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BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Apr 09 - 05:05 PM link Geriatric porn star an inspiration for the old Mon Apr 13, 2009 ICHIKAWA, Japan (Reuters) - He is a typical man of age -- a few white hairs cover his round head and he wears dentures. But 75-year-old Shigeo Tokuda sat on a movie set on Monday wearing just a silk kimono and loin cloth about to have sex on film with a woman who is younger than his daughter. Tokuda is Japan's oldest pornographic movie star and was shooting his latest film in which he portrayed a master of sex. The director said the films showed people that their sex lives did not have to end with old age, and in 16 years of making such movies Tokuda has acted up with women ranging from their 20s to as old as himself. "I debuted at 59, and have played in more than 200 porno movies since then," he said, using his screen name, not his real one in an interview on the set. "I wanted to challenge what ordinary people did not, so I decided to be a porno actor." In Monday's film he used vibrators, whips and candle lights to show the master satisfying a 36-year-old actress. The film was not scripted. Tokuda turned to the pornographic industry late. He lived a typical Japanese office worker's life as a travel agent after graduating from one of Tokyo's elite colleges. The career sideline came about because he was unsatisfied with a lack of story lines in sex movies he'd seen, which led to a discussion with a film producer about whether he could do better. It took a couple of years of thinking about it but Tokuda eventually took his pants off for the camera. Since then, he has became a popular figure in porn movies for rent in Japan, with its rapidly aging population and long life expectancy. One in five Japanese is over 65 years-old. "Other old men think they can do it because he can. The elderly can feel secure and encouragement when they see his films," said Gaichi Kono, the director of Tokuda's latest film. Japan's elderly are rejecting the idea that growing old means slowing down, said Chineko Araki, a professor of social welfare from Den-en Chofu University. "More than 50 percent of men over 65 are eager to have a sexual relationship with their partners," she said in an email interview. Tokuda's films will soon be offered to Japanese retirement homes, exports beckon and they may be shown on the Internet. Tokuda says his wife and daughter pretend not to know and his friends will never guess. "But my job makes me keep alive," he says, adding he plans to keep going at least till he hits 80 years old. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 13 Apr 09 - 12:49 PM SAN DIEGO -- Harbor police officers who pulled over a driver for vehicle towing code violations found nearly 600 pounds of marijuana on the boat he was pulling, authorities said Monday. Police arrested Brualio DeJesus and Jacyln Cisneros, both 31, on suspicion of transportation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, said San Diego harbor police Lt. James Jordan. Harbor police officers tried to pull over DeJesus for vehicle code violations on the 1500 block of Rosecrans Street around 6:45 p.m. Sunday, Jordan said. DeJesus refused to comply and instead drove several blocks while followed by light-flashing, siren-blaring police cars. DeJesus finally stopped but came out of the vehicle and ran away along Rosecrans Street, Jordan said, adding he was pursued and arrested a short time later. A harbor police dog found 589.5 pounds of marijuana in the boat being towed, Jordan said. DeJesus was taken to San Diego Central Jail, with bail set at $70,150, according to jail records. He's scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon. Cisneros, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was arrested at the scene and taken to Las Colinas Detention Facility, with bail set at $60,150, according to jail records. Cosmeros is scheduled to make her first court appearance Wednesday afternoon. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Apr 09 - 09:25 PM Here is a story I am glad to see about the way the Obamas can get a good start with their new dog. 'Dog Whisperer' Cesar Millan's advice for First Dog Bo Obama Now that we know the Obamas' pet is a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog named Bo, we turned to dog trainer extraordinaire Cesar Millan for advice on how the Obamas can get off on the right foot with the dog. (It might help if the Obamas tuned in to Millan's show, Dog Whisperer, on National Geographic Channel Fridays at 8 p.m.) The word is that Bo came from a Texas breeder, was sold to a family and then brought back. Knowing how spirited Portuguese water dogs can be, that makes us a little nervous for Bo. How can the dog make sure his first 100 days in the White House are a success? Millan had the answers: 1. Bo is going to be the world's most famous dog with nearly every bark and misbehavior chronicled. What are the most important training tips for a dog getting all that attention? Establish leadership from day one! Start off with a nice, long walk. This is the best way to bond with the new dog. Make sure Bo is next to you or behind you. Canine pack leaders walk in front. Establish rules, boundaries and leadership right from the start, and be consistent. Don't send Bo a mixed message. Then, at the end of the day when he is in resting mode, you can share all that affection you've been storing up! By starting off right, the family can help prevent bad behavior down the road, such as excessive barking, leash-pulling or biting White House reporters. 2. Bo is new, but the house is old and rich in history. How can the Obamas make sure that this new dog doesn't rough up the Lincoln bedroom or the new White House vegetable garden? Set rules, boundaries and limitations. Let Bo know that certain places are off-limits by claiming the area. Use your body, your mind and your calm-assertive energy to create an invisible wall that the dog is not allowed to cross. If the family decides an area is off-limits for the dog, the dog should always be supervised in those areas. He should never be left alone there, especially in the first six months. 3. What does Barack Obama's style of leadership as a president tell us about how he'll be as a pet owner? President Obama is a calm and assertive leader. If he applies those skills to his relationship with Bo, he'll be on the right path and a great role model for the world! 4. The president and first lady have made a point of saying that their daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, will have responsibilities for walking and cleaning up after Bo. Is that realistic? Absolutely! It is important for the whole family to be involved, and walking is one of the best ways to bond with Bo. It can also help the dog to see the girls as pack leaders, and of course, it is the humans' responsibility to clean up after the dog. The girls are definitely old enough to respect an agreement to walk Bo and clean up afterwards. I would keep the routine very simple and playful. 5. If the Obamas only took one piece of advice from you about raising Bo, what should it be? Never work against Mother Nature, always work with her. I received this piece of advice from my grandfather, and I keep it in mind every day. Animals need a balanced pack leader, and when they live with us, we can all be balanced pack leaders! |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 09 Apr 09 - 02:00 PM Derrick Munoz, an Amityville (N.Y.) High School student, is expected to recover from head injuries he sustained when a woman leaped to her death and landed on him at a mall, Newsday said. Derrick, 17, was on the first floor of the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst on Wednesday when the 56-year-old woman landed on him after jumping from a third-floor balcony, Munoz's family told WPIX/Channel 11. She was pronounced dead at the scene. "He was sitting there minding his own business," Derrick's father, Ruben Munoz, told WPIX. "It was pretty shocking." Witnesses told the television station that the unidentified woman appeared to argue with other people, believed to be her relatives, before taking off her shoes and jacket and dropping her purse. She then dangled from a balcony railing and let go, witnesses said. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 08 Apr 09 - 01:41 PM An American crew has seized back control of a container ship that was commandeered by pirates in the Indian Ocean today, according to the Pentagon. The military official said the crew was holding one pirate in custody while the others were reported to "be in the water". The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, would not confirm how the Somalis found their way into the ocean. Somali pirates hijacked the US-flagged container ship off the Horn of Africa, the first such attack on American interests. John Reinhart, the CEO of Maersk, which owned the vessel, said the company was working to contact families of the crew. "Speculation is a dangerous thing when you're in a fluid environment. I will not confirm that the crew has overtaken this ship," he said. All 20 American crew members aboard the Maersk Alabama were believed to be unharmed, according to Andrew Mwangura, who monitors piracy for the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme. The ship was travelling to the Kenyan port of Mombasa and her cargo includes 232 containers of relief food destined for United Nations feeding programmes in Somalia and Uganda. She was snatched after a sustained assault involving several pirate skiffs about 400 nautical miles east of Mogadishu. The attack lasted five hours as the ship tried unsuccessfully to evade the assault. American officials said their first priority was the safety of the crew. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: curmudgeon Date: 07 Apr 09 - 09:28 PM "...the typo, caused when a copy editor was running spell check, was an honest mistake." More of a stupid mistake. Can't the copy editor read for himself? Not much of an education at that school - Tom |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Rapparee Date: 07 Apr 09 - 09:15 PM PROVO, Utah (AP) -- About 18,500 issues of the Daily Universe student newspaper at Brigham Young University were pulled from newsstands because a photo caption on the front page misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles. An apostate is a person who has abandoned religious faith, principles or a cause. The photo was of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the weekend general conference. The caption called the group the "Quorum of the Twelve Apostates." The papers were replaced with corrected copies later Monday. University spokeswoman Carri Jenkins says the typo, caused when a copy editor was running spell check, was an honest mistake. BYU is owned by the church. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Apr 09 - 02:29 PM The grocery store I used to shop at regularly a few years back started arranging their carts to block all but one door at night. It seems very brazen shop-lifters used to stack toilet paper around the outside of a cart, fill the interior with expensive cuts of meat, then when they were near the door go flying out. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: curmudgeon Date: 07 Apr 09 - 12:49 PM This particular grocery chain sells gigantic frozen shrimp in two pound bags for $19.95. Because of the lay-out of these stores, it would be possible for a miscreant to purchase a few cheap items, and then wheel his/her cart back around to get some single "forgotten" item, and while doing so, stuff two or three bags of shrimp into the bags holding the purchased items, and then check out again with something like a bottle of wine or a six-pack to go along with the shrimp. And if the person was using spacious reusable fabric shopping bags, which this chain sells for .99, it woud be even easier. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Apr 09 - 04:45 PM You're not going to tell use where he hid the shrimp? That much shrimp can't be easy to hide. ANYWHERE! |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 03 Apr 09 - 04:06 PM N.H. police net alleged shrimp shoplifter |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 29 Mar 09 - 11:45 AM MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) ― A Monterey County jury has ordered the state to pay $8.6 million to a motorcyclist who was severely injured when he struck six wild boars on a state highway in 2003. The jury ruled Friday that the state was responsible for Adam Rogers' injuries because officials knew that wild pigs regularly crossing a stretch of Highway 1 just south of the Carmel River were creating a dangerous situation, but they did nothing to address it. Rogers, a 45-year-old former karate teacher and champion kickboxer, suffered serious injuries and is now confined to a wheelchair. He and his wife sued the state Department of Transportation in Monterey County Superior Court. DOT attorneys argued that the state wasn't responsible for the actions of wild animals and said Rogers was under the influence when he struck them. A test found Rogers had a blood-alcohol level of more than .10 after the crash, but the jury concluded that wasn't a major factor in the crash. Rogers' attorney, Larry Biegel, argued that the state knew the pigs were crossing the road to feed on vegetation in a nearby environmental restoration project. The state later put up a pig-crossing sign and used hunters to help control the pig population. "This was a situation that they, the state, created, and then once they created it and saw what was happening they did nothing to stop it," Biegel said Saturday. Most of the $8.6 million award will go toward Rogers' medical bills. Biegel said Rogers requires around-the-clock care and won't walk again. He said he still suffers from gaps in memory as a result of massive head injuries he suffered when he was thrown from his motorcycle. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: VirginiaTam Date: 27 Mar 09 - 03:14 PM GOOGLE EARTH 60ft penis painted on roof Teenager painted 60 ft penis on roof of his parents £1,000,000 house. Word is he will have to ahem rub it off. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Mar 09 - 06:23 PM More. . . This page has a YouTube series with the traffic stop. Here's an editorial. And there are quite a few other stories out there. link Officer's actions at hospital damage public trust, undercut colleagues 02:32 PM CDT on Thursday, March 26, 2009 It took 13 minutes for Dallas police Officer Robert Powell to shame his profession and his department, to give the city an embarrassing black eye and to set off an ugly, sullen public argument about cops and race. Pretty fast work. But if you watch the 13-minute dash-cam video of Powell bullying and lecturing a driver whose mother-in-law was dying in a nearby hospital room, it seems to last forever. It's painful viewing. You can feel Ryan Moats' helpless desperation as the minutes tick past. You share his silent rage at this officious cop who is purposely detaining him as the precious minutes tick away. You experience his disbelief that, in what is literally a life-and-death circumstance, the policeman cares only about making a show of who's the boss here, of who holds the high poker hand of ultimate authority. You feel the enormous effort it must cost Moats to maintain his self-control, even though he is rightfully emotional and distraught. It's too bad they don't have a screening process for this mindset at the outset, some police-academy Rorschach test that reveals which of these earnest rookies will turn into a petty street tyrant once equipped with badge and gun. Powell may have technically acted within the scope of his authority, but he did a lot of damage. Moats, a Frisco resident and NFL running back, was held in a hospital parking lot while his mother-in-law passed away. Even though hospital personnel told Powell that the woman, Jonetta Collinsworth, was dying, he was unsympathetic. He treated Moats – who had run a red light while rushing to the hospital – as if he were a criminal. Worse, perhaps, he lectured him as though he were a child. "Attitude's everything," he loftily catechized, finally wrapping up this long, long lesson in domination and control. "All you had to do was stop, tell me what was going on. More than likely, I would have let you go." Hey, that would have been big of him, but it was too late. Jonetta Collinsworth, by then, was dead. We trust police officers with a great deal beyond the authority to enforce the law. We give them a measure of discretion, the leeway to balance enforcement and compassion. We credit them with having enough street sense to make judgment calls, to consider the circumstances surrounding events. Surely we expect them to know when somebody needs a lecture, and when they need a break. A man who runs a light and is slow to pull over because he's trying to get his wife to the bedside of her dying mother is not in the same category with a smart aleck who needs a little verbal smack down for his cavalier treatment of the law. How hard is that to grasp? And, as miserable fate would have it, Moats and his family are black, while Powell is white. You may not believe that race didn't play any role in this encounter, but you're not going to change the minds of those who would believe otherwise. What Powell has done is undercut all his colleagues who are above this kind of trivial abuse. He has reinforced the worst suspicions of those who automatically assume white cops will not give a black man a fair shake, that they take a malicious pleasure in humiliating prosperous, professional civilians of color. Powell has made the job of those anxious to assure the public that most officers aren't like that a great deal more difficult. Every time he told Moats — who was desperately trying to explain his situation — to "shut your mouth," he dealt his own colleagues a setback. His betrayal goes far beyond Ryan Moats. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Mar 09 - 06:03 PM A classic case of profiling. link Police delayed NFL player as relative died 03/26/2009 A Dallas police officer who detained an NFL player in a hospital parking lot despite his pleas that his mother-in-law was dying inside has been placed on administrative leave. Police Chief David Kunkle said Thursday that Officer Robert Powell will be placed on leave with pay pending an internal investigation over the March 18 incident with Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats. The officer had pulled over Moats as he and relatives were hurrying to see his dying mother-in-law. Powell drew his gun, threatened the NFL player and held him in the parking lot, officials said. By the time Moats got inside, the woman had died. Kunkle said the department is "embarrassed and disappointed." |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Mar 09 - 11:24 AM Local businesses criticised the police for taking so long to realise there was no threat. Alberto Romanelli, owner of the Windmill put that was evacuated, said: "I lost a good hour's worth of business." ;-D |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 21 Mar 09 - 01:50 AM Bomb disposal teams were called in and a nearby pub evacuated after water company engineers mistook a Monty Python film prop for a hand grenade. After nearly an hour of examination by bomb experts, they counted to three. No more. No less. Three was the number they counted, and the number they counted was three. Four they did not count, nor two, except to proceed to three. Five was right out. Once the number three had been reached, being the third number, they declared that the grenade was actually a copy of the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" used in the film Monty Python And The Holy Grail. A police spokeswoman confirmed that the device was a toy and that it had been no danger to the public. From The Telegraph. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Mar 09 - 12:41 AM David Horsey cartoon. Farewell, Seattle Post Intelligencer. It'll be online only, but I suspect it will be eviscerated. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 15 Mar 09 - 04:18 AM The Cramer interview is priceless. In other news: "And finally: "With the world swirling about it, the House took a moment Thursday to honor pi, the Greek letter symbolizing that great constant in mathematics representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter," reports Politico. "I'm kind of geeked up about it," said Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA). Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) was a little less into it, saying, "We were never good at math in my family. I thought I was voting for p-i-e." " |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Mar 09 - 01:51 AM March 12, 2009, Daily Show/Jim Cramer interview, Part 1 March 12, 2009, Daily Show/Jim Cramer interview, Part 2 March 12, 2009, Daily Show/Jim Cramer interview, Part3 |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Mar 09 - 07:11 PM This story appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram but it was written by someone up at the Chicago Tribune. link Texas town's police seize valuables from black motorists TENAHA — You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana border if you're African-American, but you might not be able to drive out of it — at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables. That's because the police here have allegedly found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead, they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes. More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, Ohio, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with or convicted of any crime. Officials in Tenaha, situated along a heavily traveled state highway connecting Houston with several popular gambling destinations in Louisiana, say they are engaged in a battle against drug trafficking, and they call the search-and-seizure practice a legitimate use of the state's asset-forfeiture law. That law permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets. "We try to enforce the law here," said George Bowers, mayor of the town of 1,046, where boarded-up businesses outnumber open ones and City Hall sports a broken window. "We're not doing this to raise money. That's all I'm going to say at this point." But civil rights lawyers call Tenaha's practice something else: highway robbery. The lawyers have filed a federal class-action lawsuit to stop what they contend is an unconstitutional perversion of the law's intent, aimed primarily at African-Americans who have done nothing wrong. Tenaha officials "have developed an illegal 'stop and seize' practice of targeting, stopping, detaining, searching and often seizing property from apparently nonwhite citizens and those traveling with nonwhite citizens," asserts the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas. The property seizures are not just happening in Tenaha. In southern parts of Texas near the Mexican border, for example, Hispanics allege that they are being singled out. A prominent Texas state legislator said police agencies across the state are wielding the asset-forfeiture law more aggressively to supplement their shrinking operating budgets. "If used properly, it's a good law enforcement tool to see that crime doesn't pay," said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee. "But in this instance, where people are being pulled over and their property is taken with no charges filed and no convictions, I think that's theft." David Guillory, a lawyer in Nacogdoches who filed the federal lawsuit, said he combed through Shelby County court records from 2006 to 2008 and discovered nearly 200 cases in which Tenaha police seized cash and property from motorists. In about 50 of the cases, suspects were charged with drug possession. But in 147 others, Guillory said the court records showed that the police seized cash, jewelry, cellphones and sometimes even automobiles from motorists but never found any contraband or charged them with any crime. Of those, Guillory said he managed to contact 40 of the motorists directly — and discovered all but one of them were black. "The whole thing is disproportionately targeted toward minorities, particularly African-Americans," Guillory said. "Every one of these people is pulled over and told they did something, like, 'You drove too close to the white line.' That's not in the penal code, but it sounds plausible. None of these people have been charged with a crime, none were engaged in anything that looked criminal. The sole factor is that they had something that looked valuable." In some cases, police used the fact that motorists were carrying large amounts of cash as evidence that they must have been involved in laundering drug money, even though Guillory said each of the drivers he contacted could account for where the money had come from and why they were carrying it, such as for a gambling trip to Shreveport or to buy a used car from a private seller. Once the motorists were detained, the police and the Shelby County district attorney quickly drew up legal papers presenting them with an option: waive their rights to their cash and property or face felony charges for crimes such as money laundering — and the prospect of having to hire a lawyer and return to Shelby County multiple times to attend court sessions to contest the charges. The process apparently is so routine in Tenaha that Guillory discovered presigned and prenotarized police affidavits with blank spaces left for an officer to fill in a description of the property being seized. Jennifer Boatright, her husband and two young children — a mixed-race family — were traveling from Houston to visit relatives in East Texas in April 2007 when Tenaha police pulled them over, alleging that they were driving in a left-turn lane. After searching the car, the officers discovered what Boatright said was a gift for her sister: a small, unused glass pipe made for smoking marijuana. Although they found no drugs or other contraband, the police seized $6,037 that Boatright said the family was carrying to buy a used car and then threatened to turn their children, ages 10 and 1, over to Child Protective Services if the couple didn't agree to sign over their right to their cash. "It was give them the money or they were taking our kids," Boatright said. "They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there." Several months later, after Boatright and her husband contacted a lawyer, Tenaha officials returned their money but offered no explanation or apology. The couple remain plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit. Except for Tenaha's mayor, none of the defendants in the federal lawsuit, including Shelby County District Attorney Linda Russell and two Tenaha police officers, responded to requests from the Chicago Tribune for comment about their search-and-seizure practices. Lawyers for the defendants also declined to comment, as did several of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. But Whitmire says he doesn't need to await the suit's outcome to try to fix what he regards as a statewide problem. On Monday, he introduced a bill in the state Legislature that would require police to go before a judge before attempting to seize property under the asset-forfeiture law — and Whitmire hopes to tighten the law so that law enforcement officials will be allowed to seize property only after a suspect is charged and convicted in a court. "The law has gotten away from what was intended, which was to take the profits of a bad guy's crime spree and use it for additional crime fighting," Whitmire said. "Now it's largely being used to pay police salaries, and it's being abused because you don't even have to be a bad guy to lose your property." |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Mar 09 - 09:41 PM Used couch for $27; cat included link SPOKANE -- The mysterious mewing in Vickie Mendenhall's home started about the time she bought a used couch for $27. After days of searching for the source of the noise, she found a very hungry calico cat living in her sofa. Her boyfriend, Chris Lund, was watching TV on Tuesday night and felt something move inside the couch. He pulled it away from the wall, lifted it up and there was the cat, which apparently crawled through a small hole on the underside. Mendenhall contacted Value Village, where she bought the couch, but the store had no information on who donated it. So she took the cat to SpokAnimal CARE, the animal shelter where she works, so it could recover, and contacted media outlets in hopes of finding the owner. Sure enough, Bob Killion of Spokane showed up to claim the cat on Thursday after an acquaintance alerted him to a TV story about it. Killion had donated a couch on Feb. 19, and his 9-year-old cat, Callie, disappeared at about the same time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Mar 09 - 03:37 PM I enjoy watching the gorillas at the Fort Worth zoo when the primate house is empty of visitors. Turns out they hate being stared at, they prefer side glances and low posture. So if I go kind of squat or stoop down by the glass in the building where the gorilla male can see the posture, I can see him kind of "sneaking" glances, intrigued that someone is doing it his way. They usually turn their backs on gawking visitors, don't bother to try to watch them. I've also gone through there carrying a baby and had a mother chimp come hang out on the other side of the glass with her baby. You can't have the kid in a plastic carrier or in a buggy, you have to have them tucked up against your stomach or chest so the chimp recognizes a similar of mother and child profile. And they do respond. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: JohnInKansas Date: 10 Mar 09 - 06:35 PM Re Stilly's thinking chimp: Long ago (ca. 1952) the Wichita zoo, such as it was, had a lion who would periodically decide to "perform." His act was quite carefully and deliberately planned. He would start by pacing back and forth for a bit, then would commence "roaring" and faster pacing. When a sufficient audience had rushed to his cage to see what the commotion was all about, he would "frolic" for a bit to give them a bit of a show, then charge the front bars of his cage and P*SS on the audience. It was quite likely a protest against the lack of proper toilet facilities, but so far as I know the zoo never provided him a "non-splash" facility. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 10 Mar 09 - 11:32 AM DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO â€" More prehistoric bones â€" this time, those of a giant sloth â€" have been found at the East Village construction site of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, the school said yesterday. But the bones are in poor shape and may not be salvageable. The bones â€" part of a vertebra, as well as tooth and skull fragments â€" were unearthed Friday in a different part of the site from where whale and mammoth bones were found last month. The sloth bones were found at about the same depth as the whale bones, indicating the sloth lived about 600,000 years ago. Paleontologist Pat Sena of the San Diego Natural History Museum, who found the sloth bones, said the bones are poorly preserved. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Mar 09 - 08:31 PM It's quite a detailed story with photos. link I don't think this is anything new; when I was an Urban Park Ranger there was a baboon at the small zoo in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, that used throw his own poop at people. He couldn't get his hands on rocks in his concrete enclosure, so had to "make do," so to speak. :) Thinking Man's Chimp Shows 1st Animal 'Planning' Swedish zoo resident would secretly stash rocks, 'missiles' to hurl at visitors for his own amusement, report details. For years, Santino, a male chimp at the Furuvik Zoo in Lund, Sweden, was in the habit of spending two hours before the zoo opened collecting rocks and other "ammunition" to hurl at the human gawkers who started gathering outside his enclosure around mid-morning. He stored the items at various sites around the chimpanzee island, where zookeepers were unlikely to find them and where they could be easily extracted when he was ready to "display." This deliberate collecting, storing, then launching of rock and concrete missiles may be among the first clear evidence that an animal that is not human can engage in planning, says the author of a paper published in the March 9 issue of Current Biology. The explanation is made all the more compelling by the fact that the chimp was in an entirely different state of mind during the planning phase of his endeavor (calm) than during the implementation phase (agitated), said the study author, Mathias Orvath, of Lund University. "These observations fit nicely with all sorts of things apes do. I have seen apes line up feces as future ammunition," said Frans B.M. de Waal, C.H. Candler Professor of Psychology and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta. "This ape must have learned that during displays he would run out of things to throw and, from this, he must have extrapolated that it would be good to have a pile of projectiles at the ready." "Apes in captivity enjoy pelting visitors and the excited shrieks and laughs they get as a reaction, which they do on a daily basis," de Waal added. De Waal described one ape that gathered straw from inside a heated building, then took it outside for a warm nest during cold weather. This behavior only occurred in colder seasons. "It's harder to see such clear examples in the wild although we strongly suspect this kind of thing is going on," said Anne Pusey, a professor of ecology, evolution and behavior at the University of Minnesota, and director of Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies. "What's so nice about this [new research] is these stones have one purpose and they're collected in advance. This seems like a very clear-cut example." Go to the web site for the rest of this. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Feb 09 - 07:10 PM It's good to have rational people back in the White House. White House set to reverse health care conscience clause link WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Obama administration plans to reverse a regulation from late in the Bush administration allowing health-care workers to refuse to provide services based on moral objections, an official said Friday. The Provider Refusal Rule was proposed by the Bush White House in August and enacted on January 20, the day President Barack Obama took office. It expanded on a 30-year-old law establishing a "conscience clause" for "health-care professionals who don't want to perform abortions." Under the rule, workers in health-care settings -- from doctors to janitors -- can refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception, family planning, blood transfusions and even vaccine counseling if they are morally against it. "We recognize and understand that some providers have objections to providing abortions, according to an official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The official declined to be identified because the policy change had not been announced. "We want to ensure that current law protects them. "But we do not want to impose new limitations on services that would allow providers to refuse to provide to women and their families services like family planning and contraception that would actually help prevent the need for an abortion in the first place." Many health-care organizations, including the American Medical Association, believe health-care providers have an obligation to their patients to advise them of the options despite their own beliefs. Critics of the current rule argue there are already laws on the books protecting health-care professionals when it comes to refusing care for personal reasons. Dr. Suzanne T. Poppema, board chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, praised Obama "for placing good health care above ideological demands." "Physicians across the country were outraged when the Bush administration, in its final days, limited women's access to reproductive health care," she said. "Hundreds of doctors protested these midnight regulations and urged President Obama to repeal them quickly. We are thrilled that President Obama took the first steps today to ensure that our patients' health is once again protected." But Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said, "Protecting the right of all health-care providers to make professional judgments based on moral convictions and ethical standards is foundational to federal law and is necessary to ensure that access to health care is not diminished, which will occur if health-care workers are forced out of their jobs because of their ethical stances. "President's Obama's intention to change the language of these protections would result in the government becoming the conscience and not the individual. It is a person's right to exercise their moral judgment, not the government's to decide it for them." An announcement reversing the current rule is expected early next week, the HHS official said. Any final action would have to be taken after a 30-day public comment period. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Feb 09 - 05:02 PM Netflix To Offer 'Streaming Only" Plans link Netflix Inc Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy said on Wednesday it plans to offer its online streaming service on a stand-alone basis. "We're likely to do that in the foreseeable future," McCarthy said at the Jefferies 5th annual Internet and Media conference in New York. Netflix customers currently pay a fixed monthly subscription fee for access to the company's popular by-mail DVD service, with about 100,000 titles, as well as its online streaming service, with more than 12,000 titles available for viewing. Netflix recently said it had hit 10 million subscribers, and said last month its stronger-than-expected quarterly results were propelled by growth in its Web video streaming service. The Watch Instantly streaming service was first available only on personal computers, but is now offered through various devices, including the Roku set-top boxes, Microsoft Corp's Xbox, and LG Electronics Inc products. McCarthy stressed the company still remains focused on providing a bundled offering, but said he understands that some viewers will find a stand-alone streaming service to be compelling, particularly as more compatible devices become prevalent. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: frogprince Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:20 PM Really messed up heading on an internet news article: National Guardsman find 92-year old survivor of Ark. ice storms 1. Any survivor of the Ark would be way past 92 now. 2. Whatever ice storms had to do with it, they forgot to capitalize "ice". |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 29 Jan 09 - 06:46 PM From a colleague on a list: "More Silliness: Congressman Wants to Ban "Silent" Cell Phone Cameras http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000500.html Greetings. As if there weren't enough truly important issues to worry about, a U.S. Congressman has introduced the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (CPPAA) -- which would require all cell phones to make an audible sound when snapping a photo ( http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6750825 ). There's no evidence that illicit "underskirting" photography is a significant problem outside of Japan and Korea, and the law would only apply to phone cameras, not the vast range of other camera devices available, many of which are far smaller and more easily used surreptitiously than a cell phone. And as for the vast number of situations where cell phones are used legitimately to take photos where a notification sound would be disruptive -- even dangerous -- well, better not to mention those since they get in the way of the fantasy on which the CPPAA is predicated. Also, given that many cell phones can now shoot video as well as still photos, I wonder if this same Congressman would propose that all video camera devices beep constantly when in video record mode -- just like trucks backing up? That'll do wonders for the audio tracks, eh? Never let the facts and reality get in the way of political grandstanding." |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 28 Jan 09 - 02:33 PM SAN DIEGO – A robbery trial ended abruptly Monday when a defendant smeared feces on his lawyer and threw it at jurors, authorities said. Weusi McGowan, 37, had apparently smuggled a plastic bag filled with excrement into the San Diego Superior Court building, said Paul Levikow, spokesman for the District Attorney's Office. As the jurors stood to leave for their mid-morning break, McGowan smeared the feces in the face and hair of his attorney, Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jeffrey Martin, and threw it at the jury box. It did not hit any of the jurors. Judge Jeffrey Fraser declared a mistrial. Levikow said McGowan was apparently upset because the judge had previously denied his request to dismiss his lawyer. McGowan faces charges including kidnapping and assault in connection with a robbery in Barrio Logan in October 2007. He is accused of hitting a 54-year-old man with a rock in a sock and demanding money and drugs. McGowan is also accused of tying up the man, ransacking his apartment and stealing his 1994 Ford Taurus. (San Diego Union) |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Jan 09 - 10:31 AM A New Photographer in the White House NY Times blog link Looks like there's a digital camera enthusiast moving into the White House. President Barack Obama's oldest daughter, Malia, was busily snapping photos before the inauguration ceremony began. Her camera of choice (on this day) appeared to be a grape-colored $150 Kodak EasyShare M893. But that may not be the only model in her camera bag. At several pre-inaugural events Malia was seen taking photos using a silver-colored point-and-shoot. On Saturday, she snapped photos in Philadelphia, although People.com reported that she was using a loaner camera. At the Kid's Inaugural Concert last night, she was using a similar point and shoot to photograph the Jonas Brothers. Let's hope she has a Flickr account. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: JohnInKansas Date: 21 Jan 09 - 02:36 PM The article does imply that the survey was possibly valid, and it appears that the writer is the one who pulled out the question cited. I'd be amazed if it wasn't a multiple choice (choose one) on the actual survey. As expected, climatologists are nearly all convinced. The writer seemed surprised that "meteorologists" were less convinced, but many of those take only the equivalent of the "weather" segment given in pilot training "ground school" before the let anyone close to an airplane; but they may have other critical attributes such as "nice hair" or "good cleavage." Some actually do study a bit (and there are a few academics), but that group is fairly small. Most "meteorologists" familiar to the public need only to be able to read the NOAA forcasts and pronounce local town names "almost correctly." Also missing from the article was an easily traceable path to the actual survey results. ... although I could have missed it and didn't search because the conclusion has already be amply demonstrated. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 21 Jan 09 - 02:10 PM A very funny *(and dull-witted) error. But what is more interesting to me is that so many people (assuming this is what "yes" meant) agreed that planetary temps have risen significantly. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: JohnInKansas Date: 21 Jan 09 - 01:38 PM Stupidity in reporting: Surveyed experts see human role in climate You can read the article for yourself if interested. The point is that the reporter "extracted" key points supporting his conclusion, and reported (presumedly with a straight face): The two key questions asked were: "When compared with pre-1800s levels, do you think that mean global temperatures have generally risen, fallen, or remained relatively constant?" Ninety percent said yes. ... Read the question carefully. Can you say "tautology?" "tau*tol*o*gy: 3. Logic a. a compound propositional form all of whose instances are ture, as "A or not A." b. an instance of such a form, as "This candidate will win or will not win." (Random House CD dictionary) Of course either answer is equally correct, as those who answered "No" may have interpreted the OR as an XOR, and opined that it has done more than one of the possibilities named. As a side topic, has anyone ever seen or responded to a survey that didn't include such "unanswerable," or otherwise meaningless questions? John |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 20 Jan 09 - 09:30 PM BOSTON (Reuters) - "America's Top Ranked Money Manager," read the 2003 headline in The Wall Street Digest, an investment newsletter. Fast-forward six years: that money manager, Arthur Nadel, has vanished along with an estimated $350 million of his clients' money, and investors are fuming over the glowing report promoting the "unusual success" of the Florida hedge fund manager, who disappeared last Wednesday. As a probe widens into Nadel, his burned investors are seeking answers. Some say they were blindsided by the losses. Others are quoted as saying they saw warning signs recently. Some, like 68-year-old Tony Hagar, say they were drawn to his funds by The Wall Street Digest and the upbeat report by its editor, Donald Rowe, and now question how much due diligence the investment newsletter industry conducts. "He seemed to indicate that they were a reasonable investment. They put out a letter that says these folks have done substantially well, and that Don Rowe had looked at them closely," said Hagar. Hagar lost $1.5 million, nearly his entire retirement savings, along with any hope of retiring next year as planned from the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he works as a professor in Daytona Beach, Florida. "That's not going to happen," he said. The FBI's Tampa office opened an investigation into Nadel on Tuesday, launching a search for the 76-year-old former New York jazz pianist whose disappearance has drawn parallels to last month's arrest of former Nasdaq Stock Market chairman Bernard Madoff. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Rapparee Date: 14 Jan 09 - 09:32 PM Headline from Pocatello's Idaho State Journal, January 13, 2009, p. 1: Man blames drinking problem for 8 DUIs |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 14 Jan 09 - 09:00 PM "It looks like in an act that defies common sense, a bill has been introduced in the South Carolina State Senate that seeks to outlaw the use of profanity. According to the bill it would become a felony (punishable by a fine up to $5000 or up to 5 years in prison) to "publish orally or in writing, exhibit, or otherwise make available material containing words, language, or actions of a profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature". I'm not sure if "in writing" could be applied to the internet, but in any event this is scary stuff." (From Slashdot) The actual Bill read into the State Legislature is here. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jan 09 - 08:42 PM They didn't take him in for taking a pot shot, eh? |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Rapparee Date: 14 Jan 09 - 04:07 PM I didn't know whether to post this here or in MOAB. Here wins. No. 1 (and 2?) with a bullet: Man's pistol blasts toilet to pieces Accidental discharge » Cops confiscate handgun after incident in Carl's Jr. restroom By Steve Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune Updated: 01/14/2009 12:49:56 PM MST The public toilet at Centerville's Carl's Jr. restaurant never knew what hit it. But police say it was a .40-caliber slug fired from a patron's handgun, which went off as he was hitching up his pants. Centerville police confiscated the 26-year-old Salt Lake City man's firearm, for which he has a concealed weapons permit, after the incident Tuesday. Police Lt. Paul Child said the bullet shattered the toilet and sent sharp shards into the man's arm. The minor injuries were treated at the scene. The toilet? A total loss. Police said the man told them his pistol fell out of the holster and fired into the toilet as he was pulling up his pants. "The gun fell out of the holster, striking the tile floor," Child said. "When the gun hit the floor, it went off. ... The man was hit by some of the porcelain in the arm, causing some small lacerations." No one else was injured in the accident, but a woman in an adjacent restroom reported chest pain after being frightened by the shot. She did not go to a hospital. Police said the accident would have been prevented if the man had used a more secure holster. "A good-quality firearm also should not fire if it is dropped," Child said. No charges are being filed against the man, but Centerville police did take his firearm "for safe-keeping" while they review the incident. "He was a little shook up, so we just wanted to take it right then and allow him time to gather himself before releasing it to him," Child said. Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Cameron Roden said police commonly pull weapons permits after crimes of violence, felonies or convictions of weapons violations. But he said agencies also sometimes confiscate weapons for a short time as part of their investigation. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jan 09 - 09:22 PM For future reference, this thread is for attributable newspaper stories (and we usually place a link and/or name the newspaper). There are humor threads where this would be better placed. Even in the MOAB it would be better placed, though not necessarily any more appreciated. Not to be rude, just to be frank. But since I've taken the plunge, why all of the individual caption threads? Why not bundle them all together? It seems to me to be a waste of bandwidth to start a new one every time a cute picture comes along. My opinion, of course. Some of us are lumpers, some of us are sorters. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Alice Date: 13 Jan 09 - 06:46 PM Top 8 Morons of 2008 TOP 8 MORONS OF 2008 1.. WILL THE REAL DUMMY PLEASE STAND UP? AT&T fired President John Walter after nine months, saying he lacked intellectual leadership. He received a $26 million severance package. Perhaps it's not Walter who's lacking intelligence. 2. WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS. Police in Oakland, CA spent two hours attempting to subdue a gunman who had barricaded him self inside his home. After firing ten tear gas canisters, officers discovered that the man was standing beside them in the police line, shouting, 'Please come out and give yourself up.' 3. WHAT WAS PLAN B??? An Illinois man, pretending to have a gun, kidnapped a motorist and forced him to drive to two different automated teller machines, wherein the kidnapper proceeded to withdraw money from his own bank accounts. 4. THE GETAWAY! A man walked into a Topeka, Kansas Kwik Stop and asked for all the money in the cash drawer. Apparently, the take was too small, so he tied up the store clerk and worked the counter himself for three hours until police showed up and grabbed him. 5. DID I SAY THAT??? Police in Los Angeles had good luck with a robbery suspect who just couldn't control himself during a lineup. When detectives asked each man in the lineup to repeat the words: 'Give me all your money or I'll shoot', the man shouted, 'that's not what I said!' 6. ARE WE COMMUNICATING??? A man spoke frantically into the phone: 'My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart'. 'Is this her first child?' the doctor asked. 'No!' the man shouted, 'This is her husband!' 7. NOT THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED! In Modesto, CA, Steven Richard King was arrested for trying to hold up a Bank of America branch without a weapon. King used a thumb and a finger to simulate a gun. Unfortunately, he failed to keep his hand in his pocket. (hellooooooo)! 8. THE GRAND FINALE!!! Last summer, down on Lake Isabella, located in the high desert, an hour east of Bakersfield, CA, some folks, new to boating, were having a problem. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get their brand new 22 foot boat, going. It was very sluggish in almost every maneuver, no matter how much power they applied. After about an hour of trying to make it go, they putted into a nearby marina, thinking someone there may be able to tell them what was wrong. A thorough topside check revealed everything in perfect working condition The engine ran fine, the out-drive went up and down, and the propeller was the correct size and pitch. So, one of the marina guys jumped in the water to check underneath. He came up choking on water, he was laughing so hard. NOW REMEMBER... THIS IS TRUE. Under the boat, still strapped securely in place, was the trailer! |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 13 Jan 09 - 03:17 PM TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Officials say two men in Iran have been stoned to death for adultery and murder, while another escaped death only by digging his way out of the hole where he was buried to face a similar fate, according to media reports. The sentences follow sharp criticism by human rights groups of Iran's use of such punishments. Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi Tuesday told reporters about the stonings, which took place in the northeastern city of Mashhad about 20 days ago, the reports said. According to the Mashhad prosecutor, the men had committed various crimes, including adultery and murder, Jamshidi said. In the practice, the men are buried up to their chests and people pelt them with stones until they die. A third was supposed to have been stoned to death, however he went free by climbing out of the stone hole. He still awaits punishment. "Stoning is a horrific practice, designed to increase the suffering of those facing execution, and it has no place in the modern world," Amnesty International said last year. Jamshidi said that Iran's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Heshemi Shahroudi, had made recommendations that would ban the practice and said that a measure has been introduced in Parliament stopping the punishment. But "until this measure is approved and becomes law, the judges have the independence not to pay heed to the recommendations of the Judiciary chief," Jamshidi said. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jan 09 - 10:08 AM I think you've put your finger on it, John! How's Linn? We haven't heard from her in ages, at least, not on our decluttering threads. Ask her to stop by and say "hi!" SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: JohnInKansas Date: 13 Jan 09 - 12:43 AM Finger length may predict financial success (NO, NOT THAT FINGER.) By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer 2 hrs 59 mins ago [12 Jan 2009] WASHINGTON – The length of a man's ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in England report that men with longer ring fingers, compared to their index fingers, tended to be more successful in the frantic high-frequency trading in the London financial district. Indeed, the impact of biology on success was about equal to years of experience at the job, the team led by physiologist John M. Coates reports in Monday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The same ring-to-index finger ratio has previously been associated with success in competitive sports such as soccer and basketball, the researchers noted. The length ratio between those two fingers is determined during the development of the fetus and the relatively longer ring finger indicates greater exposure to the male hormone androgen, the researchers noted. Previous studies have found that such exposure can lead to increased confidence, risk preferences, search persistence, heightened vigilance and quickened reaction times. [End quote, and projecting: And the bumps on your head predict criminality, the length of your nose indicates abnormal sexual proclivities, and if all your fingers a long enough you'll be a famous pianist. ... and the article suggests that if someone breaks off your middle finger because you "projected it" once too often you'll go broke?] John |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 10 Jan 09 - 12:40 PM Following the Money, After Its Swiss ExitBy PAUL SULLIVAN (New York Times) Published: January 9, 2009 Swiss banking has a tradition of secrecy and service that dates back 250 years. But for one group of very rich Americans, that haven is at an end, with consequences for all United States citizens who have relied on secretive offshore accounts to keep their financial means private and their tax bill artificially low. Americans holding such accounts at UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, are about to have their funds returned to them — an estimated $18 billion — under pressure from the Justice Department. Prosecutors say the bank has about 19,000 accounts that have enabled United States citizens to evade at least $300 million a year in taxes — not including interest and penalties for delinquency. UBS has been under investigation ever since Bradley C. Birkenfeld, a Boston-born former director in the bank's Geneva office, began turning over information about the firm's offshore accounts after leaving the firm in 2006. His decision — arising from a bonus dispute — put UBS in a bind. One result is that the bank closed the division that catered to Americans with Swiss-based accounts that the Internal Revenue Service did not know about. After tracking them down, UBS is poised to move their money into accounts the I.R.S. will see — into a new account at the bank, over to another bank or to them directly as a check in the mail. As my colleague Lynnley Browning pointed out Friday in her article reporting the UBS plan, these methods all raise the possibility of paper trails that will make it easer for the I.R.S. to track down the tax evaders. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 08 Jan 09 - 04:20 PM SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian court has issued a blunt warning about the sexual predators a young driver faces in jail if he does not stop speeding, as authorities struggle to stop teenagers street racing. "You'll find big, ugly, hairy strong men (in jail) who've got faces only a mother could love that will pay a lot of attention to you -- and your anatomy," said Magistrate Brian Maloney. The 19-year-old male appeared in Sydney's Downing Center Court on Monday charged with driving without a license, failing to stop at a police alcohol check point and driving dangerously. It was his third time before the courts for driving offences, prompting the magistrate's warning he would be jailed next time. Maloney barred the teenager from driving until 2013, placed him on a 12-month good behavior bond and ordered him to do 150 hours of community work. Breaching any of these conditions would see the teenager jailed where he would "shower with the gorillas in the mist down at Long Bay jail," said Maloney, his comments confirmed by the court on Tuesday. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 04 Jan 09 - 11:58 PM Sick of cliches? Take heart, scientists have discovered that people can have a love that lasts a lifetime. Using brain scans, researchers at Stony Brook University in New York have discovered a small number of couples respond with as much passion after 20 years together as most people only do during the early throes of romance, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported. The researchers scanned the brains of couples together for 20 years and compared them with results from new lovers, the Sunday Times said. About 10 percent of the mature couples had the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as those just starting out. Previous research has suggested that the first stages of romantic love fade within 15 months and after 10 years it has gone completely, the newspaper said. "The findings go against the traditional view of romance -- that it drops off sharply in the first decade -- but we are sure it's real," said Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook, told the Sunday Times. |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 04 Jan 09 - 09:36 PM US NEws&World Report: anuary 04, 2009 09:29 AM ET | James Pethokoukis | Permanent Link | Print The earthquake swarm beneath Yellowstone National Park seems to have subsided for now. At least that is what the public data from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory are telling us about the supervolcano beneath the park. Now lots of my blog's readers have raised questions as to whether we are being told the truth by the U.S. Geological Survey. (This is my chat with the head scientist at the YVO, Jacob Lowenstern.) I have been in touch this weekend with experts from around the world. Here is some of what they are telling me. (More to come. And here is a nice, though dated, piece from the Financial TImes.) First up is volcanologist Dr. R.B. Trombley of the International Volcano Research Centre: What does the earthquake swarm mean? It is our opinion, and in agreement with Dr. Robert Smith of the University of Utah, that the current events are more of a major seismic event rather than a major volcanic event. The Alert Status of Yellowstone continues, at this time, to remain at the Green Alert Level. We do not anticipate the Alert Level to be raised at this time. Given the current data, might the swarm be a prelude to a major seismic event ? It could be but the swarming is too "isolated", i.e., it is near the lake area only basically. What would be worrisome signs that that we might be headed to a major volcanic event ? Much greater magnitude earthquakes, over a larger area of the caldera.The caldera is approx. 32 mi long by 8 miles wide. I believe the gratest quake so far has only been a 3.9 and all of the 'quakes so far have been from 1 to 10 km of depth. I also talked to a top Hawaii-based volcanologist who was relucatant to go into specifics on the record since the scientist had only web data to go on, unlike the folks at the YVO. But I think these comments are pertinent: "Bob Smith, who is a seismologist and a great one, is a real straight shooter and is going to tell folks what he thinks, when he has enough information to think something. Ditto for Jake Lowenstern of the USGS. So I believe them when they say that they don't really know at this point what this swarm portends as Yellowstone is very seismically active. ... The odds of a big caldera forming eruption at Yellowstone are really infinitesimal during our lifetime. While the Discovery channel documentary did a fair job of portraying how an eruption might come down, it also did a better job of whipping up anxiety about a very unlikely event. You would be much more productive hiding in your closet avoiding lightning than worrying about a Yellowstone eruption. It's a wonderful thing to ponder and try to get a grip on some of the wild things that happen on our planet, but not something to stay awake about. The last rhyolite lava eruption was 80,000 years ago or so, that's 8 times as long as human civilization and represents roughly half the time modern humans have existed, just to put in perspective. Humans tend to be a bit egocentric thinking that all this stuff is happening to them personally, when it's just happening as part of nature. Anyway, Yellowstone while certainly doing stuff, is not in the same category of likely caldera eruption as Rabaul and Campi Flegrei. ... These quakes were much bigger than the Yellowstone swarm and many many more of them. And the final eruption from 2 volcanoes at the same time turned out to be relatively "small" though it buried the town in ash". |
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Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Donuel Date: 04 Jan 09 - 07:12 PM Siesmic activity that had doubled in Yellowsone Parklast week, has redoubled again this week. 500 quakes under Richter 4 occured compared to the average of 100. CtoC news The sun has had no sun spots for an extended period of time that has now broken the record of 50 years ago. Research findings that the Sun is dimming may be related to the absence of sunspots. The 44,000 year cycle that brings the Earth slightly farther from the sun in a cyclical eliptical orbit, is also underway bringing a bit less sun to the Earth. In my view this may help buy time to curb CO2 emissions that are most respondsible for global warming. |
