Current Events

[antiaircraft]

I'll miss it... it's almost always cloudy here.

 

Boy's death fuels drive for dental aid to poor

 

The death of a Prince George's County boy this week from an infection that started with an abscessed tooth has spurred lawmakers to demand better dental care for poor children and has prompted a deluge of calls to local dentists for advice and appointments.

 

Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old homeless child, died Sunday in a District hospital after an infection from a molar spread to his brain.

 

At the time he fell ill, his family's Medicaid coverage had lapsed. Even on the state plan, his mother said, the children lacked regular dental care and she had great difficulty finding a dentist.

Full article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17434660/

[Ellie_Penguin]

New planteater dinosaur! "Museum identifies new plant-eating dinosaur with big horns over its eyebrows"

 

Here's the article:

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/0...r.ap/index.html

[Izzy ♥]

Were any of you close enough to feel this earthquake last night?

 

Quake kills at least 31 in Sumatra

Two strong earthquakes killed at least 31 people and injured dozens on Indonesia's Sumatra island, and was felt as far away as Malaysia and Singapore where several buildings were evacuated.

Full article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/3983882a10.html

[Ellie_Penguin]

i've read about that. I'm too far to have felt it, but it's sad :( .

[Izzy ♥]

Yeah, I know, its always so sad when people die in disasters like that.

[Ellie_Penguin]

did you feel the earthquake?

[Izzy ♥]

No, I didn't. We had a couple of small ones a week or so ago though - they were the first earthquakes I've ever felt. Wellington's NZ's earthquake-central, Auckland has volcanoes instead ;)

[antiaircraft]

I've never felt an earthquake before.

 

NASA checks Atlantis shuttle for hailstorm damage

 

Space shuttle Atlantis began a slow trek on Sunday from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., back to a hangar so technicians can inspect damage caused by a hailstorm.

 

Last week's hailstorm caused thousands of dings in the insulating foam covering Atlantis's external fuel tank and forced NASA to postpone the space shuttle's launch from March 15 to at least late April.

 

The 5½-kilometre journey aboard the massive crawler-transporter started at 8:47 a.m. ET and was expected to last about seven hours.

Full article at http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/03...uttle-hail.html

 

Just goes to show that mother nature has the final say.

[Izzy ♥]

Always :)

 

 

 

 

Five Australians feared dead in plane crash

YOGYAKARTA: Up to five Australians were feared to be among up to 49 people incinerated when a fireball engulfed a passenger jet after landing in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta.

Full article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/3985061a10.html

 

Look at the plane - its amazing anyone survived!

[antiaircraft]

Well someone could have survived if they were somewhere sheltered - it doesn't look like the whole thing happened at once.

[Ellie_Penguin]

i've read about it. It's crazy o_O they say they saw people burning alive and the survivors had to pass through the flames to get out to safety.

[antiaircraft]

*Winces at the thought of doing that*

 

Deadly cyclone's fury not spent

 

AN inland West Australian mining town was tonight bracing for the renewed fury of Cyclone George, which killed two and injured up to 32 when it slammed into the Pilbara coast overnight.

 

The most powerful cyclone to hit the WA coast in 30 years struck the coast east of Port Hedland overnight with category four force leaving a trail of injuries and widespread wind and flood damage in its wake.

 

The Bureau of Meteorology says the storm weakened slightly today but was still a category three storm at 5pm WDT and was expected to pass east of the 4000 strong town of Newman about 3am tomorrow.

Full article at http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21353966-1702,00.html

 

Well this is intriguing:

Swiss man guilty of insulting Thai king

 

A Swiss man was convicted in Thailand today on charges of lese majeste and damaging property for defacing images of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

 

Oliver Rudolf Jufer (57) could face up to 75 years in jail.

 

He reversed his earlier plea and pleaded guilty to five acts of lese majeste at a hearing held behind closed doors to minimise the disrespect to King Bhumibol (79), whom many Thais regard as semi-divine.

Full article at http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/.../breaking18.htm

 

Another use for the PS3:

Stanford Helps Fight Alzheimer's with PS3

 

Scientists at Stanford University are hoping that video game fans will soon donate their PlayStation 3s to the good cause of finding a cure for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

 

With the next software update for the game console, PS3 owners will be given an option to click an icon for Stanford's "Folding@home" project and download software that the university has designed to help outsource the computing power of the game consoles (which are essentially computers) needed for some of its research.

 

The software will run "protein folding" simulations, which help researchers understand why proteins sometimes fold incorrectly and mutate into diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Each participating PS3 will periodically download and analyze a chunk of the school's research, and then upload the results. The software, which is due at the end of the month, will run when the PS3 system is not playing games or performing other multimedia tasks.

Full article at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/posttech/20...ml?nav=rss_blog

[Chipmonker]

I have nevers seen so much money before in my life. No wonder we have so many crackheads in this country.

 

'Jackpot' Seizures of Drugs, Cash

 

Authorities made two extraordinary seizures tied to the drug trade this week, totaling a record half-billion dollars in money and dope. While Washington is focused on the war against terrorism, the narcotics trade is clearly booming. Check out these photos, courtesy of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Coast Guard:

 

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/images/news/p...070322money.jpg

 

On March 15, Mexican authorities raided a villa in one of Mexico City's poshest neighborhoods and found what they say is the largest drug cash seizure on record– anywhere – $205 million in cash, most of it in $100 bills. Total weight of all that cash: at least 4,500 pounds. "This is like law enforcement hitting the ultimate jackpot," said DEA top cop Karen Tandy. Also seized were 200,000 euros, 158,000 pesos, eight luxury vehicles, and a small arsenal. Officials say the money is tied to Chinese and Indian suppliers of raw materials for methamphetamine, which is brewed in Mexican superlabs and then exported to the United States.

 

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/images/news/p...0322cocaine.jpg

 

Three days later, Coast Guard cutters operating off Panama acted on a tip about a shipment of cocaine bound for Mexico. What they found was the largest maritime drug seizure in history– 42,845 pounds of coke, piled up on a barge like automobiles. On the street, all that dope is worth some $300 million, say DEA officials, who believe its final destination was the United States. You can find more photos here.

 

As Bad Guys reported February 13, U.S. counternarcotics analysts have found more than 10 billion "excess" U.S. dollars in Mexico–money they believe is tied to the drug trade. Given recent seizures, though, that estimate may be low. Way low.

[antiaircraft]

Bangladesh farm workers protest culling of poultry

 

Workers at a state-run poultry farm near the Bangladesh capital protested on Saturday culling of chickens infected by the H5N1 virus, forcing authorities to call in the army to carry out the slaughter.

 

The farm at Jirani Bazar, 30 km north of Dhaka, is one of six where the avian flu was detected in the past few days, prompting authorities to order mass culling to stop the disease spreading across the densely populated nation.

 

But employees opposed the measure, saying their livelihood was at threat.

 

"We cannot let this burning to go ahead," said Jannatul Ferdous. "If the birds go, we will starve to death," she said.

 

Other workers stood outside the gates of the small farm, chanting slogans: "go away, don't kill the birds."

 

Farm offiical Mahbubur Rashid said troops were called later to complete the culling of birds.

Full article at: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DHA81800.htm

 

Well the chickens are going to die anyway... it would be much worse if they weren't culled. I suppose the workers do have a point though.

[Chipmonker]

This is so funny. Silly mousy >.<

 

Mouse taunts Maine man, makes off with his dentures

WATERVILLE, Maine -- Never underestimate a mouse's determination.

 

There's a mouse in Bill Exner's house that he says he has captured three times. Each time, the mouse escaped, and the last time the rodent made off with his lower dentures.

 

Exner, 68, said he and his wife Shirley scoured his bedroom after the dentures disappeared from his night stand.

 

"We moved the bed, moved the dressers and the night stand and tore the closet apart," he said. "I said, 'I knew that little stinker stole my teeth' -- I just knew it."

 

They found a small opening in a wall where they suspected the mouse was coming and going, and their daughter's fiance, Eric Holt, stepped in to help.

 

"He brought a crowbar and hammer and he sawed off a section of wood and pulled up the molding and everything," Exner said. "It was quite a job."

 

They retrieved the dentures, and Holt suggested his future father-in-law boil them in peroxide and whatever else he could find for to disinfect it.

 

The mouse apparently isn't done. It frequently comes out and stares at Exner, his wife said.

 

"He's taunting him -- I swear he's taunting him," Shirley Exner said.

 

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[antiaircraft]

Run! It's the attack of the intelligent mice!

 

Dino demise no trigger for rise of mammals

 

The death of the dinosaurs was not the catalyst for modern mammalian evolution that many people think, a new study shows.

 

According to an international team of researchers, mammals evolved much slower than people believe. And it was not until 10 million years after the dinosaurs went extinct that there was a rise in the rate of new mammal species.

 

"[The research] challenges this idea about the dinosaurs suppressing mammal evolution," says evolutionary biologist, Dr Marcel Cardillo, part of team that publishes its results today in the journal Nature.

Full article at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1884969.htm

[Ellie_Penguin]

This is JUST in! New Earth-like planet has been found.

 

 

 

 

Story Highlights

NEW: Planet could conceivably house life outside our solar system

NEW: Discovery a "significant step" on way to finding possible life in universe

NEW: Planet, dubbed 581 c, orbits red dwarf star Gliese 581

NEW: Newly found planet full of liquid water, scientist believes

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/...t.ap/index.html </H4>

[antiaircraft]

Now if only we could send a probe far enough...

 

 

Hooray, this topic isn't dead anymore!

 

 

Superman, beware! 'Kryptonite' discovered on earth

 

Superman, beware! Geologists have announced the discovery of a mineral with virtually the same chemical composition as kryptonite -- a substance that the comic superhero must avoid at all costs.

 

While kryptonite is often depicted in Superman comic books and movies in the form of green crystals that possess the power to render the superhero weak and powerless, the actual mineral is white, powdery and ultimately harmless.

Full article at http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...hub=CTVNewsAt11

 

This is... odd.

 

Edit: More news

It's Acer's Turn to Recall Sony Laptop Batteries

 

Just as Sony seemed to be putting its battery recall behind it, Acer announced on Wednesday it would be recalling close to 27,000 of its Sony-made lithium-ion laptop batteries.

 

As with the other companies that initiated recalls last year - including Dell, Lenovo, Apple, Toshiba, and others - Acer is warning that some faulty batteries in its laptops could overheat and cause a fire.

 

So far, more than 10 million notebook batteries have been recalled worldwide since Sony first announced the recall. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there remain dozens of reports of the company's lithium-ion batteries overheating, and in rare instancing causing injury.

Full article at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2122224,00.asp

 

WHO may set up bird flu vaccine stockpile for poor

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is considering building a stockpile of up to 60 million vaccine doses to be used by developing nations to counter any influenza pandemic, its top bird flu official said on Wednesday.

 

The stockpile would address demands from countries led by Indonesia and Thailand who want benefits for sharing samples of the deadly H5N1 virus which are then used to develop commercial vaccines, the WHO's David Heymann said.

Full article at http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2557204.htm

 

Edit edit: And some more

 

Weightless Hawking like kid in candy store

 

After years of writing about the universe, world-renowned physicist, cosmologist and best-selling author Professor Stephen Hawking has finally had the closest thing to an out-of-this-world experience most of us will ever experience �" a zero G flight thanks to Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) and sponsors ‘Space Florida’ and ‘The Sharper Image’.

 

Full article at http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/11641/1066/

[The Original Luna]

Yangtze River Dolphins are extinct.

 

(News taken from http://www.baiji.org/expeditions/1/overview.html)

 

Wuhan, 13 December 2006 “ The Baiji Yangtze Dolphin is with all probability extinct. On Wednesday, in the city of Wuhan in central China, a search expedition, under the direction of the Institute for Hydrobiology Wuhan and the Swiss-based baiji.org Foundation, drew to a finish without any results. During the six-week expedition scientists from six nations desperately searched the Yangtze in vain.

The scientists were travelling on two research vessels almost 3500 kilometers from Yichang nearby the Three Gorges Dam to Shanghai into the Yangtze Delta and back, using high-performance optical instruments and underwater microphones.

 

«It is possible we may have missed one or two animals», said August Pfluger, head of Swiss-based baiji.org Foundation and co-organizer of the expedition on Wednesday in Wuhan. Regardless, these animals would have no chance of survival in the river. «We have to accept the fact, that the Baiji is functionally extinct.. It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world», said Pfluger in Wuhan.

 

The expedition has been led by the Ministry of Agriculture and brought together world-class experts from institutes such as the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Hubbs-Seaworld Institute from San Diego and the Fisheries Research Agency in Japan.

 

The fate of the delicate dolphin is attributed to the destruction of their habitat, illegal fishing and collisions with ships. Regarded in China as the "goddess of the Yangtze", the 20 million year old river dolphin was one of the world's oldest species. The Baiji is the first large mammal brought to extinction as a result of human destruction to their natural habitat and ressources.

 

In the beginning of the 1980s the Yangtze still had around 400 Baiji cavorting in its waters. However, the river dolphin became a victim of China’s rapidly growing economy. A 1997 survey still showed 13 confirmed sightings. The last confirmed sighting of a Baiji was in September 2004. QiQi, a dolphin male, who was rescued in 1980, died in July 2002 at the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan.

 

The baiji was for more than 20 years among the most disputed conservation issues between chinese and western scientists. There has been especially in the nineties endless arguments and disputes about strategies how to save the species “ whether to leave them in their natural habitat or capture and move them to a safe place like the Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow "Semi Natural" Reserve. «Now we do not have to discuss any longer. We have lost the race. The Baiji has gone», said August Pfluger

 

Alongside the search for the Baiji, the scientists surveyed also the population of the endemic Yangtze Finless Porpoise, and the total was less than 400. «The situation of the finless propoise is just like that of the baiji 20 years ago», sais Wang Ding, deputy director of the Institute of Hydrobiology Wuhan. «Their numbers are declining at an alarming rate. If we do not act soon they will become a second Baiji», said Wang Ding, deputy director of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Science in Wuhan.

 

The decline of the Baiji and the critical situation of the finless porpoise appears to not be directly influenced by the water quality of the Yangtze. Within the framework of the Expedition, scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology did simultaneously investigate the chemical composition of the Yangtze river water and its particulate load. Scientists took both water and sediment samples from 30 different locations all along 1750 kilometers of the river. Although the Yangtze does have an altogether high degree of pollutant build-up, at this time, as Beat Mueller from Eawag pointed out, there are no indications of toxic pollutants in high concentrations.

 

The results of the water quality surey will be submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture in the coming year.

 

 

The major project partners of the "Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition 2006" were SGS, Anheuser-Busch, SeaWorld, Ocean Park Foundation Hong Kong and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Other sponsors include Canon, Fujinon, Garmin, Katadyn, KühneNagel, Pictet, Transa, Victorinox and Ziemann.

 

Beside the Yangtze finless porpoise, there are four species of freshwater dolphins left in the world; three of them living in major freshater systems in Asia, all of them critically endangered and on IUCN’s Red List of Threatend Species. Since the UN declared 2005-2015 as the International Decade for Action «Water for Life» and the next year will be, according to United Nations Environment Programme UNEP, the Year of the Dolphin, August Pfluger believes, that the tragic fate of the baiji must be also seen as warning signal for the future: As the panda is China’s symbol of the destruction of forests, freshwater dolphins are strong symbols for the over-exploitation of Asia’s major freshwater ecosystems.

 

In an attempt to improve conservation of freshwater dolphins and their habitat, baiji.org foundation launched a series of projects and will, alongside with the Ocean Park Foundation Hong Kong, organize in the coming year the «Workshop on the Conservation of Asian Freshwater Dolphins» in Hong Kong.

[antiaircraft]

Now that's just sad.

 

Koreas make tracks towards peace

 

In the latest sign of reconciliation between the two Koreas, a pair of passenger trains crossed in opposite directions between North and South on Thursday -- the first to make the journey through the heavily militarized frontier in more than half a century.

 

The trains, crossing from opposite sides of the divided peninsula, carried Korean passengers on a test run over tracks not traversed since the early 1950s, when war broke out and the rails were cut by U.S. and U.N. forces.

 

A two-mile wide demilitarized border separates the neighbors and travel to and from the reclusive communist North is extremely limited.

 

But on Thursday, passengers boarded a train at Kumgangsan Station in eastern North Korea and crossed the border to Jejin Station.

 

Separately, passengers at South Korea's Munsan Station on the opposite side of the divide were sent off amid fireworks and white balloons as their train journeyed north to Kaeson Station, The Associated Press reported.

 

Each train carried 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans, according to South Korea's state-run Yonhap news agency. The trains later returned to their homelands.

Full article at http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/17/korea.trains/

[Chipmonker]

OMG, you're kidding!?!? I can't believe that North Korea would even think to do that.

Unless those northern animals are trying to seem more "human like" ...

[antiaircraft]

Well, if they are sincere about it then it is a good thing - right?

 

Hunt for 3 U.S. soldiers in Iraq enters 7th day

 

A man with his hand blown off. A soldier's equipment strewn across a field. A child's vague recollections. They are pieces of a puzzle that U.S. military officials are working with as they search for three missing soldiers and the people responsible for their disappearance.

 

By Thursday, the sixth day of the hunt, the wear was showing, not just on the soldiers obsessed with finding their comrades but also on the hamlets that dot the region southwest of Baghdad, which is blessed with groves of elegant date palms and riddled with pro-Al Qaeda insurgents.

 

Hundreds of local men have been detained for questioning, leaving women, children and legions of ferociously barking dogs in charge of Iraqi towns such as Rushdi Mullah, a community of 86 households under a virtual siege by troops looking for their buddies. At the U.S. military posts throughout the region, thousands of soldiers have vowed to hunt until the missing are found, even though the task has diverted troops needed to enforce a U.S.-Iraqi security clampdown in Baghdad.

Full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...l=la-home-world

[Awesome_Paul]

Unlessed I missed it, I cannot believe no-one has mentioned one of the biggest news in europe

Im taking about the Find Maddie story. The 4 Year old girl that was kidnapped in Portugal

The parents of Madeleine McCann have taken part in another candlelight vigil to pray for her safe return.

 

Kate and Gerry McCann were joined by villagers in Praia da Luz, Portugal, more than two weeks after the four-year-old was abducted.

 

Meanwhile, a DVD entitled Find Madeleine will be shown at the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London.

 

And police are investigating several possible sightings of Madeleine, including one in Marrakech, Morocco.

 

They have confirmed their only suspect, Briton Robert Murat, had phone contact with a key witness on the night the little girl disappeared.

 

Money has poured in to a fighting fund set up for Madeleine on Wednesday.

 

Bankers said the latest total was £73,505 - which includes £50,000 from Portsmouth Football Club - but does not include money collected by banks and building societies and cheques yet to clear.

 

Fundraiser for Madeleine McCann

Madeleine's Fund is expected to swell as cheques clear

 

Appeal for Madeleine

 

Madeleine's great-uncle Brian Kennedy, said: "It's the tip of the iceberg. The figure I have heard likely to be contributed is very considerable."

 

A website set up to find the missing child from Rothley, Leicestershire, has received almost 60m hits and more than 16,000 messages of support since its launch on Wednesday.

 

The Find Madeleine DVD has already been shown at the Uefa Cup final in Glasgow.

 

The FA said the film, which is to be shown before kick-off and at half-time at Wembley on Saturday, could be seen by a television audience of up to 450 million people in 160 countries.

Full Story

[Ellie_Penguin]

Okay, I don't wanna sound mean or anything and I hope this girl returns home safe, but it was his parents' fault that she went missing. Who on earth leaves a child sleeping alone in a hotel overseas and goes out for dinner? Tons of kids go missing everywhere, yet why are they focusing on this little girl, collecting funds from big celebrities. Sorry, but that's kind of unfair to other kids who go missing overseas. That's why you take a family relative or a trustworthy babysitter if you plan to go dinning while your kids are sleeping. That is called negligence and I hope those parents get punished for what they did.

 

I hope that little girl returns home and I hope she gets sent to live with her grandparents maybe, because those parents don't even know how to take care of their own children. Now that it is all over the news, I hope parents out there learn from that case. You HAVE to keep an eye on your children EVERY second. Anything can happen in 1 second, ANYTHING.

 

I'm going to pray for her safe return. I hope all this publicity will work for the best.

 

EDIT: Sorry if that was too harsh about the parents, but it's true. You know how they say you have to pay close attention to your kids at a playground no matter how many kids are there? You can't even turn because something might happen.

[antiaircraft]

Or maybe the little girl's parents will learn their lesson from this?