News from outside the Spring

Jack King, noted attorney, is in today's LA Times. He's still waiting for his subpoena: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/REPORTS/SCANDAL/STORIES/lat_scandal0303.htm Get in line, Jack. If Vernon Jordan is in the batter's box, does that mean that our gal Monica Lewinsky is in the on deck circle? And from Sonoma Countian Roger Karraker: In the same vein, a report from last Friday's "Washington Pissed": White House Tries to Squash Ken Starr's Penis Washington, DC - (Feb 27) - According to CNN, the so-called "White House," apparently tried, early yesterday, to have Ken Starr's grand jury penis, or something, so-called "squashed." According to CNN's source, Ken Starr apparently has 2 penii -- a superior court uber-penis and a grand jury sub-penis, and it was the sub-penis that the so-called "White House" tried to have squashed. ---- Full text at http://c3f.com/nty0227.html

Couldn't that hurt?

Yeltsin fired his entire cabinet. Can you imagine Clinton doing that? What's up with this?

I can top that--yesterday he fired himself!

How I wish I could do that!!!

PowerBall lottery: jackpot has grown exponentially with the 20 states (and D.C.) to a grand total of $195 MILLION! and ONE person won it all last night. doh!

can I just curl up and cry now?

another kids killing kids school shooting spree this morning in Oregon, 25 victims and of those one dead and three super critical maybe Riette is right about murder being instinctual...

let's not even hypothesize yet... as liberal as I tend to lean, I still point toward televison/media/movies glorifying and (at the very least) desensitizing the general populus to such violence. How many glorified vigilante movies have there been in the past five years? How many television stations have chosen to replay videos of suicides/standoffs/shootouts? Our society (HUGE generalization) 'preaches' self-awareness. It maintains an air of distance between one person and another. Communities are becoming obsolete (in the sense they are a group of individuals working toward a similar purpose while looking out for 'their own'). Individuals view themselves more frequently as islands... the children I teach have very little respect for life and little to no knowledge concerning cause/effect. Consequences are remote. Seems everyone is living in a dream.

Today is backwards day at Knight Academy... if i were much more intelligent and more right brained than I am (or would this use the left side?) I would post all responses in backwards arabic BUT... since I am really smarter than that and I don't want to humiliate or belittle any of you all, I will simply call you by your wacky wednesday (my kids would impale me for not capitalizing that 'W' after all the points I've taken off their papers for similar mistakes -- ahhhh to be the teacher!) names. REW mij etteiR nmutuA (I had to write that out and then flip it around... sad, sad, sad) floW luaP cte. cte. cte.

.em yb yako s'tahT

taht etirw ot uoy ekat ti did gnol woH shit. I forgot the question mark! thanks for playing with me REW!

.emityna uoy htiw yalp ll'I !emoclew er'uoY

(damn you're really quick with the transciption!)

.dab oot toN .sdrow trohs htiw yllaicepsE

!!LOL

Here is a story my students wrote yesterday... The Three Hungry Wolves by 121 One morning three little girls were walking on the beach. They were walking to Grandma's house. Silently three wolves crept up and surrounded the little girls. "Back Off," they said. "Why should we listen to you?" the wolves snarled. The frightened girls sprinted away toward their grandmother's house. A fox jumped out of a bush and the girls darted to the left. The wolves and the fox began to chase after the girls. Darnell, the wolf, jumped of Chris, the fox, and bit him on the back of the neck. The fox whimpered and slipped away toward the girls. The wolves and the fox continued their pursuit of the little girls. Chris, the fox, soon left the chase in pursuit of a tuna fish sandwich. At Grandma's house, the wolves stopped and looked around for the little girls who were nowhere to be found. Grandma came out of the house with pig feet, chitlins and neck bones. The wolves asked, "Could we please have a bottle of hot sauce?" Everyone was happy and full except for Chris the fox, who was still searching for tuna fish. The End (they wrote that round robin after a series of mini-lessons on characterization, dialogue, setting, plot and action verbs! I am so proud of them!) *beam*

My favorite word was "darted" I liked when that happened. I liked how half way through, names came into the picture (Darnell & Chris) And since the wolves were boys instead of just wolves, Grandma treated them real good. I also liked "crept up" "snarled" "sprinted away" "whimpered" "slipped away toward" The dialogue entered into its own element, did its thing.....coool. Talk about catchin' on, those kids are sharp. Kids' writings are some of the most inventive in the language. It makes me giddy thinkin' how fun it could've been to've been one of them when they were comin' up with their stuff, their contributions. I bet it was pretty engaging. I wonder if they did a buncha tryin' to figure out what would work, like what should go next -- or -- whether they just said stuff, jotted it down, reworked it a little here a little there and it happened fairly quick. I always like how a new activity can bring out something in a kid or kids that no one there really ever noticed about the kid before....and the kid is going, "hmmm, i like doin' this....it got pretty fun....I'm gonna try some more of this on my own....and with my brother and maybe at recess with Kirsten and Najeeb."

that's the reaction I'm looking for from them. They actually wrote it as a group (talk about using problem solving skills!) and I jotted it up on the board when they came to a consensus. I wanted them to be able to publish it within the school, so my only rule was... nobody gets eaten! Thanks for the comments Jim, I'll share them with the boys... their first critque!

I liked the food! Are you sure you're still in Colorado, or have you secretly moved to Kentucky??

Hey, what's that about Kentucky?

Now calm down, wer, remember I have this thang for you good ol' boys...

as long as we're clean shaven and ugly...

still in CO. One of my student's favorite meals is pig's EARS! They claim it's soul food and I am none the wiser. We are having a pizza party tomorrow... typical elementary fare regardless of the locale!

Happy last day of school, teach!

THANK YOU!!!!!

--------------------------------------------------------- ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 98 INFOWAR. information.macht.krieg Linz, Austria, september 07 - 12 http://www.aec.at/infowar --------------------------------------------------------- Time Daily - Jul 9, 1998: Television Banned in Afghanistan July 9, 1998 The Taliban government outlaws possession of TV sets Updated: Jul 9 1998 12:32PM The revolution will not be televised -- at least not in Afghanistan. The Taliban government today banned TV, and gave Afghans 15 days to get rid of all sets and VCRs. After that, if the organization's enforcers find one in your house, it will be destroyed and you will be punished. (And in a country where women are beaten in the street if their bodies are not covered from head to toe, tuning in for your regular satellite dose of "Baywatch" may not be worth the pain.) Of course there hasn't been anything good on Afghan TV for some time -- the Taliban closed down the country's only TV station in 1996, for fear that the medium would corrupt society. So if you're looking for the remote in an Afghan household, you're unlikely to find it in the couch cushions -- try digging up the back yard. -- Tony Karon http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/daily/0,1237,101980709-taliban,00.html There are no laws effectively providing for freedom of speech and the press. Senior officials of various warring factions allegedly attempted to intimidate reporters and influence their reporting. The few newspapers, all of which were published only sporadically, were for the most part affiliated with different factions. The various factions maintain their own communications facilities. The Taliban took over the pro-Rabbani radio service in Kabul and renamed it the Voice of Shariat. The Taliban banned television on religious grounds. All factions have attempted to pressure foreign journalists reporting on the Afghan conflict. The Taliban initially cooperated with the international press who arrived in Kabul but later imposed restrictions upon them. On September 29, journalists accompanying European Union Commissioner Emma Bonino, and the Commissioner herself, were detained for 3 hours in Kabul after they entered a hospital for women and began filming in violation of the Taliban rule against photographing living things. The television crews agreed to turn over their cassettes to the Taliban authorities. A Taliban official later expressed apologies for the arrest. The Taliban reportedly require most journalists to stay at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul (allegedly for security and economic reasons). Journalists also reported that the Taliban attempted to control who could act as drivers and interpreters for journalists. Music, movies, and television continue to be prohibited by the Taliban. Television functioned sporadically in Mazar-i-Sharif. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1997_hrp_report/afghanis.html Tjebbe van Tijen Imaginary Museum Projects, Amsterdam tijen@inter.nl.net ----- End of forwarded message from Tjebbe van Tijen -----

ok, how many people watched our President's speech? i don't really know what to think. if he lied (at any point) can this really be left in his personal life? can we continue to "trust" in his decisions that affect every one of us? i agree that it should have been left in his privacy, but when brought out to the public he should have come right out then and there and straightened it all out. but i also agree with his statement that we should move on. i'm not trying to put down my president (as my commander in chief) just trying to understand the fabric of the man who is. i am glad he took responsibility (even rather late in the game). the only thing that i think may have held him back in the beginning was fear and the thought (hope) that monica wouldn't have continued to pursue the matter. but we have all made mistakes in our lives. let's hope he doesn't lie to the country and send our men and women in the military into a sad situation. (probably am just displaying my ignorance) so now what's going to happen to the Miss Teen USA that was to be broadcast out of our Hirsch Coliseum tonight? Huh???

So, what did he say in his speech? Was it one of those dreadfully emotional, kitchy speeches of his? I mean the man is clever, and probably a good president all in all, I just wish he wouldn't be so damned KITCHY!!!

no. he said he acted inappropriately which was his fault and he wants to patch things up with his wife, daughter, and God. it lasted 4 minutes with two hour commentary by the press. he is clever with his words.

It was a mix of humility and outrage. He copped to the affair but he blasted Ken Starr's $40 million 4 year investigation. He tried to wrap it up and bring closure but fell short by firing this shot. The country's tired of it. The worst outcome might be the best, impeachment, then Gore gets a headstart on 2000 as a sitting President. As someone who likes Gore a lot more than Clinton, this might not be so awful. And Gore wouldn't be so impaired and such a lame duck. So I say, let the Republicans muck up things by impeaching Clinton, and thereby insure themselves of another 10 years of Democratic Presidential government. Clinton headed out on vacation. Starr isn't done, he's talking to spin-master, Clinton outcast what's his name today. And he may not be through with Clinton or Lewinsky.

i heard someone say that we probably don't want Gore either. you think hilary will run in 2000?

Ogh, they're such a ghastly family!!

Maybe as Gore's VP.

I'll laugh myself to bits everytime I see a speech on TV, by America's President Pete (or Andrew, or Phillip) GORE. Let's just hope they don't assassinate him at any point, because then he will live up to his name gloriously. BLOOD covered President GORE this morning as his BRAINS were shot out this morning.....!!! ha-ha!!!! forgive my sense of humour

He's the VP, and it's Al Gore, Rush Limbaugh derisively refers to him as algor as in some monster movie. He wrote a story about our Farm in Tennessee when he was a reporter in Nashville and my friend Al Bates does environmental research for him.

HA-HA!!!!!! President ALL GORE!!! Are you always serious?

Sometimes. I like gore.

Suppose the novelty's worn off for me - what with all the nappies and other gore I deal with every day! But if Gore is important to you, I hope he becomes the next president.

He could, if he can overcome the Bush challenge (our Texas gov). Clinton resigning now would give him a big head start.

Don't you just wish Clinton WOULD resign?

Yes, not because I don't like Clinton but because I like Gore.

I don't like Clinton - not because he seems a bad president, but because he's such a SNAIL! Leaves a whitish, slimy, squidgy, slippery track every time he looks at a woman. I mean, hasn't the guy go ANY control down there? Is he addicted to Viagra?

don't think he needs it. it's not so much the fact that he "behaved inappropriately" that bothers me, it's the fact that he lied about it. and then he wears her tie the day she testified. yes, he was wrong in his behavior. but now who will believe anything he says?

I never did. He is, after all, the President...

I guess calling him pri�k to his face would be taken as a huge compliment?! ha-ha! No, Wolf, I agree. I can handle a pervert, but not a goddamned liar.

Any comments on the rebel base bombings?

Politically I guess it's a good move basically. I just get bloody fed up with the way innocent people have to die for quarrels between a bunch of craphead egotists. I mean, if that fanatic ar$ehole was pi$$ed off with Bill, why did he not bomb BILL? And then if America was pi$$ed off at him for bombing Bill, then Gore could become new president, and bomb the damned fanatic! I think it's easy to bomb people if it's not YOU or YOUR family dying.

i think it just happened at a strange time.

So you're with the 25% or so that say he's waggin' the dog, wolfie? The Russians were mad because the US didn't tell them, nor did they notify the country next door 5 miles away. Question is, what will be the counter reprisals now? Batten down your hatches.

they'll probably just continue doing what they've always done. i don't think (as in wag the dog) that this is all made up. but just makes one wonder. the only thing is that now that this precedence has been set, this country is obligated to continue meeting terroristic actions in the same way.

I isn't made up, it just came at a bloody convenient time for Bill.

That country was Pakistan. And Yeltsin's on a rant about it. It's terrifying to think about how far we've come without a major chemical, biological or terrorist attack. These weren't really major acts of terrorism in comparison to what's possible. It's a very tough issue for the world, to be up against such a hard to define and pin down enemy with the ability to change its base of operations and not be tied down to a specific country, it a sense, it's a virtual enemy with ability to organize acroos boundaries.

Yeltsin on a rant? No way! He's way too senile and chronically drunk - if he's on a rant, it'll be over the price of Vodka, not Pakistan. God, he's an old fart!

OK not rant, perfuncatory West bashing.

HA-HA!!!! How are you Terry? HAve you been to the movies again with that fabulous friend of yours?

Not this last weekend. I was a homebody.

Fondling your complicated tool(s), no doubt.

Kristen, my room mate, just told me that a Swiss Air plane went down, she's freaked because she knows a bunch of folks that work for Swiss Air. She's shaking.

let's keep them in our prayers *hugs* for your roomy.

Swissair Jet Crashes Off Nova Scotia By DAVE HOWLAND .c The Associated Press PEGGY'S COVE, Nova Scotia (Sept. 3) - Dozens of fishing boats and coast guard ships searching through choppy seas today found only bodies and debris from a Swissair jetliner that crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard. Swissair said there were no survivors from Flight 111 from New York to Geneva, which plunged into the ocean Wednesday night after its pilot reported smoke in the cockpit and attempted an emergency landing at Halifax International Airport. ''About 30 miles south of the airport, the aircraft disappeared from radar screens,'' said airline spokeswoman Beatrice Tschanz in Zurich, Switzerland. At dawn, rescuers had recovered 18 bodies from the turbulent waters a few miles off Peggys Cove, a small fishing village and tourist retreat. Philippe Bruggisser, the airline's chief executive officer, told reporters in Zurich the flight headed out over the Atlantic without incident but within minutes, the Swiss pilot and co-pilot decided to turn back after reporting problems on the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 plane. The passengers were thought to be mostly Swiss, Tschanz said. It was not immediately known how many Americans were on board, but one crew member was an American from Swissair partner Delta, Tschanz said. In Atlanta, Delta spokesman Bill Berry said 53 Delta passengers were on the flight. Dr. Jonathan Mann, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and a pioneer in the fight against AIDS, was among the dead, along with his wife, according to Dr. Peter Piot of the U.N. World Health Organization. U.N. officials returning to headquarters in Geneva also were believed to be on board. The White House said terorrism likely was not a factor in the crash. President Clinton, who was visiting Northern Ireland today, was being regularly briefed on the crash. The plane left New York's Kennedy International Airport at 8:17 p.m. with 215 passengers - including two infants - and 14 crew, said Philippe Roy, a Geneva airport spokesman. Before the plane went down slightly more than an hour later, residents said they heard loud sputtering noises from an aircraft passing overhead and then a thundering crash. Dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the scene. ''The motors were still going, but it was the worst-sounding deep groan that I've ever heard,'' said witness Claudia Zinck-Gilroy. Searchlights from coast guard cutters, fishing boats, helicopters and planes illuminated the area, said witnesses, who reported seeing an oil slick, life preservers and other debris from the downed aircraft spread over a wide area of ocean. ''It's real ugly,'' said Craig Sanford, operator of a whale-watching boat that was one of the first vessels on the scene. ''You see Styrofoam floating, chunks of wood, panels, the odd body here and there. It's not a nice scene.'' The three-engine plane dumped tons of fuel over nearby St. Margaret's Bay before crashing, The Canadian Press quoted an airport worker as saying. Debris from the aircraft was found off Clam Island and other islets between Peggys Cove and Blandford, 20 miles southwest of Halifax. Lt. Cmdr. Mike Considine of the Search and Rescue Center in Halifax said rescue crews were searching for the aircraft seven miles off Peggys Cove. Local fishermen were called to the area because they are familiar with the waters. There were four rescue planes and four helicopters, as well as a Canadian navy ship, said Canadian navy spokeswoman Tracy Simoneau. She said civilian rescuers were at the scene within minutes of the crash. At the airports in New York and Geneva, grief counselors were on hand for relatives of the crash victims. A special lounge was set up in the Delta Air Lines terminal at Kennedy Airport. Rabbi Mendel Pevzner said more than 100 relatives and friends had gathered at the Geneva airport. Kennedy officials reported only a handful of relatives had shown up there. The National Transportation Safety Board in Washington sent a team of 10 people to Canada this morning. It was the first crash of a Swissair plane since Oct. 7, 1979, when one of its DC-8s overshot the runway in Athens, Greece, while attempting to land and burst into flames. Fourteen people were killed. The plane was put into service in August 1991 and was overhauled in August and September last year, said Georges Schorderet, the chief financial officer of parent company SAirGroup. It had been checked as all are before takeoff, he added. ''This airplane was in perfect working order,'' Schorderet said. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is a jet known for its reliability, even though its manufacturer, Boeing, has announced plans to discontinue the model in the year 2000. ''Both the aircraft and the airline have extremely good safety records, among the very best in the industry,'' Daly said.

McGwire DID IT!!! 62 HOMERS!!!! i almost cried as i watched it. what an awesome acheivement, and he was so happy in front of the crowd, soaking it all up. he was so excited that he almost forgot to tag 1st base on his way around the bases, and the first base coach had to tell him to tag up. history made tonight!

I did cry, being a lifelong Cardinal fan and one who listened to Jack Buck, Harry Caray and Joe Garagiola broadcast Cardinals games as a kid. The way he tossed his kind in the air. And all the hugs and body language, what a night. What a night! So many great moments. And at the end he even turned and thanked his "great ex-wife"; you just don't get this every day! He slapped it hard. A line drive that went in to a no fan's area. The shortest home run he hit all season. And he gave all the Maris' kids big hugs and expressions of thanks. The big guys got it great.

As if we didn't already know... From: mrteegeack@aol.com (MrTeegeack) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: SFChronicle 1951,APRIL 24 - Hubbard Insane Date: 15 Nov 1998 16:39:56 GMT The San Francisco Chronicle April 24, 1951 - A-8:3 Ron Hubbard Insane, Says His Wife LOS ANGELES, April 23 (UP)--- The wife of L.Ron Hubbard, 40, founder of the Dianetics Mental Health Movement, filed suit for divorce today, charging he is suffering from a mental ailment. Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25, said "competent medical advisers" had examined her 40-year-old husband and concluded he was "hopelessly insane" and should be placed in a private sanitarium for "psychiatric observation." She said doctors told her her husband was suffering from a mental ailment "known as paranoid schizophrenia." Mrs. Hubbard also charged he subjected her to "systematic torture" by beating and strangling her and denying her sleep. Her suit said Hubbard once told her he didn`t want to be married and suggested that if she really loved him, she would kill herself because a divorce would "hurt his reputation." Mrs. Hubbard described her husband`s dianetics research foundation as his "alter ego" and said the institution did more than $1,000,000 business last year. When informed of the doctors` recommendation that he be placed in a mental institution, Hubbard took their 13-month-old daughter, Alexis, from Mrs. Hubbard`s apartment and went into hiding, the suit charged. The wife also said Hubbard told her he was unmarried when they were wed Aug. 10, 1946, at Chestertown, Md., but it was not until December, 1947, that he divorced a former wife, Mrs. Margaret Grubb Hubbard, at Port Orchard, Wash. Mrs. Hubbard asked $500,000 damages to compensate for the loss of "the golden years of a woman`s life" and an annulment of their marriage if the court finds she never was legally marriedto the dianetics founder. Mr. Teegeeack More Information: www.xenu.net www.factnet.org www.lermanet.com

she got tired of scientology, eh?

Or she got tired of lies. WAIT A MINUTE!! If they were married in 1946, how canshe be 25 yrs old? 1946 would be 27yrs before she was born. I've heard of robbing the cradle, but this is ridiculous!

Well, all I can say is Chestertown's a darn charming little town. I'm sure it was a nice setting for a wedding, even a bigamist's...

Teletubbies under attack from Jerry Falwell. From luddite@PRAIRIENET.ORG Thu Feb 11 00:46:43 1999 Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 22:26:50 -0600 From: "Margaret M. Sheehan" To: STORYTELL@VENUS.TWU.EDU Subject: The Tinky-Winky Defense I don't know about the rest of you, but I was shocked, shocked I say, when I heard of Jerry Falwell's vicious and unwarranted attack on Tinky-Winky. Just because Tinky-Winky carries a purse, is that any reason to accuse him of un-natural acts? He has no genitalia, any act would be un-natural! And with whom would he be un-natural? There are only three other Teletubbies and a bunch of rabbits and none of them have had these scurrilous accusations thrown at them. And do we really have any notion of just what kind of act would be natural in Teletubbyland? Until we can find a telesociologist, we will never know. We, as storytellers, must take a stand. We must support the right of any fictional character to accessorize at will. We can not allow others to define the sexual orientation of fictional characters (or non-fictional characters) based solely on inaccurate perceptions. This cuts to the heart of storytelling and our ability to tell freely. Make no mistake, this is a pocketbook issue. I say we should all accessorize in support of Tinky-Winky. Margaret in Illinois

can't wait till Ree reads this...

i fell out of my chair when i heard that. who in the hell cares? we certainly can't tell what sex it is in the first place.

can we on closer inspection?

well, i'll just leave that up to you to take care of seeing as how you know more about them than i do! *grin*

Senate Acquits Bill Clinton WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States Senate has acquitted President Clinton on charges of perjury before a federal grand jury and obstruction of justice, assuring that he will not be removed from office. The first article drew a not guilty vote of 55-45. The second was split 50-50. Both charges would have required 67 votes for conviction, a threshold that senators have known for weeks would not be met.

Frankly, I'm more interested in the tanker off Coos Bay

what's happening there?

set a tanker on fire beacuse it was washed ashore and leaking oil. a storm was brewing and if they'd left it alone, they felt the oil spill couldn't be contained/stopped. so... before it could break open and spill it's load... they set it afire. They tried twice actually. Bringing the special forces of the Navy to finally oss their pyrotechnic weight around. It's burning now... they don't know how long it will continue

oh! so instead of polluting the water, they're stanking up the air? real good idea.

yep. lesser of two evils I suppose A sad situation either way. At least thousands of shore birds didn't have to die a slow and suffocating oil slick death...

And here's my fair city... Bad shit. Really bad shit. Students flee scene of Colorado shooting Three detained in school shooting April 20, 1999 Web posted at: 3:54 p.m. EDT (1954 GMT) LITTLETON, Colorado (CNN) -- Three men have been detained at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where gunmen earlier opened fire and wounded at least 14 people. Unconfirmed reports say the men are friends of the suspects. Witnesses said at least two gunmen in black trench coats and masks opened fire and tossed an explosive device Tuesday at the high school southwest of Denver. At least 14 people have been taken to hospitals with gunshot wounds, local television reported. One female student was shot nine times in the chest, another female student was shot once in the chest and a male student was shot once in the back. Nearly two hours after the 11:30 a.m. MDT (1:30 p.m. EDT) shooting, SWAT team members entered the building and 15 to 20 students fled. There was no confirmation that the gunmen were still inside, but police said some students had been hiding in a choir room. SWAT team members are among the 100 to 200 law enforcement officers at the scene. A student named James who called a local TV station said he was locked inside a classroom and he could hear a lot of crying and screaming out in the hallway, along with shouted threats. A girl identified only as Janine told KCNC-TV she saw men in black trench coats open fire. "We saw three people get shot," she said. "They were just shooting. They didn't care who they shot. They were just shooting." Other witnesses said the gunmen were students, part of a group of outcasts. Student Jonathon Ladd said he was leaving a technology laboratory when he saw students running and heard shots ricocheting off lockers. He said he ran to a nearby park to escape the gunfire. Columbine High is in the middle-class suburb of Littleton, population 35,000. It opened in 1973 and has an enrollment of about 1,800. I work about 4 miles away from the school Many of the employees have children there. Bad shit.

this is what I came to on the news... how are you doing, Stace?

pretty yuck. Brandon flew home early last night, thanking his lucky stars all the way that I was no longer teaching. Makes me never want to have children Lotsa tears round here

LITTLETON, Colorado (CNN) -- After word from the bomb squad that a suburban Denver high school was safe, investigators entered the building on Wednesday to collect evidence and photograph the scene of the rampage that left 15 people dead, including two teen-age suspects. Agonized parents braced for the worst as bodies remained inside Columbine High School while police scoured the building for potential bombs and booby traps in the aftermath of Tuesday's terror. "The investigation is under way," Deputy Steve Davis of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department said at midday on Wednesday. "The bomb team has assured them the building is safe at this point. We don't feel there are any other devices we have to worry about in the building." Davis said 11 males and four females were killed. One of the males was an adult, "probably" a faculty member, he said. More than 20 people were wounded, some of them critically. While some of the fatalities and injuries came from gunfire, others were the result of explosions, Davis said. "It was a combination of both," he told CNN. "We had victims ... that had wounds consistent with shrapnel and consistent with gunshot(s). There were numerous bombs detonated in this school ... during this assault." About 30 explosive devices Earlier on Wednesday, authorities reported finding about 30 explosive devices, including "quite a few" inside the school. Authorities identified Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, both juniors at Columbine, as the two gunmen wearing black trench coats who laughed and hooted as they opened fire on classmates with "long rifles and handguns" and set off explosions before killing themselves. In addition to unexploded bombs found inside the school, other explosive devices were located in the suspects' cars and bomb-making material was found at Harris' home, police said. Some of the explosives were on timers, Davis said. The bombs were "easily made and most of the components can be purchased at any hardware store," he said, without identifying the materials. Davis said a computer was seized from the home of one suspect, but did not know if the suspects used the Internet to obtain bomb-making instructions. 'It looks like a war zone' Identifying the victims and removing the bodies could take time, said Sgt. George Hinkle, a police SWAT team officer from Lakewood, Colorado, who has been inside the school. "A lot of them aren't carrying ID." "We want to make sure the scene is fully preserved for court purposes, in case it turns out there are other suspects and court cases that may occur later down the road," said Hinkle. "Everything has to be photographed, diagrammed and the identities established before people are moved." He said there were at least "five or six" explosions inside the school, while fire sprinklers set off by the blasts left heavy water damage. "We've got all the debris that goes with a scene like this. We've got backpacks all over. We've got shoes (and) spent shell casings. It just looks like a war zone," Hinkle said. 'We could hear people pleading for their lives' Students streamed into Clement Park next to the school on Wednesday morning to leave flowers and share their feelings about the shootings. "This was out of the blue. Nobody expected it," student Katie Crena told CNN. She and some of her fellow students locked themselves into a classroom after the violence began. "I thought, 'This is it, I'm going to die,'" Crena said. "I mean they were so close. They shot the window of the classroom next door. They tried to get... into our classroom. They were playing with the handle and then went on. We could hear people pleading for their lives," she said. Clinton to parents: 'Shield children from violent images' At the White House, President Clinton praised the quick thinking of police and the courage of students and teachers who rushed to protect each other. Clinton also said children all over America need to be reassured of their safety. "We also have to take this moment once again to hammer home to all the children of America that violence is wrong," the president said Wednesday. "And parents should take this moment to ask what else they can do to shield our children from violent images and experiences that warp young perceptions and obscure the consequences of violence -- to show our children by the power of our own example how to resolve conflicts peacefully." Attorney General Janet Reno said she may push to have more counselors in the nation's schools to avoid problems before they start. The country must "make investments in counselors and support systems that can help us identify children who are on the verge of terror and help take steps to alleviate the problem before it produces tragedy such as this," she told CNN from Minneapolis. Death toll lowered The attack began when Harris and Klebold, wearing fatigues and ankle-length black coats, opened fire in the school parking lot around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday before entering the school cafeteria. Police said they exchanged shots with officers and were later found dead in the school library with self-inflicted gunshot wounds and bombs around their bodies. "It appears to be a suicide mission," Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone said. No suicide note has been found, authorities said. Davis said he did not know how the heavily armed pair obtained their weapons. It must have taken "quite a bit of planning to carry that much equipment and ammunition (into the school)," he said. He said Harris and Klebold were the only suspects, so far. "If, later, our investigation shows that other people were involved in either the planning or the execution of this incident, then certainly we would charge them." After the four-hour siege ended, police originally said that as many as 25 people may have been killed. By Wednesday morning they revised the estimated death toll downward to 15. Four people who knew the suspects, some of them former students, were questioned in the case and released, police said. 'We're going to kill every one of you' Many stunned students, parents and residents of Littleton, an affluent Denver suburb, attended a memorial service Tuesday night, and school officials were arranging crisis counseling for teens struggling to cope with the massacre, the most recent of several school shootings nationwide. While police have not given a motive, several students said Harris and Klebold were members of a group calling itself the "Trenchcoat Mafia," outcasts who bragged about guns and bombs and hated blacks and Hispanics, as well as student athletes. With the exception of one African-American, all of the fatalities were white, Davis said. Students said the "Trenchcoat Mafia" was fascinated with World War II and the Nazis and noted that Tuesday was Adolf Hitler's birthday. Members of the group don't talk much to other students and "give people dirty looks," student Josh Nielsen told CNN. The attackers marched into the library of Columbine High School with guns and pipe bombs, demanding that "all jocks stand up. We're going to kill every one of you," said student Aaron Cohn. A gunman looked under a desk in the library and said "Peek-a-boo," then fired, Cohn said. Anyone who cried or moaned was shot again. One girl begged for her life, but a gunshot ended her cries, the student said. Cohn said one killer put a pistol to his head but did not shoot him. Instead, he said, the shooter turned his attention to a black student, saying, "I hate niggers." Cohn heard three shots but couldn't see what happened. "You could hear them laughing and running upstairs," said one student, who broke down in tears as she recounted the killing spree. "They didn't care who it was and it was all at close range." .

i am so sorry stacey. i really and truly pray none of them were your students. people try to blame guns for this but that's not the case. they have a warped sense of perception (obviously) and..... what can i say? parents need to know what in the hell is going on with their kids. parents cannot be afraid of them. let them threaten what they will, parents need to be the ones in control. please don't take offense. i know that sometimes things happen and the parents really have no idea and have done everyt ing they know to do. i hate to think that my babies can't even go to school without feeling threatened! and i'm doing my best to raise them to understand the value of things...of life....of respect for others....of love.

I hear that story and think, those kids were somebody's babies just a few years ago...what went wrong? It makes me so glad I decided to homeschool the girls next year.

ok, not to panic anyone or anything, but i just saw the strangest thing in the sky. 1950, 28 Apr 99, clear sky, 4 white cylinder looking crafts moved slowly across the sky heading north (coming from the south). they looked like aircraft bodies without wings. my neighbor and i were outside when they flew by. they were moving slowly and i didn't see any wings nor hear any sound. so what in the hell were they? i'm on cnn right now and nothing (you know how they know everything). these things were going the same direction. i've never seen aircraft passively flying by like that before. soon fter, i did see a regular aircraft fly by at approximately the same height and left an airtrail and wings could be seen. got any ideas?

got tons of ideas, wolf... am seriously lacking in good answers, however!

well, i think it belongs in the paranormal conference under ufo's. copying it over now. until i find out what it was, it's a ufo, right? unidentified flying object.......

that's my understanding as well...

ooooooh!

our boys are in ramstein air base, germany!!!! woohoo!!! (the pow's from kosovo)

Wonder if any of them will pick up a copy of SUPERSTAR?

think that's the last thing on their mind *grin* but they're superstars now, for sure!!

You guys tell them. All big (civillian) airports, all trainstations. If they buy it, our circulation will triple!

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation : Police broke into an abandoned bank vault in a sleepy country town Friday to find the decomposing bodies of at least two, and perhaps up to six murder victims. The human remains found at Snowtown, north of Adelaide, were in six large plastic barrels, possibly containing a corrosive liquid. Police who made the gruesome discovery in the old State Bank building on Snowtown's main street said exhaustive forensic tests would be needed to determine exactly how many bodies there were. Robert Joe Wagner, 27; John Justin Bunting, 32; and Mark Ray Haydon, 40, appeared in court in Adelaide on Friday charged with murder. Detective Superintendent Paul Schramm of the Major Crime Investigation Branch described the discovery as ``bizarre'' and said it was possible there were more than two bodies at the site. ``There were six containers ... there were remains in all six of the containers but I again reiterate that does not mean to say that there were six bodies. ``Let's wait and see what the scientists say.'' No positive identification had been made but it was believed male and female bodies had been found. More than 50 police swooped on tiny Snowtown, population 500, following a yearlong investigation into outstanding missing persons files. [Copyright 1999, Associated Press]

gahrosse!!! what tipped them off? i mean, to investigate an abandoned bank vault?

yucko!

Maybe somebody claimed a, huh, deposit?

they could have been subjected to early withdrawal penalties...

COCOA BEACH, FLA. - The Associated Press via NewsEdge Corporation : A top Russian space official found semiconscious on a beach was arrested after attacking two emergency medical workers, authorities said. Vladimir Lobachev, 61, of Moscow, was released from jail Monday after posting $1,000 bond on two charges of battery. Lobachev is in Florida as a visiting dignitary for Thursday's launch of the space shuttle Discovery, a NASA official said. He is director of the Russian space program's Mission Control Center in Korolev, a suburb of Moscow. According to an arrest report, police arrived at the Cocoa Beach pier Sunday to find Lobachev _ semiconscious, face down in the sand, and wearing boxer shorts. He was transported to Cape Canaveral Hospital. But as he was being removed from the ambulance, he roused himself and became combative, police said. Neither medical worker was seriously hurt, said Orlando Domingez, spokesman for the Fire Rescue agency. The arrest report said that alcohol may have been a factor. [Copyright 1999, Associated Press]

oh my

Those Russians! These people do things right - when y'alls boys were coming down soft on water, they seriously hit the turf! Straight drop orbit to soil! And they work on getting this giant swimming launch pad together, supposedly because some functionaries don't fancy Baikonur weather anymore. Plus they seem to know how to party REAL hard.

which is almost always a plus

LENA, MISS. - The Associated Press via NewsEdge Corporation : A stage collapsed during a festival bikini contest at a drag race, injuring at least seven people. Witnesses said a man in the crowd tried to climb onto the stage to get to the contestants Sunday just before the front half of the stage caved in, sending bikini-clad women and other performers crashing to the ground. The contest was part of the Pre-Memorial Day Street and Strip Grudge Match Shootout at Lake Slipaway Drag Strip in Leake County. Bobby Cleveland, a sports reporter for The Clarion Ledger of Jackson, who was there, said 31 women were competing in the beauty contest. ``They had announced at least five or six times that there were too many people on the stage and people were going to have to get down,'' said Cleveland. Cleveland said when the unidentified man in the crowd climbed on the stage, two security guards moved toward him and the stage collapsed. Malone Ambulance Service transported at least seven people, including members of a band that had been performing, who had leg, back and other injuries, Teresa Malone said. Four were treated at a local hospital and three others, including one contestant, were taken to Jackson hospitals, she said. The injuries were not life-threatening. [Copyright 1999, Associated Press]

Just incredibly embarrassing.

The straw that broke the donkeys back?

Police nab fugitive from group that kidnapped Patty Hearst � CNN's Charles Feldman looks back at the history of the SLA Kathleen Soliah found after more than 20 years in hiding June 16, 1999 Web posted at: 9:32 p.m. EDT (0132 GMT) --------------------------------------- In this story: Husband says he didn't know about her past Hearst saga sensational story of 1970s Soliah accused of putting bombs under police cars RELATED STORIES, SITES --------------------------------------- ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) -- An alleged member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the 1970s radical group that gained fame by kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, was arrested Wednesday after more than two decades in hiding. Kathleen Ann Soliah, 52, who married a doctor and now has three daughters, was arrested on charges that she conspired with other members of the SLA to plant bombs and kill police officers in Los Angeles. FBI officials said Soliah, who had been living under the alias Sara Jane Olson, was taken into custody at a stop sign while driving a mini-van near her home in St. Paul's fashionable Highland Park neighborhood. Los Angeles police Det. Tom King, who was with the arresting officers, described Soliah as "surprised and relieved." Last month, on the 25th anniversary of a shoot-out in Los Angeles in which six SLA members were killed, the FBI offered a $20,000 reward for Soliah's capture. She was also featured on an episode of the television program "America's Most Wanted," and tips from viewers led authorities to her. Husband says he didn't know about her past St. Paul police spokesman Michael Jordan said Soliah's husband, Gerald Peterson, has told authorities he was unaware of his wife's past. Her daughters are ages 12, 17 and 18. Soliah, in black dress, acted in many plays at a local theater in Minneapolis � "He had no idea what was going on here," Jordan said. "I feel sorry for the guy." During her life in Minnesota, Soliah became involved in community theater and was described by one friend as a "great actress." "It's not like she paraded around in a beret or anything," said Steve Antenucci, manager of Theater in the Round in Minneapolis, where Soliah performed in eight shows. "Everyone liked her. She was very nice, very intelligent and had a great sense of humor." Her most recent performance -- for which she won an award -- was in a one-act play called "Tall Tales." Neighbors describe her as a well-spoken and friendly woman, an avid jogger and gardener. "She seemed very classy," said Gary Price, the neighborhood's regular mailman since 1983. Hearst saga sensational story of 1970s The leftist radicals of the SLA gained fame in 1974 when they kidnapped Hearst, then 19, from an apartment in Berkeley, California. They demanded that her wealthy parents, Randolph and Catherine Hearst, distribute $6 million worth of food to the needy to secure her return. Hearst as SLA member "Tania" � Two months after the kidnapping, Hearst, who had adopted the name Tania, was photographed carrying a weapon during an SLA holdup of a San Francisco bank. After police captured Hearst in 1975, she claimed that she had been brainwashed into participating in the SLA's crimes. Hearst's ordeal and trial became one of the most sensational news stories of the 1970s. She was convicted of bank robbery and served two years of a seven-year prison term before President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence. Today, she's a married mother living in Connecticut. "This is all so old," she told WCBS-AM radio when asked for a response to Soliah's arrest. "I don't want to be drawn into all of this." Soliah accused of putting bombs under police cars Soliah was indicted in 1976 by a Los Angeles grand jury on charges of conspiracy to commit murder of police officers and possession of explosives for allegedly placing pipe bombs under two police cars. The bombs did not go off. The FBI has also accused her of committing other bombings and bank robberies as a member of the SLA. King said Soliah left the United States at some point and lived in Africa for nine years. A warrant for her arrest drawn up in March said that her parents told the FBI in 1984 that she was living outside California, had a new identity, two children and was married to a man who knew both her true name and fugitive status. It is unclear whether she was married to Peterson at the time. The warrant, which also charged Soliah with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, said that in 1989 she attempted to negotiate a surrender through her lawyer. But those negotiations failed because she requested complete immunity. At least one other former SLA member is still at large -- James Kilgore, Soliah's boyfriend during her SLA days. He was profiled on the same "America's Most Wanted" program, but FBI spokeswoman Coleen Rowley said Wednesday she wasn't aware of any leads on Kilgore. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ---------------------------------------

Guess who the following paragraph reminded me of: "Everyone liked her. She was very nice, very intelligent and had a great sense of humor." [...] Neighbors describe her as a well-spoken and friendly woman, an avid jogger and gardener. "She seemed very classy," said Gary Price, the neighborhood's regular mailman since 1983. End of quote.-

who, alex?

Uh, I get it. A bit of it fits all of us, and we wished, the other bit would, too. The gardening-jogger-w/-humour thing originally reminded me of our Colorado range raider. Wonder what skeletons she got in her closet. (*shudder*)

Probably nosy publisher hung to dry, or the like...

*cackle* skeletons, schmeletons! 'sides I talk TOOOOO much to ever keep a secret like that! (but thanks for thinking of me!)

Please notice, dear Everybody, that "classy" basically applies to everybody around this side of town, but Wer ("A league of his own") and me (won't ever make the grade...).

ha-ha! Of you two the mailman will say, "He seemed so fey..."

?

Murder suspect says he fathered child with intent to kill the infant Ronald Shanabarger confessed to suffocating his infant son June 28, 1999 Web posted at: 8:23 AM EDT (1223 GMT) FRANKLIN, Indiana (AP) -- Ronald L. Shanabarger planned his revenge against his wife for several years: He wanted to father their son and then kill him, police said. Shanabarger told police he planned the crime as a way of exacting punishment on his wife, Amy, who had refused to cut short a vacation to comfort him when his father passed away. "Shanabarger said he planned to make Amy feel the way he did when his father died," according to an affidavit prosecutors filed to support a murder charge. Last Tuesday, just hours after the funeral of his seven-month-old son, Tyler, Shanabarger confessed to his wife that he'd killed their son. A coroner had ruled the infant died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The next day, Shanabarger allegedly told police he suffocated his infant son with plastic wrap. He told officers he dreamed up the crime after his father died in 1996. The affidavit said Shanabarger's plan included marrying Amy and getting her pregnant. He then "allowed time for her to bond with the child, and then took his life," the affidavit said. Shanabarger, 30, who begged officers to shoot him after he confessed last Wednesday, is being held without bail. He is due in court Monday. Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner hasn't decided whether to seek the death penalty because the investigation is ongoing. Tyler Shanabarger was seven months old when he was killed "It's the most bizarre case that I've ever had any dealings with and probably the most bizarre motive I've ever heard of," Hamner said Sunday. In his confession, Shanabarger said that on the evening of June 19, he wrapped plastic wrap around his son's head and face, then left the boy's nursery to get something to eat and brush his teeth. Twenty minutes later, he said, he returned, removed the plastic and placed Tyler face down in the crib before he went to bed. Amy Shanabarger, 29, had been working that night at her job as a cashier at a grocery store. When she came home, she went straight to bed, assuming that Tyler was asleep, and found the boy's body the next morning -- Father's Day. Shanabarger, who worked at a tire retreading center, told police he confessed because the image of his son's face -- flat and purplish from rigor mortis -- haunted him. Since then, he's confessed at least three times, Police Chief Harry Furrer said Sunday. Each time, the story has been the same -- that he hatched his plan because he was enraged by his then-girlfriend's refusal to cut short a cruise and return home after his father's death in October 1996. The Shanabargers were married the following May. Detectives, who have interviewed relatives, confirmed that Shanabarger had long resented Amy's refusal to cut the cruise short, Furrer said. "Their statements substantiate his confession," he said. The Rev. Randy Maynard, a volunteer chaplain for Franklin police, accompanied officers to the couple's home in this town south of Indianapolis on Father's Day. While most parents of children who die from SIDS are weeping and consoling each other when authorities arrive, Maynard said Shanabarger was cold, distant and offered no comfort to his sobbing wife. And after Mrs. Shanabarger's parents arrived later that morning, Shanabarger gave his father-in-law a Father's Day gift -- a gift-wrapped commemorative knife -- Maynard said. Shanabarger then passed the knife around, showing it to the officers. "That really struck me as odd," he said. Maynard said he's still troubled by the image of Tyler's tiny face. "He was a beautiful boy," he said. "Even in death, he was just the most beautiful boy. I'm still getting goose bumps thinking about this guy." Shanabarger's father-in-law, Robert Parsons, wears a tiny gold cherub pin to remind him of his grandson, who was born Thanksgiving Day. He won't discuss his son-in-law, but says his daughter, an only child, is devastated. "I don't want people to just to talk about a six- or seven-month-old infant -- a nameless, faceless infant. He was a little boy, he played, he laughed, he loved. We loved him dearly and that's what this is all about," said Parsons, 52. "We don't want vengeance, but we do want justice." Neil S. Kaye, a forensic psychiatrist who specializes in investigating infanticide cases committed by fathers, said he's never heard of a similar crime. "A lot of times people say this or that crime was just too complicated of a plan to be anything other than a sign of pure wickedness," said Kaye, of Wilmington, Delaware. "But science would say otherwise, that this man was delusional and you have to wonder about his overall mental state, his mental capacity," said Kaye.

geez louise..... a guy here suffocated his baby son by stuffing a paper towel down his throat. they're having trouble finding a jury to hear the trial. the man said he was drunk when it happened. it took three tries to get all the paper towel out. people are nuts.....

that's gross...

i know, but they finally got a jury and the man was convicted with a death sentence tonight (his name is deal) and his son was only 11 weeks old. ok, so like, where was his mother? first, deal said he was cleaning out the baby's mouth, then the news folks said deal wanted the crying to stop. geez.... sick people, uneducated. but that guy who plotted the whole thing is really just plain wacked. alright, can we have some happy news now?

Like the WWII-collectible (aka bomb) that blew up in a strawberry field near a village about 20 kilometers from here? A happy thing is, there are only strawberry casualties... Another old bomb was found this week beneath railway tracks and properly detonated after evacuating the area. Talking of collectibles: the first KFOR-soldiers killed in the mission died in the attempt of defusing a NATO splitter bomb. More fun to come, as the military will clean out the land mines.

Sorry, but that's as cheerful as it gets around these premises at the moment. .=/

ok, well, i've got some good newsworthy news: a two year old girl in nothing but her diaper was sitting on her porch in texarkana arkansas this morning. her parents were still asleep (how did she get out you ask?). a guy riding a bike snatched her off the porch. a neighbor saw it happen and ran to wake up the parents to call 911. (why didn't he call 911 himself?). they found her this evening and took her to a hospital. it doesn't look like she was harmed. the kidnapper was found several minutes later via helicopter. turns out the man had been seen by the child's parents the night before prowling about the victim's home and the neighborhood. he was asking about the family that lived there. hmmmm....i guess people prowl about yards all the time up there, nothing to worry about. but, i'm glad the baby girl is safe none-the-less and hope that the parents remember to lock the door tonight.

hey alexander... strawberries have souls to... *grin*

Don't tell us! Marcia might use it as another argument against unfortunate people with ideals... And we must, repeat WE MUST, preserve idealism, innocence and protect the weak UNDER A L L CIRCUMSTANCES. Oh, forget the part about the weak, but let's defend for others what we have lost ages ago - a cause we believe in. Gives us something to do, too, for the time being. Can't just sit around and watch the telly till I pass away.- Anyway, ladies and gentlemen - the odds get even, as the youth of the US gets to explain how they feel about things: ------------------------------------------------------ Woman dies two days after traffic fight with teens July 2, 1999 Web posted at: 4:40 AM EDT (0840 GMT) DALE CITY, Virginia (AP) -- A 25-year-old woman who authorities say had her head smashed repeatedly into the street during a traffic argument with two teen-age girls has died from her injuries. Natalie Davis died Thursday, two days after police say she was attacked while driving to a church service with her children, ages 2 and 4, and four other relatives. Prosecutor Paul Ebert said Teresa Dixon, 18, and a 16-year-old girl will now face murder charges. Both suspects were held without bond and a preliminary hearing was set for Aug. 10. Ms. Dixon had been charged with aggravated malicious wounding. Information about the 16-year-old was withheld due to her age, but Ebert said he will seek to try her as an adult. Police say Ms. Davis and her family encountered a car blocking the entrance to the cul-de-sac where they lived Tuesday night. Several girls had gathered around the car to talk. Ms. Davis asked the teens to move the car, but the driver of her car managed to maneuver around it. Two teens followed the family in another car, police Sgt. Kim Chinn said. Words were exchanged, and after a short distance, Ms. Davis and the 16-year-old girl left their cars to argue, Ms. Chinn said. The teen eventually grabbed Ms. Davis by her hair and pounded her head into the pavement, she said. Dixon allegedly joined in, stomping on Ms. Davis' head, police said. One of Ms. Davis' relatives flagged down a police officer. Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. ------------------------------------------------------- Makes the offshore US-watcher wonder who'll score next, and why ARE you folk drawn to violence like moths to light? "It's the man, not the plastic bag" and "It's the teen, not the tarmac", the next thing after "It's the trench coat, not the kid" ? Wow. These are the nineties, that is your society. Tell me more about it at http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/public/read/cultures/27 .

please, please watch the overgeneralizations... I don't believe all Germans were and supported Nazism... yet is was indeed 'your' society... and I'm not sure there were many sensical answers to the question 'why' fifty years ago... perhaps I am willing to believe it may get worse before it gets better (like WWII) and after such 'atrocities' as you just mentioned are so widely rampant, perhaps we will realize the insanity and lunacy involved thus becoming a more tolerant and less violent country... if you have suggestions though... feel free!

"feel free!" - just the thing I've done... ;=} Interesting reply, let's look at it: "I don't believe all Germans were and supported Nazism" - but the great majority WAS all faschist, many before and most after the Nazis took over, and there was a great strain of antisemitism, which since the Middle Ages had led to pogroms, though not on as large a scale. So, yes, chauvinism and faschism WAS a general trait of German society since the early thirties (as was a certain mysticism...). Of course not EVERYBODY was a party member or liked the faschists, but these either shut up, emigrated or were "taken care of", as we all know. Socialists, union members, devout christians, etc. who were e.g. in state-employment got early retirement (police officers, mayors, bureaucrats) or else. And the people of Germany didn't do anything about it, because the majority liked what they got out of the deal, and any minorities were silenced. "yet is was indeed 'your' society" - not likely, Stacey. I wasn't born then, and I do not believe in inheriting guilt and debts from the ancestors. I do derive from the fact that I know about these things and how the mechanics of this worked, and that I live in this historically charged-up area, a certain OBLIGATION to warn, make aware of, flap the clap, mouth off, whatever somebody might call it. Something like a duty, to not let the victims be for nothing - there is a lesson in the story. Gotta learn it, gotta have more people understand something about people. Duty for the Future NOW! (to quote DEVO) Something that might help us all to improve the human condition by changing the way we interact. See the personality in the opposite person, not just some impersonal opposition. Our society, Stacey, is where we live NOW. We are part of a global, cooperating new society. We will have to learn new rules for this; meanwhile, we live in our communities in our respective countries and I guess, yea! we share responsibility with the other folks there to have things work out alright. We work this by voting, saying what's on our mind, participating in the society's rituals of decision-finding. Or just accept things as given. Now think of environmental problems or gun-laws, tax or education problems, and you see what I mean. It is YOUR country, and it is is YOUR society, and yea! again (plus excuse me for shouting, but I feel so dramatic: ) - IT IS YOUR THING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Or not, if you're happy with it. "I'm not sure there were many sensical answers to the question'why' fifty years ago" - but there were! Look at what was published in the Twenties, and what has happened to the country in the aftermath of WWI, it may not be obvious that things HAD to turn this way or that (I think they never had to), but many things and ideas that the faschists used were widely accepted by most people. Patriotism, the punishing Versailles Treaty, losing parts of the country, losing the army, losing the head-of-state and the monarchy, racism - even based on fake science, unemployment after the big Black Friday crash on Wallstreet - which destroyed lots of German capital invested in the States, inflation (got some old bank notes from that time, made out to billions...)... The Nazis' ideas of a national socialism appealed to many. Empower the lower classes, create jobs, stop war reparations, find a new national identity (in a country that only existed since the end of the French-German war of 1870/71), become a sovereign country with own armed forces again. Heroic ideals, new architecture, a new age. Progress! Wellbeing! (By the way, did you know the Nazis had a BIG purge themselves in the mid-thirties? Killed or degraded the whole more socialist wing, and developed a more mystic programme - that's when the SS came up bigtime.) Think of your country's New Deal era, and how everybody loved state intervention suddenly... Same time, same problem, same solution. Just to serve different means in the end. All based on different interests - the big capital wanted the monarchy back, so did the military and aristocracy (who all hated Hitler as low caste without style, as being pathetic, but nevertheless tried to utilize him for their benefit and got run over on the way). The workers wanted food and homes. The businesses wanted competitio taken care of. Big opportunities for many people - and the party offered even working-class folks a rise to power just by being hard-working and loyal... Afterwards, everybody had good excuses and didn't know about any untoward things at all. Heard about something, perhaps, but seen...? Never! Or look at the McCarthyism in the US. There are some similarities in how the people perceived and supported or ignored these things, and how afterwards nobody really knew a thing about it. Nobody was really responsible, only the bad guy. One (1) person. Even forced Charly Chaplin (!) to leave the States as suspected communist. Repeating patterns... "perhaps we will realize the insanity and lunacy involved thus becoming a more tolerant and less violent country..." - so, what's this, do I have a point here or what! Stacey, I DO hope it will not get any worse before there is a catharsis. I would not happily live in such times. But yes, it looks very different from the outside, compared to what you see in other places. Serbia and Rwanda, for example - anybody understands easily that the massacres and cruelties aremotivated by ethnic chauvinism. It is not all gang fights in the States, supremacism, there is no war declared on the offspring, nor do husbands kill their wifes (or vice versa) as members of a "Singles Liberation Front". And yet - why is so much happening? What is the lowest common denominator in the US, I wonder? Also be aware that the US sets an example to the world. Many things are copied all over the world, and yes, the rise of violence in the US is mimicked in other places, too. It's not only Coke, Rock 'n' Roll and Levis, or for the younger folks, baggys, hiphop and Coke. How and when did e.g. the heroin consumption in Europe escalate (which was not THAT heavy a problem in itself, as heroin's a downer - crack and cocain are the current dope, and they make users more, ahem, lively...)? And may I point out that any possible "Millenium" hysteria is still - as I see it - no excuse for running around and doing stupid things? Nobody "forces" the aggresssors to do something. They are fully responsible for their beliefs, and acts, and the results of these. There is more, but it's so hard for me to express without running danger of being seriously misunderstood - something I have lots of experience with, especially with US citizens involved (Springizens excluded). Hmh, so many characters. And what does all this teach us in the end? (a) Don't overgeneralize, else you gotta type a lot. (b) And people might think you don't respect them, though respect them you do (if I wouldn't, the post above wouldn't be there). Let's continue this in the topic I put up, to keep to the point easier.

Overgeneralization also makes a statement come across as ignorant and not well thought out. You obviously thought out your response. Here's mine. I do think it will get worse before it gets better. People in our country are fumbling around for answers but refusing to listen to the answers that don't appeal to them. Guns-- can of worms, a citizen's right? the root of all evil? merely a machine? Television -- can of worms, window to a global perspective? mechanism for free thinking creativity? scandal box? sex box? root of all evil? merely a machine? Desintigration of family units -- can of worms, women seeking independence from their formerly oppressive life of home and children? ramifications of a finiancially focused society? people are lazy? the root of all evil? I personally think that the changes that have taken place in this country over the past twenty years with respect to violence cannot be attributed to ONE culprit. Individuals seem to me to feel less responsibility for building a society in which they desire to live and feel less (in any at all) accountability for their actions. In a country that prides itself on its freedoms and rights, the difficulty appears to lie in where one man's freedom violates another man's human rights. We are fortunate to have those principles/ideas that other countries do not have, but crossing those fine lines seems to be a unwanted side affect. I do not like, actually I abhor, statements made generalizing this country as violence accepting... I believe the statement is false and made by people who really have no idea what the society over here believes. If you want to learn something about someone else's life and society, ask questions, don't make offensive statements. In the past 2 1/2 months I've watched an entire city from very up close try and come to terms with an act of extreme violence. I've watched the cycle of mourning and blame and forgiveness and questioning and I've watched people turn to a god to look for answers because they feel so helpless to find them in this reality. When you or anyone else makes statements about 'accepting violence' I know that you are not talking about MY reality and certainly not MY society. When I go home, I return to a televisionless house prompted by a disgust for the horror and ridiculousness I find in even the daily news. To throw up your hands in frustration and not be able to give an answer to the why does not imply acceptance. I believe it implies fatigue and sadness and frustration and fear. Certianly keep this topic open. Everyone is certainly aware of my pet peeve (one of many, to be sure!) and I will continue to call anyone on the overgeneralization bit...

i'll go back and read all of that. so if i repeat ideas presented above, my apologies. i think something we're forgetting is all the good people out there. do you know that the summer before last, i was driving home with some friends and witnessed an assault in broad daylight. we pulled over and called the police, the attacker started to run off, we took the victim and sheltered her. do you know 4 more cars stopped by? and one man took off after the attacker to try to sustain him for the police (the attacker managed to get away). race was not a factor although the attacker was black and t e victim was white. black and white folks were among the mix of witnesses. so i'd like to say that there are good people in the world and in the U.S. and i'd also like to say that there are things that go on here that i don't agree with, but also there are things that go on elsewhere that i don't believe in. but i don't hate the people who are ruled by those governments. and i can't assume that because some things are going bad (which, of course, is highly publicized) makes the whole place rotten.

And some beautiful good news to brighten this day... (sorry if it's too long... it's worth reading!) August 26, 1999 Web posted at: 11:05 AM EDT (1505 GMT) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Her poignant e-mail messages from Kosovo chronicled her family's desperate situation much in the same way that Anne Frank's diaries put a human face on the Holocaust. Now the girl's real name and face are no longer a mystery. "Adona," a 16-year-old ethnic Albanian whose Internet missives were read to thousands of listeners over National Public Radio, flew Wednesday to meet her e-mail pen pal from Berkeley. Kujtesa Bejtullahu kept her identity secret while her family hid from Serbians in the Kosovo capital of Pristina. She shared her thoughts and fears by e-mail with Finnegan Hamill, a 16-year-old Berkeley High School student and Youth Radio reporter. The correspondence began in January after a peace worker who had just returned from Kosovo visited Hamill's church and gave him the address. Bejtullahu's messages often were filled with disturbing and violent accounts of the war. The girl said she regularly saw people being killed, routed from their homes and moved from place to place as they tried to stay alive. In mid-March, the messages suddenly ceased, presumably because the electricity at her family's home had been cut off. Hamill kept a worried vigil as reports of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo increased. Hamill was able to make contact with Adona a few days later over the phone. She told him her family was huddled in their home with little food or water. Wednesday night, Hamill said he had butterflies in his stomach as he met her face-to-face with flowers and a hug. Bejtullahu came to the United States along with three other teens from Pristina to complete her high school education. She is part of a group known as the PostPessimists, which campaigns against ethnic rivalry. While in Berkeley, Bejtullahu will stay with Gretchen Carlson, who heard the girl's messages on the radio. "I feel differently about Kujtesa, because I heard her words on NPR," Carlson said. "I don't think any woman alive, especially a mother, didn't feel a helplessness at not being able to protect a child in circumstances like that." The First Congregational Church of Berkeley has raised $25,000 to support the teens during their stay, but $50,000 more is needed for tuition, clothing and health insurance.

The Hunger Site at the U.N..... All you do is click a button and somewhere in the world some hungry person gets a meal to eat at no cost to you. The food is paid for by corporate sponsors. All you do is go to the site and click. But you're only allowed one click per day so spread the word to others. Visit the site and pass the word. http://www.thehungersite.com

And it's legit too!

d'ya think I'd send anything otherwise??? *smile* BTW... what's with the dead dolls on the Spring Cam... they're scary...

What dead dolls?

From the BBC: Japanese officials struggling to contain the worst nuclear accident in the country's history say they believe the situation has now stabilised. More than 300,000 people living in the area have been told they can leave their homes but there is still a 350-metre "exclusion zone" around the plant. However, fears persist over the effects of fallout from the accident. Officials told residents caught out in Thursday evening rain showers to wash their clothing and said locally grown vegetables should not be eaten. Radiation levels soared to 15,000 times the normal level just after the accident - schools were shut, train services halted and farmers were warned not to harvest their crops until safety checks had been carried out. But officials say radiation levels outside the plant have now returned to normal, and local residents are no longer at serious risk. They issued the statement after operators drained coolant water and carried out a number of other measures to reduce the risk of contamination resulting from a leak inside the uranium processing plant. The Governor of Ibaraki Prefecture, Masaru Hashimoto, said he had received confirmation at 0615 (2115GMT) that the nuclear chain reaction at the uranium processing plant had stopped. The aftermath of the accident coincided with the arrival on Friday of a second British ship carrying a cargo of plutonium for Japan's nuclear power industry. The Pacific Pintail docked in Takahama, 400km (248 miles) southwest of Tokyo. More than 30 workers at the Tokaimura plant are thought to have been exposed to radiation. Two are in a critical condition and are expected to be given bone marrow transplants. The victims include builders who had been working at the plant, people who live nearby and firemen who helped in the rescue. Human error Officials said workers had caused the accident at the plant by pouring too much uranium solution into a tank. Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi criticised the response to the accident, saying it had taken too long for experts to assess the seriousness of the situation. He also held an emergency meeting of the cabinet which set up a special task force - the first time it has taken such a measure after a nuclear accident. Washington has meanwhile announced that a joint American and Russian team is being sent to Japan. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said it was very likely there had been a "criticality incident" at the plant. Criticality is the point at which a nuclear chain reaction becomes self-sustaining. The French nuclear institute said the incident was the 60th in the world since 1945, following 33 such accidents in the United States and 19 in the former Soviet Union. One of the workers reportedly told an official that he had used about 16kg of uranium - nearly eight times the normal amount - during the process just before the accident. Workers normally use up to 2.3kg of uranium in each procedure to prevent a criticality accident, officials said.

This is a really terrific thing. The Hunger Site at the U.N. This is a really cool website. All you do is click a button and somewhere in the world some hungry person gets a meal to eat at no cost to you. The food is paid for by corporate sponsors. All you do is go to the site and click. But, you're only allowed one click per day so spread the word to others. Visit the site and pass the word. http://www.thehungersite.com

Yup...thanks for posting it. Stacey posted it, too. I think I will post it in Drool, also

Thanks for sending it. I got it from three sources today. I have a feeling that cyber button is going to be punched a lot in the near future. At least, I hope so!

Yes! It is too important to leave unforwarded and unheralded. Thanks for doing your part!

They're legalizing marijuana in Switzerland? You know the Ricola commercial, they had a takeoff on Leno the other night of the guy blowing the huge horn, and he stopped and exhaled smoke.

Well, probably just grant growing certain sorts for fibers or oil (both extremely low on THC). This has happened over the last two-three years in Germany, too. A new cash crop - will feed, clothe and can be used to make paper. I have driven by hemp fields every year since 1996, I think. There's always a farmer somewhere trying it out (like they did with sweet corn and pumpkin in the last few years, too).

I gather hemp cultivation is not illegal in Germany as it is in the US (so we do it in lava tubes here and under grow lights and it is 9' tall when mature!) This Springeur and others in Hawaii moved 1000 miles closer to the Mainland US and our Mother, Spring. (The time change, dontcha know!)

In case I missed anyone with Email, the shooting at the Xerox facility was in Honolulu on Oahu, 5 islands away from us and 200 miles west. Thanks for expressing your concern - I am fine, thank you!

Just two days ago a sixteen year old in Bavaria shot three people out of his parents house, hurt several others and then killed his sister and himself. It's the first time I heard of something like this happening in Germany...

oh my.....

ahhh... seems everyone has been sucked into the bad news... well... READ THIS... GOOD NEWS

High-flying at 100, Ohio man still enjoys getting up there Ralph Charles stands next to his plane November 9, 1999 Web posted at: 2:42 p.m. EST (1942 GMT) SOMERSET, Ohio (AP) -- Ralph Charles has been around airplanes long enough to have known Charles Lindbergh, flown with Eleanor Roosevelt and caught a glimpse of Orville Wright. And at 100, he's still able to enjoy planes from the vantage he loves most: the cockpit. "When I saw my first airplane, I thought it was like a magic carpet," Charles said. "I still think of planes that way." About 300 people showed up Sunday to celebrate his centennial a day early at his Somerset home, about 39 miles east of Columbus. Fellow aviation buffs arrived in 13 planes and two helicopters that flew in to a landing strip on the 23-acre site. Charles had stopped flying in the 1940s at his late wife's request. But he bought a plane two years ago, and received a student pilot's license from the Federal Aviation Administration last year. Now he goes on joyrides and attends aviation events every week. He's probably the nation's oldest student pilot, and perhaps its oldest licensed pilot of any kind. FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said that, as far as he can determine, the agency's oldest fully licensed pilots are both 96. The love affair with flying began long ago. Charles enlisted in the Army during World War I in hopes of learning to fly, but the war ended before he got the chance. His welding skill got him a job at the Rinehart-Whelan Aviation School in Dayton, where he repaired and maintained planes. "There were maybe 10 pilots in the whole state back then, and I got acquainted with them while working on their planes," he said. It was there that he occasionally saw Orville Wright working in the shop, though he never spoke to the aviation pioneer, who lived in Dayton. "Orville lived in seclusion and didn't like people to know where he lived," he said. Charles said he wanted to fly so badly he built his own plane, but didn't know how to fly it. Eventually, he talked Bernard Whelan, one of Wright's first trained fliers, into giving him lessons. "I had about four hours of training before my first flight," Charles said. "After showing I could take off and land three times with success, they let me go and fly the plane I built." He made his share of mistakes -- including a landing made with his gear left up. "I realized my mistake when I saw the propeller getting shorter," he said. In the early 1920s, steel-bodied planes were replacing wooden-bodied aircraft and steel repair experts were in demand. So when Rinehart-Whelan folded, Charles got a job with Consolidated Aircraft at Wright Field. He married in 1925, and said he got through the Depression by building airplanes such as the high-wing two-seater he owns today. He also began flying charter planes based at the Standard Oil hangar in Newark, New Jersey, where Lindbergh kept a plane in the years following his 1927 solo flight from New York to Paris. "I'd talk to him at times, but this was after his baby was murdered and he was the saddest person you'll ever see," Charles said. Eleanor Roosevelt was a passenger on an excursion he flew from Newark in the 1930s while her husband was in office. "I took her back a box lunch, then went back up and flew the plane," he said. Charles went to the Caribbean in 1940 to run a charter service in the Virgin Islands. Three years later, he and his wife, Leona, moved to Columbus, where he tested Helldiver bombers built for the Navy by the former Curtiss-Wright company. He said he stopped flying because Leona was tired of transferring from state to state. But for the roughly 20 years he owned an auto repair shop -- and the years that followed his 1965 retirement -- the thought of flying again stayed with him. "Imagine not driving a car for 50 years, only worse," Charles said. "Sometimes when I would mow, I would imagine my tractor was a plane and I was rising up into the sky." Leona died in 1995 at age 94. They had been married 70 years. Charles, having kept his promise, was ready to return to the skies. Other than a physical exam every six months, he has no restrictions beyond those of other student pilots. "I'm not allowed to take passengers and I can only fly 25 miles away from home," he said. "But I don't give a hoot. I just enjoy flying."

that's great!! i hope i'm as active when i'm 100! (not dog years, mind you)

It is a little like lifting the calf each day from the time he is born, and when you are finished you will be able to lift a full-grown bull...but i don't think it works like that.

Bonfire Collapse Kills Five Up To 30 Injured Taken To Area Hospitals At least five college students were killed and several others injured early Thursday after logs they were stacking for an annual bonfire collapsed and crushed them, reports CBS affiliate KBTX-TV in Bryan, Texas. University President Dr. Ray Bowen said up to 30 other individuals were transported to area hospitals with various injuries. As many as 50 Texas A&M university students were on top of the stack of logs when the accident happened, according to university officials. The collapse occurred at about 2 a.m. local time. The bonfire is a yearly event that has been going on since 1909. The bonfire is built prior to the Thanksgiving game with the University of Texas. The Aggies are set to play archrival Texas on Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving. The bonfire ceremony usually features performances by the Aggie band, school cheers called "yells," and pep talks by administrators, football players and coaches. But the project hasn't always been trouble-free: One stack collapsed in 1994, but a second was built and ignited. The accident was the third disaster related to the 43,000-student Texas A&M this fall. On Sept. 18, five people were killed in the crash of a plane used by the Aggies Over Texas skydiving club, often used by Texas A&M University students and alumni. On Oct. 10, six college students walking to a fraternity party about two miles west of the campus were killed by a pickup truck driver who had fallen asleep, police said. The victims were four students from Baylor University, one from Texas A&M and one from Southwest Texas State.

Tragic. A fun thing turns into a disaster. The sports talk shows are full of it this morning, mostly on http://www.sportsradio1300.com/ on their realaudio server.

...even in Hawaii we saw a lengthy report on the news, including comments from the President of the University. Tragic, Indeed!

The BBC Online site has a lengthy story and photographs...terribly sad... I'd rather not cut ans paste to here - this is something which should be read there...I am so sorry. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_525000/525625.stm

Now eleven dead. Victims: Miranda Adams, a sophomore in biomedical sciences from Santa Fe, Texas Christopher Breen of Austin, Texas -- 1997 graduate Michael Ebanks, a freshman in aerospace engineering from Carrollton, Texas Jeremy Frampton, a senior psychology major from Turlock, California Christopher Lee Heard, a freshman in pre-engineering from Houston, Texas Jamie Hand, a freshman in environmental design from Henderson, Texas Lucas Kimmel, a freshman in biomedical science from Corpus Christi, Texas Bryan McClain, a freshman agriculture major from San Antonio Chad Anthony Powell, a sophomore in computer engineering from Keller, Texas Jerry Self, a sophomore engineering technology major from Arlington, Texas Nathan Scott West, a sophomore oceanography major from Bellaire, Texas

and if you'd like to put faces to the names... http://www.tamu.edu/aggiedaily/students.html

This, from Reuters, belongs somewhere in Spring but I am not sure where...Something is terribly wrong here... Man Jailed for Stealing to Feed 15 Children NAIROBI (Reuters) - A 60-year-old Kenyan pleaded guilty in court to stealing food worth 20 U.S. cents to feed his 15 children and two wives, a local newspaper said on Thursday. Thomas Ogero, a casual laborer, told the court in a preliminary hearing that he stole maize, beans and cabbages from a food kiosk because his family was starving, the East African Standard reported. ``Your honor, you know life is hard and many people are dying of hunger,'' he told magistrate Gladys Ndeda. ``I did not want my 15 children to die that way.''

Penn State Buses Crash; 106 Hurt, Two Killed STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (Reuters) - Two people were killed and 106 injured when four charter buses carrying Pennsylvania State University students and three passenger cars collided early on Sunday, a state police spokeswoman said. Six buses were ferrying students from a field trip in New York City back to the Penn State campus at State College just after midnight when the accident involving four of the buses occurred on Interstate 80 in Kidder Township, Pennsylvania, said Pennsylvania State Police spokeswoman Shannon Yates. Yates said a bus driver and one student were killed and 106 people were injured. Five of the injured are in serious condition. ``Scores of students were taken to about a half dozen hospitals throughout the northeast area of the state,'' said a statement released by Penn State University. Penn State spokesman Alan Janesch said most of the students have been treated and released. More than 100 students were taken to three area churches in White Haven, Pennsylvania, near where the accident occurred, for emergency shelter. The students had been out of state as part of a ``Spend a Day in New York'' trip. School officials said about 280 students were on the buses. Yates said Interstate 80 has been closed while accident investigators at the scene try to determine what caused the crash. ``It was very foggy. Whether that was a factor in the accident, I don't know,'' Yates said. Janesch also cited the foggy conditions. ``The buses apparently hit a very thick patch of fog and put on their emergency flashers,'' School officials said plans were under way for counselors and medical staff to meet with students as they return to campus on Sunday. ``We offer our condolences to the families of the deceased and we want to do everything possible to assist the other students who made this trip,'' said Penn State University president Graham Spanier.

And in my quest to bring more good news to the forefront... check out THIS warning you... I cried...

I did as well, and I remember them from the event in Kona...incredible. Thanks for bringing this wonderful story to the attention of readers here.

For those who like their news from WAY outside the Spring...this regarding the Mars landing today from the BBC Online: Nasa engineers are searching for the Mars Polar Lander (MPL). The spacecraft was supposed to have touched down on the surface of the Red Planet at 2015GMT. Final data from the spacecraft suggested all systems were working properly and the entry procedure would go well. But there was no signal from the MPL at 2039GMT, the first opportunity it had to contact mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, US. The delay began what could be a long and anxious wait for scientists who have spent years working on the $165m probe. Nasa stressed the lack of a call did not mean the spacecraft was lost. "This is not entirely unexpected," said Richard Cook, MPL's Project Manger. "Obviously we're a little disappointed not to see a signal (right away). But we were prepared for this, and we're going to go ahead and execute our plan as we described it." One possibility was that the lander's computer slipped into protective safe mode immediately after landing, in which case it would delay sending its first signal. Another scenario was that the probe did not correctly predict where to point its antenna. As it descended through the atmosphere, the lander had to keep track of every twist and turn to keep its bearing. The first data sent to Earth was supposed to include information about MPL's health and a black and white image of the landing site. Scientists sent MPL to Mars to learn about the planet's climate by studying layers of dust and possibly ice during the 90-day mission. It incorporated Instruments that would measure vapour in the atmosphere and a claw that could collect samples to be cooked and analysed for water. It even had a microphone on board to record the first sounds form another world. Loss of the lander would be a devastating blow to Nasa. Only 10 weeks ago, the lander's sibling spacecraft, the $125m Mars Climate Orbiter, burned up in the planet's atmosphere because of an embarrassing mix-up over English units (pounds, feet and inches) and metric units.

Is this under the heading of "The Wages of Sin"??? Retiree Blows Pension on One-Night Stand NAIROBI (Reuters) - A sugar company employee who took early retirement lost his $3,600 pension in a one-night orgy of beer, women and song, Kenyan newspapers reported Thursday. The man, who was unnamed, cashed his 270,000 shilling pension check as soon as he stopped work and headed for a bar. ``Feeling thoroughly liquid and hence unstoppable, he set to conquer a woman from a neighboring country,'' the Kenya Times said. ``The retiree, together with his newfound lover... proceeded to drown other revelers in free beers for hours on end.'' When the bars ran out of beer the couple staggered to a hotel. ``I shall now go for the real thing since the hours seem to be running away,'' the pensioner declared. When he woke, the woman and the last of his pension were gone. She was last seen boarding an early-morning long-distance bus.

Yep, he blew it.

Probably not the first or last time that a guy will do something like that...Unfortuantely!

stacey, thanks for the father-son story. that's a great thing to see! and that guy deserved what he got. blowing away all that hard earned pension money. geez louise, he'd probably do it again too.

...a fool and his money...and all that, no?! Could not resist posting it for all to enjoy (and / learn from)

ok you guys, look up at the sky. you see that huge bright full moon? it's the closest the moon has been to the earth for a whole century! yup, which is why it looks so big. it's beautiful!!

Yup...full story http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/geo/24.27 Just before the moon set behind the snow-crowned Mauna Kea this morning I could have read newspapers by it. Very Bright, indeed!

Wow, that's news outside the Spring for sure, I'll take a look out in Cedar Creek tonight if possible, where it's usually clear skies unfettered by too much city haze.

i tried to get a pic of the newly risen moon (when it appeared to be at it's largest). put fresh film in my rewind challenged camera and we'll see after about 22 more frames!

I should get it setting over the snow tomorrow morning as it sinks slowly behind Mauna Kea...

Send Page Last updated: Thursday - 16:23 Judge Allows Wife to Fulfill Adultery Bet LUSAKA (Reuters) - High court judges say a Zambian housewife is free to be adulterous until February 22, 2000, in a bizarre bet to prove she can have a baby, newspapers reported on Wednesday. The marriage of 37-year-old Dorothy Mapani and her 56-year-old husband Effas Ondya has been childless and the couple have accused each other of being infertile, the Times of Zambia newspaper reported. It said Ondya had asked his wife to have sex with other men and conceive by February 22, 2000. He claimed his wife could not conceive and staked $200 that no child would show up within the agreed time. ``There is clear indication that you have allowed your wife to have sex with other men. The bet remains a bet,'' judges Sainet Chiutambo and Joseph Mumba said in a ruling. The pair had approached Zambia's High Court to rule if their union should continue or if they should separate. The papers did not say how long they had been married.

wow. so who are the lucky adultees? and then imagine the paternity suits to be filed after. *woohoo*, only in Zambia, i guess!

I did not know whether to put that under Ree's topic in Travel or not, so I put a really nasty one in there and this out here where more people would see it. Interesting, no?!

indeed! what happened to going to the sperm bank, you know? well, she'd be getting the stuff fresh, no? *snicker*

Hey, a deal is a deal. *snicker* indeed! No frozen stuff for me - I'd wanna stare the owner straight in the eyes first, and the very least...

Could also be that the Sperm Bank is what is being carried around by each man over there where refrigeration is scarce. You know, those....(do I gotta draw you a .....?!)

please do, if you ask AM, you'd think i forgot all about that stuff!

Cannot be as bad as all that *lol* I am holding up my etch-a-sketch so you can see what I mean...I am better at the actuality than the drawing, but I remember where everything is and what each likes the best...*sigh* Wolfie, it will come swarming back into your conscious mind just as soon as all of those little ears and eyes grow up and vacate the premises. (Yeah, I know...a difficult trade-off and all that.)

hmmm....

Of course, AM can give you an private show-and-tell session starting with champagne and candle light...

Under the Category of Bah! Humbug! Children Stone Santa Claus Who Ignored Them SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - A group of children in northern Chile stoned and robbed Santa Claus after he ignored their pleas to toss them candies from his truck as he drove past them, local press reported on Thursday. Santa-suited Cristian Parenti, 28 was pelted with rocks by the children as they ran alongside his truck after he refused to share his load of candies, daily Las Ultimas Noticias reported. Some of the youngsters climbed aboard the moving truck and stole toys out of his sack before running away. The 300-pound Parenti was heading to a neighborhood in Tocopilla, 960 miles north of Santiago, to deliver boxes of candies that the local government planned to give out later. The unemployed father, hired by the city to don the Santa outfit, was hit twice in the head, in his chest and in his eye, forcing him to seek medical attention at which time him learned that the glue he used to attach his beard had burned his skin, the paper said. ``They left me full of goose eggs,'' he said.

well, did he have candy in his sack? (don't go there marcia *grin*) next time he'll keep extra to deliver on his way to the real destination.

Don't BS with little kids. They knew he was a bogus santa and was being mean. Still, I never have stoned Santa (and I would never have taken candy from a stranger - like my Momma said!)

I think I knew somebody who was a stoned Santa, too...

In the 60's probably most were! *lol*

News from W a y outside the Spring: The next total lunar eclipse is coming on January 21, 2000 a Lunar Calculator is located on the site so you can calculate when and how to see it: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/docs/LunarEclipse.html

btw, Thanksm Maggie, for alerting me to this coming astronomical event *grin* It'll be raining here that night...*sigh* Is Austin really having terrible drought conditions?

Currently, the sky is overcast 24/7, so I don't expect it to be visible by then - no change in weather expected for Central Europe.

Sounds like Hilo weather. It has absolutely deluged since the relatives arrived and looks not to clear till they all leave! Kinda curious, isn't it!

the lunar eclipse was groovy here... not as red as in some of the pictures but reddish and intriguing.

What relies Marci? Austin has had a bit of rain lately, but not enough to cure this drought. It's not "terrible" but it's pretty bad, I'd say. Where did you watch the eclipse, Stace?

According to weather stats, you are in the 4th (or is it 5th?) year of drought. (Terry)What relies Marci? I wish I knew to what this refers...I could tell you, perhaps!

What Was He Thinking Dept: Man Kills Policeman to Avoid Traffic Penalty FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A German who killed a traffic policeman after he was caught speeding said the killing was a bid to avoid penalty points on his licence. The 45-year-old unnamed assailant, who was arrested earlier this week, said he was worried that penalty points from previous speeding offences would mean he would be stripped altogether of his licence. The attack happened last month on a highway 60 miles northeast of Frankfurt after the policeman used a radar gun to record the speed of the attacker's vehicle. The driver stopped, approached the police car on foot and fired once, hitting the 41-year-old father-of-two in the chest and killing him instantly. The bullet then hit a second policeman in the arm. The radar measurement showed the attacker's vehicle to be travelling at 80 miles per hour in a 63 miles per hour zone.

in my driveway Paul... REALLY clear night! bad news Marcia.

There is an even better on in Travel/England (but it does not show up on the unread list on main)

MIAMI (CNNSI.com) -- Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas died Tuesday morning at Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was recovering from a car crash that left him paralyzed from the chest down, a hospital spokeswoman said. Details of his death were not immediately available, said spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson. Thomas, 33, was injured last month when he and two companions were heading to the Kansas City airport to fly to St. Louis for the NFC Championship game. Their car flipped on an icy road. Team president Carl Peterson, who will fly to Miami early this afternoon, offered this statement upon hearing news of Thomas' death: "It's a devastating tragedy to the Kansas City Chiefs family, the people of Kansas City, the fans of the National Football League and to me personally. Derrick Thomas has been such an important part of the Chiefs family for the past 11 years. He has done so much for this team and our city during his time with us. He had so much love for the game, for his teammates and for our town. Our prayers go out to Derrick's family, to his fellow teammates and to our fans who knew Derrick. A light has gone out."

... I thought he was doing well... ???

The last any of us heard he was doing ok. Apparently that broken neck was not all that was wrong with him. Being thrown from a crash is not a good thing!

no, it was just crash injuries... he had a heart attack and they could not bring him back. Possible suspects include a massive blood clot...

As I suspect as well. Internal injuries do that.

That guy who attacked police? He snug up to their van, and fired into the windows, killing one, injuring a second. Within the next two weeks, there were many more police officers injured on duty, a unusual high rate for Germany. I believe that there is a certain copy cat effect at play, like with the teenage violence... After the Columbine event, we had some pretty heavy things ourselves, too - on much smaller scale, but still... Knifes or one rifle suffice, as does one victim to qualify for total horror. I just wish the gun control stuff would get through US American congress. You perhaps don't think so, but people in other countries look to what happens around y'all - courtesy of all the news and entertainment companies that sell the coverage to the world - and not few think that some weird crap were rather cool.

You will not get an arguement from me on gun control of some sort here. I also wish the media (and I am part of that august tradition) would do their part by not making such a publicity thing out of it. Here, in Hilo, they are finally convicting murderers for running over, bludgeoning and raping a young woman and leaving her to die on Christmas Eve a few years ago. While the verdict was being read, movie deals were being made and script writers were being hired. This is definitely a movie I will avoid at all costs. I dread the thought of copy cat incidents.

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