Gone Jelly Fishing

daryllorette's webcam video September 16, 2011 02:16 AM

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:17:00 +0000

Homeownership stays at lowest level in a decade

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:12:00 +0000

WASHINGTON – The nation's homeownership rate remained at its lowest in more than a decade, hampered by a rise in foreclosures and weak demand for housing.

The percentage of households that owned their homes was unchanged at 66.9 percent in the July-September quarter, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. That's the same as the April-June quarter.

The last time the rate was lower was in 1999, when the rate was 66.7 percent.

For decades, 64 percent of American homes were owned by their occupants. That began to climb in 1995, with strong encouragement from President Bill Clinton and later on from President George W. Bush.

Democrats, including Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., pushed for mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase more loans targeted toward low-income Americans. Republicans encouraged subprime lending to borrowers with weak credit and fought off regulation of the industry, despite warnings that many of those loans had predatory terms.

Homeownership hit a peak of more than 69 percent in 2004 at the height of the housing boom. But the housing bubble burst in 2006 and the rate has been declining gradually since then.

"They just assumed: The more homeownership the better," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal Washington think-tank.

A record number of foreclosures and tight lending standards are expected to keep pushing the homeownership rate down and it will eventually return to pre-1995 levels, said IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport.

The housing troubles have brought the government's role in promoting homeownership into question. Most analysts agree that both the Clinton and Bush administrations placed too much emphasis on encouraging homeownership — promoting and enabling loans to borrowers with poor credit and those with small down payments.

"The consensus is, in a lot of cases, it just makes sense for a lot of people to rent," Newport said.

About 18.8 million homes, or 14.4 percent of all houses and apartments, were vacant, according to the government survey. Without vacation homes, that rate would be 11 percent.

The number of vacant homes has soared over the past four years from about 16 million at the start of 2006. It has been hovering around 19 million since the end of 2008. There are around 131 million housing units nationwide, according to the Census Bureau.

About 2.5 percent of all primary residences were vacant and for sale and 10.3 percent of all year-round rental units were listed as vacant and for rent.

Banks have seized more than 816,000 homes through the first nine months of the year and are on pace to seize more than a million, according to foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc.

Cleveland Orchestra seeks to encourage young fans

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:34:00 +0000

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Orchestra plans to offer children under 18 free admission to many of its performances to help foster new generations of patrons.

Young adults ages 18 to 34 will be offered special online discounts in another part of an effort being announced Tuesday.

Orchestra executive director Gary Hanson tells The Plain Dealer newspaper the orchestra seeks to increase its "relevance" and build audiences.

Next summer, children under 18 will have free admission to lawn seating for performances at the Blossom Music Center amphitheater. The offer will eventually expand to some or all performances at the orchestra's concert hall.

Chief marketing officer Ross Binnie says the orchestra wants to fill every seat.

___

Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Latest "God of War" videogame hits US

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:54:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO — The "God of War III" videogame hit the stores Tuesday eagerly awaited by US fans of the franchise based on a Spartan warrior's vendetta against Greek gods.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) said the videogame is the final installment in a trilogy crafted exclusively for the Japanese electronic titan's PlayStation 3 consoles.

The latest title "couples jaw-dropping visuals with a gripping story sure to amaze fans and newcomers alike," said SCEA marketing vice president Scott Steinberg.

The action game picks up where the second title in the franchise let off. Fictional warrior Kratos must battle his way through Hades and to the top of Mount Olympus in a quest to alter his fate.

SCEA promises 3-D worlds that allow for "astonishing realism and new heightened levels of brutality and gore."

Some US shops opened a minute into Tuesday to begin selling "God of War III," which was priced at 60 dollars per copy.

Sony is counting on blockbuster titles to boost sales of its PlayStation 3 consoles, which compete with Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii devices.

Captain of 'Deadliest Catch' ship suffers stroke

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

SEATTLE – The Seattle-based captain of the "Deadliest Catch" fishing vessel Cornelia Marie has been flown to Anchorage after suffering a stroke while the boat was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska.

According to the vessel's Web site, Capt. Phil Harris was stricken Friday night. Harris was flown to Anchorage and underwent surgery over the weekend. His sons, Josh and Jake, joined him there.

The Web site account says it may be some time before "anything substantial" is known about Harris' condition.

The Discovery Channel reality show depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska.

The Web site reports a family friend, Derek Ray, has flown to St. Paul to take over the role of relief skipper for the rest of the opilio crab season.

___

On The Net:

• http://www.corneliamarie.com

Egypt bars Gaza-bound aid convoys

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:19:00 +0000

CAIRO — Aid convoys bound for the Gaza Strip will now be banned from travelling across Egypt after activists this week clashed with police, the foreign minister said in remarks published on Saturday.

Ahmed Abul Gheit told government newspaper Al-Ahram that members of one convoy led by British MP George Galloway committed "criminal" acts on Egyptian soil on their way to the blockaded Palestinian coastal enclave.

"Egypt will no longer allow convoys, regardless of their origin or who is organising them, from crossing its territory," Abul Gheit said.

"Members of the (Viva Palestina) convoy committed hostile acts, even criminal ones, on Egyptian territory," the foreign minister added without elaborating.

On Tuesday night activists with the Viva Palestina convoy clashed with police in Egyptian the port town of El-Arish, 45 kilometres (30 miles) from the Gaza border.

They had been protesting an Egyptian decision to send some of the convoy's trucks to Gaza through Israel.

Seven protesters were arrested during Tuesday's clashes, but police swapped them for four policemen held by the activists.

A prosecutor in El-Arish later issued warrants for the arrest of seven activists, including two Britons and an American woman.

Abul Gheit was speaking to Al-Ahram from Washington where he is on a visit to discuss the Middle East peace process. He said that, from now on aid, to Gaza must be handed over to the Red Crescent at El-Arish who will turn it over to the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim relief organisation in Gaza.

The comments come a day after a foreign ministry official told Galloway he was no longer welcome in Egypt as he flew out of the country.

Later on Friday, Galloway told Sky News television he and a friend had been "bundled into a car" and given little choice but to get on a plane out of Egypt. "On the steps of the plane a representative of the foreign affairs ministry in Egypt told me that I was declared persona non grata," he said.

Egypt accused Galloway, who once called at a London rally for the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, of trying to embarrass the country, which has refused to permanently open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

Activists appeal to Mubarak over entry into Gaza

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:28:00 +0000

CAIRO — International activists planning to enter Gaza from Egypt for a march appealed to President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday to allow them to enter the blockaded enclave through the Rafah crossing.

Organisers of the Gaza Freedom March had earlier said they would try to defy the ban after Egypt turned down their request to pass through Rafah, the Gaza Strip's only crossing that bypasses Israel.

"We plead to you to let the Gaza Freedom March continue so that we can join the Palestinians of Gaza to march together on December 31," the activists said in a statement addressed to Mubarak.

Egypt said it would prevent their passage because of the "sensitive situation" in Gaza and warned Monday of legal repercussions for anyone defying the ban.

Around 1,300 international delegates from 42 countries have signed up to join the Gaza Freedom March which was due to enter Gaza via Egypt during the last week of December.

On the morning of December 31, participants were due to join Palestinians "in a non-violent march from northern Gaza to the Erez/Israeli border," organisers said on their website.

US soldier killed in Afghanistan bomb attack: NATO

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:21:00 +0000

KABUL — An American soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb while serving with NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said Saturday.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the soldier died on Friday, but gave no details of where the incident took place.

The death of the American, who was not named, was the only known Christmas Day fatality among the 113,000 international troops deployed to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"An ISAF service member from the United States died following an IED strike in southern Afghanistan Friday," the ISAF statement said.

The death takes this year's international military casualties in Afghanistan to 505, according to an AFP tally based on independent website icasualties.org which tracks military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This year has been the deadliest since the 2001 US-led invasion, backed by most NATO countries, forced the Taliban from government.

The Taliban, who were in power from 1996-2001, are trying to overthrow the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. The Islamist militia have consistently rejected reconciliation calls by Kabul.

The United States and NATO are boosting their military presence by another 40,000 troops in an influx that should be completed by August next year, military officials in Kabul have said.

Links for 2009-12-21 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST

My Blog
My New Blog! (Avatar Background)

Climate deal meets furious reception

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:42:00 +0000

COPENHAGEN — Fury erupted Saturday at a gruelling summit in Copenhagen on rolling back climate change as poor nations took to task a draft deal whose supporters even said was less than they sought.

US President Barack Obama said an "unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among day-long meetings involving about two dozen presidents and prime ministers gathered in Copenhagen.

Obama admitted the so-called Copenhagen Accord did not go far enough, but characterised its provisions as "meaningful," arguing they provided a tool for ratcheting up action on greenhouse gases.

But hours after Obama and other key leaders flew home, delegates from 194 nations gathered to approve the text and met a raucous response from several developing states that resented not being part of the closed-door discussions.

Venezuela's representative Claudia Salerno Caldera held up what appeared to be a bloody palm, saying that she had cut her hand in an effort to gain the attention of conference chair Denmark.

"You are going to endorse this coup d'etat against the United Nations," she said as an all-night session approached dawn on its 13th day.

Ian Fry of Tuvalu, a tiny Pacific island whose very existence is threatened by climate change, said the agreement amounted to Biblical betrayal and vowed to defeat it.Related article: Climate deal 'worst in history': G77

"It looks like we are being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future," he said to applause in the chamber.

The agreement set a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important stepping stones -- global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 -- for getting there.

Nor did it spell out a year by which emissions should peak, a demand made by rich countries that was fiercely opposed by China, or insist on tough compliance mechanisms to ensure nations honoured their promises.

Somewhat more successfully, it spelt out some details for how poor countries should be financially aided to shore up their defences against rising seas, water stress, floods and storms.

Rich countries pledged to commit 30 billion dollars in "short-track" finance for the 2010-2012 period, including 11 billion from Japan, 10.6 billion from the European Union and 3.6 billion dollars from the United States.

They also set a goal of "jointly mobilising" 100 billion dollars by 2020, although details were sketchy.

The US president said before leaving Copenhagen that what had been billed as one the most important summits since World War II would be the starting gun for a much stronger effort to combat global warming.

"Today we have made a meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough here in Copenhagen," Obama told reporters.

"For the first time in history, all major economies have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change."

He added: "Going forward, we are going to have to build on the momentum we have achieved here in Copenhagen. We have come a long way but we have much further to go."

"The agreement is not perfect but it's the best one possible," Sarkozy told reporters, adding that another global warming summit would be hosted by Germany in mid-2010.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted she viewed the result "with mixed emotions" but added that "the only alternative to the agreement would have been a failure."

The deal was hammered out in talks between Obama and the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa as well as key European countries, diplomats said.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that talks had been close to collapse on seven occasions, but were ultimately saved by sharp deal-making in which Obama played a lead role.

China had bristled at anything called "verification" of its plan to cut the intensity of its carbon emissions, seeing it as an infringement of sovereignty and saying that rich nations bore primary responsibility for global warming.

Disagreements between the China and United States -- the world's No. 1 and 2 carbon polluters -- had been at the core of the divisions holding up a deal.

The emergence of a deal came at the end of a day in which several draft agreements were knocked back, with leaders themselves taking over the task of redrafting the exact wording of three pages of text.

Different versions of the document showed the leaders particularly split over whether to fix a firm date for finalising a legally binding treaty in 2010, and a commitment to slashing global carbon emissions in half by 2050.

The agreement was met with dismay by campaigners, who said it was weak, non-binding and sold out the poor.

"By delaying action, rich countries have condemned millions of the world's poorest people to hunger, suffering and loss of life as climate change accelerates," said Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, calling the outcome "an abject failure".

"The blame for this disastrous outcome is squarely on the developed nations."

Antonio Hill of Oxfam charged: "It can't even be called a deal. It has no deadline for an agreement in 2010 and there is no certainty that it will be a legally binding agreement."

Protesters condemn Swiss minaret ban

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:59:00 +0000

BERN — Some 500 protesters gathered outside parliament in Bern on Saturday to condemn a Swiss ban on the building of new minarets, approved in a referendum last month.

Some were seen with cardboard placards reading "Islam" and "We are Muslims, not Hitler," as organisers from the Swiss central Islamic council, sought to send a message that Islam is a peaceful religion that teaches its followers to respect other faiths.

Nicolas Blancho, a Swiss Muslim co-organiser of the demonstration, told the crowd that Muslims are not seeking to impose Sharia law in Switzerland, the domestic ATS news agency reported.

In an unexpected outcome, 57.5 percent of Swiss voters in a November 29 referendum approved a proposal put forward by the far right to ban the construction of minarets.

The move drew widespread criticism, with UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay calling the ban "deeply discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take."

The Swiss government sought to assure the country's 400,000 Muslims, who are mainly of Balkan and Turkish origin, that the outcome was "not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture."

Switzerland has around 200 mosques, with just four minarets between them.

Obama vows to help America's unemployed

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:39:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama vowed on Saturday to work tirelessly to get unemployed Americans back to work now that new statistics have shown a slight improvement on the job creation front.

"My commitment to you, the American people, is that I will focus every single day on how we can get people back to work, and how we can build an economy that continues to make real the promise of America for generations to come," Obama said in his weekly radio address.

The US labor market witnessed a dramatic improvement in November as the number of jobs lost narrowed to 11,000 and the unemployment rate dipped to 10.0 percent, official data showed Friday.

The Labor Department figures showed the labor market nearing positive territory, suggesting the economy is approaching job growth needed to sustain a fragile recovery.

The report was far better than analyst expectations for a loss of 125,000 jobs and a jobless rate unchanged from October at 10.2 percent.

Obama welcomed the data, saying they "reflected a continuing positive trend" of diminishing job loss. But he insisted much more needed to be done to provide Americans with stable, well-paying employment.

"For those who were laid off last month and the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs in this recession, a good trend isn't good enough," he said.

"Trends don't buy the groceries. Trends don't pay the rent or a college tuition. Trends don't fulfill the need within each of us to be productive, to provide for our families, to make the most of our lives, to reach for our dreams."

The president stressed the need for a long-term solution to America's economic woes, arguing that his efforts were necessary to reform the US health care system, give children the best education in the world, achieve energy independence by investing in a clean energy economy, and to deal with the mounting federal debt.

He also said that in the coming days, he will be unveiling "additional ideas aimed at accelerating job growth and hiring," but stopped short of offering specifics.

However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday that Obama could endorse the use of remaining funds of a 700-billion-dollar bailout for the financial industry to fund job creation programs.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said this week that untapped Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money could fund infrastructure investments like water projects, rapid transit, high-speed rail, and expanding Internet access and helping small businesses.

Critics of the scheme however have suggested using unspent TARP funds to pay down part of the huge US budget deficit projected by the White House to hit 1.502 trillion dollars in fiscal 2010.

According to a report to Congress in October, 317 billion dollars remains to be spent under the fund, including 70 billion repaid by financial institutions bailed out under the program.

Obama said at Thursday's jobs summit at the White House that he was not prepared to wait to push job creation measures -- but warned that government cash was limited given the size of the deficit so he called on the private sector to help.

Other possible approaches include offering small businesses a tax break to take on new workers for job-intensive energy projects.

Republicans on Friday stepped up their assault on Obama, blaming him for "job killing" policies, including his backing for a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

House minority leader John Boehner said any decrease in the unemployment rate was "encouraging" but he warned of a "jobless recovery" and double-digit unemployment.

The Labor Department's highly anticipated jobs report Friday showed an unexpectedly sharp improvement in the troubled labor market, key to building a sustainable recovery from the worst recession in decades.

The readings beat average analyst forecasts of 125,000 jobs lost and a jobless rate unchanged, with the job-loss number the lowest since the economy entered recession in December 2007.

Dubai crisis, holiday sales will dominate trading

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:29:00 +0000

NEW YORK – Investors may have to do some emotional juggling as the trading week begins.

While markets around the world continue to assess the fallout from Dubai's worrisome debt problems, investors trying to get a handle on the global economy will also factor in some encouraging U.S. retail sales over the Thanksgiving weekend. The question for many is whether they should focus on the possibility of another spreading credit crisis, or signs that consumer spending in this country may indeed be stabilizing.

News that Dubai's investment arm, Dubai World, could default on $60 billion in debt sent world markets skidding on Thanksgiving, and U.S. stock markets initially followed when trading resumed Friday after the holiday. Wall Street regained some ground as overseas exchanges stabilized and as analysts reported that U.S. banks had relatively limited exposure to the problems in the Persian Gulf city-state.

Stock index futures showed more signs of steadying late Sunday. Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 0.3 percent, while Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 0.4 percent.

Stock markets were also up as the week's trading began Monday in Asia.

Investors might have had some reassurance from Sunday's news that the United Arab Emirates' central bank will offer additional liquidity to banks, a move designed to keep credit markets from freezing up.

Still, Dubai World's troubles gave a jolt to investors who had set aside many of their concerns about risk during the stock market's almost nine-month rally. Suddenly, they had to worry that the crisis in Dubai could be a harbinger of similar problems in other countries. And if traders decide to hunker down rather than take on more risk, they're likely to keep selling stocks and turn to the relative safety of Treasury bonds and the dollar.

"Markets were getting a bit complacent," said Jeff Mortimer, chief investment officer at Charles Schwab Investment Management. "This is a wake-up call" that the economic recovery is going to be choppy and uneven, he added.

Right now, some analysts aren't worried that the stock rally might be in jeopardy — and say traders may decide to focus on growing evidence of a U.S. economic recovery.

"I don't think it's big enough to be a game-changer," Mortimer said of Dubai's debt problems. "It gets my attention. But does it push the trains off the tracks and is everything lost? Certainly not."

Retailers' reports that Thanksgiving weekend sales were respectable may be a pleasant distraction for the stock market. Store owners said shopper traffic was up from a year ago, and held steady through the weekend after a big surge Friday. However, consumers were focusing on the basics, as expected.

Investors have been concerned that rising unemployment would make consumers reluctant to spend on nonessentials. The market will get stores' official take on the weekend on Thursday, when many of the big companies release their sales results for November.

The first few days of December will also bring key economic reports including the Labor Department's November employment report, scheduled for Friday. The number of jobs being lost each month has generally been declining, with 190,000 slashed in October, and economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect that number to have fallen to 130,000 in November.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, is forecast to remain stable at 10.2 percent.

Analysts have been questioning whether the stock market has gotten ahead of the actual economic recovery, especially since some of its recent advance has been due to the dollar's weakness. Many investors were theorizing that the falling dollar would help guarantee that U.S. interest rates would remain stable, making it easier for companies to borrow. Moreover, when the dollar is down, companies that do business with other countries find it easier to sell their goods and services overseas, and their profits rise when those sales are translated into dollars.

Stocks have been on a fairly steady churn higher since hitting 12-year lows in March. Even with Friday's sell-off, the Dow is still up more than 57 percent from the March bottom.

The Dow lost 1.5 percent on Friday, but was down less than 0.1 percent for the holiday-shortened week. U.S. markets were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and closed three hours early on Friday.

The S&P 500 index tumbled 1.7 percent Friday, and was essentially flat for the week after a big rally Monday was offset by Friday's declines.

In other economic data expected this week, the Institute for Supply Management releases its monthly readings on the manufacturing and service sectors.

Economists predict the ISM manufacturing index, due out Tuesday, dipped to 55 in November from 55.7 in October. A reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector. The ISM service-sector index, due Thursday, is forecast to have risen to 51.5 last month from 50.6 in October.

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Ferry death toll rises to 62

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:49:00 +0000

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Authorities say the death toll from a weekend capsizing of a ferry in southern Bangladesh has risen to 62 after the recovery of an additional four bodies.

Local police official Mohammad Bayezid said Monday rescuers plucked four bodies overnight from River Tetulia, where the overcrowded triple-deck ferry capsized.

The M.V. Coco was packed with hundreds of travelers leaving Dhaka to head home for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha when it went down late Friday. It started to take on water as it arrived at Nazirhat town in the coastal district of Bhola, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of the capital.

Rescuers said most of the bodies were pulled out from inside the submerged cabins and hulls of the ferry.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A rescue ship righted a capsized ferry on Sunday, easing the work of those searching the submerged cabins for scores believed trapped inside more than a day after the boat sank in southern Bangladesh. So far, 58 people have been confirmed dead, authorities said.

Gas torches were used to cut open submerged cabins, and local residents joined divers to search for survivors inside the ferry in the Tetulia River. Operations picked up Sunday — more than 36 hours after the accident — when a rescue ship used iron ropes to right the submerged ferry, exposing more than a dozen bodies inside its water-filled hull, local police official Mohammad Mahmud said.

The recovery took the total number of dead to 58 — most of them women and children — before the search was suspended for the night, Mahmud said.

Authorities said there were no passenger lists, so it was unclear how many people were aboard the vessel, but Dhaka's private ETV television station said it could have been carrying more than 1,500 people. Officials would not say how many remained unaccounted for; Dhaka's mass circulation Prothom Alo daily said it could be 50. The boat was approved to carry 1,000 people.

Hundreds of anxious relatives massed on the sandy river bank and searched for their missing loved ones over the weekend.

Some complained that rescue work was slow as officials were on holiday for Saturday's Eid celebration.

"The ferry sank just before midnight Friday, but rescuers did not arrive until the morning," said survivor Sohel Hossain.

On Sunday evening, the anger bubbled over, and some people who had been waiting for hours for their news of the missing briefly threw stones at rescuers, Monaj Kumar Sohag, a local journalist said from the scene. No one was hurt from the protest, he said.

Some survivors said the boat hit a shoal as it approached the dock in Nazirhat, splitting the hull. As passengers scrambled to abandon the vessel, it tipped and partially sank.

"As I saw water in the lower deck, I jumped through the window and swam ashore," Shahidul Islam, a survivor, said Saturday. "Many passengers were frightened after seeing water in the lower deck and started rushing out, causing the boat to tilt on one side."

Ferries are a key mode of transport in the delta nation of 150 million people. Accidents blamed on lax rules, overcrowding and faulty boats are common.

Rare Charles Darwin book found on toilet bookshelf

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:39:00 +0000

LONDON — An auction house says it is selling a rare first edition of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" found in a family's guest lavatory in southern England.

Christie's auction house said Sunday the book — one of around 1,250 copies first printed in 1859 — had been on a toilet bookshelf at a family's home in Oxford.

The book will be auctioned on Tuesday, the 150th anniversary of the publication of the famous work. Christie's said the book is likely to sell for 60,000 pounds ($99,000).

Darwin's "The Origin of Species" outlined his theory of natural selection, the foundation for the modern understanding of evolution.

Celebrations around the world this year have marked the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

On the Net:

Darwin's Collected Works: http://darwin-online.org.uk/

Formerly conjoined twins in stable condition

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:13:00 +0000

MELBOURNE, Australia — Formerly conjoined Bangladeshi twins spent their first night in separate beds and were in serious but stable condition Wednesday following a marathon surgery to separate the toddlers, who were born joined at their heads.

Trishna and Krishna, who turn 3 next month, shared a section of skull, blood vessels and brain tissue. They were separated Tuesday after 25 hours of delicate surgery and reconstruction by a team of 16 surgeons and nurses.

"It was amazing to see," said Leo Donnan, chief of surgery at Royal Children's Hospital. "The girls look very different."

He said the girls are in serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit.

It is too early to know whether the girls suffered any brain damage during the marathon operation — an outcome doctors said was a 50-50 chance. The girls will remain in an induced coma for monitoring for several days.

Andrew Greensmith, a plastic surgeon from New Zealand, called the surgery painstaking and remarkable.

Greensmith was holding the girls' heads at the final moment of separation, when the beds were pushed apart millimeter by millimeter.

"It was quite bizarre to see them apart for a change ... quite surreal," he told New Zealand radio network NewstalkZB.

He said the surgery went smoothly.

"We were prepared for potentially catastrophic things happening at some point, major bleeding which we may have trouble stopping, all sorts of possibilities. But we had none of that at all," he said.

Before the surgery, doctors had said there was a 50 percent chance the girls could suffer brain damage and a 25 percent chance one of the sisters would die.

Trishna and Krishna were found in an orphanage in Bangladesh in 2007 by a representative from the Children First Foundation, who brought to them to Australia.

Missy the Million Dollar Cow highlight of agricultural fair's final weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:41:00 +0000

TORONTO — Toronto's annual Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is wrapping up this weekend with a visit from a very wealthy guest: Missy the Million Dollar Cow.

The three-year-old dairy cow, bred in P.E.I. and previously owned by Alberta's Morsan Farms, was sold at auction Thursday for $1.2 million.

The sale, to two buyers from the U.S. and Denmark, makes Missy only the second cow in Canada to crack the million dollar mark.

Morsan Farms marketing manager Chris Parry says while the buyers have the rights to the genetically-superior Missy's embryos, she won't be leaving Canada.

Instead, she'll remain in Ponoka, Alta., where she's been for nearly two years.

Parry says Missy could have as many as 75 children over the course of her life.

"She's quite a character. She has the personality that she knows people like her," says Parry.

"She likes to show herself off."

Missy wasn't the only high-profile celebrity to appear at the 87th annual fair, commonly known in Toronto as the Royal.

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, were on hand for the opening ceremonies earlier this month.

The fair continues until Sunday.

Government unveils new citizenship guidebook

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney unveiled a new and larger version of the citizenship guidebook for prospective immigrants on Thursday, one that emphasizes the importance of getting a job, obeying the law and the nobility of serving in the military.

The new 62-page guidebook, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, is what newcomers aged 18 to 54 will use to prepare for their citizenship test.

Kenney said when you become a citizen, you inherit certain obligations.

"And one of those responsibilities is to know who we are, from where we came, what values define us and to live in accordance with those values," he said in Ottawa on Thursday.

Under the subheading "citizenship responsibilities," prospective citizens are reminded that rights come with duties, including obeying the law, voting in elections, serving on a jury, taking responsibility for oneself and one's family by getting a job, and volunteering.

The guide says while military service isn't compulsory, serving in the armed forces is a "noble way to contribute to Canada and an excellent career choice."

Kenney said the guide also includes a more detailed history of Canada, something he said the previous booklet published in 1997 under the Liberals was lacking.

"It didn't explain what the poppy represents, didn't talk about the equality of men and women, didn't address the nationalist movement in Quebec. It was, I think, in a way, unintentionally promoting a certain degree of historical ignorance. And I think we've corrected that."

In discussing gender equality, the new guide says Canada's openness doesn’t include "barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, honour killings, female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence."

Opposition parties gave the guide mixed reviews.

"There's not a lot on Canada as a majestic land with boreal forests, Great Lakes. Not enough celebration of the UNESCO sites that we have," said NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow.

"Those are areas that I would love to see in this [guide] so new Canadians can explore this beautiful land of ours."

While Chow said she "appreciates seeing some of the darker side of history — whether it's the Japanese internment or the residential schools for aboriginal people [or the] Chinese head tax," she would have liked to have seen more discussion of shared common Canadian values.

Bloc Québécois citizenship and immigration critic Thierry St.-Cyr says the guide "minimizes the concept of the Quebec nation."

"What we see in this document is a way of saying, well, Quebec is just a province amongst others and it's no more [a] founding nation."

The booklet will also be made available to schools.

Israel shows documents it says link Iran to arms

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:46:00 +0000

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Wednesday released documents and photos it said proved Iran was behind a huge shipment of weapons Israeli navy commandos intercepted last week.

Israel has said the cargo ship its troops seized off the coast of Cyprus was carrying 500 tons of Iranian-made weapons for Lebanese Hezbollah militants. The ship had dozens of containers with Iranian markings on it.

On Wednesday, the military released what it said was the ship's manifest that showed it was handled by "Islamic Republic of Iran's Shipping Lines." It also produced labeling from the containers indicating the ship originated in Isfahan, Iran, and a customs form stamped by the Iranian armed forces.

Both Iran and Hezbollah have denied the Israeli claims. Officials at Iran's Foreign Ministry were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

An international expert who examined the documents and pictures of the weapons said the arms came from Iran, but it was not possible to determine whether the Iranian government was directly involved. Another was not prepared to pinpoint the source of the weapons.

On Tuesday, the United States accused Iran of violating a U.N. arms embargo by secretly sending the weapons aboard the "Francop" — a merchant ship flying the flag of Antigua and destined for the Syrian port of Latakia.

Israel has showcased the haul as proof of its long-standing contention that Iran is supplying large quantities of arms to Hezbollah and Hamas militants in Gaza.

Israel says the confiscated arms cache — the largest it has ever seized — did not include any new types of weapons for Hezbollah. However, the arms would have given Hezbollah a month's worth of firepower in time of war. Israel has urged the world to focus on the threat from the Lebanese militants' chief backer — Iran.

Among the arms Israel says it found aboard the vessel were 9,000 mortar bombs, 3,000 Katyusha rockets, 3,000 anti-tank shells, 20,000 grenades and more than a half million rounds of small arms ammunition.

Israel also says that a close examination of the munitions themselves conclusively point to Iran as the source of the shipment.

The containers were stuffed with sacks of polyethylene pellets used to conceal the munitions, Israel said. According to the markings, the polyethylene was produced by Iran's National Petrochemical Co. It included a telephone number that begins with 98 — which is Iran's international dialing code.

Also discovered were thousands of rounds of mortar bombs and artillery rockets manufactured by the Iranian defense industry, such as 107 mm "Haseb" artillery rockets that are identical to those used by Iranian-armed Iraqi insurgents.

Israel also said it found a large number of AZ111-A2 fuses, which, according to Jane's Ammunition Handbook, is Iranian ordnance developed specifically to meet its military requirements.

The Associated Press showed the documents and pictures of the weapons supplied by Israel to two independent arms experts for their assessment.

The pictures included markings in English on a 107mm rocket with "IRISL" letters stenciled on the sides of containers — which the Israelis said stands for "Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines." There were also pictures of boxes labeled "Ministry of Sepah," which Israel said signified the Iranian military, and cases of AZ111-A2 fuses the Israelis said were made in Iran.

"Sepah" is a term that sometimes refers to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. A reference to an Iranian "Ministry of Sepah" is found in a February 2008 document composed by the International Agency for Atomic Energy.

Defense expert James Lewis at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said the arms Israel captured "were indeed Iranian," but it couldn't be determined whether the Iranian government had ordered the shipment.

He said Iran's Revolutionary Guard could have acted on its own or that even a rogue element in Iran could have orchestrated the shipment. "The number of people who decided to do this are more than one," Lewis said.

The capture of one shipment won't change much, Iranian shipments have "been going on for years and no one has been able to stop it," Lewis said. "Iran will deny it and no one is going to get involved."

Alex Vatanka, IHS Jane's security editor, who also examined the Israeli photographs, said the significance of the Francop capture — if proven Iran was behind it — was its timing, since it comes as Iran faces stepped up pressure over its controversial nuclear program.

"What does that tell us about their threat perception, about their own security priorities?" he said. "It seems to be an indicator of a certain hardline interest in Iran being almost careless about the consequences of their actions."

Dead polar bear nearby

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Searchers first made contact with the teen late Sunday, when the ice floe was several kilometres off the shore of Coral Harbour. They monitored him in the dark using flares dropped from the Hercules aircraft untl they lost track of him.

By the time search crews found him again on Monday morning, he had been carried about 40 kilometres out into Hudson Bay, according to local RCMP.

While the boy is now safe, Young said searchers are still wondering about a dead polar bear they saw about 137 metres from where the youth was found.

"They assumed the young man shot it with the rifle that he had, probably in defence or [to] protect himself, I guess, through the night," Young said.

Young said it is not clear when the polar bear was shot, or who shot it.

"That seems to be the question of the day," he said. "I'm waiting for that as well, and the only one that will know is the young man."

According to Environment Canada, the temperature on Monday morning in Coral Harbour was –20 C, which felt like –26 with the wind chill.

Separated during hunting trip

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Two Hercules aircraft from Trenton had resumed searching Monday morning for the teen after he became separated from local elder Jimmy Nakoolak, who residents say is the boy's uncle, as they were returning home from a weekend hunting trip.

Community members told CBC News that the pair split up after their snowmobiles broke down. They had been gone from Coral Harbour for about three nights, but it's unclear exactly when the teen became missing.

The ice cracked sometime after Nakoolak embarked on foot to get help, leaving the boy trapped on an ice pan about 50 metres by 50 metres in size.

Nakoolak was flown to Churchill to be treated for hypothermia, according to Coral Harbour RCMP. Coral Harbour is a hamlet of about 800 on the southern coast of Southampton Island at the mouth of Hudson Bay.

Nunavut teen rescued from ice floe

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:14:00 +0000

A 17-year-old boy has been rescued from an ice floe on the frigid waters of Hudson Bay, near the Nunavut community of Coral Harbour.

Military search-and-rescue technicians reached the stranded youth on Monday morning after searchers aboard a Hercules aircraft spotted him dozens of kilometres away from the community.

The search technicians parachuted onto a nearby ice chunk, then negotiated the freezing Arctic waters to reach the boy, said Capt. Mike Young of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ont.

"They had to bodysurf through some of the smaller bits of ice and water and get themselves over to the young man," Young told CBC News on Monday afternoon.

Young said rescuers immediately performed first aid on the teen, who was conscious and responsive on the ice floe. He was taken to Coral Harbour for a medical assessment, then was flown to a hospital in Churchill for further treatment.

RCMP said they will not be releasing his name at the request of his family.

Species diversity in space and time By Michael L. Rosenzweig

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Australia, NZealand expel top Fiji envoys

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:28:00 +0000

SYDNEY — Australia and New Zealand are expelling Fiji's top envoys in retaliation for the military regime's move to kick out their senior diplomats, officials said on Wednesday.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Fiji's acting high commissioner Kamlesh Kumar Arya had been ordered to return to Suva within 24 hours.

"This is deeply regrettable and Australia is deeply disappointed at Fiji's conduct in this matter," he said, according to public broadcaster ABC.

"New Zealand's (foreign ministry) met with Fiji's Acting Head of Mission in Wellington, Mr Kuliniasi Seru Savou, and told him he had been declared persona non grata and was instructed to leave New Zealand," Foreign Minister Murray McCully said on Wednesday.

Smith said Australia, which along with New Zealand has led calls for a return to democracy in Fiji, would not impose economic or trade sanctions on the Pacific nation.

But he said Canberra had been forced to take proportionate action against Fiji after the country's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama gave Australia's high commissioner in Fiji, James Batley, 24 hours to leave the country.

Smith rejected Bainimarama's claim that Australian foreign officials had interfered in Fiji's judicial affairs.

"This excuse is neither warranted, reasonable nor justified and regrettably it takes Fiji's relationship with Australia, Fiji's relationship with New Zealand, Fiji's relationship with the Pacific Islands Forum and Fiji's relationship with the international community backwards," he said.

Smith said Australia was "steadfast in our view that Fiji has to return to democracy," adding that Canberra was open to dialogue between the nations.

Canadian soldier's body heads home

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:33:00 +0000

The body of Sapper Steven Marshall began its journey home Saturday after a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.

Marshall, 24, was killed Friday afternoon when his foot patrol struck an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan's Panjwaii district, 10 kilometres southwest of the city of Kandahar.

More than 2,300 Canadian and foreign troops gathered on the airfield's tarmac to pay their last respects to Marshall before his flag-draped coffin boarded a military plane for Canada.

"To his friends, Steven was a passionate hockey fan who loved his hometown Calgary Flames. His ever-present grin and sense of humour was contagious. Steven generously shared his zest for life with all who knew him," said Capt. Steve Defer, a chaplain.

A friend of the young soldier — Sapper Dustin Perry, 21, from Chilliwack, B.C. — remembered Marshall as someone with a great sense of humour. Perry said Marshall always put others before himself.

Marshall, a combat engineer based in Edmonton, was the 133rd Canadian soldier to die during the Afghan mission, and the second this week following the death of Lt. Justin Boyes in an IED blast on Wednesday.

A plane carrying the body of Boyles, who was raised in Saskatoon, was due to arrive at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in eastern Ontario on Saturday afternoon.

Quebec-N.B. power deal could benefit P.E.I.: Ghiz

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:23:00 +0000

P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz says the proposed takeover of NB Power by Hydro-Québec could open up new sources of cheaper, hydroelectric energy for islanders.

Both he and the head of P.E.I.'s utility Maritime Electric say there are still a lot of uncertainties, however.

Maritime Electric currently buys electricity from NB Power and charges Islanders about 14 cents per kilowatt hour.

By comparison, Hydro-Québec charges its residential customers about half of that.

Ghiz met with Quebec Premier Jean Charest last month to discuss options that would see Quebec hydroelectricity make its way to P.E.I.

Thursday's announcement in New Brunswick should help streamline those discussions, he said.

"The majority of our contracts are with NB Power. We do have a minor stake in Point Lepreau. So obviously, now we have a direct correlation with Quebec Hydro, which could make things a little bit easier."

Ghiz dismissed speculation that he went to Quebec to talk about the possible sale of Maritime Electric to Hydro-Québec .

Maritime Electric is an electricity distributor, not a power generator, so the company doesn't have the same appeal to Hydro-Québec, he said.

Quebec rates higher in past

Meanwhile, Maritime Electric's president and CEO Fred O'Brien was surprised to learn the premier's office had already spoken to Quebec about power rates.

But if the premier can get a better deal for islanders, he's all for that, he said.

Maritime Electric has tried to get its hands on Quebec's cheaper hydro power in the past, O'Brien said.

Just two years ago Maritime Electric put out a call for new pricing from electricity providers. At that time, Hydro-Québec did submit an offer to provide power, but it wasn't as cheap as the NB Power rates.

That's because of the cost of transporting the electricity all the way from Quebec, O'Brien said.

Still, Maritime Electric is looking forward to working with a "bigger player" in the power business, he said.

Links for 2009-08-10 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Links for 2009-02-20 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 PST

Mark Lewis |Downtown Tilt, Zoom and Pan (2005)
I worked on this film back in Sept.2005

Links for 2009-01-19 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

Daryl Lorette 1.0 Feed
Daryl Lorette 1.0 Feed.I was hoping this would happen.Google has let me move all my feeds over at one time.A big time saver.

Links for 2009-01-14 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

Links for 2009-01-12 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

NY deal reached over Monroe's last nude photos - Yahoo! News
NY deal reached over Monroe's last nude photos

Links for 2009-01-09 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

Patrick Swayze in hospital, The Beast will have to wait
Marilyn Monroe - Yahoo! News Photos
Marilyn Monroe