBay is the poke of the 21st Century. Despite all the safeguards and certifications, you are still buying something you have not seen in person, and whose ownership may be in question.
A word to the wise . . .

Christmas Shopping

2005-11-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

It's gift time again. You have a boy and a girl to buy for. What to get, what to get?
How about a crying doll?
Too stereotyped? What if the doll is for the boy?
Come on - what's the boy most likely to end up with by the time he's 30? An assault weapon, a Corvette, or a child? What will he need the most practice in looking after?
The ME generation is passing, boomers. Time to rectify one of the mistakes your parents made with you - that boys don't help with the kids, other than football practice and driving.
Time to teach them to look after that sqealing bundle of joy, right from an early age.

"Every good deed is an example. So is every bad deed."
Robert A. Heinlein, among others.

Small Ideas

2005-11-22T22:43:00.000-08:00

We live in a world inundated with big news.
From the big sale down at WalMart to the News of Our Salvation, we are asked to think about things that will change your life as you know it!
Some ideas, however, will never change your life. Knowing the name of the capital of Mongolia will not affect your career ( no matter what my old geography teacher thought). But these ideas are still interesting to know.
Trivia is the spice in the stew of life. It is the rounding of the well-rounded individual.
I will spice up your life in this blog. I will present you with information.
I will, over there in the links, present you with the means to find more, spicier information.
I will entertain you in the best way possible.
Constructively.

The longest lasting continually published comic strip is, appropriately enough for this blog,
Ripley's Believe It Or Not.