U.S. Vows Forceful Response to Terror
W A S H I N G T O N, Dec. 11 — In a warning to Iraq and other hostile countries, the United States says it is prepared to use "overwhelming force"— including nuclear weapons — in response to any chemical or biological attack.
Buy a Piece of Christmas -- Reindeer DNA in a Vial - Wed Dec 11,10:05 AM ET
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Stuck for a Christmas gift? How about a blob of real Finnish reindeer DNA sealed in a vial topped with silver antlers.
Richard Collins, project manager at Hong Kong-based DNA-Tech Ltd, said customer interest in the reindeer DNA had snowballed since his firm began selling it Tuesday for HK$480 (US$61.55) per sample.
--For that special someone that has everything...
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Stuck for a Christmas gift? How about a blob of real Finnish reindeer DNA sealed in a vial topped with silver antlers.
Richard Collins, project manager at Hong Kong-based DNA-Tech Ltd, said customer interest in the reindeer DNA had snowballed since his firm began selling it Tuesday for HK$480 (US$61.55) per sample.
--For that special someone that has everything...
Mad Mel to hit the road again - Tuesday December 10, 2002 - The Guardian
Mel Gibson is to play Mad Max for the fourth time in return for a $25m pay packet. The 46-year-old actor will once again step into the wasted landscape of a dystopian future Australia for a project titled Fury Road, reportedly costing $104m.
According to Daily Variety, the movie will start shooting down under next May, with the franchise's three-time director and co-writer George Miller once more in the director's seat. Miller has reportedly been working on the script for the past three years.
No plot details have yet emerged but it's a fair bet that "Mad" Max Rockatansky will once again be roaming the lawless, post-apocalyptic Australian outback.
Mad Max originally hit cinemas in 1979 and made a worldwide star of Gibson, who was born in America but moved to Australia as a child when his father won a prize on the gameshow Jeopardy. A sequel followed in 1981 and the most recent in the franchise, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, co-starring Tina Turner, hit cinemas in 1985.
Gibson, who won a best director Oscar for 1995's Braveheart, has been seen this year in M Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller Signs.
--SWEET!
Mel Gibson is to play Mad Max for the fourth time in return for a $25m pay packet. The 46-year-old actor will once again step into the wasted landscape of a dystopian future Australia for a project titled Fury Road, reportedly costing $104m.
According to Daily Variety, the movie will start shooting down under next May, with the franchise's three-time director and co-writer George Miller once more in the director's seat. Miller has reportedly been working on the script for the past three years.
No plot details have yet emerged but it's a fair bet that "Mad" Max Rockatansky will once again be roaming the lawless, post-apocalyptic Australian outback.
Mad Max originally hit cinemas in 1979 and made a worldwide star of Gibson, who was born in America but moved to Australia as a child when his father won a prize on the gameshow Jeopardy. A sequel followed in 1981 and the most recent in the franchise, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, co-starring Tina Turner, hit cinemas in 1985.
Gibson, who won a best director Oscar for 1995's Braveheart, has been seen this year in M Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller Signs.
--SWEET!
Two Towers 'even better' than Fellowship - Thursday December 5, 2002 - The Guardian
Advance word is already leaking out on the next instalment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, following a sneak screening in Los Angeles last night. Fortunately for those involved, the advance word is extremely positive. The general consensus seems to be that The Two Towers is a richer, bloodier and more compelling experience than last year's Fellowship of the Ring.
Sky Movies critic Sandro Manetti gushed that chapter two of the Tolkien epic is "even better than the first Lord of the Rings movie... There is no quiet beginning or setting the scene this time. It's straight into the action from the start and there's no let up for the next three hours. Peter Jackson captures some of the most ferocious battle scenes ever put on film and puts his camera right in among the blood and guts."
--This is gonna be good...
Advance word is already leaking out on the next instalment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, following a sneak screening in Los Angeles last night. Fortunately for those involved, the advance word is extremely positive. The general consensus seems to be that The Two Towers is a richer, bloodier and more compelling experience than last year's Fellowship of the Ring.
Sky Movies critic Sandro Manetti gushed that chapter two of the Tolkien epic is "even better than the first Lord of the Rings movie... There is no quiet beginning or setting the scene this time. It's straight into the action from the start and there's no let up for the next three hours. Peter Jackson captures some of the most ferocious battle scenes ever put on film and puts his camera right in among the blood and guts."
--This is gonna be good...
Earthsea Trilogy -- by Ursula K. Le Guin
- A Wizard of Earthsea
- The Tombs of Atuan
- The Farthest Shore
Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but once he was called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth, hungry for power and knowledge, who tampered with long-held secrets and lossed a terrible shadow upon the world...
Police Hunt Hallucinogenic Toad Thief - Fri Dec 6,10:10 AM ET
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police are investigating whether drug addicts raided a pet shop and stole three exotic toads whose warty skin can induce hallucinations when licked.
The animals were snatched from a pet shop near a drug addicts' center in the city of Leeuwarden in the northeast of the Netherlands on Wednesday. "They are an exotic kind of toad that secrete a substance. If you lick them you may get a hallucination, comparable with a trip on LSD," police spokesman Harry Oenema told Reuters.
--And they sell these in a pet shop!?! I bet they were in PETA!
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police are investigating whether drug addicts raided a pet shop and stole three exotic toads whose warty skin can induce hallucinations when licked.
The animals were snatched from a pet shop near a drug addicts' center in the city of Leeuwarden in the northeast of the Netherlands on Wednesday. "They are an exotic kind of toad that secrete a substance. If you lick them you may get a hallucination, comparable with a trip on LSD," police spokesman Harry Oenema told Reuters.
--And they sell these in a pet shop!?! I bet they were in PETA!
Reliable Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Dec. 13-14 - Fri Dec 6,11:04 AM By Joe Rao, SPACE.com
Less than a month after the Leonid meteor shower, another excellent display is just around the corner. The reliable, annual Geminid meteor shower is scheduled to reach its peak during the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, Dec. 14.
The Geminids should produce a fine display of 1-2 meteor every minute for North American observers with dark skies, weather permitting. Brief bursts of activity could produce even higher rates. The nights and mornings surrounding the peak activity should prove rewarding, too.
--Magic in the skies... Magic inside...
Less than a month after the Leonid meteor shower, another excellent display is just around the corner. The reliable, annual Geminid meteor shower is scheduled to reach its peak during the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, Dec. 14.
The Geminids should produce a fine display of 1-2 meteor every minute for North American observers with dark skies, weather permitting. Brief bursts of activity could produce even higher rates. The nights and mornings surrounding the peak activity should prove rewarding, too.
--Magic in the skies... Magic inside...
Texan Killed Friend Who Drank Last Cold Beer - Reuters
BANDERA, Texas (Reuters) - A jury on Thursday handed a life prison sentence to a Texas man who shot and killed a longtime friend he accused of drinking the last beer in his refrigerator.
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before passing the sentence on Steven Brasher, 42, for the murder of Willie Lawson, 39, on Nov. 5 last year.
"There was only two beers left, so I took one, and I told Willie not to take my last beer," Brasher said in a taped statement that was played during the trial.
--Another beer related death...
BANDERA, Texas (Reuters) - A jury on Thursday handed a life prison sentence to a Texas man who shot and killed a longtime friend he accused of drinking the last beer in his refrigerator.
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before passing the sentence on Steven Brasher, 42, for the murder of Willie Lawson, 39, on Nov. 5 last year.
"There was only two beers left, so I took one, and I told Willie not to take my last beer," Brasher said in a taped statement that was played during the trial.
--Another beer related death...
Iraq's Olympic Panel Accused of Torture - By JONATHAN FOWLER, Associated Press Writer
A human rights group formally demanded that the IOC expel Iraq's national Olympic committee because its chief — Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday — tortured and jailed athletes who failed to please him.
--"Run your ass off or it's the mines for you!!"
A human rights group formally demanded that the IOC expel Iraq's national Olympic committee because its chief — Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday — tortured and jailed athletes who failed to please him.
--"Run your ass off or it's the mines for you!!"
Missiles Are Being Sold in Afghanistan - Wed Dec 4,12:39 PM ET By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - American-made Stinger missiles, capable of taking down aircraft, are for sale in the Afghan capital for $200,000, as well as rockets for as little as $5,000, peacekeepers said Wednesday.
--What is wrong with these poeple! Havn't they heard of eBay! Sheesh.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - American-made Stinger missiles, capable of taking down aircraft, are for sale in the Afghan capital for $200,000, as well as rockets for as little as $5,000, peacekeepers said Wednesday.
--What is wrong with these poeple! Havn't they heard of eBay! Sheesh.
Man Found Dead 44 Years After 'Trip to U.S.' - Wed Dec 4,10:40 AM ET
MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian man who packed his bags 44 years ago and told friends he was leaving for America was found dead inside one of the walls of his home.
An American woman who recently bought the house near Lucca in northern Tuscany discovered the body Tuesday as she was carrying out renovations, police said.
Inside a thick wall in the cellar the woman found human remains, two packed suitcases, a trowel and other equipment to make a wall, a rusted rifle and a bottle with a suicide note.
The note, on paper headed with the name Nemo Cianelli, explained that the man had discovered he had an incurable disease and had decided to kill himself. He said he had invented the tale of going to America to avoid upsetting his family.
Local newspapers reported in 1958 that Cianelli was missing, and speculated that he might have gone to America, but after a period of rumor and mystery, the story was forgotten.
Police said it appeared Cianelli had packed his suitcases, written the suicide note, built a wall up around himself and then shot himself.
MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian man who packed his bags 44 years ago and told friends he was leaving for America was found dead inside one of the walls of his home.
An American woman who recently bought the house near Lucca in northern Tuscany discovered the body Tuesday as she was carrying out renovations, police said.
Inside a thick wall in the cellar the woman found human remains, two packed suitcases, a trowel and other equipment to make a wall, a rusted rifle and a bottle with a suicide note.
The note, on paper headed with the name Nemo Cianelli, explained that the man had discovered he had an incurable disease and had decided to kill himself. He said he had invented the tale of going to America to avoid upsetting his family.
Local newspapers reported in 1958 that Cianelli was missing, and speculated that he might have gone to America, but after a period of rumor and mystery, the story was forgotten.
Police said it appeared Cianelli had packed his suitcases, written the suicide note, built a wall up around himself and then shot himself.
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