September 2011
1 post
1 tag
February 2010
1 post
September 2009
1 post
1 tag
Watchmdfsmash:
elspethjane:
Time Lapse of the Los Angeles fires.
(via BoingBoing)
August 2009
1 post
BREAKING: STEVEN FRANK RETURNS TO IPHONE →
July 2009
15 posts
NASA to Provide Web Updates on Objects Approaching... →
PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is introducing a new Web site that will provide a centralized resource for information on near-Earth objects – those asteroids and comets that can approach Earth. The “Asteroid Watch” site also contains links for the interested public to sign up for NASA’s new asteroid widget and Twitter account. “Most...
U.S. to increase size of army →
The United States will temporarily increase the size of its army by 22,000 soldiers to deal with demands placed on the force by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.
The U.S. army currently has a total troop strength of 547,000. Roughly 130,000 are serving in Iraq, while the troop numbers in Afghanistan will rise to 68,000 by the end of the year.
...
NY Times: Debris strikes Endeavour during liftoff →
As the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off into orbit Monday evening, several pieces of debris fell off the external fuel tank and at least one hit the orbiter.
The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for a 16-day construction mission to the International Space Station.
Astronauts in space and engineers on the ground will be spending the next few days examining and analyzing the damage...
Plane crashes in Iran, 168 believed killed →
(CNN) — A plane crashed Wednesday in northwestern Iran, state television reported. All 168 aboard were believed to be dead.
The passenger plane is thought to have crashed near the Iranian city of Qazvin, Iranian Press TV reported.
The Russian-made Tupolev plane went down near Jannat-abad village near Qazvin at 11:33 a.m. on Wednesday, the station reported.
Bulls gore 4 runners in Spain →
Four people were gored, two of them seriously, at the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, on Sunday.
Bulls are let loose on the city’s streets every day for the eight days of the San Fermin Festival and thrill-seekers can run alongside them.
During the sixth day of the festival, one of the bulls became separated from the pack, turned back and charged at runners.
One runner was...
North Korea a suspect in cyber attacks in US,... →
North Korea, which has been firing missiles and spewing threats against the United States, was identified by South Korea’s main spy agency Wednesday as a suspect in the cyber attacks targeting government and other Web sites in the U.S. and South Korea.
North Korea is not known for its computing prowess, but experts said such attacks would be easy — and cheap — to mount by hiring outside...
China's Xinjiang province put under curfew →
Officials in China’s Xinjiang province imposed a curfew in a continued crackdown on protesters as Han Chinese clashed with Uighurs in the provincial capital on Tuesday.
After bringing in riot police to break up multiple protests on Tuesday, the Xinjiang regional government announced that a curfew would be imposed for the evening hours.
Riot police using loudspeakers appealed to about 300...
Judge Acquits Lori Drew in Cyberbullying Case,... →
A federal judge on Thursday overturned guilty verdicts against Lori Drew, issuing a directed acquittal on three misdemeanor charges.
Drew, 50, was accused of participating in a cyberbullying scheme against 13-year-old Megan Meier who later committed suicide. The case against Drew hinged on the government’s novel argument that violating MySpace’s terms of service was the legal equivalent of...
AP: "An intact Air France Flight 447 slammed belly... →
(via inothernews)
India court rules gay sex legal →
A top Indian court has issued a landmark ruling decriminalising gay sex between consenting adults, overturning colonial-era legislation that outlawed homosexuality.
The New Delhi High Court ruled that an existing statute prohibiting homosexual acts was discriminatory and therefore a “violation of fundamental rights” accorded under the constitution.
The statute in question is a...
US judge bans 'Catcher in the Rye' sequel →
A US judge has banned publication of a book promoted as a sequel to JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.
US District Judge Deborah Batts ruled that Swedish author Fredrik Colting’s novel too closely mirrored Mr Salinger’s 1951 classic.
Mr Salinger brought the lawsuit against Mr Colting, with his lawyers calling the book a “rip-off pure and simple”.
NY Times: FDA orders suicide warnings for two... →
inothernews:
Federal drug regulators warned Wednesday that patients taking two popular stop-smoking drugs should be watched closely for signs of serious mental illness, as reported suicides among the drugs’ users mount.
But officials emphasized that patients should not be scared away from taking the smoking-cessation medicines, Chantix, made by Pfizer, and Zyban, made by GlaxoSmithKline.
...
Franken: 'Thrilled' at Minn. Senate win - Capitol... →
outofsight:
Finally, and only eight months late. To the best of my knowledge, Franken is the first former-member of Saturday Night Live to join the ranks of federal politics.
June 2009
43 posts
Teen survives Yemeni plane crash →
There are reports of other survivors, including the Captain, but so far this is the only one officials are confirming.
U.S. Troops leave Iraqi cities →
US troops are withdrawing from towns and cities in Iraq, six years after the invasion, having formally handed over security duties to new Iraqi forces.
A public holiday - National Sovereignty Day - has been declared, and the capital, Baghdad, threw a giant party to mark the eve of the changeover.
US-led combat operations are due to end by September 2010, with all troops gone from Iraq by the...
Yemen jet crashes in Indian Ocean →
A Yemeni airliner with 153 people on board has crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Comoros archipelago.
Some bodies have been spotted, a Yemeni aviation official said, and wreckage of the plane located. It is not clear whether there were survivors.
The Airbus 310 flight IY626, operated by Yemeni carrier Yemenia Air, was flying from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
It is not clear what caused the...
‘Infomercial King’ Billy Mays Found Dead in Home →
danhacker:
“Television pitchman Billy Mays — who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets — died Sunday, FOX News confirms.
Mays was found unresponsive by his wife inside his Tampa, Fla., home at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Tampa Police Department.
Police said there were no signs of forced entry to May’s residence and foul...
Iran Says Vote Was the ‘Healthiest’ Since the... →
TEHRAN — Despite new international criticism, the Iranian authorities showed no sign Friday of bending to domestic or foreign pressure, saying that the disputed presidential vote on June 12 was the “healthiest” in three decades.
The uncompromising words emerged as the Group of Eight countries, including the United States, fired a fresh broadside Friday saying they “deplored” the post-election...
Shock and grief over Jackson death →
Note: though this has definitely made the rounds a few times already, we can’t claim to be a newsy tumblr without this story.
Teen strip-searched in school wins partial... →
A former middle-school student who was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain medication won a partial victory of her Supreme Court appeal Thursday in a case testing the discretion of officials to ensure classroom safety.
Savana Redding leaves the U.S Supreme Court in April. She was 13 when she was strip-searched.
Savana Redding was 13 when administrators suspected that...
Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol and actress, dies →
Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and “Charlie’s Angels” stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, has died. She was 62
Many sharks 'facing extinction' →
Many species of open ocean shark are under serious threat, according to an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Red list gives the status of 64 types of shark and ray, over 30% of which are threatened with extinction.
The authors, IUCN’s Shark Specialist Group, say a main cause is overfishing.
Listed as endangered are two species of hammerhead...
Oscars Will Now Feature 10 Best Picture Nominees →
danhacker:
Beverly Hills, CA (June 24, 2009) — The 82nd Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 7, 2010, will have 10 feature films vying in the Best Picture category, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced today (June 24) at a press conference in Beverly Hills.
“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when...
Iranian footballers who wore green armbands to... →
soupsoup:
kaytee:
A follow-up on the guys from this video.
Four footballers who wore green armbands in solidarity with Iranian protesters have been forced to retire from the national team.
Their gesture in a recent World Cup match in Seoul attracted worldwide attention last week.
But the authorities have now taken revenge revenge by imposing life bans on Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia,...
Associated Press: Protestors clash with police... →
inothernews:
Protesters and riot police clashed in the streets around Iran’s parliament Wednesday as hundreds of people converged on a Tehran square in defiance of government orders to halt demonstrations demanding a new presidential election, witnesses said.
Security forces appeared to vastly outnumber the demonstrators, and they beat protesters gathered on Baharestan Square with batons and...
Family, friends mourn Neda, the Iranian woman... →
Despite Law, Job Conditions Worsen in China →
While the accident at the Yiuwah factory was particularly tragic, working conditions elsewhere are worsening. A year and a half after a landmark labor law took effect in China, experts say conditions have actually deteriorated in southern China’s export-oriented factories, which produce many of America’s less expensive retail goods.
With China’s exports reeling and unemployment rising because...
Petition to the UNO and the EU →
Petition for the release of all Iranians, particularly the university students, who have been inhumanely and unlawfully arrested across Iran since the June 12, 2009 Iranian presidential elections and the ensuing nation-wide demonstrations!
Times Reporter Escapes Taliban After 7 Months →
David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban, escaped Friday night and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mr. Rohde, along with a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was abducted outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 10 while he was researching a book.
Mr. Rohde...
WSJ: Steve Jobs had liver transplant →
Apple boss Steve Jobs received a liver transplant about two months ago and is expected to return to work later this month, a US newspaper has reported.
The Wall Street Journal said the Apple chief executive would be returning to his job on schedule, but may initially work part-time.
Neither Mr Jobs nor a company spokeswoman confirmed the report, the newspaper said.
McDonald's Europe seeks to raise farming standards →
WYTHAM, England (Reuters) - Restaurant chain McDonald’s Europe launched a farming program on Thursday which could lead to cows getting weekly foot baths but water being saved in the production of lettuce and tomatoes.
The company, which has 6,600 restaurants in 40 European countries, is seeking to tackle a wide range of environmental and animal welfare issues through a flagship farm...
Woman illegally downloads 24 songs, fined to tune... →
(CNN) — A federal jury Thursday found a 32-year-old Minnesota woman guilty of illegally downloading music from the Internet and fined her $80,000 each — a total of $1.9 million — for 24 songs.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset’s case was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in the United States, her attorney said.
Attorney Joe Sibley said that his client was...
NASA Scientists Bring Light to Moon's Permanently... →
PASADENA, Calif. — A new lunar topography map with the highest resolution of the moon’s rugged south polar region provides new information on some of our natural satellite’s darkest inhabitants — permanently shadowed craters. The map was created by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., who collected the data using the Deep Space...
NY Times: Supreme Court rules 5-4 that inmates... →
inothernews:
Convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence after being found guilty, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
In a 5-to-4 decision, the court found against William G. Osborne, a convicted rapist from Alaska. But the decision does not necessarily mean that many innocent prisoners will languish in their cells without access...
Watchsoupsoup:
Protesters take to Tehran’s streets. (via Telegraph.co.uk)
The Chosun Ilbo: N.Korean Heir Apparent Linked to... →
soupsoup:
kaytee:
Close aides of Kim Jong-un, the 26-year-old third son and heir apparent of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, last week attempted to assassinate the leader’s first son Jong-nam, KBS reported Monday citing Chinese government sources.
Aides to Kim Jong-un planned to assassinate Jong-nam, who lives in Macau, after first eliminating his close aides in North Korea. The sources said,...
'Web 2.0 beats octomom to become millionth word →
(via hydeordie)
Hostages' bodies 'found in Yemen' →
At least three foreign hostages seized in Yemen have been found dead, officials say.
They are thought to be from a group of nine foreigners, three of them children, who were kidnapped last week in a mountainous northern area.
The group comprised seven Germans, a British national and a South Korean.
Iran's Disputed Election →
Following up from last Friday’s entry about Iran’s Presidential Election, Tehran and other cities have seen the largest street protests and rioting since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Supporters of reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, upset at their announced loss and suspicions of voter fraud, took to the streets both peacefully and, in some cases, violently to vent their...
Humans prefer cockiness to expertise (New... →
brocatus:
psychotherapy:
Ever wondered why the pundits who failed to predict the current economic crisis are still being paid for their opinions? It’s a consequence of the way human psychology works in a free market, according to a study of how people’s self-confidence affects the way others respond to their advice.
The research, by Don Moore of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,...
North Korea to ‘Weaponize’ Its Plutonium →
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea responded to new United Nations sanctions on Saturday by defiantly vowing to press forward with production of nuclear weapons and take “resolute military actions” against efforts to isolate it.
In a statement on the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, an unnamed spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying that his nation will...