Boston’s Big Dig project is famous for cost overruns and poor construction, which led to a ceiling collapse in July 2006 that killed one, injured another and contributed to the death of a third. The cause of the collapse was determined to be “inappropriate use of an epoxy anchor adhesive” which caused 26 tons of concrete and associated suspension hardware to fall.
According to a show on the Discovery channel:
The cost of the epoxy used in the D Street portal construction was $1,287.60. The price tag for redesigning, repairing and inspecting all the tunnels after the ceiling collapse in the D Street connector reached 54 million dollars.
And that is why you do things right the first time. Especially where lives are concerned.
Mass Holocaust Grave Found in the Ukraine with the remains of thousands of Jews killed in a concentration camp.
Nazi War Criminal Found in Spain. Fredrik Jensen, 93, was a member of the dreaded SS and was awarded the Gold Cross by Hitler himself. After reading passages from Rutka's diary, I have no pity for him.
Teleportation Record was set by physicists when sending data 89 miles (ten times the previous record) between telescopes on neighboring islands using "spooky" photons. Advancements in this arena won't result in the "beam me up" technology usually associated with teleportation in the post-Star Trek world, but scientists hope to be able to send sensitive information via satellite using unbreakable "quantum cryptography". [via Slashdot]
RIAA Takes a Loss in the infamous Atlantic v. Andersen case in which the music industry went after a disabled single mother of a 9-year-old for sharing songs like "Hoes in my Room" over Kazaa, pressing forward in the face of mounting evidence that there was no case to pursue. The RIAA has finally agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning they have completely exonerated Anderson and are open to Andersen's countersuit which accuses the industry of racketeering, fraud, and deceptive business practices, among other things. [via Digg]
Tequila Prices to Rise: Blame US Gov.: The artificial demand for ethanol driven by the US government's wrong-headed solution to dependence on foreign oil is causing Mexican farmers to burn their agave fields so they can plant corn for ethanol production. The agave plant takes eight years to mature. Say goodbye to bargain prices on Patrón (better stock up now!).
American Traitor Returns: American al-Qaeda member Adam Yehiye Gadahn, the first American to be charged with treason since 1952, appeared in a seven-minute video in which he demanded that we leave all Muslim lands or "experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech."
This is Gadahn's fifth video appearance on behalf of al-Qaeda. He is one of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists and believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
Screw bin Laden, it's time we found this guy home-grown terrorist.
Ecoterrorist Gets 3 Years: Speaking of terrorists, Canadian 'animal rights' activist Darren Thurston, 37, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for helping the Animal Liberation Front set fire to federal wild horse corrals in Northern California. When are we going to quit coddling terrorists? Should've been ten years at a minimum.
Conspiracy Theory: Daniel Pipes reviews a book that offers the intriguing theory that the Six-Day War originated in the Kremlin as a plot to scuttle Israel's nuclear program. The Jews screwed everything up when they whipped the ass of three Arab nations in just six days. Gotta love 'em!
Bush the Neoliberal: WaPo's Richard Cohen obviously has not been paying attention; he is just now waking up to Bush's liberal tendencies.
Global Warming Windfall: A New Zealand farmer has signed a 120-year contract in which he receives $1 million for doing absolutely nothing. He sold his rights to the carbon dioxide on his heavily-vegetated land to a mining company. All he has to do is not cut down trees to run cattle on his land. Anyone want to pay me for not blogging? Anyone?
We are Born to be Generous: Yet another study, this one indicating that being generous "lights up" the same part of the brain that responds to food and sex. That is, we do it because it feels good:
The results are showing many aspects of morality appear to be hard-wired in the brain, opening up a new window on what it means to be good.
'Addictive' Semen: Speaking of studies, there was one that found that women who don't use condoms during sex are less depressed and less likely to attempt suicide than women who have no exposure to semen (either by using condoms or by abstinence). One of the authors of the study also found that women who don't use condoms get increasingly depressed as more time passes since their last sexcapade, leading him to believe that there may be a chemical dependency to semen.
Reminds me of an Alice Cooper tune:
Man's got his woman
To take his seed
He's got the power - oh
She's got the need
Prof. Says No Such Thing as Dyslexia: An educational psychologist says that after 30 years of research, he can find no evidence that dyslexia is a medical condition and believes that those so diagnosed should be re-classified as having reading difficulty. He says that there is a "huge stigma attached to low intelligence" and that this stigma is avoided when parents get their child diagnosed with a medical condition.
French Workers Biggest Whiners: That, according to a study of workplace attitudes around the world. The Irish complained the least (probably still drunk from the previous night's pub crawl). Also among the "happy workers" were Thai workers (just happy to actually have a job) and the Dutch (I'd be happy too if I had legalized drugs and prostitution).
The Great Skittles Caper: A quarter-million dollars worth of Skittles and the tractor-trailer they were in were stolen. Do you think having so many different color victims will qualify it as a "hate crime"? [Via Digg]
The World's Dirtiest Cities: Not too many surprises here. Prepare for the Gorebot to object because Bush's Houston isn't listed (remember that from the election of 2000?). Then again, neither is Gore's greenhouse gas generating complex that he calls home.
Japanese Teen Severs Mom's Head: The 17-year-old carried it into a police station in a sports bag. I guess the pressure of choosing between flowers or chocolate for Mother's Day was just too much for the boy. [Via Digg]
Disabled Sprinter has Unfair Advantage: That is the claim being examined by the I.A.A.F. (and the Olympic committee) because South African Oscar Pistorius has springy carbon fiber blades instead of feet. This is leading to lots of discussion about cyborgs and the definition of "foot". Honest.
Man Buys House, Complete with Corpse: A Spanish bank repossessed a house due to six years of missed mortgage payments and auctioned it off without taking the time to go inside. Buyer Jorge Giro purchased the house without bothering to go inside. The result was that when he entered his new home for the first time he found the mummified remains of the previous owner. Gives a whole new meaning to "Buyer Beware."
Darwin Nods: New York teen Damion Mosher saw a business opportunity: brass shell casings were garnering $1.70 a pound and he just happened to have access to a bunch of .223 bullets. So he set about turning bullets into empty shell casings using a steel vise, a screwdriver and a hammer. Clever, eh?
Predictably, he took a bullet to the abdomen. It was not clear whether or not it was a ricochet, although it only penetrated a half inch and he was treated and released. One can't help but wonder if the tragedy is the wound or the fact that he will live to reproduce.
Government Guidelines Suck: Those charts that pediatricians and mothers obsess over to determine the "normality" of a baby's weight are wrong — dangerously so. The most popular chart was produced by the US National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) 30 years ago, but was based on white, middle-class babies from Ohio raised on high-protein formula milk. This has led to decades of wrongly classifying lean but healthy babies as underweight, millions of mothers overfeeding their babies and setting them on the path to obesity.
Another billion for Katrina: the Bush administration has extended government-subsidized housing for 120,000 'evacuees' until March 2008. Then they will have to pay $50 a month for the housing, with the price going up another $50 each month that they stay.
Huckabee's son arrested: David Huckabee packed a loaded Glock and tried to carry it through airport security.
$4,200 snails: A rare snail was discovered on a ridgeline where a New Zealand mining company was trying to dig for coal. As it was believed that only 500 to 1,000 snails existed, the company decided to pay for the cost to relocate, monitor and protect the molluscs. After 19 months, 5300 snails have been found (and relocated) and between production loses and snail expenses, the company is out $22.4 million (or a little over $4,226 per snail).
Note that these are in a species that includes large carnivorous snails. Who the hell wants to save carnivorous snails?
Missile defense victory: The program to develop a missile defense shield scores another victory: the Navy's Aegis system successfully and simultaneously destroyed a cruise missile and a short-range ballistic missile during a test.
Oregon Senate bans confining pregnant pigs: Really.
The Supreme Court signaled that it may revisit McCain-Feingold, perhaps gutting it when it does. Too bad this won't happen in time to affect McCain's run at the presidency.
Holy crap, Hillary's getting desperate! She actually admitted that it might be necessary to take on Iran . . . militarily.
Moderate Muslims are trying to take a stand against Islamofacism, but tax-break PBS won't give them air time:
"Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center" highlights the work of moderate Muslims who oppose the Islamist agenda and are willing to speak out. PBS officials decided against airing the film, which PBS's Robert MacNeil told the Diane Rehm Show earlier this month was "one-sided" and "alarmist."
Some of the key Muslim figures featured in the documentary believe PBS is practicing censorship and doing a disservice to the American public. The film, which was supposed to be part of a PBS series, cost taxpayers more than $600,000.
A police officer is assaulted once every 20 minutes in Britain.
Since 2002, there have been 127,000 assaults on police officers in England, Scotland and Wales. This is equivalent to five out of every six officers being assaulted at least once in the last five years.
Here's a scientific advancement for you: there is now a mathematical formula to predict how the head on a glass of beer changes over time.
You don't usually see these guys sitting around, but this baby hummingbird likes to rest on a Ficus tree after drinking from one of our hummingbird feeders.
Today's other must read: Wounded Iraq veteran: 'I'd go back in a heartbeat'. A touching story that highlights the high cost paid by our soldiers; severe wounds are life-changing events.
Despite four years of tough combat deployments, the U.S. Marine Corps has retained a higher percentage of top recruits.Return of the Gorebot: Al Gore is reving up the rhetoric, perhaps for a presidential run, but if he does run he is alienating the center by calling the current administration "a renegade band of rightwing extremists".The Center for Naval Analyses in April analyzed the Marines' first term re-enlistment population and determined that the quality has continually improved over the last six years, with more first tier recruits remaining in the Marine Corps than drop out after four years.
Today's Understatement: A Washington Times op-ed talks about China's involvement in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, as it "[pursues] raw materials and natural resources, particularly energy resources, with a narrow-minded mercantilist drive." Money quote:
Given China's established pattern of military development discordant with its stated goal of a peaceful rise in the world, Washington needs to scrutinize both China's ambitions and its tactics.Homeland Defense: A security guard was so absorbed with his hand held video game (a "mind-stimulating activity" allowed under the rules) that he failed to see an inspector approach during a surprise inspection. Repeatedly. I feel so safe.
France: There's rioting again in the suburbs of Paris, only this time the kids are wearing masks and carrying baseball bats.
Iraq: The Brits say that foreign terrorists, led by fighters from Saudi Arabia, are the reason for an upsurge in attacks against their troops in Basra.
Iran: Having watched the "insurgency" in Iraq, Iran is preparing for a US invasion by war gaming "irregular warfare carried out by highly mobile army units". Ironically, they are also trying to develop techniques to quell insurgencies due to "ethnic unrest" and "foreign influence".
Pedophiles in Holland are establishing their own political party in order to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and legalize possession (but not distribution) of child pornography. Oh yeah, and sex with animals should be allowed everybody should be able to go naked in public.
South America: Venezuela is spending billions on helicopters, boats and military transport planes in an effort to modernize its military. Meanwhile, Bolivian opposition leaders believe that "Venezuela is sending arms and military personnel to organize a special militia for the ruling Movement to Socialism (MAS)." On the other hand:
Leftist President Evo Morales said Tuesday the U.S. government had organized groups to kill him and said he believed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's assertion that Washington was preparing to overthrow his administration.Zimbabwe:
Human Rights Group Amnesty International released satellite images today showing the obliteration of a large community during last year's settlement clearances in Zimbabwe that made some 700,000 people homeless.Science: Some scientists have long believed that there is a fourth spatial dimension, but a new study suggests that hidden dimensions could create thousands of mini-black holes within our own solar system. They hope to go looking within a few years using a satillite that NASA will launch next year.
A growing number of elected officials and immigration experts [in Mexico] have begun to argue that a fortified border could dissuade undocumented immigrants from their perilous journeys across the Sonora desert, stemming the death toll and incidents of abuses by smugglers and corrupt law enforcement officers.While the sentiment expressed is true, I doubt that the feelings are too widespread. After all, in some villages, mariachi music and feasts are customary sendoffs for those heading north.
Voting for Dollars: An initiative in Arizona would enter every voter in an election into a drawing for one million dollars. This is to encourage people to vote. What we should be concentrating on is encouraging people to know the candidates and issues so they can vote intelligently. Then again, if we did that the Democrat Party would vanish in a puff of smoke.
Poor Little Cork Critters: Bleeding heart alert!
Up to three quarters of the unique cork oak forests of the Mediterranean could be lost within 10 years because of the increasing popularity of the screw-top wine bottle.This is one area in which I have very strong opinions, being a wine drinker. Corks fail, leading to cork taint. Five percent, 24 percent, even 33 percent of all bottles of wine are "corked". In my experience, it is at least 20 percent.The move away from traditional stoppers made of cork threatens the survival of one of Europe's most important wildlife habitats, according to a study by the conservation group WWF.
Screw the cork forests. When I pay 10 to 25 bucks for a bottle of wine, it had better not have gone bad. If I wanted wine that smells of mouldy cardboard, I'd make it myself. Or drink a glass while standing next to a Frenchman.
Even Better Glenlivet: By law, stills in Scotland must be at least 40 gallons. But Glenlivet has received special permission to recreate a still from 200 years ago that was used to make contraband whisky:
The Glenlivet spirit, a Speyside malt, was renowned throughout Scotland and England. Such was its quality and reputation that during a visit to Scotland in 1822 King George IV requested a dram and is reported to have said he would drink nothing else from then on.The "small still" will only have a capacity of 12 gallons. Sounds expensive.Now The Glenlivet distillery in Ballindalloch, Banffshire, has been given special dispensation by the "excisemen" to bring the original taste back to life. The Glenlivet, which is the top malt in the US and number two in Scotland, yesterday tried to turn back the clock two centuries by using a specially designed "small still" to produce the legendary whisky.
I must have some!
Feds Reject Spotted Owl Protection: Tree huggers suffered another defeat in their fight to stop commerce in America, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a petition to put the California spotted owl back on the Endangered Species list:
The petition's denial was based in part on the recommendation of scientists commissioned to study the owl, said Steve Thompson, manager of the agency's California-Nevada operations office.The tree huggers claimed that the owl in question needs "mature trees" to nest. Never mind that they've been seen successfully nesting in a K-mart sign.They found that fires that creep through excessive brush and eventually consume the old-growth forests the owls prefer are their main threat, Thompson said, adding that U.S. Forest Service tree thinning programs will prevent the spread of flames and ensure the owls remain off the endangered list.
China Lowering Gas Subsidy: China, a member of the World Trade Organization since 2001, is going to raise gas prices at the pump to the equivalent of about $2.10 per gallon. But keeping gas prices low encourages waste and has resulted in heavy losses for refiners, and thus discouraged investment in new refining and distribution networks.
Other ways in which China is hurting the world economy: slowing rate of reforms mandated by the agreement to become a member of the WTO, and blatantly manipulating its currency, keeping it undervalued by as much as 40 percent.
Silly French in Canada: Nearly everyone in the world realizes that Kyoto was an unachievable goal — unless you want to bankrupt your economy, of course. But:
Quebec Premier Jean Charest says he's ready to act alone to respect the Kyoto accord if the federal government reneges on its commitments.Does anyone know of any country that has met the Kyoto reduction levels? A country that actually has cars and a manufacturing base, I mean.
Silly Scots War on Knives: They're at it again, calling for tougher sentences for carrying a knife in Scotland:
Any person accused of carrying or using a knife who has a similar previous conviction will face prosecution before a judge and jury instead of a sheriff alone, meaning tougher sentences will be handed down.I carry a pocket knife, which I'd be lost without. Silly Scots, attack the social issues, not the implements of destruction picked up by the social degenerates that your schools are turning out.Police have also been instructed to arrest anyone caught carrying a knife and police will no longer be able to grant bail to someone arrested for such an offence - instead they will be kept in custody before their first appearance in court.
How Do You Keep That Lit? I'll believe it when I see it:
Afghanistan is launching fishery projects in 12 provinces in an effort to convert opium poppy growers to fish farmers, local reports said Tuesday. ...The profits from poppy farming are astoundingly high. Tough to get people in remote areas to turn to fish farming.Engineer Khalilullah Frogh, head of the fishery projects, said this would provide an alternative livelihood for those presently involved in cultivating poppies for sale to drug traffickers. He added that the government hoped the country could be self-sufficient in fish production in five years.
Afghanistan currently imports fish from Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
Overdue Honors: 86-year-old Abraham Hanki received a Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal, finally receiving recognition for having spent three years in Japanese prison camps during World War II. Hanki is a survivor of the brutal Bataan Death March.
Thank you, Abraham Hanki, for your courage and sacrifice, and your commitment to make the military your career after your experience.
High School Faith: At a Kentucky high school graduation:
Earlier in the day, a federal judge had banned prayers from the ceremony in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.That'll give you hope for our future generation.But during the principal's opening remarks, about 200 students prayed aloud, drawing thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the crowd.
Pictured is EveR-1, a robot built to resemble a 20-year-old Korean female:Fifteen motors underneath her silicon skin allow her to express a limited range of emotions, and a 400-word vocabulary enables her to hold a simple conversation. ...KITECH [Korea Institute of Industrial Technology] scientists are now working on EveR-2, which they say will have improved vision, a wider range of facial expressions, and the ability to stand and move all four limbs.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, aka Comet 73P, will make the closest approach by a coment in two decades when it whizzes past a mere 10 million kilometres from Earth in a string of dozens of pieces. You should be able to see two of the brighest chunks using a small telescope or even binoculars, and maybe we'll even get a meteor shower next Monday or Tuesday.
It took 500 pounds of plastic explosives to send the USS Oriskany to the bottom of the ocean about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach. The carrier, commissioned in 1950, was sunk in order to act as an artificial reef to attract fish and other marine life.
The FBI is looking for Jimmy Hoffa, this time executing a search warrent in Milford Township, about 35 miles west of Detroit.
New Jersey is fighting high gas prices by allowing some gas stations along the New Jersey Turnpike to go self-service, just to see if prices dip. That's right — Jersey and Oregon actually forbid self-service stations.
Porn to the rescue! Technophiles will remember that it was the porn industry that drove VCR technology even as Hollywood moaned and complained that it would ruin them. Here they go again:
Starting Monday, Vivid Entertainment says it will sell its adult films through the online movie service CinemaNow, allowing buyers to burn DVDs that will play on any screen, not just a computer.Dan Rather, veteran journalist who was infamous for his bias, derided for his softball interviews of Democrats, and publically shamed by his desire to run fictitious memos of Bush's military service as fact, has the audacity to say that the media must retain "old-fashioned journalistic values."
A fine column by a journalist on the subject of blogs. Money quote:
No matter how unappealing it may sound, the blogosphere is duty-bound to adopt the basic tenets of journalism – identifying your sources, checking facts and never sacrificing accuracy and fairness for the sake of a "good" story. The role of watchdog demands you be fully identifiable and accountable. (Full disclosure: we journalists need you.
Kerry Watch: The hubris of a billionaire's self defense fund.
Economy Watch: US Steelmakers are expecting robust demand for the rest of the year, making it the third year in a row that demand has remained strong.
Tax Watch: It looks like Republican lawmakers will succeed in extending some of the tax cuts for another year or two.
UN Watch: U.N. peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers are having sex with Liberian girls as young as 8 in return for money, food or favors.
MSM Watch: The New York Times has once again been caught plagerizing.
Illegal Alien Watch: An Arizona sheriff is using an old tactic to find and arrest those entering our country illegally: posses.
Health Watch: Cancer resistant mice have been discovered. "When white blood cells from the mice are injected into other mice, they eradicate advanced tumours and provide lifetime protection against the disease. ... Even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with very large tumours were eradicated."
Looney Watch: PETA has launched an ad campaign in which PETA President and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk is quated as saying, "Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it." [One supposes the same goes for cancer.]
Fun Facts for Lefties: Fidel Castro is apparently worth $900 million and ranked seventh on the Forbes magazine list of wealthy heads of state.
On April 19, 1943, hundreds of young Jewish fighters took up arms in the first major act of armed civilian resistance against the Nazis, who invaded and occupied Poland in 1939.63 years ago today, Jews recognized that they were being shipped off to death camps and took up arms to stop the horror. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the uprising remains an inspirational event.The insurgents opted to fight the Nazis in the face of the German plan to exterminate the tens of thousands of Jews remaining in the Ghetto.
I recommend ShrinkWrapped's post on the subject.
Technorati Tags: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
[Elizabeth] Johnson and her 34-year-old partner, Jason Pancoast, who have been together for 14 years, support themselves and their three children, 6-year-old Seth, 3-year-old Adrianne and 3-month-old Synclair, by panhandling.They've been begging for six years, yet have had two more children.Pancoast refers to himself and his family as "affluent beggars."
"If you’re an affluent beggar you stay in a hotel and eat a continental breakfast," he says. "It makes it a lot easier to be philosophical about it."
Carrying her smiling baby in a navy blue front pack and pushing Adrianne in a green jogging stroller, Johnson stops people on the street and asks them for money to find shelter for her children. ... The family is staying at the Cedarwood Inn in a room with a kitchenette. It costs $243 a week.Help her find shelter, because they are looking for someplace "more permanent" than an inn.
According to Pancoast, begging can be lucrative. He claims the family sometimes makes $300 a day asking for money and has made as much as $800. The family also receives $500 a month in food stamps.$300 dollars a day, five days a week (you don't expect them to work on weekends, do you?) for fifty weeks per year (they have to take vacation!) comes out to $75,000 a year. Do the math.
"I always felt bad for her because she had a baby in the hot summer sun," says Debbie, an Ashland resident who asked that her last name not be used. ...I spent a week in San Francisco a few years ago, a city overrun with homeless people. Every day on the way to the convention center I would pass one guy on a particular street corner and he was there each evening as I walked back to my hotel. He never missed a chance to hit me up for some cash. Until the last night of my trip when I was running a little late. He was on his cell phone calling someone to come pick him up.But then Debbie saw Pancoast drop Johnson off at the Ashland Plaza in a nice car and kiss her and the baby goodbye. "Then I became a little bitter," Debbie says. "I was working my tail off at three jobs — waitressing and babysitting — and I see her eating at restaurants that are so expensive I can’t afford to eat there."
Diamond Pet Foods has recalled 19 brands of dog and cat food for being contaminated with aflatoxin, a naturally occurring toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, on corn and other crops.Check the full list of recalled products to make sure your brand isn't on it.
Just a Bump in the Beltway has a personal story on the matter that every pet owner should read. Scary.
Technorati Tags: Pets, Cats, Dogs, Pet Food, Product Recall.
Flights to Europe seem to be mostly inbound beginning at 5:30 a.m. or so and change to almost all outbound around 6 p.m. As expected, flight traffic ramps up fast and furious on the east coast starting about 6 a.m. and rapidly expands to the opposite coast by 9.
Found at Castle Argghhh!
A deaf and blind Australian woman is suing her mother's doctor in that country's first "wrongful life" suit. The woman claims that if the doctor had correctly diagnosed rubella in the first trimester, her mother would have aborted her. She is suing for the costs arising from a lifetime of medical treatment that she needs to survive, not to mention pain and suffering.
A man that suffered brain damage in 2001 is suing his bank for $2 million dollars because the branch manager was rude to him when he asked that a $32 overdraft fee be reversed (after all, he was only $5 overdrawn). He claims that the stress from the encounter is making his condition worse.
Most succint headline
He Had to Indict Somebody for Something!
From the Department of "Duh"
Bad blood exists between White House, CIA
Reports of the syrupy cloud poured in from across Manhattan after 9 p.m. Some feared that it was something sinister.Egads! The things that people freak out about freaks me out.There were so many calls that the city's Office of Emergency Management coordinated efforts with the Police and Fire Departments, the Coast Guard and the City Department of Environmental Protection to look into it.
A European physicist has mathamatically proved that a four-legged table that is wobbling on an uneven surface can be rotated so that all four legs are on solid ground.
And from the department of "Duh!", researchers at Cornell have determined that a woman's period affects her brain:
So far, they say, the results tentatively indicate that a boost in brain activity in an emotional centre of the brain might help to keep some women more emotionally stable, even as their hormones go on a roller-coaster ride.
One wonders why New Orleans didn't do a better job of enforcing the "mandatory evacuation" order, or even of offering evacuation aid to those who did not have the means to do so themselves. Especially when one sees that there were plenty of vehicles available.
Apparently suffering from stress and a bit of paranoia, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin tells CNN Saturday night that he believes the CIA will "wipe him out" after his criticism of President Bush and the Federal Government in response to Hurricane Katrina.Mayor Nagin seemed to have calmed down after meeting with President Bush for two hours on Friday but became stressed again over the current situation still unfolding in his city.
The Mayor has come under serious scrutiny and criticism in the last 72 hours after photos of parking lots filled with school buses that were sitting in a foot of water were released on the Internet. Many critics of the Mayor and Gov. Blanco say the buses could have saved an estimated 20,000 people if they had been used for emergency evacuations which President Bush had declared two days before Katrina hit.
The United States shut out Mexico 2-0 to clinch a spot in next year's World Cup competition in Germany, the first team to secure a spot in the championship games.It is the United State's fifth straight trip to the World Cup finals, this time with them ranked sixth in the world — just behind Mexico for some strange reason. The Mexicans are pretty mouthy for a losing team:
Mexico (5-1-1) still needs another point in its final three games to get one of the region's three berths at Germany 2006. Its coach, Ricardo Lavolpe, was not impressed by the winners.Tough talk, considering this:``The U.S. is a small team,'' he said. ``They play like my sister, my aunt and my grandmother.''
The United States has not lost to Mexico on American soil in seven games since 1999, and has not yielded any goals in that span, either.
This is the fifth consecutive World Cup that the U.S. has qualified for, suggesting that the American squad is rapidly becoming a serious contender on the international scene.Too true, and Right Thinking from the Left Coast takes a certain satisfaction in this particular win:
This is going to be the latest reason for the rest of the world to hate America. As the popularity of soccer grows in this country, we're eventually going to dominate this sport like we do pretty much all the others. And Mexico? They get their entire sense of national identity from this game. It's nice to remind those pricks just who the master is.I would just like to note that the United States still does not dominate in the time-honored game of Cricket, but I think that's because no one except a Brit (or a former colony thereof) has the patience to understand the rules.
Only two holes so far, each about 15 to 20 feet long and 4 to 5 feet wide, and the people inside seem to be taking it in stride:
"I could have stayed at home and watched my roof blow off," said one of the refugees, Harald Johnson, 43. "Instead, I came down here and watched the Superdome roof blow off. It's no big deal; getting wet is not like dying."It's the people trying to provide for the refugees that I feel sorry for:
Residents lined up for blocks, clutching meager belongings and crying children as National Guardsman searched them for guns, knives and drugs.Then Katrina's rain began, drenching hundreds of people still outside, along with their bags of food and clothing. Eventually, the searches were moved inside to the Superdome floor, where some people wrapped themselves in blankets and tried to sleep.
It was almost 10:30 p.m. before the last person was searched and allowed in. Thornton estimated 8,000 to 9,000 were inside when the doors closed for the 11 p.m. curfew.
More than 600 people with medical needs were inside. "And we sent another 400 to hospitals," said Gen. Ralph Lupin, who commands the 550 National Guard troops in the Dome.
"We've got sick babies, sick old people and everything in between," Stephens said. "We're seen strokes, chest pain, diabetes patients passing out, seizures, people without medicine, people with the wrong medicine. It's been busy."
I am tired fed up with going into a status meeting with a project team and getting questioned week after week after week about why we are doing this or spending money on that or why aren't we doing something completely different.
I understand that techs think they know what is the best technology to implement. Hell, they do! I understand that because that is from whence I come.
But at some point it is time to salute, charge up the hill and get the damn thing done.
I wonder if "yes man" is applied to often to those that can just get things done.
Note that the popularity of Hillary (and alternate spelling Hilary) plumeted in the early to mid-90s and neither was in the top 1000 by 2003.
Hat tip to samaBlog
A controversial proposal to drill holes in four hectares of land near Derrinallum and bury loved ones on their feet in simple body bags has been given the go-ahead.The company director says that this is a "cheap, simple, environmentally friendly and respectful way" to bury your loved ones at a cost of only $1,000.About 17,000 bodies will fit in the cemetery. They will be stored in Melbourne morgues and buried in batches of 12 to 15 to minimise costs. ...
Graves will not have a headstone, but instead be mapped out using a grid system.
"This way, when you die you are returned to the earth with a minimum of fuss and with no paraphernalia that would affect the environment.A thousand dollars for a round hole in the ground and a body bag. And you have to stand up for eternity!"You're not burning 90kg of gas in a crematorium and there's no ongoing maintenance costs."
I gotta get me a gimmick like this.