Saturday, September 24, 2005

FireFox

Look!! FireFox Users..
rt

This morning, while checking the statistics page of this site I found about 70 of you are using FireFox as your Browser. 67 are using versions less than the current 1.07. This is really important you need to download and install version 1.07 now. There is a really important security fix on version 1.07. You are leaving your computer open to attack if you don't get this done right now. It takes very little time... do it now
RT



Time to download and update the latest from FIREFOX... This is important as it is a security update. Don't delay ...do it now. Here is the link:

FIREFOX UPDATE CLICK HERE

Views of Africa @ National Geographic Magazine

Views of Africa @ National Geographic Magazine: "By David Quammen
Photographs by George Steinmetz
Armed with two small planes and infinite determination, explorer and conservationist J. Michael Fay set out to create an unprecedented record of human impact on the land.

Just north of the old caravan town of Agadez, in central Niger, stretches the Aïr Massif, a vast range of cinder gray highlands standing up from the Sahara like a coal barge afloat on an ocean of cream. The peaks and plateaus of the Aïr have been shaped over time from a complicated mixture of rock types—including magmatic ring dikes, granitic intrusions, Paleozoic sandstone, and recent flows of lava—but the overall impression they convey can be captured without geologic jargon: big mountains, arid and dark and steep. Their gulches (koris, in the local terminology) are water carved but, in dry season, brim only with sand. Old hoof trails, scratched across high ledges, suggest that once this was good habitat for Barbary sheep, Ammotragus lervia, a hardy species now extinct or endangered across most of its North African range. Maybe the habitat is still good, but the sheep seem to have been hunted out. There are no paved roads and few settlements amid these mountains. Apart from four-by-four tracks up the larger koris, the main signs of human presence are igloo-like rock piles sparsely polka-dotting the foothills. Each dot is an ancient grave. The graves are remote, inconspicuous, mostly unopened by pillagers, and best seen from a low-flying plane. That's how J. Michael Fay sees them, on a mild December morning, as an heirloom Cessna 182 carrying him and three others approaches the northeastern edge of the massif. "

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies: "Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies

Download the pdf of the hidden images from our digital edition

John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday September 20, 2005
The Guardian

Da Vinci's Adorationof the Magi
'A whole new world under the surface' ... Leonardo da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi


Amid the obsessive scholars and scheming prelates who inhabit Dan Brown's global blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code, there is a real person.

Maurizio Seracini works in a high-ceilinged, colourfully frescoed palazzo just across the river from the Uffizi gallery in Florence. His premises are packed with machines that look as if they belong in a hospital or laboratory.

Brown calls him an 'art diagnostician', which is not a bad description for someone who probes paintings with state-of-the-art-technology, often to advise museums, dealers and collectors on their restoration.

Article continues
The Da Vinci Code revolves around the contention that Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings are full of symbolic allusions to a secret claimed to have been preserved by successors of the defunct medieval order of Knights Templar - that Christ married Mary Magdalene and had a family whose descendants are alive today. What attracted Brown to Mr Seracini was his epic investigation into what lies below the surface of the Adoration of the Magi, a work the art detective believes was sketched by Da Vinci, but painted over by someone else."

Panel looks at Oregon Health Plan

Panel looks at Oregon Health Plan: "Panel looks at Oregon Health Plan
Care reform - A group evaluating the federal system talks to founders of the state plan
Saturday, September 24, 2005
DON COLBURN

A national citizens panel trying to jump-start health care reform at the federal level came to Oregon Friday to gather ammunition.

In a five-hour hearing, the panel got an earful about lessons growing out of Oregon's effort to reinvent its own health care system 15 years ago, which led to the Oregon Health Plan."

After a year, Mount St. Helens show still a hot ticket

After a year, Mount St. Helens show still a hot ticket: "After a year, Mount St. Helens show still a hot ticket
Eruption - The mountain continues to ooze lava into its crater since it reawakened last fall
Saturday, September 24, 2005
RICHARD L. HILL

VANCOUVER -- The elegant vapor plume rising from Mount St. Helens on Friday morning was a fitting salute on the first anniversary of the volcano's reawakening.

A year ago, an intense swarm of small earthquakes signaled renewed volcanic unrest after 18 years of quiet. Scientists realized three days later that the shallow quakes weren't like past flurries and issued a warning that Mount St. Helens, the country's most famous volcano, might be gearing up for an outburst.

They were right. After nearly three weeks of nonstop quakes and a few spectacular explosions of steam and ash, magma punched into the crater surface on Oct. 11 -- the official start of an eruption that hasn't quit."

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Albert Einstein
'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.'"

BBC NEWS | Technology | Kids to teach elderly net skills

BBC NEWS | Technology | Kids to teach elderly net skills: "Kids to teach elderly net skills
Photo of a young child teaching an older woman to use a computer
Children are said to be best placed to give grandparents net skills
Young people are being encouraged to take on the role of internet trainer to help their grandparents get online.

Telco giant BT is marking Grandparents Day on 24 September by asking children to become 'internet rangers'.

The company believes that young people are in the best position to prevent their grandparents from becoming digitally excluded."

The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters | csmonitor.com

The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters | csmonitor.com: "The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters
Report by US think tank says only '4 to 10' percent of insurgents are foreigners.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
The US and Iraqi governments have vastly overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, and most of them don't come from Saudi Arabia, according to a new report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS). According to a piece in The Guardian, this means the US and Iraq 'feed the myth' that foreign fighters are the backbone of the insurgency. While the foreign fighters may stoke the insurgency flames, they only comprise only about 4 to 10 percent of the estimated 30,000 insurgents."

Friday, September 23, 2005

World Wide Stats

World Wide Statistics
sent in by Blaine Kalar
follow the link

Video in the News: New Orleans—A Man-Made Disaster?

Video in the News: New Orleans—A Man-Made Disaster?:

EDITORS COMMENT: This is great. Turn up the volume on your computer... Be informed.

"Video in the News: New Orleans—A Man-Made Disaster?

More than a hurricane is to blame for the disaster in New Orleans. For years man-made changes to the landscape around the Crescent City have affected how well it could withstand the wrath of a powerful storm. See how decades of efforts to curb the forces of nature are now giving the Big Easy a sinking feeling—literally."

An open letter to th

An open letter to those who are interested in the coming CERT training and being on a team here at LVH to serve our friends and neighbors. We think a web page for CERT is a good means of communicating with one another. It would be especially cool if it were interactive allowing 2 way communication between members. It would even allow for fewer organizational meetings as information could be communicated simply by a member writing what needs to be said and punching a button. Then that information would be published on that website instantly.

This is possible now and requires no training whatsoever. Blogger, the tool we use to publish our website, has made it so easy no experience or special knowledge is necessary. All that is needed that members join the web page team when an invitation is sent to them by email and that they download a new toolbar to their computers.

The invitation has you pick a user name and password and requires you accept the terms of using Blogger... That’s it. Then you download the toolbar and the use the install wizard to get it on your computer..... THE TOOL BAR...  Now here is  how ez this is...

The tool bar is loaded directly on to your Microsoft Word, word processor.

What this means is you do not have to be on line to write what you have to say.. You just write your article at your leisure and when it’s ready to publish after you have used all of Word’s features (off line) such as spell check and anything else you want ... Just click the PUBLISH BUTTON on the tool bar and your article will be published on line for all the members to see.. That’s all you need to do.  

In fact..... That is how this article was posted this morning.

I can set this up for CERT members here and/or for all Newport Cert. If you are a member or you are thinking about it and would like to give it a whirl let me know.

Enough interest and I will start building the website (a pretty simple job itself).

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Saturday Breakfast

Breakfast @ the Clubhouse This Saturday

The Mazzeo, Bellingham and Hart Breakfast Crew..

Are preparing Freedom Toast (like French toast), fruit, sausage and juice for this Saturday's breakfast at the clubhouse . The breakfast is free to season pass holders and $3.50 per person for everyone else.

Sign up at the clubhouse so that the crew knows how much to buy. Breakfast is served from 8:00am to 10:00 am.

See you there.

Home Automation

Home Automation...@ LVH
ron thomas


Many have heard stories of how our home is automated and some wonder how to do it and others wonder why bother?


What many folks don't know is that the components used in the emergency red light system set your entire home up for automation with ease. They are the basic parts needed to do many things automaticaly in your home. It is only necessary to buy other inexpensive parts to plug into your wall or simply set on a counter to make automation happen. Smarts to do it are really not needed. Everything is very easily done.


We have helped with automation of Bill and Kathy Furgason's home and Jim and Bonnie Rose's home also.


I'm wondering if a series of how to articles or a class at the clubhouse would interest you folks? What is it that would help make your life easier? There are a number of simple and cheap enhancements to your home that may help with macular degeneration. Lighting for beauty as well as safety or just plain neat stuff like having your curtains open or close with the intensity of the sun.


Many posibilities exist and the degree of sophistication even goes as far as having a computer run your home. It can make it appear as if someone is home by turning the lights on or off at random or even by having your pet turn lights on or off by walking into rooms.


Any how this article is here to test the interest or lack thereof so comment away.

Wilsonville debates aid for mobile home owners

Wilsonville debates aid for mobile home owners:

Editors Comment: Keep informed.. Read the whole story by following the link...rt

Wilsonville debates aid for mobile home owners
Affordable housing - One proposal is for park owners who sell their land to relocate residents or buy their homes
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
LISA GRACE LEDNICER

WILSONVILLE -- Desperate to keep what little affordable housing it has, Wilsonville is pondering a controversial ordinance that would require owners of the city's mobile home parks to pay relocation costs or buy residents' homes outright if the parks close or are sold to developers.

The proposal comes in the wake of several mobile home park closures in the Portland area, which led to last month's passage in the Legislature of a measure that would grant a tax credit of up to $10,000 to mobile home park residents forced to move when their parks close. The measure also offered a break on capital gains taxes for owners who sell their parks to residents.

The law doesn't go far enough, say residents of Thunderbird Mobile Club, a 240-unit park just off Interstate 5 in Wilsonville. The mobile home park's owner has announced he wants to sell the park and will take offers starting at the end of the month.
Advertisement





Outraged at city officials' discussion of offering a tax break to the developer of a massive subdivision on the city's northwest side, Thunderbird residents -- most of whom are elderly and living on fixed incomes -- urged City Council members Monday night to help the city's less fortunate, as well."

Neandertals Had Long Childhoods, Tooth Study Suggests

Neandertals Had Long Childhoods, Tooth Study Suggests: "Neandertals Had Long Childhoods, Tooth Study Suggests
James Owen
for National Geographic News
September 20, 2005

Our prolonged childhoods make us Homo sapiens unique among primates. Scientists have a theory to explain this lengthy maturation process: Our brains need many years of learning and physical growth before we're equipped for the complexities of human living.

Now a new study says we weren't the only humans who took their time growing up. Analysis of Neandertal teeth suggests that the extinct species had similarly lengthy childhoods"

Video in the News: How Hurricane Katrina Was Born

Video in the News: How Hurricane Katrina Was Born: "Video in the News: How Hurricane Katrina Was Born
Editors comment:
A must see! Turn up your speaker volume. rt

How did what was perhaps the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history form? Watch and learn: Our video time line tells the tale via satellite images, graphics, and on-the-scene footage."

USATODAY.com - Expert predicts decades of increased hurricane activity

USATODAY.com - Expert predicts decades of increased hurricane activity: "Expert predicts decades of increased hurricane activity
WASHINGTON (AP) — Expect more hurricanes large and small in the next 10 to 20 years, the director of the federal National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.
Hurricane Rita toward Texas Wednesday at 3:45 a.m. A federal hurricane expert said storm severity fluctuates every few decades.
NOAA

Max Mayfield told a congressional panel that he believes the Atlantic Ocean is in a cycle of increased hurricane activity that parallels an increase that started in the 1940s and ended in the 1960s.

The ensuing lull lasted until 1995, then 'it's like somebody threw a switch,' Mayfield said. The number and power of hurricanes increased dramatically.

Under questioning by members of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on disaster prevention and prediction, he shrugged off the notion that global warming played a role, saying instead it was a natural cycle in the Atlantic Ocean that fluctuates every 25 to 40 years."

USATODAY.com - Pentagon forbids officer to testify on pre-9/11 knowledge

USATODAY.com - Pentagon forbids officer to testify on pre-9/11 knowledge: "Pentagon forbids officer to testify on pre-9/11 knowledge
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Defense forbade a military intelligence officer to testify Wednesday about a secret military unit that the officer says identified four Sept. 11 hijackers as terrorists more than a year before the attacks, according to the man's attorney.
James Smith, left, and Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer listen during a hearing on intelligence information sharing prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. Both men were ordered by the Pentagon not to testify.
By Dennis Cook, AP

In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, attorney Mark Zaid, who represents Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said the Pentagon also refused to permit testimony there by a defense contractor that he also represents.

The Judiciary Committee was hearing testimony about the work of a classified unit code named 'Able Danger.'

Zaid, appearing on behalf of Shaffer and contractor John Smith that Able Danger, using data mining techniques, identified four of the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11, 2001 — including mastermind Mohamed Atta.

'At least one chart, and possibly more, featured a photograph of Mohamed Atta,' Zaid said.

Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a D"

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Ambrose Bierce
'The covers of this book are too far apart.'"

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Sam Levenson
'Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped.'"

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Noel Coward
'I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.'"

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

RED HERRING | Stem Cells Repair Mice Spines

RED HERRING | Stem Cells Repair Mice Spines: "Stem Cells Repair Mice Spines

Human stem cells transplanted into injured mice help them walk again, suggesting human treatments are nearer.
September 20, 2005

California researchers have successfully transplanted human neural stem cells into mice with spinal cord injuries and demonstrated improvements in the animals’ ability to walk, suggesting future human treatments are a little bit closer, a leading scientific journal reported Tuesday.



The study, funded by the Christopher Reeve Foundation, was published in the online edition of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)."

Monday, September 19, 2005

CERT Meeting Informs

Newport CERT Meeting Informs citizens and asks for help..

Rt

Last night the informational phase of the Cert (Civilian Emergency Response Team) was carried out at City Hall. There were about 30 interested people from through out Newport and adjoining communities present. Of those present about 9 were from Longview Hills.

The meeting was not a specific presentation but informational about what CERT is and what it will look like after volunteers are trained. What it will become is largely going to be dependent on what the volunteers make it.

It was pointed out that during a catastrophic emergency such as Hurricane Katrina the professional emergency agencies such as the Fire Department, Police and Coast Guard will be swamped due to the small number of such professionals in our community. Of course we are not subject to hurricanes but we have our own unique set of possible disasters. They could include seismic activity, tsunami or wildfire and there is now the chance of terrorist born activity in all of our country.

Because, in a disaster the local professionals will be much in demand. They will be forced to prioritize their services to do the most good for the most people. Our little community may find itself on its own for a period of time. What happens here under those conditions is going to fall to our neighbors that volunteer for CERT training and those that are already involved as Neighborhood Watch Block Captains and their assistants. One of our neighbors feels that since we already have a Neighborhood Watch infrastructure in place we could integrate our CERT volunteers into it and therefore be a step forward in community disaster planning. With such integration we would need some meetings to delineate who does what to get the most benefit. After watching Katrina unfold we now more than ever need to recognize that we at LVH need to get ready to insure our survival and safety..

After training, those volunteers will have an infrastructure and a plan that will help us through the most immediate part of such a disaster. They can develop the plan as little or as much as they deem necessary. For instance we heard ideas that those with frozen food could bring it to the clubhouse for cooking for everyone before it spoils. Electricity and communications could be provided with those that would share their motor home generators (of which there is already one volunteer). Cert volunteers could call upon Neighborhood Watch Block Captains to collect information before hand of those residents that need special medications such as insulin and oxygen. Cert volunteers will have radios capable of staying in contact with the professional agencies.

CERT volunteers will not be asked to perform any duty they do not want to do. They may help in traffic control within Newport or in other temporary conditions that threaten to overwhelm local agencies. They will only be trained to do basic helpful functions and instructed to provide the most help they can for the most people that need it.

Because we feel this is really important to our community we really would like to see what you think in the comments below. Everybody remain cordial and respectful of one another during this discussion. We would like to know what you think and personally we think there are no dumb questions.
Summer Construction @ LVH
rt


With the comming of Spring here at LVH a flurry activity erupts and continues to Fall's crisp snap. It's as predictable as the seasons themselves.


After talking with some of the folks over the years I have a question or two about those of you that have chosen to re-side your homes. Your insight will probably help with the decisions that those owners that are faced with this problem next Spring.


There is a project going here that looked like it may need siding so the owners had a materials list prepared to reside the whole home and it came to a reasonable sum of about a $1000 ... That's the entire home we are talking about. Yet the estimate to do the house by a contractor was in the neighborhood of $15,000. Now we realize that the contractor must make a profit but is this reasonable? What do you think?


Probably, those of you that have had work done are the best experts to reply to that question.


I have seen two construction styles going on here. The first involves a one man operation and that seems to me to be time intensive. One man doing a job where two or three or more would be more efficient but is it less costly? You can see the one man is going to be slower and tire sooner. Where a multi person task force is going to be faster and more expensive in wages but will finish sooner.


One multi task crew may use what looks to me to be cheap, unskilled labor but charge the same as another crew that is skilled but faster. One contractor may not like to bid your job and simply tell you he works for time and material (translation: you pay whatever it takes for him to finish the job and probably he doubles the cost of the material he purchases and passes it along as his cost).


Another funny thing we've noticed is that the finished and complete job if done badly is not guaranteed. The home owner just receives a lot of flack and is usually told that it's ok.


Some contractors have a practice that is laughingly called, "Coast Time" That means your contractor just starts a job and does not show up for a number of days to do anything else. That may continue on and off through out the job. What recourse do you have when your home is sitting their flayed like a big fish with its ribs showing?


A lot of us do something I heartily approve of and that's let word of mouth carry the reputation of our community service people. Remember, we also have the , "You Rate It" page here on the website. This is setup to help all of our neighbors know about the GOOD experiences we have had with local bussiness'. The way it works is if a person emails a good report about a bussiness they have dealt with to us then they get listed on the services list. Each succesive good report is indicated by a star (asterick) next to the bussiness name. Each negative report cause the removal of a star. Finally, no stars the bussiness is removed from the list.


The U-Rate-It list is for any excellent or poor dealing you have had in the community. To make and stay on the list we are rewarding the good services for their excellence to our community and for those that are not on the list we simply say that they just have not received a good report from anyone in the community. It is up to them to impress you enough for you to write on their behalf.


We also do not use any resident's names in the reviews and do not post negative reviews. Negative reviews cause the loss of stars and eventually removal from the recommended list.

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Ogden Nash
'Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.'"

Bad Company - New York Times

Bad Company - New York Times: "Editorial
Bad Company


Published: September 19, 2005

One of the many moral hazards of throwing reporters in jail is the company you keep.

In recent days, the United States judicial system and the Communist government of China both reached shameful milestones. In the United States, the New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed for more than 75 days. Another employee of The Times, Zhao Yan, marked a full year in prison in China."

Independent Online Edition > Middle East : app6

Independent Online Edition > Middle East : app6: "What has happened to Iraq's missing $1bn?
By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Published: 19 September 2005

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.

The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.

'It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history,' Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, told The Independent.

'Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal.'

The carefully planned theft has so weakened the army that it cannot hold Baghdad against insurgent attack without American military support, Iraqi officials say, making it difficult for the US to withdraw its 135,000- strong army from Iraq, as Washington says it wishes to do.

Most of the money was supposedly spent buying arms from Poland and Pakistan. The contracts were peculiar in four ways. According to Mr Allawi, they were awarded without bidding, and were signed with a Baghdad-based company, and not directly with the foreign supplier. The money was paid up front, and, surprisingly for Iraq, it was paid at great speed out of the ministry's account with the Central Bank. Military equipment purchased in Poland included 28-year-old Soviet-made helicopters. The manufacturers said they should have been scrapped after 25 years of service. Armoured cars purchased by Iraq turned out to be so poorly made that even a bullet from an elderly AK-47 machine-gun could penetrate their armour. A shipment of the latest MP5 American machine-guns, at a cost of $3,500 (£1,900) each, consisted in reality of Egyptian copies worth only $200 a gun. Other armoured cars leaked so much oi"

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Better' DNA out of fossil bones

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Better' DNA out of fossil bones: "'Better' DNA out of fossil bones
By Alison Ross
BBC News

Televisual impression of Neanderthal man (BBC)
Neanderthals are thought to have been replaced by modern humans
Improved technologies for extracting genetic material from fossils may help us find out more about our ancient ancestors.

Scientists in Israel have just developed a new technique to retrieve better quality, less contaminated DNA from very old remains, including human bones.

It could aid the study of the evolution and migration of early modern humans, as well as extinct populations such as our close relatives, the Neanderthals.

Many researchers would dearly love to get their hands on DNA samples from hominids further back in time - from those that lived 100,000 years ago or more - to find out how they were related to people alive today."

US News Article | Reuters.com

US News Article | Reuters.com: "Tropical Storm Rita to enter Gulf
Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:07 AM ET166
Printer Friendly | Email Article | Reprints | RSS


Top News
Tropical storm Rita headed for Florida Keys

North Korea nuclear accord reached

Bush urges Nagin to be cautious on New Orleans

VIDEO: North Korea Nuclear Breakthrough
VIDEO: German Election Uncertainty
MORE

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. National Hurricane Center and all major weather models project that Tropical Storm Rita, which is currently battering the central Bahamas, will enter the Gulf of Mexico and threaten the U.S. oil and natural gas facilities later this week."

Sunday, September 18, 2005

USATODAY.com - Double-digit hike announced for Medicare premiums

USATODAY.com - Double-digit hike announced for Medicare premiums: "Double-digit hike announced for Medicare premiums
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior citizens and the disabled will have to pay a monthly Medicare premium of $88.50 next year for doctor's visits and other services.

The $10.30 increase amounts to 13.2%.

The increase in premiums for Medicare Part B was in line with what government actuaries had been predicting. Even so, the Bush administration tried to lessen the pain of the announcement by touting the new prescription drug benefit that begins Jan. 1."

USATODAY.com - GOP to propose budget cuts to cover Katrina costs

USATODAY.com - GOP to propose budget cuts to cover Katrina costs: "GOP to propose budget cuts to cover Katrina costs
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are looking at delaying some federal spending, including money for a prescription drug benefit under Medicare and thousands of highway projects, to offset the cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast, a leading GOP fiscal conservative said Sunday.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., said there is a need for dramatic spending cuts in 'big-ticket items.'

However, Democrats appearing on Sunday news programs questioned how President Bush can trim the budget to pay for Katrina recovery and support tax cuts for the wealthy."

USATODAY.com - Amazed rescuers find 76-year-old man, trapped for 18 days

USATODAY.com - Amazed rescuers find 76-year-old man, trapped for 18 days: "Amazed rescuers find 76-year-old man, trapped for 18 days
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Day after day, for more than two weeks, the 76-year-old man sat trapped and alone in his attic, sipping from a dwindling supply of water until it ran out. No food. No way out of a house ringed by foul floodwaters."

Building the Great Firewall of China, With Foreign Help - New York Times

Building the Great Firewall of China, With Foreign Help - New York Times: "Editorial Observer
Building the Great Firewall of China, With Foreign Help



By TINA ROSENBERG
Published: September 18, 2005

In April 2004, a few weeks before the 15th anniversary of Beijing's massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square, the top-ranking staff members of The Contemporary Business News in Hunan were called into a meeting. An editor read a message from the Communist Party's propaganda department warning that protests or media coverage of the anniversary would not be tolerated as June 4 approached. Though the message was routine, the reporters were warned not to take notes.

But Shi Tao, one of the journalists, did. He e-mailed them to a Chinese dissident in America, who posted them on the Web. A few months later, Mr. Shi was arrested. This April, he was given 10 years in prison, a sentence the judge called lenient, for disseminating state secrets abroad."

Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology : app2

Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology : app2: "Global warming 'past the point of no return'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 16 September 2005

A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.

They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.

The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a 'tipping point' beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.

Satellites monitoring the Arctic have found that the extent of the sea ice this August has reached its lowest monthly point on record, dipping an unprecedented 18.2 per cent below the long-term average.

Experts believe that such a loss of Arctic sea ice in summer has not occurred in hundreds and possibly thousands of years. It is the fourth year in a row that the sea ice in August has fallen below the monthly downward trend - a clear sign that melting has accelerated.

Scientists are now preparing to report a record loss of Arctic sea ice for September, when the surface area covered by the ice traditionally reaches its minimum extent at the end of the summer melting period.

Sea ice naturally melts in summer and reforms in winter but for the first time on record this annual rebound did not occur last winter when the ice of the Arctic failed to recover significantly.

Arctic specialists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado Univ"

Katrina Timeline

Katrina Timeline: "Katrina Timeline

By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Sunday, September 18, 2005; 12:41 PM

-- Important dates related to Hurricane Katrina:

Aug. 24: Tropical Depression 12 strengthens into Tropical Storm Katrina over Central Bahamas; a hurricane warning is issued for the southeastern Florida coast.


Aug. 25: Hurricane Katrina strikes Florida."