Via: CNN
Pirates off the coast of Somalia seized two freighters Today, proving they remain a force to contend with just days after the U.S. Navy dramatically rescued an American captain held by other pirates.
More developments to come!
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Amazon.com...lets get it together shall we?
So.. I was doing my usual perusing through the news and what do I see? Amazon should be ashamed! Theyve been pulling LGBTQ related books off of their shelves due to content ratings?
Because I'm sure that Ellen Degeneres' autobiography is so distasteful, right?
"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Best regards,
Ashlyn DMember ServicesAmazon.com Advantage"
Ashlyn DMember ServicesAmazon.com Advantage"
Can you say BULLSHIT?
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Barbie's real life dream house created in Malibu!
Via: Laist.com
On the eve of her 50th birthday, interior decorator Jonathan Adler has decked out a real-life 3,500-square-foot pad overlooking the Pacific Ocean to look like the blond doll’s outrageous home.Adler, who was commissioned by toy maker Mattel Inc. to decorate the house for Monday’s party, said outfitting the sleek mansion (a property that’s frequently rented for film and photography shoots) took six months of planning and a few weeks to install.“Barbie was a dream client because she doesn’t exist as a person,“ Adler said. “She exists as fantasy and is the perfect client because she’s always happy and fun and loves everything. I thought to myself, ‘How would Barbie live?‘ What I thought was Barbie would have a house that is glamorous, kittenish, chic, colorful and happy - as well as functional.“Adler lined Barbie’s bedroom with wall-to-wall pink carpeting emblazoned with her initial. The closet is filled with 50 pairs of pink peep-toe heels while her kitchen is stocked with cupcake-making ingredients. An in-house museum features 25 vintage Barbie dolls on display. In the garage? A pink Volkswagen New Beetle with a motorized pop-up vanity in the trunk.“I think this really is Barbie’s Malibu Dream House because the setting is so incredibly dreamy and ethereal,“ Adler said. “We’re perched on a cliff in Malibu overlooking the ocean. It’s a fantasyland for anyone. It was difficult to find the house to celebrate Barbie’s 50th birthday because it had to be the ultimate Malibu house, and I think we found it.“Decorating Barbie’s real-world dream home, which will be the site Monday of a star-studded soiree celebrating the doll’s birthday, was a dream for Adler, the potter and decorator who has served as head judge on Bravo’s “Top Design.“ He said Mattel gave him access to the company’s archives, including a look at all of Barbie’s various dream homes over the years.Following the festivities, most of Barbie’s custom decor will be shipped to the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas to furnish a special pink-tinted Barbie Suite that will be available for bachelorette parties, birthdays or anyone who wants to live like Barbie. Other items will be available from the “Jonathan Adler Loves Barbie” collection launching in September.
Hopes dim in search for survivors of Italian quake
Via: Reuters
L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - Italy prepared to end the search for survivors of its worst earthquake for three decades, which killed at least 293 people and made nearly 40,000 homeless.
A fire department spokesman said rescuers might call off the operation on Saturday night or Sunday after a search beneath the ruins of a four-storey building in the mountain city of L'Aquila failed to turn up anyone alive.
"We said from the start hopes were very slight and unfortunately it looks like we won't find anything," he said.
No survivors from Monday's 6.3-magnitude quake have been pulled from the rubble since Tuesday, and rescue efforts had not been expected to continue beyond the weekend.
Violent aftershocks continued to shake Italy's central Abruzzo region overnight and into the morning, terrifying survivors a day after a state funeral for the dead. The youngest quake victim was a five-month-old boy, killed with his mother.
With Easter around the corner, the thousands of people made homeless by the earthquake tried to find some normalcy in tents and borrowed quarters.
TENT CHAPELS
At the main tent city, where some 2,000 survivors are sheltering, makeshift chapels with Bibles and rosaries were set up in plastic tents for people to pray and an Easter mass will be celebrated on Sunday.
At the main tent city, where some 2,000 survivors are sheltering, makeshift chapels with Bibles and rosaries were set up in plastic tents for people to pray and an Easter mass will be celebrated on Sunday.
"I always used to go to church, and tomorrow I'll do the same," said 75-year-old Carmelina Ciocca, tears in her eyes. "It will help me feel a bit better after all this devastation."
Residents pleaded with security forces at roadblocks to let them recover personal effects from their crumbling houses. "I just want to get some clothes, I've been wearing this tracksuit for five days now," said Melina Giandomenico, who used to live in a central street in L'Aquila where three more bodies were unearthed on Saturday.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said around 24,000 of the homeless were living in emergency camps and 15,000 had been given shelter in hotels or private homes.
The billionaire media mogul, has offered to put up homeless people at three of his own properties.
Attention is starting to turn to the reconstruction of a region that relies on tourism, farming and family firms. More than half the companies in the Abruzzo region are out of action.
One estimate put the damage at up to 3 billion euros ($4 billion), but its impact on Italy's economy, which is worth nearly 2 trillion euros a year and is already mired in recession, is expected to be limited.
One estimate put the damage at up to 3 billion euros ($4 billion), but its impact on Italy's economy, which is worth nearly 2 trillion euros a year and is already mired in recession, is expected to be limited.
So very, very sad.
China congratulates NKorea's Kim on re-election
Via: http://www.breitbart.com/
Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulated Kim Jong-Il on his re-election as leader of North Korea, state media said Saturday, amid widespread international condemnation of Pyongyang's rocket launch.
Hu said in a message that Kim's re-election on Thursday as chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission is an "expression of sincere support and profound trust", Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"I believe that the fraternal Korean people will surely register steady fresh successes in the construction of Korean-style socialism... under the leadership... headed by you," Hu was quoted as saying.
"It is the consistent policy of the party and Government of China to consolidate and develop the Sino-DPRK (North Korea) good neighbourly relations of friendship and cooperation," he said.
Hu noted this year marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between the communist neighbours.
China remains the North's staunchest ally, keeping it afloat with economic aid and helping it diplomatically.
Last Sunday, North Korea fired a rocket over Japan in what Pyongyang called a satellite launch, while Washington, Tokyo and Seoul say it was really an illegal test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Beijing has defended North Korea's right to peaceful use of space, refusing to allow a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the launch.
Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulated Kim Jong-Il on his re-election as leader of North Korea, state media said Saturday, amid widespread international condemnation of Pyongyang's rocket launch.
Hu said in a message that Kim's re-election on Thursday as chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission is an "expression of sincere support and profound trust", Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"I believe that the fraternal Korean people will surely register steady fresh successes in the construction of Korean-style socialism... under the leadership... headed by you," Hu was quoted as saying.
"It is the consistent policy of the party and Government of China to consolidate and develop the Sino-DPRK (North Korea) good neighbourly relations of friendship and cooperation," he said.
Hu noted this year marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between the communist neighbours.
China remains the North's staunchest ally, keeping it afloat with economic aid and helping it diplomatically.
Last Sunday, North Korea fired a rocket over Japan in what Pyongyang called a satellite launch, while Washington, Tokyo and Seoul say it was really an illegal test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Beijing has defended North Korea's right to peaceful use of space, refusing to allow a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the launch.
Ethical questions over harvesting dead son's sperm..
Via: Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) - Nikolas Colton Evans had talked about how much he wanted to have a child, but the 21-year-old died after he was punched and hit his head on the ground in a fight. That would have been the end of it, if it weren't for his determined mother, a court order and a urologist.
Missy Evans has harvested her dead son's sperm and hopes to find a surrogate and one day raise her son's child. It's a decision that ethicists say raises troubling questions; one called the potential offspring a "replacement child."
Evans isn't concerned about what others might think. She says she is only doing what her son would have wanted. "He would love me so much for doing this," she said.
Austin police say Nikolas Evans was punched during a fight on an Austin street early March 27 and then fell to the ground, striking his head. He died April 5. Police are still trying to identify the person who hit him.
After a doctor told her that nothing more could be done for her son, Missy Evans came up with the idea of harvesting his sperm. She discussed the idea with her ex-husband, her older son and other family members, and said all supported her wish to help a part of Nikolas live on through his future offspring. She said her son once told her he wanted three sons and had already picked out names. She described Nikolas as an "old soul" interested in filmmaking, politics, music and old movies.
"My son wanted to graduate from college. He wanted to have children. And someone took that away from him," said Evans, 42, of Bedford, located between Dallas and Fort Worth.
Evans had to go to court to get permission to harvest his sperm. On Tuesday, a Travis County probate judge granted her wish - ordering the county Medical Examiner's Office to keep her son's body chilled to at least 39.2 degrees and allow access so an expert could take the specimen.
Evans' attorney Mark Mueller said no one opposed the plan.
An Austin urologist volunteered her services and collected testicular tissue from the body Wednesday night. Missy Evans said she's been told much of the sperm is viable and is making plans for it to be stored.
Decisions such as Evans' must be made quickly, and allow little time for a grieving person to reflect on the choice, one ethicist said. Using the sperm brings up more issues.
"That child's biological father will be dead. The mother may be an egg donor, anonymous or gestational surrogate," said Tom Mayo, director of Southern Methodist University's Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.
"This is a tough way for a kid to come into the world. As the details emerge and the child learns more about their origins, I just wonder what the impact will be on a replacement child," Mayo said. He said the desire to replace a deceased child is a classic scenario that, in this case, took a nontraditional turn.
"The underlying desire would be very strong, even if she wouldn't describe it that way," he said.
Art Caplan, chair of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said that in the past decade there have probably been about 1,000 such requests by spouses, mothers, girlfriends and others in the U.S. - but most "don't wind up using it."
Caplan said hospitals may have protocols for dealing with such requests, but there are few laws or regulations regarding the practice. It's usually up to a urologist to decide whether to perform the procedure, he said.
It would be rare for a child to be born from sperm retrieved from a dead person, said Melissa Brisman, an attorney on the American Fertility Association's legal advisory council.
"This is an unexpected death in which there are tons of emotions and you don't even know if you want to do it," she said. Mark Vopat, a professor of philosophy and religious studies at Youngstown State University in Ohio, questions whether the court should have granted the mother's request. He said that while Nikolas Evans may have told his mother he wanted children someday, it's wrong to assume he also would have wanted to father a child posthumously if he died prematurely. "This is a disturbing sort of case," he said.
Missy Evans said she is unsure when she'll be ready to seek a surrogate to carry her son's child. But she added that she has no second thoughts about the plan.
"This is probably going to bankrupt me and I will do whatever I can to make it happen," she said.
What do you think?
DALLAS (AP) - Nikolas Colton Evans had talked about how much he wanted to have a child, but the 21-year-old died after he was punched and hit his head on the ground in a fight. That would have been the end of it, if it weren't for his determined mother, a court order and a urologist.
Missy Evans has harvested her dead son's sperm and hopes to find a surrogate and one day raise her son's child. It's a decision that ethicists say raises troubling questions; one called the potential offspring a "replacement child."
Evans isn't concerned about what others might think. She says she is only doing what her son would have wanted. "He would love me so much for doing this," she said.
Austin police say Nikolas Evans was punched during a fight on an Austin street early March 27 and then fell to the ground, striking his head. He died April 5. Police are still trying to identify the person who hit him.
After a doctor told her that nothing more could be done for her son, Missy Evans came up with the idea of harvesting his sperm. She discussed the idea with her ex-husband, her older son and other family members, and said all supported her wish to help a part of Nikolas live on through his future offspring. She said her son once told her he wanted three sons and had already picked out names. She described Nikolas as an "old soul" interested in filmmaking, politics, music and old movies.
"My son wanted to graduate from college. He wanted to have children. And someone took that away from him," said Evans, 42, of Bedford, located between Dallas and Fort Worth.
Evans had to go to court to get permission to harvest his sperm. On Tuesday, a Travis County probate judge granted her wish - ordering the county Medical Examiner's Office to keep her son's body chilled to at least 39.2 degrees and allow access so an expert could take the specimen.
Evans' attorney Mark Mueller said no one opposed the plan.
An Austin urologist volunteered her services and collected testicular tissue from the body Wednesday night. Missy Evans said she's been told much of the sperm is viable and is making plans for it to be stored.
Decisions such as Evans' must be made quickly, and allow little time for a grieving person to reflect on the choice, one ethicist said. Using the sperm brings up more issues.
"That child's biological father will be dead. The mother may be an egg donor, anonymous or gestational surrogate," said Tom Mayo, director of Southern Methodist University's Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.
"This is a tough way for a kid to come into the world. As the details emerge and the child learns more about their origins, I just wonder what the impact will be on a replacement child," Mayo said. He said the desire to replace a deceased child is a classic scenario that, in this case, took a nontraditional turn.
"The underlying desire would be very strong, even if she wouldn't describe it that way," he said.
Art Caplan, chair of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said that in the past decade there have probably been about 1,000 such requests by spouses, mothers, girlfriends and others in the U.S. - but most "don't wind up using it."
Caplan said hospitals may have protocols for dealing with such requests, but there are few laws or regulations regarding the practice. It's usually up to a urologist to decide whether to perform the procedure, he said.
It would be rare for a child to be born from sperm retrieved from a dead person, said Melissa Brisman, an attorney on the American Fertility Association's legal advisory council.
"This is an unexpected death in which there are tons of emotions and you don't even know if you want to do it," she said. Mark Vopat, a professor of philosophy and religious studies at Youngstown State University in Ohio, questions whether the court should have granted the mother's request. He said that while Nikolas Evans may have told his mother he wanted children someday, it's wrong to assume he also would have wanted to father a child posthumously if he died prematurely. "This is a disturbing sort of case," he said.
Missy Evans said she is unsure when she'll be ready to seek a surrogate to carry her son's child. But she added that she has no second thoughts about the plan.
"This is probably going to bankrupt me and I will do whatever I can to make it happen," she said.
What do you think?
Friday, April 10, 2009
NEW SCHOOL OCCUPATION ENDS IN 22 ARRESTS
Via the NY post today.
Educate. Speak. Change.
Police in riot gear swarmed a New School University building this morning, arresting 22 students and ending an occupation after just five hours.
Protesters dressed in hooded sweatshirts with scarves covering their faces had taken over the building, at 65 Fifth Avenue, at 6 a.m., hoisting an anarchist flag from the roof and draping across the door a banner reading, "New School University is now occupied."
It was the second protest in five months calling for the resignation of President Bob Kerrey.
Witnesses said more than 30 cops, wearing helmets and some carrying shields, stormed the school shortly after 11 a.m. They arrested 15 men and four women. Another three were arrested outside. Charges are pending, cops said.
Protesters immediately accused cops of using force and tear gas to take back the school -- but police denied using any excessive force.
"It took the pigs and New School authorities pepper spray, tear gas and beating up some bystanders outside," ranted a blogger who claimed to represent the protesters.
The blog then called for supporters to rally outside NYPD's 6th Precinct, where the occupiers were being held.
"No force was used," said a police spokesman. "Everything was peaceful."
The same building had been occupied for 30 hours in December by a group calling themselves "New School in Exile." It claimed to be protesting Kerrey's management of the school.
Students announced they would "shut down the university" if Kerrey did not resign by April 1.
Kerrey told the school's Free Press newspaper, "I cannot consider them students at this point."
Cops closed Fifth Avenue, between 12th and 14th Streets, to pedestrian traffic for the duration of yesterday's protest..
Kerrey told the school's Free Press newspaper, "I cannot consider them students at this point."
Cops closed Fifth Avenue, between 12th and 14th Streets, to pedestrian traffic for the duration of yesterday's protest..
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