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Mindful Webworks / Radical Incline / blog-heap o' links
from 2006-jul
Just random links galore. Latest on top.
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MON 2006-JUL-31
Scary Timeslocal6.com/ ... 23:52:05Shanghai has constructed a massive underground bunker complex capable of sheltering 200,000 people from a nuclear attack...
Supernatural Threatslatimes.com/ ... 23:51:33STAFFORD, Texas... "Our city has an excessive number of churches..." 51 churches and other religious institutions packed into its 7 square miles... Stafford, population 19,227, is the largest city in Texas without a property tax, and it depends on sales taxes and business fees for revenue. Nonprofits have been attracted by its rapid growth and minimal deed restrictions. "It's thrown everything out of balance, plus providing zero revenue. Somebody's got to pay for police, fire and schools," City Councilman Cecil Willis said...
Nature is Dangerousfoxnews.com/ ... 23:45:25A German beekeeper attracted more than 20,000 wasps into his home when he brought his honeycombs indoors, but managed to escape injury...
Sick, Sick, Sicknews.com.au/ ... 13:32:23THIS is the picture that damns Hezbollah. It is one of several, smuggled from behind Lebanon's battle lines, showing that Hezbollah is waging war amid suburbia. The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun, show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons. Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:21:50The Indian Medical Association has launched a probe after three doctors were shown on television offering to amputate beggars' limbs for money... There have long been rumours that criminal gangs pay for the amputation as beggars are able to generate more sympathy and make more money...
Under Tyrannybreitbart.com/ ... 23:48:12Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans he underwent surgery. The Cuban leader said he had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:23:58There have been clashes between police and Christians protesting against the demolition of a church in eastern China's Zhejiang province... up to 500 police tried to break up a 3,000-strong protest... Twenty people were hurt, including four who were seriously injured... "It is clear that this church was an illegal structure, it did not have the approval of the religious affairs bureau or the government..." A local state newspaper, the Hangzhou Daily, reported the demolition of an "illegal building". "A tiny handful of people with ulterior motives incited members of the public who did not know the facts..." today.reuters.co.uk/ ... 10:07:14An Iranian student has died in jail while on a hunger strike aimed at persuading authorities to release him... arrested for taking part in pro-democracy demonstrations in 1999... was originally sentenced to death as "mohareb", or "one who wages war against God", for his part in the 1999 protests in which tens of thousands of people took to the streets after police and hardline vigilantes attacked a peaceful campus rally in support of press freedoms...
Prison Sucksbreitbart.com/ ... 23:47:55The prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay during the war on terror have attacked their military guards hundreds of times, turning broken toilet parts, utensils, radios and even a bloody lizard tail into makeshift weapons... Military Police guards are routinely head-butted, spat upon and doused by "cocktails" of... [much grossness follows] repeatedly grabbed, punched or assaulted by prisoners... Serious assaults requiring medical attention, however, are rare, the reports indicate... santamariatimes.com/ ... 10:05:09Fewer than three prisoners in every 1,000 report they were sexually abused or harassed, but that probably is not the whole story, a government study says. There may be far more sexual violence in prisons than is reported, the study's authors said, because inmates fear reprisal, adhere to a code of silence, do not trust the staff or are embarrassed... studies found 10 percent of male Midwestern state penitentiary inmates have been raped...
Violencejpost.com/ ... 23:52:38The IDF assessed on Monday that Hizbullah's rocket launching capability was significantly compromised by the fighting that took place in the past three weeks. It was estimated that, while the organization still has hundreds of rockets with a sufficient range to reach Afula and Haifa, there were only a number of launchers remaining with launching capability... worldnetdaily.com/ ... 23:49:02A group claiming to operate out of Syria took credit today for what it said was an attack against Israeli troops operating near the Syria-Israel border, according to a source in Syrian President Bashar Assad's Ba'ath party... A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said no soldiers were killed or injured today near the Israel-Syrian border. A mine did reportedly explode on the Syrian side of the border, but no injuries were reported among Israeli troops. It wasn't clear what caused the explosion. Military officials have warned the past few weeks Hezbollah may fire into Syria in attempts to draw Damascus into a confrontation with Israel... sun-sentinel.com/ ... 13:31:07MIAMI -- Authorities were searching Monday for a man who witnesses said shot and killed an Illinois tourist who was asking for directions. After dropping his son off at a shopping mall, Ronald Gentile, 54, pulled over in the Coconut Grove area Saturday afternoon, police said. Witnesses reported seeing Gentile roll down the window on his rented white Chevrolet Cobalt. A man dressed in black then apparently approached the vehicle, robbed and shot Gentile... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:28:08Gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms have kidnapped 25 people in a commercial district in central Baghdad... pulled up in 15 vehicles and rounded up staff and customers of a firm on a shopping street in Arasat. There are reports that the offices belong to the Iraqi-American chamber of commerce, while others say it was a mobile phone shop... apnews.myway.com/ ... 13:14:00Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, hours after agreeing to temporarily halt raids... Israel left open the option it might hit targets to stop imminent attacks or if the military completed its inquiry within 48 hours. Monday's airstrikes near the village of Taibe were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the army said... In a second airstrike around the port city of Tyre, Israel accidentally killed a Lebanese soldier when it hit a car that it believed was carrying a senior Hezbollah official... abcnews.go.com/ ... 10:06:08The suspect in a fatal shooting rampage at a Jewish charity deeply disappointed his parents because he had dropped out of dentistry school, and had been getting psychiatric help for 10 years... newsday.com/ ... 09:49:13He said he hasn't slept or eaten in a week, vomiting everything he puts in his mouth and seeing dead bodies any time he closes his eyes. The hearing in his right ear has been damaged, while others here still carry shrapnel in their limbs. But he said the damage to the soul was much worse. "I think every one of us needs to see a psychologist," he said. "There is not one man who came out of there OK..."
WW1 - still with usnewsday.com/ ... 09:43:26NEW YORK -- The sound of the blast was unearthly, and the tremor was felt 100 miles away in Philadelphia. The night sky over New York Harbor turned orange. People were jolted from bed and windows shattered within 25 miles. The Statue of Liberty, less than a mile away, was damaged by a rain of red-hot shards of steel. Frightened immigrants on Ellis Island were hastily evacuated to Manhattan. The epicenter of the blast -- a small island called Black Tom -- all but disappeared in what was then the largest explosion ever in the U.S., on Sunday, July 30, 1916 at 2:08 a.m. It destroyed about 2,000 tons of munitions parked in freight cars and pierside barges, awaiting transfer to ships and ultimately destined for the World War I battlefields of France. Evidence pointed to German sabotage, and some historians regard it as the first major terrorist attack on the United States by a foreign party... perhaps miraculous that only seven people were killed... a barge captain, two policemen and a child tossed from a crib in Jersey City... recent study theorized... would have been equal to a 5.5-magnitude earthquake...
Transport Tragedynewsday.com/ ... 09:49:40MALVERNE, N.Y. -- A firefighter was crushed to death Sunday between his firehouse and a rescue truck being driven by his chief... Paul Brady, 42, was doing routine maintenance on top of a Malverne Fire Department heavy-duty truck when Chief Robert Meyer, not realizing Brady was on it, drove off and caused Brady to fall... newsday.com/ ... 09:36:23OSHKOSH, Wis. -- The propeller of a Navy warbird sliced into a home-built airplane on a taxiway during an airshow Sunday, killing a passenger...
Science Marches Onnnnnntoday.reuters.com/ ... 13:20:56invisibility could be possible in the not too distant future... the most plausible example is the Invisible Woman, one of the Marvel Comics superheroes in the "Fantastic Four". "She guides light around her using a force field in this cartoon. This is what could be done in practice..."
Healing Ourselvessciencedaily.com/ ... 13:19:54The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to purchase or to use high-strength hydrogen peroxide products, including a product marketed as "35 Percent Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide," for medicinal purposes because they can cause serious harm or death when ingested... Ingesting hydrogen peroxide can cause gastrointestinal irritation or ulceration...
History - still with ussciencedaily.com/ ... 13:16:08rchaeologists are confident they are closer to discovering some of Christopher Columbus' lost ships -- and the answer to a 500-year-old mystery, "What was on those ships?.." Among their latest efforts, they retrieved a 300-pound kedge anchor that could be from the Columbus era. The anchor, which is being conserved at the laboratory of the Oficina Nacional De Patrimonio Cultural Subacuàtico (ONPCS), was encrusted with dead as well as live coral within the area of interesting magnetometer anomalies. The live coral was removed from the anchor and cemented onto nearby coral colonies. "We're strong advocates that you need to respect the biology when you excavate..."
Feeding Ourselvestelegraph.co.uk/ ... 23:47:00Revolutionary "self-timing" eggs designed to overcome the perennial problem of how to avoid runny whites and overcooked yolks will appear on supermarket shelves in the coming months... The eggs are marked with logos in "thermochromic" invisible ink, which turns dark when it reaches a certain temperature. Inks have been created to appear after three minutes to indicate a soft-boiled egg, after four minutes for medium and after seven minutes for a hard-boiled egg... sciencedaily.com/ ... 13:18:34Just like their traditionally bred counterparts, transgenic crops have definitively been shown to crossbreed with crops or native plants growing nearby... cause for worry?.. one of the world's most important crops, sorghum, spontaneously hybridized with one of the world's worst weeds, johnsongrass, even when they were grown up to 330 feet apart; furthermore, the two plants are distinct species with different numbers of chromosomes. Other labs have demonstrated crop-to-wild gene flow with sunflower, rice, canola and pearl millet. Transgenic crops are no different. Transgenic canola has crossbred with its native relative, creating herbicide-resistant volunteers. A more well-known example is transgenic Starlink corn, which was not approved for human consumption but appeared in a variety of corn-based foods... in one study "fast-growing transgenic salmon were found to dominate feed acquisition and exhibit strong agonistic and cannibalistic behavior toward their [nontransgenic] cohorts when there were inadequate feed resources..." forbes.com/ ... 10:08:44watermelon... most nutritious when stored and served at room temperature... study author Penelope Perkins-Veazie, a plant physiologist at the South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Lane, Okla...
Only Naturalhosted.ap.org/ ... 09:36:03Scientists say it's a mirage, but others swear that when the weather is right, Clevelanders can see across Lake Erie and spot Canadian trees and buildings 50 miles away... mirages can occur during an atmospheric inversion, in which a layer of cold air blankets the lake, topped by layers of increasingly warm air. When this happens, it can cause the light that filters through these layers from across the lake to bend, forming a lens that can create the illusion of distant objects...
US Militarynewsday.com/ ... 09:45:05At 17 he enlisted in the Marine Corps, spurred by the memory of 9/11. Now, 21-year-old Galen Wilson has 20 confirmed kills in four months in Iraq -- and another 40 shots that probably killed insurgents. One afternoon the lance corporal downed a man hauling a grenade launcher five-and-a-half football fields away. Wilson is the designated marksman in a company of Marines based in downtown Ramadi, watching over what Marines call the most dangerous neighborhood in the most dangerous city in the world... "I believe God supports what we do and I've never killed anyone who wasn't carrying a weapon..." kansascity.com/ ... 09:34:12There aren’t enough troops to do the job, many U.S. officials privately concede... As many as 4,000 additional U.S. soldiers will be sent to Baghdad, including two battalions of the Army’s 172nd Stryker Brigade, four or five military police companies from northern Iraq, and a field artillery battalion that is in reserve in Kuwait... The frustration of returning to quell violence in the same places multiple times has taken a toll on American morale, undermined Iraqi confidence in the United States and cast doubt on the Bush administration’s hopes of beginning significant troop withdrawals by the end of this election year... The top American military officer in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., has said that such assertions are untrue. When ground commanders ask for more troops, according to Casey, they get them. In February 2003, the then Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, told a Senate committee that the force required to occupy Iraq would be "something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers." Shinseki retired that June, ahead of schedule. Many U.S. officers think that Shinseki was pushed out of his position, and they took the episode as a warning not to request more troops...
Fun can be... just Fun!today.reuters.com/ ... 23:53:12It's a smokers' and drinkers' paradise where pajama-clad children and crying babies are welcome and bug spray is essential: The drive-in movie theater is making a muted comeback in the United States... While it's not quite a return to the heyday of the 1950s, when there were more than 4,000 outdoor theaters across the country, 20 new drive-in cinemas have opened up during the past year, taking the national total to 420...
People Diebreitbart.com/ ... 23:50:27FRAMINGHAM, Mass. A man was arrested on charges of practicing medicine without a license after a woman died during a liposuction procedure performed in the basement of a home...
Big Whoops Cascadenews.com.au/ ... 23:46:17A MAN who accidentally shot himself in the groin while driving was dead before his car smashed into a power pole, Melbourne police have said... was wanted by police in relation to a stabbing...
Sex -- always attractivenews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:29:39At least eight people have been killed in a car bomb attack outside a mosque in eastern Afghanistan... wounded 16... The governor of Nangarhar province, where the attack took place, escaped unhurt.... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:28:43Biologists have found evidence that people can sniff out the chemical signals of sexual attraction...
Business Culturenews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:27:37US retail giant Wal-Mart, which has drawn criticism over allegations it is union unfriendly, has reportedly seen staff in China start their first union. The union was the initiative of some 30 Wal-Mart workers in the south-east province of Fujian... Wal-Mart... has 60 stores in China.... [plans to] hire an extra 150,000 staff in China over the next five years...
Digital Culturetoday.reuters.com/ ... 23:53:25Web-to-television pioneer Steve Perlman on Monday will unveil what he says is an animation breakthrough, creating "photo real" humans far quicker and cheaper than current technology... allheadlinenews.com/ ... 09:50:47OperaOpera is hoping to lure users away from Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 by building on Opera 9's use of small Web applications called Widgets... Opera wants version 10 to work on any platform... "We will be unleashing developer tools, which are still in the planning stages...We want developers to use Opera as a Web development platform, using open standards. We need to keep the Web ready for open standards..."
Marriage Todaynewsday.com/ ... 09:47:04Excerpts from the marriage vows that Mexicans increasingly are skipping... newsday.com/ ... 09:46:39For 147 years, marriage vows in Mexico portrayed women as delicate, weak and potentially annoying. These days, judges across Mexico are switching to versions that stress equality and mutual support, reflecting the growing power of women in a country still struggling with macho attitudes... The old vows, a 537-word ode to marriage, were considered open-minded and ahead of their time when they were penned 147 years ago by Melchor Ocampo, a Mexican lawyer, scientist and liberal politician... They dictate that a husband should treat his wife with "generous benevolence that the strong should give to the weak" and that a wife should "avoid awakening the most brusque, irritable and hard part of (her husband's) character..."
SUN 2006-JUL-30
Unholy Tyrannytoday.reuters.com/ ... 13:43:26A battle brewing over a draft anti-smut law has laid bare deep divisions within Indonesia and, say critics, threatens its traditionally tolerant approach to Islam... the world's biggest Muslim nation faces what could prove a defining moment. Pressured by growing demands from Muslim activists, lawmakers are expected to hammer out the legislation in the coming months... Supporters say tough measures are necessary to protect the public from corrupting Western influence. Although barred by law, explicit material is available with relative ease in Indonesia, and television programs regularly feature bared flesh and sexual innuendo. Indonesia's population of 220 million is roughly 85 percent Muslim... hosted.ap.org/ ... 13:38:47Paris City Hall has banned thong bikinis, topless sunbathing and nudity at the summer sand-in-the-city event known as Paris Beaches... Violators will be fined $48... Paris was pushed to forbid "indecent attire" because it could "provoke temptation and dangerous behavior along the bank of a river," Pascal Cherki, mayoral aide in charge of sports, was quoted as saying... unclear why the ban was only imposed this year, the fifth year of the popular event... [Um, isn't this like fining people who own things because someone might steal them? Or fining people for being alive because someone might kill them? Arrest the "tempted and dangerous" ones!]
Nature is Dangeroushosted.ap.org/ ... 13:31:47JellyfishNorth Carolina's southern coast. Jellyfish have stung so many people in the area of Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach that the New Hanover County Health Department issued an alert on Friday... reports of stings have been gradually increasing over the past couple of weeks, and at least 75 people were stung by sea nettles and other jellyfish from Monday through Thursday...
Fun can be Dangerousorlandosentinel.com/ ... 09:23:09Nearly 230 people aboard a cruise ship fell ill with a gastrointestinal illness during a weeklong Caribbean voyage... Noroviruses affect about 23 million Americans annually, and 16 incidents of the illness have been reported on cruise ships so far this year...
Violenceynetnews.com/ ... 21:23:11"The attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The [eight-hour] gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear," Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters told journalists at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, following the incidents at Qana... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:16:39Israel has agreed an immediate 48-hour suspension of air strikes over southern Lebanon to allow an investigation into the death of more than 50 civilians... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:15:35some believe it to be the scene of Jesus Christ's first miracle, turning water into wine during the wedding at Cana of Galilee... In modern times, it was the scene of one of the bloodiest events of the modern Arab-Israeli conflict, the Israeli shelling of a UN base sheltering Lebanese civilians 10 years ago... The Qana Massacre, as it is known in Lebanon, remains a powerful symbol for Lebanese people... Israel still insists the 1996 shelling was an accident and that its forces had a legitimate militant target... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:41:35US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say they have killed 20 suspected members of the Taleban, in the southern province of Uruzgan... after they attempted an ambush from a compound... no casualities among coalition or Afghan forces...
Earlier, the coalition said they had detained four suspected al-Qaeda militants in the eastern part of the country... chron.com/ ... 09:26:59The man suspected in a fatal shooting rampage hid behind a potted plant in a Jewish charity's foyer and forced his way through a security door by holding a gun to a 13-year-old girl's head... One woman... was killed at the scene. Five more women were wounded... Naveed Afzal Haq... 30, was ordered held on $50 million bail... a close family friend and a senior member of a mosque founded in part by Haq's father, described Haq as a quiet loner with few friends... the Islamic Center of the Tri-Cities offered condolences to the shooting victims and said "we disassociate this act from our Islamic teachings and beliefs..." jpost.com/ ... 09:21:31One person was wounded in a rocket barrage that landed in Kiryat Shmona shortly after 2:45 p.m. on Sunday. He was listed in moderate condition, MDA reported. Three other residents were lightly wounded, and two suffered from shock. All the wounded were evacuated to a local hospital... Over 100 rockets have rained down on northern cities, including Kiryat Shmona and Acre, since early morning Sunday. Twenty-nine people suffered from shock. All of the casualties were taken to Nahariya Hospital... ynetnews.com/ ... 09:20:56In Qana, corpses continue to be rescued from rubble. In Beirut, demonstrations condemning Israel's massacre. Demonstrators demand Hizbullah take revenge on Israel, vandalize UN building in city Ali Waked Men and women shouted and lamented "massacre, massacre!" to the cameras... apnews.myway.com/ ... 09:19:57An Israeli airstrike killed at least 56 people, including at least 34 children, in a southern Lebanese village Sunday.... 18 people from two families were found in a single room of the building, where dozens of people had been taking refuge from the fighting... The missiles destroyed several homes in the village of Qana as people were sleeping...
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Lebanon... Israeli said it targeted Qana because it was a base for hundreds of rockets launched at Israeli, including 40 that injured five Israelis on Sunday. Israel said it had warned civilians several days before to leave the village... "One must understand the Hezbollah is using their own civilian population as human shields..." breitbart.com/ ... 00:55:52The Mediterranean is threatened by its worst ever environmental disaster after Israel's bombing of a power plant in Lebanon sent thousands of tonnes of fuel gushing into the sea, the environment minister charged. "Up until now 10,000-15,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil have spilled out into the sea," after Israel's bombing of the power station in Jiyeh two weeks ago, Lebanese Environment Minister Yacub Sarraf told AFP Saturday. "It's without doubt the biggest environmental catastrophe that the Mediterranean has known and it risks having terrible consequences not only for our country but for all the countries of the eastern Mediterranean..."
Fun can be Fatalpublicbroadcasting.net/ ... 09:14:39[Followup to Sullivan Mo plane crash] ...Four people died at the scene... two died at St. John's Mercy Hospital in Creve Couer. Two other people aboard the plane were injured.... one... in critical condition and one is in serious condition... plane struck a telephone pole before hitting a tree.... foxnews.com/ ... 00:51:01SULLIVAN, Mo. — A small plane carrying skydivers crashed shortly after takeoff Saturday, killing four people on board and injuring four others... may have struck a telephone pole, then clipped a house before hitting the ground... extent of the injuries sustained by the survivors was unclear...
History - still with ushosted.ap.org/ ... 21:19:55"These are unique items. These are the plates that were used to produce notes and paper documents that built this country." Before they go up for auction, the plates are being examined and catalogued by a New Hampshire firm that specializes in rare currency and coins... 200 tons of plates are from the archives of the American Bank Note Co., formed in New York in 1858 by the consolidation of seven major engraving and printing firms. The collection comprises about 900 plates used for printing money plus 10,000 to 20,000 of various sizes that were used for other printing jobs...
Healing Ourselvesnews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 21:12:47US scientists have found a way to reverse muscular dystrophy (MD) in mice.... myotonic dystrophy - the most common form of MD in adults... the treatment fully restored heart and skeletal muscle function in mice... Myotonic dystrophy occurs because of a large expansion of DNA code, which most likely causes an accumulation of toxic messenger RNA molecules in cells... Although the treatment was not 100% effective, the researchers believe their results provide the proof scientists have been waiting for to demonstrate that it might be possible to reverse muscular dystrophy...
World Zookeepinghosted.ap.org/ ... 13:39:43Liverpool... Zoo officials installed an electric fence around a construction site to protect workers from 120 primate hecklers... A band of baboons... "Because we're effectively in a cage and the animals are free to roam around us, we do feel as though the roles are reversed and we are the exhibit..."
Only Naturaltimesonline.co.uk/ ... 09:35:41attractive parents are 26% more likely to have a daughter than a son as their first child. It is an inexorable process that has resulted in women becoming increasingly more attractive than men... This is because of differing "evolutionary strategies" that each sex has adopted to survive... While reproductive success for males depends largely on the status of the father (as sons from higher-status families inherit their position and are in turn able to protect and invest in their offspring), daughters’ reproductive successes mostly depend on their youth and attractiveness... [and while we're sorry about the troll-like menfolk, we really salute Evolution for this plan of increasingly attractive women!!!]
US Militaryft.com/ ... 09:22:16A Pentagon spokesman on Friday confirmed that US troop levels in Iraq rose to 132,000 during the past week – the highest since late May – from 127,000 at the start of the week...
Theory of Justicenews.yahoo.com/ ... 21:28:04Iran is to publicly hang five men convicted of carrying out bombings in the southwestern oil city of Ahvaz as well as a militant convicted of involvement in a massacre in the southeast...
US Election 2008nytimes.com/ ... 21:27:39Two summers ago, on a Congressional trip to Estonia, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton astonished her traveling companions by suggesting that the group do what one does in the Baltics: hold a vodka-drinking contest. Delighted, the leader of the delegation, Senator John McCain, quickly agreed. The after-dinner drinks went so well — memories are a bit hazy on who drank how much — that Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, later told people how unexpectedly engaging he found Mrs. Clinton to be. "One of the guys" was the way he described Mrs. Clinton... [um.....]
It's All in Your Mindhosted.ap.org/ ... 21:17:34How many M&MS are enough? It depends on how big the candy scoop is. At least that's a key factor, says a study that offers new evidence that people take cues from their surroundings in deciding how much to eat... It's "unit bias," the tendency to think that a single unit of food - a bottle, a can, a plateful, or some more subtle measure - is the right amount to eat or drink...
Just Random Chancehosted.ap.org/ ... 13:33:25the Austrian pulled the unconscious 6-year-old from the bottom of a swimming pool Friday... Within a few hours, police said, the teenage lifesaver was stung by insects and developed an allergic reaction - prompting medics to rush him to the same hospital...
Human Rightdenverpost.com/ ... 09:38:34A Colorado lawyer stopped by local police in three states because his name appears on a federal terrorist watch list is challenging the government's ability to detain him... lawsuit... alleges federal and state officials violated his constitutional rights during traffic stops... First in Colorado, then in Illinois and New Mexico, police stopped Martinez on traffic violations and held him without a warrant for hours, in one case handcuffing him and placing him in a locked police car, while they checked his status with federal counter-terrorism officials... What if his turning signal stops working? He could be held for hours. ... How many times do they get to stop him?.."
FBI lawyers last year declared terrorist-screening records exempt from the Privacy Act, which lets Americans review their records and correct wrong information, determine who has records and limits records to relevant information...
Alcohol Was Involvedkcentv.com/ ... 21:25:48Waco Police tasered and arrested a US Secret Service agent at a downtown Waco bar after a scuffle... scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/ ... 09:34:03CHILDREN from the age of five should be encouraged to drink wine at home to prevent the toll of alcohol abuse in later life, one of the country's leading experts on the problem has told Scotland on Sunday... believes the practice would cut binge drinking among youngsters by taking the mystery out of alcohol... he said families need to accept that children do experiment with alcohol, so giving them small tastes diluted with water will encourage them to drink responsibly... [Incorrect. All these are the right TECHNIQUES, but they will be COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE unless you have a CULTURE in the child's family and society where alcohol is used intelligently and moderately]....
The average Scot drinks more than 11 litres of alcohol a year compared with seven litres in the 1970s. Half of Scotland's teenagers drink alcohol at least once a month, with many drinking to excess outside the home...
World Without Bordersocregister.com/ ... 09:29:10The number of people being caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally has dropped slightly this year. But the latest federal figures also show that the California and Texas borders are seeing increased traffic... an increasing number of undocumented immigrants are being picked up near death... Ever since federal officials cracked down on the San Diego and Texas sectors in the 1990s, Arizona gradually has become the focal point for illegal crossers... the most recent numbers show an upswing in illegal traffic in San Diego and two Texas areas – El Paso and Laredo...
Unclear on the Conceptreuters.myway.com/ ... 09:20:32Lebanese protesters broke into the United Nations headquarters in Beirut on Sunday, smashing windows and ransacking offices, after an Israeli air strike killed at least 40 people in south Lebanon... Several thousand people massed outside the building... "Death to Israel, death to America. We sacrifice our blood and souls for Lebanon..."
Digital Culturewashingtonpost.com/ ... 09:16:43If you're still using IE 6, then yes, Opera's offering makes the switch worth considering, if only for the more robust security and convenience of tabbed browsing. For those either already using Firefox or are willing to download the final beta version of IE 7, the answer is less clear-cut. Opera certainly makes it easy to switch... Many of the features Opera pioneered, such as tabbed browsing and the ability to open multiple home pages, are available in the latest version of Firefox and in the beta version of IE 7. Both of those browsers have large developer and support bases to answer questions and create new add-ons. Because all three browsers incorporate many of the same key functions and because Opera has a smaller support community, Opera 9 is at a distinct disadvantage for gaining new adherents -- unless, of course, you are looking forward to using some of those cutting-edge tools. Then you may find yourself a quick download away from a different take on what a Web browser can incorporate...
World of Culturesfoxnews.com/ ... 00:55:02The two finally had it out voice-to-voice when Siegel called in to the "Opie and Anthony" radio show while Smith was a guest. In the end, they finally came to some sort of peace. In the meantime "Clerks II" opened in theaters last weekend, taking in roughly 10 million bucks. That sounds modest, but it’s actually a decent showing considering the film was made for only $5 million...
US Congresstime.com/ ... 00:49:56Vietnam hero and Senator John McCain has unyieldingly backed the Iraq war. Now son Jimmy is heading to boot camp and, maybe, to battle...
SAT 2006-JUL-29
Nature vs Infrastructurebloomberg.com/ ... 18:01:21A wildfire is threatening high- voltage transmission lines that bring power to California from the Pacific Northwest... The Lakin Fire, 26 miles northeast of McCloud, California, is burning near three transmission lines that collectively can transport about 4,200 megawatts of electricity... The lines may need to be turned off to protect firefighters who operate underneath them...
Transport Tragedytoday.reuters.com/ ... 17:35:05At least 17 people were killed and 28 injured in central Venezuela on Saturday when a packed bus veered off a highway and crashed into a mountainside...
Sex can be Dangerouspress-citizen.com/ ... 14:36:25Iowa.... An unidentified middle-aged male bicyclist was trapped under a "Girls Gone Wild" full-size charter bus Tuesday night for about 20 minutes at the intersection of Burlington and Linn streets... extent of injuries suffered by the bicyclist also is unknown...
Civilization vs Gangsterismworldnetdaily.com/ ... 14:32:27The FBI estimates that today there are approximately thirty thousand violent gangs in the United States, with 800,000 members impacting 2,500 communities. The growth in Hispanic gangs dominates the gang underground in America today. MS-13, one of the most notorious Hispanic gangs, operates in some 34 different states and the District of Columbia. Even more frightening, the Hispanic gangs in the U.S. have connected with counterparts in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The large Hispanic gangs in the U.S. are in the process of morphing into truly international gangs, causing legitimate concern for the international law enforcement and intelligence communities...
Fun can be Fatalnews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:14:24[followup] Jessie Gilbert, 19, from Croydon, south London, fell from the window of a hotel where she was staying during the Czech Open tournament... John Saunders, editor of British Chess Magazine, said he had been approached independently by several chess players claiming Miss Gilbert had a problem with sleepwalking... Her father, Ian Gilbert, 48, is to stand trial on seven counts of rape and two of indecent assault... it has emerged...
Industrial Tragedynews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:09:14At least 22 people have died and 28 are still missing after an explosion at a chemical plant in east China... Up to 7,000 people had to be evacuated... after concerns over the release of toxic gas...
Mass Murdering Monstersdailytexanonline.com/ ... 17:44:25In rememberance of the 40th anniversary of a shooting spree at The University of Texas on Aug. 1, 1966, the city of Austin named the day in honor of former Austin police officer Ray Martinez during a ceremony that took place at City Hall on Thursday. "We recognize Mr. Martinez for his outstanding heroism on that day," Mayor Will Wynn said in a statement read by Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley... news.scotsman.com/ ... 14:33:45Between them, the predators known as the Baseline Killer and the Serial Shooter have attacked at least 42 people, killing 11, since May 2005. All the attacks have been at random, increasing the anxiety in the city of 1.4 million. Few people travel alone after dark, thousands of cans of mace and pepper spray have been snapped up from shops and there has been a surge in interest in gun-handling and self-defence classes... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:08:45[Seattle Jewish organization shooting follow-up:] The suspect reportedly burst into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle saying he was an American Muslim angered by Israel. He gave himself for arrest without a struggle... Staff members have said the suspect opened fire after shouting: "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel..."
Violencetimesonline.co.uk/ ... 18:00:02HEAVILY armed American troops have returned to some of the most violent areas of Baghdad, patrolling the streets and setting up checkpoints in an attempt to regain control of the city and quell increasing sectarian violence. Their return sparked fierce criticism from opposition leaders but was welcomed by many ordinary Iraqis desperate for peace after months of murderous violence between rival militias... Yesterday proved to be one of the most peaceful days in months with no deaths reported in the capital by late afternoon, although two Sunni mosques were raked by gunfire which injured a guard. In contrast, an average of 100 people have been dying in sectarian attacks every day in Baghdad... today.reuters.com/ ... 17:35:44"Disarming Hizbollah will not be part of the mandate for the (peacekeeping) mission for now," a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. "However it is supposed to strengthen the Lebanese army, the responsibility of which will be to implement (U.N. Security Council resolution) 1559 which calls for disarming Hizbollah eventually..." jpost.com/ ... 14:32:53IDF ground forces operating in the southern Lebanon villages of Bint Jbail and Maround al-Ras pulled back on Saturday, and the IAF was striking Hizbullah targets in Bint Jbail. OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam said Saturday that the army had never intended to take over Bint Jbail, and that the operations there were designed to strike at Hizbullah capabilities. This goal, he said, was "fully realized." Adam described Bint Jbail as "almost in ruins," and added that the IDF had secured strategic posts around the village... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:15:38Gunmen have opened fire on two Sunni mosques in western Baghdad, according to police. Armed men in two cars sprayed gunfire at the Muhammad Rassulluallah mosque shattering windows and damaging walls. An hour later gunmen stormed the nearby Ashra al-Mubashara mosque, fleeing when police arrived...
Earlier, the US military confirmed three of their marines died in clashes with insurgents on Thursday in the western province of Anbar...
Six labourers were wounded by a bomb blast in Tayaran Square, Baghdad....
Three police... wounded in a roadside bomb attack in northern Baghdad....
A Sunni cleric, from a tribe opposed to al-Qaeda, was killed while driving in Samarra....
Iraq's national soccer coach has resigned after receiving a death threat.... today.reuters.com/ ... 08:03:06The killers of a Somali minister had links with foreign terrorism networks seeking to foment chaos in the violence-plagued Horn of Africa nation, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said on Saturday... "Abdallah Deerow Isaq was killed by criminals linked to international terrorism," Gedi told reporters of the assassination of the constitution and federalism minister by gunmen outside a mosque after Friday prayers. "It's unfortunate that some countries who we thought were our friends have united to destroy the transitional federal government. Such countries include Libya, Egypt, Iran and Eritrea who together are fuelling terrorism in Somalia..." today.reuters.com/ ... 08:02:32Philippine police officers killed nine suspected members of a kidnap syndicate in a gunbattle on Saturday after a brief car chase in a province north of the capital Manila... None of the gang survived... "We're lucky we got the entire crew. We were alerted to their presence by some people who got suspicious about two cars parked overnight in a highway..."
Under Tyrannytoday.reuters.com/ ... 08:01:48Iranians should call helicopters "rotating wings" and pizzas "elastic loaves", according to a decree from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that seeks to rid Persian of European loan words... The presidential decree carried in Saturday's newspapers said official documents, schoolbooks and newspapers should follow the rulings of the Farhangestan, Iran's linguistic policeman -- equivalent of the Academie Francaise...
Supernaturalmanchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... 17:44:06SUPER-strong hero Colin O'Neill saved a 14-year-old boy's life by lifting a three-ton mechanical digger off him and holding the weight for 20 minutes...
Animal Culturesciencedaily.com/ ... 17:40:35Innate or "instinctive" behaviors are inborn and do not require learning or prior experience to be performed... innate behavior is initiated by a "command" hormone that orchestrates activities in discrete groups of peptide neurons in the brain. Peptide neurons are brain cells that release small proteins to communicate with other brain cells and the body... the command hormone, called ecdysis-triggering hormone or ETH, activates discrete groups of brain peptide neurons in a stepwise manner... sciencedaily.com/ ... 17:39:09BeeBumblebees have an incredible homing instinct that allows them to find their way home from up to eight miles away...
Digital Convergencesciencedaily.com/ ... 17:37:21Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine estimate that the human retina can transmit visual input at about the same rate as an Ethernet connection...
Digital Future is Nowsciencedaily.com/ ... 17:36:27UB researchers say their "Fingertip Digitizer," which users wear on the tip of the index finger, can transfer to the virtual world the meaning and intent of common hand gestures, such as pointing, wagging the finger, tapping in the air or other movements that can be used to direct the actions of an electronic device, much like a mouse directs the actions of a personal computer, but with greater precision... can transfer to personal computers very precise information about the physical characteristics of an object -- and even can sense the shape and size of a human gland or tumor -- when a user taps, scratches, squeezes, strokes or glides a finger over the surface of the object...
Extraterrestrialfloridatoday.com/ ... 10:41:49According to published reports, Brady died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the woods surrounding his home on Orcas Island in Washington state... eham.net/ ... 10:41:36Retired space shuttle astronaut and DXer Chuck Brady, N4BQW, of Oak Harbor, Washington, died July 23 following a lengthy illness. He was 54. During his years as an active astronaut in the 1990s, Brady was among the pioneers of SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment)... A physician, Brady held the rank of captain in the US Navy. The North Carolina native packed a lot of activities into his all-too-short lifetime. In addition to ham radio, he enjoyed canoeing, kayaking, tennis, and cycling. He received training as a flight surgeon after joining the US Navy in 1986, and he was flight surgeon for the Blue Angels Navy flight demonstration squadron from 1989 until 1990. In 1992, NASA selected Brady as an astronaut candidate, and he qualified as a mission specialist for shuttle flights, ultimately logging more than 405 hours in space. Survivors include Brady's fiancé Susan, their four-year-old son Charlie, and a sister. A military service is planned...
Healing Ourselvessciencedaily.com/ ... 17:40:56Spray-on skin... forbes.com/ ... 08:28:14A synthetic version of a protein found in scorpion venom has passed its first test in a treatment for one of the deadliest forms of cancer and is headed toward trials against other tumors...
Raising Ourselvesnews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:07:38Babies whose mothers do not eat enough during pregnancy appear to be at risk of clogged up arteries later in life...
Animal Companionshosted.ap.org/ ... 08:00:46A man accused of biting the head off his pet rooster was arrested Friday and faces up to a year in prison if convicted... told agents that he bit the rooster's head off because he blamed it for injuring a pet pigeon that he also kept in the apartment.... It is... illegal to possess a live rooster in New York City...
History - still with ushosted.ap.org/ ... 07:54:50Venture Smith... "the black Paul Bunyan..." Standing 6-foot-1 by his own account and weighing more than 300 pounds according to local lore, Smith is said to have carried a nine-pound ax and split seven cords of wood each day. His biography describes him carrying a barrel of molasses on his shoulders for two miles and hauling hundreds of pounds of salt. Smith's story became one of the nation's first slave narratives in 1798 and is regarded by scholars as one of the most important such works. But slave biographies - particularly those told to writers, as Smith's story was - were sometimes embellished. Scientists say a look at Smith's remains could indicate his height and weight, his diet and any injuries he suffered during a life of labor. And DNA taken from him, his wife, his son and his granddaughter could help pinpoint where in Africa he was born and corroborate the account of his early life there...
Business Culturesuntimes.com/ ... 17:47:27Herb Peterson, a Rogers Park native, created the McMuffin breakfast sandwich out of frustration 35 years ago. He was hungry for breakfast, but McDonald's restaurants didn't open until 11 a.m. Last night, Peterson was honored for the frustration that led to the Egg McMuffin as McDonald's Corp. presented him with its highest marketing award, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Peterson is an idea man who, at 87, still makes impromptu phone calls from his California home to McDonald's headquarters to suggest new products. As a newly minted McDonald's restaurant operator in 1971, Peterson believed he wasn't the only McDonald's fan who was hungry before 11 a.m... also credited his role in creating Ronald McDonald's costume and McDonald's first national ad...
World of Culturestimesonline.co.uk/ ... 17:43:32POLICE are preparing for potentially violent protests by right-wing extremists when a film portraying the human side of Emperor Hirohito is released next week. Many academics believe that the film, which supposedly breaks numerous Japanese taboos in its portrayal of the Imperial Family, may represent an important step towards the "normalisation" of Japan and its ability to debate its wartime past. However, scenes that depict Hirohito as weak-willed and suggest that he bore moral responsibility for the Pacific War are likely to enrage Japan’s belligerent and vocal lobby of arch nationalists, who see anything that damages the Emperor’s image as deeply offensive...
Sex & Politicskentucky.com/ ... 17:42:38Melody "Mimi" Damayo... a former adult-film actress with the stage name Mimi Miyagi, is running for governor of Nevada.... Mary Carey... who is still active in the porn business, finished 10th among 135 candidates in California's 2003 gubernatorial re-call election... porno-politicos have been firmly established on the international ballot. Illona Staller, also known as "Cicciolina," is the best-known pioneer, winning a seat in Italy's parliament in 1987. Since then, former and current adult film stars also have run for office in Japan and Chile...
Human Rightwjla.com/ ... 14:33:16The state's highest court has ruled that Marylanders can lend a gun to a friend without going through the seven-day waiting period and background check required by state law before guns can be transferred or sold to a new owner...
AmerIndians Todaykotv.com/ ... 10:44:34Tribal leaders for the Cherokee Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians traveled to Washington, D.C., to ask Congress to recognize the Delaware as a separate entity... first step toward restoring some $7 million in federal funding and would end years of flip-flopping verdicts on the smaller Delaware Tribe's sovereign status... Cherokee Chief Chad Smith and Delaware Chief Jerry Douglas hand carried the proposed agreement Thursday to Washington. Under the settlement, the Delawares, based in Bartlesville, will continue to be citizens of the Tahlequah-based Cherokee Nation as they have been since an 1867 agreement when the Delawares bought land within the Cherokee Nation...
People are Trashyhosted.ap.org/ ... 07:57:20On a mountaintop overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Steven Cliff collects evidence of an industrial revolution taking place thousands of miles away. The tiny, airborne particles Cliff gathers at an air monitoring station just north of San Francisco drifted over the ocean from coal-fired power plants, smelters, dust storms and diesel trucks in China and other Asian countries. Researchers say the environmental impact of China's breakneck economic growth is being felt well beyond its borders. They worry that as China consumes more fossil fuels to feed its energy-hungry economy, the U.S. could see a sharp increase in trans-Pacific pollution that could affect human health, worsen air quality and alter climate patterns... [What goes 'round comes 'round....]
Alcohol Was Involvedhosted.ap.org/ ... 07:52:52Despite the anti-alcohol warnings and campaigns targeting college campuses, students still find ways to drink and they've developed ways to drink safely... up to 80 percent of students drink, fewer than 13 percent say they've been injured or damaged property after drinking... about 73 percent of student drinkers protect themselves by using designated drivers, setting spending limits at bars, counting their drinks, going out in groups and trusting friends to speak up when someone is drinking too much... "The safest place for college students to drink alcohol is on college campuses. All data points to that.... Yet more is done to force drinking off campus .... Those policies have failed to reduce drinking. Private kegger parties are the most high-risk location for drinking..."
Digital Culturetheinquirer.net/ ... 18:02:20new chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, has been sharing his thoughts with leading analysts. And he's declared that Microsoft will be concentrating on the sort of Internet-based services we've already seen with the Windows Live Mail beta. "In a previous era – in the PC era – Microsoft would naturally begin with a PC mindset," Ozzie opined. "We're in a new era – an era in which the Internet is at the centre..." Microsoft was, of course, initially slow to spot the Internet's potential. It nearly lost serious ground to Netscape before stomping its mark all over the sector with Internet Explorer. Under Uncle Bill, Microsoft also made its software more Internet-friendly through its .Net initiative. Now Windows Live with its mail and search centric capabilities will become the hub of Microsoft's business, Ozzie revealed. There's little doubt which businesses Microsoft is now jealously trying to oust. It's aiming at Google and Yahoo!.. news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:07:24For many years playing computer games has been viewed as a enjoyable way to spend time. But now a new generation of games are emerging with a serious agenda behind the fun...
Fed up of people continually complaining about their taxes, France's ministry of finance developed a video game, so now the people themselves can have a go at doing the minister's job of balancing the country's budget...
The company Kynogon puts artificial intelligence into security games and knows that unless crowds behave like the real thing its clients will not be very interested... hosted.ap.org/ ... 07:59:30A Utah teen with fingers of fury is once again the speed text-messaging king of the world. Ben Cook, 18, of Provo, Utah, returned to the top of the cell-phone text-messaging heap Friday at a Denver text-off at a water park, blazing through a 160-character standardized message in 42.22 seconds. The phrase used for purposes of professional, competition texting is: "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human..." playfuls.com/ ... 07:50:14Nearly 13 fruitful years of dominance in the processors’ area have ended yesterday for Intel’s Pentium, with the launch of the next generation Core 2 Duo chips. The new corporate slogan, "Leap Ahead", is the exact definition for these spectacular processors... arstechnica.com/ ... 07:48:54Search giant Google has launched a new project hosting service for open source software. Designed to leverage the robust Subversion version control system, the new service provides repository hosting and support for issue tracking. With extremely limited functionality and plenty of rough edges, the nascent open source project hosting service is noticeably inferior to most other Google betaware. Despite the deficiencies, the project has potential, and it will probably become more useful as it continues to evolve. The main page bears the common open source meme "Release early, release often," a principle that Google seems to have embraced with great enthusiasm given the raw status of the system...
FRI 2006-JUL-28
Nature is Dangerousfoxnews.com/ ... 14:30:26EASTLAKE, Ohio — Flood water surged into homes and businesses, forcing people to rooftops to await rescue Friday morning after 9 inches of rain filled the rivers and streets of northeast Ohio. Lake County, east of Cleveland, declared a state of emergency. County Administrator Kenneth R. Gauntner Jr. estimated at least 100 people had been evacuated and all available rescue boats had been pressed into service...
Nature can be Deadlybreitbart.com/ ... 21:12:54A heat wave baking California since mid July has killed 25,000 cattle and 700,000 fowl... foxnews.com/ ... 14:29:56The death toll from California's record-breaking heat wave rose to 123 Friday...
Fun can be Fatalfoxnews.com/ ... 14:27:56AUSTELL, Georgia — A 45-year-old man died of an apparent heart attack after losing consciousness at the end of the newest roller coaster ride at Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park... Goliath soars 200 feet over the park. The ride lasts just over three minutes and reaches speeds of 70 mph...
Viet Nam War - still with usnews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:05:48New Zealand troops who served in the Vietnam War suffered significant genetic damage from exposure to Agent Orange, a study suggests.
Rage can be Fatalindystar.com/ ... 08:30:21BROWNSTOWN, Ind. -- A hunting trip with friends and relatives sparked a rage in Zachariah Blanton on Saturday night when it came time for the messy work of gutting a deer... A fight erupted... the 17-year-old... bolted for his car and headed for his... home.... "I was just so bound up inside I didn't know what to do... I found myself driving to the overpass..." firing a high-powered hunting rifle into the windshields of two southbound pickups on I-65, then driving about 100 miles north and firing on two other vehicles in Delaware County.... "I felt that was a way to relieve the pressure...." The Jackson County shooting killed 40-year-old Jerry Ross, New Albany. He was a passenger in one of the trucks that was hit on I-65...
Civilization vs Gangsterismsfgate.com/ ... 08:23:03Jose Santos Bonilla, 33... A top leader of the notorious MS-13 street gang was arrested this morning in Richmond by a task force of federal and local law enforcement agents seeking to stop the Los Angeles-based gang from establishing itself in the Bay Area... Since Bonilla came to the East Bay from San Francisco six months ago, MS-13 members have been linked to three homicides and several other shootings as it sought to carve out territory and intimidate other gangs... Bonilla joked and laughed with heavily armed officers while being led in handcuffs to a police van. The letters "MS" were tattooed on the back of his shaved skull...
Violencewashtimes.com/ ... 21:10:55Intelligence reports indicate the leader of Hezbollah is hiding in a foreign mission in Beirut, possibly the Iranian Embassy, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. Israeli military and intelligence forces are continuing to hunt for Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, who fled his headquarters in Beirut shortly before Israeli jets bombed the building last week... hosted.ap.org/ ... 21:10:35At least five people were shot, one of them fatally, Friday afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and one person was arrested... no information on a motive... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:42:53At least four people have been killed in a mortar attack on a Sunni mosque in Baghdad...
At least six people were also injured when several mortar rounds hit the al-Ali al-Aadhim mosque in the south of the Iraqi capital... blasts happened as worshippers were leaving the mosque after prayers... today.reuters.com/ ... 19:39:11Hizbollah fired scores of rockets into Israel on Friday, including at least one that the Lebanese guerrilla group said was a new long-range missile, wounding at least six people... landed in an open area near the town of Afula, about 50 km (30 miles) from the Lebanese border... tulsaworld.com/ ... 08:40:39Rockets and mortars rained down Thursday on an upscale, mostly Shiite area of Baghdad, collapsing an apartment house, shattering shops and killing at least 31 people... A car bomb also exploded during the attack in the commercial-residential district of Karradah, an area that is home to several prominent Shiite politicians. More than 150 people were wounded in the blasts... israelnationalnews.com/ ... 08:21:25Hizbullah stored ammunition and weapons in mosques, knowing that the IDF does not attack religious sites. Civilians were not allowed to leave so that Hizbullah could use them as cover. IDF officers said they ordered pilots not to strafe Bint Jbeil in order to spare civilian casualties. A United Nations peace keeping officer from Canada told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that Hizbullah used the same tactic to draw fire on the UNIFIL post which resulted in the death of four U.N. observers. "This is their favorite trick," he said. "They use the U.N. as shields..." worldnetdaily.com/ ... 08:20:41The United Nations post in Lebanon at the center of controversy over a deadly Israeli attack likely was being used as a "shield" by Hezbollah to fire rockets into the Jewish state, according to a former U.N. commander in Bosnia... retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie points to an e-mail by one of the observers killed in the attack that backs Israel's claim that it was targeting Hezbollah... "The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters (sic) of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters (sic) from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but rather due to tactical necessity." MacKenzie said Hess-von Kruedener was indicating Israeli strikes were aimed at Hezbollah targets near the post... "What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces)..." news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:48:53Israel is continuing its bombardment of Lebanon, with dozens of air strikes leaving at least five people dead...
Sex can be Fatalnews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:46:14"Until such time as the straight world is not attacking people for cruising, I'd say the gay world could actually keep that to themselves, just for a little bit longer..." --actor George Michael, unclear on the concept of dangers inherent in casual unprotected promiscuity
Only Naturalfoxnews.com/ ... 14:29:20A series of mysterious eruptions in the western Pacific could be caused by a new type of volcano... tiny active volcanoes on the Pacific plate... may be widespread on ocean floors where the mantle just under the crust is squeezed out by tectonic forces when one plate moves under another... "The possibility of this type of volcanism had been proposed in the past, but had never been adequately documented..."
Digital Convergencetoday.reuters.com/ ... 11:10:45Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. is making its first foray into the big-screen movie business after buying an option to develop a film from Keith Donohue's fantasy novel "The Stolen Child..." today.reuters.com/ ... 11:10:30E! Entertainment Television has joined the steadily growing list of networks and studios to offer their programming for download and purchase via Apple's iTunes Music Store... today.reuters.com/ ... 11:10:18TiVo... on Thursday said it reached a joint marketing agreement to promote the use of its devices with BellSouth Corp.'s high-speed Internet subscriptions... today.reuters.com/ ... 11:09:59Music television is the endangered species of the pop world, and is learning the hard way that it must adapt to the Internet age, or die. Britain's "Top of the Pops", the world's longest running weekly music show, will be declared extinct on Sunday when it is broadcast for the last time on BBC. Two days later MTV, one reason for the demise of Top of the Pops and at the cutting edge of music for so long, begins to reinvent itself with a new interactive TV channel and Web site that will target the online social networking craze...
Animal Companionsnbc5i.com/ ... 21:12:38WICHITA, Kan. -- Two Kansas children... an 11-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl... are in protective custody after authorities found 68 pit bulls living in their home... in deplorable conditions... Many of the dogs have scars and were probably used for fighting... father was arrested on various charges, including resisting arrest and child endangerment... Under local law, pit bulls can't be adopted out to the general public. Unless the dogs are eventually returned to the owner or a credited rescue group comes to their aid, they will be euthanized... timesonline.co.uk/ ... 08:32:21DogA COLLIE that can’t bark is recovering after spending 26 days trapped in a 10ft gully that she fell into while trying to escape a thunderstorm... eventually found by a family friend... was able to survive by drinking rainwater dripping from the roof of the neighbouring building and licking moisture off the side of the gully. She is now back home after being treated for malnutrition, dehydration and an eye infection which caused both eyes to gum up, leaving her temporarily blind...
US Militarydenverpost.com/ ... 08:12:47Colorado Springs - The military is relegating its newly renovated airspace and missile defense complex in Cheyenne Mountain to standby status - clouding the future of a Cold War nerve center touted as the most secure spot in America. The green-jumpsuited sentries who electronically scan the skies from deep inside this granite cocoon southwest of Colorado Springs - built in the 1960s to withstand Soviet nuclear blasts - now are to blend into broader homeland defense operations under prairie skies at nearby Peterson Air Force Base...
Healing Ourselvessciencedaily.com/ ... 07:49:29a chemical compound found in many air fresheners, toilet bowl cleaners, mothballs and other deodorizing products, may be harmful to the lungs. ...exposure to a volatile organic compound (VOC), called 1,4 dichlorobenzene (1,4 DCB) may cause modest reductions in lung function... "Even a small reduction in lung function may indicate some harm to the lungs..." news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:42:50Contrary to common perception, people with dark skin are more likely to die from skin cancer than those with fairer skin...
Feeding Ourselveshosted.ap.org/ ... 07:40:04The government is too strapped to handle congressional legislation that would strip state-ordered warnings from food labels, a former Food and Drug Administration official said Thursday. The food industry wants Congress to prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law, affecting laws about milk safety in Massachusetts, Michigan and Nebraska and warnings about allergy-causing sulfites in Connecticut, Michigan and Virginia...
Beatles - still with usnews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 19:41:57Paul MccartneyThe guitar on which Sir Paul McCartney learned his first chords has sold for £330,000 at an auction at London's famous Abbey Road Studios... fetched more than three times its estimate... The Rex acoustic guitar helped Sir Paul persuade John Lennon to let him join his band, The Quarrymen, in 1957...
Theory of Justicedeseretnews.com/ ... 08:26:10PROVO — A man who says God told him to gun down a dozen people can't hope to be found "not guilty by reason of insanity" if tried in Utah. Neither could a Texas mother who drowned her children in a bathtub under the deluded belief that she was saving their souls from Satan. But that verdict is an option in Texas... However, Utah is one of three U.S. states that have abolished the wording in the traditional insanity plea so those accused of murder can't claim they didn't know their actions were wrong...
Theory of Educationamny.com/ ... 08:24:56WATERBURY, Conn. ...which already has a strict dress code for public school students, is considering implementing a similar one for teachers and other professionals in the school system... would ban such clothing as stretch pants, low-cut shirts, sun dresses, sandals and hats in the workplace.... what material is appropriate for pants... skirts can rise no more than three inches above the knee... ban facial piercings....
Big Whoops Cascadenews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:12:35Three Australian men who escaped from prison ended up back in jail after flagging down an unmarked police car to hitch a ride...
Disinformation Propaganda & Spinkxxv.com/ ... 21:14:53Crawford- Anti-War Activist Cindy Sheehan is going to become a neighbor of President Bush, and local residents are not happy about the mess... She now wants a permanent place where she and fellow protestors can go to demonstrate against President Bush... Peace Supporter, Gerry Fonseca, says he purchased the 5-acre parcel... cost more than $52,000... bought with the money frome her son, Casey's, life insurance policy... "I doubt they would have sold her the property if she tried to buy it herself," said Foncseca... "I feel deceived," said Celia Ramsey, who sold the land to Cindy Sheehan through a third party.... "I would have never sold it to Sheehan. Nobody wants them here..." news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 08:08:45The US state department has dismissed as "outrageous" a suggestion by Israel that it has been authorised by the world to continue bombing Lebanon... Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon made the suggestion after powers meeting in Rome refrained from demanding an immediate ceasefire...
Business Culturenews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 11:07:45MOST VALUABLE GLOBAL BRANDS
Coca-Cola - $67bn (US)
Microsoft - $57bn (US)
IBM - $56bn (US)
General Electric - $48bn (US)
Intel - $32bn (US)
Nokia - $30bn (Finland)
Toyota - $28bn (US)
Disney - $28bn (US)
McDonald's - $27bn (Japan)
Mercedes - $22bn (US) kotv.com/ ... 08:39:48She's inspired many a sweet tooth over the years, while raising a family and running a business. Ann Bay, founder of Ann's Bakery, died last week at the age of 100... now run by Ann's daughter... "When she would hire somebody she said if they worked on a farm you know to hire them because they're hard workers..." "She always instilled in us hard work, I mean they started from scratch. I remember when my dad would walk to deliver pies to people and you don't see that today..." "To always treat your customers fairly, I just remember that year after year, she said if you can give the customers a good price and try to treat them fairly. They'll keep coming back..." news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:48:24Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, is pulling out of Germany and handing over 85 stores to rival Metro... Wal-Mart, which owns Asda in the UK and has more than 5,700 stores across the world, blamed Germany's economic situation for the decision... The company has been embroiled in controversy over pay and conditions. It has also come in for fierce criticism over the effect its low prices are said to have on suppliers and smaller local stores... [Could this be the beginning of the end for the retail colossus? I've never heard of a Wal-Mart store being closed, except in cases of opening a larger one down the road....]
Digital Culturenews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:46:53The Who have abandoned a series of live webcasts from their world tour because of a disagreement between band members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. Guitarist Townshend said Daltrey was not sure how "the web has any real contribution to make to our career" - but he insisted they were not "at war"... [Just HOW antiquated are these relics?]
Supernatural Threatshosted.ap.org/ ... 07:42:32Islamic clerics have banned Malaysian Muslims from undergoing Botox treatment for cosmetic purposes because the compound contains prohibited and harmful substances... but conceded that using Botox for medical reasons - for example, to treat cerebral palsy sufferers - is permissible if doctors deem it necessary... Botox contains extracts from pigs... Botox is the brand name for a substance derived from the toxin botulin which, when injected into the face, temporarily paralyzes the facial muscles to eliminate wrinkles. It can also be used treat migraines, excessive sweating and muscle spasms in the neck and eyes... Some 60 percent of this Southeast Asian country's 26 million people are Muslims. Malaysian Muslims are required to obey council edicts, even if they have not been enshrined in national or Sharia law...
World - Energyhosted.ap.org/ ... 07:40:47CLOVIS, N.M. -- A price war between two Clovis gasoline stations reached a fever pitch when one store dropped its fuel price to 49 cents per gallon...
THU 2006-JUL-27
Fun can be Fatalnews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 22:33:00A teenage chess champion has fallen to her death while competing in an international tournament. Jessie Gilbert, 19, from Croydon, south London, fell from the eighth floor of the Hotel Labe in Pardubice, in the Czech Republic, on Wednesday morning... Police are investigating how she came to fall at 4.40am local time on Wednesday... "Everyone is devastated, she was such a bright spark in English chess and a very promising player..."
Thefthosted.ap.org/ ... 22:32:02BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- A man convicted of stealing maple syrup has been sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison... [They take their syrup seriously in Vermont!]
Modern Medicine can be Dangeroushosted.ap.org/ ... 14:55:16KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A hospital patient died after receiving a unit of blood platelets tainted with E. coli bacteria... Only one unit of the tainted blood was released... Community Blood Center in Kansas City... tests all its blood products for various contaminants but accidentally released the platelets in question. After discovering the problem, he said, the center notified the hospital a matter of hours after the hospital received the platelets, but the unit already had been used... E. coli bacteria can cause severe diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Young children and the elderly are at risk of complications that can lead to kidney damage or death... The donor never developed symptoms... The bacteria would have had a chance to multiply while sitting in a bag at room temperature... hosted.ap.org/ ... 14:53:24Two U.S. heart transplant patients who died earlier this year had contracted a parasitic tropical disease from their new organs... The two California men are the fourth and fifth U.S. patients believed to have been infected with Chagas' disease through organ transplants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... No screening test for Chagas' is licensed in the United States... The infected organs came from one person born in Central America and another who had traveled to Mexico... Chagas' disease can cause high fever, swelling, enlargement of the spleen, liver and lymph nodes, and inflammation of the heart. Most people infected do not get sick, but the disease can be fatal in some cases and can be especially dangerous to people with suppressed immune systems. Transplant patients receive immune-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection...
Prison Sucksfirstamendmentcenter.org/ ... 13:12:39PHILADELPHIA — Prison staff who punished a Muslim inmate for refusing to handle pork do not have immunity from his religious-freedom lawsuit, a federal appeals court has ruled...
Criminally Stupidasia.reuters.com/ ... 13:12:04A prison inmate pleaded guilty on Tuesday to sending letters to the FBI and secret service that included bomb and anthrax threats -- as well as his full name and inmate number... "I think it's fair to say we were not dealing with a great criminal mind here," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said in a statement...
WW2 - still with ustimesonline.co.uk/ ... 13:11:39POLISH divers have discovered the rusting wreckage of Nazi Germany’s only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, solving one of the most enduring maritime riddles of the Second World War...
Nature is Dangerousdailymail.co.uk/ ... 08:55:51LightningA seven-year-old girl narrowly escaped death when a powerful lightning bolt... hit an aerial on the chimney stack above her bedroom, causing part of the roof to collapse... blew a hole in her bedroom ceiling, sending part of her nightclothes up in smoke... as she lay in bed... she escaped with just a small scorch mark to her arm after the main impact of the blast missed her head by inches, leaving a four-inch long burn mark through her bedsheet and mattress... bolt tore throughout the £300,000 four-bedroom house, blowing out light sockets...
Violenceforbes.com/ ... 13:21:25A Palestinian lawmaker and a spokesman for the Hamas military on Thursday denied that the release of a captured Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip could be imminent... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 13:09:37Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says a deal could be "imminent" to free an Israeli soldier held for more than a month by militants in the Gaza Strip... jpost.com/ ... 08:52:16It was a phone call Ibrahim Mahmoud says he'll never forget. The woman on the other end, speaking in Hebrew-accented Arabic, accused the appliance store owner of being a member of Hamas and informed him the IDF would bomb his house. Hours later, after he had already moved 20 relatives out of the four-story building, she called back to tell him she had made a mistake. "Be safe," she said and hung up, according to Mahmoud. Dozens of other Palestinians have recently received similar phone calls, many of them on target, in a new tactic the army said is meant to reduce civilian casualties in its monthlong offensive in Gaza. Palestinian officials dismissed the army's claim that the phone calls are meant to reduce deaths... seattlepi.nwsource.com/ ... 08:07:34Even though he had no reason to fear for his life, [23yo] DS opened fire last week on a carload of young men who were mouthing off to him, shooting so wildly that he killed not only two in the car, but also a friend who was with him... Three of the teens in the car were wounded but survived... a prison sentence of up to 86 years if he were convicted on all of them...
Mass Murdering Monsterskxly.com/ ... 22:28:43COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- He's already serving a life term for murder in Colorado -- and now, he's claiming responsibility for dozens of other slayings throughout the US... Authorities say Robert Browne tells them the killings -- as many as 48 of them -- took place from 1970 until 1995, when he was arrested for the 1991 murder of 13-year-old Heather Dawn Church near Colorado Springs... authorities have linked Browne to 19 of the slayings -- from California, to Washington state, to Mississippi, and even in South Korea... news.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:49:46Two explosions in a central Baghdad district have killed at least 27 people... in the commercial district of Karrada, a mostly Shia area. At least 101 people were injured... car bomb went off near a restaurant popular with Iraqi police. Then several mortars exploded near a petrol station, damaging nearby buildings... Many of the injured were said to be in a serious condition...
Transport Tragedynews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:48:57All 16 people on board a helicopter which crashed in south-eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday were killed... dead include two US civilians and two Dutch military personnel... not known what caused the helicopter to crash in mountains about 35km (22 miles) from the city of Khost...
Under Tyrannynews.bbc.co.uk/ ... 07:48:16Chinese investigators say activist Fu Xiancai, who was paralysed after a severe beating, inflicted the blows himself... Mr Fu, who campaigned for people displaced by the Three Gorges Dam, was beaten up returning home after he was summoned by police in Hubei province. The June beating was so severe he is not expected to walk again... official investigation has ruled the attack was fabricated... The blow to the back of his neck was so severe that three of his vertebrae were broken...
Alcohol Was Involvedsun-sentinel.com/ ... 13:13:53A veteran officer and police academy DUI instructor was driving drunk, naked from the waist down, and speeding on Florida's Turnpike at 90 mph... She had a large open bottle of Southern Comfort in her car, which her attorney later argued was used to train police recruits... "I asked her, 'Where are your pants?' and I think she answered, 'I don't know,'" Deputy David Alvarado told Plantation investigators. Alvarado said he asked for backup because "I didn't want to be alone too long with a naked female on the side of the road..." hosted.ap.org/ ... 07:45:55PigVisitors to "Pub in the Paddock" in the island-state of Tasmania are invited to pour bottles of beer down the willing throats of resident pigs Priscilla and P.B... the tourist attraction had been attacked as cruel in the latest edition of a magazine published by animal welfare group Choose Cruelty Free... Pub owner... said the pigs liked beer. She also watered the beer down to ensure they never got drunk...
US Militarygay.com/ ... 22:39:57A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified. Sgt. Bleu Copas, 30, told the Associated Press he is gay, but said he was outed by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C...
Digital Future is Nowtoday.reuters.com/ ... 13:09:23Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, has started its first tests of a technology that allows users to roam seamlessly between phone networks and local wireless hotspots such as Wi-Fi. Fifty families in Oulu near the polar circle in northern Finland will test the technology over the next two months...
Healing Ourselvessciencedaily.com/ ... 13:08:58honey helps the treatment of some wounds better than the most modern antibiotics... medical experts... largely positive experience with what is known as medihoney. Even chronic wounds infected with multi-resistant bacteria often healed within a few weeks...
Only Naturalhosted.ap.org/ ... 22:29:46"I was SHOCKED to see a giant breast on the cover of your magazine," one person wrote. "I immediately turned the magazine face down," wrote another. "Gross," said a third... Babytalk is a free magazine whose readership is overwhelmingly mothers of babies. Yet in a poll of more than 4,000 readers, a quarter of responses to the cover were negative, calling the photo - a baby and part of a woman's breast, in profile - inappropriate. One mother who didn't like the cover explains she was concerned about her 13-year-old son seeing it. "I shredded it," said Gayle Ash, of Belton, Texas, in a telephone interview. "A breast is a breast - it's a sexual thing. He didn't need to see that..." [The cover shows less breast than practically any TV show on the air. People really have problems!] sciencedaily.com/ ... 13:08:06by altering the risk of cannibalism and observing changes in male behavior... Male Praying Mantids... are able to assess the risk of cannibalism and become more cautious in the presence of particularly hungry females... "Males are clearly not complicit, and the act of sexual cannibalism in praying mantids is an example of extreme conflict between the sexes..."
US Military Casualtiesdefenselink.mil/ ... 08:09:49us-flagArmy Spc. Joseph A. Graves, 21, of Discovery Bay, Calif., was killed on July 25 in Baghdad, Iraq, when his convoy encountered enemy fire. Graves was assigned to the 110th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.
It's All in Your Mindsciencedaily.com/ ... 07:52:12Obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to run in families, causing members of several generations to experience severe anxiety and disturbing thoughts that they ease by repeating certain behaviors. In fact, close relatives of people with OCD are up to nine times more likely to develop OCD themselves... new research is shedding new light on one of the genetic factors that may contribute to that pattern. And while no one gene "causes" OCD, the research is helping scientists confirm the importance of a particular gene that has been suspected to play a major role in OCD's development...
Digital Convergencehosted.ap.org/ ... 07:46:37Microsoft Corp. will run free episodes of the quirky TV comedy "Arrested Development" through its MSN Video service later this year, making the show available online for the first time... [legally that is... EVERYTHING is online already....]
Uniting Nationsabcnews.go.com/ ... 22:37:13Oddest at the hearing, in almost biblical style (at least as far as the muted world of Senate confirmation hearings), as Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., was beginning to question Bolton about U.S. policy toward Lebanon and Hezbollah, a cascading sheet of water fell from above, landing in the 10 feet directly between Bolton and his Senator inquisitors, separating the two sides. There must be some allegory or omen or some hidden meaning to the waterfall. Perhaps something about discord between question and answer. Choose your own meaning for the indoor rainstorm. The serendipity of its timing and placement are too intriguing for coincidence...
Just Random Chancehosted.ap.org/ ... 22:30:28His family didn't plan it that way, but when Mike Lively became the 1 millionth person to tour the Jelly Belly Center on his birthday Wednesday, he won his weight's worth of the sweet treats... 288 pounds of jelly beans... "Fork it out to my family and kids," said Lively, a steel worker, when asked what he would do with his prize. "None of the guys at work are getting any..."
Supernatural Sillinesstoday.reuters.com/ ... 14:58:19An ancient Irish manuscript found in a bog last week does not refer to "wiping out Israel", the National Museum of Ireland said on Thursday, after a flood of enquiries wondering at the timing of the discovery. The National Museum of Ireland announced on Tuesday what it said was one of the most significant Irish discoveries in decades; an ancient Psalter or Book of Psalms, written around 800 AD. It said part of Psalm 83 was legible. In modern versions of the Bible, Psalm 83 is a lament to God over other nations' attempts to wipe out Israel and many commentators wondered at the coincidence of such a discovery at a time of heightened tension in the Middle East... The confusion arose because the manuscript uses an old Latin translation of the Bible known at the Vulgate, which numbers the psalms differently from the later King James version, the 1611 English translation from which many modern texts derive... The vale of tears is in Psalm 84 in the King James version...
Sex -- always attractivehosted.ap.org/ ... 14:56:13KINGSBURG, Calif. -- KFYE-FM hasn't budged from the Fresno-area dial, but it's about as far as you can get from the Christian music, sermons and Bible stories it was broadcasting until about a week ago. Now it calls itself "Porn Radio" - "all sex radio, all the time," with a suggestion that people under 21 not listen...
Opposing Tyrannylatimes.com/ ... 08:02:26Ohio's highest court ruled Wednesday that cities could not use eminent domain to seize private property in order to use the land for economic development. In 2002, the working-class Cincinnati suburb of Norwood demanded that dozens of property and business owners sell off their holdings in order to turn a neighborhood of about 70 middle-class homes into a $125-million retail and office complex. The development was expected to bring in millions of dollars in tax revenue... state's lower courts had upheld Norwood's claim... three landowners petitioned the Ohio Supreme Court. Although economic issues can be considered in eminent dom