News Stories

[bladeofdarkness]

Originally Posted by Shadow Kira01

Poll: 4 Percent of Israelis See Obama as Pro-Israel



Considering that Obama is trying to be neutral to both the Middle East and Israel, there is no doubt that the majority of Israeli Jews don't like Obama as that the United States under the Bush Administration were helping Israel doing whatever they so desire meaning that the United States back then always prioritzes the interest of Israel above all else. Now that Obama is doing the right thing, people don't like him.

your theory is based on the assumption that he IS doing the right thing
which would imply that he would be now treating both sides equally
but since he has made no demands of the Palestinians at all, while demanding things from the israeli's, that theory falls apart
and he is making specific demands that he KNOWS the Israelis wont agree to anyway
settlements were a nice subject to address and pick on, since most of the israeli public doesnt really support them all that much, which means that concentrating on THEM would have been a good move to make
but only an idiot would think the israeli public would tolerate any demands for building restrictions in Jerusalem without first seeing a MASSIVE show of willingness for concessions from the other side
obama's actions arent going to bring peace
they just complicate things for the next guy who replaces him in 4 years
since he's going to deal with a situation where BOTH sides are pissed at him

Two Former Israeli Cabinet Ministers Jailed for Corruption



Perhaps, it is time for Israel to have a change of government for a better era in the Middle East where peace and stability is most important. The issue of daily rockets is definitely not the right thing. Israel should have a change of government in which they value dialogue over pressing some missile launching buttons. Otherwise, the Middle East will continue to remain chaotic..

your theory is flawed in three different ways
1)the corruption the ministers were convicted of has absolutely nothing to do with the security issues, they just got greedy and stupid, which is part of why they are FORMER ministers (and one of them is a praticularlly idiotic religious nut)

2)the government in Israel changes rapidly every election (with the current government having nothing to do with the "missile launching buttons" of "operation cast lead" half a year ago)
in fact, the israeli goverment, and prime minister have changed 8 times in the past 20 years
right and left wingers
didn't change a thing

3)the middle east would remain in chaos regardless of what Israel does
you're just less likely to hear about any of it in the papers when israel is not involved
no one cares about middle eastern deaths when Israel isn't to blame for them
case in point
on August 15th hamas attacked a mosque in gaza killing 30 palestinians and wounding about 120 including women and children in a fight with a rival group
there is even cell phone vids of hamas operatives executing prisoners taken in the fight
anyone hear about that ?
were there mass protest in arab countries or in Europe ?
did the UN security council issue a formal condemnation ?

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by bladeofdarkness

your theory is based on the assumption that he IS doing the right thing
which would imply that he would be now treating both sides equally
but since he has made no demands of the Palestinians at all, while demanding things from the israeli's, that theory falls apart
and he is making specific demands that he KNOWS the Israelis wont agree to anyway
settlements were a nice subject to address and pick on, since most of the israeli public doesnt really support them all that much, which means that concentrating on THEM would have been a good move to make
but only an idiot would think the israeli public would tolerate any demands for building restrictions in Jerusalem without first seeing a MASSIVE show of willingness for concessions from the other side
obama's actions arent going to bring peace
they just complicate things for the next guy who replaces him in 4 years
since he's going to deal with a situation where BOTH sides are pissed at him

considering that past policies where only Israel like the US has been of much help. Maybe having both sides piss of at the US would improve things. Especially if Israel realize the US won't automatically back them if they get into a shooting war with the rest of the Middle East.

[bladeofdarkness]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

considering that past policies where only Israel like the US has been of much help. Maybe having both sides piss of at the US would improve things. Especially if Israel realize the US won't automatically back them if they get into a shooting war with the rest of the Middle East.

what
if the US is trying to mediate peace, how would it help if NEITHER side is willing to trust them
if they only make demands of israel without demanding anything of the arabs, and specifically make demands of things that they KNOW the israelis wont agree to, the israelis wont agree to them
and if they cant make israel agree with them, then they cant even HOPE to make the arabs do the same
all Obama is doing is losing credibility from both sides

[Shadow Kira01]

TRANSFER OF POWER / DPJ win 'to boost soft power' / Nye says Japan's image abroad will benefit from opposition win

Q: The DPJ talks about the U.S. presence in Japan, such as opposing the Futenma relocation [in which the functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, will be relocated to Nago in the prefecture] and the marine corps relocation to Guam [in which about 8,000 marines will be moved from Okinawa Prefecture to the U.S. territory of Guam] and host nation support and SOFA. How should they resolve these issues?

A: Well, each of these issues is going to require detailed discussion, as is normal in two democracies. But I think the important point to remember is that the presence of U.S. forces in Japan makes the American guarantees to Japan credible.

For example, sometimes Japanese say, "With a North Korean nuclear weapon or with China having a nuclear capacity, how will Japan be protected?" And the Americans say they will protect Japan through the American nuclear umbrella.

And Japanese sometimes say, "Yes, but will you risk Los Angeles for Tokyo?" And the answer to that is yes, and part of the reason is that the presence of American troops in Japan indicates that Americans are deeply involved in the defense of Japan.

The lives of 4 million Americans and the lives of comrades does make a difference in the American perspective. Aside from that, it also seems that China-US bilateral ties seems stronger than Japan-US bilateral ties over a variety of issues. Thus, I have my doubts..

Experts warn of risk of hornet attacks

When stung by bees or hornets, some people can suffer a form of physical shock called anaphylaxis, which, in the worst-case scenario, can result in death.

There also are cases in which bees or hornets attack humans without the reconnaissance process, such as when a human accidentally stumbles upon a nest by accident.

If this happens, Yamane recommends that you leave the site silently and speedily to minimize damage. If stung, it is important to go to a hospital as quickly as possible by enlisting help from another person or by calling for an ambulance.

For some reason, it sounds as though encountering a single hornet is a lot worse than getting hit by the new flu.

[Garet Jax]

Mitsubishi, IHI to Join $21 Bln Space Solar Project

“It sounds like a science-fiction cartoon Gundam 00, but solar power generation in space may be a significant alternative energy source in the century ahead as fossil fuel disappears,” said Kensuke Kanekiyo, managing director of the Institute of Energy Economics, a government research body.

A very interesting technology, if it works out. Hopefully no weapon platforms get attached.

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

name the last government as big as China that had default on debt? whoever thought this up is a idiot who hasn't thought out the consequences in the long term.

Russia in 1998, I believe, when it said that its ruble-based debt would be restructured. Technically, that is a default. In government bond trading, there is a term "sovereign risk" for which people need to consider - but IMHO, few actually do.

But IMHO, Russia can default on its debt if it wants to, and not worry about other countries stopping lending it money. It has a huge supply of natural resources that buyers would want. The stigma of being a "pariah"... Big whoop! Realpolitick pretty much guarantees that a country in a strong position will be allowed.

China is in a slightly different situation than Russia, IMHO, but it's still the 800-lbs gorilla in the region with lots of people and a big army. It's also more dependent on its people being happy with the government, and they won't be too pleased if they see foreigners "trampling" on China. At least, not based on the general trend of writings by the younger generation.

Univ of Texas pulls out of the merit scholarship program

AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Texas at Austin is pulling out of the National Merit Scholarship Program to focus on needs-based financial assistance.

The 50,000-student university — second only to Harvard University in the number of merit scholars enrolled — said budget pressures were causing it to end its participation in the merit-based program, which awards scholarships to top high school achievers. The university emphasized that it will still honor all existing commitments to National Merit Scholars, including those who entered as freshmen this year.

Oof. The number of qualified student loan lenders in the U.S. went down in the past couple of years, I think? With loans also, university becomes more expensive as well.

[SeijiSensei]

Having just visited half a dozen colleges with my daughter, the trend in college financing is "need-blind" admissions and "needs-based" financial aid. We're only looking at smaller liberal arts colleges, but all of them have abolished financial support based on academic or athletic accomplishment. In many ways this makes a lot of sense given the degree of competition for admission to the better American colleges and universities. Most schools have an abundance of applicants who are fully capable of doing the work required for successful matriculation, so it's pretty hard to discriminate on academic merit. On the other hand, the cost of attending private colleges and universities has soared into the stratosphere ($50K or more annually) so basing financial aid decisions on need helps ensure some diversity in the student body.

Originally Posted by Arabesque

Disney does have an urge to stick their logo on whatever it owns.

I'd bet that fewer than half of American sports fans who watch ESPN know that it's owned by Disney. Its ownership of ABC is not widely advertised either. I'm sure executives at Disney are well aware that the Marvel comics audience is not the same as the audience for High School Musical. Putting the Disney logo on Marvel's books would threaten to drive away its stalwarts. Besides, the best strategy for a profit-making media company is to appeal to a wide variety of audiences and maximize total market share.

[Jazzrat]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

How will Mickey Mouse with an Adamantium Skeleton look like?

Something like this?

Originally Posted by Mystique

...
..............
T_T

- Am I wrong in thinking that Marvel didn't sell this against their will, nor were in any serious financial trouble and were more than happy to hand over their enterprise to... Disney *twitch*
It's not even a merger, but a freaking handover...
Yeesh money > pride?

Pride doesn't pay the payroll and the shareholders. Considering the financial crisis and influx of manga and webcomics, it's quite likely Marvel have been in a decline over the past years. The crisis probably have pushed them over the edge.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I'd bet that fewer than half of American sports fans who watch ESPN know that it's owned by Disney. Its ownership of ABC is not widely advertised either. I'm sure executives at Disney are well aware that the Marvel comics audience is not the same as the audience for High School Musical. Putting the Disney logo on Marvel's books would threaten to drive away its stalwarts. Besides, the best strategy for a profit-making media company is to appeal to a wide variety of audiences and maximize total market share.

Seiji is right on the money here. Though i certainly dont mind seeing wolverine in the next Kingdom Hearts

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by bladeofdarkness

what
if the US is trying to mediate peace, how would it help if NEITHER side is willing to trust them
if they only make demands of israel without demanding anything of the arabs, and specifically make demands of things that they KNOW the israelis wont agree to, the israelis wont agree to them
and if they cant make israel agree with them, then they cant even HOPE to make the arabs do the same
all Obama is doing is losing credibility from both sides

How is opposing building apartments for Israelis in arab majority areas that the Israeli government is then going to point to in future negotiations to claim they should be given that land in a peace settlement that will have a two state solution unreasonable? What exactly is Obama supposed to demand from the Palistinians besides stop committing terrorist attacks and acknowledge Israel's right to exist? They're not exactly in a position to give much else.

Israelis should be more outraged that their own government is using it's own citizens as pawns in this land dispute.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

How is opposing building apartments for Israelis in arab majority areas that the Israeli government is then going to point to in future negotiations to claim they should be given that land in a peace settlement that will have a two state solution unreasonable? What exactly is Obama supposed to demand from the Palistinians besides stop committing terrorist attacks and acknowledge Israel's right to exist? They're not exactly in a position to give much else.

Israelis should be more outraged that their own government is using it's own citizens as pawns in this land dispute.

The more conservative members of the government you mean. These people probably those that fought in the FIELD during the 6-day-war.

It could be classified as post-traumatic-stress-disorder, but that doesn't fit the bill scientifically, though logically they have been traumatised by the idea of Arabs enslaving them if they give up parts of Israel they have won.

They better settle this as peacefully as possible, or else it will end up like the Chechen conflict. Israel being forcibly overrun by Muslim states will be a disaster to the rest of the world, their training doctrines and technology will probably be siphoned off to radicals in the rest of the world to help create a "Muslim Earth" with a Taliban-type world order.

[Furuno]

7+ Magnitude Earthquake hits Indonesia

Local official says that it's 7.3.

At least I'm glad a tsunami didn't happen thought... And the damage is nowhere near Tokyo 8.0...

[Ascaloth]

@Jazzrat,

I don't know whether that's Nightmare Fuel or Crazy Awesome.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Furuno

7+ Magnitude Earthquake hits Indonesia

Local official says that it's 7.3.

At least I'm glad a tsunami didn't happen thought... And the damage is nowhere near Tokyo 8.0...

For some reason Indonesia is having 7.0+ earthquakes since the turn of the millennium 9 years ago.

Tectonics shifts getting ready for another Ice Age?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Having just visited half a dozen colleges with my daughter, the trend in college financing is "need-blind" admissions and "needs-based" financial aid. We're only looking at smaller liberal arts colleges, but all of them have abolished financial support based on academic or athletic accomplishment. In many ways this makes a lot of sense given the degree of competition for admission to the better American colleges and universities. Most schools have an abundance of applicants who are fully capable of doing the work required for successful matriculation, so it's pretty hard to discriminate on academic merit. On the other hand, the cost of attending private colleges and universities has soared into the stratosphere ($50K or more annually) so basing financial aid decisions on need helps ensure some diversity in the student body.

The appalling thing to me is that the message given is "doing well is not important, just be sure to be financially insecure".

I'm all for the "need-blind" idea and definitely "needs-based" (actually I find it appalling that the US leaves its intellectual talent to fend for itself rather than investing in them)... but eliminating talent scholarships????

[Dilla]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I'd bet that fewer than half of American sports fans who watch ESPN know that it's owned by Disney. Its ownership of ABC is not widely advertised either. I'm sure executives at Disney are well aware that the Marvel comics audience is not the same as the audience for High School Musical. Putting the Disney logo on Marvel's books would threaten to drive away its stalwarts. Besides, the best strategy for a profit-making media company is to appeal to a wide variety of audiences and maximize total market share.

I think plenty know about this one since they haven't they made an effort to hide it. They have the ESPN ticker on the bottom with the ABC logo during the NBA games and the ESPN anaylsts crossover to ABC. But I digress. . .

The entire reason Disney bought Marvel is to spread their demographic of customers. If they touch Marvel's content, it would kill the point of buying it in the first place. In other words, I agree with you.

[sa547]

Those copycat idiots, trying to outdo the two dead idiots of Columbine:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090902/...in_school_plot

In the recent Indonesian earthquake, worst-hit towns are near the epicenter:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090902/...sia_earthquake

"Most of them are housewives and children who were playing PlayStation in a buried house," Entang Kurniawan, another resident, told broadcaster TVOne.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by sa547

Those copycat idiots, trying to outdo the two dead idiots of Columbine:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090902/...in_school_plot

What season is it in? Summer or winter? Acetone peroxide won't work in humid conditions, and its instability can cause premature explosions, and VERY small amount of impurities can result in blinds.

The most conventional terrorist method is to use petrol bombs (molotovs) or the one Samuel Byck used. I can't believe that they didn't realise that simple ideas are always available.

Besides, why the heck are they doing this? The Columbine kids are different from them, they set an example to what various factors in schools can do to the socially inept. Since these kids are socially inept, why not they preserve the memory of the Columbine runners by at least calling up a hotline?

[Shadow Kira01]

Israeli, Palestinian Officials Discuss Economy

Palestinian Economy Minister Bassem Khoury and Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom met in Jerusalem to discuss economic issues. The meeting signals a possible warming in relations.

Later Wednesday in New York, the U.S. envoy for Middle East peace, George Mitchell, is expected to meet with Israeli officials to discuss Mideast peace negotiations that have been stalled since December.

That's more like it. The first step to regional stability and peace!

Global Warming Adding Fuel to Wildfires

While a single wildfire cannot be linked to global warming, many scientists speculate that in a warming world the likelihood of wildfires is higher. Part of the issue is heat-induced drought. "Fires clearly depend on weather," says Senior Harvard researcher Jennifer Logan.

Logan and her colleagues are investigating the consequences of climate change on wildfires, and the impact on U.S. air quality. She says their research indicates the warming of the earth's atmosphere "definitely" is linked to a longer summer and shorter winter, which results in less snow and ice run off.

When the issue of global warming gets a lot more serious, leaders of world powers will eventually take notices and make better usages of wind and solor powers as those benefits the environment in a variety of ways. More certainly, it also ensures that chaos in the Middle East would drastically decrease as that nobody would care about oil pumping anymore.

----

"Most of them are housewives and children who were playing PlayStation in a buried house," Entang Kurniawan, another resident, told broadcaster TVOne.

I didn't know that the Playstation is that popular in Indonesia. In fact, why would anybody continue playing Playstation when the ground is shaking, not to mention that shouldn't there be announcements of evacuation orders by the natural disaster managerment department?

May them rest in peace...

[Tiberium Wolf]

Originally Posted by Shadow Kira01

I didn't know that the Playstation is that popular in Indonesia. In fact, why would anybody continue playing Playstation when the ground is shaking, not to mention that shouldn't there be announcements of evacuation orders by the natural disaster managerment department?

May them rest in peace...

I think they were too absorbed in the game to notice the shaking or whatever was around them. It happens.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Tiberium Wolf

I think they were too absorbed in the game to notice the shaking or whatever was around them. It happens.

Dualshock Controllers?