This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
Locked on 01/30/2005 12:18:25 AM PST by Lead Moderator, reason:
Thread Twenty-four here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1331735/posts |
Posted on 12/23/2004 10:30:10 PM PST by nwctwx
--Off topic--
Good Morning everyone, I hope the coffee, tea tastes right. There is quite the storm out there.
Some of us can use a change of scenery, and a fun site from chatrooms:
http://www.bash.org
Also this looks like one hell of a storm on the way, is this normal at all? Doesnt seem to be!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002141092_storm05.html
hmm.!!
Take it easy guys,
-skeggs
there are some pretty nice red novelty laser pointers, i think someone was messing with you. I did it to some ppl behind my house in the park once a few years ago when they were rather new and these two newfie guys thought it was a ufo. they were freaking out and i was stifling laughter behind a tree.
Is there any video of any laser activity anywhere? I'm very curious to see one of these green lasers in slow motion somwhere so i have some idea of the intensity. Surely there are cameras in cockpits, and basically all over. Almost everything gets taped these days.
my two cents.
-skeggs
National:
[The Globe and Mail] USA - Suspicious attempts made to buy bomb materials
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050106/NATS06PU/TPNational/Briefs
[Arizona Central] USA - Feds warn fertilizer firms of suspicious buyer
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0106atfphoenix06.html
[Orlando Sentinel] FLORIDA - Security stepped up at Osceola water plants after suspicious call
"man with a Middle Eastern accent -- who may have been selling water filters -- called a woman to tell her the water "was bad, and a lot of people would die in a week from the water contamination," according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office"
[WHIOtv.com] OHIO - Suspicious Device Found At John Bryan State Park [ Bazooka round ]
http://www.whiotv.com/news/4051086/detail.html
[Idaho State Journal] IDAHO - Suspicious substance found in second letter
http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2005/01/04/news/local/news06.txt
[Daily Herald] WASHINGTON - Man arrested in fake bomb case
http://heraldnet.com/stories/05/01/06/100loc_bomb001.cfm
[Vero Beach Press-Journal ] FLORIDA - Vero Beach employees re-enter law firm after quarantine [ Site requires registration ]
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_3448370,00.html
[Salt Lake Tribune] UTAH - Van carrying radioactive material in wreck
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2509522
[The RegisterT] NEW JERSEY - Patriot Act used to quell laser pointer terror
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/06/laser_man_charged/
[Los Angeles Daily News] USA - Patriot Act provision has banks, planners fretting
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20950~2636882,00.html
[Dover-Sherborn Press] USA - Forum focuses on possible ramifications of Patriot Act
http://www2.townonline.com/dover/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=157526
[Indianapolis Star] INDIANA - IPL cuts power after underground explosions
http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/207340-6646-009.html
[Christian Broadcasting Network] USA / MEXUCO BORDER - Border Line: Teetering Tensions on the Mexico Border
"angry residents are screaming for a crackdown on illegals"
"Some three million illegals likely sneaked across the border between Mexico and Arizona last year"
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050104a.asp
[Seattle Post Intelligencer,] USA - Pilots want warnings about laser dangers
"Of the hundreds of cases in the past in which airplane cockpits have been illuminated by lasers, none resulted in an accident, the study said"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Pilots%20Laser%20Beams
[Boston Herald] MASS - Eastie gang linked to al-Qaeda
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=61903
International:
[Scotland on Sunday] NORTH KOREA - North Korea Orders Preparation for War with US
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3962314
[AP] JORDAN - Jordan Foils Terror Plot Against U.S.
"police foiled a plan to kill four American archeologists"
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10572810.htm?1c
[Reuters] YEMEN - UK's Yemen embassy shuts over terror fears
"British embassy will be closed on January 5 in response to specific security concerns"
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=649197
[AP] IRAQ - Car bomb kills 20 in Iraq attending police graduation
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/01/06/810650-sun.html
[East African Standard] AFRICA - Doctors Rule Out Anthrax From Kilonzo Letter
"The substance that was in the threatening letter that was sent to Nominated MP Mutula Kilonzo was free from the deadly killer anthrax"
http://allafrica.com/stories/200501050673.html
[Ireland Online] IRELAND - Packages spark Stormont alert
"British army bomb disposal experts were called in to examine a number of suspicious packages"
http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=129427450&p=yz94z8y56&n=129428210
[Hindustan Times] INDIA - Five injured in J&K grenade explosion
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1184153,000900010002.htm
[New Kerala] INDIA - Landmine explosion by naxalites, securitymen saved:
http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=55508
[Calcutta Telegraph] INDIA - Munger top cop killed in rebel blast
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050106/asp/nation/story_4218935.asp
[Interfax] RUSSIA - Federal forces deny reports on armed clashes in Chechnya
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10737522
[Kavkaz Center] RUSSIA - 36 Russian troops killed and injured in Chechnya
http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/article.php?id=3418
[Hindustan Times] ALGERIA - Islamic militants kill 18 in Algeria: Report
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1183849,00050001.htm
[AP] INDONESIA - Terror expert: Radical Indonesian Islamic group moving into tsunami-devastated Aceh
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/1/6/latest/20574Terrorexp&sec=latest
[SIFY] INDONESIA - Islamists on Net blame US for tsunami destruction
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13643663
[Xinhua] PHILIPPINES - Abu Sayyaf leader arrested in southern Philippines [Jakaria Abu]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/06/content_2424248.htm
[Pakistan Times] AFGHANISTAN - Taliban commander among five killed in Afghanistan
http://pakistantimes.net/2005/01/06/top8.htm
[PakTribune.com] AFGHANISTAN - US soldier killed, three wounded in Afghanistan ambush
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=89213
[Xinhua] SPAIN - Spain arrests 266 suspected terrorists in 2004
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/06/content_2422554.htm
[The Scotsman] IRELAND - Security Chiefs' Fears over Hijacked Website
"Security chiefs in Northern Ireland were braced today for a raft of secret anti-terrorist information being revealed online"
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3964470
[AFP] ISRAEL - Right-wing Jewish activists vow to sabotage east Jerusalem vote
http://www.turkishpress.com/world/news.asp?id=050106084304.gjzl6d7v.xml
Update - to manhole fire. Bottom of post has some previous incidents listed.
A series of explosions in the city's underground utility lines prompted Indianapolis Power & Light Co. to cut power to about 400 Downtown offices and homes Wednesday.
IPL said heavy rains probably contributed to a short circuit that preceded a series of blasts northwest of the city center.
There were no injuries, but the utility shut off electricity for more than four hours in a 12-block area as a precaution against further explosions. The outages included 22 stoplights.
The Minton-Capehart Federal Building, which went dark along with other nearby structures, closed for the day. Police checked other buildings for people who might have been trapped in elevators.
Brian Freije had a frightening ringside seat when the first blast rocked his graphics business at 118 W. North St. about 11:15 a.m.
The explosion flipped a manhole cover 4 feet into the air as Freije watched from his front window. Bright yellow light and acrid smoke poured from the opening.
"It was like -- wow!" he said. "You saw this yellow, toxic stuff coming out."
Half a dozen more explosions shook his Matrix Imaging building as employees screamed.
Ron Talbot, vice president of customer operations for IPL, said the week's heavy rains drenched underground utility vaults, possibly contributing to a series of "low-voltage faults," or short circuits.
Arcing electricity from the faults likely damaged the insulation on some power lines, producing a volatile gas that sparked, then ignited, he said.
Although the faults were at one location, the gas could have seeped via IPL's conduits to other manholes, producing the string of explosions.
Talbot said 393 customers in the area, bounded by Senate Avenue and Delaware, New York and North streets, lost power until 3:45 p.m., when IPL flipped the electricity back on.
The utility said work was continuing in the block where the explosions occurred, the area bounded by Capitol Avenue and Illinois, Michigan and North streets. Ten customers remained without power there Wednesday night. IPL said their service would be restored within 24 hours.
Heavy rains normally don't present a problem with IPL's equipment, which is designed to operate in wet conditions, Talbot said. He said there was no reason to expect any further disruptions during the wet spell.
Residents and businesses, including The Indianapolis Star, made do as best they could during the outage. The newspaper dispersed some of its staff to satellite offices to continue working while others stayed behind, planning how to put out today's editions.
Glenn Berryman, The Star's vice president of information technology, said the newspaper ran its computer systems, Web site and other essential operations with power from a backup generator. That system had fuel for up to 12 hours of use, and the company had an order placed for more fuel if the outage had continued.
The explosions darkened a busy lunch hour at some Downtown restaurants.
"We had a dining room full of people," said Owen "O.B." Brant, owner of the Bourbon Street Distillery, 361 Indiana Ave.
His cash drawers stopped working, so servers calculated lunch tabs by hand.
The kitchen exhaust fan quit, so the place filled with cooking smoke.
"You don't realize how much you depend on electricity until you don't have it," Brant said, waiting for the lights to come back on.
The Indianapolis Fire Department first suspected a natural gas explosion, spokesman Gregg Harris said.
Just before the blasts, a crew from Citizens Gas & Coke Utility arrived in the area to turn on natural gas service to a building. The company's crews checked the area after the blasts and found no gas leaks, spokesman Dan Considine said.
The city's antiquated combined storm-sanitary sewer system apparently had no role in the episode, officials said.
IPL and Margie Smith-Simmons, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works, said the company's underground utility space is not connected to the storm water system.
The explosions reminded some of an underground transformer fire Downtown less than a week earlier.
Several buildings near the 200 block of East Ohio Street were evacuated Friday morning after a transformer fire. However, that transformer was privately owned, and the two incidents were not related, IPL said.
In other incidents:
A transformer exploded July 21 under a sidewalk at 500 N. Meridian St., sending smoke and flames into the air in front of the Safeco Insurance building.
In April 2003, an apparent power transformer failure outside the Minton-Capehart Federal Building, 575 N. Pennsylvania St., sent a fireball into the air.
In May 2002, a faulty underground power cable caused explosions in the 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue. Flying manhole covers damaged several cars in the area.
http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/207340-6646-009.html
Heavy rains normally don't present a problem with IPL's equipment, which is designed to operate in wet conditions, Talbot said.
Oh, come ON!
Radical Indonesian Islamic group moving into tsunami-devastated Aceh
Thursday January 6, 9:40 PM
A radical Islamic group once headed by the alleged leader of a Southeast Asian terrorist group has set up a relief operation in tsunami-stricken Aceh province, and one expert warned it might try to stir up sentiment against U.S. and Australian troops also distributing aid there.
Separately, the South Korean government issued a warning Thursday that tsunami relief workers in Indonesia could become a target for terror attacks. It was the first terror warning since thousands of agencies and organizations _ including the U.S. military _ began rushing into the area to help it recover after the Dec. 26 disaster.
"We have acquired intelligence that our relief groups in Indonesia and some other areas are becoming a possible target of terror attacks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung said in a statement.
It did not elaborate on the threat, but said that South Korea had sent a "strong request to the related countries" to take security measures for South Korean aid workers.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is predominantly moderate but hosts dozens of radical Islamic groups. It formed the main base for Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group which operated across Southeast Asia and is blamed in a string of bombings in recent years that have killed hundreds of people.
Radical Islamic group Laskar Mujahidin has set up camp close to hundreds of other local and international volunteers at the military airport in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, beneath a sign in English that reads "Islamic Law Enforcement."
The airport, on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, is full of international troops and aid workers helping the province recover from the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami ravaged the coast, killing around 100,000.
Laskar Mujahidin group campaigns for an Islamic state in Indonesia and is fiercely anti-American.
About 50 members are in Aceh, collecting corpses still buried beneath debris in Banda Aceh, distributing food and spreading Islamic teachings among refugees in the city, one of its members said Thursday.
They would not interfere with foreign troops _ as long as they kept strictly to humanitarian operations.
"We are here to help our Muslim brothers," said Jundi, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name. "As long as they (foreign troops) are here to help, we will have no problem with them. There is no need for any friction."
Laskar Mujahidin forms the security arm of a larger much group, the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia. Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia was once headed by Abu Bakar Bashir, who is currently on trial as the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Bashir faces charges related to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people and the 2003 attack on the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12. The group is also blamed for last year's bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, though Bashir has not been charged in that case.
Sidney Jones, a Jemaah Islamiyah expert with the International Crisis Group, said Laskar Mujahidin was "raising concerns that the presence of U.S. and Australian troops in Aceh to help the humanitarian aid effort masks a hidden agenda" of converting people to Christianity.
"They appear to see their role not only as helping victims, but as guarding against 'kafir' _ infidel _ influence," Jones told a regional forum in Singapore.
The group, from Indonesia's main island of Java, is unlikely to attract much support among native Acehnese, who are a fiercely independent people. Three years ago, another radical Islamic group, Laskar Jihad, tried to open branches in the province but locals drove it out.
Jones said she thought any terrorist attack that targeted those involved in the relief effort would backfire.
"If they were so foolish as to try another bombing while the country is in mourning for the tsunami victims, there would be unprecedented outrage," said Jones, who has written extensively about Jemaah Islamiyah and its origins in conservative Islamic groups in Indonesia.
Since the disaster, thousands of volunteers have flooded the province from elsewhere in Indonesia, often in teams sent by political parties, religious organizations or local governments.
The Muslim Justice and Welfare party, a small but growing Islamist party that has campaigned for Islamic law in secular Indonesia, has also pledged to send 800 volunteers to Aceh. Party leaders claim it was among the first organizations to distribute food, water, medicine and hundreds of prayer kits to survivors
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050106/ap/d87ejvfg2.html
anyone able to find a live streaming news station?
Here's a link to story
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/breaking_news/10579885.htm
Prayers up.
Cindy, do you have this (from 1996) for posterity?
Freight Trains Collide in South CarolinaFreight Train
Strikes Another Train, Spilling a Hazardous Chemical; Injuries Reported
The Associated Press
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. Jan 6, 2005 A freight train struck another train early Thursday, spilling a hazardous chemical. At least one person, a motorist in a nearby car, was injured, and decontamination sites were set up to treat people exposed to hazardous fumes, authorities said.
Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank said officials had not been able to confirm any deaths or the number of injuries. A spokeswoman at Aiken Regional Medical Center would not release information on the number of people treated.
The two Norfolk Southern freight trains collided about 2:30 a.m. EST, Frank said. One of the train cars struck a tree, knocked it onto a car and trapped a woman inside for about two hours, Frank said. She was removed and taken to a hospital. The condition of the crew members of the two trains was unknown early Thursday, said Thom Berry, spokesman for the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Only first responders were in the immediate area and conditions at the derailment site were unclear, Frank said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=389068
Thanks 4thygip....last year at this time I was finding about 3 to 4 derailments a day. Many of them included chemical spills. I still think that with the extensive rail systems in this country that are used to carry large containers of different hazardous chemicals, they are always a potential target.
Add to that fact, what seems like little or no attention is being paid to the lack of security for the rail systems. These railway cross through miles of populated areas. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money is being spent on traffic cameras to catch red-light runners. So the potential to make money from red-light runners paying on automated tickets gets more funding than something that would help secure our railways. Homeland Security needs to step up the process to secure our railways.
In most of the derailments that I have found over the last year, they don't know the exact cause or the cause is "under investigation". Most of these stories have little or no follow-up info. after the fact.
U.S. Marine who surfaced in Lebanon after purported kidnapping in Iraq missing again
Very sorry to hear of your loss Mossad1967. Sending prayers.
Mystery Buoy Washes Ashore (FLA 1/4/05)
COCOA BEACH, Fla. -- A 4,000-pound buoy has washed ashore in Cocoa Beach and no one seems to know exactly where it came from.
The giant green buoy in Cocoa Beach has U.S. Coast Guard officials stumped, so far.
"There's no identifying marks on it, so I don't know where it came from," said Jeff Galliher, petty officer with the U.S. Coast Guard at Port Canaveral. "It's just a buoy base with a tower coming out of it."
North Korea Reportedly Armed Islamic Guerrillas In Philippines
North Korea has reportedly played a major role in arming members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest guerrilla movement in the Philippines......
Portrait of a Family at War: Kim Jong Il Purges Relatives After Alleged Coup Bid North Korea's Kim Jong Il has purged some of his closest relatives, accusing them of trying to seize power, reports in Beijing and Seoul said....
Six U.S. Congressmen Head to North Korea (1/4/05)
Washington, DC, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., will lead a delegation of lawmakers to North Korea, to try and "kick start" talks on the communist nation's nuclear program.
Metal Doors Blown Into Street (HI - Exploding transformer)
A fiery explosion blew the doors off a transformer room in Kaka'ako yesterday, damaging five cars, but causing no serious injuries.
Russia Seizes Radioactive 'Devices' (12/29/04)
Yuzhno, Russia, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Russian authorities announced Wednesday they had seized 13 highly radioactive devices at a Sakhalin port, the Novosti news agency reported.
Customs officials found the unspecified devices Dec. 20 among freight containers received by a South Korean contractor, which is building a liquefied-gas factory near Korsakov.
Their radiation levels exceeded background radiation limits by 200 times, extending 12 feet around the container.
Truck Crash Spills Radioactive Material onto Route 50 (MD - 1/4/05)
By JEFF HORSEMAN, Staff Writer A pickup truck carrying low-level radioactive material crashed into a guardrail on eastbound Route 50 yesterday morning, causing its cargo to spill onto the roadway.
Pak Bars 12 Nuke Scientists from Travelling to Other Cities (1/6/05)
Press Trust of India Islamabad, January 6, 2005|18:45 IST Pakistan has barred over a dozen scientists and staff of its nuclear installation Khan Research Laboratories, who are under investigation for proliferating nuclear technology to other countries, from travelling outside Islamabad without permission.
Ex-Mossad Chief Warns of Nuclear Threat (1/2/05)
JERUSALEM, Israel, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Israel's former Mossad chief said Sunday that Israel should look beyond the nuclear threat of Iran to Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Former Mossad head and and former national security adviser Ephraim Halevy told the Jerusalem Post Pakistan's A.Q. Khan had been "purveying his goods extensively in the Middle East."
"Maybe we should be looking beyond the lamppost. Maybe the lamppost is Iran and we should be looking elsewhere," he said.
Halevy stressed that he had no firm information and he did not have any recent access to classified information, but it "could well be" that Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt might have a nuclear capability Israel was not aware of.
The New York Times reported last week that while, U.S. President George W. Bush has said the Khan network has been dismantled, U.S. intelligence officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency are still untangling information on Khan's travels to 18 countries in the years before his 2004 arrest.
I live less than 1/2 mile from a railway and that stays in the back of my mind. The shelter in place notice from IPN really caught my attention and at 2:30 in the morning at that.
IMO, 1/2 mile from RR tracks is still better than 100 small planes a day flying overhead.
I live about a mile from the train station as well. It's a commuter line but every so often a freight train will pass through.
ElBaradei warns US against spying on IAEA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315236/posts
__________________________________________________
I think the US SHOULD keep an eye on the UN AND the IAEA...don't you think?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.