Thursday, May 10, 2012
Pentagon quit The Avengers Because of Its ‘Unreality’
Moviegoers and comic fans know that S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Samuel L. Jackson’s super-spy Nick Fury, is an international peacekeeping/global surveillance/crisis response/quasi-military organization. But its relationship with the United States is murky. And that basically stopped the U.S. military, which is normally eager to cooperate with the film industry on blockbuster movies, from teaming up with the Avengers.
“We couldn’t reconcile the unreality of this international organization and our place in it,” Phil Strub, the Defense Department’s Hollywood liaison, tells Danger Room. “To whom did S.H.I.E.L.D. answer? Did we work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? We hit that roadblock and decided we couldn’t do anything” with the film.
***
"Unreality", Duh?! It's a movie.
The repugicans vote to double student loan rates
While no doubt popular with the bankers, this is a serious blow to an already struggling middle class.
Anyone with kids in college that have student loans would have to be
clueless to vote for any repugican after this shameful vote. If the
Democrats fail to clobber repugicans over this vote, they're just as
clueless.
Why does the middle class have to keep being kicked around by the bankers who caused the recession? Even worse, why is there so much support in Washington for these ridiculous policies?
Why does the middle class have to keep being kicked around by the bankers who caused the recession? Even worse, why is there so much support in Washington for these ridiculous policies?
Senate repugicans on Tuesday blocked consideration of a Democratic bill to prevent the doubling of some student loan interest rates, leaving the legislation in limbo less than two months before rates on subsidized federal loans are set to shoot upward.
Along party lines, the Senate voted 52 to 45 on a key procedural motion, failing to reach the 60 votes needed to begin debating the measure. Senator Olympia J. Snowe, the repugican from Maine who is retiring, voted present.
Senators said quiet negotiations had begun to resolve the impasse, but Democrats sought to raise the political pressure, vowing to take to the Senate floor to show the cost of inaction for students in their states.
TSA waste and corruption
Their Greatest Hits!
Some highlights from the House Oversight Committee's report on the TSA's finance, courtesy of TechDirt:
* As of February 15, 2012, the total value of TSA’s equipment in storage was, according to TSA officials, estimated at $184 million. However, when questioned by Committee staff, TSA’s warehouse staff and procurement officials were unable to provide the total value of equipment in storage.Congress: The TSA Is Wasting Hundreds Of Millions In Taxpayer Dollars
* Committee staff discovered that 85% of the approximately 5,700 major transportation security equipment currently warehoused at the TLC had been stored for longer than six months; 35% of the equipment had been stored for more than one year. One piece of equipment had been in storage more than six years – 60% of its useful life.
* As of February 2012, Committee staff discovered that TSA had 472 Advanced Technology 2 (AT2) carry-on baggage screening machines at the TLC and that more than 99% have remained in storage for more than nine months; 34% of AT2s have been stored for longer than one year.
* TSA knowingly purchased more Explosive Trace Detectors (ETDs) than were necessary in order to receive a bulk discount under an incorrect and baseless assumption that demand would increase. TSA management stated: “[w]e purchased more than we needed in order to get a discount...
* TSA intentionally delayed Congressional oversight of the Transportation Logistics Center and provided inaccurate, incomplete, and potentially misleading information to Congress in order to conceal the agency’s continued mismanagement of warehouse operations..
* TSA willfully delayed Congressional oversight of the agency’s Transportation Logistics Center twice in a failed attempt to hide the disposal of approximately 1,300 pieces of screening equipment from its warehouses in Dallas, Texas, prior to the arrival of Congressional staff..
* TSA potentially violated 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001, by knowingly providing an inaccurate warehouse inventory report to Congressional staff that accounted for the disposal of equipment that was still in storage at the TLC during a site visit by Congressional staff..
* TSA provided Congressional staff with a list of disposed equipment that falsely identified disposal dates and directly contradicted the inventory of equipment in the Quarterly Warehouse Inventory Report provided to Committee staff on February 13, 2012.
Leaked DHS memo: Pornoscanners don't work
$90 million later, after a series of humiliating demonstrations, and critical analysis, an unclassified memo shows that the DHS suspects what everyone else knows: pornoscanners don't work. Here's David Kravets in Threat Level:
Meanwhile, an unclassified version of the Inspector General report, unearthed Friday by the Electronic Information Privacy Center, may give credence to a recent YouTube video allegedly showing a 27-year-old Florida man sneaking a metallic object through two different Transportation Security Administration body scanners at American airports.Homeland Security Concedes Airport Body Scanner ‘Vulnerabilities’
The TSA agreed with all of the Inspector General’s recommendations. The Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, meanwhile, a TSA spokeswoman said “These machines are safe” when asked to address a video by Jonathan Corbett, of Miami Beach, who allegedly had discovered a method tobeat the body scanners, which number 600 and are in about 140 U.S. airports. A brief YouTube video allegedly shows Corbett, who had sewn a pocket to the side of his shirt, getting past two body scanners with a metallic object in that pocket.
TSA orders baby off plane
An
18 month-old toddler was ordered off a plane Tuesday at Ft. Lauderdale
airport, after TSA representatives told airline employees they wanted to
"speak" to her.
Riyanna's father was flabbergasted. "It's absurd," he said. "It made no sense. Why would an 18-month-old child be on a no-fly list?" Riyanna's parents, who asked not to be identified, said they think they know the answer to that question. They believe they were profiled because they are both of Middle Eastern descent.They were detained for 30 minutes; no apology was forthcoming for the humiliating theatrics. The airline, JetBlue, says that the TSA asked for the baby's removal and that both it and the agency were investigating. The TSA said, however, that the event was an "airline issue" and that it was not investigating it at all.
Teenager tried to rob police station
From the "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer" Department:
An 18-year-old accused of trying to rob a suburban Dallas police headquarters is now claiming he was joking when he allegedly told a dispatcher he had a gun.
“I didn’t say nothing like that, I swear to God I didn’t say nothing like that; that’s why they didn’t find no guns on me,” Keithan Manuel said in a jailhouse phone interview. “Man I play like that all the time, I didn’t think she would take it seriously.” But police say they had no choice but to take Manuel’s alleged threat seriously.
He reportedly walked into the Wilmer Police Department on Saturday, wearing a white towel over his hands and told the dispatcher at the lobby window to hand over all the station’s money. “He said he’d like to check on a warrant, but it was pretty obvious it was a situation … he gave a different name and after a few moments of maybe playing it off he said ‘you do know I have a gun’.
“At that point he seemed to be very serious,” Police Chief Victor Kemp said. Manuel faces several charges, including robbery, and remains in the Dallas County Jail on a $200,000 bond. “This young man wasn’t using his head for sure,” Kemp said. “You hear of those world’s dumbest criminals every once in a while but you never think it’s gonna happen in your city.”
An 18-year-old accused of trying to rob a suburban Dallas police headquarters is now claiming he was joking when he allegedly told a dispatcher he had a gun.
“I didn’t say nothing like that, I swear to God I didn’t say nothing like that; that’s why they didn’t find no guns on me,” Keithan Manuel said in a jailhouse phone interview. “Man I play like that all the time, I didn’t think she would take it seriously.” But police say they had no choice but to take Manuel’s alleged threat seriously.
He reportedly walked into the Wilmer Police Department on Saturday, wearing a white towel over his hands and told the dispatcher at the lobby window to hand over all the station’s money. “He said he’d like to check on a warrant, but it was pretty obvious it was a situation … he gave a different name and after a few moments of maybe playing it off he said ‘you do know I have a gun’.
“At that point he seemed to be very serious,” Police Chief Victor Kemp said. Manuel faces several charges, including robbery, and remains in the Dallas County Jail on a $200,000 bond. “This young man wasn’t using his head for sure,” Kemp said. “You hear of those world’s dumbest criminals every once in a while but you never think it’s gonna happen in your city.”
China forcing Big Four audit firms to be run by Chinese
The global audit firms already have a bad reputation for doing whatever
the client asks them to do (as long as the money is right - think
Enron), so this is just a step in that direction. Time after time, this
supposedly conservative and proper industry has glossed over or ignored
serious problems on the books of shady businesses. Add this mix to
what is widely considered to be one of the most corrupt countries in the
world and you have a potentially devastating problem.
It's already dangerous enough for an outsider to invest in China, but this is worse. If I didn't know better, I might think that China wants to guarantee close ties to business so they can be more open to corruption.
Surely that's not it, is it?
It's already dangerous enough for an outsider to invest in China, but this is worse. If I didn't know better, I might think that China wants to guarantee close ties to business so they can be more open to corruption.
Surely that's not it, is it?
China released new rules for the world's top four auditing firms on Thursday that include a requirement for their local operations to be led by Chinese citizens within three years.
The rules released by the Finance Ministry said that Chinese operations of the Big Four global audit firms must be "localized" to comply with laws that will set requirements on the ages, experience and training of executives.
China said the four auditors — Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Pricewaterhousecoopers, Ernst & Young and KPMG — must comply with the new rules by the end of 2017.
Bank tells customer they don’t take cash anymore
A returning Norwegian traveler wanting to pay cash into his account
thought bank staff were pulling his leg when they told him they no
longer accept bank notes. Last week, Bjart Berge headed to his local
Nordea branch in Stavanger city center to deposit his remaining dollars
after returning from a trip to the United States, only to be told the
bank no longer handles cash of any kind over the counter.
”I thought it was an April Fool’s joke; I couldn’t believe it was true,” Berge said. The Stavanger branch stopped taking cash on May 1st, bringing it in line with company policy. Of Nordea’s 98 branches in Norway, only nine still handle cash. Nordea spokesman Thomas Sevang explained that the bank was in the process of automating all its cash services and was installing new machines for withdrawing and depositing cash across its network.
”He [Berge] has encountered the bank of the future,” said Sevang. But in the bank of the present, none of the deposit machines take dollars, and the bank was not able to say when this would become possible. ”You can take money out of an ATM in either Norwegian or foreign currency,” said Berge. ”The same should apply for deposits. But when that possibility doesn’t exist, it’s a bit early to cut the umbilical cord.”
Sevang said he understood it wasn’t optimal for the customer to have to ask a friend to deposit the dollars in another bank before having the money transferred to his own account. ”We well understand that situations arise in a transition phase that the customer experiences as more troublesome. But this is part of a development that will become easier and easier to deal with. We believe this is the future,” said Sevang.
”I thought it was an April Fool’s joke; I couldn’t believe it was true,” Berge said. The Stavanger branch stopped taking cash on May 1st, bringing it in line with company policy. Of Nordea’s 98 branches in Norway, only nine still handle cash. Nordea spokesman Thomas Sevang explained that the bank was in the process of automating all its cash services and was installing new machines for withdrawing and depositing cash across its network.
”He [Berge] has encountered the bank of the future,” said Sevang. But in the bank of the present, none of the deposit machines take dollars, and the bank was not able to say when this would become possible. ”You can take money out of an ATM in either Norwegian or foreign currency,” said Berge. ”The same should apply for deposits. But when that possibility doesn’t exist, it’s a bit early to cut the umbilical cord.”
Sevang said he understood it wasn’t optimal for the customer to have to ask a friend to deposit the dollars in another bank before having the money transferred to his own account. ”We well understand that situations arise in a transition phase that the customer experiences as more troublesome. But this is part of a development that will become easier and easier to deal with. We believe this is the future,” said Sevang.
Can that train rumble or glass reflection power your laptop?
Sensors, radio transmitters and GPS modules all feature low power consumption. All it takes is a few milliwatts to run ...
Why Do People Choke When the Stakes Are High?
In sports, on a game show, or just on the job, what causes people to choke when the stakes are ...
Nomophobia
Are
you afraid of being away from your mobile phone? You may have (dun dun
dun!) Nomophobia:It's called Nomophobia, as in "No mobile phone phobia," and 66 percent of the people surveyed said they have it.
That number is up from a similar study four years ago, where 53 percent of people admitted to a fear of losing their cellphones. [...]
The study showed that the younger you are, the more likely you are to be afflicted with Nomophobia. Women are also more likely to have it than men.
Wondering if you have Nomophobia?
The warning signs include: Obsessively checking your phone, constantly worrying about losing it even when it's in a safe place, and never turning it off.
Long commutes may be hazardous to health
As populations move even further away from urban centers, more people spend longer hours behind the wheel on their way ...
Treatable infections cause 1 in 6 cancers
Bacteria, viruses and parasites 'cause 1.5million cancer deaths each year'
Of the 7.5 million global deaths from cancer that occurred in 2008,
an estimated 1.5 million may have been due to potentially preventable or
treatable infections.
Researchers found that that almost 2 million new cancer cases in 2008
were caused by the human papilloma virus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and
the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori A sixth of all cancers
worldwide are the result of potentially treatable or preventable
infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites, according to a
new ...
A Shocking Cause of Obesity
The new clue to obesity may be surprising to you.While
overeating, inactivity and genetics are key players in the path to
obesity, but there may be a surprising, hidden cause that's also to
blame. (Hint: it's in your stomach-and it's not that cheeseburger you
ate for lunch.)
More than a third of adults in the US are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As these rates escalate, researchers are working to figure out obesity's causes in the hopes of developing more effective and less invasive treatments than doctors currently are relying on.
Recent research shows a surprising obesity predictor: intestinal
bacteria. In 2010, Andrew Gewirtz, Ph.D., now a professor at Georgia
State University's Center for Inflammation, Immunity & Infection,
led a seminal study in this particular field. He and his team found that
mice without a gene for toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5), a gene which helps
cells control and detect bacteria, ate about 10 percent more than
normal mice. Given limited food, mice without TLR5 still had insulin
resistance, and when given high-fat diets, they gained more weight and
developed diabetes and fatty liver disease.
In short, an inability to detect the presence of bacteria led mice to develop metabolic syndrome-that dangerous cocktail of obesity, insulin resistance, elevated triglycerides and elevated cholesterol, which puts people at risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain kinds of cancer.
How does this work? TLR5 detects flagellin, a component of bacteria's flagella, which propel their movement. If there's no TLR5, which acts like a sort of "border patrol", bacteria has the ability to multiply without inhibition.
Surprisingly, the composition of one's intestinal bacteria is not only a matter of genetics. When Gewirtz and his colleagues transferred the intestinal bacteria of TLR5-deficient mice to healthy mice, they exhibited the same dangerous eating behaviors and associated weight gain. "What this means is that when you transfer bacteria from one group of mice to another, you can transfer this predisposition for obesity and its related metabolic diseases," says Gewirtz.
So, what does this mean for us? "While adult humans may not efficiently transfer bacteria to each other, transmission to a newborn baby is very efficient," explains Gewirtz. "Thus, what our results may mean to humans is that the bacteria one acquires from their early development, especially their parents, may have a big impact upon one's tendency to develop obesity and/or type 2 diabetes over a lifetime."
Another study conducted by Mihai Covasa, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) has confirmed and built on these findings. The researchers bred obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats-the former weren't actually obese, but actually came from a lineage of rats that had a tendency to gain weight and fatten quickly when fed high-fat foods. The researchers extracted microbiota from the rats' feces and implanted them into the stomachs of mice that had been germ-free since birth. For eight weeks, adequate time for the maturation of the intestinal microflora, the mice ate either a regular or a high-fat diet.
The results? The mice implanted with the obesity-prone gut bacteria ate more and gained more weight and fat-regardless of whether they were fed a high- or low-fat diet-compared to all other groups.
The upshot is that proneness to obesity can be inherited not just genetically, but also by simply transferring intestinal bacteria such as from parent to child. Also, the composition of your microbiota is controlled by a variety of factors, your environment and antibiotics, as well as your diet. "Diet can affect bacteria, but bacteria can affect appetite," notes Gewirtz. "So it's an interrelated factor." When discussing obesity, he says, "Most people have focused on diet and lifestyle or lack of exercise, but this is another potential contributor."
That said, there's no clear-cut cause-and-effect here-and researchers are still trying to unravel how those changes in gut bacteria could influence obesity in humans. "We speculate that those changes do influence obesity in humans," he says, "but it is indeed not established fact."
So what is in a bacterial profile that could make people prone to obesity? Could it be the amount of bacteria, or are there specific bacteria that present a problem? Both Drs. Covasa and Gewirtz say there are a lot of unknowns here and that the answer is not so simple. Preliminary findings, according to Covasa, show that obese individuals may have reduced microbial diversity. And Gewirtz's follow-up work has indicated that the issue is largely a matter of bacteria's instability. In healthy mice, the composition of intestinal bacteria doesn't change frequently, but in obesity-prone mice, the population shifts from week to week.
The current research is on mice, not humans, but Gewirtz and his team have found preliminary indications that their findings apply to us, too. A certain percentage of people are TLR5 deficient, and thus far, it looks as though they may be prone to obesity, just like mice. But only one in 250 people are TLR5-deficient-a tiny percentage of the obese population-so the point isn't to show that TLR5-deficiency is a significant cause of obesity, but rather that the mouse work applies to humans. The research is also meant to show that something that alters humans' bacterial composition can affect their metabolism.
One thing you shouldn't take away from these findings is the idea that if you have this or that bacterial profile, you're screwed. Both Gewirtz's and Covasa's research has shown that, no matter what your intestinal bacterial profile, you do have to eat more for the adverse metabolic effects to take hold.
Right now, some doctors rely on invasive gastric bypass surgery to treat obesity; these findings indicate that there might be another way. The end goal is to isolate just what a healthy bacterial profile looks like and, if possible, which types of bacteria are particularly important. From there, researchers could develop a way of manipulating obese people's microbiota to potentially decrease their proneness to metabolic syndrome-and protect their health.
More than a third of adults in the US are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As these rates escalate, researchers are working to figure out obesity's causes in the hopes of developing more effective and less invasive treatments than doctors currently are relying on.
Recent research shows a surprising obesity predictor: intestinal
bacteria. In 2010, Andrew Gewirtz, Ph.D., now a professor at Georgia
State University's Center for Inflammation, Immunity & Infection,
led a seminal study in this particular field. He and his team found that
mice without a gene for toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5), a gene which helps
cells control and detect bacteria, ate about 10 percent more than
normal mice. Given limited food, mice without TLR5 still had insulin
resistance, and when given high-fat diets, they gained more weight and
developed diabetes and fatty liver disease.
In short, an inability to detect the presence of bacteria led mice to develop metabolic syndrome-that dangerous cocktail of obesity, insulin resistance, elevated triglycerides and elevated cholesterol, which puts people at risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain kinds of cancer.
How does this work? TLR5 detects flagellin, a component of bacteria's flagella, which propel their movement. If there's no TLR5, which acts like a sort of "border patrol", bacteria has the ability to multiply without inhibition.
Surprisingly, the composition of one's intestinal bacteria is not only a matter of genetics. When Gewirtz and his colleagues transferred the intestinal bacteria of TLR5-deficient mice to healthy mice, they exhibited the same dangerous eating behaviors and associated weight gain. "What this means is that when you transfer bacteria from one group of mice to another, you can transfer this predisposition for obesity and its related metabolic diseases," says Gewirtz.
So, what does this mean for us? "While adult humans may not efficiently transfer bacteria to each other, transmission to a newborn baby is very efficient," explains Gewirtz. "Thus, what our results may mean to humans is that the bacteria one acquires from their early development, especially their parents, may have a big impact upon one's tendency to develop obesity and/or type 2 diabetes over a lifetime."
Another study conducted by Mihai Covasa, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) has confirmed and built on these findings. The researchers bred obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats-the former weren't actually obese, but actually came from a lineage of rats that had a tendency to gain weight and fatten quickly when fed high-fat foods. The researchers extracted microbiota from the rats' feces and implanted them into the stomachs of mice that had been germ-free since birth. For eight weeks, adequate time for the maturation of the intestinal microflora, the mice ate either a regular or a high-fat diet.
The results? The mice implanted with the obesity-prone gut bacteria ate more and gained more weight and fat-regardless of whether they were fed a high- or low-fat diet-compared to all other groups.
The upshot is that proneness to obesity can be inherited not just genetically, but also by simply transferring intestinal bacteria such as from parent to child. Also, the composition of your microbiota is controlled by a variety of factors, your environment and antibiotics, as well as your diet. "Diet can affect bacteria, but bacteria can affect appetite," notes Gewirtz. "So it's an interrelated factor." When discussing obesity, he says, "Most people have focused on diet and lifestyle or lack of exercise, but this is another potential contributor."
That said, there's no clear-cut cause-and-effect here-and researchers are still trying to unravel how those changes in gut bacteria could influence obesity in humans. "We speculate that those changes do influence obesity in humans," he says, "but it is indeed not established fact."
So what is in a bacterial profile that could make people prone to obesity? Could it be the amount of bacteria, or are there specific bacteria that present a problem? Both Drs. Covasa and Gewirtz say there are a lot of unknowns here and that the answer is not so simple. Preliminary findings, according to Covasa, show that obese individuals may have reduced microbial diversity. And Gewirtz's follow-up work has indicated that the issue is largely a matter of bacteria's instability. In healthy mice, the composition of intestinal bacteria doesn't change frequently, but in obesity-prone mice, the population shifts from week to week.
The current research is on mice, not humans, but Gewirtz and his team have found preliminary indications that their findings apply to us, too. A certain percentage of people are TLR5 deficient, and thus far, it looks as though they may be prone to obesity, just like mice. But only one in 250 people are TLR5-deficient-a tiny percentage of the obese population-so the point isn't to show that TLR5-deficiency is a significant cause of obesity, but rather that the mouse work applies to humans. The research is also meant to show that something that alters humans' bacterial composition can affect their metabolism.
One thing you shouldn't take away from these findings is the idea that if you have this or that bacterial profile, you're screwed. Both Gewirtz's and Covasa's research has shown that, no matter what your intestinal bacterial profile, you do have to eat more for the adverse metabolic effects to take hold.
Right now, some doctors rely on invasive gastric bypass surgery to treat obesity; these findings indicate that there might be another way. The end goal is to isolate just what a healthy bacterial profile looks like and, if possible, which types of bacteria are particularly important. From there, researchers could develop a way of manipulating obese people's microbiota to potentially decrease their proneness to metabolic syndrome-and protect their health.
Eye color may indicate risk for serious skin conditions
Eye color may be an indicator of whether a person is high-risk for certain serious skin conditions. A study, led ...
Hot Sauce Ingredient Reduces “Beer Belly” Fat as a Weight-Loss Surgery Alternative
According to research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), the ingredient that gives hot sauce its heat could play a ...
The Truth About Buttermilk
So
is buttermilk good or not? I never could reconcile the stories my
grandmother told of churning milk to separate the butter from the buttermilk
with the ghastly-tasting buttermilk available at the grocery. How could
milk go sour just by taking the fat out of it? L.V. Anderson explains
with the history of buttermilk, or rather, the different things that
have been called buttermilk.My mistake was assuming that the buttermilk I had ordered would be the same kind of buttery buttermilk that Laura Ingalls Wilder had drunk in the late 19th century. This was a bad assumption. What we call buttermilk today has nothing at all to do with butter. In fact, the stuff known as cultured buttermilk at your local supermarket—i.e. milk that has been deliberately soured—is a 20th-century invention, and the product of a health-food diet craze dating back to the flapper era.The distinction has to do with the lack of refrigeration in the days when people made their own butter. Sometimes the milk would be good; other times it had soured over the time it took to churn, or maybe it started out sour.
The Most Hazardous Places In The World
Vermont bans fracking
It's too bad that so many other states are willing to ignore the high
costs of fracking and only look at the financial benefits to Big Energy.
The only explanation for ignoring the financial costs (such as
polluted water and earthquakes) is that too many politicians are also
won over by the lobbying efforts and campaign contributions.
Good for Vermont for caring more about its people and environment than Big Energy.
Good for Vermont for caring more about its people and environment than Big Energy.
With a 103-36 vote in the House of Representatives, Vermont on Friday became the first state to ban hydraulic fracturing to extract oil or natural gas. The bill passed the Senate earlier this week.
Inside The Kowloon Walled City
The city was a phenomenon with 33,000 families and businesses living in more than 300 interconnected high-rise buildings, all constructed without contributions from a single architect.
Dry rivers, vibrant with culture and life
‘When the River Runs Dry’ is a familiar song in Australia. Some rivers in the arid center of the continent ...Sacred White Buffalo Slaughtered; Reward For Catching Killer Grows
Sacred White Buffalo Slaughtered; Reward For Catching Killer Grows
There's now a $45,000 reward for information leading to those responsible for the death of a white buffalo, "considered sacred by its Lakota Sioux owner," and its mother near Greenville, Texas, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Crime Time blog.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Daily Drift
Long before tomorrow gets here it is today.
Today's readers have been in:
Today's readers have been in:
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Lahore, Pakistan
Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Dublin, Ireland
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Alor Setar, Malaysia
Mombasa, Kenya
Muar, Malaysia
Amersfoort, Netehrlands
Zagreb, Croatia
Bangkok, Thailand
Singapore, Singapore
Athens, Greece
Vienna, Austria
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
Kuantan, Malaysia
Skudai, Malaysia
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel Aviv, Israel
Cairo, Egypt
Groningen, Netherlands
Zurich, Switzerland
Prague, Czech Republic
Timisoara, Romania
Bern, Switzerland
Cork, Ireland
Nyon, Switzerland
Lahore, Pakistan
Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Dublin, Ireland
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Alor Setar, Malaysia
Mombasa, Kenya
Muar, Malaysia
Amersfoort, Netehrlands
Zagreb, Croatia
Bangkok, Thailand
Singapore, Singapore
Athens, Greece
Vienna, Austria
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
Kuantan, Malaysia
Skudai, Malaysia
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel Aviv, Israel
Cairo, Egypt
Groningen, Netherlands
Zurich, Switzerland
Prague, Czech Republic
Timisoara, Romania
Bern, Switzerland
Cork, Ireland
Nyon, Switzerland
Today In History
| 1502 | Christopher Columbus leaves Spain on his final trip to New World. | |
| 1754 | The first newspaper cartoon in America appears. | |
| 1813 | U.S. troops under William Henry Harrison take Fort Meigs from British and Canadian troops. | |
| 1864 | Union General John Sedgwick is shot and killed by a Confederate sharpshooter during fighting at Spotsylvania. His last words are: "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist–" | |
| 1859 | Threatened by the advancing French army, the Austrian army retreats across the River Sesia in Italy. | |
| 1915 | German and French forces fight the Battle of Artois. | |
| 1926 | Explorer Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole. | |
| 1936 | Fascist Italy captures the city of Addis Abba, Ethiopia and annexes the country. | |
| 1941 | The German submarine U-110 is captured at sea along with its Enigma machine by the Royal Navy. | |
| 1946 | King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy abdicates his throne and is replaced by Umberto. | |
| 1962 | A laser beam is successfully bounced off the moon for the first time. | |
| 1974 | The House Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on Nixon impeachment. |
The Sound That Only Canadians Can Hear
There’s a sound
that only Canadians can hear, various described as “a large diesel truck
idling, a loud boom box or the bass vocals of Barry White.”The sound is detectable to people in Windsor, which lies on Canada’s border with the United States. But Americans across the river can’t hear it:
Windsor residents have blamed the hum for causing illness, whipping dogs into frenzies, keeping cats housebound and sending goldfish to the surface in backyard ponds. Many have resorted to switching on their furnace fan all season to drown out the noise.More
Even weirder, Americans can’t seem to hear it. Canadians find that suspicious—especially since their research suggests the hum is coming from the Yankees’ side—and accuse U.S. officials of staying silent over the noise. [...]
American officials contend there haven’t been complaints on the U.S. side of the border. Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality looked last year at whether the companies at Zug started up any new machinery in the past two years that might be causing the noise and found nothing.
“The only place I am hearing noise from is Canada—from politicians complaining,” Mr. Bowdler said.
James Bond Shot at 4,662 Times During His Career
What
are the odds that 007 would survive? Gordon Stanger noted each time
that someone took a shot at Bond and crunched the numbers.In New Scientist, he writes:
There is some ambiguity over how many gunshots have been fired at James Bond because, in many gunfights, it is not clear who the shots are aimed at. However, by my reckoning, in the 22 Bond films to date, there have been at least 4662 shots fired at our hero. A static well-aimed shot would almost certainly have proved lethal, but assuming all 4662 were “on the run”, the probability of a single fatal shot is about 5 per cent. That is, the chance of a single shot missing is 0.95, and hence the probability of all shots missing is 0.954662 or 1.4 × 10-104, which is as close to zero as makes no difference.
Disneyland’s Club 33 Reopens for Membership
The main dining room at Disneyland's Club 33
Good news: For the first time in decades, Disney has reopened membership to its secretive Club 33.
The bad news? It costs $25,000 to join, with annual dues of $10,000.
Disney officials announced that a limited number of memberships would be offered in honor of Club 33's 45th anniversary and the completion of a major, five-year expansion project at California Adventure.
Less than 500 people are rumored to be on the Club 33 roster, and interest in membership grew to such staggering levels that, about a decade ago, even the waiting list was closed.
But now — for an initial price tag of $25,000 and annual dues of $10,000 — new members will once again have access to the New Orleans Square restaurant, get sneak peaks at new attractions and other perks.
Should a boy be permitted to play on a girls' field hockey team?
Keeling Pilaro is a 13-year old boy who grew up playing field hockey in
Ireland. He is now being told that, after two years of playing on a
girls' high school team following his family's move to New York, he will not be allowed to compete
next year due to his gender. There are no boys' field hockey teams in
the area, leading Pilaro to seek an exemption under Title IX allowing
him to play alongside girls.
From NBC:
Along with his teammates, the local school district supports Keeling's desire to play. But state law allows administrators to bar boys from girls' athletics if a boy's participation "would have a significant adverse effect" on girls' opportunities to compete. This clause raises a few highly problematic questions:
Where should the line be drawn regarding a boy's skill level? Skill level is a subjective measure; it's a bold claim to say that Keeling is good to the point of discrimination.
What is a "significant adverse effect" on girls' opportunities? Keeling is preventing, at most, one girl from playing on the team (assuming the coach makes cuts, which is not always the case at the high school level); does this adverse effect rise to the level of significant? If it does:
How bad would he have to be in order to play? Do boys have to be below average in skill to be allowed to play? Does they have to ride the bench so they don't take playing time away from girls? Do they have to be the worst players on the team so they don't take spots on the roster away?
What if a girl took a spot away from a boy? In the absence of their own teams, girls are granted Title IX exemptions to play football and wrestle on a regular basis. Surely if a girl beat out a boy for a spot on the football team the state would let her play. Moreover, the state's decision to let her play would be based on the fact that she wouldn't have the opportunity to play elsewhere, as is the case in this situation.
Keeling Pilaro doesn't want an unfair advantage, he just wants a chance to play. Since he doesn't have an opportunity to compete in a boys' league, his only option is to play on the girls' team. Equality means equality, regardless of the direction in which that equality flows. The State of New York should recognize this and let Keeling Pilaro remain on the team he has been playing for the past two years.
From NBC:
An appeals committee said it looked only at his skills, not size or strength, when upholding the decision to keep him off the field. That raises a question of discrimination.Keeling is 4'8", weighs in at 82 pounds and, according to those who wish to see him play, there are girls in the league with skills superior to his (although he did have ten goals and eight assists this past season). Asked about the situation, he expressed frustration, saying "I don't really care if I'm on a boys' team or a girls' team, I just want to play."
Along with his teammates, the local school district supports Keeling's desire to play. But state law allows administrators to bar boys from girls' athletics if a boy's participation "would have a significant adverse effect" on girls' opportunities to compete. This clause raises a few highly problematic questions:
Where should the line be drawn regarding a boy's skill level? Skill level is a subjective measure; it's a bold claim to say that Keeling is good to the point of discrimination.
What is a "significant adverse effect" on girls' opportunities? Keeling is preventing, at most, one girl from playing on the team (assuming the coach makes cuts, which is not always the case at the high school level); does this adverse effect rise to the level of significant? If it does:
How bad would he have to be in order to play? Do boys have to be below average in skill to be allowed to play? Does they have to ride the bench so they don't take playing time away from girls? Do they have to be the worst players on the team so they don't take spots on the roster away?
What if a girl took a spot away from a boy? In the absence of their own teams, girls are granted Title IX exemptions to play football and wrestle on a regular basis. Surely if a girl beat out a boy for a spot on the football team the state would let her play. Moreover, the state's decision to let her play would be based on the fact that she wouldn't have the opportunity to play elsewhere, as is the case in this situation.
Keeling Pilaro doesn't want an unfair advantage, he just wants a chance to play. Since he doesn't have an opportunity to compete in a boys' league, his only option is to play on the girls' team. Equality means equality, regardless of the direction in which that equality flows. The State of New York should recognize this and let Keeling Pilaro remain on the team he has been playing for the past two years.
Buddhists and Hindus Are On the Rise in U.S.
Hindu and Buddhist groups have grown steadily in the United States since changes in immigration laws in 1965 and 1992 ...
Someone better alert the bigots that there is someone 'new' to hate!
Someone better alert the bigots that there is someone 'new' to hate!
Meet the new generation of welfare queens
Master's and Doctorate degree holders who can't find work.
Writing for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Stacey Patton explores the stories of highly educated people who are jobless, broke, and on food stamps. In 2010, there were 22 million Americans with master's degrees or higher, and about 360,000 of them on public assistance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Snip:
Read the full story: From Graduate School to Welfare - Graduate Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education.
In 2010, a total of 44 million people nationally received food stamps or some other form of public aid, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. People who don't finish college are more likely to receive food stamps than are those who go to graduate school. The rolls of people on public assistance are dominated by people with less education. Nevertheless, the percentage of graduate-degree holders who receive food stamps or some other aid more than doubled between 2007 and 2010.
During that three-year period, the number of people with master's degrees who received food stamps and other aid climbed from 101,682 to 293,029, and the number of people with Ph.D.'s who received assistance rose from 9,776 to 33,655, according to tabulations of microdata done by Austin Nichols, a senior researcher with the Urban Institute. He drew on figures from the 2008 and 2011 Current Population Surveys done by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor.
Income and Health
A quarter of U.S. families have no savings or liquid assets
As the country emerges from the Great Recession, a substantial number of U.S. families are underwater – and not just ...
Income inequality killing Americans
A new study provides the best evidence to date that higher levels of income inequality in the United States actually ...
Americans fall short of federal exercise recommendations
Americans spend, on average, only about two hours
each week participating in sports and fitness activities, according to
researchers at ...
Things to ponder
A living wage law passes in new york
The 99% wakes up
Will there be a backlash against swift boaters: the next generation?
The 99% wakes up
Will there be a backlash against swift boaters: the next generation?
Netherlands becomes first EU nation to enshrine Net Neutrality in law
Ot from the Dutch technology activist group Bits of Freedom writes, "Good news from The Netherlands: on 8 May 2012 The Netherlands adopted crucial legislation to safeguard an open and secure internet.
It is the first country in Europe to implement net neutrality in the
law. In addition, it adopted provisions protecting users against
disconnection and wiretapping by providers. Digital rights movement Bits
of Freedom calls on other countries to follow the Dutch example."
TSA saves America from 16yo diabetic ...
...
by breaking a $10K insulin pump which totally could have been a bomb
You probably thought you have heard all the idiotic shenanigans from the TSA by now.
You thought wrong.
Via MSNBC today, the story of Savannah Barry, a 16-year-old diabetic girl who says the TSA broke her insulin pump. Savannah was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes four years ago, and her pump is a specialized medical device that can cost up to $10,000 to replace, according to MSNBC.
Snip:
The Colorado teenager says TSA screeners forced her to go through a full-body scanner in Salt Lake City last week, breaking her $10,000 insulin pump in the process. According to Sandra Barry, Savannah’s mother, her daughter was coming home from a school trip when screeners required to her to go through a full-body scanner despite the fact that the girl had a doctor’s note describing her condition and stating that she should be given a pat-down rather than subjected to screening machines.Full story here.
“Believe me, being 16 and female, she probably doesn’t want the pat-down but she knows that this is what’s required,” Sandra Barry told msnbc.com. “She tried to advocate for herself and they just shut her down.”
Her pump, which MSNBC reports is made by Animas, has since been replaced.
The local ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City has more, including a larger version of the photo above of Savannah with her wearable medical device. From the interview, she sounds like a smart, articulate young woman who is aware of her rights, and rightly pissed.
The Ghost Who Helped Solve Her Own Murder
According to local legend, Elva Zona Heaster appeared to her mother in a dream four weeks after the funeral. She said that her husband was a cruel man who abused her, and who had attacked her in a fit of rage when he believed that she had cooked no meat for dinner. Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparition's account. Her husband, Edward Shue, was found guilty and sentenced to the state prison.
A $26 Million Stradivarius Cello Broken
A Stradivarius cello at the Spanish Royal Palace was broken after an accident, The Associated Press reported on Monday.
A 19-Year-Old Busted Using Bouncer's Stolen ID at Bar
A Chicago teen was busted in his college town in Iowa for trying to
get into a bar with somebody else's ID - the bouncer's. 
A 13-year-old girl invents hiccup-curing lollipops
A 13-year-old girl has not only supposedly cured the hiccups, but she
has become a CEO in the process. Mallory Kievman is CEO and founder of Hiccupops,
a company that might just have cured one of the world's oldest and most
annoying conditions. Kievman is preparing to launch her product, the
Hiccupop, a hiccup-stopping lollipop of her own invention, with a patent
pending, financial backers, and a team of business consultants.
Kievman says that she got the idea after trying to tame a stubborn bout of hiccups two years ago by using any home remedy she came upon: Drinking saltwater, sipping water out of an upside-down cup, eating spoonfuls of sugar, slurping pickle juice. She had developed the product in her family’s Manchester, Conn., kitchen, amalgamating her three favorite cures — lollipops, apple cider vinegar and sugar — into a single confection.
"I'm still "tweaking the taste," she says. But the combination of ingredients "triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex arc... It basically over-stimulates those nerves and cancels out the message to hiccup."
Speculation as to whether Hiccupops is a profitable company has provoked some people to come out and advocate for the 13-year-old CEO. "It's very rare, when you're evaluating businesses, that you can envision a company or product being around 100 years from now," Danny Briere, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Startup Connecticut, which nurtures new companies, including Hiccupops, and is a regional affiliate of the Startup America Partnership, said. "Hiccupops is one of those things. It solves a very simple, basic need," he added.
Kievman says that she got the idea after trying to tame a stubborn bout of hiccups two years ago by using any home remedy she came upon: Drinking saltwater, sipping water out of an upside-down cup, eating spoonfuls of sugar, slurping pickle juice. She had developed the product in her family’s Manchester, Conn., kitchen, amalgamating her three favorite cures — lollipops, apple cider vinegar and sugar — into a single confection.
"I'm still "tweaking the taste," she says. But the combination of ingredients "triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex arc... It basically over-stimulates those nerves and cancels out the message to hiccup."
Speculation as to whether Hiccupops is a profitable company has provoked some people to come out and advocate for the 13-year-old CEO. "It's very rare, when you're evaluating businesses, that you can envision a company or product being around 100 years from now," Danny Briere, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Startup Connecticut, which nurtures new companies, including Hiccupops, and is a regional affiliate of the Startup America Partnership, said. "Hiccupops is one of those things. It solves a very simple, basic need," he added.
Paralyzed Woman Completed London Marathon in a Bionic Suit
Sixteen
days after the London Marathon began, 32-year-old Claire Thomas completed
the race.Before you think that's awfully slow, be assured that it's quite a remarkable achievement: See, Claire is paralyzed form the chest down and wore a bionic suit for the marathon race.
The £43,000 ReWalk suit she used for the marathon, designed by Israeli entrepreneur Amit Goffer, enables people with lower-limb paralysis to stand, walk and climb stairs through motion sensors and an on-board computer system.
A shift in the wearer's balance, indicating their desire to take, for example, a step forward, triggers the suit to mimic the response that the joints would have if they were not paralyzed.
Is sunscreen bad for your health?
Since summer is almost here, it's worth reading and then coming to your
own conclusion. The arguments against
sunscreen have been out there for a while and the FDA has been
noticeably quiet on the matter.
More on the subject of sunscreen from Natural Society:
More on the subject of sunscreen from Natural Society:
Studies conducted indicate the dangers of certain chemical compounds within sunscreen could be causing a variety of skin damaging ailments, especially when reacting with the sun’s intensive heat. Though the FDA had supervised and funded the studies showing key ingredients related to vitamin A as carcinogenic, they knowingly prevented the information from being released to the public whatsoever – up until recently. The synthetic vitamin A compound found in many sunscreen brands contain retinol and retinyl palmitate, both found to react negatively in the sunlight, becoming toxic to the system. This isn’t to be confused with the health-enhancing vitamin A that is found in many foods – it is a purely synthetic and ultimately useless ingredient. When combined with the extensive use over time, this kind of sunscreen can lead to skin damage in its users.
The Meteorological Ghost
Light from 'super-Earth' seen for first time
Light from an alien "super-Earth" twice the size of our own Earth has been detected by a NASA space telescope for the first time in what astronomers are calling a historic achievement.Black Hole Eating a Star
This black hole was caught eating a star by a
team of astrophysicists:
Usually when we get to see a star being swallowed by a black hole, we’ll end up turning to take a look at it only after the destruction has already begun. “What makes this so special was the fact that they actually caught the black hole as it was ripping the stellar core apart,” says Dr. David Floyd from the Monash Centre for Astrophysics in Melbourne.
The fact that we’ve managed to observe this event from beginning to end means that there is a lot more information available than ever before. We know the size of the black hole (approximately the same as the Milky Way’s central black hole), the fact that the star was probably a late-stage Red Giant and that it suffered its terrible fate because it got to within about 150 million kilometres of the supermassive black hole (about the same distance from the Sun to the Earth).
Yawning is Contagious to Dogs
Yawning
is contagious, that much we know. A new study has shown that yawning is
contagious to man's best friend:Yawn next to your dog, and she may do the same. Though it seems simple, this contagious behavior is actually quite remarkable: Only a few animals do it, and only dogs cross the species barrier. Now a new study finds that dogs yawn even when they only hear the sound of us yawning, the strongest evidence yet that canines may be able to empathize with us.
Smallest Mammoths found on Crete
Smallest mammoths found on Crete
The smallest mammoth ever known to have existed roamed the island of Crete millions of years ago, researchers say.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The Daily Drift
Let's hope all our readers in England, France, Germany, Australia and
New Zealand haven't forgot about us during the recently forced hiatus.
Today's readers have been in:
Today's readers have been in:
Timisoara, Romania
Groningen, Netherlands
Bangkok, Thailand
Zurich, Switzerland
Johannesburg, South Africa
Taipei, Taiwan
Dublin, Ireland
Cork, Ireland
Kuching, Malaysia
Tallinn, Estonia
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Amersfoort, Netherlands
Zagreb, Croatia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Athens, Greece
Vienna, Austria
Kuantan, Malaysia
Doha, Qatar
Skudai, Malaysia
Islamabad, Pakistan
Kluang, Malaysia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Rome, Italy
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Riga, Latvia
Warsaw, Poland
Limerick, Ireland
Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Alor Setar, Malaysia
Muar, Malaysia
Mombasa, Kenya
Singapore, Singapore
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
Kluang, Malaysia
Bern, Switzerland
Prague, Czech Republic
Groningen, Netherlands
Bangkok, Thailand
Zurich, Switzerland
Johannesburg, South Africa
Taipei, Taiwan
Dublin, Ireland
Cork, Ireland
Kuching, Malaysia
Tallinn, Estonia
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Amersfoort, Netherlands
Zagreb, Croatia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Athens, Greece
Vienna, Austria
Kuantan, Malaysia
Doha, Qatar
Skudai, Malaysia
Islamabad, Pakistan
Kluang, Malaysia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Rome, Italy
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Riga, Latvia
Warsaw, Poland
Limerick, Ireland
Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Alor Setar, Malaysia
Muar, Malaysia
Mombasa, Kenya
Singapore, Singapore
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
Kluang, Malaysia
Bern, Switzerland
Prague, Czech Republic
NC House Majority Leader Skip Stam admits national hate group wrote Amendment One
NC House Majority Leader Skip Stam admits national hate group wrote Amendment One
Like a cockroach scurrying for cover when the light goes on, House Majority Leader Skip Stam (r), seeing the moral bankruptcy that he has wrought with Amendment One on the ballot, tries to tell the Fayetteville Observer that he actually wanted a kinder, gentler (presumably only anti-gay) ballot initiative, but that he was pressured by a national hate group to use the language people will see at the polls. (NC Policy Watch)
The Anniversary of Coca-Cola
John
Pemberton earned a medical degree when he was only 19 years old -and
then worked as a pharmacist, trying to invent new drugs. He particularly
needed a new kind of pain relief, as he was badly wounded in the War Between the States and had become addicted to morphine for relief.After the war, Pemberton settled in Atlanta, where he began work on a beverage combining coca leaves and cola nuts. His objective was to create a pain reliever but when his lab assistant accidentally mixed the concoction with carbonated water on May 8, 1886, the two men tasted it, liked it, and decided it might make a profitable alternative to ginger ale and root beer.The Coca-Cola that you may be drinking right now has been reformulated a bit over the years, but the basic beverage is 126 years old today.
Pemberton sold the rights to Coca-Cola (twice, actually, but that’s another story) as his behavior became more erratic. He died only two years after his accidental invention and only a few months after the Coca Cola Corporation was incorporated.
Mustang
Nepal's Former Kingdom Of Lo
Today, Mustang is arguably the best-preserved example of traditional Tibetan life in the world. But it is poised for change. A new highway will connect the region to Kathmandu and China for the first time, ushering in a new age of modernity and altering Mustang's desert-mountain villages forever.
Diabetes drug metformin could treat blindness
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
researchers have discovered that a drug already prescribed to millions
of people with ...
Kids say the darndest things
Grandpa
was driving with his 9 year old granddaughter and beeped the horn by
mistake. She turned and looked at him for an explanation.He said, "I did that by accident."
She replied, "I know that, Grandpa."
He replied, "How did you know?"
She said, "Because you didn't say "asshole" afterwards.
Real Life Norman Bates Impersonates Dead Mom for 6 Years
This
life-imitating-movie story is one for the books: in order to prevent his
home from being foreclosed, Thomas Prusik Parkin decided that the only
course of action was to impersonate his dead elderly mother and sue ...
himself.“I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother,” Parkin told detectives.More
In the trial now nearing conclusion in Brooklyn Supreme Court, 51-year-old Parkin is being presented by the prosecution as a kind of Norman Bates for our time, armed not with a knife, but a pen, seeking not blood, but money. Rather than terrorize a rundown motel, Parkin is accused of dressing up like his dead mom, Irene Prusik, to perpetuate an intricate series of frauds over a six-year period involving a $2.2 million Park Slope brownstone and a $990,000 mortgage, as well as $115,000 in Social Security and other government payments.
The evidence against him includes a film made not by Alfred Hitchcock, but by investigators with the Brooklyn D.A.’s office using a buttonhole camera. It was screened on Wednesday before jurors, who seemed greatly entertained as they watched a figure in a red top slumped at the end a sofa wearing an obvious blonde wig, lipstick, blackout sunglasses, and an oxygen mask.
From the Newswire
A 92-year-old retired school teacher who sold $40 helium kits to
people who could use it to kill themselves faces sentencing in San Diego
for failing to file federal tax returns.
Fugitive couple nabbed after 12 years
Acting on a tip, U.S. marshals in Arizona put an end to an Illinois
couple's life on the lam, a dozen years after they fled punishment for
running a Ponzi scheme that targeted friends, the elderly, and even
family members, authorities said.
US foils new Al Qaeda underwear-bomb plot
Indian money lender kept 2-year-old baby as surety
Stephan, a construction site worker, paid a terrible price for borrowing
Rs 10,000 from a local money-lender. When he failed to repay the loan,
the money-lender snatched away his two-year-old son, held the infant
captive for nearly a year and kept him chained to the floor. The police
on Saturday rescued the child, held by the money-lender as surety, from
the woman's house in Tumkur, 76 km from Bangalore. Mumtaz, the
money-lender, and her daughter Rihana have been arrested. The police
said Mumtaz and Rihana ran a business of lending money at exorbitant
interest rates to families from below poverty line (BPL) category.
They often used muscle power to recover loans and interest from the borrowers. Two years ago, Stephan borrowed Rs 10,000 from Mumtaz but failed to repay the money. By the 18th month, the principal amount and interest had shot up and Mumtaz demanded that Stephan repay Rs 50,000. 'Mumtaz then used local rowdies to threaten Stephan. One night, she barged into his house, snatched the infant and left. The rowdies beat up Stephan and threatened him against approaching the police. She told Stephan that she would keep the child as surety till he paid her Rs 50,000,' a police officer said.
When Mumtaz's neighbors became suspicious about the child as they felt she and her daughter were neglecting him, they informed the police. On Saturday, when the police visited Mumtaz, she tried to mislead them by claiming she had adopted the boy. But she failed to provide the adoption documents. 'Besides, we were horrified to find that the child was chained and left on the floor with a food plate. It was a disgusting sight. The boy looked malnourished. We arrested both Mumtaz and Rihana. The boy is now in the care of the department of women and child welfare as he needs immediate medical attention. He will be treated for malnourishment and then handed over to Stephan,' the police officer added.
Reyaz, Mumtaz's husband, who was at home when the police visited them, escaped from the scene to evade arrest. Stephan was in tears when he saw his son's condition. 'I had borrowed the money to treat my wife's illness. I had asked for more time from Mumtaz to return the principal amount. But she kept on hiking the interest deliberately. After she kidnapped my son, I approached her several times asking her to return the child on humanitarian grounds, but she threatened me every time,' he alleged. According to Dr Ashwini S., who is attending to the boy, the infant has suffered from lack of attention, care and affection. 'He has not developed like a normal child because of lack of parental care.
They often used muscle power to recover loans and interest from the borrowers. Two years ago, Stephan borrowed Rs 10,000 from Mumtaz but failed to repay the money. By the 18th month, the principal amount and interest had shot up and Mumtaz demanded that Stephan repay Rs 50,000. 'Mumtaz then used local rowdies to threaten Stephan. One night, she barged into his house, snatched the infant and left. The rowdies beat up Stephan and threatened him against approaching the police. She told Stephan that she would keep the child as surety till he paid her Rs 50,000,' a police officer said.
When Mumtaz's neighbors became suspicious about the child as they felt she and her daughter were neglecting him, they informed the police. On Saturday, when the police visited Mumtaz, she tried to mislead them by claiming she had adopted the boy. But she failed to provide the adoption documents. 'Besides, we were horrified to find that the child was chained and left on the floor with a food plate. It was a disgusting sight. The boy looked malnourished. We arrested both Mumtaz and Rihana. The boy is now in the care of the department of women and child welfare as he needs immediate medical attention. He will be treated for malnourishment and then handed over to Stephan,' the police officer added.
Reyaz, Mumtaz's husband, who was at home when the police visited them, escaped from the scene to evade arrest. Stephan was in tears when he saw his son's condition. 'I had borrowed the money to treat my wife's illness. I had asked for more time from Mumtaz to return the principal amount. But she kept on hiking the interest deliberately. After she kidnapped my son, I approached her several times asking her to return the child on humanitarian grounds, but she threatened me every time,' he alleged. According to Dr Ashwini S., who is attending to the boy, the infant has suffered from lack of attention, care and affection. 'He has not developed like a normal child because of lack of parental care.
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