Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

All the News Fit to Share: Thursday into Friday

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Welcome to your nearly-nightly news diary that we leave open throughout the day! JanF and I are combining forces for an open news thread we hope will please all of you.  JanF thinks this title was formerly used by the Grey Lady.  

Please comment on any of the stories in the diary or comments, or share any news stories you like from anywhere!  

News stories may be added throughout the day, so please stop back if you are inclined.  

One followup from last night’s diary:  The renewed crisis in Tunisia is ongoing.  

BBmHHuMCEAErx4H

^how we feel about our politicians

Prize for tone-deaf tweet today:

It sounds like the governor wants his own clean air standards.  Great.  Or that citizens are his enemy.  

Oiled, soiled and spoiled

Missoula Reporter: Alek Sakariassen

What happened when Montana’s Yellowstone River turned black-and how that environmental disaster is influencing pipelines nationwide

Riverside Park baked under a harsh central Montana sun on Aug. 6, 2010. Wind howled through groves of cottonwoods along the Yellowstone River, swirling eddies of cotton past RV pads, a concrete boat ramp, a playground and a volleyball court. By mid-afternoon, thunderstorms were rolling in across the prairie.

A string of officials gathered on the river’s south bank, embroiled in a discussion about the erosion at work that summer. They represented the City of Laurel, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline and pipeline subsidiaries of Cenex, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil. The flow of the Yellowstone had already dropped 40,000 cubic feet per second from its crest in early June, but the meeting wasn’t exclusive to the 2010 flood season. Erosion on the Yellowstone’s south bank at Riverside Park had locals concerned about the long-term integrity of several oil and natural gas pipelines extending beneath the park and the river. The city asked for help from one or all of the represented companies in fortifying the south bank against additional erosion, to protect the river, the Laurel community and the environment downstream against a potential catastrophe.

This comprehensive article is 6 pages long.  I am so grateful this was tweeted to me, or re-tweeted by someone I followed.  These small-town newspapers are doing great original work sometimes.  

Afghanistan veterans ‘will be a priority’

Sydney Morning Herald; David Wroe

THE care of veterans will become the focus for Australia as operations in Afghanistan wind down, the Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, has told Parliament.

In his regular update on the situation in Afghanistan, Mr Smith said conditions would remain ”difficult and dangerous” this year as Australia begins withdrawing the bulk of its troops.

”There will be challenges and setbacks ahead. The Taliban will target Afghan security forces as they take responsibility for the security of their country,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s constitutional reform to challenge Mugabe’s powers

Mail & Guardian; AP

The talks, which took place on Wednesday, also highlighted political impartiality from President Robert Mugabe’s longtime loyalists in the police and military.

The 160-page draft, completed after three years of tension between hardliners and reformists during often bitter and violent nationwide canvassing, will be voted on in a national referendum slated for April, ahead of elections to end a shaky coalition formed after the last disputed, violent polls in 2008.

American Woman Gives Domestic Abuse A Face, And Voice, In China

NPR; Louisa Lim

Going Public

When he brutally beat Lee, she posted a picture of her battered face, showing a huge lump protruding from her forehead. She put it on his page on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, under the heading, “I love losing my face = I love hitting my wife’s face?”

She followed this with pictures showing her bloodied ear and raw, injured spots on her knee. “Li Yang, you need help,” she wrote. “Domestic violence is a serious problem.”

She says she went public out of desperation, trying to get her husband’s attention.

This is a remarkable case.  In contrast, there is this.

Your Safety Tip of the Day:

‘Reusable Grocery Bags Can Kill (Unless Washed)’

Economist’s View Blog

Jonathan Klick and Joshua D. Wright tell this story in “Grocery Bag Bans and Foodborne Illness,” published as a research paper by the Institute for Law and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. As their primary example, they look at E. coli infections in the San Francisco County after it adopted an ordinance severely limiting the use of plastic bags by grocery stores.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 39 Comments

39 comments

  1. jlms qkw

    duznawttaystelykespaghe

    please comply with fair use standards when sharing.  this is generally something less than 30%, and/or 3 paragraphs.  but there are probably more knowledgeable people than me that can educate all of us.  

    there are at least two ways to make links.  i will look for the coding and post it in a further comment.  

  3. princesspat

    The decisions by Boeing management to outsource both the design and manufacturing of the 787’s component parts going to be very expensive…..for Boeing.

    The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has pinpointed the start of the 787 Dreamliner battery fire on a parked Japan Airlines jet a month ago today as a short circuit inside a single cell.

    ~snip~

    But whichever of these is found to have started the overheating, it’s clear from Hersman’s remarks that the battery safety features failed to cope with the initial failure and Boeing will have to revisit the design.

    “We’re looking at the total design of the battery, including the physical separation of cells, their electrical interconnections and their thermal isolation from each other,” Hersman said.

    http://seattletimes.com/html/b…

  4. bubbanomics

    Police searched the mountains surrounding a California ski area on Thursday for a fired Los Angeles policeman accused of killing three people and declaring an all-out war on law enforcement officers and their families in a rambling Internet manifesto.

    reuters.

    The bloodshed attributed to Dorner began with the weekend slayings of a university safety officer and his fiancée, Monica Quan, 28. She was the daughter of a retired Los Angeles police captain who represented Dorner in disciplinary action that led to his firing in 2008. Quan and her fiance were found dead in Irvine, some 40 miles south of Los Angeles.

    The violence escalated on Thursday with the fatal shooting of a police officer in Riverside and the wounding of two others.

    Police learned that Dorner had posted his grievances on Facebook and they have interpreted as a potential hit list.

  6. Hey338Too

    … major gaming systems (Xbox, and Playstation).  The rumor mill is running rampant with stories about them employing new technologies to make sure that a game can only be played on a single device.  Basically shutting down the ability of a user to resell games they don’t play anymore to stores like Gamestop (which caused their stock to drop yesterday).

    “We know the desire to purchase a next-generation console would be significantly diminished if new consoles were to prohibit playing pre-owned games, limit portability or not play new physical games,” Hodges said in an e-mail. He said the company won’t comment on speculation about the specifics of third-party hardware.

    The retailer’s statement follows a report by the video-game website Edge.com that Microsoft’s next Xbox will include technology that blocks game resales. The system would register video games over the Internet and render resold titles useless, Edge.com reported, without saying where it got the information.

    The Edge.com story sent GameStop down 6 percent to $25.20 in New York yesterday, its biggest drop in almost a month. The stock gained 4 percent in 2012.

    It’s kind of amusing that MSFT and Sony may have come up with a way to stop kids from reselling their unwanted games.  It’s a shame they don’t focus on preventing the same thing with adults and guns.

  7. Hey338Too

    … If you live in Clarksville, Tenn there’s a job opening for a maintenance worker.  Turns out a guy named Walter Slonopas quit his job when his W-2 came back with the number 666 stamped on it.

    Sticking to his principles, Slonopas said:

    “I cannot accept this number. If you accept that number, you sell your soul to the devil,” Slonopas told ABC News.

    AND

    Slonopas said he feels no animosity towards the company, but doesn’t understand the mistake. “My question is, are we working for the computer, or is the computer working for us?”

    The problem is that there’s a trend at this company as it related to Slonopas:

    Slonopas said it is not the first time he came across the number while working at Contech. On his first day at work in April 2011, the human resources department issued him a work identification card with a ten digit employee number ending the number 666. He said he thought he had been assigned a number ending in 668. He said he brought it to the company’s attention and received a card with the correct number.

    A few months later, when the company changed its payroll system, he said he received a new ID card with a number ending in 666 again. Slonopas quit, but returned to work a week later after the company apologized.

    Since I’ve probably quoted all that I am allowed to quote due to fair use.  I’ll just tell ya’ll the obvious – Slonopas (52) was reborn as a Christian 10 years ago.  So that makes him almost 8 years old in dog years and 10 years old in “Jesus years”.

    The amazing but true article can be read in all of its glory here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/satan…

  9. slksfca

    Since my city (San Francisco)’s recent ban, I’m still learning to bring a bag with me when I go to the store (otherwise there’s a nominal ten-cent charge for a fresh bag). I’m just glad that I seldom purchase meat, though I imagine some fresh produce might also be problematic.

    I do have a cloth shopping bag, but it’s not the sort of thing that folds up easily to fit in a pocket. Guess I should look into getting one of those nifty nylon ones that do so.

  11. JanF

    Obama: Warm Wishes For Those Celebrating Lunar New Year

    Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those who will be celebrating the Lunar New Year this Sunday, February 10th.  Here in America and around the world, people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent will welcome the Year of the Snake.  In Chinese tradition, the snake represents wisdom, and a thoughtful approach to tackling the challenges before us – principles that I hope will continue to guide us as we perfect our union and create a more just and equal future for every American.  Our challenges may be great, but our diversity and the traditions that thrive here give us the strength to meet them.  To everyone celebrating the Lunar New Year, I wish you peace, prosperity and good health and fortune.

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