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Thursday, June 26, 2008
I got Four Stars
Carolina naturally has been given a FOUR-STAR rating by the folks at Intelligent Blogger.It is their highest ranking.
Thanks Guys!
As of this moment ...
There are 461 dead US military personnel in Afghanistan
and 4113 dead US military personnel in Iraq.
and 4113 dead US military personnel in Iraq.
One Liner
A department store had to call off its special summer sale in August because of a conflict -- its Christmas sale was beginning two days later.
And I Quote
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
~Theodore Roosevelt
~Theodore Roosevelt
A Poem
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;—
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingëd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre,
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:—
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
~
Edgar Allan PoeGiant squid found off California coast
Giant squidA flock of gulls feeding on the carcass alerted the crew to the remains. Their first thought, said crew members, was that the animal was a seal but after motoring closer to it they recognized the chewed-up squid...
(Giant squid expert and Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History curator Eric) Hochberg said there's likely several squid along the California coast, but because the animal swims at depths of thousands of feet, it's almost never seen and difficult to study...
"The animal is just so big and so rare ... it's very easy for people to get a little nervous about what it is, and the stories go from there," Hochberg said.
Sampling of gun laws in other countries
Now that the high court has gutted the second amendment and perverted it to the NRA's lies in true Orwellian lie is truth fashion what about gun laws in other countries around the world?!
A sampling of gun laws in other countries:
GERMANY:
Requires license to obtain and use firearms and stipulates a check on the "reliability and suitability" of holders at least once every three years. Under-25s must undergo psychological screening. Buyers must justify why they need a gun.
Would-be buyers of recreational firearms must produce proof of regular membership in shooting club for at least one year. Legal age for owning recreational firearms is 21. That was raised from 18 in 2002, the year an alienated former pupil killed a dozen teachers and four others at a high school in Erfurt.
Hunters require a special hunting certificate to obtain arms.
SWITZERLAND:
Switzerland has strict rules for obtaining firearms, although there are hundreds of thousands of assault rifles, carbines and handguns in the homes of active and retired army members, who are on standby for national militia.
Requirements for obtaining handguns vary from one canton (state) to another. Under federal law, any person 19 or older can buy a gun, if they can obtain gun ownership certificate which is issued only to people without a police record. Gun dealers decide whether potential buyer poses threat to himself or others. Buyers must justify why they need a gun. Hunting, sports and self-defense are acceptable reasons.
ITALY:
Local authorities issue permits to bear arms. Validity periods and procedures vary depending on whether the permit is for self-defense, sport, hunting or collecting.
All requests must be accompanied by medical certificate showing the applicant is sound in mind and body. If the permit is for self-defense, the request must be based on a valid reason to bear arms.
BRITAIN:
The government bans semiautomatic rifles and handguns. These bans do not include deactivated handguns or replica handguns, but the 2006 Violent Crime Reduction Act made it illegal to buy sell or manufacture "a realistic imitation firearm." Owning guns for self-defense is not permitted.
AUSTRALIA:
In 1996 reforms led to uniform gun laws across all states of Australia that include: tougher licensing, registration of all guns, removal of guns from domestic violence offenders, and a ban on semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.
Gun ownership for self-defense is not legal. Civilian gun ownership is only valid for hunting, target sports, historical collection or occupational need.
A person must be at least 18 and undertake adequate safety training to purchase a firearm. The waiting period is not less than 28 days, and the license is issued for no more than five years.
SOUTH AFRICA:
The minimum age for gun possession is 21.
To obtain a gun, the applicant needs to obtain a competency certificate, showing they can use a firearm safely and are not a threat to the public, then they may apply for a firearms license for a specific gun they wish to obtain. That gun is registered with the police before it is transferred to the applicant based on a number of conditions.
*****
Ancient temple at center of debate in Thailand
High on a Cambodian cliff, the Preah Vihear temple has weathered war and territorial disputes. Now it's at the center of a political tug-of-war in neighboring Thailand.
As it has over the centuries, the ancient temple is fueling nationalist sentiment on both sides of the border, and opposition supporters in the Thai parliament are raising it as a reason for why the prime minister should step down.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej last week endorsed Cambodia's bid to register the temple as a UNESCO World Heritage site - enraging opposition lawmakers who say he is yielding national sovereignty to Cambodia.
Never mind that the International Court of Justice awarded the temple and the land it stands on to Cambodia in 1962 - it remains an issue in both countries.
"The Preah Vihear temple is part of a wounded history of Thailand and Cambodia," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian at Bangkok's Thammasat University. "It was used to stir up a nationalist movement during World War II, and again during the Cold War ... and is now threatening to inflame politics again."
The crumbling stone temple, which is a few hundred feet from Thailand's eastern border with Cambodia, is the centerpiece of a no-confidence motion against Samak. The opposition accuses the prime minister of policy mistakes and of being a proxy for deposed leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
"Preah Vihear is the knockout punch" that could bring down Samak, opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told Parliament. However, Samak's ruling coalition has an overwhelming majority, and he is expected to easily survive Friday's vote.
The dispute comes shortly before the World Heritage Committee starts its annual meeting July 2 to consider bids for special status, which helps attract funds for preservation of a site as well as raising its tourism profile.
Thai senators sent a petition to UNESCO this week asking that consideration of Cambodia's request be deferred until both countries file a joint nomination for World Heritage status. UNESCO has not responded.
Anger is simmering on both sides of the border, particularly in Thailand.
"The Temple of Gloom," ran one banner headline in The Nation newspaper, under a photo taken in March of Samak shaking hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Samak insists his endorsement of Cambodia's bid has no effect on Thai sovereignty, saying the temple belongs to Cambodia and the Cambodians are entitled to seek its listing as a World Heritage site. A stretch of disputed territory around the temple was not included in the request to UNESCO, Samak told lawmakers.
Thai protesters have gathered near the hilltop site since Sunday, singing patriotic songs and shouting that the temple belongs to Thailand, said Hang Soth, director-general of Cambodia's Preah Vihear Authority.
As a result, Cambodia closed the border gate that leads from Thailand to the temple.
Preah Vihear, a Hindu-themed temple that reflects the beliefs of the kings who ruled what was then the Angkorean empire, is located on the top of a 1,722-foot cliff in the Dangrek Mountains, about 150 miles north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Reaching it by road is easiest from the Thai side of the border.
"We are the owners of the temple, and it has nothing to do with Thailand," said Moeung Son, a Cambodian tour group operator and founder of the Khmer Civilization Foundation.
Last week, his group held a rally in Phnom Penh to support Cambodia's UNESCO bid and dispel what he called the "myth among some Thais who say that Preah Vihear temple is theirs."
Built between the 9th and 11th centuries, the stone temple is revered partly for having one of the most stunning locations of all the temples constructed during the Khmer empire - the most famous of which is Angkor Wat.
As the Khmer empire, which once encompassed parts of Thailand and Vietnam, shrank to the size of present-day Cambodia and the country was plunged into civil war, the temple fell into disrepair. Steps, walls and pillars have collapsed.
Hun Sen has pledged "a serious commitment" to building a road to the temple "whatever the cost."
Scholars make finds in Nazi archive
From prison brothels to slave labor camps, 15 scholars concluded a two-week probe Thursday of an untapped repository of millions of Nazi records, and hailed it as a rich vein of raw material that will deepen the study of the Holocaust.
It was the first concentrated academic sweep of the long-private archive administered by the International Tracing Service since it opened its doors last November to Holocaust survivors, victims relatives and historical researchers.
The opening of the files to scholars followed a series of stories on the archive by The Associated Press, which was the first news organization to be granted extensive access to the long-restricted files.
German historian Christel Trouve said the nameless millions of forced laborers began to take shape as individual people as she studied small labor camps - which existed in astonishing numbers.
Among the striking revelations was the identification of the man who rescued an 8-year-old boy in Buchenwald, Israel Meir Lau, who later became Israel's chief rabbi.
Lau had said his rescuer was a person called Fyodor from Rostow. Kenneth Waltzer of Michigan State University found it was Fyodor Michajlitschenko, 18, arrested by the Gestapo in 1943, who gave the small boy ear warmers and treated him like a father in Block 8 until the camp's liberation.
"A lot of us found the collections here, approached in the appropriate way, really opened up new significant scholarly lines of inquiry," said Waltzer, who is director of his university's Jewish Studies department.
Jessica Anderson Hughes of Rutgers University discovered that prostitutes servicing other prisoners in concentration camp brothels often came from ordinary backgrounds - exploding the myth that most had been prostitutes before their arrest.
Hughes said the lists in Bad Arolsen allowed her to attach names to the prisoner-prostitutes at Buchenwald, one of the largest concentration camps which had one of eight known brothels for prisoners.
With the names she could look up incarceration records - and she found some women were married, some single, some were mothers. The records said many were arrested for petty theft or other minor crime.
"We always portrayed them as volunteers, but I wanted to know why they volunteered," she said. She believed the prostitutes faced "a choice-less choice."
The research project was organized jointly by the tracing service and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, which brought scholars from six countries to begin assessing the significance of the archive, the largest collection of Nazi documents.
The 50 million pages stored in this central German spa town since the mid-1950s previously had been used by Red Cross staff to respond to inquiries about missing persons or the fate of family members, and later to document compensation claims.
With the population of survivors quickly shrinking, the 11 countries that govern the archive agreed in 2006 to widen access to the files. It took another 18 months for all 11 to ratify the required treaty amendments before the archive could open.
Reto Meister, the archive's director, said he still gets 1,000 inquires a month asking for personal information. Now, the archive is also getting dozens of academic inquiries or visitors every month, he said.
The gray metal shelves and cabinets contain 16 miles (25 kilometers) of transport lists, camp registries, medical records, forced labor files and death certificates of some 17.5 million people subjected to Nazi persecutions.
Taken together with written and oral testimonies and the transcripts of war crimes trials, the dry data at Bad Arolsen add texture to the known picture of the Holocaust, from the first concentration camps created within weeks of Hitler's rise to power in January 1933 to the defeat of Nazism in May 1945.
"It was much more than I expected," said Trouve.
"I've been working on concentration camps for 15 years. We know there was forced laborers in Germany - millions of them," she said. "But then you go through these lists. You see the farmer employing so many people. You see the factory employing hundreds of people. Everything was blurred, but suddenly you have a clear image."
Jean-Marc Dreyfus, of Manchester University in Britain, said the archive "won't utterly change our view of the Holocaust, but it will be very precious for researchers to complement and pursue new research."
This is serious business
They take football (soccer to Americans) a bit more seriously around the world than do we here in the United States ... for example:
Iraq disbands national soccer team after loss
It was less than a year ago that Iraqis poured into the streets in a rare show of unity and celebration after the national soccer team won the prestigious Asian Cup.
Celebratory gunfire roared across Baghdad and other cities. A beaming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki later awarded each team member a $10,000 bonus and held a homecoming celebration filled with fanfare - albeit limited to the U.S.-protected Green Zone.
But on Thursday, the Iraqi Football Association said it has dissolved the national soccer team and dismissed the Iraqi coach four days after the team's loss to Qatar ended the country's hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
"It was decided to disband the team, with all its players and coaching staff, including (head coach) Adnan Hamad," the association said in a statement.
Tareq Ahmed, a senior federation official, told The Associated Press that Hamad "is no longer useful to our team."
Ahmed said a new coach - who was not named - would choose players for a new national team. The statement did not single out any players, raising the possibility that some of the current team members could make the new roster.
"We think that the team needs new blood and that new young players will strengthen it," Ahmed said.
Officials did not rule out keeping some of the current players.
"Anyone who has skills and is deemed appropriate by the new coach can join the national team regardless of his identity," said the Iraqi Olympic Committee spokesman, Jazier al-Sahlani.
He also said the decision wasn't entirely related to the level of play.
Al-Sahlani said Hamad also was being punished for purportedly criticizing a controversial government decision to disband the previous Iraqi Olympic Committee because of corruption allegations. The International Olympic Committee had responded by suspending Iraq's national Olympic body for "political interference."
"Hamad did not stick to his technical job and he was involved in politics," al-Sahlani said.
Hamad could not immediately be reached for comment. He was appointed to coach the national team in February, taking over from Norwegian Egil Olsen after another disappointing Iraqi performance in World Cup qualifications.
The jubilation over the victorious run of the team last year gave Iraqis a welcome respite from the daily violence. Revelers of all ages danced in the streets after each win, despite fears of attacks.
Iraqi fans were poised for another round street celebrations this year. Before Sunday's match, President Jalal Talabani issued a statement encouraging the squad to win.
Instead, many were angered by the team's unconvincing and weak performance. The team needed only a draw to reach the final qualification, but instead lost to Qatar 1-0.
Saad Karim, a 24-year-old physical education student, noted that "the team and the coach were treated as heroes" in previous wins.
"When they lost against Qatar, they were crucified. I think this decision is not fair and illogical because the IFA also should shoulder some responsibly for the defeat," Karim said.
Mohammed Haider, a 30-year-old grocer store owner in Baghdad, said he agreed with the decision to disband the team.
"The team needs new blood though the IFA itself, not the team only, should bear some of the blame," Haider said.
The official reaction evoked memories of the far harsher treatment of athletes under Saddam Hussein, whose son Odai was in charge of Iraqi sports and punished poor performances with torture or incarceration. In some cases, Odai was said to have forced players who missed shots during games to kick stone balls.
Iraq has not played a game at home in years. Because of the kidnapping and killing of athletes in various sports, the squad trains and plays abroad, mostly in Persian Gulf nations such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
So did they kick the stewardess off?
American Eagle returns a plane to the gate to kick off a toddler and his mom. Apparently, the flight attendant kept yanking on the autistic toddler's seatbealt to make sure it as tight, touching off a temper tantrum.
My, doesn't this make you feel safer?
"She kept coming over and tugging his seatbelt to make it tighter, 'This has to stay tight'. And then he was wiggling around and trying to get out of his seatbelt. And she kept coming over and reprimanding him and yelling at him," Farrell said...Link"The pilot made an announcement that there was a woman and her child on the plane and the child is uncontrollable. And at that point I just broke down," Farrell said.
Anti-Monkey Butt Powder
So what is this Powder all about? It’s for motorcyclers. When you are driving on a motorcycle for hundreds of miles, at a time, your butt gets sweaty and irritated from all the constant rubbing. This can be extremely painful from what I am told. The Anti Monkey Butt Powder will absorb the sweat leaving your butt nice and dry and unirritated. The following is directly from the bottle fof this uniquely named product:“Anti Monkey Butt Powder is specially formulated to absorb excess sweat and reduce frictional skin irritation."
Ideal for butt busting activities such as truck driving, motorcycling, bicycling , horse back riding, and extreme sports. May also be applied inside footwear, under sports pads, and other areas prone to chafing.”
While you're laughing ... this is a real consumer product and can be found on the shelves at RiteAid and probably other places as well.
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