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November 2009

Wrought Iron Gates

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 12:29 — admin

Servitudes are legal arrangements of land use arising out of private agreements. Under the feudal system, most land in England was cultivated in common fields, where peasants were allocated strips of arable land that were used to support the needs of the local village or manor. By the sixteenth century the growth of population and prosperity provided incentives for landowners to use their land in more profitable ways, dispossessing the peasantry. Common fields were aggregated and enclosed by large and enterprising farmers -- either through negotiation among one another or by lease from the landlord -- to maximize the productivity of the available land and contain livestock. Fences redefined the means by which land is used, resulting in the modern law of servitudes.

On private land in the United Kingdom, it is the landowner's responsibility to fence their livestock in. Conversely, for common land, it is the surrounding landowners' responsibility to fence the common's livestock out.

Wrought Iron Gates

Cannibals nabbed selling corpse to kebab house

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 05:26 — admin

MOSCOW (Reuters) –
Russian police have arrested three homeless people suspected of eating a 25-year-old man they had butchered and selling other bits of the corpse to a local kebab house.

Suspicions were raised when dismembered parts of a human body were found near a bus stop in the outskirts of the Russian city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow.

Three homeless men with previous criminal records have been arrested on suspicion of setting upon a foe with knives and a hammer before chopping up his corpse to eat, local investigators said in a statement on their www.susk.perm.ru Web site.

"After carrying out the crime, the corpse was divided up: part was eaten and part was also sold to a kiosk selling kebabs and pies," the Prosecutor-General's main investigative unit for the Perm region said in a statement issued Friday.

It was not immediately clear from the statement if any of the corpse had been sold to customers.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)

The anti-swine flu holy water dispenser

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 02:55 — admin

ROME (Reuters) –
An Italian inventor has combined faith and ingenuity to come up with a way to keep church traditions alive for the faithful without the fear of contracting swine flu -- an electronic holy water dispenser.

The terracotta dispenser, used in the northern town of Fornaci di Briosco, functions like an automatic soap dispenser in public washrooms -- a churchgoer waves his or her hand under a sensor and the machine spurts out holy water.

"It has been a bit of a novelty. People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy. The members of this parish have got used to it," said Father Pierangelo Motta.

Catholics entering and leaving churches usually dip their hands into fonts full of holy water -- which has been blessed by a priest -- and make the sign of the cross.

But fear of contracting the H1N1 virus has led many in Italy -- where some 15 people have died of swine flu -- not to dip their hands in the communal water font.

"It's great," said worshipper Marta Caimm as she entered the church. "Thanks to this we are not worried about catching swine flu. It is the right thing for the times," she said.

Luciano Marabese, who invented the dispenser, said he did so out of concern that fear of swine flu was eroding traditions.

And he is now blessing himself all the way to the bank.

"After all the news that some churches, like Milan's cathedral, were suspending the use of holy water fonts as a measure against swine flu, demands for my invention shot to the stars. I have received orders from all over the world," he said.

(Reporting by Eleanor Biles; Writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Personalized Pens

Tue, 11/03/2009 - 00:41 — admin

http://www.logosurfing.com/

The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on October 30, 1888, to John J Loud. In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor, with the help of his brother George, a chemist, began to work on designing new types of pens including one with a tiny ball in its tip that was free to turn in a socket. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated, picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper.

In the 1960s the fibre, or felt-tipped pen was invented by Yukio Horie of the Tokyo Stationery Company, Japan. Papermate's Flair was among the first felt-tip pens to hit the U.S. market in the 1960s, and it has been the leader ever since. Marker pens and highlighters, both similar to felt pens, have become popular in recent years.

House Republicans roll out health insurance alternatives (McClatchy Newspapers)

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 20:08 — admin

WASHINGTON — Small businesses would have an easier time banding together to offer insurance to employees. Consumers could cross state lines to buy coverage. There'd be no big government expansion.

Those are among the ideas that Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to push later this week, as lawmakers expect to begin debating how to overhaul the nation's health care system.

One longtime favorite Republican proposal apparently will be absent: The Republican plan will contain no tax incentives for consumers who buy insurance individually, said House Minority Leader John Boehner , R- Ohio .

"Cost," he said, was the reason for the omission.

Chances are that little or none of the Republican plan will become law, since the House has 177 Republicans and 256 Democrats and Democrats control 60 of the Senate's 100 seats.

The Republican strategy has two missions: Illustrate what the party stands for, and try to demonize and defeat Democratic initiatives.

Some analysts questioned whether the effort would work.

"It's hard to see how Americans worried about the cost of insurance or who goes without coverage would see this as a viable alternative to the Democratic plan. I guess its appeal is to the middle class, who may see it as a way of bargaining down costs," said Steven Smith , the director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis .

House Democrats have proposed a 1,990-page bill that includes a government-run insurance plan, or "public option," that would compete with private insurers. Savings in Medicare and a tax on the wealthy largely would pay for the legislation, which has been estimated to cost a net $894 billion over 10 years. The tax surcharge would apply to adjusted gross incomes of more than $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for joint filers.

Debate on that plan could begin late this week, with final votes late this week or early next week. The Republican plan would be offered as an alternative.

House Republicans plan a series of efforts, including a 12-hour online town hall meeting beginning Thursday afternoon, to call attention to what they see as problems with the Democrats' plan.

Their message: "This would be a government takeover of health care in this country," House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana said.

In the Senate , Majority Leader Harry Reid , D- Nev. , has proposed a public option that would permit states to "opt out" of the plan. He's encountered serious resistance from party centrists, and no Senate debate is expected this week.

Many of the Republican ideas are expected to surface in the Senate , where the rules make it easier to amend legislation.

In the House, Republican leaders began mounting an offensive last week built around four key principles, as Boehner outlined Monday:
— Giving states more flexibility to "create their own innovative reforms."

Republicans wouldn't bar insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, as Democratic legislation would, but they'd provide financial incentives for the private marketplace to create high-risk pools.

House Republican leaders fear that putting sicker consumers in with lesser risks could make coverage more expensive for the better risks. By encouraging high-risk pools, people with long medical histories would still be able to get coverage.

— Revamping medical malpractice laws to make it harder to bring what Boehner called "junk lawsuits." Republicans have long sought changes in medical malpractice laws, but Democrats traditionally have blocked them and show no inclination to bend this time.

— Permitting families and businesses to buy health insurance across state lines.

— Making it easier for employers, individuals and small businesses to set up risk pools.

Under one scenario, a small business that operates in different states could draw customers — and thus pool risks — from all states where it conducts business. Currently, such pools are subject to the rules and regulations of each state, which critics see as burdensome.

The Republican effort faces huge hurdles. There isn't yet a firm estimate of how much the entire plan would cost, nor is there a Congressional Budget Office estimate of how many people the Republican provisions would cover.

ON THE WEB

House Republicans on health care

House Democratic leaders information on health care taxes

House Democratic leaders' health care bill

Side-by-side comparison of health care bills

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

Moderate Democrats hold health bill's fate in their hands

Reid includes public option in latest health care bill

Americans cutting back on health care to save money

For more McClatchy politics coverage visit Planet Washington

Study: Man-eating lions consumed 35 people in 1898

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 17:11 — admin

WASHINGTON – The nightly attacks by two man-eating lions terrified railway workers and brought construction to a halt in one of east Africa's most notorious onslaughts more than a hundred years ago. But the death toll, scientists now say, wasn't as high as previously thought.
Over nine months the two voracious hunters claimed 35 lives — no small figure, but much less than some accounts of as many as 135 victims.
It was 1898, when laborers from India and local natives building the Uganda Railroad across Kenya became the prey for the pair, a case that has been the subject of numerous accounts and at least three movies.
The death toll had been estimated at 28 railway workers and "scores of unfortunate African natives," with the total ranging as high as 135. Delay of the railroad was even subject to debate in Britain's House of Commons.
Scientists hoping to figure out the actual number of people eaten decided to study the remains of the two male lions, now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, testing the types of carbon and nitrogen in their teeth and hair.
Those chemical ratios were compared with the carbon and nitrogen found in modern lions in the region, in lions' normal prey animals and in humans.
Bones and teeth store carbon and nitrogen isotopes over long periods, while the ratios in hair change more rapidly, allowing the scientists to determine the long-term diet and how it changed in the lions' last months.
Humans made up at least half of the diet of one of the lions in the last months of his life, consuming at least 24 people, they concluded. The other lion had eaten 11 people, they found.
In other words, even a century later, you are what you eat.
Researchers led by anthropologist Nathaniel J. Dominy and Justin D. Yeakel of the University of California, Santa Cruz, report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
They noted that estimates of the death toll reported at the time ranged from 28 reported by the Ugandan Railway Company, to 135, claimed by Lt. Col. John H. Patterson, a British officer who killed the lions in December, 1898.
The researchers did note that their study covers only the number of people eaten, while the number killed may have been higher. They said the death toll may have been as high as 75.
The killings occurred at a time when drought and disease sharply reduced the number of grazing animals that are the normal food for the lions, the report added, while at the same time construction of the railway brought an increased number of people into the area.
In addition, the researchers said the two lions seem to have cooperated in their hunting efforts. That's not unusual when they are after large prey like buffalo and zebra, but isn't necessary when after something smaller, like people.
However, one of the lions had severe dental problems and a jaw injury, probably limiting his ability to hunt, they reported. So the two may have worked together, with one eating more people and the other concentrating more heavily on other prey, but also eating humans.
"These findings underscore the complexity of what lions are capable of doing, and the complex interplay of costs and benefits that determine the size of their coalitions," Dominy said in a statement.
The research was funded by the Earthwatch Institute, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and the UC-Santa Cruz Committee on Research.
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On the Net:

PNAS: http://www.pnas.org

Cheney FBI interview: 72 times of can't recall

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 15:53 — admin

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.
On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.
The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks of Plame's CIA identity were orchestrated at the highest level of the White House and carried out by, among others, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff.
Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?
Libby's own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney's reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes — notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI — the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.
Sharing the information with Cheney was in itself an unusual step at the outset of a criminal investigation in which potential White House witnesses were being ordered by their superiors not to talk to each other about the Plame matter.
In the FBI interview of Cheney on May 8, 2004, investigators specifically asked the vice president and his lawyers not to talk to other witnesses in the probe. It was important to ensure that everything be done to keep the recollections of other witnesses from being influenced, Fitzgerald told Cheney, according to the FBI interview summary. Cheney lawyer Terrence O'Donnell replied that he could not make a binding commitment to refrain from discussing the interview with people who may need to help O'Donnell properly represent his client, the FBI summary stated.
Eight months earlier, Libby had gone to Cheney, telling the vice president that "I have a note saying that I had heard about" Plame's CIA identity "from you," according to Libby's grand jury testimony.
And what did Cheney say in response? Fitzgerald asked Libby.
"He didn't say much," Libby testified. "You know, he said something about 'From me?' something like that, and tilted his head, something he does commonly, and that was that."
Cheney's version of the conversation, as related in the FBI interview summary?
Cheney "cannot recall Scooter Libby telling him how he first heard of Valerie Wilson. It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson's employment from the vice president ... but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation."
On another basic point, Cheney simply refused to answer.
Fitzgerald had gathered evidence that Cheney apparently persuaded President George W. Bush to hurriedly declassify portions of a prewar National Intelligence Estimate on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The declassification was followed by Libby providing the information to a New York Times reporter while simultaneously talking to reporters about Plame's CIA identity.
As Fitzgerald pressed the issue in the FBI interview, Cheney refused to confirm any discussion with Bush, saying that he must refrain from commenting about any private or privileged conversations he may have had with the president.
It was an instance of Libby, who had testified two months earlier to a federal grand jury, being more forthcoming than Cheney.
Prosecutors obtained information about the leaking of the declassified NIE from Cheney's chief of staff, who testified that he had talked to New York Times reporter Judith Miller about the National Intelligence Estimate following the "president's approval relayed to me through the vice president." It was that point that investigators wanted to pin down with Cheney, who refused to say whether he had ever advised Libby that the president had decided to declassify the NIE.
Cheney's FBI interview is a study in contrasts.

Expressing uncertainty on many areas he was being questioned about and refusing to discuss another area altogether, Cheney was emphatic on at least one basic point.

According to the FBI summary, Cheney said there was no discussion of using Plame's employment with the CIA to counter her husband's criticism that the Bush administration had manipulated prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. There was no discussion, Cheney insisted, of "pushing back" on Joseph Wilson's credibility by raising the issue of nepotism, the fact that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, the same agency that dispatched him to the African nation of Niger to run down the report of an agreement to supply uranium "yellowcake" to Iraq.

It was one example of Cheney being categorical and Libby seeming uncertain.

"In a prior FBI interview, you indicated it was possible that you may have talked to the Vice President on Air Force Two ... about whether you should share the information with the press about Wilson's wife?" the prosecutor asked Libby in his grand jury testimony.

"It's possible that would have been one of the times I could have talked to him about what I had learned," Libby replied.

"As you sit here today, do you recall whether you had such a conversation with the vice president on Air Force Two?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, sir. My, my best recollection of that conversation was what I had on my note card which we have produced which doesn't reflect anything about that," Libby replied.

Libby was indicted, tried and convicted for perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI. The president commuted his 30-month prison sentence, but rejected Cheney's pleas in the last days of the administration to pardon the vice president's former chief of staff.

The Cheney interview summary was released Friday to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sued to get the material under the Freedom of Information Act.

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On the Net:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:

http://www.citizensforethics.org



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