To all our very observant and helpful readers:
While we always appreciate the write-ins, I'd like to humbly request that everyone please refrain from writing in to us regarding earthquakes that have just occurred. This includes pointing them out or referring us to other seismic monitors, pointing out the downgrades and upgrades, and so on.
We observe the quake monitors very closely and know about 99.9% of all quakes that occur anywhere on the planet through a network of thousands of monitors. If it's a breaking quake, rest assured it will be posted immediately. If it's not posted immediately, that means it's under discussion. If other quakes have not appeared, it's because we don't feel that they're necessary to mention at the moment, or that they're also under deliberation or analysis.
This will go a long way in helping to relieve our email load. Thanks everyone for understanding!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Magnitude 6.0 - NORTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
- This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
| Magnitude | 6.0 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 43.633°N, 82.383°E |
| Depth | 27.9 km (17.3 miles) |
| Region | NORTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA |
| Distances | 95 km (59 miles) ESE of Yining, Xinjiang, China 289 km (179 miles) SW of Karamay, Xinjiang, China 302 km (187 miles) WSW of Shihezi, Xinjiang, China 2837 km (1762 miles) WNW of BEIJING, Beijing, China |
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 13.7 km (8.5 miles); depth +/- 6.6 km (4.1 miles) |
| Parameters | NST=417, Nph=418, Dmin=351.8 km, Rmss=0.58 sec, Gp= 25°, M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=A |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | usb0006h8e |
Happy Halloween: October Winners are.........
Feel free to share this image with others:Help spread the word about the Coming Crisis!
Winners of Octobers Prize Draw
Congratulations All!!
Posts will appear below
Winners of Octobers Prize Draw
- Melissa D. - New Zealand - Survival Pack / Emergency Kits 4 U
- Paul S. - USA - Earthship Volume I, II, and III / Earthship Biotecture
- Lynn V. - Canada - Private Paintball Game 10 Persons / Eastie & Boyz
- Andy B. - UK - Rifle Shooting for 2 Persons / Paintball Trax
- Leslie B - UK - Paintball 2 persons + Archery 2 Persons / Paintball Trax
Congratulations All!!
Posts will appear below
3.3 Magnitude Earthquake KATLA VOLCANO, ICELAND - 31st Oct 2011
A magnitude 3.3 earthquake has struck the Katla Volcano, Iceland at a depth of 2 km ( 1.2 miles), the quake hit at 19:58:27 UTC Monday 31st October 2011.The epicenter was 25 km ( 17.5 miles) Northwest Vík í mýrdal, Iceland
No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time
USGS Downgraded Taiwan earthquake from 30th Oct by 1 Magnitude
Reader Contribution;The Taiwan Central Weather Bureau logged this earthquake at a 6.5 Magnitude. Source
Nato concludes mission in Libya... but a bad omen for the future as Al Qaeda flag flies over Benghazi - 31st Oct 2011
Nato today announced it was ending its bombing campaign which helped Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Gaddafi's regime.Officials said all operations for the air and sea campaign will conclude at midnight on Monday, as the strikes were described as 'one of the most successful' operations in the history of the 62-year-old alliance.
Nato stopped its bombing missions soon after Gaddafi's death earlier this month, but has maintained regular air patrols.
Officials say Nato air forces carried out 9,600 strike sorties in the past seven months, destroying about 5,900 military targets.
Nato's decision was announced however, as fears grew over the direction of the new leadership regime in Libya. Read More
Note: the whole world saw this coming and wrote about it months ago, are we truly to believe that our governments didn't see this coming?
St Paul's clergyman is second to go in a week over protest row - 31st Oct 2011
The Dean of St Paul's resigned today as the anti-capitalist protest outside the cathedral claimed its second victim.The Rt Rev Graeme Knowles's resignation follows that of Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Giles Fraser, who had stood up for the protesters.
Rt Rev Knowles said: 'The past fortnight has been a testing time for the chapter and for me personally.
'It has become increasingly clear to me that, as criticism of the cathedral has mounted in the press, media and in public opinion, my position as dean of St Paul's was becoming untenable.
He added: 'In order to give the opportunity for a fresh approach to the complex and vital questions facing St Paul's, I have thought it best to stand down as dean, to allow new leadership to be exercised.
'I do this with great sadness, but I now believe that I am no longer the right person to lead the chapter of this great cathedral.' Read More
Beheaded in a Saudi Arabian car park for being a 'sorcerer' - WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT- 31st Oct 2011
Shocking footage has surfaced of a Sudanese man being publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia for being a 'sorcerer'.Crouched on his knees and blindfolded, Abdul Hamid Bin Hussain Bin Moustafa al-Fakki was executed in a car park Medina, in the west of the country, as dozens looked on last month.
The grainy footage - which MailOnline believes is too graphic to publish - shows the executioner lining his sword up on the back of Abdul Hamid's neck, before one swift stroke decapitates him.
The Sudanese man, who was killed on September 20, is believed to have been the 44th person executed in Saudi Arabia this year - and the 11th foreign national.
The total for 2011 is 17 more than for the whole of 2010.
Lebanese TV host Ali Hussain Sibat, who was sentenced to death over making predictions of the future on his show, had been scheduled to be beheaded on Friday.
His attorney May El Khansa said the execution did not take place on that day - but that did not mean Sibat has been given a reprieve. Read More
Greek PM Calls Referendum On EU Aid Package - 31st Oct 2011
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou says his country will hold a referendum on the new European Union aid package reached last week. He gave no date or other details on the proposed referendum, which would be the first in Greece since 1974.
"This will be the referendum: the citizen will be called upon to say a big 'yes' or a big 'no' to the new loan arrangement," he told Socialist members of parliament.
"This is a supreme act of democracy and of patriotism for the people to make their own decision ... we have a duty to promote the role and the responsibility of the citizen."
European leaders finally agreed the two final elements of the deal early on Thursday morning following marathon talks in Brussels.
It was decided banks will have to accept a 40% write-down on any Greek debt they hold - higher than the 40% they had originally tabled.
It was also agreed that the 440bn euro (£386bn) bailout fund will be increased to around 1trn euro (£876bn). Source
Armed Citizen Militia Shows Up At Occupy Phoenix: Is it all about to kick off?
Armed citizen militia group US Border Guard is making its presence felt at the Occupy Phoenix demonstration to protect free speech rights, arguing that the second amendment prevents the state from abusing the first amendment.
The group has been labeled “neo-nazis” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is usually a demonization tactic, but the individual shown in the clip, “JT Ready” has attended neo-nazi rallies and is closely affiliated with the fringe National Socialist Party.
The group has also operated as a “Minutemen on steroids” outfit, organizing armed patrols of the US border with Mexico.
As we have previously highlighted, the fringe neo-nazi movement has been completely infiltrated by the FBI, right down to the level where an FBI informant actually got caught organizing a neo-nazi rally in Orlando back in 2007.
Is this a means of infiltrating the ‘Occupy’ movement, a minority fringe extremist group trying to attach itself to the protesters, or merely concerned citizens expressing their right to bear arms peaceably?
Opinions will undoubtedly be split, but one certainty is the fact that the establishment media instantly seized upon groups like this attaching themselves to the Tea Party rallies as a smear tactic to claim the whole movement was racist and violent. However, in the case of ‘Occupy’, the mainstream networks have largely ignored making such connections. source
Meet the 99%: Protestors and profiles -- not the neo-nazi hippies the media is trying to portray them as
Tim Franzen, 34 | Employed"A lot of people were very frustrated with George Bush, and we put a lot of energy into the Obama campaign. We heard a lot about hope and change, and we've barely got any change, and barely any hope. We've lost all hope in the political process." View entire photo gallery with profiles here.
GOLDMAN: Stop Kidding Yourself, The Economy Is Weak And Got Worse In October
Goldman's own proprietary Goldman Sachs Analyst Index does not reflect the modest cheer that people are feeling about the economy.Remember, this past week, Q3 GDP came in at 2.5%, nearly double the pace of the previous quarter. And the stock market has rebounded sharply thanks to a surprise string of stronger-than-expected economic data.
But don't get too excited.
From Goldman's Shuyan Wu
The GSAI fell 0.9 points from 43.3 in September to 42.4 in October. This is the third straight decline since July, and the second straight month that the headline index has registered below the 50 mark (a sub-50 reading implies that more analysts see contraction in their sectors than expansion). Consequently, the 3-month rolling average dipped below 50 to 45.8 for the first time since September 2009. Declines in the headline index contrast with the small improvement in the September ISM manufacturing report (see Exhibit 1) as well as other reports such as the Philadelphia Fed survey and today’s third-quarter GDP release. more
Massive hack hit 760 companies
A massive cyberattack that led to a vulnerability in RSA's SecurID tags earlier this year also victimized Google, Facebook, Microsoft and many other big-named companies, according to a new analysis released this week.A list of 760 organizations that were attacked was presented to Congress recently and published by security analyst Brian Krebs on his blog Monday.
The list is the first glimpse into the pervasiveness of the attack that brought RSA to its knees. Those in the security industry have long suspected that RSA was not the hack's only victim, but no other companies have been willing to talk publicly about whether they had also been compromised.
The names mentioned on Krebs' list include about a fifth of the Fortune 100, as well as many other massive corporations. more
California Audit Finds Sex Offenders Living in Homes Licensed for Foster Care, Child Care
A new California state audit found that over 1,000 sex offenders are living in homes licensed to provide foster and child care services.The startling information was uncovered after the audit was requested to investigate how Child Welfare Services handled child deaths in foster care homes.
The report found that California Department of Social Services failed to check the sex offender registry after recommendations and warnings from the state auditor three years ago.
“Both Social Services and county [Child Welfare Services] need to better ensure that these placements are safe,” the report said.
National Center for Youth Law senior attorney Bill Grimm thinks the failure of Child Welfare Services to use databases of sex offenders that the agency had access to is “reprehensible and inexcusable."
“How can you take a child out of their own home, their parents home, because you alleged they are unsafe or have been abused and then put them in a facility or a home where they are subject to risk and further abuse? It’s just inexcusable,” Grimm said.
Furthermore, the report states that the sex offender registry should be used more efficiently to make sure “sex offenders are not living or working among children in the CWS system.” more
Within a hair of Bigfoot: Russian scientists track the elusive creature (if it's real, that is)
he Russian Academy of Sciences has said it is highly likely that the Bigfoot really exists. Experts came to the conclusion after carrying out a microscopic analysis of hairs believed to belong to the yeti found in the Kuzbass region of Siberia.In early October, professors from the USA, Canada, Sweden, Estonia and Russia came to the Kuzbass region to look for evidence that would prove the existence of the Bigfoot. The trip was not in vain – footprints apparently belonging to the yeti were found dotted all over the inside of the Azass cave where the creature is thought to live.
The follicular evidence was found stuck to a huge footprint on the cave’s clay floor. Professors from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Idaho Universities got themselves a couple of precious hairs each to do the necessary research. The hairs turned out to be identical to ones that allegedly belonged to a Californian yeti, another from the Russian Urals and a third from the Leningrad region, writes Komsomolskaya Pravda.
The first to make the fantastic discovery was Professor Valentin Sapunov, a member of the New York Academy, St. Petersburg Scientific University – a geneticist and biophysicist.
“In St. Petersburg the hairs were examined through a special microscope,” said Valentin Sapunov. “This is a complicated, but a very efficient method. The hairs were sprayed with a chemical composition, and then various slices of the hairs were examined. This gave us an opportunity to draw comparisons between the hairs of different biological species,” the professor explained. more
Turkey's Earthquake Toll a Grim Reminder of Lessons Not Learned
Fact 1: Turkey is earthquake prone. Sitting on the intersection of the Eurasian, African and Arabian tectonic plates, it is crisscrossed by active fault lines. Fact 2: The death toll and devastation caused by an earthquake is determined in no small part by a country's building codes. Turks learnt that the hard way in 1999, when a massive quake in the country's west killed 20,000 people, mostly as a result of the collapse of poorly constructed high-rise buildings that had mushroomed during the '80s and '90s. Back then, anyone sifting through the debris of destroyed apartments along the coast would have spot the seashells and beach sand mixed in with the concrete — a cost-cutting shortcut that proved fatal.Twelve years on, there is a wearying sense of déjà vu to the scale of destruction left by the 7.2 quake that struck the eastern city of Van on Sunday. "You don't need to be an expert to understand what happened in Van," wrote Sedat Ergin after surveying the scene. "There is a shocking contradiction. Most buildings are intact, yet some have folded like a pack of cards. Others had to be evacuated because of cracks and internal damages." Nearly 500 people are confirmed dead and 2,000 structures destroyed, including about 80 multi-storey buildings. (See photos from the earthquake in Turkey.)
"It grieves me to say that Turkey hasn't progressed more than an inch since 1999," says Mehmet Sogancz, head of the Chamber of Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) on his way back from a fact-finding trip to Van.
Concrete thinned with gravel, insufficient steel girders and supports knocked out to create more space are just some of the causes cited by observers — including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — for the devastation in Van. "When we look at the wreckage, we see how the material used is of bad quality," Erdogan said Wednesday. "We see that people pay the price for concrete that virtually turned to sand, or for weakened concrete blocks on the ground floors. Municipalities, constructors and supervisors should now see that their negligence amounts to murder." more
U.N.: World can 'thrive' as population reaches 7 billion (If so, why could we hear the death rattles when there was only 6?)
As the global population hits 7 billion in the coming days, nations can take steps to tackle critical challenges and prepare for the arrival of billions more people this century, the United Nations said Wednesday.The milestone is expected to be reached on October 31.
"With planning and the right investments in people now ... our world of 7 billion can have thriving, sustainable cities, productive labor forces that can fuel economic growth, youth populations that contribute to the well-being of economies and societies, and a generation of older people who are healthy and actively engaged in the social and economic affairs of their communities," UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, said in a new report.
Among the steps the report focuses on are empowering young people with economic opportunities; planning for the growth of cities; developing programs to share and sustain the Earth's resources; and improving education, including sexual education.
A U.N. report published in May predicts a global population of 9.3 billion by 2050, and more than 10 billion by the end of this century.
"With only a small variation in fertility, particularly in the more populous countries, the total could be higher: 10.6 billion people could be living on Earth by 2050 and more than 15 billion in 2100," says the Population Division of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Much of the increase will come in Africa and Asia.
In light of growing concerns about the global economy, the new UNFPA report highlights financial dangers facing people in industrialized and developing nations. more
"Richard Dawkins is either a fool or a coward for refusing to debate William Lane Craig"
Finally, Richard Dawkins has given his reasons for refusing to debate the American theologian William Lane Craig. We have waited a long time for this. The invitation to discuss the existence of God at Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre was extended to Dawkins many months ago. Craig is an excellent speaker who has made mincemeat out of better men, including Christopher Hitchens. He has a witty, deliberate style that often makes his opponents look (and probably feel) a little ridiculous. Therefore, everyone just presumed that Dawkins refused to debate Craig because he’s scared. He is, after all, only human (or a talking monkey, depending on your point of view).But Dawkins is a proud man (or arrogant chimp), and the accusation of cowardice probably ate at him from within. Finally, on Thursday, he gave a proper excuse for his no show to The Guardian. Its intellectual emptiness says so much about his particular brand of atheism.
It seems that Dawkins has been doing a little internet trolling. He has dug up an online debate in which William Lane Craig apparently defends the massacre of a city of heathen Canaanites ordered by God in Deuteronomy 20:13-15. “Listen to Craig,” Dawkins writes, as if imagining Craig were a demon sitting on his shoulder. “He begins by arguing that the Canaanites were debauched and sinful and therefore deserved to be slaughtered. He then notices the plight of the Canaanite children [and concludes] … ‘We are so wedded to an earthly, naturalistic perspective that we forget that those who die are happy to quit this earth for heaven's incomparable joy. Therefore, God does these children no wrong in taking their lives.’” Dawkins writes that he is so disgusted with Craig's thesis that he cannot possibly agree to meet him in person. “Do not plead that I have taken these revolting words out of context," he adds. "What context could possibly justify them?” more
Euro armageddon is approaching, but it's too boring and complicated to explain
There's a good reason no one makes disaster movies about financial crises. In disaster movies, there is always a solution which a crack team of miners/scientists/politicians can get to work on, just as soon as one boffin has explained it. The obstacles are horrendous, but they're simple (we have to get past that yeti, etc). The tension builds as the final battle approaches, and it then it arrives, easy to understand. And everyone knows when the battle is won: the enemy is defeated and the heroes share a laugh.With the European financial crisis, it's the opposite: with every day that passes, it gets messier, more complicated, and, frankly, more boring. Instead of coming together to a logical conclusion, new subplots break out daily. Previously, it was relatively easy to explain: Greece is bankrupt and we don't know what to do about it. But then we bailed Greece out and it's still not over. Now it's something along the lines of: Greece is bankrupt, but then French and German banks own Greek debt, so they might be bankrupt too. Then Italy has lots of its own debt, which Germany would like it to pay off, just in case that markets start worrying that Italy is bankrupt too.
And that's before we even get into the the proposed solution (mostly it seems to be that Germany should throw money at everything, which the Germans understandably aren't too keen on). How big does the bailout fund need to be? Who pays for it? Who do we (well, the Germans) bail out: the Greeks, or the banks? Should the European Central Bank be allowed to buy government bonds? No one is sure of any of this. Not even the people whose job it is to understand it. Is it any surprise that one JP Morgan analyst got so frustrated he tried to explain it all with Lego? more
Handbag dogs are being dumped
Women who bought small dogs as "fashion accessories" are now dumping them in record numbers. An animal rescue charity has seen the number of bichon frises, chihuahuas and shih tzus left at its centres almost triple in the past year.
The Blue Cross says owners abandoned the pooches when they developed behavioral problems from being overly pampered and carried in handbags.
The small dogs were made popular by celebrities such as Hilton, who owns chihuahua Tinkerbelle, and Coleen Rooney, who owns bichon frise Daisy.
But The Blue Cross has been left to rehome hundreds of the small pets after the public got bored of them or struggled to cope.
In many cases the pooches have been so pampered they refuse to walk and have to be carried everywhere in a bag.
Some even growl if they see other dogs being given any affection because they are used to being the centre of attention.
Lara Alford, manager of The Blue Cross centre in Southampton, Hants, said: "We have seen many 'handbag-style' dogs coming into the centres lately.
"Some people bought them as fashion accessories after celebrities like Paris Hilton made them trendy.
"Although people think they look great when they see someone famous with one, they often don't realise what a responsibility they are taking on.
"People think these little dogs do not need the same amount of exercise and attention as bigger ones but this is not the case.
"If they are mollycoddled and do not get the stimulation they need, it can result in behavioural problems.
"We recently had a pair of pomeranians named Britney and Diesel come into the centre because their owner was no longer able to look after them.
"Britney was so used to being carried, she refused to walk and was terrified of the lead.
"We found out she had never been for walks and was just used to being cuddled and fussed over.
"We tried everything we could to make her walk on her own but she just lay on the floor and played dead. Her new owner had to carry her home."
The stylish dogs cost around 1,000 pounds to buy, plus vets bills, grooming and food. source
Britain's middle-class children are so privileged – and so neglected
All evidence suggests that time-deprived, well-off professional parents are inventing a new kind of child poverty. In the compellingly horrible new film, We Need To Talk About Kevin, a woman schedules some bonding time with her son. Eva, a thwarted adventurer chained to her home by motherhood, takes her teenager to a fancy restaurant. She hopes to engage him in a friendly, birds-and-the-bees conversation, but 15-year-old Kevin sees it coming and lays bare her maternal concern – or lack of it - with a jeering, foul-mouthed tirade that will freeze the ovaries of every mother cowering in the stalls. The movie, which ends with dear Kevin locking his classmates in the school gym and using them for target practice, shoots a lethal arrow into the modern myth of Quality Time – the busy person’s substitute for loving your child.
I will spare you the rest of the gory details. But I should say I simply couldn’t believe Lionel Shriver’s chilly bestseller on which the film is based. Hailed as a searing examination of a woman whose hatred of motherhood may have begotten a psychopath-in-waiting, what the novel laid bare for me was its childless author’s dread of children. Nevertheless, the story struck a nerve because it came out at a time when Western adults seemed to be losing the plot of parenting. For the first time in human history, parents were more likely to be scared of their children than the other way round. more
World population could double, warns UN
The number of people on Earth could double by the end of the century, the United Nations has warned, as the world population passes the milestone of seven billion for the first time at the end of the month. The seven billionth person in the world is expected to arrive sometime after midnight on October 31, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
It is impossible to identify the newborn who will break the barrier but hospitals around the world are encouraged to celebrate a "symbolic child" including St Thomas' Hospital in London.
The UNFPA, that is in charge of monitoring the world population, said the seven billion mark was passed earlier than expected because people are living longer, more babies are surviving and more children are being born in the developing world.
Although the world population is not growing as fast as it was in the mid 1960s, because developed countries like Britain have a lower birth rate, the number of people in 58 countries, including India, continues to grow.
Previously the UN had kept to the conservative estimate that the population will grow to more than 10 billion by 2100. more
Students fear Facebook posts will hurt job prospects: Why do we indulge this Big Brotherish website?
Almost half of students are concerned that things they have posted on Facebook might affect their future career prospects. Four out of 10 students (42 per cent) are worried that personal details they have shared on social networking sites, such as Facebook, as well as elsewhere online, could blight their chances of getting a job, according to new figures from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The survey, carried out by YouGov for the ICO, also shows that many students are not adequately protecting themselves against the risk of identity theft. A third of students who have lived at several addresses while at university still have not arranged the redirection of their most important post to their current university address.
Two thirds of students have never checked their credit rating, allowing suspicious credit applications to go unnoticed.
Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, said: “In tough times, young people are clearly less relaxed about privacy, particularly in relation to information that they post online - but many may not know what they can do about it." more
Why is the oil price still so high?
Four months ago, the world's energy watchdog took historic action to reduce oil prices. Since then, the financial outlook has considerably worsened and some Libyan oil has returned to the market. But the price has remained above $100 a barrel. Releasing 60m barrels of reserves was meant to dampen the high price of $113 per barrel, attributed to lost ouput from war-torn Libya and worries that the Arab Spring could spread to more oil producers.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) made no secret of the fact it was worried that oil above $100 was unsustainable and damaging to the global economy.
Since then, the world's financial outlook has considerably worsened and about 430,000 barrels of Libyan oil have returned to the market.
Surely, amid the doom and gloom, plus extra production, the natural direction of oil ought to be down?
However, the price, though volatile, has remained stubbornly above the $100 level. And last Monday, Brent crude even returned to the $113 per barrel level seen before the emergency release of supplies. more
'Risk Atlas' assesses climate vulnerability
Some of the world's fastest growing population centers in Asia and Africa are at greatest risk from the impact of climate change, according to a new report.The Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), published by UK-based risk analysis and mapping company Maplecroft, examined the climate risks and adaptive capacity of 193 nations factoring in population concentration, development, natural resources, agricultural dependency and conflict.
A total of 30 countries were classified as being at "extreme risk" with Haiti, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Madagascar making up the top five most in peril, while Vietnam, Indonesia and India all ranked inside the top 30.
The analysis, which forms part of Maplecroft's fourth annual Climate Change and Environmental Risk Atlas, also assesses climate impacts on towns and cities.
Six out of the 20 fastest growing cities worldwide, including Calcutta, India, Manila in the Philippines, Indonesia's capital, Jakarta and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, were also classified as at "extreme risk" by the CCVI. more
AmeriMark Lindquist: American hero denied aid for helping tornado victims
May 22 began as just another work day for Mark Lindquist. A social worker in Joplin, Missouri, Lindquist was making his rounds at client group homes, about to check up on three adult men with Down syndrome. Then came the tornado."I could have abandoned them to save myself, but I would never do that," Lindquist tells The Associated Press. On the job and having recently completed a tornado drill at this insistence of his employer, Community Support Services, Lindquist called up his new skills to try and save the lives of the three men he was visiting that day. Despite his effort, they became just a fraction of the 162 lives taken by the Joplin tornado.
Lindquist was almost 163.
When he found after the storm, his body was beneath the rubble of the home. Every rib in his body was broken, his teeth shattered and his body: unrecognizable. Lindquist lapsed into a coma for two months.
Today, doctors are defied by Lindquist’s progress. They predicted that a recovery, if any, would leave him in a vegetative state. Less than six months later, however, Lindquist, 51, has regained vision, sight and use of his hand.
He has also accumulated more than $2.5 million in medical bills. Medical bills that workers’ comp won’t cover.
“Based on the fact that there was no greater risk than the general public at the time you were involved in the Joplin tornado," Lindquist’s claim with Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, his company's workers' comp provider, was denied. Despite doing his job — on the clock — and being lauded as a “true hero and inspiration to others” by the Missouri Senate, the millions of dollars of fees and counting are expected to come from Lindquist’s own pockets. He is expected to continue surgeries over the next several months, all the while taking nearly a dozen prescription pills a day. All on his own dime. more
NYPD traded crack for sex
Finding a scandal within the ranks of the NYPD these days is like shooting fish in a barrel — or, to update the idiom, like pepper-spraying protesters in a pen.Every hour it seems a new story emerges, and today we have a Brooklyn crack fiend to thank for our daily fodder.
Speaking before the Brooklyn Supreme Court this week, Melanie Perez said although her recollection of an incident with a New York Police Officer she knew as “Frank” from years earlier was as bit fuzzy, she did recall some details, however — like when she performed oral sex on a cop in exchange for crack cocaine.
“What was I going to do? I did it,” she says.
Perez doesn’t remember if it was 2006or 2007, but she tells the New York Daily News that the cops came through with drugs when she was in need. She told the Supreme Court that Frank called her up, invited her over, made her smoke crack and then insisted she perform sexual acts.
“He gave me a nice piece for Christmas,” she tells them of another officer, Sean Johnson. “It was crack and it was kickin'.” Johnson was convicted earlier in 2011 for one count of corruption but was only sentenced to probation. That one charge was the lone conviction he received after 34 other charges ended in acquittal, including those stemming from similar allegations made by Perez at the time. more
Ukraine becomes Europe’s capital of organ trafficking
With Ukraine’s medical infrastructure and legislation making vital transplant organs hard to come by, the illegal trade in human organs is thriving as desperate people turn to the black market.
The authorities are struggling to bring the problem under control, but their room for maneuver is restricted by Ukrainian legislation on transplants.
In Russia and many other countries, doctors are free to use the organs of deceased people to save lives unless there is a written statement from a person prohibiting it. In Ukraine, however, the use of a dead person’s organs is allowed only with the permission of the relatives. This has led to the creation of a huge black donor-market.
Elena's father Boris died in March last year. A few months later, she received a surprising call from the local police.
“The police told me that my father’s eyes were removed from his body to be sold as if they were from a donor. We didn’t notice anything at the funeral, as those who did it disguised their actions. I was told that the morgue’s employees did that, not the doctors. And that a total of 190 dead had had their organs removed,” Elena reveals. more
Food Poisoning At School, Namibia - 31st Oct 2011
Eighteen learners and a teacher were rushed to Andara Hospital, Kavango Region for suspected food poisoning on Thursday. It is alleged that the teacher at Shaghirungu Primary School in Mukwe constituency, gave two learners bread and chicken. The pair shared the food with 16 other learners.
The teacher apparently also ate the food and he too was poisoned together with the learners, and they were all rushed to hospital.
They all were vomiting while complaining of stomach pains, New Era was informed.
Dr Kenneth Bunjir, Principal Medical Officer at Andara Hospital, told New Era on Friday that they received a group of 18 learners together with a teacher. They were all complaining of stomach ache and were vomiting, he said.
"We treated them for mild stomach acid, because they were suspected to have eaten some poisoned chicken."
"The teacher told us that he gave two learners bread and chicken. He suspects that the two gave other learners."
Bunjir said the children were all in a stable condition after receiving treatment. Read More
4.6 Magnitude Earthquake OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN - 31st Oct 2011
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake has struck off the East Coast of Honshu, Japan at a depth of 35 km ( 21.7 miles), the quake hit at 14:09:26 UTC Monday 31st October 2011.The epicenter was 196 km ( 121 miles) ESE of Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time
Luis A. Rodriguez-Flamenco, illegal immigrant from Honduras, stabs women to death in American parking lot
An illegal alien from Honduras was charged with murder for the vicious stabbing death of a shopper in the Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday night, a murder that appeared to be a random act, Orleans County Sheriff Scott Hess said.Luis A. Rodriguez-Flamenco was arrested after an all-night search by numerous police agencies. He was arraigned in Town Court and committed to Orleans County Jail without bail.
Flamenco, 24, is accused of repeatedly stabbing Kathleen I. Byham, 45.
Byham was shopping alone and had just left the store when she was approached by three men as she got to her car about 7 p.m.
‘‘She suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso,’’ Hess said. ‘‘She was shopping by herself and was not with any of the three men.’’
Byham, of Albion, was transported to Medina Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m.
Several people witnessed the attack and were able to give police a description of the men, who took off running east toward the village of Albion.
Two of the men were caught in separate homes in the village, about 90 minutes after the attack, Hess said.
‘‘We were able to locate them based on information we received,’’ he said.
The two men who were with Flamenco did not actively participate in the murder have not been charged. Hess said the two are illegal immigrants from Mexico and both have been turned over to U.S. Border Patrol.
Hess said it was unclear what the motive was but investigators were looking at the possibility of an altercation inside the store or a robbery. more
Why the latest eurozone bail-out is destined to fail within weeks
I want last week's European bail-out to work. My sincere hope is that collective and decisive action by the eurozone's large member states will stabilize global markets, at least for a while, so allowing the global economy to catch its breath. As someone who works in financial services, I follow the markets – in the West, across Asia and the entire world – closer than most. Since the Bear Stearns collapse in March 2008, through the demise of Lehman Brothers and its ghastly aftermath, much of my professional life has been dominated by the angry flashing of those little lights on a Bloomberg screen.
In recent years, the violent gyrations on financial markets have been deeply discomforting, causing angst among market professionals, like me – but that is the least significant aspect. For those little lights represent, of course, the ebbs and flows of cash which, in turn, determines the fate of real businesses. It is at the sharp end of employment and livelihoods, dispossessed homes and broken families that the human impact of financial turbulence is most keenly felt.
So, yes, I want such turbulence, which will never be fully-eradicated, nor should it be in a free-market system, to now lessen to more manageable levels. Yet the responses of our politicians to recent financial troubles – hiding behind complexity and kicking the can down the road – have not only failed to temper the volatility, but have actually made it much worse.
Last week's eurozone "agreement", for all the related fanfare, was a case in point. Far from making the situation clearer, allowing investors to make considered assessments, this latest announcement made Western Europe's grotesque debt crisis even more acute, sowing further infectious spores of confusion.
The deal itself, unveiled dramatically in the early hours of Thursday, was met with the now obligatory "relief rally". The FTSE All-World equity index soared 4.1pc, helped by signs of renewed US economic growth. European bank shares spiked no less than 12pc on Thursday, as traders recognised, for all the official obfuscation, the latest dollop of government largesse. more
Occupy Denver tension escalates dramatically: Police now fabricating attack stories in order to abuse protestors?
The simmering tension near the Colorado Capitol escalated dramatically Saturday with more than a dozen arrests, reports of skirmishes between police and protesters and authorities firing rounds of pellets filled with pepper spray at supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement.Officers in riot gear moved into a park late in the day where protesters were attempting to establish an encampment, hauling off demonstrators just hours after a standoff at the Capitol steps degenerated into a fight that ended in a cloud of Mace and pepper spray.
Denver police spokesman Matt Murray said 15 people were arrested in the evening confrontation, where authorities were moving to prevent protesters from setting up tents in the park, which are illegal. Officals say the demonstrators had been warned several times that the tents would not be allowed and those who attempted to stop police from dismantling the camp gear were arrested. Protesters have been staying in the park for weeks, but tents have repeatedly been removed.
Murray said that most of the protesters were peaceful but there was "just a die-hard group that didn't want to cooperate."
"We showed great restraint," he said. "We were calm. We went in and did what we had to do. There's a group of very committed people who believe in a cause, and then there are a few people who just want to cause trouble."
Earlier in the day about 2,000 protesters rallying against what they see as economic inequality and corporate greed marched downtown toward the Capitol, setting up the most intense moments of the Denver movement, which has lasted weeks.
A group of the marchers advanced toward the building and some tried to make their way up the steps. About eight officers scuffled with a group of protesters and police confirmed that they used Mace and fired pepper balls - hollow projectiles filled with the chemical irritant - to break up the crowd. Protesters told the paper at the time that they believed police used rubber bullets.
Murray said protesters kicked police and knocked one officer off his motorcycle. He said five protesters were arrested, including two for assault and one for disobedience.
Chantrell Smiley, 21, of Denver, said she has been protesting downtown for more than a week, sleeping on the ground in the park. She said she didn't see the officer get knocked from his motorcycle and didn't see any reason for the afternoon confrontation.
"It was just chaos. This wasn't necessary. My friend got hit with rubber bullets in the face. He was screaming and bleeding, then they Maced him. We're being peaceful. We don't want to be harmed. They came through and took everything down - our food, our blankets, everything's gone." more
Another McDonald's Beatdown! Police Investigating West View Assault
An argument in the drive-through lane of a local McDonald’s resulted in a woman being rushed to the hospital early Sunday morning.
According to police, the incident happened at the McDonald’s on Perry Highway in West View around 4:30 a.m.
A man with a female passenger became impatient with how long the occupants of a Hummer were taking in the drive-through lane. more
War on web sleaze: Church of England threatening to withdraw millions invested in ISPs over rise of internet porn
The Church of England is threatening to use its financial power to stem the tide of internet pornography.It is considering withdrawing the millions it has invested in Internet Service Providers (ISPs) unless they take action.
Concern over the easy availability of vile images which demean women and corrupt the young has intensified following the disclosure that Jo Yeates’s killer Vincent Tabak was obsessed with websites showing sexual violence, bondage and strangulation.
Police are under pressure to treat the worst pornography in the same way as child abuse images which are investigated by dedicated teams with substantial resources.
And ISPs such as Virgin Media, BT Broadband, AOL and Sky are under fire for failing to protect vulnerable children from being confronted by shocking images available at the click of a mouse. more
