An airline pilot from Maplewood won a $25,000 lottery jackpot — two days in a row.Raymond Snouffer Jr. matched the winning numbers 11-14-23-26-31 to win Saturday's Northstar Cash drawing with odds of about 170,000 to 1, Minnesota Lottery officials said.On Sunday, Snouffer stuck with 11 and switched to 3-7-19-28 — and won again. Lottery officials said such a sequence was so farfetched that the odds against it were "virtually incalculable."... http://www.msnbc.msn.com censor News |
Editor - 15:01:00 02-16-07 |
An experiment that hints we are wrong on climate change Nigel Calder, former editor of New Scientist, says the orthodoxy must be challenged |
When politicians and journalists declare that the science of global warming is settled, they show a regrettable ignorance about how science works. We were treated to another dose of it recently when the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued the Summary for Policymakers that puts the political spin on an unfinished scientific dossier on climate change due for publication in a few months’ time. They declared that most of the rise in temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to man-made greenhouse gases. The small print explains “very likely” as meaning that the experts who made the judgment felt 90% sure about it. Older readers may recall a press conference at Harwell in 1958 when Sir John Cockcroft, Britain’s top nuclear physicist, said he was 90% certain that his lads had achieved controlled nuclear fusion. It turned out that he was wrong. More positively, a 10% uncertainty in any theory is a wide open breach for any ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1363818.ece
full News |
Editor - 14:12:00 02-16-07 |
Canada Is Set to Allow Expiration of 2 Broad Antiterrorism Laws |
Two measures introduced by Canada in the rush to protect the country against terrorist threats after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are expected to be allowed to expire early next week, with opposition politicians here saying there is no longer a need for such sweeping legislation. The two measures, which have not been used but have stirred strong debate, allow the police to hold suspects without charges for 72 hours if they are accused of plotting an attack and authorize judges to compel witnesses to testify in terror cases. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Conservative, wants to keep the provisions in place, but all three opposition parties in Parliament said they would vote against such a move. The opponents include the Liberal Party, which was in power in 2001 and introduced the anti-terrorism legislation. The combined opposition parties have more votes in the House of Commons than the Conservatives.... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/world/americas/15canada.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
full News |
Editor - 12:37:00 02-16-07 |
Eek!: Men Scatter and Start Screaming After Spotting 'Giant Rat' Inside Minnesota Tire Shop |
A furry, uninvited guest had manly men at an Iron Range tire shop shrieking and hopping on desks. "It was pretty humorous," said conservation officer Dan Starr, who filed a report on the critter's break-in. "Here were these big, burly outdoors guys running around screaming." Taconite Tire employees arrived at work on Monday to find what they thought was a giant rat inside the store. "I was the first one into work that morning and the first one out," said Shannon Bergman, an off-road tire salesman. "I walked in, and in the waiting area I saw this big rat, and I took off." Mayhem ensued. After scampering out the front door, Bergman called a buddy and told him to bring a rifle to dispatch the critter. On edge, employees stalked the "rat," entering the office where it was hold up. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2882118
full News |
Editor - 12:35:00 02-16-07 |
U.S. Businessman Receives Prison Sentence for Role in Iraq Contract Scheme |
A U.S. businessman whose companies made more than $8 million in Iraq reconstruction money through a gifts-for-contracts scheme was sentenced Friday to nearly four years in prison. Philip H. Bloom, who has lived in Romania for many years, pleaded guilty last year to bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He admitted that he bribed military personnel with jewelry, computers, cigars and sexual favors. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison Friday, a sentence that his attorney said was reduced because he has cooperated in a federal investigation. Bloom, who controlled companies in Iraq and Romania, bid on projects using dummy corporations. Contractors and military officials made sure Bloom received the contracts and, in exchange, received gifts such as cash, premium airline seats, jewelry and sexual favors from women at his Baghdad villa. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2882060
full News |
Editor - 12:33:00 02-16-07 |
Assailants Shoot Dead 4 Mexican Police Officers |
Assailants shot dead four police officers in the western Mexican city of Aguascalientes on Thursday, the latest in a wave of slayings of law enforcement officers across Mexico. The city police officers had arrived at the scene of a car crash when they encountered several men unloading firearms out of a vehicle and tried to arrest them, Aguascalientes state attorney general Xavier Gonzalez told a news conference. A second vehicle arrived at the scene with about eight armed men, who fired on the officers, Gonzalez said. Three died immediately and the fourth died later in a hospital, he said. Last week, more than a dozen armed men killed five agents and two secretaries in simultaneous attacks on two offices of the state attorney general in Acapulco. Since Jan. 1, assailants have also killed six state and municipal police officers around the northern industrial city of Monterrey... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,252458,00.html
full News |
Editor - 12:31:00 02-16-07 |
|
post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|