Arrivederci, Italy! New Zealand Wins America's Cup AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Reuters) - The black-hulled Team New Zealand completed a historic 5-0 America's Cup ``blackwash'' of Italian challengers Prada Thursday to become the first non-American boat to defend the trophy successfully in its 149-year history. New Zealand's boat and its crew beat Prada by 48 seconds in race five of the first-to-five series to ensure the America's Cup would remain at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. No non-American team had ever before mounted a successful defense of the Cup since it was first sailed in 1851. The jubilant New Zealand crew members pumped their fists and hugged after crossing the finish line. Support staff spilled on to the multi-million dollar yacht from tender boats. Their disappointed Prada opponents sprayed them with champagne as the two boats docked after the race. Local television estimated that 70,000 people lined the waterfront of Auckland's Viaduct Basin to greet the Team New Zealand sailors. The crowd cheered wildly and boat horns sounded around the city as skipper Russell Coutts and back-up helmsman Dean Barker held the Cup aloft. ``We're looking to hang on to the Cup for a very, very long time,'' Coutts told Television New Zealand. Barker took the helm for race five and outsailed the hapless Italians in pre-start maneuvers. After winning the start in fresh southeasterly winds of 15 knots, the New Zealanders sailed smoothly to protect their lead for the rest of the six-leg, 18.5 nautical mile race in the Hauraki Gulf off Auckland. ``What an amazing feeling to finish this off in five races,'' Barker said. ``For me to have the opportunity is just fantastic,'' said Barker, a former world youth champion who sailed the team's second yacht in training for the past two years. IMPRESSIVE RACE Coutts handed the helm to Barker after taking his team to a commanding 4-0 lead Wednesday to equal U.S. sailor Charlie Barr's record of nine successive America's Cup race wins set between 1899 and 1903. Barker sailed an impressive race in choppy seas and increased his boat's lead to one minute, 13 seconds by the fifth mark as the wind strengthened to more than 20 knots. New Zealand became only the second non-American boat to win the Cup when they beat Young America 5-0 off San Diego in 1995. John Bertrand's Australia II won the Cup away from the United States for the first time when it beat Dennis Conner's Liberty 4-3 in 1983. Prada had been attempting to become the first European team to win the Cup after winning the challengers' series, but were outclassed by a faster boat sailed by a superior crew. New Zealand led at every mark during each of the five races. The clean sweep meant a full nine races will not be needed. In the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' series final, the Italians had fought back from the brink of defeat to beat Paul Cayard's AmericaOne and ensure that no American boat would contest the America's Cup for the first time. Italian skipper Francesco de Angelis appeared downcast on the final run to the finish line Wednesday and his boat flew a large flag with the words ``Arrivederci New Zealand'' from its mast as it was being towed back to its compound. The $55 million Italian challenge, backed by fashion tycoon Patrizio Bertelli, began to unravel Wednesday after a bad tactical error by de Angelis and tactician Torben Grael handed New Zealand race four. Bertelli later issued an extraordinary statement attacking de Angelis and Grael for their ``suicidal tactics.''

Send Page Last updated: Saturday - 19:59 03/04/2000, EST 'Shocked' Man Sues Bars That Served Him TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida man who said he was shocked by 13,000 volts of electricity after climbing up a transformer in a ``drunken stupor'' has sued six bars and stores that allegedly sold him alcohol. Ed O'Rourke also named Tampa Electric Co. as a defendant in the lawsuit filed on Thursday in Hillsborough County Circuit Court in Tampa. He said the utility did not do enough to prevent him from slipping into a fenced, gated and locked substation and scaling the electrical transformer late one night in May 1996. O'Rourke said he was thrown more than 40 feet from the transformer and burned over 60 percent of his body, leaving him with permanent immobility in his right arm and severe scarring. He is seeking unspecified compensation for emotional and other damages. The lawsuit said O'Rourke is ``unable to control his urge to drink alcoholic beverages'' and that the bars and stores negligently served or sold him alcohol despite his ``continual consumption.'' The owner of The Waterhole Sports Bar, one of those O'Rourke sued, said he remembers the transformer incident but denied that O'Rourke drank at his bar the night it happened. ``Because he was previously thrown out of here because he was writing on the bathroom walls,'' bar owner Bruce Martin told the Tampa Tribune. ``I think it's frivolous. I think it's ridiculous,'' he said of the lawsuit.

i suppose if robbers can sue you for getting hurt in your house while they're trying to rob you , than a drunk person can sue the bar he got hurt at. it's a shame!

Crazy! Like Shakespeare said, "first, kill all the lawyers" (or something to that effect.)

people are so sue-happy now-a-days....and the "hurting yourself on purpose while in the grocery aisle at a supermarket" is craziness! who would want to hurt themselves so they could sue?

Lazy! This is the age of "Not my fault" and no responsibility for actions. Check your insurance rates if you think it just affects those who are in the law suit.

no we all pay one way or another!

I love the way students take extra stuff and claiming it is paid for by the government as though the government made magic and summoned up money. Well, they do - out of my pocket and yours! We do, indeed, pay for it one way or the other!

Freak Sleigh Accident Kills One SPITZINGSEE, Germany (Reuters) - One person was killed when a giant sleigh built in the shape of a Bavarian beer garden smashed into a cabin at the bottom of a ski slope during a show race in southern Germany Sunday, police said. Fourteen men were riding in the sleigh one of 17 competing for prizes for speed and the most elaborate decorations. The driver apparently lost control at high speed and the sleigh broke apart before crashing into the cabin. ``The sleigh ran off the ski run and we don't know why yet,'' said Horst Hornfeck, head of the mountain police patrol. ``We have one dead, he was killed on the spot, two seriously injured, who were tended to by the emergency doctors and who are probably no longer in critical condition, and four more injured who were transported to hospital,'' Hornfeck said. Police said it was not clear whether the dead man had been a rider or a spectator. The event, which draws about 5,000 people to the Spitzingsee region south of Munich, was cancelled after accident.

i've never heard of this event! wow, let's hope they weren't drinking....

I am trying to picture a sleigh which looks like a beer garden. Boggles the mind and you can bet the kids' allowance that they were drinking!

this is true, but i was hoping!

...just wish they had included a picture... If they were drinking they were probably less likely to get injured as they just flop down in the snow full of anti-freeze (this is my burying my head in the sand technique so I do not think of reality.)

Hams Help Get Wounded Boy from High Seas to Hospital In a dramatic situation that is still unfolding in Central America, Amateur Radio operators on the 20-meter Maritime Net have helped get a wounded boy to safety following an attack by what are being called ''pirates.'' The nightmare began the afternoon of March 28 for the family of Jacco van Tuyl, KH2TD, as he and his 13-year-old son Willem, were in inflatable dinghy, not far from their 44-foot sailing sloop. Wife and mother Jannie van Tuyl, KH2TE, remained aboard the sailboat. Jacco van Tuyl said the family had left the San Blas Islands a couple of days ago and was anchored behind a reef with a couple of other sailboats in the vicinity--one at anchor--some 50 miles off the coast of Honduras. The father and son were visiting with acquaintances the other anchored sailboat when Jacco van Tuyl saw four or five men in an open wooden boat come alongside his vessel and board. van Tuyl and his son headed back toward their vessel, but one of the pirates brandished a machine gun when they were about 20 yards away. In ensuing gunfire, the boy was wounded in the abdomen and the dinghy was damaged and flipped over. van Tuyl said the marauders ''got nervous'' and left the scene after taking the damaged dinghy and outboard motor aboard. van Tuyl hauled his injured son, bleeding badly, back to his sailboat and got him aboard. van Tuyl checked into the Maritime Net on 14.300 MHz, seeking urgent assistance. The other two vessels in the vicinity and the van Tuyl's then pulled anchor and headed for Honduras. In the meantime, the family rendered first aid to Willem. Two Amateur Radio-physicians--one believed to be Jim Hirschman, K4TCV--in Florida provided the family with valuable medical advice that van Tuyl thinks helped to keep the youth alive overnight until they could rendezvous with a Honduran Navy vessel that had been alerted by another amateur on the Net. In the US, Clark Lowry, N7AAC, in Arizona, was among those on the Net who contacted the US Coast Guard to render possible assistance. The van Tuyl's vessel arrived this morning off Honduras. After mother and son were taken aboard the Honduran Naval vessel at around 9 AM Wednesday (ET), they were helicoptered to a hospital facility on shore. The boy was reported to be in stable condition but headed for surgery Wednesday afternoon. Ed Petzolt, K1LNC, in Florida was able to phone patch the van Tuyls via Amateur Radio so they could discuss their son's current condition. He was able to call the hospital with the help of information from the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Jacco van Tuyl remains aboard his boat, awaiting further word on his son's condition. The van Tuyls are from the Netherlands and have been sailing all over the world for the past five years, logging some 40,000 miles of travel. Jacco van Tuyl said he and his wife decided to get their Amateur Radio tickets during an extended stay in Guam. Both hold General class licenses. van Tuyl agreed that the decision to get licensed turned out to be a good one.

************************************ Usu eruption on TV ************************************ From: James Mori We just finishing watching the eruption (or maybe just the first part) on TV for the last couple of hours. NHK and the other TV stations had the area covered like a sports event, so there were multiple angles of the eruption. Today's show began at 1:10 (local time) and produced a moderate ash eruption with a column that went up about 3000m. The wind was blowing from the west and pushed all the ash to the east. The eruption lasted about 2 hours. It came from a new vent about 1.5 km to the northwest of the summit of Usu in a small valley. This is the area that new cracks had been observed over the last couple of days and was identified as a possible site for an eruption. There were cameras that had a good close view of the vent area so you could see the ash streaming out of the ground and rocks being thrown out to the side. There did not seem to be any immediate seismic precursor to today's eruption. The overall seismic activity was down from yesterday when the eruption began today. There were no audible explosions or felt earthquakes that accompanied the beginning of the eruption. The eruption waxed and waned over the 2 hours and finally seem to end around 3:00 pm. By that time there was only white vapor coming from the vent. There were not any large pyroclastic flows. There were no reported injuries. Over 10,000 people had been evacuated from the immediate area of the volcano.

Thief Lifts Nazi Code Machine From UK Spy Center LONDON (Reuters) - A thief out-foxed a former British spy center by walking off with a rare Enigma machine used by the Nazis to send coded messages during World War Two, police said on Sunday. The typewriter-like device, one of only three in the world, was lifted during an open day on Saturday at the once top-secret Bletchley Park estate where the code was broken. ``At some point during yesterday afternoon, the machine was stolen from a display cabinet,'' a police spokesman said. ``There does appear to be quite a large market for World War Two memorabilia and if you are a collector then an Enigma machine and they're very rare in this country -- would be something you would want in your collection.'' Police said the machine, which used revolving drums to encrypt messages, was worth several thousand pounds (dollars) but its historical value is impossible to estimate. ``This is a devastating theft,'' Bletchley Park Trust director Christine Large said. ``Very many people are deeply upset and we are just hoping for its safe return.'' Historians believe the success of the cryptographers at Bletchley Park north of London code-named ``Station X'' during the war in breaking a code that the Germans believed was unbreakable hastened the Allied victory by several years. At its peak, the center employed thousands of people an eclectic mix of mathematicians, linguists and crossword experts who handled millions of German military messages every year. The code-busters included Alan Turing, a mathematician hose groundbreaking work is seen as having paved the way for the modern computer. Bletchley Park's work was so secret that its existence was not revealed until the late 1960s, more than two decades after the war ended. The center was scheduled for demolition but interest in the wartime exploits related by former staff during a reunion in 1991 helped lead to its restoration. ($1-.6271 Pound)

American Men to Sweep First Sporting Oscars LONDON (Reuters) - American men are set to sweep the first sporting Oscars at next month's ceremony in Monaco. Tennis ace Andre Agassi, sprint king Maurice Greene and golfer Tiger Woods are the three nominees for the World Sportsman of the Year title. The winner is to be announced in Monaco on May 25 during a glitzy sport-cum-showbiz ceremony for the first annual Laureus Sports Awards celebrating sporting excellence covering all disciplines and all continents. The presentations will be made at an Oscars type ceremony with Hollywood actors Sylvester Stallone, Samuel L. Jackson, Goldie Hawn and Jeff Bridges among the hosts. The nominations were made by 230 leading sports journalists in more than 75 countries and the final choice will be made by the newly formed World Sports Academy. The Academy includes sporting greats of the past such as American hurdler Ed Moses, German figure skating queen Katarina Witt and British decathlete Daley Thompson. The three Olympic stars attended a launch for the Laureus Sports Awards in London Tuesday. Witt said: ``I find it a great idea that past athletes will select the best current athletes. We are impressed by sporting achievements in other disciplines as we understand best just what goes into creating those achievements.'' Nine awards will be made in Monaco on May 25. The others include a World Sportswoman of the Year title for which tennis player Lindsay Davenport and athletes Marion Jones and Gabriela Szabo are nominated. The Australian rugby union team, Manchester United and the U.S. women's soccer side are the three candidates for World Team of the Year. World Newcomer of the Year will be contested by Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia, American footballer Kurt Warner and tennis player Serena Williams. Agassi, American Tour de France cycle race champion Lance Armstrong and Swedish hurdler Ludmila Engqvist are nominated for the World Comeback of the Year crown. There are also awards for World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, World Alternative Sportsperson of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Sport for Good which will go to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to society through sport.

NASA Science News for April 18, 2000 April's Lyrid Meteor Shower: The oldest known meteor shower peaks on the morning of April 22. Bright moonlight will reduce the number of shooting stars that are easy to see, but many meteor enthusiasts will be watching anyway because it's been over 3 months since the last major meteor display. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast18apr_1m.htm

april 22? cool. so who's time zone is that?

I imagine the rest of the story told the rest of the story, but it is usually the same time for all places. It is not until after midnight that the leading side of the earth heads into space and the sunny side is on the lee side. Therefore, after midnight and around 2am local time is the general rule for looking at meteorites. Anyone see anything? We had baseball last night and overcast skies. (I got misted upon!)

Little Elian was grabbed at gunpoint by INS agents this morning. Chilling pictures. Clinton comes out victorious(?). Comments? Observations?

That poor little kid. It would have terrified me in the middle of the night. What is wrong with these people playing politics with a little boy?! It angers me more than you want to know!

there really shouldn't have been any discussions or fights. the little boy belongs with his father. when i went to work on the 21st, i looked in the sky and saw nothing but dawn. probably too late to see anything....

thanks for thinking to look, though....I looked and saw grey quilt batting. Nary a star of any sort up there.

*haha* i'm familiar with the grey quilt batting effect!!

Got that same effect for the total solar eclipse John broadcast from up Mauna Loa for those of us who were so close but yet so far...*sob*

oh dear, we're gonna have to ask the man upstairs to give you a break through the quilt so you can see some of His marvelous works!

He was very good to me for a very long time - saw a 3/4 total solar eclipse from West Virginia, and more lunar eclipses than I can remember (but I have notes on all of them) since moving to Hawaii. Oh, and volcanic fountains, hills formed before my eyes which are now on maps (and were previously holes in the ground or flat land)...acres of new dry land, meteor showers and bollides memorably brilliant. I have been blessed with that...I just wanted to experience a total solar eclipse. But...it was not to be...but I am not giving up yet. There is much more to see and rejoice over, I am sure of that!

oh yes, am glad you have been blessed in such a way. He knows you appreciate the beauty. i'm overwhelmed sometimes with the beauty i see around me. makes me well right up!

Indeed! Are ever so inspired that you create something so you remember it more clearly? I sketch and write about it. David will get those field notes eventually. The best writing was to my Dad, and I have no idea where those letters are.

Copyright � 2000 Ananova Ltd Beer may be better for heart than red wine Beer may be better for your heart than red wine or spirits, according to new research. Vitamin B6 levels in the blood rise after beer consumption and may prevent the build-up of an amino acid connected to cardiovascular disease. But the Dutch team of scientists who carried out the research found increases in blood vitamin B6 levels after drinking red wine and spirits did not have the same effects. The studies in Utrecht monitored the drinking of 11 healthy men aged 44-59 and measured their levels of homocysteine, an amino acid which is affected by diet and found to increase the risk of heart disease. Drinking beer increased levels of vitamin B6 in the blood by 30% with no increase in homocysteine, the research, published in The Lancet, suggested. But homocysteine levels rose by nearly 10% after three weeks of consuming red wine and spirits - an increase linked to a 10-20% increased chance of cardiovascular disease. Dr Henk Hendriks, of the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute, said: "We know that moderate alcohol consumption protects against coronary heart disease and other studies show this may be an effect of the alcohol. "But other smaller moderating effects on heart disease by alcohol can be observed which may vary between different beverages." Mike Benner, head of campaigns for the Campaign For Real Ale, said: "Most of the recent research into the health effects of alcohol suggest that moderate consumption - moderate being the key word - can have health benefits. "Most of this research since the mid-90s has concentrated on wine. If there are benefits from drinking beer in moderation then this is good news."

New Mexico amateurs assisting in evacuation Hams in the Los Alamos, New Mexico, area are assisting local authorities and relief agencies in a mass evacuation as a result of wind-driven wildfires. ARRL New Mexico Section Manager Joe Knight, W5PDY, in Albuquerque reports the National Forest Service advised the City of Los Alamos and Los Alamos National Lab on May 10 to evacuate Los Alamos city limits by 5 PM Mountain Time. Knight was not sure how many hams were directly involved in the fire emergency response at this point. ''This affects approximately 12,000 to 15,000 people who will require immediate shelter,'' Knight said. The Red Cross is requesting additional medical personnel, as the evacuation includes hospital patients and staff. Amateur Radio Emergency Service and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service personnel in Los Alamos have been activated for the past three days as a result of the ongoing fire situation. Knight said three repeaters in the fire zone have been put into use to handle emergency traffic, although the W5PDO Los Alamos Amateur Radio Club repeater at the fire station apparently has been shut down. ARES and RACES teams elsewhere in New Mexico are on standby to assist if needed. Knight reports that winds in the vicinity are currently gusting to 40 MPH and the flames are jumping treetop-to-treetop. ''It's a firestorm,'' Knight said. ''It's a bad situation.'' Standby emergency personnel from the Albuquerque Fire Department have been called to immediate duty, Knight reports, to assist in Los Alamos some 80 miles away. Meanwhile, Knight says the City of Alto, northeast of Ruidoso, already has been evacuated, and a number of houses east of Alto reportedly have been consumed by flames. The fire is spreading rapidly northeast of Ruidoso and already has consumed more than 6000 acres of forest. Citizens have been placed on alert in the Ruidoso area. ARRL Amateur Radio emergency and section personnel will continue to monitor the fire situation in New Mexico.

Fire Sweeps Whiskey Warehouse LAWRENCEBURG, Ky. (Reuters) - A distillery fire fueled by thousands of gallons of Wild Turkey whiskey destroyed a warehouse and contaminated this central Kentucky city's water supply, authorities said on Tuesday. Three hours after it caught fire, the collapsed warehouse was still spouting flames that were fed by a sea of year-old bourbon contained in between 15,000 and 20,000 55-gallon casks, still operator Keith Phillips told Reuters. ``It was amazing how quickly it burned,'' Phillips said. ''You could hear barrels exploding like gunshots.'' ``The warehouse is gone,'' an Anderson County Sheriff's dispatcher said, who said no one was seriously injured. Phillips said he saw a couple of firefighters helped from the scene after they were overcome by the intense heat. The fire, spread by the blazing alcohol, torched trees and grasslands along the adjacent Kentucky River and damaged a section of Lawrenceburg's water plant, Phillips said. Lawrenceburg officials ordered unnecessary water usage in restaurants and car washes halted temporarily after whiskey run-off poured into the river and forced authorities to stop drawing water through an intake pipe. The cause of the fire was not yet known, but work was being done on the warehouse's electrical system as the distillery prepared to shore up the sagging building. Phillips said there were numerous other warehouses at the facility where the sweet-tasting whiskey was being aged, some as long as 12 years. He said the whiskey that burned up was distilled only last year. In any case, the distillery, the only one where Wild Turkey is made, was still operating and Phillips predicted no shortage of the product.

At Least 20 Dead, 562 Hurt in Dutch Explosion ENSCHEDE, Netherlands (Reuters) - Rescuers gave up searching a devastated area of a Dutch city for survivors on Sunday after a massive explosion at a fireworks warehouse that killed at least 20 people and injured 562. ``If there's anyone in there now, they would be dead,'' Menno Wagnaar, a police officer in Enschede, told Reuters, referring to wreckage left by Saturday's blast. Police Chief Aart Meijboom told a news conference he could not confirm rumors of tapping being heard from beneath the smoking rubble. ``Last evening at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) we found someone, but that was the last one,'' he said. Officials said 14 bodies had been recovered and six people were still unaccounted for. Police said they expected the death toll to be at least 20. Four of the dead were firefighters. About 59 people remained in regional hospitals, 10 in intensive care. Around 400 residents of the area had yet to be located. While authorities hoped they were staying with friends or relatives, they appealed for them to come forward and register. City authorities said they still feared for the safety of several thousand people evacuated from the disaster area and were keeping the most severely affected areas cordoned off. Asbestos from the roof of a Grolsch brewery set ablaze next to the fireworks warehouse might be contaminating the area and some roofs of homes were in danger of collapsing, Mayor Jan Mans said. Officials were advising people living in cities north of Enschede, where smoke from the smoldering beer factory was headed, to take precautions against asbestos poisoning by washing clothes carefully and cleaning away dust. However the spread of pollution was not as wide as originally feared, and many of those evacuated from the outer areas may be able to return to their homes as early as Sunday evening, city authorities said. SEARCH FOR CLUES BEGINS Teams of special investigators sought clues as to what triggered the huge detonation, examining blackened, twisted hulks of cars and sifting through the rubble of houses with their bare hands as firefighters extinguished persistent flames. ``The work they are doing is difficult. There are a lot of areas that are still (so) hot that they cannot enter,'' Enschede Deputy Mayor Rinus Althof told reporters. Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Wim Kok entered the sealed-off disaster area to survey the damage. A Reuters photographer saw the Queen comforting a policewoman on the verge of tears. ``It gets you by the throat... It's breathtaking, being there, as if bombs had fallen on roofs,'' the prime minister told a news conference. Kok said a full investigation would be conducted into the tragedy and pledged virtually unlimited government resources to help rebuild the shattered city. A bank in Enschede opened its doors, offering victims, left only with the clothes they were wearing, an emergency 100 guilders ($41.17) per person. A huge red fireball sent a blast wave across the city of 145,000 people on Saturday afternoon, completely destroying around 400 homes and damaging several hundred more. It was the second of two explosions. An small earlier blast set off hundreds of fireworks and drew people out of their homes to watch them shooting through the sky. After the second blast, people covered in blood sat dazed in the streets. A fire had started earlier outside a warehouse owned by S.E. Fireworks company and spread to the storage area, which held an estimated 100 tonnes of fireworks. HUNDREDS EVACUATED About 2,000 people were evacuated from the area it was not known when many of those living nearest to the fire would be allowed to return. Some 800 people slept overnight in a temporary shelters, but officials said many people were being shifted to other facilities or homes. In a letter to Kok, European Commission President Romano Prodi said he was ``profoundly shocked by the tragic loss of lives in Enschede last night.'' Britain's Queen Elizabeth also wrote to Queen Beatrix expressing sympathy for the tragedy. Fire crews, ambulances and helicopters had sped to Enschede from around the Netherlands and from across the border in Germany, five kms (three miles) away. It was still unclear if the fire and subsequent explosions were linked to other recent blazes in Enschede which officials suspect might have been caused by arson. The warehouse, in the north of Enschede, was a smoldering heap on Sunday and surrounding streets looked like a bombed war zone. Most houses were gutted while fragments of wall or roof survived on others. Smoking hulks of cars lined the streets. Firemen directed water hoses at charred remains of family homes while grey smoke wafted in the air. Television reports said Enschede residents were asking how authorities had allowed the fireworks warehouse to be located in the middle of a residential area housing hundreds of people. A Dutch public prosecutor, identified on German TV as Roelof Manscoc, said the warehouse had been inspected only a few months ago and was thought to have operated in line with its permits. (additional reporting by Jerry Lampen and Otti Thomas) ($1-2.429 Guilder)

Forgive me if this isn't the right place to put this -- it seemed like the best one. I just wanted my friends at the Spring to know that I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico -- it is still my family's home and has been for 51 years. My father died there on May 7, and last Wednesday I flew down for his funeral, scheduled for Friday morning... as I was in the air the town was being evacuated, my brother helping my grieving mother pack family pictures and important papers and her cat into the car for a 35-mile trip off "the hill" that took 3 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic as 11,000 people fled for their lives. I'm still pretty shell-shocked from watching so much of what I am go up in flames -- the TV stations covered it 24/7, and we sat glued to the screen in my brother's Albuquerque home as the helicopters sent video back of our old neighborhood burning. I grew up on 36th Street, one of the hardest-hit areas. The fire burned so hot there it looks like a moonscape. Foundations, chimneys, ashes. That's all that's left. And 405 families, many of them people I've known all my life, now homeless. The Albuquerque Journal, http://abqjournal.com/firepage.htm, is doing an incredible job reporting this tragedy.

What an experience you're going through Nan! My heart goes out to you for going through these two tragedies in such a short time span. Are you in New Mexico now?

I flew back to Utah Sunday night but I'm just here long enough to pack, turn in my grades, and drive back down to NM to spend the summer.

Are you summering in NM again, Nan?

This week, in a decision that the Mouthpiece Media hyped would "define" his Presidency, His Fraudulency played to the Right again, nearly banning federal support for stem cell research by restricting it to only those lines already in use. Too few for any significant scientific break-throughs, most analysts believe. But then we knew he was basically another typical Republican conservative; everybody's still waiting for the "compassionate" twin to show up. But like Bush I, II is illin'. from http://www.g21.net/ What are your views on stem cell research? 

Subject: [Syndicate] WTO applauded for insulting Gandhi (and epistolaris@freemail Date: Friday, August 31, 2001 5:16 AM From: Anna Balint To: This message is not commercial August 30, 2001 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WTO INTRODUCES NEW MEMBER Gold and one meter long, phallus is brand-new technology to control distant workers Anti-WTO impostors have struck again, delivering a lecture about the rights of slavery, the stupidity of Gandhi, and the supremacy of free trade to an enthusiastic crowd of scientists, engineers, and marketing professionals--all of whom thought they were watching an official WTO representative. The 150 experts at the "Textiles of the Future" conference in Tampere, Finland heard one Hank Hardy Unruh explain that Gandhi's "self- sufficiency" movement was entirely misguided, because it centered around protectionism, and that Lincoln, by outlawing slavery, had criminally interfered with the trade freedom of the South, as well as with slavery's own freedom to develop naturally. Had slavery never been abolished, Unruh said, today's much cheaper system of sweatshops would have eventually replaced it anyhow; following this free-market logic to the end, Unruh declared the Civil War just a big waste of money. Finally, to applause from the highly educated audience, Unruh's business suit was ripped off to reveal a golden leotard with a three-foot-long phallus. The purpose of the "Management Leisure Suit", he explained, was to allow managers, no matter where they were, to monitor their distant, impoverished workforces and to administer shocks to encourage productivity--assuring that no "Gandhi-type situation" develop again. "If a group of Ph.D.s cheers at such crudely crazy things, just because it's the WTO saying them, what else can the WTO get away with?" said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, the impostors' umbrella group. (The entire PowerPoint lecture is available at www.theyesmen.org/finland/, along with some shots captured by a video crew preparing a film on the Yes Men's activities.) The Yes Men had a similar experience last October with a group of international trade lawyers (www.theyesmen.org/wto/). And in July, a member of the group, again passing as a representative of the WTO, appeared on a major television network show about protest's effect on the market (www.theyesmen.org/tv.html); among other things, he spoke about how the privatization of education will naturally eliminate "unproductive" thinkers from the high-school classroom, a long-term solution to the problem of protest. (Because the imposture was not noticed and the Yes Men hope for further appearances, the show's name is being withheld.) In other quarterly developments: A conference session on techniques to counter anti-corporate activism, normally available for $225 to corporate clients, is available to activists for free at rtmark.com/prsa/, thanks to an anonymous donor. At the G8 protests in Genoa, activists distributed one thousand vanity mirrors, which were then used to reflect the sun into the eyes of attacking policemen; this fulfilled RTMark project MIRR, and those who carried it out received a $1,000 anonymous investment. The "Archimedes Project" comes on the heels of the medieval catapult attack on the FTAA fortress in Quebec City, for which the workers were awarded $200. For the upcoming IMF protests in Washington, D.C., on September 29, an RTMark investor has offered $500 to any Lacrosse team that harnesses their skills and equipment to throw tear gas canisters back to the police (rtmark.com/fundhigh.html#LACR). A software development kit and book from hactivist.com, entitled "Child as Audience", allows anyone to reverse-engineer the Nintendo Gameboy. Because of content that many will find objectionable, RTMark has lent its corporate veil to the project, meaning that any legal flak will be absorbed by the RTMark corporate body rather than by those responsible. The same label that enraged Geffen Records with "Deconstructing Beck" is issuing its fourth RTMark-sponsored release, "A Mutated Christmas," a paean to musical sharing illegally assembled from copyrighted holiday music. Promotional copies will be available in late September; press and radio requests should be directed to illegalart@detritus.net. RTMark's primary goal is to publicize corporate subversion of the democratic process. To this end it acts as a clearinghouse for anti-corporate projects. A list of just- added projects is maintained at rtmark.com/new.html. -----Syndicate mailinglist----------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://anart.no/~syndicate to post to the Syndicate list: no commercial use of the texts without permission

What is 'IT'? This mysterious invention, reportedly created by National Medal of Technology Award winner, Dean Kamen, is on everyone's lips and has captured everyone's imaginations. According to published reports, IT has caught the undivided attentions of tech revolutionaries like Apple's Steve Jobs and Amazon.com entrepreneur Jeff Bezos. Dean Kamen Photo Courtesy of US Department of Commerce Alledgedly, these progressive minds are stunned; praise and sheer amazement flow from the lucky few who have seen IT (code name: Ginger). A book deal is already in the works, news magazines are clamoring for information, and the Internet is a flurry of IT chatter. What is IT? Reportedly, we know IT is not medicinal in nature, will be mass produced, will affect cities and the environment, as well as conventions and old-money institutions, and will, (according to the handful of people who have seen it) change lives and trains of thought. IT Speculation naturally shifts to a mode of modern personal transportation, due to Kamen's latest invention, the iBot: A wheelchair that can traverse sand, go upstairs and stand on two wheels with the balance of a ballerina. But that is only speculation. The public does not know what IT is, and won't know until its planned 2002 release. http://www.theitquestion.com/ The curtain in front of IT is up: A two-wheeled, intuitive personal transportation device that won't fall. This super-smart, computer chip-laden machine won't topple with a driver's clumsiness. Instead, it responds to a driver's slight moves and runs on pennies worth of electricity a day. It's called the Segway, travels about three times the speed of walking and is intended for sidewalks and inner-city jaunts.

and some classic irony for you: http://64.4.14.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=612dab9ed4aadeebaef903a6b57c8732&lat=1015205298&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ereuters%2ecom%2fnews_article%2ejhtml%3bjsessionid%3dWJHQTYKISVWXQCRBAE0CFFA

ne-vuh mind....here's the story--you know that gigantic train wreck in africa (believe it was africa)? well, this guy survived and went on with his travel. on the way home, he took the train. guess what? this one crashed and he died in it.

from reuters: CAIRO (Reuters) - A survivor of Egypt's biggest train disaster who escaped with light injuries after jumping off one of the rear carriages died on his return journey Thursday by falling under another train, security sources said. Abdel-Rahim Qenawi, a 22-year-old laborer from the town of el-Maragha about 360 km (225 miles) south of Cairo, escaped from a fire eight days ago which killed about 360 people when it swept through seven carriages of a crowded passenger train. After spending the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha with his family over the past week, he was waiting at Maragha train station to return to Cairo when he slipped under a passing train and was killed, the sources said.

(sorry, the train didn't crash, he was ran over--how very sad)

HHis number was up no matter what. This is truly sad. I had not heard of this. Only about the terrible tran burning in India.

On a happier note, they are doing their first Spacewalk to work on the Hubble. You can watch on your computer and listen, too http://www.unitedspacealliance.com/live/nasatv.htm

here's another weird one. Coincidence? I think not..... From Reuters today: HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish twin brothers, aged 71, were killed in identical bicycle accidents along the same road two hours apart, police said Wednesday. "This is simply a historic coincidence. Although the road is a busy one, accidents don't occur every day," police officer Marja-Leena Huhtala told Reuters. "It made my hair stand on end when I heard the two were brothers, and identical twins at that. It came to mind that perhaps someone from upstairs had a say in this," she said. One twin was hit by a truck and killed while out cycling early Tuesday on the west coast of Finland. Before police had identified the body and informed family members, his brother was killed on his bicycle by a second truck a half-mile down the road.

Reagan entombed LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ronald Reagan's body was sealed inside a tomb Saturday at his hilltop presidential library following a week of mourning and remembrance by world leaders and regular Americans.

Report says Martha Stewart loses decorating contest in prison Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version NEW YORK Is Martha Stewart losing her decorating touch in prison? People magazine's Web site reports Stewart and her team of fellow inmates lost a decorating contest at the West Virginia prison where she's being held for lying about a stock deal. It says each team was given 25 dollars worth of glitter, ribbons, construction paper and glue to put together a display depicting "Peace on Earth." The magazine says Stewart's team made paper cranes to be hung from the ceiling. However, it quotes an inmate as saying Stewart's team lost to another one that put together a nativity scene with "pictures of snow-covered hills and sleds."

Kimberly Quinn and David Blunkett at the Last Night of the Proms. The pair were lovers for three years and Mr Blunkett's resignation came after claims that he had fast-tracked a visa application by Mrs Quinn's nanny http://www.news.telegraph.co.uk/core/Slideshow/slideshowContentFrameFrag.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/15/blunk/upixblunk.xml

Not making the bed kills mites!: [World News]: London, Jan 19: If you are someone who is not bothered about making your bed in the morning, there is good news for you. According to Daily Mail, a new study conducted by researchers at at Kingston University's School of Architecture suggests that the average bed could be home to up to 1.5million dust mites. They can trigger asthma and have also been linked to eczema and a condition called perennial rhinitis, described as being a type of 'year round hayfever'. "House dust mites feed on scales of human skin so they love to share our beds. The allergens they produce are easily inhaled during sleep and are a major cause of illnesses," Pretlove said. "We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using glands on the outside of their body. Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die," he added. Pretlove has teamed up with a team of entomologists and zoologists from London and Cambridge to develop a computer model showing how factors such as ventilation, insulation and heating can influence mite numbers in houses of different shapes and sizes. As the next stage of their project, they have recruited 36 volunteers from around the UK who have had mite populations of varying sizes introduced into their homes so that researchers can monitor how they respond to different environmental conditions. The mites are placed in tea-bag like 'pockets' which allow them to experience the warmth and moisture of the environment without being able to escape. (ANI) from http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=61998

Paris, January 27: A scent exuded by young women as a subconscious sex attractant has been synthesised for post-menopausal women, who are finding it is luring men in droves, the British weekly New Scientist says. http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=41238

more from the above cite Forty-four women took part in an experiment to see whether the pheromone -- an odour received by heterosexual men as a sign of mating availability -- worked for females beyond child bearing age. Half the group added a chemical copy of the pheromone to their perfume, while the other added a look alike dummy compound. None of the participants knew whether they were getting the real ingredient or the fake

LOS ANGELES - On the day after the elections in Iraq, public attention in America will turn to a somewhat more banal issue: the trial of Michael Jackson on child molestation charges. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2005/January/todaysfeatures_January54.xml§ion=todaysfeatures

Hopefully, it won't move the more important issues off the front page.

The Pope has a bad case of the flue, not apparently in grave condition. Tonight is the State of the Union. Democrats are drawing a line in the sand on Social Security: no privatization, now being called "personalization" . . . a euphemism. Governor Perry, Coach Mack Brown will be on Sammy and Bob tomorrow. KVET 98,1 FM in the Austin area. The Michael Jackson ordeal is cranking up. Terrell Owens will play in the Superbowl. Emmitt Smith is retiring. He ran for for about 900 yards last year and has about 18,000 overall. Too bad he couldn't have run it up to 20k.

What's up with Charles Windsor and this marriage? The departed wife looked like a mistress. And his mistress looks like a wife. And now she is his wife. Why did he marry Diana in the first place? Must have been pressured in to it. Camilla seems stable. Diana wouldn't play along and became a hysteric. Camilla won't become Queen. Why is this? What title is she then?

Saudis defy Valentine's Day ban RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- The Saudi woman, swathed in black with only her eyes showing, circled a huge, red teddy bear, wondering if the plastic flowers stuck in the crook of its arm were too tacky. She wanted this Valentine's Day to be perfect. She ordered 100 red roses to be delivered to her husband of a few weeks, bought him the largest-size bar of his favorite chocolate and planned to surprise him with a dinner party at her parents' house. But there was one hitch: She had made the plans for February 12, thinking that was the day the rest of the world marked Valentine's. Her confusion was not a surprise in a country where Valentine's Day is prohibited and religious authorities confiscate red items from gift stores and call the occasion a Christian celebration true Muslims should shun. The woman, like others interviewed for this story, knew she was flirting with the law and spoke on condition of anonymity. The kingdom's attitude toward Valentine's Day is in line with the strict school of Islam followed by the kingdom for a century. Like Valentine's Day, all Christian and even most Muslim feasts are banned in the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, because they're considered an unorthodox creation Islam doesn't sanction. Beyond the ban, it's a challenge for couples to be together on Valentine's or any other day because of strict segregation of the sexes. Dating consists of long phone conversations and the rare tryst. Men and women cannot go for a drive together, have a meal or talk on the street unless they are close relatives. Infractions are punished by detentions. The muttawa, or religious police, mobilize a few days before February 14, making the rounds of gift and flower shops. As February 14 approaches, the flush of red fades. Every heart, every rose and every item that's red or that suggests love and romance descends underground, to the black market, where its price triples and quadruples. Red flowers are hidden in back rooms. Sheik Ibrahim al-Ghaith, chief of the 5,000-man religious police, told Al-Hayat newspaper his men were "acting upon instructions to confiscate manifestations" of Valentine's Day, birthdays and other celebrations. "The feast of love is based on love and passion and things that are not proper for a Muslim to respond to," he told the paper. More: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/13/saudi.valentines.ap/index.html

Martha Stewart is out of the big house and in to her big house. She's getting fitted up for an ankle bracelet later today. Ann "peeping" Thompson is stationed outside her mansion this morning. How odd that the network that's running her reality show is all over this story so much. Don Imus gave her a whole boatload of trouble over this. He's calling this "outrageous" and "nothing but a show promo". This is the big story of the day.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Nearly 200,000 pro-Syrian protesters waved flags, chanted and whistled in a central Beirut square Tuesday, answering a nationwide call by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group for a demonstration to counter weeks of massive rallies demanding Syrian forces leave Lebanon. Loudspeakers blared songs of resistance and organizers handed out Lebanese flags and directed the men and women to separate sections of the square. Demonstrators held up pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and signs saying, "Syria & Lebanon brothers forever." Black-clad Hezbollah guards handled security, lining the perimeter of the square and taking position on rooftops. Trained dogs sniffed for bombs. Large cranes hoisted two giant red-and-white flags bearing Lebanon's cedar tree. On one, the words, "Thank you Syria," were written in English; on the other, "No to foreign interference." The demonstration was in front of U.N. offices. Hezbollah opposes the U.N. resolution drafted by the United States and France last year calling for Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon. from the Natchez Democrat

Survivors are evacuating the shattered city of New Orleans as authorities confront growing lawlessness and desperation days after Hurricane Katrina blasted the US Gulf Coast. Mayor Ray Nagin declared a state of martial law in the city and ordered police to drop their search-and-rescue operations to concentrate on stopping widespread looting and violence. "We will do what it takes to bring law and order to our area," Gov. Kathleen Blanco told reporters. "I'm furious. It's intolerable," she said of the growing crime wave. Gunshots repeatedly rang out and fires flared around the city as looters broke into stores, houses, hospitals and office buildings - some in search of food, others looking for anything of value. They broke windows, tore down security gates and knocked down doors, then hauled away what they could carry or cart. As more National Guard and Army troops headed into the historic city to help with relief efforts, thousands of weary residents waited hours or waded through floodwaters to try to catch rides out of New Orleans, long known as one of the world's most famous tourist destinations. A convoy of some 300 buses began shuttling more than 20,000 people holed up in miserable conditions in the Superdome football stadium to Houston's Astrodome 560km away. The refugees, desperate to escape, pushed and shoved to get on the buses. Tempers flared as they threatened National Guardsmen watching over the evacuation. The first bus to turn up at the Houston stadium arrived unexpectedly early and authorities said later it had apparently been commandeered and driven to Houston with its load of passengers eager to escape a city lacking electricity and fast running short of food and water. People on the bus, some of whom described harrowing conditions in the Superdome, were allowed into the Astrodome, which is installing thousands of cots where Houston's professional baseball and football teams once played. Ray Nagin estimated it would be 12 to 16 weeks before residents could return. A million people fled the New Orleans area before Katrina arrived. But former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy estimated 80,000 had been trapped in the city. Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said she had heard at least 50 to 100 people were dead in New Orleans. In Mississippi, the death toll topped 200 and Governor Haley Barbour described the scene in the state's coastal area as "just the greatest devastation I've ever seen." Hundreds are believed dead in Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Monday with 225 kph winds and a 9 metre storm surge that trapped many in their homes. US President George W Bush flew over stricken areas on his return to Washington from his Texas vacation and said, "We are dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history." "This recovery will take a long time. This recovery will take years," Bush said. His administration declared a public health emergency amid concern about outbreaks of disease and began working with Congress on emergency legislation to assist recovery efforts from the disaster that some officials said rivalled the September 11, 2001, attacks. James Lee Witt, who ran the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bill Clinton and oversaw relief after more than 350 disasters, said spending on Katrina's recovery may exceed that of September 11 because the damage was spread out over such a large area. "The cost is going to be astronomical," he said, adding that much of the aid will have to be focused on helping people, rather than repairing infrastructure. Floodwaters did finally stop rising in New Orleans, which is mostly below sea level and was inundated by water from Lake Pontchartrain after levees broke. "It's not a significant decrease but it's not rising any more," said Al Naomi, a senior project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers. "It will still take a while to get the water out of the city. Some low-income people left homeless in Mississippi and Louisiana expressed frustration with relief efforts. "Many people didn't have the financial means to get out," said Alan LeBreton, 41, an apartment superintendent who lived on Biloxi, Mississippi's seaside road, now in ruins. "That's a crime and people are angry about it." Some fleeing to Houston from the destruction in New Orleans expressed anger they could not join those from the Superdome scheduled to be temporarily housed in the Astrodome. Houston Mayor Bill White said the Astrodome's capacity to provide decent living conditions was limited and that America's fourth most populous city was already providing shelter to numerous refugees in hotels and shelters. "We're good neighbours here. We know this is a US situation here and we're the closest major city so we have tens of thousands of people that will be here," White told CNN. Texas Governor Rick Perry opened the state's public schools to children of people displaced by Katrina. Thousands of people needing the medical care New Orleans was no longer able to provide were also being sent to Houston hospitals. Despite the growing fear spawned by looting, a spokesman for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco insisted: "Search and rescue remains the governor's top priority. The governor is worried about saving lives." The spokesman, Bob Mann, said the state was also working to find places elsewhere for those being evacuated. "We're not going to drive them and drop them to the side of the road," said Mann. The storm was having a national impact as petrol prices soared. The hurricane cut a swath through a region responsible for about a quarter of the nation's oil and gas output. The administration said it would release oil from the nation's strategic reserves to offset losses in the Gulf of Mexico, where the storm had shut down production. The US Coast Guard said at least 20 oil rigs and platforms were missing in the Gulf, either sunk or adrift. The US Coast Guard reported at least 20 oil rigs or platforms missing in the Gulf of Mexico, while officials estimated 95 per cent of regional oil and natural gas production and eight refineries along the coast remained shut down. Several crude pipelines on the Gulf Coast remained out of service due to power outages, damage and flooding. � 2005 AAP