Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Scientists spot asteroid heading towards Earth
Amplify’d from www.brahmand.com
Scientists spot asteroid heading towards Earth
CAMBRIDGE (BNS): A “potentially hazardous asteroid” will approach the Earth in mod-October but will not hit the planet, scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have said.
The asteroid, about 150 feet in diameter and designated ‘2010 ST3’, was detected by the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) PS1 telescope on September 16 when it was about 20 million miles away.
This is the first “potentially hazardous object” (PHO) detected by the Pan-STARRS telescope, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in a statement.
A PHO can cause devastation on a regional scale if it ever hits our planet. Such impacts are estimated to occur once every few thousand years.
The newly-detected asteroid, however, does not pose any threat to the Earth, the scientists said.
The asteroid spotted by the Pan-STARRS telescope. A PS1SC photo
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Monday, September 27, 2010
Pentagon destroys thousands of copies of Army officer's memoir
hmmm. What must he say that is so offensive? One does wonder what could stir this kind of reaction.
Amplify’d from www.cnn.com
Pentagon destroys thousands of copies of Army officer's memoir
'Operation Dark Heart' describes Lt. Col Anthony Shaffer's time in Afghanistan leading a black-ops team.
Washington (CNN) -- The Department of Defense recently purchased and destroyed thousands of copies of an Army Reserve officer's memoir in an effort to safeguard state secrets, a spokeswoman said Saturday.
"DoD decided to purchase copies of the first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to national security," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. April Cunningham said.
In a statement to CNN, Cunningham said defense officials observed the September 20 destruction of about 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer's new memoir "Operation Dark Heart."
Shaffer says he was notified Friday about the Pentagon's purchase.
"The whole premise smacks of retaliation," Shaffer told CNN on Saturday. "Someone buying 10,000 books to suppress a story in this digital age is ludicrous."
Shaffer's publisher, St. Martin's Press, released a second printing of the book that it said had incorporated some changes the government had sought "while redacting other text he (Shaffer) was told was classified."
From single words and names to entire paragraphs, blacked out lines appear throughout the book's 299 pages.
CNN obtained a memo from the Defense Intelligence Agency dated August 6 in which Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess claims the DIA tried for nearly two months to get a copy of the manuscript. Burgess said the DIA's investigation "identified significant classified information, the release of which I have determined could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to national security."
Burgess said the manuscript contained secret activities of the U.S. Special Operations Command, CIA and National Security Agency.
Shaffer's lawyer, Mark Zaid, said earlier this month that the book was reviewed by Shaffer's military superiors prior to publication.
"There was a green light from the Army Reserve Command," Zaid told CNN.
But intelligence agencies apparently raised objections when they received copies of the book.
The Pentagon contacted St. Martin's Press in early August to convey its concerns over the release of the book. According to the publisher, at that time the first printings were just about to be shipped from its warehouse. Shaffer said he and the publisher worked hard "to make sure nothing in the book would be detrimental to national security."
"When you look at what they took out (in the 2nd edition), it's lunacy," Shaffer said.
The Pentagon says Shaffer should have sought wider clearance for the memoir.
"He did clear it with Army Reserve but not with the larger Army and with Department of Defense," Department of Defense spokesman Col. David Lapan said earlier this month. "So he did not meet the requirements under Department of Defense regulations for security review."
One of the book's first lines reads, "Here I was in Afghanistan (redaction) My job: to run the Defense Intelligence Agency's operations out of (redaction) the hub for U.S. operations in country."
In chapter 15, titled "Tipping Point," 21 lines within the first two pages are blacked out.
In the memoir, Shaffer recalls his time in Afghanistan leading a black-ops team during the Bush administration. The Bronze Star medal recipient told CNN he believes the Bush administraton's biggest mistake during that time was misunderstanding the culture there.
Defense officials said they are in the process of reimbursing the publisher for the cost of the first printing and have not purchased copies of the redacted version.
At least one seller on the online auction site eBay claiming to have a first-edition printing is selling it for an asking price of nearly $2,000. The listed retail price for the second printing is $25.99.
Read more at www.cnn.com
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Friday, September 24, 2010
Sex abuse victim learns of Pope's role
=( Unfortunately the more you learn about how this cover up has worked over the end of the 20th century you get learn that the current pope held the highest office that knew what was going on (and sanctioned the practice of shipping known pedophile priests to new parishes over and over again). The current Pope chose to protect the Catholic institution instead of the hearts and souls of violated children all over the world. It's a very sad situation and I'm skeptical that there have been real changes made. Time will tell as always though.
Amplify’d from religion.blogs.cnn.com
Sunday, Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, at 8pm and 11pm ET. This story is drawn from that report.
Editor’s note: A one-hour CNN special, “What the Pope Knew,” will air this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, at 8pm and 11pm ET. This story is drawn from that report.
By Brian Rokus
CNN Special Investigations Unit
MORRISONVILLE, Ill. – Matt McCormick was in the seventh grade when Father Alvin Campbell gave him a ride home from a baseball game. As they were driving along country roads, Campbell put his hand on McCormick’s thigh and “just left it there.”
It was the first time the priest had touched him. During the next three years, McCormick says, the abuse would go much further.
That was 25 years ago. Just three months ago, he learned that Pope Benedict XVI played a role in keeping his abuser in the church when CNN told him about a letter signed by the pontiff – then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – refusing to defrock the pedophile priest.
Walking around the 1,000-person Illinois farming town where he grew up, McCormick pointed out where he was molested: inside the church school, inside the rectory, and inside the church itself.
Before performing his duties as an altar server, McCormick and other boys were fondled by Campbell in a room just steps away from the altar.
“He thought it would be funny if we went out with erections under our gowns,” McCormick said.
Still, like other young victims of molestation, McCormick didn’t think of the priest as a monster.
“You don’t see him as a predator – you see him as a friend,” McCormick said, standing in the same church where he was abused. “You see him as somebody who supplies you with money, bicycles and games and trips ... His actions would be so slow and so subtle that by the time you realized what’s going on, you’re caught.”
Campbell would also discuss sexual topics with McCormick in the confessional.
“He used the cloak of Christianity in his role as a priest to embed himself with children of parishioners and he would molest them,” said Fred Nessler, an attorney who has represented hundreds of church sex abuse victims, including 10 who named Campbell as their abuser. “They groom children. First, luring them with the idea that they’re going to be around a priest and their parents usually think that’s a fine idea.”
When he was 16, McCormick tried to kill himself with a knife and with an overdose of pills. His father had to break down the door to his room to save his life.
“I felt like a victim and I felt ashamed,” McCormick said. “So [it was] denial, denial, denial until I got to the point that I could move away and not have to deny anymore because people wouldn’t ask.”
As a teenager he also drank heavily and used marijuana.
“A lot of the times he would get us into that frame of mind where you’re not quite yourself, where you’re a little out of it and that’s when the molestations would start,” McCormick said.
McCormick, now 41, is happily married. He’s received a settlement from the Catholic Church and has been one of only a handful of Campbell’s victims to speak publicly about the abuse.
But until CNN contacted him in June, McCormick had no idea that the case of Father Campbell had gone far beyond his local parish.
The priest was convicted in 1985 on multiple charges of sexual assault and sentenced to a 14-year prison sentence. But Campbell’s bishop, Daniel Ryan, was bothered by a disturbing fact: Despite his criminal conviction and prison sentence, Campbell was still a priest – and refused to quit.
Ryan brought the case to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who today is Pope Benedict XVI. Ryan asked Benedict to forcibly remove Campbell from the priesthood.
In a personally signed letter, Ratzinger, citing Canon law, said he couldn’t defrock Campbell without Campbell’s permission – and instead suggested a local church trial, which would have taken years. It would be three more years before Bishop Ryan could persuade Campbell to request his own defrocking.
McCormick was speechless when he read the letter that kept his abuser an ordained priest.
“I think common sense should supersede Canon law,” McCormick said.
Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the prosecutor for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, says things have changed in the church.
“Today, Canon law has a different scenario,” Scicluna said. “This thing would not happen under [today’s] Canon Law.”
After coming to terms with his own experience, McCormick now plans to start a foundation to support other survivors of sexual abuse.
“The children are the ones who will grow up to be the parishioners that fill the pews,” he said. “They’re the ones that need the protection. They’re the ones that need the safety net and they need the supervision and it’s not there.”
Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com
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Monday, September 20, 2010
Inspector: FBI Used Weak Facts, Inaccurate Info in Probes of Advocacy Groups http://amplify.com/u/auv3
Inspector: FBI Used Weak Facts, Inaccurate Info in Probes of Advocacy Groups
Amplify’d from www.foxnews.com
Inspector: FBI Used Weak Facts, Inaccurate Info in Probes of Advocacy Groups
The FBI used weak facts to open investigations of individuals and advocacy groups, improperly retained some information about the subjects and wrongly characterized some nonviolent disobedience as acts of terrorism, the FBI's top watchdog said Monday.
In a report released by the Office of Inspector General that spanned investigations between 2001-2006, Inspector General Glenn Fine wrote that five liberal groups and individuals -- the Thomas Merton Center, Greenpeace, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Catholic Worker and an individual described as a Quaker peace activist -- were not targeted because of the exercise of their First Amendment rights, but at least some were wrongly watch-listed as a result of ongoing and unjustified probes.
Being added to a federal watch-list means a person could be deterred from travel and tracked by law enforcement.
The FBI also misled Director Robert Mueller into giving inaccurate information to Congress and the public when it claimed a possible terrorism link to justify surveilling a 2002 anti-war rally in Pittsburgh led by the Thomas Merton Center, the inspector general concluded.
In the case of the Thomas Merton Center, a new field agent in Pittsburgh had been assigned to attend the post-Thanksgiving Day event and filed a memo on it that included a photo of a woman seemingly from the Middle East. The agent did not describe the assignment as a terrorist hunt and the memo did not identify any subjects as such.
But the memo resulted in Mueller falsely testifying to the Senate in 2006 that the FBI had been tracking a possible terrorist who was identified as being at the protest.
Fine concluded that the documents cited by Mueller were the result of a "make work" assignment for a new agent. Though not outside the legal boundaries of FBI activities, it was "an ill-conceived project on a slow work day."
The inspector general also concluded that the FBI has been able to classify "matters as domestic terrorism that actually are trespassing or vandalism." In the case of the inaccurate statements passed along in the agent's memo, officials ended up stating "a stronger justification for the surveillance" than was necessary.
As for the Greenpeace case, the IG concluded that the FBI was right to conduct a probe into concerns about potential destruction of an energy facility in Alaska, but a separate probe of Greenpeace members involved in protests outside Exxon and Kimberly-Clark in Texas had little or no basis for suspicion of violation of a federal crime.
The OIG also found that the FBI kept the investigation open well beyond the dates of the suspected planned disruption and "beyond the point at which its underlying justification" existed. Greenpeace members were put on a federal watch list.
As for the Catholic Worker members, the IG said peaceful trespass on a military facility is not generally an FBI matter, especially since the FBI is not in the practice of "targeting lawful civil disobedience."
The IG called for several recommendations, including
- a review of activities relating to the Merton Center to determine whether administrative or other action is warranted for any individuals connected to the probe;
- sourcing and identification of facts given to Congress and in press releases;
- requirements that federal criminal statute be cited when opening an inquiry of advocacy groups exercising their First Amendment rights;
- modification of policies on retaining information from public events that are not related to potential criminal or terrorist activity; and
- guidance on classifying cases involving First Amendment issues as potential acts of terrorism.
The FBI agreed to the recommendations, the inspector general said.
Read more at www.foxnews.com
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010
'Freaky eaters' cling to same food everyday
I just watched a grown woman who only EVER ate French Fries have a crying fit because she ate a carrot. WTF. FreakyEaters....I expect to see Andrew Zimmerman! I get "feel sorry for me, I choose to only eat french fries all the time." WTF I'm still shaking my head.
Amplify’d from pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com
TLC’s new show that started September 5 shows people with a compulsion toward a particular food, meaning they eat only one item – like cheeseburgers, french fries or pizzas - all the time.
On the upcoming shows, a 29-year-old mother eats only french fries and a 34 year-old diabetic is addicted to cheeseburgers. In “Freaky Eaters,” psychotherapist Dr. Mike Dow and nutrition specialist J.J. Virgin, intervene to figure out what compels the finicky eaters to obsess over the same food.
Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, the medical director for Child and Adolescent Services at the Eating Recovery Center, said he hasn’t heard much about this type of behavior in adults.
“Usually it’s a problem with children with extremely picky eating,” said Bermudez, a past president of the National Eating Disorders Association.
CNN's Eatocracy on Routine Repasts
Children who usually stick to just one type of food have suffered some sort of emotional disturbances or have fears of vomiting or choking that compels them to stick to one food. They usually outgrow this.
“It’s rare to see adults with that narrow of menu choices,” Bermudez said. “It’s almost unheard of.”
The average person cycles through his or her menu every 10 days, meaning an average lover of pizza might eat the item once every 10 days. Some people cycle through the menu less frequently by eating something every 20 days instead. The 10 to 20 days is the normal range, he said.
Eating the same thing every day is highly abnormal, he said.
“There’s two ways of looking at it- there’s an obsessive component – ‘I want the same thing all the time,’” he said. “That can be obsessive. The other is avoidance. ‘These are the only things I feel safe eating.’”
Read more at pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com
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Tuesday, September 14, 2010
What am I? The amazing tabbed-up tabby with 'cat' written in its fur
How adorably AWESOME =)!!!
Amplify’d from www.dailymail.co.uk
What am I? The amazing tabbed-up tabby with 'cat' written in its fur
All the clues are there: the whiskers, the purring, the miaowing and even the toy mouse under her front paws.
But just in case you were in any doubt as to what sort of animal Polly is, the ten-week-old tabby is happy to help out, thanks to her unusual markings, which spell out the word ‘cat’ on her left flank.
Garry Marsh and wife Joan, both 57, adopted Polly from a local cat rescue centre last weekend.
But it was only as they admired their
new pet’s colouring three days later that they noticed the marks.
Mr Marsh, a teacher, said: ‘We were commenting on how symmetrical her tabby patterns seemed when Joan suddenly noticed the letters.
‘Once somebody points it out, it is obvious – the word stands out a mile.’
The couple, who live with their sons
Simon, 28, and Alex, 23, in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, also
have a seven-year-old cat called Katina.
Tabbies have an ‘M’ marking on their forehead,
between the eyes, with various legends suggesting why this is the case.
One suggests that the Virgin Mary made the
mark of her own initial out of gratitude after a tabby snuggled up to
the baby Jesus in the manger to stop him from shivering.
And an Islamic legend says that the Prophet
Mohammed
had a tabby called Muezza that saved his life by killing a snake which
had crawled up his sleeve.
When
the cat later fell asleep on his arm, he cut his sleeve off so as not
to disturb the cat.
From
that day on, all tabbies were born with the ‘M’ marking to signify that
Mohammed held the animals in high esteem.
Fangs alot: Polly will be sharing her new home with a seven-year-old cat called Katina
Read more at www.dailymail.co.uk
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Friday, September 3, 2010
My Beef With the Word RETARD being Taboo
Okay, I'm gonna have to write a blog about this because this topic winds me up. And the omg-facts.com trivia nugget down here just proves my point about the way people go nuts about the *AHEM* R-word. So for my full rant hit my official blog http://toxxic.info/
Amplify’d from www.omg-facts.com
The words ‘moron,’ ‘imbecile,’ and ‘idiot’ were once medical terms.
hese were all words used to describe a person whose IQ was below 70. More specifically, those who had an IQ between 0 and 25 were idiots, those between 26 and 50 were deemed imbeciles, and those scoring between 51 and 70 were considered morons.
These were all words used to describe a person whose IQ was below 70. More specifically, those who had an IQ between 0 and 25 were idiots, those between 26 and 50 were deemed imbeciles, and those scoring between 51 and 70 were considered morons.
t wasn’t long, however, before they all became commonly used as insults. Therefore, the term ‘retarded’ was used to replace them, since its Latin root has the innocent meaning of “to make slow, delay, or hinder.” Naturally, history repeated itself, and that too became a derogatory word.
Read more at www.omg-facts.com
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Only in Japan, Real Men Go to a Hotel With Virtual Girlfriends
Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com
Only in Japan, Real Men Go to a Hotel With Virtual Girlfriends
Dating-Simulation Game a Last Resort For Honeymoon Town and Its Lonely Guests
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
ATAMI, Japan—This resort town, once popular with honeymooners, is turning to a new breed of romance seekers—virtual sweethearts.
Since the marriage rate among Japan's shrinking population is falling and with many of the country's remaining lovebirds heading for Hawaii or Australia's Gold Coast, Atami had to do something. It is trying to attract single men—and their handheld devices.
In the first month of the city's promotional campaign launched July 10, more than 1,500 male fans of the Japanese dating-simulation game LovePlus+ have flocked to Atami for a romantic date with their videogame character girlfriends.
The men are real. The girls are cartoon characters on a screen. The trips are actual, can be expensive and aim to re-create the virtual weekend outing featured in the game, a product of Konami Corp. played on Nintendo Co.'s DS videogame system.
"Atami has always been a romantic place, but it is now a romantic place for a modern generation," says Sakae Saito, Atami's mayor.
Love Plus+ re-creates the experience of an adolescent romance. The goal isn't just to get the girl but to maintain a relationship with her.
After choosing one of three female characters—goodie-goodie Manaka, sassy Rinko or big-sister type Nene—to be a steady girlfriend, the player taps a stylus on the DS touch-screen in order to walk hand-in-hand to school, exchange flirtatious text messages and even meet in the school courtyard for a little afternoon kiss. Using the device's built-in microphone, the player can carry on sweet, albeit mundane, conversations.
If the real-life Romeo earns enough "boyfriend power" points—by completing game tasks like homework or exercise to become smarter and more buff—the reward is a virtual trip to Atami.
In the game, the couple tours the local landmarks. The girlfriend changes into a yukata, a casual summer kimono, to go see the fireworks, and then they stay overnight at the Hotel Ohnoya. It is known for its cavernous, white-columned baths in the style of Ancient Rome.
In his first visit to the real-life Atami, Love Plus+ gamer Shunsuke Kato planned to walk around the city and see the sights familiar to him from playing the game. One small hitch: his girlfriend, Manaka, was giving him the silent treatment.
She was upset that he had been so busy at work that he had been playing the game only 10 minutes a day. "On days off, I spend one to two hours with her. I guess, compared to the people who come here, our relationship is a bit lukewarm," said Mr. Kato.
Located at the bend of the Japanese archipelago and a one-hour train ride from Tokyo, Atami has definitely seen better days.
The number of overnight visitors has dropped by half from the peak in the late 1960s. The main shopping area has many boarded-up storefronts—a lot of them defunct bars, clubs and other remnants of the city's heyday as an entertainment mecca.
The city is going all-out to indulge ardent Love Plus+ fans.
At the real Hotel Ohnoya, which opened its doors in 1937, the staff is trained to check in Love Plus+ customers as couples even if there is only one actual guest. Says Atsurou Ohno, the hotel's managing director, "We try not to ask too many questions because we want them to be able to remain immersed in that game world."
Some devoted fans will go so far as to pay twice the rate—most hotels in Japan charge per guest not per room—to indulge the fantasy that they are not there alone. A night's stay, at most, can cost $500 though many rooms are cheaper.
In Atami, the Love Plus+ fans—mostly men in their twenties and thirties—stand out. Unlike the deeply tanned beach crowd wearing very little, they are often pasty and overdressed for the heat in heavy jeans and button-down shirts.
Tatsuya Fukazawa, a 19-year-old college student, was visiting Atami for the first time on a recent weekend. In a small waist bag, he carried his Nintendo DS. Once he turned on the device, his virtual girlfriend Manaka Takane—a Libra who enjoys making pastries—greeted him in a syrupy sweet voice.
"There isn't a lot of romance in my life and this helps me cope with some of the loneliness," said Mr. Fukazawa with a chuckle.
Adding real elements to the virtual relationships is central to the Love Plus+ series. The games can be synched up to an actual calendar and clock, which means playing the game too late at night might mean that the virtual girlfriend is already asleep. Players are expected to remember important dates like birthdays and holidays.
Local businesses are feeling the love.
Yamadaya, a shop selling processed fish cakes on Atami's main shopping street, started offering special Love Plus+ fish cakes at the end of July. On top of a rubbery square white cake about the size of piece of toast, Yamadaya draws the characters' faces using black squid ink. At 450 yen ($5.30), the store has been selling out its daily allotment of 150 cakes—50 for each girl.
Korean barbecue-inspired restaurant Hien says a quarter of its customers are currently game-related. For 5,000 yen, customers get a special Love Plus+ menu of Japanese beef and side dishes.
Kanji Nagasawa, Hien's owner, says he is accustomed to making small talk with customers, but the Love Plus+ crowd often sits in silence and plays the game while eating.
"We've been stunned," Mr. Nagasawa said, "how happy this makes those customers."
Alas, the boom ends this month, when the imaginary characters have to go back to school.
Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com
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