mars attacks-The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mars and Saturn.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include culinary expert Fannie Farmer in 1857; psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in 1900; actress Joan Crawford in 1905; Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in 1910; rocket scientist Wernher von Braun in 1912; Roger Bannister, the first person to run the mile in less than 4 minutes, in 1929 (age 79); former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson Jr., in 1938; comedian Louie Anderson and singer Chaka Khan, both in 1953 (age 55); and actresses Amanda Plummer in 1957 (age 51) and Keri Russell ("Felicity") in 1976 (age 32).
On this date in history:
In 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act for taxing the American colonies, an action that became a major grievance for rebellious colonials.
In 1775, in a speech supporting the arming of the Virginia militia, Patrick Henry declared, "Give me liberty or give me death."
In 1942, during World War II, Japanese-Americans were forcibly moved from their homes along the Pacific Coast to inland internment camps.
In 1966, Pope Paul VI met Britain's archbishop of Canterbury at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, the first meeting between the heads of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in 400 years.
In 1983, the world's first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, Barney Clark of Seattle, died in a Salt Lake City hospital.
In 1985, the United States completed the secret air evacuation of 800 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
In 1989, Dick Clark retired from hosting the TV show "American Bandstand" after 33 years.
In 1996, Taiwan elected Lee Teng-hui in the island's first direct presidential election.
In 1998, Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his entire Cabinet.
Also in 1998, "Titanic" won 11 Academy Awards, tying the record total won by "Ben-Hur" in 1959.
In 1999, the vice president of Peru was assassinated.
In 2001, the United States expelled 40 Russian diplomats it said were spies. The action had come in response to the arrest of FBI agent and accused Russian spy Robert Hanssen.
Also in 2001, the Russian space station Mir was brought down in the Pacific Ocean near Fiji after more than 15 years in orbit.
In 2003, a U.S. soldier was arrested after allegedly throwing grenades into the tents of three American officers in Kuwait. Two soldiers died, 12 others were wounded.
Also, nine U.S. Marines were killed in Nasiriyah where fellow Marines found 3,000 chemical warfare suits and masks at a hospital.
In 2004, a bipartisan government commission, investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, noted in a preliminary report "alarming threats" about a possible al-Qaida attack months before the assault.
Also in 2004, NASA said new findings on Mars suggest an ancient sea once covered part of the planet.
In 2005, Iraqi forces attacked a training camp for suspected insurgents west of Baghdad, killing 80 gunmen in one of the largest operations to stamp out terrorism.
Also in 2005, federal investigators say there is no evidence of terrorism in the deadly BP refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas, that killed 15 workers and left several others in critical condition.
In 2006, the U.S. government rested its case in the sentencing trial of admitted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui in Alexandria, Va. The jury will decide whether Moussaoui could have prevented the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and whether he should get the death penalty.
In 2007, eight British sailors and seven marines on a U.N. mission patrolling the Persian Gulf were seized at gunpoint by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who accused them of being in Iranian waters. The British insisted they were in Iraqi territorial waters.
A thought for the day: Erich Fromm wrote, "That man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable."
mars attacks
Sunday, 23 March 2008
mars attacks
Sara Jane Olson
Sara Jane Olson- The former member of the SLA, paroled last week, is back in prison. State officials say she has to serve one more year.
California authorities rearrested Sara Jane Olson at noon Saturday, just hours after she was prevented from flying home to Minnesota from Los Angeles, and said she must serve one more year in prison because they miscalculated her release date.
The former member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army had been paroled Monday from a California women's prison after serving about six years for her role in a 1975 plot to kill Los Angeles police officers by blowing up their patrol cars.
Officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said at a news conference that they had made a mistake in computing the amount of time Olson should serve in a separate case in which she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for participating in a Sacramento-area bank robbery in which another SLA member killed a customer.
"The department is sensitive to the impact that such an error has had on all involved in this case and sincerely regrets the mistake," Scott Kernan, the agency's chief deputy secretary of adult operations, said at a Saturday afternoon news conference. "The department has launched a full investigation."
Kernan called the case "extremely complicated, given the amount of changes to the sentencing laws that have occurred over the last 30 years."
Olson should have been sentenced to 14 years, not 12, for the two crimes, Kernan said. He said state officials had failed to account for the bank robbery. The earliest possible release date for Olson now is March 17, 2009, he said. At that point, she will have served half of the 14-year term.
Like most California inmates, Olson has earned credit against her sentence for working while in prison. She served on a maintenance crew that swept and cleaned the main yard of the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, according to prison officials.
She was taken to a prison in Chino on Saturday but will be moved back to Chowchilla, Kernan said.
When news organizations reported Olson's release Friday, law enforcement officials reacted with dismay and raised questions about whether she had been let out too early.
Jon Opsahl, son of Myrna Opsahl, the woman killed in the bank robbery, called the Sacramento County district attorney's office and said he believed Olson had not served enough time.
Corrections department officials acknowledged that they began an intensive review of their internal calculations of the sentence after getting questions from the Sacramento County district attorney's office and a local television reporter, but they denied that they had bowed to pressure.
After Olson was taken back into custody, Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tim Sands issued a statement, saying, "We are relieved that Sara Jane Olson has been returned to prison for another year."
But Sands said the organization was "far from satisfied. Parole shouldn't even be an option for terrorists who are convicted of murdering innocent bystanders and attempting to murder police officers. Anyone who tries to kill police officers should get significant jail time and serve their full sentence."
Olson's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, said she was outraged by the rearrest and asserted that her client had been illegally arrested and is now being "illegally imprisoned."
Holley said she was surprised to receive a phone call late Friday night from Olson, who told her that law enforcement officials at Los Angeles International Airport "were telling her her travel pass was rescinded and they would escort her back to her mother's home in Palmdale."
After midnight, Holley said, she got another call from Olson, telling her that Olson had been taken to her mother's home in a law enforcement convoy and that although she was not under arrest, law enforcement officials had stationed a car in front of the house and told her she would be followed if she left.
Holley said she planned to file a writ of habeas corpus seeking Olson's release within the next few days.
She scoffed at the suggestion that there had been "a computation error."
"We received an order from the state parole board more than a month ago informing us that she would be released on March 17," Holley said.
She referred to a decision of the board, saying that on Oct. 12, 2007, the panel had notified a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that "it did not intend to impose" a one-year enhancement that had been challenged by Olson's attorneys. The decision went on to say that Olson's "earliest possible release date has been recalculated to March 17, 2008."
Noting that the decision had been made months ago, Holley said: "The idea that suddenly they discovered an error is untrue. What appears to be the truth is they are bowing to pressure from the Police Protective League or someone else."
But Opsahl, the son of the slain woman, said he was "definitely glad" that corrections department officials "caught the mistake and they are going to insist she serve her full sentence. . . . She is no threat to society, but criminals have to pay their debt to society."
Olson changed her name from Kathleen Soliah when she went underground after the bank robbery.
She had lived in Minnesota for a number of years before being arrested on charges related to the 1975 plot to plant pipe bombs beneath police cars in retaliation for a May 1974 shootout with Los Angeles police that left six SLA members dead.
Olson married Dr. Gerald Peterson, an emergency room physician.
The couple lived for a while in Zimbabwe before settling in St. Paul, Minn. Olson lived the quiet life of a homemaker and mother of three daughters in an upscale neighborhood and appeared in local theater productions.
She was apprehended in 1999 after being featured on TV's "America's Most Wanted." Her case was moving toward trial on Sept. 11, 2001. After the terrorist attacks, she struck a plea deal in the bombing attempt, saying she feared she would not get a fair trial.
She pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a destructive device with the intent to murder and struck a deal in the bank case, pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
For the murder conviction, she was given a one-year sentence. For the botched bombings, she was initially sentenced to five years and four months, but that was extended to 12 years after a state prison board designated her a serious offender.
Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen said he found it "hard to imagine" that state officials made a calculation error. The executive director of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice said he had never heard of an instance in which a prisoner was mistakenly released early.
However, Uelmen said he believed that "if she was erroneously released, they can take her back into custody until she serves her sentence" in full.
Ohio State University law professor Douglas Berman, who runs a widely read blog on sentencing issues, said, "There is a lot more uncertainty about the legal formalities of when someone is entitled to be released and how that can be enforced" than about many other areas of the law.
"If you look hard enough at the criminal justice system, you can find a lot more errors than you would think," including prison officials keeping someone incarcerated for longer than they should. "In a lower-profile case," he said, "no one is likely to find out."
Sara Jane Olson
Improve Noblegarden
Improve Noblegarden-Some of the best times i've had in World of Warcraft have been participating in Blizzard's entertaining holiday events. Large portions of the world are revamped with decorations, new quests, and of course, prizes! And, while the prizes may not be that important (food, Halloween costumes, etc), participating in the holiday events is always a fun change of pace from the norm. However, I have to say Noblegarden -- Blizzard's Easter event -- pales in comparison to their other holidays. Why?
- No decorations or changes in any of the cities... not even a lone NPC to inform players that they can hunt for eggs.
- A one-day holiday as opposed to the week(s) of festivities for Halloween, Winter's Veil, etc.
- Noblegarden eggs are quite rare... and the prizes are sub-par at best.
- No holiday quests. Not a single one!
So what could Blizzard do to make this event fun and worthwhile for its players? Read on for speculation!
- Decorate! Celebrate the coming spring with garlands and wreathes of brightly colored flowers on every building! Line countertops, bannisters, and windowsills with rows of eggs and the occasional chocolate bunny. Let us know it's a holiday!
- Improve the prizes! Change the candy rewards to add a percentage of total health rather than a fixed amount -- like all of the other holiday food in the game. This way, the candy is useful for players of all levels.
- Add more prizes! Unique Noblegarden bunny pets. Noblegarden baskets (bags). A wider variety of themed candy -- chocolate eggs and bunnies. Held in off-hand spring flowers. There are plenty of in-theme items that could be added to make this event more interesting.
- Make it more practical to get some of these prizes. With the rarity of eggs and the short length of the event, it's difficult to find enough eggs to have a chance at getting anything. Increase the number of eggs per zone and put them in more zones -- so players of every level have a chance to run across eggs and collect them wherever they happen to be questing or leveling. And/or increase the length of the event to give players more time to collect them.
- Add some holiday quests! Some ideas: escort an orphan child around to collect eggs, collect X number of eggs which can be turned in for specific prizes, help hide eggs for the egg hunt. Blizzard's got a creative team, why not put a bit of their time into bringing this event up to par?
Happy Noblegarden :-
The great feast of Noblegarden has long been celebrated by the races of the Alliance and recently adopted by those of the Horde. On this joyous day, it is customary for the nobles and lords from each race to hide coins, candy, and the occasional treasures within special eggs painted to look like wildflowers. These eggs are then scattered around the major cities for the citizenry to find. From heroes to commoners, and everyone in between - the feast of Noblegarden is meant to bring communities together to share the joy of life and friendship."
Improve Noblegarden
easter comments
easter comments-One of the most remarkable things about the ongoing controversy over Barack Obama's angry pastor is the sharply differing reactions, even among those who seem to have so much else in common.
New polling suggests the wildfire Internet spread of the newly-retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most inflammatory sermons has scorched off some national popularity of Obama, who's based so much of his political message on being "post-racial," not militant, not angry, pro-unity.
But that now can seem contradictory to many with Obama's intimate 20-year association with a black nationalist who rages about "the U.S. of KKK-A," suggests the country invited or deserved the 9/11 attacks and believes the AIDS epidemic is a government conspiracy to kill blacks.
For a sample video of Wright's sermons, click on the Read more line below.
Then, Obama continued to expose his two young daughters to such views In a congregation whose loud, demonstrative cheers clearly endorsed such extreme statements, while claiming he'd not heard them.
As reported here last week, Obama's chief political strategist, David Axelrod, admitted being sufficiently worried more than a year ago that they un-invited the pastor from giving the invocation at Obama's campaign announcement in February, 2007.
At the same time, some black and white voters say they were moved by Obama's ensuing speech as a long-awaited invitation to begin an honest, calm and cleansing national dialogue on race.
It's a topic clearly on the minds of voters in Pennsylvania, one of the largest....
states to weigh in on race and the race for the Democratic presidential nomination between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who's trailing in money, delegates and the popular vote but leading in Pennsylvania and using Obama's success to raise more money.
Recent items on the issue in The Ticket have elicited many hundreds of Comments, baring feelings of sympathy and support, naked anger and even racism that had not been expressed in that forum before the sermon videos unlocked the issue for public debate. To see such Comments, click on virtually any of the links in this item. And check that section at the end of this item.
Just as talk radio and television are preoccupied with the matter, so were a surprising number of shoppers and employees this weekend in the mega-mall known as King of Prussia, in the Pennsylvania town of the same name.
Dereck Cummings is an openly gay man and a former Jehovah's Witness who says he isn't in the habit of judging other people on their lifestyles or religion. But Cummings can't shake the disturbing feeling there's something worrisome in the incendiary sermon highlights, something that keeps nagging at him as he tries to decide how to vote in his state's Democratic primary election April 22. "If that's been your priest for that many years, it affects who you are," said Cummings, an assistant store manager in the suburban shopping mecca outside Philadelphia. "Those thoughts come across, Sunday after Sunday, and that just scares me."
His co-worker, Stacey Hermann, couldn't care less, saying the statements fade given her concerns over taxes and education. "He isn't responsible for what another person says," Hermann said, shrugging.
King of Prussia mall is the commercial center for a sizable population of swing voters, whose willingness to go back and forth between Republican and Democratic presidential nominees makes them crucial in general elections.
So their take on the latest bruising to Obama matters for the upcoming primary and signals how fertile the ground is for Clinton or, later, Republicans to try to take advantage of the issue politically. Since the controversy erupted, for instance, polls show Obama support plunging sharply among white males.
In the mall's food court, several self-described swing voters said they were not bothered by Wright's words, though they did not like them. "It's unfortunate," said Judy Wolstenholme, a retired phys ed teacher.
"You don't want someone out there with a history of preaching hatred. I think it might hurt [Obama]. He should have been a little stronger in putting down those theories. But it only bothers me if I believe he isn't smart enough to rise above that message, and I don't think that right now."
Still, Wolstenholme, a registered Republican, said she likes both Hillary Clinton and likely Republican nominee John McCain better than the Illinois senator, as does her husband.
Joshua Snyder, a theology professor at nearby Villanova University, said he thinks the Wright sermons probably sounded very different in church than they do blasting out of computer and television screens.
"When people preach, they tend to get bombastic," Snyder said. "You can use it as a sound bite, and especially in white suburbia, that helps to perpetuate a stereotype."
But in the construction site of a new jewelry store in the mall, union workers said they were deeply offended. "It was unbelievable the way the reverend was talking," said David Terrano, a carpenter. "It makes me worry that, if Obama's president, he's going to be thinking about things that way."
Cummings and Hermann work together at the Ann Taylor store, where another co-worker said the off-duty conversation frequently veers toward politics.
"I listen to what Rev. Wright said, that we brought 9/11 on ourselves," said Myisha Upshur, a Philadelphia resident. "It sounded very callous. If I were listening to that and I lost someone in the 9/11 attacks, I would be very hurt."
Still, she said, "I appreciate that Sen. Obama didn't say, `I'm never going back there to church.' We all have friends we don't agree with. That doesn't mean we should turn our backs." Hermann said she's voted for Republicans and Democrats and that her decision next month won't be affected by Obama's church history.
But Cummings' gay life experience teaches him differently. He said he was "dis-fellowshipped" from the church of his childhood when he came out of the closet but that he still finds traces of those early influences in his thinking. He wondered, can Obama really avoid being influenced by Wright's angry words the same way?
"It rubs off," said Cummings. "And that doesn't go away easily."
Saturday, 22 March 2008
trisha meili
trisha meili-Trisha Meili's story is about the capacity of the human body and spirit to heal. It's a story of hope and possibility. It didn't begin that way.
On April 19, 1989, a young woman went for a run in New York's Central Park shortly after 9 p.m. Hours later, two men wandering the park found her near death from a brutal beating and rape. In a coma, with 75 percent blood loss, a fierce blow to the head and severe exposure, doctors at Metropolitan Hospital worried that this young woman might not survive. The story seized the headlines, not only in New York, but around the world as people contemplated what the savagery of the attack said about our society.
Trisha Meili, known to the world as The Central Park Jogger, revealed her amazing story of survival and recovery 14 years later in her best-selling memoir I AM THE CENTRAL PARK JOGGER: A Story of Hope and Possibility.
Born and raised in Paramus, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh, Trisha was a Phi Beta Kappa economics major at Wellesley College and a double graduate degree recipient (M.B.A. and M.A.) at Yale University. After graduation, she went on to work as an associate at the Wall Street Investment Bank Salomon Brothers, until her life was violently interrupted that terrible night in Central Park.
I AM THE CENTRAL PARK JOGGER is not a story of an attack, but rather, one of healing. The horror of her attack brought an outpouring of support and love from her family, friends, healthcare workers, co-workers, and strangers. As she relearned how to do simple things, such as rolling over, telling time, buttoning her blouse or identifying simple objects, Trisha credits this support as part of the miracle of her recovery.
Trisha gives her time to organizations vital to her healing including The Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program (SAVI) at Mount Sinai Hospital, Gaylord Hospital, where she did much of her rehabilitation, and the Achilles Track Club that helped her run the New York City Marathon in 1995.
Recently, received the Leadership Award from the National Center for Victims of Crime, the National Courage Award from the Courage Center, the Pacesetter Award from New York Hospital Queens, the Spirit of Achievement Award from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Courage Award from Boston's Magic 106.7 Exceptional Women Program, and was an Olympic Torchbearer in New York City.
Today, Trisha speaks about her journey of recovery and healing to groups, including businesses, universities, brain injury associations, sexual assault centers, and hospitals. With her book and lectures, she offers lessons on how to manage through unpredictable change, whether personal, professional, economic or spiritual. Her story has encouraged people worldwide to overcome life's obstacles - regardless of what they might be - and get back on the road to life.
Teamwork: The Power of Support
Trisha stresses how outside support was vital to her healing. Family, friends, coworkers, doctors, nurses, and therapists all worked as a team to ensure Trisha's survival. Additional support came from strangers as an outpouring of thoughts, prayers, and warm messages provided a critical connection for Trisha, reaffirming that she was not alone in her ordeal. Trisha inspires others about the importance of "joining the team," regardless of the goal.
Leadership: The Power of Self-Knowledge
Self-knowledge is a critical element in any leadership practice. After the attack, Trisha was forced to learn to live in a new body with a new mind, to understand herself in an entirely new way. Becoming more acutely aware of her strengths and weaknesses helped Trisha develop confidence, which lead to setting goals and taking action to improve. Trisha encourages others to tap into the power of self-knowledge, take control and move forward.
Attitude: The Power of Choice
Trisha couldn't change what happened - the attack - but she realized that she could choose how to respond. Beyond her recovery, Trisha chose to use this adversity to offer hope and possibility to others. In everyday life, we make choices quite causally, even carelessly. But when people choose consciously and with precision - choose as though their life depends on the choice they are making, real power flows. Through her speaking and writing, Trisha inspires listeners to experience the power of making conscious choices.
Personal Growth: The Power of Possibilities
Trisha's transformation from someone in a wheelchair, who couldn't walk to once again being a determined athlete capable of completing a New York City Marathon, was the result of concentrating on her possibilities. Focusing on what she could do, rather than on what she couldn't, motivated her to keep pushing to the edges of what she thought was possible, regardless of the obstacles. As a best selling author and Chairman of a worldwide organization serving those with disabilities, Trisha shows the results of continued pushing and growing.
Mind/Body: The Power of the Present Moment
In the middle of a crisis, it is often difficult to figure out what to do first. When everything had been taken away from Trisha, she realized all she could do to improve her future was to work in the present moment. She offers this as critical insight to all of us who face business and personal challenges.
Peak Performance: The Power of Personal Responsibility
In the darkest days after the attack, Trisha took responsibility for her recovery, realizing that she was an integral part of the healing process. Soon after emerging from the coma when a nurse asked her, "Who's the captain of this ship?" Trisha replied, "I am." Taking responsibility in this way led Trisha to set, pursue and achieve goals, and touch thousands in the process. Trisha demonstrates to her audience that taking personal responsibility is the beginning of peak performance.
• In 1989, the gang-rape and brutal beating of investment banker Trisha Meili would become Fairstein's biggest case when she headed the city's Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit.
In 2002, the convictions of five men in the Central Park Jogger Case were vacated.
"It was a huge disappointment," Fairstein says, "but litigation is ongoing and we think it will make clear their participation in the attacks."
