Saturday, August 28, 2010
The 'new Dubai'
After renouncing terrorism, the former pariah nation is seeing a construction frenzy.
Also: Capitalist Cuba?
OK, now you're really messing with the wingnuts world view here!
Cuba issues two rare free-market decrees, one of which could lead to a golfing boom.
Also: Why Kabul is filled with old Corollas
Ninety percent of cars in Afghanistan's capital are said to be aging Toyotas.
Also: American Muslims Have Mainstream Values
Yipes! You mean to say they're almost normal! However will the wingnuts react to this? Oh, wait never mind answering that question - how silly of me to even bring it up.
About 9 in 10 American Muslims support progressive policy positions on health care, school funding, the environment, foreign aid and guns. However, smaller majorities take positions on other issues that are very much in line with those of conservatives and religious people. They favor school vouchers (66%), government funding for religious social service groups (70%), making abortion more difficult to obtain (55%), the death penalty (61%), income tax cuts (65%), forcing U.S. citizens to speak English (52%) and even stronger laws to fight terrorism (69%).
So American Muslims tend to be conservative on social and religious issues and liberal on economic and human rights issues, making their attitudes more similar to those of Catholics than to those of conservative Protestants.
It's ugly in wingnut Alaska
The aftermath of the still unresolved repugican Senate primary in Alaska has gotten really ugly.
Sarah Palin's candidate, Joe Miller, compared incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski to a prostitute.
James L. at Swing State Project caught this tweet from Miller:
You just got to love it when the deluded morons fight each other.
Sarah Palin's candidate, Joe Miller, compared incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski to a prostitute.
James L. at Swing State Project caught this tweet from Miller:
What's the difference between selling out your party's values and the oldest profession? http://bit.ly/93kXBr #teaparty #tcot #alaska #akAnd, the Murkowski campaign responded:
"He just basically called Senator Murkowski a prostitute."Yes sir, he surely did. But then again it is a case of the Pot calling the Kettle black, anyway.
You just got to love it when the deluded morons fight each other.
The Long, Unglamorous History of the Toilet
The toilet is one of those things we take for granted, until it breaks down or we go somewhere without them. How did our modern comfort system come about? Toilet plumbing is older than you think!Ancient cultures were surprisingly adept at moving water around in a way that kept people from having to walk through pools of their own feces. (That was really more of a Medieval European thing.) Cultures as far back as 3000 BC were flushing away their problems—so who you callin’ primitive? Members of the Harrappa civilization in what is now India had toilets in their homes that drained into subterranean clay chambers. The residents of Skara Brae, a 31st century BC settlement in what’s now Scotland, were even clever enough to use a draining system that exploited a nearby river to automatically sweep out their dirty business.None of these systems were anything like the flush toilet -that came later. Read all about it here.
"I...have a meme"
Skippy over at Skippy the Bush Kangaroo had this to say today:
millions half a million hundreds of thousands tens of thousands of several dozen people enthralled as they took back their rightful mantle of victimhood.
washpo:
"i...have a meme"
Today in Washington, DC, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin held literallywashpo:
not our joke: "It'll be a million Klan march"Claiming the legacy of the nation's founding fathers and repeatedly evoking civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., Beck, Sarah Palin and other speakers at the "restoring honor" rally exhorted a sprawling and overwhelmingly white crowd to concentrate not on the history that has scarred the nation but instead on what makes it "good."
"For too long, this country has wandered in darkness, and we have wandered in darkness in periods from the beginning," Beck said, at times pacing at the memorial. "We have had moments of brilliance and moments of darkness. but this country has spent far too long worried about scars and thinking about the scars and concentrating on the scars.
"Today," he continued, "we are going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished - and the things that we can do tomorrow. the story of America is the story of humankind."
But Beck's attempt to appropriate the legacy of King, who delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech from the same marbled steps 47 years ago to the day, drew a counter protest from the rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders. they rallied outside Dunbar high school in northwest Washington and planned to march to the mall, to the site where a memorial to King is being built.
"The 'march on Washington' changed America," Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said at the Sharpton rally, referencing King's 1963 speech. "Our country reached to overcome the low points of our racial history. Glenn Beck's march will change nothing. but you can't blame Glenn Beck for his 'March on Washington' envy. Too bad he doesn't have a message worthy of the place."
Avis Jones DeWeaver, executive director of the national council of negro women also spoke to the crowd at Dunbar high school: "Don't let anyone tell you that they have the right to take their country back. It's our country, too. We will reclaim the dream. It was ours from the beginning."
Beck's rally has been billed as a peaceful and non-political "re-dedication" of the traditional honor and values of the nation. Beck, a Fox News host, has developed a national following by assailing President Obama and Democrats, and he warned Saturday that "our children could be slaves to debt." But he insisted that the rally "has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with god, turning our faith back to the values and principles that made us great."
Lunatic Fringe
Australian Catholic school sorry over Hitler costume win
An Australian primary school has apologized after a student was awarded first prize at a costume party for dressing as Adolf Hitler.
The school sent a letter of apology yesterday to parents after several complained about the child's Nazi-inspired getup, which included a swastika emblem.
The school's principal denied allegations that classmates had roared approval with chants of "Hitler, Hitler" explaining that youngsters had simply been calling out the name of the character they thought should win.
Parents at the Catholic school also objected to several more "nasty" costumes, including a vampire outfit and a student dressed as the Grim Reaper, the newspaper said. The school, in Perth, Western Australia, has not been identified.
The school sent a letter of apology yesterday to parents after several complained about the child's Nazi-inspired getup, which included a swastika emblem.
The school's principal denied allegations that classmates had roared approval with chants of "Hitler, Hitler" explaining that youngsters had simply been calling out the name of the character they thought should win.
Parents at the Catholic school also objected to several more "nasty" costumes, including a vampire outfit and a student dressed as the Grim Reaper, the newspaper said. The school, in Perth, Western Australia, has not been identified.
Years of saved pocket change buys van in China
A man has paid for a van in China with 100,000 yuan ($14,700; £9,500) in pocket change he gathered over years, state television reports. Mr Zhao, a businessman, dropped bundles of notes, none worth more than one yuan - about $0.15 - at the dealership in Jining, in northern Shandong province.
Extra staff had to be brought in to work shifts to count it all, a clerk at the dealership said. Mr Zhao received the notes from customers at his printing business. Finding a dealership to accept the notes, many of them stained and torn, was not easy, he said.
"I held onto the money waiting to see if they would accept it so that I could buy the car. The manager of this dealership decided to accept my cash, so that was really helpful to me," he said. After hours of counting, the staff at the dealership confirmed he had provided exact change.
"Our finance department originally had three or four people counting the money, but that was certainly not enough," said Chen Ying, a cashier with the dealership. "So we added some colleagues from the sales department, they came in the morning and worked all day, and then we added another shift. We finally finished counting all of the money."
Extra staff had to be brought in to work shifts to count it all, a clerk at the dealership said. Mr Zhao received the notes from customers at his printing business. Finding a dealership to accept the notes, many of them stained and torn, was not easy, he said.
"I held onto the money waiting to see if they would accept it so that I could buy the car. The manager of this dealership decided to accept my cash, so that was really helpful to me," he said. After hours of counting, the staff at the dealership confirmed he had provided exact change.
"Our finance department originally had three or four people counting the money, but that was certainly not enough," said Chen Ying, a cashier with the dealership. "So we added some colleagues from the sales department, they came in the morning and worked all day, and then we added another shift. We finally finished counting all of the money."
Police clerk shoots self after dropping envelope containing bullets
A Sacramento Police Department property clerk was injured on Thursday morning when she dropped an envelope containing ammunition and one of the rounds went off.
The clerk, whose name was not released, was struck in the upper right leg by the fragmented shell casing, according the police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. The wound did not appear serious as the clerk was wheeled out of the building to a waiting ambulance. She was treated briefly at a hospital and released.
The accident happened at about 9:30 a.m. at the property management warehouse at 555 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.
Leong said the envelope was holding evidence for a criminal case and the round that exploded was a .40 caliber centerfire cartridge. He said he had never heard of such an incident before, describing it as a "one-in-a-million" occurrence.
The clerk, whose name was not released, was struck in the upper right leg by the fragmented shell casing, according the police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. The wound did not appear serious as the clerk was wheeled out of the building to a waiting ambulance. She was treated briefly at a hospital and released.
The accident happened at about 9:30 a.m. at the property management warehouse at 555 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.
Leong said the envelope was holding evidence for a criminal case and the round that exploded was a .40 caliber centerfire cartridge. He said he had never heard of such an incident before, describing it as a "one-in-a-million" occurrence.
Man held captive as cleaning slave in Australia for six months
A couple has been arrested after allegedly kidnapping a man that moved into their home, keeping him captive and forcing him to clean for six months. In February this year, the 26-year-old man moved into a house with in Gormans Hill as a lodger. Police say the man was starved, repeatedly attacked and had his mobile phone stolen so he could not make contact with the outside world.
He was forced to do all the cleaning in the house. It will also be alleged on Monday 9 August the man was again assaulted by the man and woman where he was hit several times with a baseball bat. The man was then allegedly locked inside a children’s cubby house in the lounge room and denied any medical treatment before being taken to Bathurst Police Station the next day.
Police confirmed when the man was found, he was extremely dehydrated and in an emaciated state suffering black eyes, a split lip and severe bruising. He was rushed to Bathurst Base Hospital and later transferred to Westmead Hospital where it was discovered he was suffering significant injuries. Police have been told the 26-year-old had sustained old and new rib and spinal fractures as well as a fractured jaw and a punctured lung and weighed 40kg. His normal body weight is 70kg.
As a result of investigations by Chifley Local Area Command Detectives attached to Strike Force Bukari, police arrested a 41-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman and took them to Bathurst Police Station. They have been charged with a total of 27 offenses between them. Both were refused police bail and appeared at Bathurst Local Court this, where they were both remanded into custody to re-appear on Monday 11 October 2010.
He was forced to do all the cleaning in the house. It will also be alleged on Monday 9 August the man was again assaulted by the man and woman where he was hit several times with a baseball bat. The man was then allegedly locked inside a children’s cubby house in the lounge room and denied any medical treatment before being taken to Bathurst Police Station the next day.
Police confirmed when the man was found, he was extremely dehydrated and in an emaciated state suffering black eyes, a split lip and severe bruising. He was rushed to Bathurst Base Hospital and later transferred to Westmead Hospital where it was discovered he was suffering significant injuries. Police have been told the 26-year-old had sustained old and new rib and spinal fractures as well as a fractured jaw and a punctured lung and weighed 40kg. His normal body weight is 70kg.
As a result of investigations by Chifley Local Area Command Detectives attached to Strike Force Bukari, police arrested a 41-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman and took them to Bathurst Police Station. They have been charged with a total of 27 offenses between them. Both were refused police bail and appeared at Bathurst Local Court this, where they were both remanded into custody to re-appear on Monday 11 October 2010.
Siberia’s dead are on the move
The dead may not be walking the earth yet, but beneath the surface they have been traveling up to 10 meters from their final resting place. However, those fearing it's another apocalyptic sign in a summer of fire and drought should rest assured – there’s nothing unnatural, far less supernatural about these roaming bones.
Instead it’s simply a case of loose soil and water causing turbulence beneath the surface. That’s little comfort to many whose loved ones are buried in cemeteries in the Siberian capital Novosibirsk, however. Recently the city has seen a surge of requests for exhumations, with locals wanting to cremate corpses following the opening of the city’s first crematorium.
But once the digging started, workmen regularly found that the graves on the ground did not match the people buried below. “During the exhumation, relatives identify the body only from the clothes or personal items,” undertaker Rodion Yakushin told the city’s funeral museum. “When it is impossible to identify the body ... the relatives receive the remains found directly under the grave, but some of them may belong to another person.”
Typically Russians have buried their dead, and the Orthodox church has frowned upon cremation as a means of disposing of corpses. But as the population grows there is an increasing need to free up space in overflowing cemeteries, meaning city’s like Novosibirsk (population 1.5 million) have started opening crematoriums.
Instead it’s simply a case of loose soil and water causing turbulence beneath the surface. That’s little comfort to many whose loved ones are buried in cemeteries in the Siberian capital Novosibirsk, however. Recently the city has seen a surge of requests for exhumations, with locals wanting to cremate corpses following the opening of the city’s first crematorium.
But once the digging started, workmen regularly found that the graves on the ground did not match the people buried below. “During the exhumation, relatives identify the body only from the clothes or personal items,” undertaker Rodion Yakushin told the city’s funeral museum. “When it is impossible to identify the body ... the relatives receive the remains found directly under the grave, but some of them may belong to another person.”
Typically Russians have buried their dead, and the Orthodox church has frowned upon cremation as a means of disposing of corpses. But as the population grows there is an increasing need to free up space in overflowing cemeteries, meaning city’s like Novosibirsk (population 1.5 million) have started opening crematoriums.
Teenager gets squeaky dog toy lodged in his lung
Paramedics said it was the first time for them after a Sandy teenager got a dog whistle lodged in his lung. The teen's mother said each time 13-year-old William Robertson took a breath, he squeaked. William was supposed to start school on Tuesday but instead was in surgery to get the whistle removed.
"He coughed on the way and it slipped into his lungs," said William's mother, Laurie Robertson. "They had to do surgery then to get the whistle out." Robertson said William was wrestling with his dog over a squeaky toy.
"I squeezed it just as the dog jumped on me and it fell," said William. "Every time I breathed, it would happen to squeak." William's mother said he has a new nickname from the incident but William said he does not find it funny.
"It's kind of irritating," William said. "It's kind of funny but then again, it's scary cause I just don't see how choking is funny." Williams is taking a couple days off to recover from a sore throat.
"He coughed on the way and it slipped into his lungs," said William's mother, Laurie Robertson. "They had to do surgery then to get the whistle out." Robertson said William was wrestling with his dog over a squeaky toy.
"I squeezed it just as the dog jumped on me and it fell," said William. "Every time I breathed, it would happen to squeak." William's mother said he has a new nickname from the incident but William said he does not find it funny.
"It's kind of irritating," William said. "It's kind of funny but then again, it's scary cause I just don't see how choking is funny." Williams is taking a couple days off to recover from a sore throat.
U.S. birth rate hits lowest point in a century
The trend spurs new speculation about how the recession affected families last year.
Also: America's best and worst airports
Airports with poor food and surly employees got the lowest marks from readers.
Also: Two-moon hoax fools the Web
Searches on “huge Mars” soar after a message claims the moon would have company last night.
Also:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
