Historic center of Venice flooded

Meanwhile, we're in a drought ...

Water in Venice rose to its highest level in more than 20 years Monday, flooding much of the Italian city and forcing residents and tourists to wade through knee-high water.

City officials said the sea level topped 61 inches early Monday, well past the 40-inch flood mark, following heavy rains.
Alarms went off to alert citizens in the morning.
"There are very few streets that are water-free," said a city spokesman, Enzo Bon.

Among the spots affected was St. Mark's Square, the landmark piazza that is the lowest point in the city.

Workers were unable to install the raised wooden walkways used during flooding because the water rose too high and too quickly.
The floods forced many of the water taxis to suspend service, Bon said.

TV footage showed people rolling up their pants or wearing rubber boots as they walked through the water.
Some had plastic wrapped around their legs, while some tourists in St. Mark's walked on chairs left in the piazza.
The last time Venice registered such high waters was in 1986, city officials said. The all-time record was 76 inches in 1966.

... granted it is not as severe as it was but a drought is a drought.

Daily Horoscope

My daily horoscope for today says:

You are exceptionally cute and powerful this month, and getting even more so.

Yesterday's said:

You are especially cute now, so definitely ask for what you want.

Do you think they are trying to tell me something?!

Treating Depression

Cognitive Therapy is as effective as anti-depressants in chronic depression

A study published today in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology concludes that Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is as effective as anti-depressants in controlling long-term depression.

I've had personal experience with MBCT. About ten years ago, my personal life hit a very low point that left me more than sad -- I was paralyzed, weepy, unable to see the bright side of anything, listless, always tired. I recognized the symptoms of depression and spoke to a psychiatrist I knew. He recommended MBCT in the form of David D Burns's The Feeling Good Handbook. Despite its cheesy title, the book was just what I needed: a series of simple exercises that used empiricism (writing down what happened around you and how it made you feel, and what alternative explanations you could think of for others' behavior) to help change the habits of thought that led to the downward spiral. It wasn't long before the depression lifted, never to return (so far -- and if it does, I know what I'll do).

I've never spoken in public about this before, but I have quietly passed on the book to many of my friends when it seemed needed, always with good results. So I'm not surprised to hear that this research ("led by Professor Willem Kuyken at the Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter, in collaboration with colleagues at the Centre for Economics of Mental Health (CEMH) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Peninsula Medical School, Devon Primary Care Trust and the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit") shows that MBCT works in cases of chronic, long-term depression. This is especially good news, since chronic depression (which runs in my family) is especially hard on the person experiencing it as well as those around her or him.

The holidays are prime-time for difficult emotions. If you or someone you know is experiencing depression, know that it's not a sign of weakness or personal inadequacy. Help is simple, widely available and effective.

Professor Willem Kuyken of the University of Exeter said: "Anti-depressants are widely used by people who suffer from depression and that's because they tend to work. But, while they're very effective in helping reduce the symptoms of depression, when people come off them they are particularly vulnerable to relapse. MBCT takes a different approach – it teaches people skills for life. What we have shown is that when people work at it, these skills for life help keep people well."

Professor Kuyken continues: "Our results suggest MBCT may be a viable alternative for some of the 3.5 million people in the UK known to be suffering from this debilitating condition. People who suffer depression have long asked for psychological approaches to help them recover in the long-term and MBCT is a very promising approach. I think we have the basis for offering patients and GPs an alternative to long-term anti-depressant medication. We are planning to conduct a larger trial to put these results to the test and to examine how MBCT works."

Depression Treatment: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy As Effective As Anti-depressant Medication, Study Suggests

It's December first ...

... and you know what that means.

It is only 30 days until 2009.

Oh, and Xmas is only 24 days away!

Alien-like Squid With "Elbows" Filmed at Drilling Site

From National Geographic News

A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater, a remote control submersible's camera has captured an eerie surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and—strangest of all—"elbowed" Magnapinna squid.

See photos of Magnapinna.

See the video here.

Police raid 79-year-old woman for pot ...

They find ... tomato plants!

Police officers in Scotland were disappointed to learn that the people they intended to arrest for growing marijuana were growing an equally innocuous, but unfortunately legal, plant -- tomatoes.

Uniformed officers burst into Lulu Matheson's house in the village of Shieldaig, Wester Ross, kept her son Gus in his bedroom for two hours, handcuffed her grandson Stephen, and turned the house upside down.

The high-profile afternoon raid involved three squad cars, seven officers and sniffer dogs. They told the family they were looking for cannabis, but after searching for several hours had to concede the green plants visible in the window from the roadside were tomatoes.

Naturally, the cops didn't apologize. They were just doing their job.

Police raid 79-year-old woman for pot, find tomato plants

And I Quote

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.

~ Victor Borge

Hamas prevents Muslim pilgrims from leaving Gaza

Hamas police prevented Muslim pilgrims from leaving Gaza Sunday for the annual Islamic pilgrimage because of internal Palestinian squabbling, drawing rare rebukes from Arab countries.

Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules Gaza, blocked the crossing into Egypt, stranding Palestinians on their way to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The reason - they got visas from the rival West Bank government led by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas.

The "hajj" pilgrimage is considered the crowning moment in a Muslim believer's life. This year's trek should be completed by Dec. 5, according to Muslim authorities.
But early Sunday morning, black-clad Hamas police blocked the only passenger crossing between Gaza and Egypt. A handful of people waited nearby.

"We are old, tired. We've been waiting all our lives (for the pilgrimage)," said Umm Jihad, an elderly woman."This is not a Hamas delegation or a Fatah delegation," fumed Ashraf Lafi, a young man with a full beard and Muslim-style clothes. "This is a delegation for God."

Saudi Arabia sets quotas to different regions for the number of pilgrims they can send to Mecca each year. Gaza is allowed to dispatch about 3,000.
Abbas' Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Hamas rulers each submitted separate lists of Gaza pilgrims to the Saudi authorities for visa approvals, but so far Saudi Arabia has rejected the Hamas list.

Hamas officials were defiant on Sunday, saying nobody would leave until those who applied through the Gaza government are given visas by Saudi Arabia.
"The priority is for those who registered with us," said Hamas official Abdullah Abu Jarbou. "It is not for those who bypassed the legitimate government. They didn't go through the legal channels."

In a sign of a widening rift with regional Arab countries, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said the ban damaged "the reputation of (the) Islamic movement."
Saudi Arabia also expressed its displeasure in indirect but rare criticism.

A Saudi foreign ministry official who said he was "shocked that a member of the Palestinian parliament," - referring to Hamas - "said that Saudi Arabia did not give visas to Gaza pilgrims."Saudi Arabia "gave its visas to the Palestinian Authority," in a statement released to the Saudi news agency.

Conservative Arab regimes are troubled by the Hamas takeover but usually refrain from open criticism in the name of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Star Dancing

Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1.

A slender crescent moon, just 15 percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.

Check out msnbc for more.

To see the event:

Look to the southwest after sunset on Dec. 1 for a close conjunction between three bright solar system objects: the moon, Venus and Jupiter. If you have binoculars, you might even be able to fit all three of them in the field of view.

Fractured Fairy Tales

Leaping Beauty

Science News

Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists

The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.

Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots.

Read the rest in the Telegraph.

At the Last Minute, a Raft of Rules

In a burst of activity meant to leave a lasting stamp on the federal government, the Bush White House in the past month has approved 61 new regulations on environmental, security, social and commercial matters that by its own estimate will have an economic impact exceeding $1.9 billion annually.

Some of the rules benefit key industries that have long had the administration's ear, such as oil and gas companies, banks ...

Read the rest in the Washington Post.

Shrub Aides Rush to Enact a Rule Obama Opposes

The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.

The rule, which has strong support from business groups, says that in assessing the risk from a particular substance, federal agencies should gather and analyze “industry-by-industry evidence” of employees’ exposure to it during their working lives. The proposal would, in many cases, add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers’ health.

Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.

With the economy tumbling and American troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush has promised to cooperate with Mr. Obama to make the transition “as smooth as possible.” But that has not stopped his administration from trying, in its final days, to cement in place a diverse array of new regulations.

Read the rest in the New York Times.

Oldest stash found!

2,700-year-old marijuana found in Chinese tomb

Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.

The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly ``cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fiber for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.

The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.

The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odor.

"To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," says the newly published paper, whose lead author was American neurologist Dr. Ethan B. Russo.

Remnants of cannabis have been found in ancient Egypt and other sites, and the substance has been referred to by authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus. But the tomb stash is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.

Read the rest in the Toronto Star.

Riot at Nerf factory in China

Associated Press story about a riot in the factory where Nerf toys were manufactured for Hasbro.

Tempers began flaring Tuesday when the plant's Hong Kong owner, Kader Holdings Company Ltd., prepared to lay off 216 migrant workers at the factory that employs 6,500. About 80 senior workers claimed they were getting shortchanged on their severance pay, and they mobilized a mob of 500 — mostly other unemployed workers and friends, Guo said.

The workers battled security guards, turned over a police car, smashed the headlights of police motorcycles and forced their way through the factory's front gate, Guo said. They went on a rampage in the plant's offices, damaging 10 computers, the company said.

The account was confirmed Wednesday by several of the 200 or so jobless laborers peacefully milling around the street in front of the four-story factory complex covered in soot-stained white and green tiles. Small groups of workers inside the factory pressed against glass windows and stared at the crowd below. When their shift ended, they flooded into the streets and mixed with the angry workers.

"The factory's management and the local officials really look down on the workers," said one laid-off worker who would only give his surname, Qiao, because he feared criticizing the company might jeopardize his chance of getting any compensation.

Workers riot at Chinese toy factory

India ends Mumbai rampage after 60 hours, 174 are dead

It took just 10 young men armed with rifles and grenades to terrorize this city of 18 million and turn its postcard-perfect icons into battlefields until security forces ended one of the deadliest attacks in India's history.

A previously unknown Muslim group called Deccan Mujahideen - a name suggesting origins inside India - has claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed more than 170 people

*****

All right then ... it's high time - way past time - we ended this. The hate bred by these groups and the hate that breeds these groups needs to stop. If non-violent means does not work then violent means will ... unfortunately this leads to more hate, but it may be necessary to end this cycle of idiocy.

Daily Horoscope

The daily horoscope today says:

You are especially cute now, so definitely ask for what you want.

Ain't it the truth, now!

I Want Candy

Bow Wow Wow

ESTP - The Doers

I just ran Carolina Naturally through the Typealyzer to see what type personality the writing this blog has on it and according to Typealyzer this blog is:

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Well, I'll be! Who knew a blog had a Meyers-Briggs personality classification.

Fresh new look

How do you like the new look?

I decided on a simpler look yet still have a bit of color to it rather than a stark white look punctuated by black typeface.

Not everything has to be multi-graphic maxed-out color extravaganzas.