jeudi 30 juin 2016

Responsible Tesla self driving car kills driver.

Obviously, this must be banned:

http://ift.tt/29cAt2Y

Joshua Brown, a 40-year-old Ohio owner of a Tesla Model S, died when his electric car drove under the trailer of an 18-wheel truck on a highway in Williston, Fla., according to local media and public records. Mr. Brown had earlier in the year recorded a video of his car’s autopilot avoiding a crash and posted it on YouTube.


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Pickett's Charge: why

I still cannot fathom how one of the greatest Generals ever made one of the worst, most glaringly boneheaded decisions ever ie to do this. I'm sure theories abound.....what do you Civil War buffs think? Simple arrogance and overconfidence due to prior victories? Misjudged the Union troops in some way? ?? How does a guy so smart do something that would make Forrest Gump go :boggled:


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Another SJW attack on the press

This time it was KCRA
http://ift.tt/298p5EG

The story about school teacher Yvette Felarca's part in this is particularly chilling

http://ift.tt/298oN0t

I love how the media paints her as the victim. I won;t be at all surprised if those email threats were made by her herself


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Free Trade

Trump has been hammering Clinton on NAFTA and TPP.

A majority of Republicans are against free trade now, while a majority of Democrats support it.

Are these free trade deals really harming the middle class? It seems like they are, but I would like some smart people to weigh in.


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Theater wins lawsuit, wants victims to cover legal fees.

Cinemark wants Colorado theater shooting victims to pay $700,000 in legal fees.
http://ift.tt/293ZBF9

Quote:

After a state jury declared that Cinemark, the nation's third-largest theater chain, was not responsible for the Colorado theater shooting in which 12 people were killed during a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012, the chain now wants the victims who brought the lawsuit to pay its legal fees from the case.

According to Deadline, paperwork was filed last week in which Cinemark is seeking $699,187.13 in legal fees and other costs from the case.

Colorado allows the winning side in a civil case to seek costs.
Ranb


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Terrorist Attack in Perth, Australia?

I'd say if it looks like a terror attack, using explosives and a vehicle, combined with hateful graffiti, it's a terror attack.

Police suspect homegrown Australian terrorism.

Mainly because the target was a mosque full of muslins: http://ift.tt/29uHfiv

I see the imam has graciously referred to the perpetrators as criminals. I'm not seeing a difference between criminality and terrorism here, although the death count appears to be zero, which is an improvement on most terrorist attacks.


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Benefiting from 9/11

The truthers have argued that the US government were involved in 9/11 because the US government benefited enormously from the attack. 9/11 gave the US government a reason to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition the attack gave the US government an excuse to attack civil liberties and introduce draconian legislation such as the Patriot Act.

How valid is this argument? Was a major terrorist attack necessary to justify invading Afghanistan and Iraq and would the invasions have happened without 9/11? Would the US government have been able to introduce the Patriot Act without an event like 9/11?


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When Red Bull doesn't give the wings you need

Fox Business producer and Chipotle executive arrested in huge cocaine bust in New York.

Quote:

Katie Welnhofer, 29, who works on 'Mornings with Maria' on Fox Business, and the Mexican fast food chain's Chief Creative and Development Officer, Mark Crumpacker, have been indicted after the operation.

They were two of 18 alleged drug buyers charged, the New York Daily news reported...

http://ift.tt/29bDArM


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Facilitated Communication Nonsense still doing Harm

'Facilitated communication' and a P.E.I. family's nightmare

This nonsense continues in the 21st Century. :boggled:

http://ift.tt/295nhK5

Quote:

CHARLOTTETOWN -- When the P.E.I. businessman arrived at the group home in Charlottetown to pick up his daughter, two solemn RCMP officers were waiting for him. He immediately assumed his daughter was dead.

"In those few seconds, I visualized a pile of bloody rags on the road, which was her body run over by a truck," he said in a recent interview, his voice shaking.

The officers assured him the young woman was fine. But his sense of relief fell away when the Mounties handcuffed him, saying she had accused him of sexually assaulting her.

"I said, 'Obviously, there's a mistake here, there's a communication problem,"' he said in a recent interview. "I knew it was false."

It was Feb. 7, 2015. For the next six months, he and his wife were effectively prohibited from seeing their daughter as they were drawn into a bizarre legal nightmare that pitted them against police, the P.E.I. Health Department and the group home.
. . .

Quote:

Independent testing -- later arranged by her family -- found the 35-year-old was incapable of making the allegations attributed to her.

The clinical psychologist who did the testing said it demonstrated that questions put to the woman were actually being answered by group home workers using a disputed method known as facilitated communication.

The father was never charged.
. . .

Quote:

A judge later concluded the P.E.I. Health Department and the group home acted in a "deplorable" manner by ignoring the couple's attempts to have their daughter's communication skills assessed.

The P.E.I. Supreme Court, in a decision released in March, found then-health minister Doug Currie failed in his legislated duty to conduct an investigation.
. . .

Lots of good, sensible, indepth reporting. Worth a complete read.

. . .

Quote:

Earlier this year, the P.E.I. Supreme Court awarded the parents more than $61,000 in legal costs, saying that even cursory review of the studies on FC "would have alerted the minister of health to the very real possibility the communications of (the woman) were not her communications."

The court did not take a position on the validity of FC, but the decision clearly states that the technique did not work in this case.

Had the woman's caregivers or the health minister followed the legislation requiring an investigation, "it would have become clear very early on ... (the) communications were not the communications of (the woman) but were the communications of the facilitators," the decision says.

"Someone needs to be punished here," the father says. "There were people who didn't do their jobs."
At least the disposition of the case is rational but who would want to live through this? :mad:


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Asteroid diameters: scientific controversy?

I couldn't see that this topic has already been covered here, so I started this new thread. If it's already a topic, could a mod please merge it with the appropriate thread? Thanks.

Nathan Myhrvold is pretty well-known, I hope.

A month or so ago there was a bit of a flap over what he wrote, concerning a paper he's submitted to Icarus (preprint is on arXiv, arXiv:1605.06490; link is to the abstract); here's how he characterizes the flap.

It - the controversy - is discussed in quite a few places; I'd recommend Peter Woit's Not Even Wrong blog post on it, Killer Asteroids (when you read the comments you may guess why I favor this site! ;)).

Anyway, this appeared on arXiv today (arXiv:1606.08923): "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Two: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The abstract is worth copying in full:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nugent et al.
The Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission continues to detect, track, and characterize minor planets. We present diameters and albedos calculated from observations taken during the second year since the spacecraft was reactivated in late 2013. These include 207 near-Earth asteroids and 8,885 other asteroids. 84% of the near-Earth asteroids did not have previously measured diameters and albedos by the NEOWISE mission. Comparison of sizes and albedos calculated from NEOWISE measurements with those measured by occultations, spacecraft, and radar-derived shapes shows accuracy consistent with previous NEOWISE publications. Diameters and albedos fall within ±∼20% and ±∼40%, 1-sigma, respectively, of those measured by these alternate techniques. NEOWISE continues to preferentially discover near-Earth objects which are large (>100 m), and have low albedos.

"Comments: Accepted to AJ"

The status of Myhrvold's paper? Apparently not yet accepted for publication (I have no way to tell, for sure).

Worthy of a discussion here, I think.

In particular, what's your take on what Myhrvold identifies as "the problem"?

And which of his three suggested explanations - "Colossal error", "Fraud", or "Something else" - do you think holds the most water (and why)?


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What to do with a Bigfoot body?

Indulge me for a second. Forget that Bigfoot makes no sense ecologically or physiologically. My question is simply more about the process of what we would do with a corpse of unique scientific value.

Suppose a Forest Service worker finds a recently deceased Bigfoot in a National Forest. What happens to the body? Where would it be taken for examination? Who would get called in to do the autopsy? Who would have custody of the body after it is dissected?

I mean it doesn't have to necessarily be a Bigfoot. It could be any corpse that completely changes scientific understanding found on public property.


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Andrews AFB lockdown with active shooter

It's breaking new with few details. Seems to be centered at their hospital and the whole military facility is on lockdown. No reports yet on deaths or injuries.


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The Ark Encounter...



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The Future is no longer Shocked

Alvin Toffler author of the seminal books Future Shock and The Third Wave died on Monday. He was 87.
Obit.


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Americas

Quote:

Just how extraordinary this elite club of lawyers is can be seen in the biography of Bob Macy. Until his death in 2011, he was known as Cowboy Bob because of his traditional frontier dress sense: he always wore cowboy boots, a large cowboy hat, a black string tie, a black suit and a white shirt.

Over the course of 21 years as the top prosecutor in Oklahoma County, Macy put 54 people on death row. That gave him the distinction of sending more people to their potential deaths than any other district attorney in the nation.

And many did actually go to their deaths. According to records compiled by the Fair Punishment Project, 30 of those prisoners were executed.

That might have presented an ethical burden to some, but not to Macy. As he sat beneath his Tombstone poster, he ruminated on the “patriotic duty” of prosecutors to aggressively pursue death sentences. He was proud of having sent a 16-year-old, Sean Sellers, to the death chamber before the US supreme court banned the execution of juveniles in 2005.

The problem is that Macy’s sense of legal propriety was not as honed as his sense of patriotic duty. The Harvard report notes that about a third of the 54 capital sentences he secured were later challenged and misconduct uncovered; three death-row prisoners were exonerated.

...

The remaining two of the five most deadly prosecutors did not personally secure all their own death sentences but did preside over teams of lawyers who put astonishing numbers of people onto death row. Lynne Abraham, known as the “Queen of death”, saw 108 capital sentences returned during her time as chief prosecutor in Philadelphia County.

Asked whether she had ever doubted the outcome of a capital case, she said categorically that she never had. Yet two of her cases ended in exonerations.
http://ift.tt/29doxya

It's always good to see America keeping alive the judicial mindset that it's better for 10 people to suffer (death) rather than 1 criminal get away. After all even the death of the innocent will strike fear into the hearts of potential criminals.

What a disgusting nation of child killers.


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Vote for the Next Conservative Leader

OK, so this may be the worst poll choice ever - it looks as though one of:

Jeremy Hunt
Boris Johnson
Theresa May
Michael Gove

will be the next Tory PM. All look pretty dreadful - compared to this horror list, David Cameron looks positively appealing. So, if you were (or are) a Tory, who would you vote for?

EDIT:

It appears that Boris has just ruled himself out of the contest! Maybe he was dispirited by his JREF poll performance....


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mercredi 29 juin 2016

AI running on a Raspberry Pi outguns AF colonel in flight simulator

http://ift.tt/294jNvz

Very cool. "All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned" etc.


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Are Human Beings Essentially Insane

I'm wondering about all the levels of cognitive dissonance that exists in the world today. Terrorism being one. Others might look at transgender people and see that as a form of CG. (I don't) I look at religious people and now after all these years, I wonder, "Why can't they see how ridiculous their beliefs are?"

And I'm reminded of a quote by Chris Rock. He was asked what's changed in the world of racism today and he said "White people have gotten less crazy."

And if you think about it, he's right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMNl-UvRIQM

I wonder if there's some scientific reality to all of what we're doing. Walking around on this planet like crazy people.


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Safety For All campaign fundraising Email from today

Why am I not surprised? When an individual believes themselves to be doing the right thing in restricting civil rights it's kind of like Lay's potato chips - You Can't Eat Just One:

The Supreme Court just did something big, XXXX.

Yesterday's ruling will prevent domestic abusers from owning deadly firearms. This is absolutely a lifesaving ruling: Women are five times more likely to be murdered in a domestic violence dispute when it involves a gun.

Reread that last sentence, XXX. Five times more likely. So it makes my blood boil knowing that the Supreme Court ever had to hear such a clear-cut case. This basic gun law, designed to protect victims of domestic violence, should never have been up for debate. Of course we should protect against domestic abuse. Of course abusers should not have access to guns. Of course.

We can’t wait around for court rulings on every gun violence prevention measure. And while we can’t stop every senseless killing, if our efforts can help save even one life, we have the moral obligation to try. I can’t and won’t stay silent, so I’m asking you now to stand with Gavin and me to demand change by donating today.

Give $5 today to show you are fed up with reading about endless deadly shootings. Here’s the link: http://ift.tt/296Twd9

Women trapped in abusive relationships are among the most vulnerable to gun violence – on average, 51 women in the U.S. are shot to death by a former or current intimate partner each month.

It’s beyond fathomable. We need to do more – we can do more right now – to protect women from gun violence at the hands of domestic abusers.

Can I count on you to take a stand and contribute to Safety for All today?

You can save lives and make sure no guns get into the hands of violent domestic abusers. Here’s the link to contribute to Safety for All: http://ift.tt/296Twd9

Thank you for not accepting violence as a norm and for supporting Safety for All. With your help I know we’ll make meaningful change in November.

Warmest,

Jennifer Siebel Newsom



Emphasis - underlined by me - The first issue here is that the domestic abuse as a disqualifier for firearms possession has been and will continue to be in effect for the foreseeable future.Two individuals that were convicted under USC 922 (g) 9 sued in Federal Court to overturn the lifetime firearms ban provision for misdemeanor domestic assault convictions and they lost in every venue along the way except at one point where the court remanded the decision to the lower court, which again ruled against plaintiffs, and SCOTUS again ruled against plaintiffs.

I agree with the court, and support the notion that individuals convicted of certain criminal acts can and should be faced with the loss of Constitutional Rights, including the right to possess firearms.

What is unsaid in the above Email, is that during the course of this case, from start to finish, USC 922 (g) remained fully enforced - no convicted domestic abuser got a free pass through a NICS background check and was allowed to purchase a firearm legally.

What I find extremely interesting is the section I underlined, namely:

This basic gun law, designed to protect victims of domestic violence, should never have been up for debate.

It is apparently a very short jump from disregarding 2nd Amendment Rights to disregarding 1st Amendment Rights:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Mrs. Newsom is not in any way alone in her view on this subject, From our California state assembly:

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE


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FiveThirtyEight GE Forcast

It currently gives Hillary an 80.6% chance at winning. For comparison, they gave Obama a 61.8% chance at reelection in June 2012, and that got up to over 90% by election day.

http://ift.tt/294CfRg


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A year of gay marriage and we are still here

In case you missed it over the weekend we hit the one year anniversary of the infamous Obergefell ruling by the Supreme Court. For a whole year now America has been able to gay marry from sea to shining sea.

Incredibly this has not led to disaster and/or tyranny.

For example Mike Huckabee stated that “Not just in our lifetime, but ever before in the history of this great nation. We are moving rapidly towards the criminalization of Christianity.”

Seem nuts? Well as Matt Barber put it allowing gay marriage would almost inevitably lead to a war since, in his words, "Same-sex marriage and the free exercise of religion, particularly biblical Christianity, cannot coexist in harmony."

How would this fight happen? Well Rick Scarborough, a Texas pastor, had this to say about gay marriage: “Are we going to sit back and let the country be destroyed? Or as believers, are we going to stand up and be counted? As for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord for this, we’re going to go to jail if necessary, we are not going to take this just sitting back and watching it.”

And why not fight since, as Tony Perkins noted, this is all part of a plan to genocide Christians: “I’m beginning to think, are re-education camps next? When are they going to start rolling out the boxcars to start hauling off Christians?”

Of course some wouldn't fight. They'd want to leave. After all why live in a nation where gay people in love can marry? That's like practically a Mad Max wasteland or something. And Joseph Farah predicted that Christians and Jews would mass emigrate if such a terrible thing happened. "What I do see is a lot of grass-roots concern. I know there are millions of Christians, Jews and others who would pull up stakes and move to another country that honored the institution of marriage as it was designed by God – a union between one man and one woman."

Strangely Christianity has not been outlawed. There are no death camps. No pastor has gone to jail. No war has erupted nor has there been a mass exodus of Christians. It's almost like it was about allowing gays to marry and not Christianity. Crazy.

But what about other effects? Like how is it that raping children is still a crime when we were warned by Pat Robertson that it would be legal too? “The time is going to come in America, the Supreme Court said homosexuality is a constitutional right, now they’ve said homosexual marriage is a right, then they’re going to say polygamy is a constitutional right, then they’re going to say polyamory is a constitutional right, then they’re going to say pedophila is a constitutional right".

And Tom Delay said that this was part of a plot to not only legalize child rape but to also allow bestiality. "They're now going to go after 12 new perversions, things like bestiality, polygamy, having sex with little boys and making that legal."

Incredibly gay rights activists never moved on to these other things. It's almost like consensual relationships between adults and raping kids and animals are different somehow.

So, folks, here we are. A year later and the world has not come to an end. Funny, huh?


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99 million year old bird wings found intact

BBC

Quote:

Two wings from birds that lived alongside the dinosaurs have been found preserved in amber.
The "spectacular" finds from Myanmar are from baby birds that got trapped in the sticky sap of a tropical forest 99 million years ago.
Exquisite detail has been preserved in the feathers, including traces of colour in spots and stripes.


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Belgian AIDS cover up.

Dear, 28 June 2016

I write you about Belgium covering up that they caused AIDS in the Belgian Congo around 1960. I try to keep things short for clarity. I apologise for spelling errors since they give me a false word list in MS Word with the secret police. This cover up is about thirty years old. They discovered then in the annual reports of the LMS (Stanleyville medical laboratory; reports: ‘raport annuelle de laboratoire médicale de Stanleyville’) that they most likely caused AIDS through dangerous experiments. In short they used a passive immunity rescue technique with chimpansee hyperimmune serum in blacks. This was based on their experience with serovaccinations. They used chimpansees for testing partially attenuated poliovirus. The virus strains from the chimpansees that recovered were used again on the same animals to create hyperimmune serum. These strains were tested on humans. If in the early fever stage paralysis could be expected they used the chimpansee hyperimmune serum for rescuing their trial patients. They did serovaccinations as well, being injections with live virus and hyperimmune serum. They tried to attenuate their polio strains by serial animal passages on HeLa cell culture which made HIV-1 group M more adapt to proliferate in black women than in other races.

These LMS annual reports are no longer made available to people who wish to look things up since it is covered up by Belgian and French secret police aided by the CIA and others. There are however plenty of scientific articles in old journals of this era that describe inoculations of humans with simian blood. I looked up many of these articles prior to 2009 when I contacted all embassies in Brussels about this cover up. There are dozens of articles in the French literature of such simian blood inoculation in humans and it seems to have been a general practice by French researchers. The easiest starting point would be to look up the many articles by Jérome Rodhain (mind an accent on the o of Jerome which they block from MS Word) describing the injection of humans with chimpansee blood. He did nothing else for two decades from about 1940 to 1960 or a bit longer than injecting humans with chimpansee malaria through blood transfusion of chimpansee blood into humans. These were often psychotic psychiatry patients who were given fever therapy in this way. There are a dozen or so of these articles in the journal ‘Annales de la Société belge de médecine tropicale.’ from 1935 to 1965. You can easily check the index of these volumes for articles from Jérome Rodhain who nearly all describe injection of chimpanzee blood into humans. This should be enough to request a reinvestigation if you can bring it into the media. There are two English articles describing the Jérome Rodhain chimpansee blood injections into humans: ‘The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 1948. Volume 28. Issue 5. Page 629-631.’ and
‘Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 1956. Volume 50. Issue 3. Page 287-293.’.

There exist also articles from the French injecting humans with chimpansee blood. This would be for instance an article in ‘C R Soc Biol’ or ‘Bull Soc Pathol Exot’ from 1928 or 1932. This article describes the same research as the LMS reports in Kindia, Cameroon. Most likely it is in the ‘C R Soc Biol’ volume from 1932 and you can find it by looking for poliovirus in the index of the volume on the microfilm archive from the American national library. They made a fake volume in the Brussels national library and they did not allow me in the Paris national library with French secret police. There is also an article in the ‘Annals de l’Institut Pasteur de Dakar’, from the 1920s or later describing the large scale production of sooty mangabey hyperimmune serum against yellow fever for use in humans. It seems the French used that mostly for blacks in the colonies where they used human convalescent immune serum for whites. This sooty mangabey immune serum administration let to HIV-2 introduction while they caused HIV-1 group N and O in the Kindia Pasteur Institute in Cameroon.

The article describing the large scale production of sooty mangabey hyperimmune serum for injection into humans in the Dakar Pasteur Institute was deleted from my files by the secret police. They also blocked the Annales de l’Institute Pasteur de Dakar volumes from the available volumes in the Royal Library in Brussels (national library) where this article can be found. I think it is from a bit later than the 1920s when the yellow fever vaccin is already available. Search also for Archives de l’Institut Pasteur de Dakar. The volumes are not that large and can be searched in a day to a week. I do still have a copy of the article describing chimpansee poliomyelitis hyperimmune serum production for injection into humans by the French. This article was probably changed on my computer and on my photocopies to refer to the Pasteur Institute in New Guinea instead of Kindia Cameroon other than that the reference was changed and probably other edits. I have it currently on file as: ‘Utilisation du chimpanzé pour la préparation du sérum antipoliomyélite. Auguste Pettit, Berthe Erber et Constantin Kolochine. Comptes rendus des séances et Mémoires de la Société de biologie et de ses filiales et associées. 1932. Volume 109. Page 821-825.’. This article describes how they intended to produce polio antiserum from chimpansees for human injection on a large scale. It should be possible to retrace this article by searching the index of ‘C R Soc Biol’ and ‘Bull Soc Pathol Exot’ from 1932 and 1928 for poliovirus. If you can not go to the library yourself you can order the index from the national library of the US where they keep this on microfilm. These two articles provide serious evidence for HIV-2 and HIV-1 group N and O introduction by the French.

Finding these two articles mentioned in the paragraph above will probably prove the most efficient in proving the origin through medical experiments. I would however search for these after you find the Jérome Rodhain articles since that is the easiest. There are however several more articles I ordered that they made to disappear with the secret police. One example is the articles about blood typing of chimpansee blood. The French did that at an early stage for their transfusions of humans with chimpansee blood. The Belgians copied this research much later for their chimpansee blood transfusions in the Stanleyville medical laboratory. This is described in the ‘Annales de la Société belge de médecine tropicale’ volume at the time they did their chimpansee research in the LMS. The secret police deleted it from my computer and stole the photocopies. In this Belgian articles was a reference to the earlier work by the French in ‘Annales de l’Institut Pasteur’. When I searched for this it was not their so they worked with a fake volume or a false reference. The Belgian article mentioned however how the French injected people with chimpansee blood. The article I found was: ‘Annales de l’Institut Pasteur. 1928. Volume 42. Page 363-379.’. Possibly they falsified this. The Belgian volume ‘Annales de la Société belge de médecine tropicale’ looked too new paper and probably was a reprint. Quite likely the microfilm archives in the American national library or wherever they have some original version will reveal some different articles. It is worth looking up these Belgian and French chimpansee blood typing experiment articles as well as the secret police clearly deleted it.

As far as transfusions of humans with chimpansee blood goes, there was a news broadcast on Belgian national television mentioning this. This was at the time of the Kikwit Ebola epidemy. There was a Congolese doctor that rescued a lot of patients by transfusion of blood of the recovered patients into the patients that were still ill. He mentioned during an interview in French that he had learned this technique from Paul Osterrieth in the LMS were they transfused patients with chimpansee blood. This interview was from a French crisis reporter and was broadscasted on the VRT evening news at the end of the Ebola epidemy. I do not know wheter they broadcasted it on the French channels. It was Martine Tanghe doing this evening news broadscast and she said ‘so it is true then after all’. But she echoed later from her ear phone ‘but they tell us we should not talk about that right now’. A bit later she said ‘they want us to tell that the Congolese doctor means they transfused people with blood from recovered people’. Probably that Congolese doctor is dead now as he was very old. I wrote Martine Tanghe with registered mail but I have no certainty it was delivered. They probably keep all foreign broadcasts including live broadscasts like the VRT news on file with a US information gathering agency. So in theory they could reproduce this news broadcast. As I think the Americans are part of this cover up however I think they will just edit it.

The point is the journalists, politicians and academics in Belgium are well informed about this issue and they keep it a public secret with this entire regime. They had a major incident at the end of the 1980s when it became clear HIV came from chimpansees. At this time it was debated publicly with the academics how they transfused people with chimpansee blood or serum in the LMS. They made the reports disappear and had everyone lie about it for thirty years. They wrote a book with a person named Edward Hooper who works for the secret police to cover it up. The different chapters were written by different academics so they had a fake research attempt that revealed no evidence. They deliberately circumvented all publications were they mentioned transfusion of humans with chimpansee blood.

There are in total several dozens of articles describing monkey blood injection into humans in mainly French articles. I have requested many copies from the national library in Brussels. Unfortunately Belgian secret police has entered my house and changed many of these copies as well as my files on computer and DVDs. Therefore I can not be more specific.

Many articles were forged in the national library in Brussels (Royal library Albert I) as well. They used fake pages turned yellow to look old. The Americans have a large collection of microfilm articles in their national library of French and Belgian articles that will no longer match. The fake articles can not stand under a carbon dating analysis. There exists one article of Jérome Rodhain in English in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine describing injection of chimpansee blood into a psychiatric patient. Also in this journal you can find a lot of evidence of trial patients developing hepatitis after injection with monkey liver mixture a few weeks after serovaccination. I list some articles below this letter but they changed the pages and volumes on my photocopies and computer so these references may prove false. If you search the index of these volumes in the microfilm archive of the American national library you will succeed.

The Belgians have shortly after I contacted all embassies in Brussels including the ones from black African countries arrested me with the police and placed me in psychiatry by court order. They continue to forcefully inject me with antipsychotic drugs while I do not have schizophrenia. They have stolen all coupons of about one hundred registered mail pieces I wrote to all Belgian politicians, embassies and the media like CNN. Possibly they never delivered those. I started a court case for which I had to pay but they just made it disappear. I send email to hundreds of academics, the media and politicians but they have taken over my account and such more. They continue to persecute me with the secret police and keep me under forced psychiatric rule.

It is inevitable that sooner or later the truth about HIV and viral hepatitis will emerge. There is just no good scientific explanation for the sudden origin of these viruses. They used a lot of small oncoviruses in a mix with yellow fever virus during the attenuation campaign. In this way finally a recombination occured with one of the many arboviruses they used in their mixes. Probably this can be retraced by doing a partial sequence alignment on the amino acid level of the vaccin strain and the various arboviruses that should emerge with a BLAST search. Also HDV seems to be related to something murine. They used a variety of test animals for serial passages and they used mixed liver suspension of mainly simians to inject humans with their passed virus strains as advanced cell culture was not yet available. Probably the reports of the Rockefeller laboratories that did a lot of this research are also no longer made available as the Americans know this as well.

I do another effort now in communicating this issue to the media and scientists and government officials. But it seems like this cover up extends globally now and it just takes some time until they will bring it out. It is clear that the academics of the Leuven university KULeuven in Belgium discovered the truth in the LMS annual reports about thirty years ago and read through the old literature and tried to cover things up. I have contacted all important deans and academics from medical faculties in Belgium so these people are well informed.

If you try to contact me do it by sending someone to the physical address below as they took over the internet and phone and make all post disappear. They probably just send out false email from my account.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Delbeke

Thomas Delbeke
Schoonzichtlaan 80
3020 Winksele
Belgium
Toom2079@gmail.com

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mardi 28 juin 2016

LOOKING FOR ROOMMATES FOR CSICON 4

I have reserved a room for Csicon in Las Vegas this October. (Male, 58, pretty fair-minded and well-mannered.) If you want to go in on it with me, let me know, and we'll figure things out. Great way to cut your expenses in half (or even more, depending on how many of us end up sharing it.) Need roomies who won't steal the towels, break the furniture, or get us thrown out prematurely.


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Fat Studies

No, that is not an ironic subject title, it is a taxpayer-funded field of study at NZ's Massey University.

And sorry, it's not a study of the effects of lifelong obesity and the health problems it causes, but it is a study into how to get fat people laid.

Led by the enormous American refugee to NZ, the beautifully-named Cat Pause, and her not-quite-as-enormous-but-still-very-substantial friend, Substantia Jones, this year's conference, entitled: Fat Studies: Identity, Agency and Embodiment.

I hear restaurateurs in Palmy have all ordered new BMWs in anticipation of a very good week.

Another piece on the subject appeared today, (by someone who isn't fat) and it included a phrase I thought needed highlighting, because it's been said a lot in defence of fat people in recent years:

Quote:

...anyone brainwashed by a mainstream media obsessed with thinness, smoothness, flawlessness and other conventional notions of what constitutes an attractive body...
That is outright bollocks, and history proves that point.

At no time has being grossly obese been considered sexy. There have been societies where fatness was a sign of wealth, and therefore attractive from that perspective, but I know of no time when it was considered attractive to be a gigantic tub of lard. Certainly perceptions of beauty have included larger sizes, but there's a ton of french fries between an 18th-century full figure and the white whales of the 20th & 21st centuries.

The idea that electronic media has driven fat-shaming is nonsense. Fat kids have been bullied at school for as long as there have been schools, and long before TVs were commonplace, let alone the internet. The big difference is, there were hardly any fat kids in the past.

I'm more than happy for people to be as huge as they wish, but it is not a natural or healthy state to be in and this current trend of trying to "change attitudes" seems like trying to make obesity normal.

Protip: Do NOT search Google for Substantia Jones unless you want to see lots of photos of extremely fat women with no clothes on. Very tastefully done, she's an artiste, I believe.


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Istanbul airport attack

Shocked there isn't already a thread on this.

Been on the news for a couple of hours now. Since ISIS is losing territory could this be another gasp from them?


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Does anyone actually care who the Presidential running mates are?

Apparently will be announced in the next few days

Obviously if Clinton goes an all female it will create interest for novelty, but from watching over here (maybe different there) the running mate is named, election happens, the new VP just disappears off the radar for 5 years


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Someone please explain to me why so many alleged liberals favor protectionism

Since it is an inherently nationalistic - and arguably, xenophobic - economic policy that rewards domestic business interests at the expense of consumers (especially the working classes and the poor, who my liberal/progressive comrades say they want to help).

Liberal icon FDR was one of the most forceful advocates for free trade and bringing the US into the global economy:

FDR’s Comprehensive Approach to Freer Trade

Quote:

It is also important to note that Hull, like many of his contemporaries, including FDR, regarded protectionism as antithetical to the average worker — first, because in Hull’s view high tariffs shifted the burden of financing the government from the rich to the poor, and secondly, because Hull believed that high tariffs concentrated wealth in the hands of the industrial elite, who, as a consequence, wielded an undue or even corrupting influence in Washington. As such, both FDR and Hull saw the opening up of the world’s economy as a positive measure that would help alleviate global poverty, improve the lives of workers, reduce tensions among nations, and help usher in a new age of peace and prosperity. Indeed, by the time the U.S. entered the war, this conviction had intensified to the point where the two men concluded that the root cause of the war was economic depravity.
Quote:

...it was U.S. reciprocal trade policy — a policy that had changed little since its inception during the New Deal — combined with a newfound determination to play a leading role in world affairs, that guided U.S. policymakers in the mid-1940s towards a new post-war international economic order — an economic order still largely in operation to this day.

Quote:

This comprehensive approach, though not always pretty and sometimes contradictory, was nevertheless based on the simple principle that it is a fundamental responsibility of government — even a liberal capitalist government — to ensure that the free market is managed in such a way as to produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people, not the other way around.
http://ift.tt/292whkQ

Cutting the US off from the global economy is quite literally the most foolish decision that I can think of. Fortunately, most policymakers recognize this; unfortunately, a disturbing number of voters do not.


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Brigadier General Harbord at Belleau Wood, a butcher or a man who did his best

Firstly let me say that despite my massive interest in pre 1945 military history I have until recently not had much of a interest in the AEF on the western front in WW1. I have collected hundreds of books on WW1 over the years but none on American involvement.
In the last two months that has changed. I got Ospreys book on the St Mihiel attack and went from their. I've now got all the Osprey books including the ones on the Marines and Belleu wood. I also got "first over there" about Cantingy, "Through the wheat"about Marine involvement , the recent "little Gibraltar" the Schiffer publishing books and Alan Axelrods "Miricle at Belleau wood".
I like Axelrods stuff, his book on the battle of the crater is good as his recent work on Verdun. But I found his book on Belleau wood to be treacle like in its treatment of the Marines and Harbord.
I have noticed a oddity of accounts both modern and more contempory in regards to Harbors. Some have him as the Army officer sent to the Marines at the right time to do a tough job with poor support. Which he did successfully. Others have home as the man who sent the Marines out in company columns with a real lack of artillery support and, at least partly, lay the heavy losses at his door.
As I said, this is a recent intrest for me (if it was Jacobite risings, ww1 airships, Zulu war,Crimean war etc I would be fine) and so want to farm it out to someone more skilled in the battle in question.


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Gigantic thing climbing on top of buildings in Russia

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE


I've seen this one last summer, I always wondered that actually is. Looks like a gigantic walking stick, except slower (more robotic-like).


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Blocking a specific website on kindle fire

My daughter is a butt. She's been using a website called "chatzy" to talk with friends, which isn't bad of itself, except that she won't get up and eat, use the bathroom, bathe, do chores...anything at all...while she's on it. Which is 24/7.

We have decided she can't use it anymore. However, it isn't a subscription, and I don't know how to block her accessing it. She uses two older kindle fires (yes! Two. Because they both have different stuff that works and doesn't work, and together do everything she wants).

Amazon free time doesn't do this. Suggestions? I don't want to have to block the internet entirely because she uses it for a lot of legit reasons too.


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Calexit? LOL

I found out about this movement a few months ago. California National Party is trying to become a qualified political party in California.

At least they seem more peaceful than the Texas independence movement.


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Japanese Hospital Ghosts (Was watching a video from Top15)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq6XepAVUiQ

Between 13:05 & 15:42

Now, I don't believe in ghosts, but I was wondering whether this has been debunked already? I'll be honest, the last seconds were creepy.:D

This channel also loves to post many creepy video's (I'd rather call them weird or video that make you say "WTF?", but...), just like several "Top 'insert random number here' " channels on youtube. The video has 1.662.049 views, so I presume they do it to get more viewers and subscriptions.


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New York Public Libraries Digital Collections

The collection comprises more than 680,00 images, digitised video, manuscripts and more. Everything from sheet music to menus, maps to pictures of weird trees.
There are some fascinating uses of the material. Here is a 'mansion explorer' which allows a pac-man like sprite to wander a turn-of-the-century apartment house (the plans are here). Here is an overlay for Google Street View comparing Ffith Avenue in New York in 1911 and 2015 (perfect for a time rift). Here is a trip planner for New York state using the 1936 'Green Book' guide.

Fascinating stuff.


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Mississippi's pro-bigotry law partially struck down.

In a decision that will hopefully be set a standard for eliminating "religious freedom" laws designed to harass, discriminate against and inconvenience homosexuals and others, Judge Carlton Reeves has struck down a law passed in Mississippi that allows clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of their "religious beliefs",
The measure was part of House Bill 1523 (or "Religious Liberty Accommodations Act") , due to come into force on Friday and was one of a number of gestures in the bill that enshrined religiously justified bigotry in the form of belief that marriage was only recognisable between "one man and one woman" and gender was immutable and determined by "anatomy and genetics at time of birth".
The law also states that the state government of Mississippi shall not take any discriminatory action against a religious organization when it comes to issuing marriages, employment (including state employees), sale, rental, housing, adoption, declines to participate in sex reassignment surgery, conversion therapy, or services that accommodate or facilitates marriages "based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction."

This, and a few similar measures in other states, triggered UK and EU warnings to LGBT persons travelling to the US South.
Reeves, who previously overturned Mississippi's ban on same-sex marriage, has now decreed that circuit clerks are required to provide equal treatment for all couples, gay or straight, and that all clerks must be given formal notice of that requirement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judge Carlton Reeves
Mississippi's elected officials may disagree with Obergefell, of course, and may express that disagreement as they see fit—by advocating for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision, for example. But the marriage license issue will not be adjudicated anew after every legislative session.

Further rulings are awaited on other lawsuits concerning the bill.

AP.


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lundi 27 juin 2016

[Split Thread] Cis or Trans Gendered Confusion

Confused A-plusser is confused: http://ift.tt/28ZNWJA


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Responsible crossbow owner kills wife

http://ift.tt/28ZsXWL


"After her newlywed husband allegedly shot her in the chest with a crossbow Sunday night in Northeast Philadelphia, Pamela Nightlinger stumbled next door to the house of her neighbor, Margie Maldonado.

A crossbow. What a way to go," the man said. "What a country this is. You can have anything you want. Unbelievable."


We should tax each bolt.


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Even a stopped clock...

Over on the clues forum, nonhocapito hits the nail on the head for once:

Quote:

As I said above, it's not too far-fetched to admit this possibility, if we allow the idea that there are different groups of power out there and not just one alleged "illuminati" super power pulling all the strings. Maybe here the EU establishment is being played against. And maybe the recent wave of fake terrorism within the EU was exactly propaganda in response to such attacks to the EU. Same despicable methods, of course, but to different ends than, say, 9/11 or Orlando...
Yes, different groups influence matters as much as they can to their own ends.

3TL

PS: howdy folks, long time lurker, first time poster.


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Gun advocate shoots two daughters on father's bday

Mom and vocal gun advocate shot her two daughters to death on the street after a family argument began at her husband's birthday party. She was shot by police. Of course it was Texas.

Eta apparently she had written how "tragic" it would be if the democrats took away her "ability to protect her family" on Facebook.


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The UK Doesn't have the Guts to leave the EU!

The UK knows that without the EU they are nothing but an inconsequential island - a has-been empire chocked full of Delusions of Grandeur. For this reason, the UK will never leave the EU.

I'm getting so tired of the leaving talk...this Brexit. Well, I say Screw 'em and tell then to booger off. The EU would be just fine without the UK: in fact, it would be even better off.

Hey Brits...ARTICLE 50 Awaits....DO IT! Or STFU and quit your Whining!!!


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Dozens Injured in Tony Robbins Fire Walk

Tony Robbins hot coal walk injures dozens, authorities say.


Quote:

At least 30 people were treated for minor burns after walking on hot coals during self-help guru Tony Robbins' "Unleash the Power Within" seminar in Dallas,Texas, fire and medical officials said.

According to Robbins' website, the "fire walk" is intended to help people conquer their fears by walking across hot coals. It takes place during the "Turn Fear Into Power" portion of the event.

"Walking over those hot coals is a symbolic experience that proves if you can make it through the fire, you can make it through anything," his website says.

Of the more than 7,000 participants, at least 30 sustained minor burns to their feet and five were hospitalized, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans.

I guess he didn't adequately explain thermal conductivity and the importance of moving quickly across the coals, or some material with a higher conductivity got mixed in. At least they regretted the incident and apologized...


Quote:

Robbins' website posted Friday, "We are pleased to have completed another successful fire walk for 7,000 guests and look forward to the remainder of an outstanding weekend with them."

...or not.


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Do some birds and mammals have a super-human ability to find their owners?


Pets have made some long distance journeys to return to their homes:

Quote:

Moon the Siberian Husky

Moon traveled a staggering 77 miles to find her way home to his owner, Doug Dashiell. Dashiell had taken his three dogs on a trip and on the way back, at Railroad Valley, briefly let them out of his truck to stretch their legs and make pee-pee when Moon suddenly bolted.
Amazingly, Moon managed to travel the distance back to Ely. The dog crossed desert, the White River, and the Ward Mountain ranges.

Kuzya the Cat/Wondercat

Kuzya ran away from his owners, the Efremovs, when they took him with them on vacation from their native Olenyok to Yakitsk in eastern Russia. It took the Destroyer an entire three months to find his way home to his family. If that sounds like a long time, consider this: Kuzya the Destroyer traveled 1,300 miles across Siberia to finally reach his family, crossing woods, rivers, and lakes. When he finally arrived home, his only problems were a few bite marks on his tail, a bit of weight loss, and the fact that his claws were worn down to nothing...

Skittles the Cat

the Sampsons, lost Skittles while they were vacationing in the Wisconsin Dells for Labor Day, 350 miles from their home in northern Minnesota.
It took ...Skittles 140 days to return home across a distance of 350 miles.

Max the Airedale Terrier
Two-year-old Max was lost when his owner’s convertible was involved in an accident in Sterling, Connecticut
Then, one Tuesday, Clark returned home to find Max sitting in his back yard, having found his way home from 45 miles away
http://ift.tt/28X8pBI

Here is another long distance journey:
Quote:

Dog Travels 500 Miles Home to His Owner
ABCNEWS.com

Bucky, a 3-year-old black Labrador, somehow traveled 500 miles from Virginia all the way home to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to be reunited with his owner, Mark Wessells.

"I thought I was going to cry, but I didn't. He definitely recognized me instantly," Wessells told TV station WPDE. "It's just crazy he made it down here on his own. You know it's like homeward bound is what I'm thinking."
This past January, Wessells had to leave the dog with his father in Winchester, Va., because dogs were banned from where Wessells lives in Myrtle Beach. But Bucky wouldn't have it. Somehow, the dog managed to travel all the way home to South Carolina, by himself.

Max the Airedale Terrier




http://ift.tt/28XOMpj
Click link for video


How do they do it?

Magnetism?
Quote:

Animal navigation

In the 20th century, Karl von Frisch showed that honey bees can navigate by the sun, by the polarization pattern of the blue sky, and by the earth's magnetic field; of these, they rely on the sun when possible. William Tinsley Keeton showed that homing pigeons could similarly make use of a range of navigational cues, including the sun, earth's magnetic field, olfaction and vision.
...
Pioneering researcher William Keeton showed that time-shifted homing pigeons could not orient themselves correctly on a clear sunny day, but could do so on an overcast day, suggesting that the birds prefer to rely on the direction of the sun, but switch to using a magnetic field cue when the sun is not visible. This was confirmed by experiments with magnets: the pigeons could not orient correctly on an overcast day when the magnetic field was disrupted.


Homing Pigeon

http://ift.tt/28XOwXp
Quote:

Magnetic Attraction

Perhaps the richest and most widely available navigational aid is the Earth’s magnetic field, a force generated by the planet’s molten core and serving as a 4,000-mile-long bar magnet. Creatures from bats and mole rats to butterflies and bacteria carry within them bits of a crystalline iron oxide, called magnetite, that helps them orient in relation to the Earth’s magnetic force lines. Recent studies demonstrate that many animals use magnetic sensing for more than just direction-finding. Like the Fraser River’s sockeye salmon, they’re identifying where they are and where they need to go as if they were carrying a GPS, though biologists are not exactly sure how the mechanism works.

One species that has demonstrated this ability spectacularly is the loggerhead sea turtle (left). On Florida’s Atlantic coast, loggerheads hatch on beaches months after their mothers have lumbered back into the surf. If they can evade pelicans, gulls and other predators, the 2-inch hatchlings crawl into the ocean and begin a multiyear, transatlantic migration—alone. Weak swimmers, they’re aided by the North Atlantic’s clockwise currents. Keeping them on course is their ability to tune into the Earth’s magnetic field.
http://ift.tt/28XOE9m

See also:
Animal Magnetism: How the Magnetic Field Influences Animal Navigation
http://ift.tt/28XOsHg


But in these stories below there is something more than simply returning back to their physical starting point, ie returning to their house in a set location:

Quote:

Miniature schnauzer determined to find owner walks right into Iowa hospital
Dog finds owner at hospital

A miniature schnauzer walked 20 blocks to the hospital where her owner was staying following a cancer surgery (KTRK)

Friday, February 13, 2015
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --
There's no denying the bond between dogs and their owners. A miniature schnauzer from Iowa showed just how strong that bond can be.

Nancy Franck has been recovering at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids for the past two weeks following a cancer surgery. She and her husband, Dale, own two miniature schnauzers, Sissy and Barney.

Dale Franck said Sissy ran away from home last Saturday. As it turns out, she was on a mission.

Surveillance video shows Sissy managed to navigate her way to the hospital where Nancy Franck was staying. That's about 15 to 20 blocks from the Franck's home.

She walked right into the lobby and down the halls, looking her owner. The family still can't figure out how Sissy knew where to go, since she had never been there before.


http://ift.tt/28X841Z
Click link for video

Two other dogs in the story below, more extreme circumstances!:

Quote:

Heartbroken Dog Makes Amazing Two-Mile Journey To Find Owner, John Dolan, In Hospital

Zander, a 7-year-old husky, was able to track down his owner John Dolan, who had checked into New York’s Good Samaritan Medical Center for a skin condition, according to Fox News. The dog traveled two miles, under a busy parkway, by a stream and across a four-lane road, to find Dolan. Zander cried and sulked for days when his owner, who rescued the dog five years ago and saved him from starvation, went into the hospital, Dolan’s wife, Priscilla, told Fox News. One day, while Dolan lay in his hospital bed, an employee came to him and said the dog was outside the building. “It’s not nonsense that he was at the hospital,” Dolan told ABC News. “He was moping around for the days I was already at the hospital, sitting in my seat and rolled up and depressed. My wife said he had water in his eyes and looked like he was really sad.” “Some of [the dogs] seem to have a special human-animal bond that leads them that way, whether it’s a sixth sense,” veterinarian Dr. John Charos told CBS News.

The strength of an animal’s love for his or her owner may seem incomprehensible sometimes, but Zander is not the only dog whose story shocked a community.

A loyal German Shepherd named Capitán ran away from home after his owner and best friend, Manuel Guzman, died in 2006, according to a September report. A week later, Guzman’s surviving family found the dog at Guzman’s gravesite. “We had never taken him to the cemetery so it is a mystery how he managed to find the place,” Veronica Guzman, Manuel’s widow, told the Sun. The dog maintains his position in the graveyard, sometimes leaving to visit the family but always going back before nightfall. “I don’t think he wanted to leave Manuel on his own at night,” Veronica added.
http://ift.tt/28X881N

Here is more on the second story:
Quote:

Dog sits by owner’s grave for six years
By MATT ROPER
13th September 2012, 3:11 pm

A FAITHFUL dog has refused to move from his master’s grave for SIX YEARS, a family claims. German Shepherd pet Capitan ran away after his owner Miguel Guzman died in 2006. A week later Mr Guzman’s family went to pay their respects at his tomb and found the heartbroken hound sitting there, howling. Since then the grieving dog has rarely left the spot at the cemetery.
Mr Guzman bought Capitan as a present for his 13-year-old son Damian in 2005 but died suddenly in March the next year. When his family returned from the funeral Capitan was gone.



“The following Sunday we went to the cemetery and Damian recognised his pet. Capitan came up to us, barking and wailing, as if he were crying. “We had never taken him to the cemetery so it is a mystery how he managed to
find the place.

“During the day he sometimes has a walk around the cemetery, but always rushes back to the grave. And every day, at six o’clock sharp, he lies down on top of the grave and stays there all night.”
http://ift.tt/28XOzCN
Quote:


Misele the Farm Cat Goes to the Hospital


When 82-year-old Alfonse Mondry was taken to a hospital in France, his cat *Misele missed him greatly. So she took off and walked across cattle fields, rock quarries, forests, and busy highways. She entered the hospital -- where she had never been before -- and found her owner's room. The nurses called the doctor right away when they found Mondry resting comfortably with his cat purring on his* lap.
http://ift.tt/28XOGyg


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God, I hate well-meaning but stupid young people.

http://ift.tt/28WKG1u

The TV broadcast of this that I saw, the dark-haired young lady says something to the effect of "We can't ignore this, we have to fight it."

NO. Jesus, ignoring racist scumbags is EXACTLY what you should do. These nutjobs are now the first story on the evening news, and you have vindicated their own persecution complex of "white racism."

People like this need to be ignored. They would just be more crazy people that you hear shouting on the street otherwise.

There is a time and a place for protest, but this just gave them free recruitment help. They might as well have had a minute-long commercial for young white racists.


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dimanche 26 juin 2016

Could someone please explain the "Corbyn Problem" to me?

From what I've read about his policy positions, he sounds like a good Labor leader. But they're trying to hand Brexit on him and push him out. I remember when he put his hat in the ring to begin with people were trashing him as "unelectable", etc. Then he won with well over 50% of the vote. Now this mess with mass resignations, just to try to get rid of him.

Sounds in some ways like the US Democrats and their dogged determination to marginalize/bury Bernie Sanders.

Could one or more of our Brit members give the "Cliff's Notes" version of the controversy?


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Black-clad figures stalking rural Iowa backroads

Here's a spot of intrigue.

Both the Muscatine County sheriff's office and local newsmedia have received numerous reports of late from drivers who have described unknown persons dressed in unusual black clothing walking next to roads and sometimes even stepping out into the road as cars pass by them. Sheriff's deputies are taking the reports seriously, asking for public assistance in reporting further incidents or identifying the persons responsible, whether they be pranksters or have some other purpose.

Let's for a moment assume the reports can be taken at face value. What might these folks be up to? It seems to me that spending indefinite amounts of time loitering and wearing heavy black trenchcoats or otherwise dressed head to toe in black in the midst of high summer on isolated backroads in Middle Of Nowhere Country, Iowa, menacing or harassing the few vehicles that happen by in hopes of sparking some kind of viral internet publicity, is a bit of a tough sell.


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Sell it all, due to Brexit?

I see zero happy predictions for the market over Brexit.

Greenspan says this will be like the 1985 collapse.

We all know that rebuilding trade barriers will cost everyone money.

Its good for nobody, at least in the next few years.

So, why not sell everything and move it into safer investments like bonds and treasuries?

I feel like this is just like the day when we found out about Lehman Brothers.

The market dropped 60% over the next few months.

If I pull out tomorrow morning at 9 am, I will still be ahead, by several thousand dollars.

Thoughts?

Is there any good rational reason to NOT move to safer investments right away?


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Brexit's affect on UK sport

I know it should probably be in the sports thread but it is kind of a big deal and it shouldn't really be lost

It may have been mentioned. If so I apologise

Couple of obvious things

You no longer have a group for qualification for world cups

The Ryder cup is officially UKless

Football European Cup is gone burger for you

European Rugby Champions Cup ditto

European Athletics champs byeeee


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Brilliant Expose on Private Prisons

http://ift.tt/28WeGh6

Lots of this rang bells as I compared the awful state of US private prisons with the now-privatised prison in Auckland that has become synonymous with "fight club".

http://ift.tt/28WeEpx

There are some things that should remain under state control, and many of us have been saying for a long time that prisons must be on that list.

Yet again, as ye sow, so shall ye reap.

What else did the politicians expect? Save money, destroy lives. Recidivism up, everyone pays more.


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Gas inside a corpse making sounds as it flows over the vocal cords

I was talking to a mortician and she said the source of a ghost moaning is the phenomena of gas in a decomposing body activating the vocal cords. She says this sometimes even happens in a coffin and on rare occasions can be heard from with a vault.

This actually happened to me when I was a teenager.


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[Split Thread] Brexit: Single Markets and Labor (or Labour, I guess)

Here's a question.

Why can't a country have full membership of the single market without unfettered movement of EU nationals?

The accepted answer, beyond the single market being defined by free movement of labour, is that if countries could opt out of the labour part then low wage countries would benefit.

It is (probably) going to be quite some time before the UK is a lower wage country compared to the EU average.

So . . . Why?


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George Will leaves GOP due to Trump

George Will is now an independent, says the best course for conservatives is to make sure Trump loses. Didn't say how to do that.

http://ift.tt/28WHjs1


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Art against Terror: "9/11 Ground Zero"

Strange thing happened in my little, obscure hometown far away from New York, New York.

This place...



is home to a world premiere (since May) exhibition of a 36 by 6 meters (118 by 20 feet) art collage "9/11 Ground Zero" by Düsseldorf artist Thorsten Kimura. Made of 2 million individual pieces, the artist has worked 7 years on it, as a memorial to the deceased:



More photos in this Photobucket album. They are my work, published with permission of the artist.

I hasten to declare that this is NOT, in my opinion, important, impressive art - but the artist has the dream of packing this work up in a month or two and shipping it to New York; hasn't found a home yet, though...
Perhaps the New Yorkers here have an idea where and how to find exhibition space?


(I also point out that this has nothing at all to do with Conspiracy theories, so, strictly speak, I should have opened this thread in "Arts", but that is not the subforum interested in this partucular stuff)


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London Independence

163,000 signatures.

http://ift.tt/28VP4iG

Seriously, if Scotland can justify independence from the UK, why not London?


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Corbyn's days (very) numbered?

It certainly looks like it. After he sacked Hilary Benn his Shadow Cabinet are queueing up to resign. live updates

I wonder who'll be next, given Labour's election system? A Blairite 'suit' wouldn't go down well with the punters but maybe vote-fatigue will kick in.

Maybe Benn himself? He made quite a pitch for it a while back.


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Responsible gun owner buys 10 guns to protect her family

Then uses one of them on her family killing her two daughters. But dont worry she did the NRA proud and the police were only able to take the gun from her cooling dead hand. Take that Obama.

http://ift.tt/28VVjA4


http://ift.tt/28VVhZ0


Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


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How does Google know my phone number?

Never once have I used my cell phone number on any Net site at all. My son got me the phone and pays the bill. I don't even know the number myself, let alone used it anywhere on the Net. And I don't use my phone to surf the Net.

My son did set up my bank account so I could deposit checks by phone, but I've never used it.

And yet today on my cell phone there was a message with my gmail account asking me to verify my cell number!!!!!

Holy invasion of the Internet, Batman. I'm not even sure if I used my real name signing up for my gmail account.


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samedi 25 juin 2016

BREXIT GOOD/BAD?: You won't know for 10 years+

So...is BREXIT good for the UK...or not?

Well, I believe it's not but that's an opinion and like...everyone has got one of those. Nevertheless, what we kind of do know for sure is that the immediate "Hysteria" will subside, and things will go back to "Normal" as the "Exit" is negotiated.

As a result, I really don't think anyone will know with close to 100% certainty if the UK leaving the EU was the right thing to do for about 10-or-more years. Consequently, what do you think will be the situation in 2026?

Thanks.


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Mother Teresa, if anyone wants a thread

This thread is based on a conversation here, starting around post #160. There might be some interest in a Mother Teresa thread, maybe not.

So far, I posted:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pup
On Mother Teresa, there are many voices about her beyond Hitchens and the one brief link RogueKitten posted. For example: http://ift.tt/29553e6

It's a serious and thoughtful interview with a former nun in her order. Such things like the following show how Mother Teresa's goals and worldview differed from her critics':

Quote:

Quote:
Because of her opposition to contraception and her seeming disinterest in modern medicine, some have called Mother Teresa a friend of poverty rather than a friend of the poor. How do you see that?

Johnson: Most people today would say that we help the poor by helping them out of poverty. That was never Mother Teresa’s intention. Mother Teresa often told us that as Missionaries of Charity we did not serve the poor to improve their lot, but because we were serving Jesus, who said that whenever service was rendered to one of the least, it was rendered to him.
If one agrees with that outlook and more explained elsewhere in detail, Mother Teresa's actions are generally consistent with her religious views and charitable actions. Her views though are just so opposed to what I'd consider common sense and my own outlook, that I can't support them. For example, it's one thing to be unable to help the poor, or to disagree whether to give them money or education, but in the above quote, Mother Teresa is described as someone who needs the poor to be poor, so she can serve them. She'd never run out--Jesus promised that--but it's just such a strange emphasis. But it explains why applying church donations to alleviate poverty wasn't the point.

Tinribmancer posted some links for those who read Dutch.

RogueKitten posted this link: http://ift.tt/2955g0E

Don't know if there's any further interest in a thread supposed to be focussed on evidence, but if anybody wants it, here it is. Have at it!


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Rate my Cpap camping setup

Duracel Battery, costs 144 bucks with tax 55 amp/hr gel battery/ battery is designed to last 10 years.
http://ift.tt/28UYLOh

DC converter
1 AirSense™ 10 & AirCurve™ 10 Machine Series DC Power Converter with Cord $99.00 $99.00
Discount ($15.00) ($15.00)
Package: 37297 - DC Power Converter with Cord

Coupon Code: SUMMER: ($12.60)
Shipping: FREE US Postal Service - First Class - Summer Sizzler!: $0.00
Sales Tax: $0.00

Total: $71.40

I got a connector for the battery for 10 bucks and a 6 amp charger for 30 bucks.

Total price 256 dollars.

Am I mad or will this work for a couple days?


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Texit? Anti-American Hate Group calls for Texas Secession in Wake of Brexit

From Brexit to Texit? Renewed calls for Texas secession after EU vote

Quote:

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Britain's startling vote to leave the European Union has reignited talks of secession in Texas, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

Daniel Miller, head of the Texas Nationalist Movement, sent a tweet to Gov. Greg About Friday morning calling on him to schedule a statewide referendum on "Texas independence."
It's trending among idiots:

Quote:

The hashtag #Texit was trending locally, according to CBS DFW. People at the Fort Worth Stockyards had mixed reactions to the idea.

"It's worth a shot. I'd be happy," resident Tab Pigg told the station, saying the East and West Coasts "run everything."

"No one knows we're even here," Pigg continued. "Best thing we could do is let them have it. They want to make a wreck out of their part of the world, let 'em wreck it."
I wonder how they'll feel about it if they have to take their $2 trillion share of the U.S. debt with them. I bet proponents forget to mention that in their propaganda.

If you don't like it in the U.S., you can either work for change or leave. These stupid S.O.B.s think they can walk away for free. Scum, just like those who did it in 1861.


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