Amazing fact (i guess it is true), having been a fan of MASH when i was young, some of the trivia is fascinating.
Where did the theme song come from?
The music for the "M*A*S*H" theme song was written by Johnny Mandel. The lyrics were written by Mike Altman, the 14-year-old son of the film's director, Robert Altman. It was originally penned for a scene in the movie, where a faux funeral was staged in hopes of talking a suicidal character out of his plans. Two of the men at the unit sang "Suicide Is Painless." An instrumental version of the song was subsequently used as the theme for the TV series. The young Altman went on to make millions in royalties off the song, while his dad was paid just $70,000 for directing the film.
http://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/emmys/m-h-40-years-later-must-know-trivia-230438120.html
More common sence, it is the same with everything else, why should this be any different? Things never stay the same. We have super bugs now because of an over use of antibotics.
Weeds That Like A Sip of Roundup Now and Then
In Gene Logsdon Blog on September 5, 2012 at 4:41 am
First the glorious days of advanced farming brought us corn stalks that eat tractor tires. Now there’s a weed that likes to drink weed killers, especially Roundup. Recently Palmer amaranth “completely overran” most of the soybean test plots at Bayer CropScience’s test plots in Illinois, in the words of DTN/Progressive Farmer editor, Pam Smith, despite having an arsenal of herbicides thrown at it. She describes some of the plots as “forests of pigweed.” I shouldn’t joke about this because it really is a serious problem, but I just can’t help it. At least 20 years ago, in New Farm magazine, a Rodale publication I was working for at the time, we reported weeds becoming immune to herbicides and the herbicide industry hee-hawed us for being organic nitwits. So pardon me while I hee-haw right back.
Palmer amaranth is one of about 60 recognized kinds of pigweed or amaranth (we call it redroot in my neck of the woods). The Palmer type is native to the arid southwest but finds other climates just fine, especially in drought years. First it marched across the southern states and now is invading the Midwest. I have a great hunch that other pigweeds like the kind that plagues my garden will also become glyphosate-resistant if they haven’t already. Ironically, the weedkiller industry is now advocating crop rotation along with their herbicides as the way to control weeds, which of course is what wise farming understood long before Roundup came around.
What makes this situation almost amusing is that Palmer amaranth is at least 8000 years old and makes nutritious food for humans. Amaranth was a staple in the Aztec diet as well as Mississippian Indian cultures of the mound-building era. To this day, the seeds or grains of this “weed” are popped and mixed with honey to make a popular snack in Mexico called alegria. Grain amaranth is still found in seed catalogs (Seeds of Change, for one). Back in the 1970s and 80s, the Rodale Institute, under the aegis of Bob Rodale, began seriously to experiment with pigweed and the Rodale Institute remains today an excellent source of information on it. The first time I saw a whole field of pigweed in neat, long rows on the Rodale farm, I nearly went into cultural shock. This weed, which I had been taught from childhood was consummate evil, was arrayed in agronomic splendor across the landscape. But I became convinced that Bob was onto something and for quite a few years wrote enthusiastically about farmers and gardeners who tried to grow amaranth as a food crop.
But American society is not geared for pigweed farming. The seeds are so tiny that they are devilish hard to harvest and handle with piston engine power. Prehistoric hunters and gatherers painstaking gathered and ground the grain into good food because that’s what they did. We will still hunt and gather wild nuts, berries, mushrooms and fish for fun but not for work. We don’t do pigweed because we don’t need to do it and there’s no cultural glamor in it. We could change, I suppose. Harvesting marijuana is just as painstaking as harvesting pigweed but quite a few people are willing to do that, it seems. There may come a day when that will be true of pigweed too and it won’t be illegal. Until then, we must try to poison nutritious free food into extinction to suit the goals of industrial grain production. Some days I wonder if it might not be better to culturally engineer humans to enjoy small scale garden farming than to genetically engineer weeds to save large scale agribusiness.
http://thecontraryfarmer.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/weeds-that-like-a-sip-of-roundup-now-and-then/#more-6075
Showing posts with label weird news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weird news. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Thursday 09-13-12
I guess the question begs to be asked is how they got them in the first place?
Millions Of iPhone, iPad IDs Stolen
The hacker group AntiSec released a file of a million and one UDIDs--unique device identifiers--which it claims to have hacked it off an FBI computer via a Java vulnerability. UDIDs are unique IDs for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Apple and the developers of any apps you install gain access to this string.
The group's Pastebin posting claims that the stolen list was taken from the notebook computer of FBI Supervisor special agent Christopher K. Stangl's computer in March 2012 using a Java AtomicReferenceArray vulnerability. The purloined file was named "NCFTA_iOS_devices_intel.csv" and contained UDIDs for 12,367,232 iOS devices, although not all of them with full personal information. AntiSec chose to disclose only the smaller number of UDIDs.
The "NCFTA" part of the file name might stand for the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance, which defines itself as an alliance of SMEs (subject matter experts) in industry, academia, and government with broad goals for addressing computer security threats. The relevance of "Intel" in the file name is tough to figure; no iOS devices run on Intel processors, so perhaps it's just short for "intelligence.
The file allegedly included other personal information, such as "...full names, cell numbers, addresses, zipcodes, etc" but the group stripped those out of the list.
The potential for privacy problems via UDID disclosure is an old issue. Normally, app distributors get the UDID of a device when that device installs an app, and Apple already has begun to restrict access to them in favor of less-problematic methods.
Although many reports indicate that the disclosed UDIDs are valid, there has been no official recognition by the government that they were the source of the data, nor has there been any explanation of why the FBI would have such a file.
For instructions on determining the UDID of your own iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, see WhatsMyUDID.com.
Click here for a tool that checks to see if your UDID is in the list.
http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240006685
Oldest Message in a Bottle Found A Scottish skipper has found the oldest message ever in a bottle at sea, Guinness World Records said.
According to the record-keeping organization, Andrew Leaper, skipper of the Shetland fishing boat "Copious," made the discovery on April 12 when hauling in his nets in the North Sea off the coast of Shetland.
He later learned that the message in bottle had been adrift for 97 years and 309 days. This surpasses the previous record by more than five years.
Amazingly, it was Leaper's friend Mark Anderson who set the previous record in 2006 by retrieving another Scottish bottle as he was skippering the same boat.
"I spotted the bottle neck sticking out and I quickly grabbed it before it fell back into the sea," Leaper said.
"It was an amazing coincidence that the same Shetland fishing boat that found the previous record-breaking bottle six years ago also found this one. It's like winning the lottery twice," Leaper said.
Labeled as drift bottle 646B, the record-breaking bottle contained a postcard asking the finder to write down the date and location of the discovery and return it to the "Director of the Fishery Board for Scotland." The postcard promised a reward of six pence.
The water-tight glass bottle was released on June 10, 1914 by Captain C H Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation.
It was one of 1,890 scientific research bottles specially designed to sink downwards and float close to the seabed.
Each contained the same postcard asking the finder to record the date and location and return it for the six pence reward.
"Drift bottles gave oceanographers at the start of the last century important information that allowed them to create pictures of the patterns of water circulation in the seas around Scotland," Bill Turrell, head of Marine Ecosystems with Marine Scotland Science, said.
He added that the conclusions of those pioneering oceanographers were right in many respects.
"For example, they correctly deduced the clockwise flow of water around our coasts. However, it took the development of electronic instruments in the 1960s before the true patterns of current flows, and more importantly what causes them, were unlocked," Turrell said.
Of the batch released in 1914, 315 bottles have been found so far. Captain Brown's original log, now held by Marine Scotland Science in Aberdeen, is still updated each time a bottle is tracked down.
"It's amazing that nearly 98 years of bottles are still being returned to the Marine Laboratory -- and in such fantastic condition," Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead said.
"With many bottles still unreturned there is always the chance in the coming years that a Scottish drift bottle will once again break the record," Lochhead said.
http://news.discovery.com/history/oldest-message-in-bottle-120906.html
Millions Of iPhone, iPad IDs Stolen
The hacker group AntiSec released a file of a million and one UDIDs--unique device identifiers--which it claims to have hacked it off an FBI computer via a Java vulnerability. UDIDs are unique IDs for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Apple and the developers of any apps you install gain access to this string.
The group's Pastebin posting claims that the stolen list was taken from the notebook computer of FBI Supervisor special agent Christopher K. Stangl's computer in March 2012 using a Java AtomicReferenceArray vulnerability. The purloined file was named "NCFTA_iOS_devices_intel.csv" and contained UDIDs for 12,367,232 iOS devices, although not all of them with full personal information. AntiSec chose to disclose only the smaller number of UDIDs.
The "NCFTA" part of the file name might stand for the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance, which defines itself as an alliance of SMEs (subject matter experts) in industry, academia, and government with broad goals for addressing computer security threats. The relevance of "Intel" in the file name is tough to figure; no iOS devices run on Intel processors, so perhaps it's just short for "intelligence.
The file allegedly included other personal information, such as "...full names, cell numbers, addresses, zipcodes, etc" but the group stripped those out of the list.
The potential for privacy problems via UDID disclosure is an old issue. Normally, app distributors get the UDID of a device when that device installs an app, and Apple already has begun to restrict access to them in favor of less-problematic methods.
Although many reports indicate that the disclosed UDIDs are valid, there has been no official recognition by the government that they were the source of the data, nor has there been any explanation of why the FBI would have such a file.
For instructions on determining the UDID of your own iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, see WhatsMyUDID.com.
Click here for a tool that checks to see if your UDID is in the list.
http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240006685
Oldest Message in a Bottle Found A Scottish skipper has found the oldest message ever in a bottle at sea, Guinness World Records said.
According to the record-keeping organization, Andrew Leaper, skipper of the Shetland fishing boat "Copious," made the discovery on April 12 when hauling in his nets in the North Sea off the coast of Shetland.
He later learned that the message in bottle had been adrift for 97 years and 309 days. This surpasses the previous record by more than five years.
Amazingly, it was Leaper's friend Mark Anderson who set the previous record in 2006 by retrieving another Scottish bottle as he was skippering the same boat.
"I spotted the bottle neck sticking out and I quickly grabbed it before it fell back into the sea," Leaper said.
"It was an amazing coincidence that the same Shetland fishing boat that found the previous record-breaking bottle six years ago also found this one. It's like winning the lottery twice," Leaper said.
Labeled as drift bottle 646B, the record-breaking bottle contained a postcard asking the finder to write down the date and location of the discovery and return it to the "Director of the Fishery Board for Scotland." The postcard promised a reward of six pence.
The water-tight glass bottle was released on June 10, 1914 by Captain C H Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation.
It was one of 1,890 scientific research bottles specially designed to sink downwards and float close to the seabed.
Each contained the same postcard asking the finder to record the date and location and return it for the six pence reward.
"Drift bottles gave oceanographers at the start of the last century important information that allowed them to create pictures of the patterns of water circulation in the seas around Scotland," Bill Turrell, head of Marine Ecosystems with Marine Scotland Science, said.
He added that the conclusions of those pioneering oceanographers were right in many respects.
"For example, they correctly deduced the clockwise flow of water around our coasts. However, it took the development of electronic instruments in the 1960s before the true patterns of current flows, and more importantly what causes them, were unlocked," Turrell said.
Of the batch released in 1914, 315 bottles have been found so far. Captain Brown's original log, now held by Marine Scotland Science in Aberdeen, is still updated each time a bottle is tracked down.
"It's amazing that nearly 98 years of bottles are still being returned to the Marine Laboratory -- and in such fantastic condition," Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead said.
"With many bottles still unreturned there is always the chance in the coming years that a Scottish drift bottle will once again break the record," Lochhead said.
http://news.discovery.com/history/oldest-message-in-bottle-120906.html
Friday, January 27, 2012
Friday 01-27-12
NJ camel predicts Giants will win the Super Bowl
LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - People use all sorts of ways to try to predict the winner of the Super Bowl: comparing regular season records, judging who looked stronger in the post-season run-up to the big game, or watching the betting lines from Las Vegas oddsmakers.
But the closest thing to a sure thing may come from a camel in New Jersey.
Princess, the star of New Jersey's Popcorn Park Zoo, has correctly picked the winner of five of the last six Super Bowls. She went 14 and 6 predicting regular season and playoff games this year, and has a lifetime record of 88-51.
Her pick this year: The New York Giants.
The Bactrian camel's prognostication skills flow from her love of graham crackers. Zoo general manager John Bergmann places a cracker and writes the name of the competing teams on each hand. Whichever hand Princess nibbles from is her pick. On Wednesday, she made her pick with no hesitation at all, predicting bad news for Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, even though the Las Vegas oddsmakers have New England favored by about 3 points.
Her only miscue in the big game was picking the Indianapolis Colts over the New Orleans Saints two years ago, indicating that even camels know it's generally risky to go against Peyton Manning.
"It started out when a local radio station was looking to have some fun, so they asked Princess who was going to win a particular game each week, and it just took off from there," Bergmann said. "Now we have guys calling up on Sunday morning wanting to know who Princess has picked that week. One guy even asked if she does lottery numbers."
Her best season was 2008, when she got 17 out of 22 games right, including correctly picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl.
Princess doesn't do point spreads. But she has nearly mastered the art of picking straight-up winners.
The cunning camel was once the personal pet of heiress Doris Duke, the only child of tobacco and electric energy tycoon James Buchanan Duke.
Doris Duke raised Princess and her sister Babe from youngsters, Bergmann said.
The pair of camels had their own barn, and spent summers at Duke's Rhode Island estate. During bad weather, they were put up in the solarium.
After Duke's death in 1993, the camels stayed on her estate in Hillsborough. Babe died several years ago, leaving just Princess.
When Princess' caretaker was about to retire, the estate offered Princess to Popcorn Park Zoo, which took her in. The zoo cares for abandoned and abused animals.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=351&sid=2723459
Wake Up ! Mystery disease cluster grows
LE ROY, N.Y. – Three more high school students here have reported neurological symptoms like those of a dozen classmates who exhibited unusual tics and verbal outbursts in recent months.
The three students came forward in the past few days and are "being evaluated by private medical professionals," said Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman for the New York Department of Health.
Previously, 12 high school students at Le Roy High, all of them girls, had reported symptoms not unlike those of Tourette's syndrome. One boy is among the new patients, according to Dr. Laszlo Mechtler of the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
MORE: N.Y. teens' mystery illness labeled 'conversion disorder'
Mechtler, a neurologist who has treated all but one of the original 12 girls, previously said tests had ruled out medical disorders, diseases and environmental factors.
So far the diagnosis has been a stress-related, possibly neurological condition referred to as conversion disorder. The suggestion is that one student developed symptoms and other students unconsciously followed suit.
The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., now says any of the students who wish to travel to its facilities can be tested.
"We are very interested in psychogenic movement disorders," said Dr. Mark Hasslett, chief of the NIH Medical Neurology Branch. "When we saw that there were patients that had possible conversion disorder, we wanted to make the doctors aware that we're interested in making second opinions on these cases."
The second opinion would include a physical examination and possible neurophysiological testing, Haslett said. Others eligible also could participate in an ongoing conversion disorder research study there.
The cluster of cases in New York apparently dates to sometime last year but wasn't publicly reported until early November when the number of afflicted students was six. The situation gained national attention when two of the girls appeared last week on NBC's "Today" show.
In addition to the three new cases, two teen-age girls in Saratoga County with seemingly similar symptoms also have come forward. Their only apparent connection to Le Roy High School is a claim that they ate lunch there one day in the summer. They were interviewed Tuesday by an Albany, N.Y., television station. Hammond said the state health department is not looking into those cases.
Le Roy school superintendent Kim Cox issued a written statement Wednesday acknowledging "a few new possible cases." She reiterated that earlier testing had ruled out environmental contaminants or infections as a cause.
Contributing: Melissa Holmes, WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, N.Y.; Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
http://www.preparednesscenter.us/p/index.php?topic=596.msg1000;topicseen#new
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tuesday 01-10-12
The cupcakes are now banning cupcakes?
TSA defends banning cupcake from airplane
"I wanted to make it clear that this wasn't your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake." blogs TSA Blogger Bob Burns today, defending the TSA's "Cupcate-Gate," incident against critics.
According to the story that went viral during the Christmas holiday, a TSA agent confiscated the cupcake from Rebecca Hains, a teacher who planned to feed it to her son on the plane.
“The TSA at Logan Airport said the cupcakes looked delicious and told us to have a great trip. But in Las Vegas, they were dangerous. They shouldn't be delicious in one part of the country and a security threat in the other.” Hains said at the time
Burns defended the decision, clarifying that this cupcake was in a jar, prompting a different reaction from the TSA agent.
"Unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar." he wrote, "The officer in this case used their discretion on whether or not to allow the newfangled modern take on a cupcake per 3-1-1 guidelines. They chose not to let it go."
And in case you are outraged by these incidents, Burns reminds people to be sensitive of TSA agents.
"Every officer wants to finish their shift and go home with the peace of mind that they kept potential threats off of airplanes." he wrote. "They’re not thinking about whether their decisions will go viral on the internet."
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/tsa-defends-banning-cupcake-airplane/302656
I'm not going to condone carrying a handgun on an airplane. But the real story could be American have been doing it all along and are just getting caught more now. So that means Americans can fly safely in the airplane while carrying and they should be watching out for the hijackers (Muslims) and not bothering Americans.
More people being caught with guns at airports
More people are being caught at the nation's airports with guns in their carry-on bags, despite heightened awareness about security.
The Transportation Security Administration says it found 1,238 firearms — an average of almost four a day — at its airport checkpoints last year. The number has been on the rise since 2007.
"Clearly just the fact that we are getting four to five guns every day indicates that there are people who are not focused on the security protocols," TSA Administrator John Pistole told Congress in November, a month when officers found nine guns in a single day.
The TSA says guns usually are found in carry-on bags that are X-rayed at security checkpoints.
Pistole says full-body scanning machines also detect contraband hidden beneath passengers' clothing, including a .38-caliber handgun in one man's ankle holster in Detroit.
"More than 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks people are still trying to bring deadly weapons into the cabin of an airplane," he says.
Passengers are required to declare their guns and then store them unloaded in hard containers in their checked bags.
The common reply from passengers when caught with a gun is that they forgot they were carrying one, the TSA says. That's what the 73-year-old man with the ankle holster said Dec. 10, Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesman Michael Conway says.
Same goes for a Georgia man, who was charged Dec. 11 with carrying a weapon at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after TSA officers found a loaded revolver in his messenger bag. The .22-caliber gun went off as police officers tried to unload it.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2012-01-08/More-people-being-caught-with-guns-at-airports/52457066/1
DNA Spray to foil thieves - McDonalds to use new anti-theft spray
McDONALD'S restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected robbers with an invisible DNA spray as they attempt to flee.
The spray, which remains on the suspect's skin for two weeks and on clothes for up to six months, has been introduced in some of the chain's busiest NSW stores, including those at Parramatta, Granville, Auburn, Lidcombe, Kingsford and Wollongong, reported The Daily Telegraph.
If the SelectaDNA "forensic marking" spray proves successful in apprehending bandits, McDonald's will introduce the system across all its 780 Australian outlets.
Developed in the United Kingdom by a police officer and a chemist, the spray has been used by McDonald's outlets in Britain and Europe.
Each outlet keeps the details of its distribution a close secret, but one McDonald's restaurant in The Netherlands installed above the main door an orange device which was electronically linked to a panic alarm system. Staff could activate the device in an emergency.
"Once there has been a security breach, the hi-tech spray unit will douse fleeing robbers with an invisible, synthetic DNA solution," McDonald's Australia's chief restaurant support officer, Jackie McArthur, said.
"The solution is invisible to the naked eye and unique to each location. It stays on clothing for up to six months and on skin for up to two weeks."
Using a UVA light, police can see the markings left by the system and link the offender back to the scene.
The spray contains a synthetic DNA strand composed of 60 variable chromosomes, said SelectaDNA director David Morrissey.
"SelectaDNA is non-toxic, non-allergenic and perfectly safe to deploy. It meets all Australian standards," he said.
Theft is a serious problem for fast-food outlets such as McDonald's, which has high cash turnover, multiple entry and exit points and more than 85,000 staff who often work through the night at truck-stops and other remote places.
In a single week in September, two hold-ups occurred at a McDonald's outlet at Merrylands in Sydney's west.
"Crime can occur anywhere at any time, which is why our extensive safety and security protocols are in place at every restaurant throughout the entire day," Ms MAcArthur said.
"These locations are some of our busiest, so it makes sense to try out the new technology here.
"McDonald's already has a range of security measures, including CCTV, strict security protocols, intensive training, and consultative working relationships with local police."
This is the first time the system will be used in Australia, and although its marketers claim an "85 per cent crime reduction" rate, the proof of its worth is not yet clear.
SelectaDNA trades on a "DNA fear factor," claiming the system is more about prevention than arrests.
Scores of law-enforcement agencies in the UK, including Surrey Police, have handed out the spray kits so residents can mark their property, and it has been widely used by schools and businesses.
http://www.news.com.au/business/dna-mcspray-to-foil-thieves/story-e6frfm1i-1226239112219
Talk about biting the hand that feeds her. She would not have had the opportunity they have now if it were not not for them. I guess she forgets that it was Ted Kennedy that gave him the democratic nomination. I guess she forgot that Ted was as "white Irish Catholic" as they come. I guess the books are coming out now, because they are afraid he may not get a second term, interesting.
Michelle Obama: "Distressed" about Daley, Madigan, Hynes clout
WASHINGTON-- When Michelle Obama worked in Mayor Daley's City Hall in the early 1990s, she was "distressed" by how a small group of "white Irish Catholic" families -- the Daleys, the Hynes and the Madigans -- "locked up" power in Illinois.
And as she prepared to become first lady, Mrs. Obama naively wanted to delay a move into the White House for six months, so her daughters could finish the school year. Her initial thought was to "commute" to the White House from her South Side home.
And Marty Nesbitt, one of President Obama's best friends, had been recruited to run for Chicago mayor by African-American leaders -- but never ended up challenging Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama's chief of staff who went on to win City Hall.
Details about Mrs. Obama's initial reluctance to embrace her new life, her time in City Hall, the influence she has in the White House, tensions between Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Emanuel and former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs -- are in a new book about the first couple by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor.
The Chicago Sun-Times has obtained a copy of The Obamas, to be published Tuesday. Kantor hits Chicago for an East Lake Shore Drive book party on Jan. 16; the next day, Jan. 17, she headlines a 6 p.m. event at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State.
Mrs. Obama worked in the Daley administration between Sept. 16, 1991, and April 30, 1993, according to City of Chicago personnel records. She was hired by Jarrett, then Daley's deputy chief of staff.
Kantor writes Mrs. Obama "disapproved of how closely Daley held power, surrounding himself with three or four people who seemed to let few outsiders in -- a concern she would echo years later with her own husband.
"...She particularly resented the way power in Illinois was locked up generation after generation by a small group of families, all white Irish Catholic -- the Daleys in Chicago, the Hynes and Madigan's statewide."
When Jarrett was forced out of City Hall in 1995 -- even though she was close to Daley -- "the Obamas were horrified, their worst suspicions about the world confirmed."
Jarrett, Gibbs, Obama's top strategist David Axelrod, Mrs. Obama's former chief of staff Susan Sher and Chicago pals Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt "gave me many hours of interview time each," Kantor wrote in her acknowledgements. In all, Kantor got the cooperation of 33 current and former members of the Obama administration and close friends.
Still, with reports about issues in the administration -- and an Emanuel who did not welcome Mrs. Obama's influence -- the Obama White House gave the book a frosty reception.
"The book, an overdramatization of old news, is about a relationship between two people whom the author has not spoken to in years," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. "The author last interviewed the Obamas in 2009 for a magazine piece, and did not interview them for this book. The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the president and first lady, reflect little more than the author's own thoughts. These secondhand accounts are staples of every administration in modern political history and often exaggerated."
Camille Johnston, Mrs. Obama's former communications chief, told the Sun-Times, "We had some disagreements over how certain things would be handled, but in the end we all got back to the place Mrs. Obama had set at the onset: nothing on my agenda is more important than what's on his."
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2012/01/michelle_obama_distressed_abou.html
TSA defends banning cupcake from airplane
"I wanted to make it clear that this wasn't your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake." blogs TSA Blogger Bob Burns today, defending the TSA's "Cupcate-Gate," incident against critics.
According to the story that went viral during the Christmas holiday, a TSA agent confiscated the cupcake from Rebecca Hains, a teacher who planned to feed it to her son on the plane.
“The TSA at Logan Airport said the cupcakes looked delicious and told us to have a great trip. But in Las Vegas, they were dangerous. They shouldn't be delicious in one part of the country and a security threat in the other.” Hains said at the time
Burns defended the decision, clarifying that this cupcake was in a jar, prompting a different reaction from the TSA agent.
"Unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar." he wrote, "The officer in this case used their discretion on whether or not to allow the newfangled modern take on a cupcake per 3-1-1 guidelines. They chose not to let it go."
And in case you are outraged by these incidents, Burns reminds people to be sensitive of TSA agents.
"Every officer wants to finish their shift and go home with the peace of mind that they kept potential threats off of airplanes." he wrote. "They’re not thinking about whether their decisions will go viral on the internet."
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/tsa-defends-banning-cupcake-airplane/302656
I'm not going to condone carrying a handgun on an airplane. But the real story could be American have been doing it all along and are just getting caught more now. So that means Americans can fly safely in the airplane while carrying and they should be watching out for the hijackers (Muslims) and not bothering Americans.
More people being caught with guns at airports
More people are being caught at the nation's airports with guns in their carry-on bags, despite heightened awareness about security.
The Transportation Security Administration says it found 1,238 firearms — an average of almost four a day — at its airport checkpoints last year. The number has been on the rise since 2007.
"Clearly just the fact that we are getting four to five guns every day indicates that there are people who are not focused on the security protocols," TSA Administrator John Pistole told Congress in November, a month when officers found nine guns in a single day.
The TSA says guns usually are found in carry-on bags that are X-rayed at security checkpoints.
Pistole says full-body scanning machines also detect contraband hidden beneath passengers' clothing, including a .38-caliber handgun in one man's ankle holster in Detroit.
"More than 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks people are still trying to bring deadly weapons into the cabin of an airplane," he says.
Passengers are required to declare their guns and then store them unloaded in hard containers in their checked bags.
The common reply from passengers when caught with a gun is that they forgot they were carrying one, the TSA says. That's what the 73-year-old man with the ankle holster said Dec. 10, Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesman Michael Conway says.
Same goes for a Georgia man, who was charged Dec. 11 with carrying a weapon at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after TSA officers found a loaded revolver in his messenger bag. The .22-caliber gun went off as police officers tried to unload it.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2012-01-08/More-people-being-caught-with-guns-at-airports/52457066/1
DNA Spray to foil thieves - McDonalds to use new anti-theft spray
McDONALD'S restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected robbers with an invisible DNA spray as they attempt to flee.
The spray, which remains on the suspect's skin for two weeks and on clothes for up to six months, has been introduced in some of the chain's busiest NSW stores, including those at Parramatta, Granville, Auburn, Lidcombe, Kingsford and Wollongong, reported The Daily Telegraph.
If the SelectaDNA "forensic marking" spray proves successful in apprehending bandits, McDonald's will introduce the system across all its 780 Australian outlets.
Developed in the United Kingdom by a police officer and a chemist, the spray has been used by McDonald's outlets in Britain and Europe.
Each outlet keeps the details of its distribution a close secret, but one McDonald's restaurant in The Netherlands installed above the main door an orange device which was electronically linked to a panic alarm system. Staff could activate the device in an emergency.
"Once there has been a security breach, the hi-tech spray unit will douse fleeing robbers with an invisible, synthetic DNA solution," McDonald's Australia's chief restaurant support officer, Jackie McArthur, said.
"The solution is invisible to the naked eye and unique to each location. It stays on clothing for up to six months and on skin for up to two weeks."
Using a UVA light, police can see the markings left by the system and link the offender back to the scene.
The spray contains a synthetic DNA strand composed of 60 variable chromosomes, said SelectaDNA director David Morrissey.
"SelectaDNA is non-toxic, non-allergenic and perfectly safe to deploy. It meets all Australian standards," he said.
Theft is a serious problem for fast-food outlets such as McDonald's, which has high cash turnover, multiple entry and exit points and more than 85,000 staff who often work through the night at truck-stops and other remote places.
In a single week in September, two hold-ups occurred at a McDonald's outlet at Merrylands in Sydney's west.
"Crime can occur anywhere at any time, which is why our extensive safety and security protocols are in place at every restaurant throughout the entire day," Ms MAcArthur said.
"These locations are some of our busiest, so it makes sense to try out the new technology here.
"McDonald's already has a range of security measures, including CCTV, strict security protocols, intensive training, and consultative working relationships with local police."
This is the first time the system will be used in Australia, and although its marketers claim an "85 per cent crime reduction" rate, the proof of its worth is not yet clear.
SelectaDNA trades on a "DNA fear factor," claiming the system is more about prevention than arrests.
Scores of law-enforcement agencies in the UK, including Surrey Police, have handed out the spray kits so residents can mark their property, and it has been widely used by schools and businesses.
http://www.news.com.au/business/dna-mcspray-to-foil-thieves/story-e6frfm1i-1226239112219
Talk about biting the hand that feeds her. She would not have had the opportunity they have now if it were not not for them. I guess she forgets that it was Ted Kennedy that gave him the democratic nomination. I guess she forgot that Ted was as "white Irish Catholic" as they come. I guess the books are coming out now, because they are afraid he may not get a second term, interesting.
Michelle Obama: "Distressed" about Daley, Madigan, Hynes clout
WASHINGTON-- When Michelle Obama worked in Mayor Daley's City Hall in the early 1990s, she was "distressed" by how a small group of "white Irish Catholic" families -- the Daleys, the Hynes and the Madigans -- "locked up" power in Illinois.
And as she prepared to become first lady, Mrs. Obama naively wanted to delay a move into the White House for six months, so her daughters could finish the school year. Her initial thought was to "commute" to the White House from her South Side home.
And Marty Nesbitt, one of President Obama's best friends, had been recruited to run for Chicago mayor by African-American leaders -- but never ended up challenging Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama's chief of staff who went on to win City Hall.
Details about Mrs. Obama's initial reluctance to embrace her new life, her time in City Hall, the influence she has in the White House, tensions between Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Emanuel and former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs -- are in a new book about the first couple by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor.
The Chicago Sun-Times has obtained a copy of The Obamas, to be published Tuesday. Kantor hits Chicago for an East Lake Shore Drive book party on Jan. 16; the next day, Jan. 17, she headlines a 6 p.m. event at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State.
Mrs. Obama worked in the Daley administration between Sept. 16, 1991, and April 30, 1993, according to City of Chicago personnel records. She was hired by Jarrett, then Daley's deputy chief of staff.
Kantor writes Mrs. Obama "disapproved of how closely Daley held power, surrounding himself with three or four people who seemed to let few outsiders in -- a concern she would echo years later with her own husband.
"...She particularly resented the way power in Illinois was locked up generation after generation by a small group of families, all white Irish Catholic -- the Daleys in Chicago, the Hynes and Madigan's statewide."
When Jarrett was forced out of City Hall in 1995 -- even though she was close to Daley -- "the Obamas were horrified, their worst suspicions about the world confirmed."
Jarrett, Gibbs, Obama's top strategist David Axelrod, Mrs. Obama's former chief of staff Susan Sher and Chicago pals Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt "gave me many hours of interview time each," Kantor wrote in her acknowledgements. In all, Kantor got the cooperation of 33 current and former members of the Obama administration and close friends.
Still, with reports about issues in the administration -- and an Emanuel who did not welcome Mrs. Obama's influence -- the Obama White House gave the book a frosty reception.
"The book, an overdramatization of old news, is about a relationship between two people whom the author has not spoken to in years," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. "The author last interviewed the Obamas in 2009 for a magazine piece, and did not interview them for this book. The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the president and first lady, reflect little more than the author's own thoughts. These secondhand accounts are staples of every administration in modern political history and often exaggerated."
Camille Johnston, Mrs. Obama's former communications chief, told the Sun-Times, "We had some disagreements over how certain things would be handled, but in the end we all got back to the place Mrs. Obama had set at the onset: nothing on my agenda is more important than what's on his."
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2012/01/michelle_obama_distressed_abou.html
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Wednesday 10-12-11
They don't care about others, but if it is thier cell phone they would have a fit about it and want someone in jail because of it. Like +90% of the laws congress makes, they exempt themselves from them.
Calif. Governor Veto Allows Warrantless Cellphone Searches
California Gov. Jerry Brown is vetoing legislation requiring police to obtain a court warrant to search the mobile phones of suspects at the time of any arrest.
The Sunday veto means that when police arrest anybody in the Golden State, they may search that person’s mobile phone — which in the digital age likely means the contents of persons’ e-mail, call records, text messages, photos, banking activity, cloud-storage services, and even where the phone has traveled.
Police across the country are given wide latitude to search persons incident to an arrest based on the premise of officer safety. Now the nation’s states are beginning to grapple with the warrantless searches of mobile phones done at the time of an arrest.
Brown’s veto message abdicated responsibility for protecting the rights of Californians and ignored calls from civil liberties groups and this publication to sign the bill — saying only that the issue is too complicated for him to make a decision about. He cites a recent California Supreme Court decision upholding the warrantless searches of people incident to an arrest. In his brief message, he also doesn’t say whether it’s a good idea or not.
Instead, he says the state Supreme Court’s decision is good enough, a decision the U.S. Supreme Court let stand last week.
“The courts are better suited to resolve the complex and case-specific issues relating to constitutional search-and-seizure protections,” the governor wrote.
Because of that January ruling from the state’s high court, the California Legislature passed legislation to undo it — meaning Brown is taking the side of the Supreme Court’s seven justices instead of the state Legislature. The Assembly approved the bill 70-0 and the state Senate, 32-4.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), was flummoxed by Brown’s action. “It was a curious veto message suggesting that the courts could resolve this more effectively than the state Legislature,” he said in a telephone interview.
Under California statehouse rules, neither Leno nor any other lawmaker may introduce the legislation for at least a year.
Orin Kerr, one of the nation’s leading Fourth Amendment experts, said Brown should have backed the state’s Legislature. “I think Governor Brown has it exactly backwards. It is very difficult for courts to decide Fourth Amendment cases involving developing technologies like cellphones,” he said.
In 2007, there were 332,000 felony arrests in California alone — a third of which did not result in conviction.
Brown’s veto also shores up support with police unions and the Peace Officers Research Association of California, a police union that opposed the legislation and recently donated $38,900 to Brown’s campaign coffers. “Restricting the authority of a peace officer to search an arrestee unduly restricts their ability to apply the law, fight crime, discover evidence valuable to an investigation and protect the citizens of California,” the association said in a message.
That support would be key if Brown decides to seek a second term.
In the last year alone, at least seven police unions donated more than $12,900 each to Brown. Those unions, including the California Association of Highway Patrolmen and the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, had given Brown more than $160,000 in combined contributions.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/warrantless-phone-searches/
More TSA stupidity, i really think they are doing this stuff on purpose, you could not dream it up, unless you were trying to do it on purpose. The is just an except from a longer article
Getting Through the Security Check With a Gun, Sort Of
She wanted to do it and did it, good for her and her kid.
Woman gives birth after running Chicago Marathon
http://wtop.com/?nid=351&sid=2585305
Calif. Governor Veto Allows Warrantless Cellphone Searches
California Gov. Jerry Brown is vetoing legislation requiring police to obtain a court warrant to search the mobile phones of suspects at the time of any arrest.
The Sunday veto means that when police arrest anybody in the Golden State, they may search that person’s mobile phone — which in the digital age likely means the contents of persons’ e-mail, call records, text messages, photos, banking activity, cloud-storage services, and even where the phone has traveled.
Police across the country are given wide latitude to search persons incident to an arrest based on the premise of officer safety. Now the nation’s states are beginning to grapple with the warrantless searches of mobile phones done at the time of an arrest.
Brown’s veto message abdicated responsibility for protecting the rights of Californians and ignored calls from civil liberties groups and this publication to sign the bill — saying only that the issue is too complicated for him to make a decision about. He cites a recent California Supreme Court decision upholding the warrantless searches of people incident to an arrest. In his brief message, he also doesn’t say whether it’s a good idea or not.
Instead, he says the state Supreme Court’s decision is good enough, a decision the U.S. Supreme Court let stand last week.
“The courts are better suited to resolve the complex and case-specific issues relating to constitutional search-and-seizure protections,” the governor wrote.
Because of that January ruling from the state’s high court, the California Legislature passed legislation to undo it — meaning Brown is taking the side of the Supreme Court’s seven justices instead of the state Legislature. The Assembly approved the bill 70-0 and the state Senate, 32-4.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), was flummoxed by Brown’s action. “It was a curious veto message suggesting that the courts could resolve this more effectively than the state Legislature,” he said in a telephone interview.
Under California statehouse rules, neither Leno nor any other lawmaker may introduce the legislation for at least a year.
Orin Kerr, one of the nation’s leading Fourth Amendment experts, said Brown should have backed the state’s Legislature. “I think Governor Brown has it exactly backwards. It is very difficult for courts to decide Fourth Amendment cases involving developing technologies like cellphones,” he said.
In 2007, there were 332,000 felony arrests in California alone — a third of which did not result in conviction.
Brown’s veto also shores up support with police unions and the Peace Officers Research Association of California, a police union that opposed the legislation and recently donated $38,900 to Brown’s campaign coffers. “Restricting the authority of a peace officer to search an arrestee unduly restricts their ability to apply the law, fight crime, discover evidence valuable to an investigation and protect the citizens of California,” the association said in a message.
That support would be key if Brown decides to seek a second term.
In the last year alone, at least seven police unions donated more than $12,900 each to Brown. Those unions, including the California Association of Highway Patrolmen and the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, had given Brown more than $160,000 in combined contributions.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/warrantless-phone-searches/
More TSA stupidity, i really think they are doing this stuff on purpose, you could not dream it up, unless you were trying to do it on purpose. The is just an except from a longer article
Getting Through the Security Check With a Gun, Sort Of
...But on my birthday last year, I was in New York and had to attend some meetings and then head off to Jackson Hole. I was wearing this necklace from one of our stores. It had an assortment of charms on it, one of which was a tiny toy gun, about an inch and a half long.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/business/getting-through-security-with-a-gun-sort-of.html?_r=4
I kid you not: I was pulled over by a guard when I was at Newark, who was looking at me like I was wearing a cannon around my neck. The next thing I knew I had three security people surrounding me. The only thing going through my head was, “Huh?”
I was being questioned about the bauble, and I tried explaining to a guard that it was a charm and for crying out loud, not a real gun. It’s not like it even had a trigger mechanism that worked. I was dumbfounded.
Fortunately, after much discussion with other security people, someone saw reason and they decided to let me through. I promptly went to the nearest restaurant and ordered a Jack, straight up.
She wanted to do it and did it, good for her and her kid.
Woman gives birth after running Chicago Marathon
http://wtop.com/?nid=351&sid=2585305
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Tuesday 07-12-11
This poor kid is reminience of X-men, maybe Jerry will use this one of his stories (lol)
Brazil boy seems to attract metal objects
SAO PAULO (AP) - An 11-year-old boy in Brazil's northeastern city of Mossoro is drawing attention with his purportedly magnet-like qualities.
The Globo TV network has broadcast images of Paulo David Amorim demonstrating how forks, knives, scissors, cooking pans, cameras and other metal objects seem drawn to his body and remain stuck on his chest, stomach and back.
The boy's father tells Globo that he decided to test his son after learning of a boy in Croatia with a similar ability. Junior Amorim says he was surprised to find "a fork and knife stuck to his body."
The youth says classmates call him "magnet boy."
Dr. Dix-Sept Rosado Sobrinho tells Globo it is the first time in his 30-year career that he has seen a case like this.
http://wtop.com/?nid=681&sid=2452470
Even after they promise to quit feeling kids up, they are still at it.
Kirkland 6-year-old patted down by TSA agents .
A Kirkland family has filed a complaint claiming their 6-year-old son was singled out by TSA for a hand-search. KING 5's Tonya Mosley has the story. (see video)
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Kirkland-family-says--125274814.html
Brazil boy seems to attract metal objects
SAO PAULO (AP) - An 11-year-old boy in Brazil's northeastern city of Mossoro is drawing attention with his purportedly magnet-like qualities.
The Globo TV network has broadcast images of Paulo David Amorim demonstrating how forks, knives, scissors, cooking pans, cameras and other metal objects seem drawn to his body and remain stuck on his chest, stomach and back.
The boy's father tells Globo that he decided to test his son after learning of a boy in Croatia with a similar ability. Junior Amorim says he was surprised to find "a fork and knife stuck to his body."
The youth says classmates call him "magnet boy."
Dr. Dix-Sept Rosado Sobrinho tells Globo it is the first time in his 30-year career that he has seen a case like this.
http://wtop.com/?nid=681&sid=2452470
Even after they promise to quit feeling kids up, they are still at it.
Kirkland 6-year-old patted down by TSA agents .
A Kirkland family has filed a complaint claiming their 6-year-old son was singled out by TSA for a hand-search. KING 5's Tonya Mosley has the story. (see video)
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Kirkland-family-says--125274814.html
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Saturday 11-06-10
KING OBAMA
(Friday Church News Notes, November 5, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - U.S. President Barak Obama is preparing for a trip to India fit for an ancient king. The cost per day for the royal couple Obama and Michele and their 3,000-member entourage is a mind-boggling $200 million a day (“US to spend $200 mn a day,” Press Trust of India, Nov. 2, 2010). They have reserved an entire hotel, the exclusive Taj in Mumbai. This is only the latest in a continual series of hugely expensive trips for the royal couple, together and alone, with lots of friends in tow on the nation’s tab. What could motivate a U.S. president to spend such a massive amount of money on a trip to a third-rate country, or any country for that matter? It is simple. The man is the king of the entitlement mentality. He deserves the royal treatment. Further, he an elitist. He thinks he is very, very special. Even Chris Matthews, a liberal political commentator who supports Obama’s big-spending socialism, called him an “elitist ... with teleprompter” in a recent appearance on the Andrea Mitchell show on MSNBC. Matthews said, “He hasn’t listened. He’s talked at us rather than with us. ... middle-aged people are losing their jobs ... and this guy’s out doing his pet projects. And they wonder why he isn’t their president, why he’s only his own president.” Indeed. He is King Obama.
FEMA's data collection and analysis of national preparedness information stalled Federal Emergency Management Agency efforts to collect data on national preparedness capabilities has been helpful, but the data is sometimes unreliable and data-collection methodology is not standardized, according to a Government Accountability Office report released publically Oct. 29.
"Without defining capability requirements, FEMA and its local, state, tribal and federal preparedness stakeholders cannot implement a standardized approach to identifying capability gaps," says the GAO report.
Sign up for our FREE newsletter for more news like this sent to your inbox!
FEMA has made some progress in addressing the challenges of data collection by creating a web-based survey tool for more systematic entry of state, tribal and local preparedness information. However, data entered through the tool has limited reliability because no standardization exists for data entry and jurisdictions input data and information based on self-assessments, the report states.
Since April 2009, FEMA has focused on implementing a five-step process for analyzing data, called the Comprehensive Assessment System. However, FEMA has been unable to build a measurable framework for data assessment because it is stalled at the fourth step: Reporting national preparedness capabilities.
The Reporting Requirements Working Group, which was focused on national preparedness analysis efforts and met eight times from August 2009 through April 2010, was discontinued by FEMA in June 2010. The group's work was halted prior to the development of a system or specific recommendations for streamlining reporting methods.
http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/femas-data-collection-and-analysis-national-preparadness-information-stalled/2010-11-01#ixzz14PyrWJ60
UN calls for taxes to fund climate warning fight
The UN advisory group charged with finding ways to fund methods to combat climate change Friday called for "alternative financing," including taxes on financial transactions.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=TX-PAR-CYL95&show_article=1
Great balls of fire over Canada: NASA investigates
MONTREAL — Great balls of fire have been reported swooping over Eastern Canada and several U.S. states.
Even NASA's on the case.
There are different theories about what was behind the sighting of those fireballs. A NASA spacecraft got a closer look at one of the possible sources today.
The spacecraft flew past Hartley 2 -- taking closeup pictures after the comet made one of its closest passes by Earth this week.
But one expert is skeptical of reports that any fireballs came from Hartley -- which is roughly 1.2 kilometres wide and spews deadly cyanide gas.
Scientist Peter Brown says his meteor group at the University of Western Ontario tracked one of two fireballs while the other was tracked by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20101104/comet-nasa-canada-101104
(Friday Church News Notes, November 5, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - U.S. President Barak Obama is preparing for a trip to India fit for an ancient king. The cost per day for the royal couple Obama and Michele and their 3,000-member entourage is a mind-boggling $200 million a day (“US to spend $200 mn a day,” Press Trust of India, Nov. 2, 2010). They have reserved an entire hotel, the exclusive Taj in Mumbai. This is only the latest in a continual series of hugely expensive trips for the royal couple, together and alone, with lots of friends in tow on the nation’s tab. What could motivate a U.S. president to spend such a massive amount of money on a trip to a third-rate country, or any country for that matter? It is simple. The man is the king of the entitlement mentality. He deserves the royal treatment. Further, he an elitist. He thinks he is very, very special. Even Chris Matthews, a liberal political commentator who supports Obama’s big-spending socialism, called him an “elitist ... with teleprompter” in a recent appearance on the Andrea Mitchell show on MSNBC. Matthews said, “He hasn’t listened. He’s talked at us rather than with us. ... middle-aged people are losing their jobs ... and this guy’s out doing his pet projects. And they wonder why he isn’t their president, why he’s only his own president.” Indeed. He is King Obama.
FEMA's data collection and analysis of national preparedness information stalled Federal Emergency Management Agency efforts to collect data on national preparedness capabilities has been helpful, but the data is sometimes unreliable and data-collection methodology is not standardized, according to a Government Accountability Office report released publically Oct. 29.
"Without defining capability requirements, FEMA and its local, state, tribal and federal preparedness stakeholders cannot implement a standardized approach to identifying capability gaps," says the GAO report.
Sign up for our FREE newsletter for more news like this sent to your inbox!
FEMA has made some progress in addressing the challenges of data collection by creating a web-based survey tool for more systematic entry of state, tribal and local preparedness information. However, data entered through the tool has limited reliability because no standardization exists for data entry and jurisdictions input data and information based on self-assessments, the report states.
Since April 2009, FEMA has focused on implementing a five-step process for analyzing data, called the Comprehensive Assessment System. However, FEMA has been unable to build a measurable framework for data assessment because it is stalled at the fourth step: Reporting national preparedness capabilities.
The Reporting Requirements Working Group, which was focused on national preparedness analysis efforts and met eight times from August 2009 through April 2010, was discontinued by FEMA in June 2010. The group's work was halted prior to the development of a system or specific recommendations for streamlining reporting methods.
http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/femas-data-collection-and-analysis-national-preparadness-information-stalled/2010-11-01#ixzz14PyrWJ60
UN calls for taxes to fund climate warning fight
The UN advisory group charged with finding ways to fund methods to combat climate change Friday called for "alternative financing," including taxes on financial transactions.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=TX-PAR-CYL95&show_article=1
Great balls of fire over Canada: NASA investigates
MONTREAL — Great balls of fire have been reported swooping over Eastern Canada and several U.S. states.
Even NASA's on the case.
There are different theories about what was behind the sighting of those fireballs. A NASA spacecraft got a closer look at one of the possible sources today.
The spacecraft flew past Hartley 2 -- taking closeup pictures after the comet made one of its closest passes by Earth this week.
But one expert is skeptical of reports that any fireballs came from Hartley -- which is roughly 1.2 kilometres wide and spews deadly cyanide gas.
Scientist Peter Brown says his meteor group at the University of Western Ontario tracked one of two fireballs while the other was tracked by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20101104/comet-nasa-canada-101104
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Saturday 10-23-10
What happens to tolerance?
Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan because neighbour claimed 'smell of frying bacon offends Muslims'
A hard-working cafe owner has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan - because the smell of her frying bacon 'offends' Muslims.
Planning bosses acted against Beverley Akciecek, 49, after being told her next-door neighbour's Muslim friends had felt 'physically sick' due to the 'foul odour'.
Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester say the smell from the fan is 'unacceptable on the grounds of residential amenity'.
Planning row: Cafe owner Beverley Akciecek has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan by the council because the smell of cooked bacon 'offends' Muslims
The fan has been in Beverley's Snack Shack takeaway in the Shaw Heath area of the town for the past three years.
Mrs Akciecek and her husband Cetin, 50, - himself a Turkish Muslim - work more than 50 hours a week buying, preparing and cooking hot and cold sandwiches and hot-pots for their customers.
Today mother-of-seven Mrs Akciecek said she plans to appeal against the decision.
She said: 'I just think it's crazy. Cetin's friends actually visit the shop, they're regular visitors, they're Muslim people, they come in a couple of times a week.
'I have Muslim people come in for cheese toasties. Cetin cooks the food himself, he cooks the bacon.
'When we go to a cafe my husband wouldn't be offended by the smell of bacon. His friends are not offended by it, we have three visitors who come here for a sandwich, friends of my husband, and the smell doesn't offend them at all.
'My brother-in-law doesn't flinch if he comes and we've just taken out three trays of bacon.
'I'm going to find a local councillor. I'm waiting for the letter so I can appeal.'
The couple took over the take-away in 2007 from the previous owner and replaced the existing extractor fan, which had been there for six years, with a new modern one.
They claim they received no complaints about the cafe which is open from 7.30am-2.30pm six days a week, until around 18 months ago when they received a letter from environmental services to say their neighbour Graham Webb-Lee had complained about the smell.
Fan dispute: Mrs Akciecek outside their cafe in Stockton. She is planning to appeal the council's decision to remove the extractor fan which can been seen in the top left corner of the picture
Mrs Akciecek said: 'We've never had a problem about the smell because everything is pre-cooked. We cook it in the oven so there's no foul smell.
'It's pre-cooked so the smell isn't as strong when we're frying it off. It's like living next to someone who's cooking a Sunday breakfast but it's not constant it's just in the morning.
'It's been a sandwich shop for about eight years, cooking exactly the same stuff. The lady before me did double because they were actually building new houses across the road so she was really busy. She was here from 6am-4pm because they were so busy.
'They were there before me but they were also there when the lady who owns the business was here and she was doing double what we are. She had five staff, you can imagine how bust that shop was and they never complained at all.'
They say that the council's environmental services had been out to inspect their property after their neighbour complained about a foul odour last year, but they ruled that the smell was not causing a problem.
Mrs Akciecek said: 'Environmental services said everything is ok. They kept coming back and guaging it and said there was no problem and because they didn't take any action (the neighbours) complained again.'
The couple had never applied for planning permission as they had simply replaced an existing extractor fan with one of the same size and in the same position, but, following further complaints from their neighbour, they were informed by the council they would have to apply retrospectively as an objection had been raised.
They applied for planning permission in May this year, but the application was refused at a meeting of Stockport Area Committee on October 14.
Mr Webb-Lee objected to the aplication - complaining that his Muslim friends refused to visit him becase they 'can't stand the smell of bacon'.
Mrs Akciecek, who also attended the meeting, said: 'He said he had a daughter with an eating disorder, the Muslim friends, and the bad smell all the time is making his clothes smell.
'The councillors agreed with him without even asking me what I thought. It was as if they didn't even realise I was there.
'This cafe is our only source of income. There are only two of us working, we haven't got any staff anymore. We work seven hours in the shop and my husband goes to the cash and carry and has all the prep work to do. We're working long hours. He does about 50 hours a week easy and I'm working about the same and we work Saturdays.
'The shop will be a lot harder work. It will be a good hour a day washing the walls down, I will not work anywhere with the grease falling down the walls. We can't move it anywhere.
'I'm not going to accept it and we're going to fight it.'
Mr Webb-Lee said: 'The vent is 12 inches from my front door. Every morning the smell of bacon comes through and makes me physically sick.
'I have a lot of Muslim friends. They refuse to visit me anymore because they can't stand the smell of bacon.'
A spokesman for Stockport Council said: 'The retrospective application was rejected on the grounds of residential amenity, as the committee felt the odours given off from the vent were unacceptable for neighbouring residents.
'We will ensure that the cafe complies with this decision and removes the extractor fan.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1322435/Cafe-owner-ordered-remove-extractor-fan-case-smell-frying-bacon-offends-passing-Muslims.html#ixzz136parRTj
Republican congressional candidate says violent overthrow of government is 'on the table'
WASHINGTON – Republican congressional candidate Stephen Broden stunned his party Thursday, saying he would not rule out violent overthrow of the government if elections did not produce a change in leadership.
In a rambling exchange during a TV interview, Broden, a South Dallas pastor, said a violent uprising "is not the first option," but it is "on the table." That drew a quick denunciation from the head of the Dallas County GOP, who called the remarks "inappropriate."
Broden, a first-time candidate, is challenging veteran incumbent Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Dallas' heavily Democratic 30th Congressional District. Johnson's campaign declined to comment on Broden.
In the interview, Brad Watson, political reporter for WFAA-TV (Channel 8), asked Broden about a tea party event last year in Fort Worth in which he described the nation's government as tyrannical.
"We have a constitutional remedy," Broden said then. "And the Framers say if that don't work, revolution."
Watson asked if his definition of revolution included violent overthrow of the government. In a prolonged back-and-forth, Broden at first declined to explicitly address insurrection, saying the first way to deal with a repressive government is to "alter it or abolish it."
"If the government is not producing the results or has become destructive to the ends of our liberties, we have a right to get rid of that government and to get rid of it by any means necessary," Broden said, adding the nation was founded on a violent revolt against Britain's King George III.
Watson asked if violence would be in option in 2010, under the current government.
"The option is on the table. I don't think that we should remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms," Broden said, without elaborating. "However, it is not the first option."
Reactions
Jonathan Neerman, head of the Dallas County Republican Party, said he's never heard Broden or other local Republican candidates advocate violence against the government.
"It is a disappointing, isolated incident," Neerman said. He said he plans to discuss the matter with Broden's campaign.
Ken Emanuelson, a Broden supporter and leading tea party organizer in Dallas, said he did not disagree with the "philosophical point" that people had the right to resist a tyrannical government.
But, he said, "Do I see our government today anywhere close to that point? No, I don't."
Emanuelson said he's occasionally heard people call for direct action against the government, but that they typically do not get involved in electoral politics.
That Broden is "engaged in the election and running for office shows he's got faith in the system as it is," Emanuelson said.
Other statements
Also in the interview, Broden backed away from other controversial statements he has made at rallies and on cable news appearances.
In June 2009, he described the economic crash in the housing, banking and automotive industries as "contrived" and a "set up" by the Obama administration.
Asked Thursday about the validity of these, Broden said they were "authentic crises facing this nation."
Broden also retreated from other remarks last year that chided Americans for not being more outraged over government intrusion, comparing them to Jews "walking into the furnaces" under the Nazi regime in Germany.
"They are our enemies, and we must resist them," he said of government leaders.
Broden said Thursday that he wasn't trying to compare President Barack Obama to Hitler and he mistakenly linked the U.S. in 2010 to Nazi Germany.
In the uphill campaign against Johnson, Broden has sought to capitalize on her misuse of scholarship funds from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit entity.
In late August, The Dallas Morning News reported that Johnson provided 23 scholarships over five years to two of her grandsons, two children of her nephew, and two children of her top aide in Dallas. None of those recipients were eligible under the foundation's anti-nepotism rules or residency requirements. She has repaid the foundation more than $31,000.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-broden_22tex.ART0.State.Edition1.33278a9.html
Neighbors Wake to Headless Animals Halloween Mystery
A gruesome Halloween mystery came to a Miami neighborhood Thursday morning when residents awoke to find dozens of dead, headless animals dumped down their street.
About a dozen goats, cats and different types of birds were laid out on nearly two blocks between 16th Terrace and 15th Terrace on 34th Avenue in Miami, leaving residents scared at what might be next as Halloween approaches.
"Nothing had a head," said Marioly Perez, who was awakened by screeching tires as a car peeled out down the street. "I have never seen anything like this. It's scary."
Miami Police believe the dead animals might have been part of a religious ritual like a Santeria, but those don't usually involve cats. There was also a "very large" animal that no one could identify, residents said.
It all started when something went bump in the night outside. A loud boom woke residents and the sounds of a fast-moving car caused them to come outside.
When they walked out, the scene resembled something from a nightmare - a trail of headless animals with body parts strewn everywhere.
Perez said the smell was suffocating and that it seemed like the animals had been dead for some time.
"We all love animals here. This is very, very depressing. You don't know what kind of crazy people are around your neighborhood," resident Josefine Pita said. "It's very, very scary because you don't know if they are going to steal your animal."
The City's Sanitation Department cleared away the animal carcasses, while the Fire Department hosed down the Street. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Miami Police Department or call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/weird/Neighbors-Wake-to-Headless-Animals-in-the-Street-105460693.html?dr
Killer Bees Responsible for Georgia Death
ATLANTA -- The Georgia Department of Agriculture confirmed on Thursday that Africanized honey bees -- more commonly known as "killer bees" -- were responsible for the death of an elderly man in southwest Georgia last week.
The Dougherty County man disturbed a colony of the bees with his bulldozer, and received more than 100 bee stings.
Africanized bees are a hybrid of African and European honey bees. The Africanized bee and the more familiar European honey bee, which is Georgia's official state insect, look the same. They both are only able to sting once, and there is no difference between the venom produced by each variety.
The difference is that Africanized honey bees are extremely defensive and are likely to defend a much wider area around their nest. They are also very aggressive, and will sting individuals in large numbers.
Africanized bees first appeared in the United States in Texas in 1990. They have since been found in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, and now in Georgia. Experts have been expecting the arrival of the killer bees in Georgia for several years. A breeding population of the bees have been in Florida since 2005.
"Georgia beekeepers are our first and best line of defense against these invaders. They are the ones who will be able to monitor and detect any changes in bee activity," said state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin in a statement.
More facts about Africanized honey bees:
•Are very defensive of their nest (also referred to as a colony or hive).
•Respond quickly and sting in large numbers.
•Can sense a threat from people or animals 50 feet or more from nest.
•Sense vibrations from power equipment 100 feet or more from nest.
•Will pursue a perceived enemy ¼ mile or more.
•Swarm frequently to establish new nests.
•Nest in small cavities and sheltered areas.
Possible nest sites may include empty boxes, cans, buckets, or other containers; old tires; infrequently used vehicles; lumber piles; holes and cavities in fences, trees, or the ground; sheds, garages and other outbuildings; and low decks or spaces under buildings.
General Precautions
•Be careful wherever bees may be found.
•Listen for buzzing - indicating a nest or swarm of bees.
•Use care when entering sheds or outbuildings where bees may nest.
•Examine work area before using lawn mowers and other power equipment.
•Examine areas before penning pets or livestock.
•Be alert when participating in all outdoor sports and activities.
•Don't disturb a nest or swarm - contact a pest control company or your Cooperative Extension office.
•Teach children to respect all bees.
•Check with a doctor about bee sting kits and procedures if sensitive to bee stings.
•Remove possible nest sites around home and seal openings larger than 1/8" in walls and around chimneys and plumbing.
As a general rule, stay away from all honeybee swarms and colonies. If bees are encountered, get away quickly. Do not stand and swat as this will only invite more stings. If you are stung, try to protect your face and eyes as much as possible and run away from the area. Take shelter in a car or building, and do not worry if a few bees follow you inside. It is better to have a few in the car with you than the thousands waiting outside. Hiding in water or thick brush does not offer enough protection.
What to Do if Stung
•First, go quickly to a safe area.
•Scrape - do not pull - stingers from skin as soon as possible. The stinger pumps out most of the venom during the first minute. Pulling the stinger out will likely cause more venom to be injected into the skin.
•Wash sting area with soap and water like any other wound.
•Apply an ice pack for a few minutes to relieve pain and swelling.
•Seek medical attention if breathing is troubled, if stung numerous times or if allergic to bee stings.
Don't Forget!
Hives of European honeybees managed by beekeepers play an important role in our lives. These bees are necessary for the pollination of many crops. One-third of our diet relies on honeybee pollination.
People can coexist with the Africanized honeybee by learning about the bee and its habits, supporting beekeeping efforts and taking a few precautions.
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=159260&catid=40
Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan because neighbour claimed 'smell of frying bacon offends Muslims'
A hard-working cafe owner has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan - because the smell of her frying bacon 'offends' Muslims.
Planning bosses acted against Beverley Akciecek, 49, after being told her next-door neighbour's Muslim friends had felt 'physically sick' due to the 'foul odour'.
Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester say the smell from the fan is 'unacceptable on the grounds of residential amenity'.
Planning row: Cafe owner Beverley Akciecek has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan by the council because the smell of cooked bacon 'offends' Muslims
The fan has been in Beverley's Snack Shack takeaway in the Shaw Heath area of the town for the past three years.
Mrs Akciecek and her husband Cetin, 50, - himself a Turkish Muslim - work more than 50 hours a week buying, preparing and cooking hot and cold sandwiches and hot-pots for their customers.
Today mother-of-seven Mrs Akciecek said she plans to appeal against the decision.
She said: 'I just think it's crazy. Cetin's friends actually visit the shop, they're regular visitors, they're Muslim people, they come in a couple of times a week.
'I have Muslim people come in for cheese toasties. Cetin cooks the food himself, he cooks the bacon.
'When we go to a cafe my husband wouldn't be offended by the smell of bacon. His friends are not offended by it, we have three visitors who come here for a sandwich, friends of my husband, and the smell doesn't offend them at all.
'My brother-in-law doesn't flinch if he comes and we've just taken out three trays of bacon.
'I'm going to find a local councillor. I'm waiting for the letter so I can appeal.'
The couple took over the take-away in 2007 from the previous owner and replaced the existing extractor fan, which had been there for six years, with a new modern one.
They claim they received no complaints about the cafe which is open from 7.30am-2.30pm six days a week, until around 18 months ago when they received a letter from environmental services to say their neighbour Graham Webb-Lee had complained about the smell.
Fan dispute: Mrs Akciecek outside their cafe in Stockton. She is planning to appeal the council's decision to remove the extractor fan which can been seen in the top left corner of the picture
Mrs Akciecek said: 'We've never had a problem about the smell because everything is pre-cooked. We cook it in the oven so there's no foul smell.
'It's pre-cooked so the smell isn't as strong when we're frying it off. It's like living next to someone who's cooking a Sunday breakfast but it's not constant it's just in the morning.
'It's been a sandwich shop for about eight years, cooking exactly the same stuff. The lady before me did double because they were actually building new houses across the road so she was really busy. She was here from 6am-4pm because they were so busy.
'They were there before me but they were also there when the lady who owns the business was here and she was doing double what we are. She had five staff, you can imagine how bust that shop was and they never complained at all.'
They say that the council's environmental services had been out to inspect their property after their neighbour complained about a foul odour last year, but they ruled that the smell was not causing a problem.
Mrs Akciecek said: 'Environmental services said everything is ok. They kept coming back and guaging it and said there was no problem and because they didn't take any action (the neighbours) complained again.'
The couple had never applied for planning permission as they had simply replaced an existing extractor fan with one of the same size and in the same position, but, following further complaints from their neighbour, they were informed by the council they would have to apply retrospectively as an objection had been raised.
They applied for planning permission in May this year, but the application was refused at a meeting of Stockport Area Committee on October 14.
Mr Webb-Lee objected to the aplication - complaining that his Muslim friends refused to visit him becase they 'can't stand the smell of bacon'.
Mrs Akciecek, who also attended the meeting, said: 'He said he had a daughter with an eating disorder, the Muslim friends, and the bad smell all the time is making his clothes smell.
'The councillors agreed with him without even asking me what I thought. It was as if they didn't even realise I was there.
'This cafe is our only source of income. There are only two of us working, we haven't got any staff anymore. We work seven hours in the shop and my husband goes to the cash and carry and has all the prep work to do. We're working long hours. He does about 50 hours a week easy and I'm working about the same and we work Saturdays.
'The shop will be a lot harder work. It will be a good hour a day washing the walls down, I will not work anywhere with the grease falling down the walls. We can't move it anywhere.
'I'm not going to accept it and we're going to fight it.'
Mr Webb-Lee said: 'The vent is 12 inches from my front door. Every morning the smell of bacon comes through and makes me physically sick.
'I have a lot of Muslim friends. They refuse to visit me anymore because they can't stand the smell of bacon.'
A spokesman for Stockport Council said: 'The retrospective application was rejected on the grounds of residential amenity, as the committee felt the odours given off from the vent were unacceptable for neighbouring residents.
'We will ensure that the cafe complies with this decision and removes the extractor fan.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1322435/Cafe-owner-ordered-remove-extractor-fan-case-smell-frying-bacon-offends-passing-Muslims.html#ixzz136parRTj
Republican congressional candidate says violent overthrow of government is 'on the table'
WASHINGTON – Republican congressional candidate Stephen Broden stunned his party Thursday, saying he would not rule out violent overthrow of the government if elections did not produce a change in leadership.
In a rambling exchange during a TV interview, Broden, a South Dallas pastor, said a violent uprising "is not the first option," but it is "on the table." That drew a quick denunciation from the head of the Dallas County GOP, who called the remarks "inappropriate."
Broden, a first-time candidate, is challenging veteran incumbent Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Dallas' heavily Democratic 30th Congressional District. Johnson's campaign declined to comment on Broden.
In the interview, Brad Watson, political reporter for WFAA-TV (Channel 8), asked Broden about a tea party event last year in Fort Worth in which he described the nation's government as tyrannical.
"We have a constitutional remedy," Broden said then. "And the Framers say if that don't work, revolution."
Watson asked if his definition of revolution included violent overthrow of the government. In a prolonged back-and-forth, Broden at first declined to explicitly address insurrection, saying the first way to deal with a repressive government is to "alter it or abolish it."
"If the government is not producing the results or has become destructive to the ends of our liberties, we have a right to get rid of that government and to get rid of it by any means necessary," Broden said, adding the nation was founded on a violent revolt against Britain's King George III.
Watson asked if violence would be in option in 2010, under the current government.
"The option is on the table. I don't think that we should remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms," Broden said, without elaborating. "However, it is not the first option."
Reactions
Jonathan Neerman, head of the Dallas County Republican Party, said he's never heard Broden or other local Republican candidates advocate violence against the government.
"It is a disappointing, isolated incident," Neerman said. He said he plans to discuss the matter with Broden's campaign.
Ken Emanuelson, a Broden supporter and leading tea party organizer in Dallas, said he did not disagree with the "philosophical point" that people had the right to resist a tyrannical government.
But, he said, "Do I see our government today anywhere close to that point? No, I don't."
Emanuelson said he's occasionally heard people call for direct action against the government, but that they typically do not get involved in electoral politics.
That Broden is "engaged in the election and running for office shows he's got faith in the system as it is," Emanuelson said.
Other statements
Also in the interview, Broden backed away from other controversial statements he has made at rallies and on cable news appearances.
In June 2009, he described the economic crash in the housing, banking and automotive industries as "contrived" and a "set up" by the Obama administration.
Asked Thursday about the validity of these, Broden said they were "authentic crises facing this nation."
Broden also retreated from other remarks last year that chided Americans for not being more outraged over government intrusion, comparing them to Jews "walking into the furnaces" under the Nazi regime in Germany.
"They are our enemies, and we must resist them," he said of government leaders.
Broden said Thursday that he wasn't trying to compare President Barack Obama to Hitler and he mistakenly linked the U.S. in 2010 to Nazi Germany.
In the uphill campaign against Johnson, Broden has sought to capitalize on her misuse of scholarship funds from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit entity.
In late August, The Dallas Morning News reported that Johnson provided 23 scholarships over five years to two of her grandsons, two children of her nephew, and two children of her top aide in Dallas. None of those recipients were eligible under the foundation's anti-nepotism rules or residency requirements. She has repaid the foundation more than $31,000.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-broden_22tex.ART0.State.Edition1.33278a9.html
Neighbors Wake to Headless Animals Halloween Mystery
A gruesome Halloween mystery came to a Miami neighborhood Thursday morning when residents awoke to find dozens of dead, headless animals dumped down their street.
About a dozen goats, cats and different types of birds were laid out on nearly two blocks between 16th Terrace and 15th Terrace on 34th Avenue in Miami, leaving residents scared at what might be next as Halloween approaches.
"Nothing had a head," said Marioly Perez, who was awakened by screeching tires as a car peeled out down the street. "I have never seen anything like this. It's scary."
Miami Police believe the dead animals might have been part of a religious ritual like a Santeria, but those don't usually involve cats. There was also a "very large" animal that no one could identify, residents said.
It all started when something went bump in the night outside. A loud boom woke residents and the sounds of a fast-moving car caused them to come outside.
When they walked out, the scene resembled something from a nightmare - a trail of headless animals with body parts strewn everywhere.
Perez said the smell was suffocating and that it seemed like the animals had been dead for some time.
"We all love animals here. This is very, very depressing. You don't know what kind of crazy people are around your neighborhood," resident Josefine Pita said. "It's very, very scary because you don't know if they are going to steal your animal."
The City's Sanitation Department cleared away the animal carcasses, while the Fire Department hosed down the Street. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Miami Police Department or call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/weird/Neighbors-Wake-to-Headless-Animals-in-the-Street-105460693.html?dr
Killer Bees Responsible for Georgia Death
ATLANTA -- The Georgia Department of Agriculture confirmed on Thursday that Africanized honey bees -- more commonly known as "killer bees" -- were responsible for the death of an elderly man in southwest Georgia last week.
The Dougherty County man disturbed a colony of the bees with his bulldozer, and received more than 100 bee stings.
Africanized bees are a hybrid of African and European honey bees. The Africanized bee and the more familiar European honey bee, which is Georgia's official state insect, look the same. They both are only able to sting once, and there is no difference between the venom produced by each variety.
The difference is that Africanized honey bees are extremely defensive and are likely to defend a much wider area around their nest. They are also very aggressive, and will sting individuals in large numbers.
Africanized bees first appeared in the United States in Texas in 1990. They have since been found in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, and now in Georgia. Experts have been expecting the arrival of the killer bees in Georgia for several years. A breeding population of the bees have been in Florida since 2005.
"Georgia beekeepers are our first and best line of defense against these invaders. They are the ones who will be able to monitor and detect any changes in bee activity," said state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin in a statement.
More facts about Africanized honey bees:
•Are very defensive of their nest (also referred to as a colony or hive).
•Respond quickly and sting in large numbers.
•Can sense a threat from people or animals 50 feet or more from nest.
•Sense vibrations from power equipment 100 feet or more from nest.
•Will pursue a perceived enemy ¼ mile or more.
•Swarm frequently to establish new nests.
•Nest in small cavities and sheltered areas.
Possible nest sites may include empty boxes, cans, buckets, or other containers; old tires; infrequently used vehicles; lumber piles; holes and cavities in fences, trees, or the ground; sheds, garages and other outbuildings; and low decks or spaces under buildings.
General Precautions
•Be careful wherever bees may be found.
•Listen for buzzing - indicating a nest or swarm of bees.
•Use care when entering sheds or outbuildings where bees may nest.
•Examine work area before using lawn mowers and other power equipment.
•Examine areas before penning pets or livestock.
•Be alert when participating in all outdoor sports and activities.
•Don't disturb a nest or swarm - contact a pest control company or your Cooperative Extension office.
•Teach children to respect all bees.
•Check with a doctor about bee sting kits and procedures if sensitive to bee stings.
•Remove possible nest sites around home and seal openings larger than 1/8" in walls and around chimneys and plumbing.
As a general rule, stay away from all honeybee swarms and colonies. If bees are encountered, get away quickly. Do not stand and swat as this will only invite more stings. If you are stung, try to protect your face and eyes as much as possible and run away from the area. Take shelter in a car or building, and do not worry if a few bees follow you inside. It is better to have a few in the car with you than the thousands waiting outside. Hiding in water or thick brush does not offer enough protection.
What to Do if Stung
•First, go quickly to a safe area.
•Scrape - do not pull - stingers from skin as soon as possible. The stinger pumps out most of the venom during the first minute. Pulling the stinger out will likely cause more venom to be injected into the skin.
•Wash sting area with soap and water like any other wound.
•Apply an ice pack for a few minutes to relieve pain and swelling.
•Seek medical attention if breathing is troubled, if stung numerous times or if allergic to bee stings.
Don't Forget!
Hives of European honeybees managed by beekeepers play an important role in our lives. These bees are necessary for the pollination of many crops. One-third of our diet relies on honeybee pollination.
People can coexist with the Africanized honeybee by learning about the bee and its habits, supporting beekeeping efforts and taking a few precautions.
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=159260&catid=40
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday 09-24-10
More good news, people protecting them selves and standing up is always good.
Police: Alleged Home Intruders Looking for Cash, Pills; 1 Shot Dead
One alleged burglar was killed and another was arrested after being caught by the homeowners.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Department is still investigating a fatal shooting that happened on East Lynn Creek Road Sunday night.
Casey Bartram has now been named the shooter in what detectives are calling a "burglary gone wrong." Jason Hall was shot and while allegedly burglarizing Bartram and his girlfriend's property.
Williamson said it appears, but it is not confirmed, Jason Hall and Gary Maynard were looking for a cash settlement and prescription medications they knew the homeowners had.
Bartram and his girlfriend, Brittany Stroud, came home to find the two men wearing masks and allegedly robbing them. Hall was shot and killed and Maynard ran from the scene.
Bartram is not facing charges.
Maynard was arraigned on burglary charges in Wayne Magistrate Court Monday afternoon.
http://www.wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=86372
Just the way free-enterprise works, i personally use Avast and Spybot, and like both.
Free anti-virus protection spurs more robust options
With cyberattacks saturating the Internet, a dramatic shift is underway in the $7 billion-a-year anti-virus industry — and it's all good news for consumers.
There's no excuse anymore not to have anti-virus protection on your PC. You can get basic free protection from Microsoft with few hassles. Or you can opt for more robust protection — also at no cost — from a half-dozen reputable anti-virus makers. You need only endure marketing pitches to upgrade to their respective flagship products.
Spend a few pennies a day and you can step up to a very powerful anti-virus suite, available from a slew of established software security companies. Spurred by the rise of no-cost alternatives, Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and others are revving up their AV software suites, making them stronger, smarter and less demanding of your PC's resources.
"We're seeing a wonderful thing," says Jay Foley, executive director of the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center. "More companies are coming out with free software, and at the same time the established players are coming out with more vibrant products that give the home user or small-business owner greater protections."
No-cost basic protection is fast catching on. A recent Morgan Stanley survey of 2,500 U.S. consumers showed 46% of the respondents used free anti-virus products. This trend is expected to continue as more frugal-minded consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world recognize the need to protect their Internet-connected PCs.
Over time, this trend seems sure to dampen cybercriminals' ready access to PCs that have no protection at all, cybersecurity experts say. Today, an estimated 40% to 60% of PCs go unprotected. These are the easiest fresh machines for cybergangs to infect, steal data from and use to carry out online scams.
"The immediate benefit of free consumer offerings is that more network-connected machines worldwide are getting active protection," says Neil MacDonald, privacy and risk research fellow at Gartner Information Security.
Is 'free' protection enough?
The rise of free has also lit a fire under the anti-virus giants. They've begun stepping up marketing campaigns to convey why full AV suites, priced from $30 to $80 for a year's worth of continuously updated protection, are well worth the money.
"Freeware vendors have created a false perception that free, basic security is enough to protect you from today's online threats," says Janice Chaffin, president of Symantec's consumer business unit. "The reality is, free is not enough. It's like wearing a light windbreaker in a snowstorm."
A USA TODAY survey of 16 anti-virus companies shows that no-cost anti-virus programs generally lack important features such as a firewall, website health checks, automatic updates and customer support. Meanwhile, full, subscription AV suites continue to get more powerful each year.
Symantec, McAfee and most others, for instance, incorporate technology designed to predict, rather than react to, new attacks. Panda Security and Trend Micro are leaders in using "cloud" computing to deliver protection. They've transferred the intensive processing required to identify and block attacks off of the user's PC and onto their own servers.
"Vendors are improving and enhancing the breadth and depth of the security offerings they hope we will pay for," says Keith Weiss, Morgan Stanley anti-virus industry analyst.
Marketing muddle
Any lack of public understanding about this trend derives in no small part from the intensely competitive nature of the anti-virus industry. Microsoft stands alone in making basic protection entirely gratis. After years of trying, the software giant bailed out of trying to make a profit selling security to consumers. A year ago it launched Microsoft Security Essentials, mainly to protect the reputation of the Windows operating system, as well as to boost overall confidence in the Internet.
Study the marketing messages from all other anti-virus suppliers, and you can land in a muddle. Avast, Avira, AVG, Immunet, Panda Security and PC Tools offer reputable no-cost protection. Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro preload free trial versions of their AV suites onto new Windows PCs. Kaspersky, Webroot and Trend Micro can be found on the shelves at major U.S. retailers. And every anti-virus supplier relies to one degree or another on Internet promotions.
The common denominator: Each promotion — whether it be for a free basic version or free trial period or a free infection scan — seeks to convert users to a paid subscription.
The stakes are high. Consumers and companies this year will spend $7.2 billion on anti-virus software, up from $5.8 billion in 2007, Gartner says. Marketing pitches to get a piece of this lucrative pie run the gamut, from clear and straightforward to persistent and confusing, USA TODAY's survey found.
"It seems contradictory," says Chris Benham, chief marketing officer at Webroot. "You're in the business of trying to keep insidious software off people's computers, yet you're engaging in underhanded tactics."
Complicating matters, a thriving "scareware" criminal industry revolves around mimicking free infection scans of your PC, a promotional tool used by legitimate AV vendors. The bogus scans typically arrive in an unsolicited pop-up ad and attempt to frighten the victim into spending $30 to $80 for a worthless cleanup.
One cybergang, operating out of Ohio and the Ukraine, banked $163 million from 2004 to mid-2008 pitching scareware. The FBI broke up that gang, but others like it continue to thrive.
"The malware writers and hackers have really muddied the waters," says Rick Carlson, president of Panda Security's U.S. division.
Between aggressive promotions and criminal mimicry, anti-virus marketing messages "have gotten so complicated that consumers are at a loss to try to figure out whether they are protected at all," says David Perry, Trend Micro's global education director.
Homework required
The upshot for consumers: Be prepared to do your homework. Start with the assumptions that free protection is better than none at all, and that no single security product will keep you completely immune to cyberattacks. That's what Mickey Cashen did last spring upon discovering that an intruder had accessed his older Windows XP computer to send e-mail spam to his friends, despite running an updated anti-virus program.
The retired high school science teacher from Brooklyn Park, Md., estimates that he spent 50 hours over the next six months researching and evaluating security products. Cashen read product reviews in PC Magazine, PC World and on CNet and scoured lab tests by av-comparatives.org and malwareresearchgroup.com, two independent tech security research groups.
He decided not to spend a penny, opting for free Avira AntiVir Personal for basic protection, combined with a free firewall from Comodo.
He also began using WinPatrol, a free program that blocks unauthorized additions to his PC's start-up sequence — a technique hackers use to re-infect your PC each time you boot up. And he relies on not one but three free Web browser plug-ins — AVG LinkScanner, McAfee SiteAdvisor and KeyScrambler — to help steer him clear of infected Web pages.
"I learned that multiple layers of protection are preferred," says Cashen. "I ended up very satisfied with what I think is a small fortress."
Anti-virus company executives, as you might expect, hope Cashen is the exception and not the rule. "There are users out there who think they can cobble together their own protection," says Trend Micro's Perry. "But the best thing for most people to do is install a single manufacturer's all-in-one protection."
Even so, simple economics suggest the popularity of free security tools will continue to soar among those on tight budgets: citizens of Third World nations, college students, the unemployed, the underemployed and retirees, like Cashen. What's more, word-of-mouth is a powerful no-cost marketing tool.
"Many consumers rely on the advice of others, and some of the free products have loyal and vocal followers," says Randy Abrams, director of technical education at anti-virus firm ESET.
Abrams and other anti-virus company executives interviewed as part of USA TODAY's survey hold a consensus view of how they believe the anti-virus market is likely to evolve.
As cyberattacks continue to spread, they see more computer users recognizing the need to protect their PCs. While many will gravitate to free protection, some will eventually convert to a paid subscription for a cutting-edge AV suite.
"Think of it as an insurance policy for your digital life," says Webroot's Benham. "As you put more personal information on your computer, you'll want more protection."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2010-09-22-antivirus22_CV_N.htm
Old Machine Gun Ads
http://www.infinitearms.com/images2/v/oldmgads/?g2_page=2
That big screen tv will be good for something after an emp though it would be a heavy fire starter, it might be useful as a solar cooker, on sunny days.
Firefighters: TV left in sun likely caused blaze
September 21, 2010 - 9:19pm
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A big-screen television left outside in the sun this week was blamed for a fire that caused minor damage to a Springfield apartment. Assistant Fire Chief Randy Villines called the blaze "bizarre" and said mirrors inside the projection TV likely bounced and concentrated sunlight enough to start a fire.
The TV was left outside the apartment building Monday with the screen facing toward a parking lot.
The Springfield News-Leader reported that one person was arrested at the scene on suspicion of an unrelated charge, but Villines declined to give additional details.
One apartment complex resident was treated for smoke inhalation but refused further treatment.
Officials said a sprinkler system installed on the outside patio possibly prevented the blaze from spreading more rapidly to the wooden balconies above the patio.
___ Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
http://wtop.com/?nid=456&sid=2059001
Police: Alleged Home Intruders Looking for Cash, Pills; 1 Shot Dead
One alleged burglar was killed and another was arrested after being caught by the homeowners.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Department is still investigating a fatal shooting that happened on East Lynn Creek Road Sunday night.
Casey Bartram has now been named the shooter in what detectives are calling a "burglary gone wrong." Jason Hall was shot and while allegedly burglarizing Bartram and his girlfriend's property.
Williamson said it appears, but it is not confirmed, Jason Hall and Gary Maynard were looking for a cash settlement and prescription medications they knew the homeowners had.
Bartram and his girlfriend, Brittany Stroud, came home to find the two men wearing masks and allegedly robbing them. Hall was shot and killed and Maynard ran from the scene.
Bartram is not facing charges.
Maynard was arraigned on burglary charges in Wayne Magistrate Court Monday afternoon.
http://www.wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=86372
Just the way free-enterprise works, i personally use Avast and Spybot, and like both.
Free anti-virus protection spurs more robust options
With cyberattacks saturating the Internet, a dramatic shift is underway in the $7 billion-a-year anti-virus industry — and it's all good news for consumers.
There's no excuse anymore not to have anti-virus protection on your PC. You can get basic free protection from Microsoft with few hassles. Or you can opt for more robust protection — also at no cost — from a half-dozen reputable anti-virus makers. You need only endure marketing pitches to upgrade to their respective flagship products.
Spend a few pennies a day and you can step up to a very powerful anti-virus suite, available from a slew of established software security companies. Spurred by the rise of no-cost alternatives, Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and others are revving up their AV software suites, making them stronger, smarter and less demanding of your PC's resources.
"We're seeing a wonderful thing," says Jay Foley, executive director of the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center. "More companies are coming out with free software, and at the same time the established players are coming out with more vibrant products that give the home user or small-business owner greater protections."
No-cost basic protection is fast catching on. A recent Morgan Stanley survey of 2,500 U.S. consumers showed 46% of the respondents used free anti-virus products. This trend is expected to continue as more frugal-minded consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world recognize the need to protect their Internet-connected PCs.
Over time, this trend seems sure to dampen cybercriminals' ready access to PCs that have no protection at all, cybersecurity experts say. Today, an estimated 40% to 60% of PCs go unprotected. These are the easiest fresh machines for cybergangs to infect, steal data from and use to carry out online scams.
"The immediate benefit of free consumer offerings is that more network-connected machines worldwide are getting active protection," says Neil MacDonald, privacy and risk research fellow at Gartner Information Security.
Is 'free' protection enough?
The rise of free has also lit a fire under the anti-virus giants. They've begun stepping up marketing campaigns to convey why full AV suites, priced from $30 to $80 for a year's worth of continuously updated protection, are well worth the money.
"Freeware vendors have created a false perception that free, basic security is enough to protect you from today's online threats," says Janice Chaffin, president of Symantec's consumer business unit. "The reality is, free is not enough. It's like wearing a light windbreaker in a snowstorm."
A USA TODAY survey of 16 anti-virus companies shows that no-cost anti-virus programs generally lack important features such as a firewall, website health checks, automatic updates and customer support. Meanwhile, full, subscription AV suites continue to get more powerful each year.
Symantec, McAfee and most others, for instance, incorporate technology designed to predict, rather than react to, new attacks. Panda Security and Trend Micro are leaders in using "cloud" computing to deliver protection. They've transferred the intensive processing required to identify and block attacks off of the user's PC and onto their own servers.
"Vendors are improving and enhancing the breadth and depth of the security offerings they hope we will pay for," says Keith Weiss, Morgan Stanley anti-virus industry analyst.
Marketing muddle
Any lack of public understanding about this trend derives in no small part from the intensely competitive nature of the anti-virus industry. Microsoft stands alone in making basic protection entirely gratis. After years of trying, the software giant bailed out of trying to make a profit selling security to consumers. A year ago it launched Microsoft Security Essentials, mainly to protect the reputation of the Windows operating system, as well as to boost overall confidence in the Internet.
Study the marketing messages from all other anti-virus suppliers, and you can land in a muddle. Avast, Avira, AVG, Immunet, Panda Security and PC Tools offer reputable no-cost protection. Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro preload free trial versions of their AV suites onto new Windows PCs. Kaspersky, Webroot and Trend Micro can be found on the shelves at major U.S. retailers. And every anti-virus supplier relies to one degree or another on Internet promotions.
The common denominator: Each promotion — whether it be for a free basic version or free trial period or a free infection scan — seeks to convert users to a paid subscription.
The stakes are high. Consumers and companies this year will spend $7.2 billion on anti-virus software, up from $5.8 billion in 2007, Gartner says. Marketing pitches to get a piece of this lucrative pie run the gamut, from clear and straightforward to persistent and confusing, USA TODAY's survey found.
"It seems contradictory," says Chris Benham, chief marketing officer at Webroot. "You're in the business of trying to keep insidious software off people's computers, yet you're engaging in underhanded tactics."
Complicating matters, a thriving "scareware" criminal industry revolves around mimicking free infection scans of your PC, a promotional tool used by legitimate AV vendors. The bogus scans typically arrive in an unsolicited pop-up ad and attempt to frighten the victim into spending $30 to $80 for a worthless cleanup.
One cybergang, operating out of Ohio and the Ukraine, banked $163 million from 2004 to mid-2008 pitching scareware. The FBI broke up that gang, but others like it continue to thrive.
"The malware writers and hackers have really muddied the waters," says Rick Carlson, president of Panda Security's U.S. division.
Between aggressive promotions and criminal mimicry, anti-virus marketing messages "have gotten so complicated that consumers are at a loss to try to figure out whether they are protected at all," says David Perry, Trend Micro's global education director.
Homework required
The upshot for consumers: Be prepared to do your homework. Start with the assumptions that free protection is better than none at all, and that no single security product will keep you completely immune to cyberattacks. That's what Mickey Cashen did last spring upon discovering that an intruder had accessed his older Windows XP computer to send e-mail spam to his friends, despite running an updated anti-virus program.
The retired high school science teacher from Brooklyn Park, Md., estimates that he spent 50 hours over the next six months researching and evaluating security products. Cashen read product reviews in PC Magazine, PC World and on CNet and scoured lab tests by av-comparatives.org and malwareresearchgroup.com, two independent tech security research groups.
He decided not to spend a penny, opting for free Avira AntiVir Personal for basic protection, combined with a free firewall from Comodo.
He also began using WinPatrol, a free program that blocks unauthorized additions to his PC's start-up sequence — a technique hackers use to re-infect your PC each time you boot up. And he relies on not one but three free Web browser plug-ins — AVG LinkScanner, McAfee SiteAdvisor and KeyScrambler — to help steer him clear of infected Web pages.
"I learned that multiple layers of protection are preferred," says Cashen. "I ended up very satisfied with what I think is a small fortress."
Anti-virus company executives, as you might expect, hope Cashen is the exception and not the rule. "There are users out there who think they can cobble together their own protection," says Trend Micro's Perry. "But the best thing for most people to do is install a single manufacturer's all-in-one protection."
Even so, simple economics suggest the popularity of free security tools will continue to soar among those on tight budgets: citizens of Third World nations, college students, the unemployed, the underemployed and retirees, like Cashen. What's more, word-of-mouth is a powerful no-cost marketing tool.
"Many consumers rely on the advice of others, and some of the free products have loyal and vocal followers," says Randy Abrams, director of technical education at anti-virus firm ESET.
Abrams and other anti-virus company executives interviewed as part of USA TODAY's survey hold a consensus view of how they believe the anti-virus market is likely to evolve.
As cyberattacks continue to spread, they see more computer users recognizing the need to protect their PCs. While many will gravitate to free protection, some will eventually convert to a paid subscription for a cutting-edge AV suite.
"Think of it as an insurance policy for your digital life," says Webroot's Benham. "As you put more personal information on your computer, you'll want more protection."
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2010-09-22-antivirus22_CV_N.htm
Old Machine Gun Ads
http://www.infinitearms.com/images2/v/oldmgads/?g2_page=2
That big screen tv will be good for something after an emp though it would be a heavy fire starter, it might be useful as a solar cooker, on sunny days.
Firefighters: TV left in sun likely caused blaze
September 21, 2010 - 9:19pm
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A big-screen television left outside in the sun this week was blamed for a fire that caused minor damage to a Springfield apartment. Assistant Fire Chief Randy Villines called the blaze "bizarre" and said mirrors inside the projection TV likely bounced and concentrated sunlight enough to start a fire.
The TV was left outside the apartment building Monday with the screen facing toward a parking lot.
The Springfield News-Leader reported that one person was arrested at the scene on suspicion of an unrelated charge, but Villines declined to give additional details.
One apartment complex resident was treated for smoke inhalation but refused further treatment.
Officials said a sprinkler system installed on the outside patio possibly prevented the blaze from spreading more rapidly to the wooden balconies above the patio.
___ Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
http://wtop.com/?nid=456&sid=2059001
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday 08-17-10
While i agree with Pat Buchanan on a lot of things. In the following article he is trying to treat the symptoms and not cure the disease. It is like how people keep knocking down the spider webs, while they will keep you busy and feel like you are accomplishing something, but the only way to really take care of the problem is to kill the spider. The way you solve the problem with politicians, is term limits.
Putting Government First
by Patrick J. Buchanan 80/13/2010
Where a man's purse is, there his heart will be also.
If you would know where the heart of the Obama party is today, consider. In the dog days of August, with temperatures in D.C. rising above 100, Nancy Pelosi called the House back to Washington to enact legislation that could not wait until September.
Purpose: Vote $26 billion to prevent layoffs of state, municipal and county employees whose own governments had decided they had to be let go if they were to meet their constitutional duty to balance their books.
Workers their own governments thought expendable, Congress decided were so essential, it borrowed another 26 thousand million dollars from China to keep them on state and local payrolls.
A nation whose national debt is approaching the size of its gross national product, that goes abroad to borrow money to keep non-essential workers on government payroll is a nation on the way down and out.
And anyone who thinks this Obama party is ever going to cull the armies of tens of millions of government workers or scores of millions of government beneficiaries to put America's house in order is deluding himself.
As long as this Congress and White House remain in power, a U.S. default on its national debt is inevitable. The only question is when.
Nor is this the first time the Obama administration has rushed to save workers whom their own state, city and county governments were prepared to let go. Among the reasons the $800 billion stimulus failed is that so little of it was directed to firing up the locomotive of the economy, the private sector, and so much of it was spent to ensure that government workers did not have to share in the national sacrifice.
Why Pelosi & Co felt compelled to return to D.C., to ensure that state and local government payrolls were not pared, is not hard to understand.
Which party does the American Federation of Teachers; the National Education Association; and the American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees usually contribute to, work for, vote for? At which of the two party conventions are teachers and government employees hugely over-represented?
Consider, too, the states deepest in debt and facing the largest cuts in employee ranks, pay and benefits: California, Illinois, New York.
In these states, public employees earn at least $10,000 per year more in pay and benefits than the average America worker, who is bailing them out.
Hence, we have a situation where private sector workers in Middle America are being taxed, their children being driven ever deeper into debt to China, so government employees who have greater job security than they do, and earn more in pay and benefits than they will ever earn, can stay in Fat City.
And folks wonder why so many Americans detest government.
In the same week Congress came back to prevent AFSCME from taking a haircut, the Wall Street Journal reported that, in 2009, only three of 52 metro areas with over 1 million in population saw "net earnings and the broader measure of personal income both rise."
Are you surprised to learn Washington, D.C., was among the three?
That same day, USA Today had a startling report on how, during the last decade, U.S. Government workers, like Wall Street bankers, left their fellow Americans in the dust.
"Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.
"Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation. ... The Federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year."
Remarkable. U.S. government workers, who enjoy the greatest job security of any Americans, now earn twice as much in pay and benefits as the average American. This is not the D.C. some of us grew up in.
Nor is this all Obama's doing. For most of the fat years of the federal work force came while Washington was being run by a Congress of Big-Government Conservatives and a White House of Bush-Cheney Republicans.
No wonder the tea party is targeting both parties.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to believe that the Obamaites, who intervened twice and massively with bailouts to prevent minor layoffs of local and state government employees, have the stomach to do the major surgery needed to cut the federal monolith down to size.
For the vast majority of the tens of millions of government workers vote Democratic, as do the vast majority of the scores of millions of beneficiaries of federal, state and local programs.
What Pelosi & Co. were saying with that $26 billion bailout this week is, "We are going to protect our own."
Which is why either Obama, Pelosi, Reid & Co. go, or we are gone.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38536
Lucky escape for boy, 13, hit by lightning at 13:13 on Friday the 13th
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38710593/ns/world_news-weird_news
Group: Prop 19 Would Mean Pot-Smoking at Work
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Group-Prop-19-Would-Mean-Pot-Smoking-at-Work-100625869.html
Prairie dog died of plague
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/travel/Prairie+died+plague/3398247/story.html
Smile! Aerial images being used to enforce laws
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – On New York's Long Island, it's used to prevent drownings. In Greece, it's a tool to help solve a financial crisis. Municipalities update property assessment rolls and other government data with it. Some in law enforcement use it to supplement reconnaissance of crime suspects.
High-tech eyes in the sky — from satellite imagery to sophisticated aerial photography that maps entire communities — are being employed in creative new ways by government officials, a trend that civil libertarians and others fear are eroding privacy rights.
"As technology advances, we have to revisit questions about what is and what is not private information," said Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology.
Online services like Google and Bing give users very detailed images of practically any location on the planet. Though some images are months old, they make it possible for someone sitting in a living room in Brooklyn to look in on folks in Dublin or Prague, or even down the street in Flatbush.
Sean Walter, an attorney and first-term town supervisor in Riverhead, N.Y., insists he is a staunch defender of privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
But Walter supported using Google Earth images to help identify about 250 Riverhead homes where residents failed to get building permits certifying their swimming pools complied with safety regulations. All but about 10 eventually came to town hall.
Walter said the focus was safety, not filling town coffers with permit money, which averaged about $150 depending on the size of the pool. A 4-foot fence is required, gates have to be self-closing and padlocked. All pools must have an alarm that sounds when sensors are activated indicating someone is in the pool.
"We have a town employee who is a personal friend of mine whose son was found face-down in a swimming pool," Walter said. "He's OK, but I don't want to be the supervisor that attends the funeral of a child that drowns in a swimming pool."
Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., fears that while Walter's focus was safety, other municipalities may use the images to check for other transgressions.
"It's only a matter of time," Coney said. "There are lots of ordinances where this can be used. In California, where they deal with brush fires, could a satellite image show if a homeowner has brush growing too close to his home? What if someone has junk cars on their lot in violation of ordinances?"
Riverhead resident Tony Villar said the town's action "could be considered Big Brother looking down at you."
"But at the same time, if the government can listen to your telephone conversations in the name of terrorism," he said.
Standing outside the Riverhead Public Library, Walter Casey of Flanders agreed. "I think it's a great intrusion on people's privacy; they should use it on the politicians' backyards."
The New York Civil Liberties Union's Donna Lieberman said there are ways to enforce requirements "without this sort of engaging in Big Brother on high. Technically, it may be lawful, but in the gut it does not feel like a free society kind of operation."
In Greece, officials are struggling with a debt crisis and have sought to catch tax-evaders by using satellite photos to spot undeclared swimming pools — indicators of taxable wealth.
Google spokeswoman Kate Hurowitz said in a statement that Google Earth acquires its information from a broad range of commercial and public sources.
"The same information is available to anyone who buys it from these widely available public sources," she said. "Google's freely available technology has been used for a variety of purposes, ranging from travel planning to scientific research to emergency response, rescue and relief in natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake."
At least nine lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed in the United States, contending that Google collected fragments of e-mails, Web-surfing data and other information from unencrypted wireless networks as it photographed neighborhoods for its "Street View" feature. Google is also facing investigations or inquiries in 38 states as well as in several countries, including Germany, Spain and Australia.
The Mountain View, Calif., company said in May it had inadvertently collected the data from public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries, but maintains it never used the data and hasn't broken any laws.
Google Earth posts updates about every two weeks on selected images from its providers, with images ranging from a few weeks to a few years old.
For big cities like Chicago, tracking illegal pools, porches and decks through Google Earth requires frequent imaging updates, so the Chicago buildings department uses it as a reference tool on a case-by-case scenario, said spokesman Bill McCaffrey.
"We're not opposed to adopting new technology, but until it advances where we can get photos of more recent updates, we don't have any plans to implement it," he said.
Smaller towns such as Champaign and Naperville, Ill. opted to use satellite images as reference only.
"Mostly it's so we can see that we're going to the right building when we go to do inspections," said Ann Michalsen, lead inspector for code enforcement in Naperville.
It's also important for police officers to know they have the right destination when executing search warrants, said Joe Pollini, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "Most departments would use it as a preliminary step, but they would also use active surveillance with their own aircraft," he said.
The nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog is seeking to determine the extent of the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration's use of Google Earth in its investigations, spokesman John M. Simpson said last week.
Federal contracting records reviewed by Consumer Watchdog show that the FBI has spent more than $600,000 on Google Earth since 2007. The Drug Enforcement Administration, meanwhile, has spent more than $67,000.
Simpson has called on Congress to investigate how U.S. law enforcement and intelligence communities are using Google technologies. The group says it has concerns that data could be used for racial profiling.
The New York Police Department's Real Time Crime Center uses satellite imaging and computerized mapping systems to identify geographic patterns of crimes and to pinpoint possible addresses where suspects might flee — information relayed to investigators on the street. The NYPD also has two major security initiatives where a network of public and private cameras will eventually link and be searchable.
The NYCLU has filed lawsuits in opposition.
"We live in an environment where we are told that if it's on camera, if you have a video record, that will make us safer," Lieberman said. "That may be appealing, but it is an unproven assertion. There's no evidence of that. Yet we see millions, if not billions, of post-9/11 money has gone to law enforcement for installing cameras in every conceivable nook and cranny."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100814/ap_on_hi_te/us_eyes_in_the_sky
Putting Government First
by Patrick J. Buchanan 80/13/2010
Where a man's purse is, there his heart will be also.
If you would know where the heart of the Obama party is today, consider. In the dog days of August, with temperatures in D.C. rising above 100, Nancy Pelosi called the House back to Washington to enact legislation that could not wait until September.
Purpose: Vote $26 billion to prevent layoffs of state, municipal and county employees whose own governments had decided they had to be let go if they were to meet their constitutional duty to balance their books.
Workers their own governments thought expendable, Congress decided were so essential, it borrowed another 26 thousand million dollars from China to keep them on state and local payrolls.
A nation whose national debt is approaching the size of its gross national product, that goes abroad to borrow money to keep non-essential workers on government payroll is a nation on the way down and out.
And anyone who thinks this Obama party is ever going to cull the armies of tens of millions of government workers or scores of millions of government beneficiaries to put America's house in order is deluding himself.
As long as this Congress and White House remain in power, a U.S. default on its national debt is inevitable. The only question is when.
Nor is this the first time the Obama administration has rushed to save workers whom their own state, city and county governments were prepared to let go. Among the reasons the $800 billion stimulus failed is that so little of it was directed to firing up the locomotive of the economy, the private sector, and so much of it was spent to ensure that government workers did not have to share in the national sacrifice.
Why Pelosi & Co felt compelled to return to D.C., to ensure that state and local government payrolls were not pared, is not hard to understand.
Which party does the American Federation of Teachers; the National Education Association; and the American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees usually contribute to, work for, vote for? At which of the two party conventions are teachers and government employees hugely over-represented?
Consider, too, the states deepest in debt and facing the largest cuts in employee ranks, pay and benefits: California, Illinois, New York.
In these states, public employees earn at least $10,000 per year more in pay and benefits than the average America worker, who is bailing them out.
Hence, we have a situation where private sector workers in Middle America are being taxed, their children being driven ever deeper into debt to China, so government employees who have greater job security than they do, and earn more in pay and benefits than they will ever earn, can stay in Fat City.
And folks wonder why so many Americans detest government.
In the same week Congress came back to prevent AFSCME from taking a haircut, the Wall Street Journal reported that, in 2009, only three of 52 metro areas with over 1 million in population saw "net earnings and the broader measure of personal income both rise."
Are you surprised to learn Washington, D.C., was among the three?
That same day, USA Today had a startling report on how, during the last decade, U.S. Government workers, like Wall Street bankers, left their fellow Americans in the dust.
"Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.
"Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation. ... The Federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year."
Remarkable. U.S. government workers, who enjoy the greatest job security of any Americans, now earn twice as much in pay and benefits as the average American. This is not the D.C. some of us grew up in.
Nor is this all Obama's doing. For most of the fat years of the federal work force came while Washington was being run by a Congress of Big-Government Conservatives and a White House of Bush-Cheney Republicans.
No wonder the tea party is targeting both parties.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to believe that the Obamaites, who intervened twice and massively with bailouts to prevent minor layoffs of local and state government employees, have the stomach to do the major surgery needed to cut the federal monolith down to size.
For the vast majority of the tens of millions of government workers vote Democratic, as do the vast majority of the scores of millions of beneficiaries of federal, state and local programs.
What Pelosi & Co. were saying with that $26 billion bailout this week is, "We are going to protect our own."
Which is why either Obama, Pelosi, Reid & Co. go, or we are gone.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38536
Lucky escape for boy, 13, hit by lightning at 13:13 on Friday the 13th
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38710593/ns/world_news-weird_news
Group: Prop 19 Would Mean Pot-Smoking at Work
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Group-Prop-19-Would-Mean-Pot-Smoking-at-Work-100625869.html
Prairie dog died of plague
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/travel/Prairie+died+plague/3398247/story.html
Smile! Aerial images being used to enforce laws
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – On New York's Long Island, it's used to prevent drownings. In Greece, it's a tool to help solve a financial crisis. Municipalities update property assessment rolls and other government data with it. Some in law enforcement use it to supplement reconnaissance of crime suspects.
High-tech eyes in the sky — from satellite imagery to sophisticated aerial photography that maps entire communities — are being employed in creative new ways by government officials, a trend that civil libertarians and others fear are eroding privacy rights.
"As technology advances, we have to revisit questions about what is and what is not private information," said Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology.
Online services like Google and Bing give users very detailed images of practically any location on the planet. Though some images are months old, they make it possible for someone sitting in a living room in Brooklyn to look in on folks in Dublin or Prague, or even down the street in Flatbush.
Sean Walter, an attorney and first-term town supervisor in Riverhead, N.Y., insists he is a staunch defender of privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
But Walter supported using Google Earth images to help identify about 250 Riverhead homes where residents failed to get building permits certifying their swimming pools complied with safety regulations. All but about 10 eventually came to town hall.
Walter said the focus was safety, not filling town coffers with permit money, which averaged about $150 depending on the size of the pool. A 4-foot fence is required, gates have to be self-closing and padlocked. All pools must have an alarm that sounds when sensors are activated indicating someone is in the pool.
"We have a town employee who is a personal friend of mine whose son was found face-down in a swimming pool," Walter said. "He's OK, but I don't want to be the supervisor that attends the funeral of a child that drowns in a swimming pool."
Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., fears that while Walter's focus was safety, other municipalities may use the images to check for other transgressions.
"It's only a matter of time," Coney said. "There are lots of ordinances where this can be used. In California, where they deal with brush fires, could a satellite image show if a homeowner has brush growing too close to his home? What if someone has junk cars on their lot in violation of ordinances?"
Riverhead resident Tony Villar said the town's action "could be considered Big Brother looking down at you."
"But at the same time, if the government can listen to your telephone conversations in the name of terrorism," he said.
Standing outside the Riverhead Public Library, Walter Casey of Flanders agreed. "I think it's a great intrusion on people's privacy; they should use it on the politicians' backyards."
The New York Civil Liberties Union's Donna Lieberman said there are ways to enforce requirements "without this sort of engaging in Big Brother on high. Technically, it may be lawful, but in the gut it does not feel like a free society kind of operation."
In Greece, officials are struggling with a debt crisis and have sought to catch tax-evaders by using satellite photos to spot undeclared swimming pools — indicators of taxable wealth.
Google spokeswoman Kate Hurowitz said in a statement that Google Earth acquires its information from a broad range of commercial and public sources.
"The same information is available to anyone who buys it from these widely available public sources," she said. "Google's freely available technology has been used for a variety of purposes, ranging from travel planning to scientific research to emergency response, rescue and relief in natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake."
At least nine lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed in the United States, contending that Google collected fragments of e-mails, Web-surfing data and other information from unencrypted wireless networks as it photographed neighborhoods for its "Street View" feature. Google is also facing investigations or inquiries in 38 states as well as in several countries, including Germany, Spain and Australia.
The Mountain View, Calif., company said in May it had inadvertently collected the data from public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries, but maintains it never used the data and hasn't broken any laws.
Google Earth posts updates about every two weeks on selected images from its providers, with images ranging from a few weeks to a few years old.
For big cities like Chicago, tracking illegal pools, porches and decks through Google Earth requires frequent imaging updates, so the Chicago buildings department uses it as a reference tool on a case-by-case scenario, said spokesman Bill McCaffrey.
"We're not opposed to adopting new technology, but until it advances where we can get photos of more recent updates, we don't have any plans to implement it," he said.
Smaller towns such as Champaign and Naperville, Ill. opted to use satellite images as reference only.
"Mostly it's so we can see that we're going to the right building when we go to do inspections," said Ann Michalsen, lead inspector for code enforcement in Naperville.
It's also important for police officers to know they have the right destination when executing search warrants, said Joe Pollini, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "Most departments would use it as a preliminary step, but they would also use active surveillance with their own aircraft," he said.
The nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog is seeking to determine the extent of the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration's use of Google Earth in its investigations, spokesman John M. Simpson said last week.
Federal contracting records reviewed by Consumer Watchdog show that the FBI has spent more than $600,000 on Google Earth since 2007. The Drug Enforcement Administration, meanwhile, has spent more than $67,000.
Simpson has called on Congress to investigate how U.S. law enforcement and intelligence communities are using Google technologies. The group says it has concerns that data could be used for racial profiling.
The New York Police Department's Real Time Crime Center uses satellite imaging and computerized mapping systems to identify geographic patterns of crimes and to pinpoint possible addresses where suspects might flee — information relayed to investigators on the street. The NYPD also has two major security initiatives where a network of public and private cameras will eventually link and be searchable.
The NYCLU has filed lawsuits in opposition.
"We live in an environment where we are told that if it's on camera, if you have a video record, that will make us safer," Lieberman said. "That may be appealing, but it is an unproven assertion. There's no evidence of that. Yet we see millions, if not billions, of post-9/11 money has gone to law enforcement for installing cameras in every conceivable nook and cranny."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100814/ap_on_hi_te/us_eyes_in_the_sky
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