Interesting Current Events

[VinReaper]

That guy is either the dumbest or the smartest guy ever!!!



VR

[VinReaper]

Russian farmer sues space agency for falling rocket
Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:40am EDT

By Natalya Sokhareva

BARNAUL, Russia (Reuters) - A shepherd is suing Russia's space agency for compensation after he said a 10-foot-long chunk of metal from a space rocket fell into his yard, just missing his outdoor toilet.

Boris Urmatov, who is asking for 1 million roubles ($42,000) from the Roskosmos agency, lives in a small village that lies underneath the flight path of rockets taking off from the Baikonur launchpad Russia leases in nearby Kazakhstan.

"Something woke him up in the night, like something exploded. Since he's visually handicapped he didn't notice the fallen rocket parts," Urmatov's sister Marina told Reuters from the village of Kyrlyk, in Russia's Altai region.

"But in the morning in front of the shepherd hut he saw this enormous metal casing, as smooth as an egg," she said by telephone from the village, which is 2,175 miles east of Moscow. "It nearly crushed the outhouse."

She said her brother was seeking damages to compensate him for the stress he suffered.

Residents in the neighboring village of Ust-Kan said rocket pieces regularly rain down on their area. Parts of the surrounding countryside are designated special zones where people may not go during the launches.

"Sometimes it's smooth metal casings, sometimes it's bolts. I remember something like an engine fell once," said Anatoly Kazakov, an Ust-Kan resident.

"THEY FLY, THEY FALL"

Roskosmos said it regularly warns residents when a launch is scheduled, and in a history stretching back over 50 years and 400 rockets, only a few space-bound rocket parts have fallen outside designated areas.

"Technologically speaking, these parts are supposed to fall off during a launch. They fly, they fall, they fly, they fall. It's how they work," said Roskosmos spokesman Alexander Vorobyov.

He said Roskosmos regularly sends out an investigation team to check on reports of damage from rocket parts, but it could only pay compensation if a court rules for damages.

"If a court determines that, yes, those are rocket parts, they fell on his land, then for sure he will be compensated. No question about it. We live in a civilized, law-abiding country," Vorobyov said.

Izvestia newspaper said Roskosmos had only once paid out compensation over rocket debris to a private individual -- 10,000 roubles in 2001 -- when a piece fell on his yard as he was outside chopping wood.

"What is abnormal is when somebody gets greedy, and it turns out the parts did not fall on his land, but that they were dragged there. Those moments are not good," Vorobyov said.

"But those are individual instances. We in no way refuse to pay out compensation. It just has to go through the court system."

(Writing by Chris Baldwin, editing by Richard Meares)

VR

[VinReaper]

Dad Gets 25 Years for Microwaving Baby
By JUAN A. LOZANO,
AP Posted: 2008-03-27 12:31:56

GALVESTON, Texas (March 26) - Minutes after a jury sentenced him to 25 years in prison for severely burning his daughter in a microwave, a teary-eyed Joshua Mauldin listened one more time to details about the pain he had caused his child.

Joshua Mauldin's baby daughter Ana suffered second- and third-degree burns to her left ear, cheek, hand and shoulder after the attack last year.
AP

Joshua Mauldin's baby daughter Ana suffered second- and third-degree burns to her left ear, cheek, hand and shoulder after the attack last year.
His daughter Ana's foster mother fought back tears as she detailed how after being injured, the girl's left hand was so burned that there was no skin, no muscle, no fat, only tendon and bone.

Ana suffered second- and third-degree burns to her left ear, cheek, hand and shoulder and has required several skin grafts. Part of her left ear had to be amputated.

Her foster mother, Heather Croxton, testified about Ana's screams as she's undergone painful surgeries and physical therapy that will continue for years.

"There is no excuse for your actions and I hate that one day you will be set free and allowed to move on with your life while Ana continues to pay for your actions," she told Mauldin during her emotional victim impact statement Wednesday.

Mauldin, 20, was sentenced after jurors deliberated for 6½ hours over two days. They also fined him $10,000.

Jurors had rejected Mauldin's claim he was insane at the time he put his then-2-month-old daughter in a Galveston hotel-room microwave and turned it on for 10 to 20 seconds. They convicted him Tuesday of felony injury to a child.

Just before putting her in the microwave in May 2007, Mauldin had punched Ana and placed her in the room's safe and refrigerator.

Prosecutors had wanted Mauldin to be sentenced to the maximum of life in prison.

But Galveston County prosecutor Xochitl Vandiver said she was satisfied with the decision. Mauldin has to serve at least half his sentence before being eligible for parole.

"I feel Ana will be well into adulthood when her father (is paroled) and that in and of itself is a great thing," she said.

Sam Cammack III, Mauldin's attorney, had asked jurors to consider his client's long history of mental illness and sentence him to probation so he could be treated at a hospital.

Cammack expressed disappointment in the sentence. "He still doesn't get the treatment for mental illness that he needs," Cammack said. "He's not going to get that in prison."

Jurors did not wish to comment after the trial concluded.

Prosecutors said Mauldin hurt his daughter because he was angry that he was in a loveless marriage and he didn't want to take care of the infant. They also said Mauldin had a history of violence and of lying about being mentally ill to get out of trouble.

Cammack said Mauldin has been wracked by mental illness since he was 10. Mauldin claimed he started hallucinating when he was left alone in the hotel room with his daughter, feeling like mud was running up his body and consuming him.

Mauldin at first told police his daughter had been severely sunburned, later changing his story and saying he had accidentally spilled hot water on her while making coffee.

After the sentence was handed down, Joanie Mauldin still insisted her son was insane. She blamed herself for not getting her son help and for Ana's injuries.

"I pray he gets help. But I don't see it happening in a penitentiary," she said, insisting her son loved his daughter. "Nobody in their right mind would cook a child."

The girl's mother, Eva Mauldin, refused defense attorneys' requests to testify and lives in Arkansas. A trial to terminate the Mauldins' parental rights is scheduled for April.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2008-03-27 09:08:02

Its a sad day for our society and world in general when people have thoughts such as these and then act upon them.


VR

[VinReaper]

Nipple rings fall foul of airport check
Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:03am EDT
By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A woman who claims she was ordered by federal airport screeners to remove her nipple rings with pliers demanded an apology from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on Thursday.

Mandi Hamlin, 37, also called for an investigation into the February 24 incident in Lubbock, Texas, saying that snickering male agents violated TSA policy by forcing her to remove the jewelry.

"I felt surprised, embarrassed, humiliated, scared and angry," Hamlin told reporters at the offices of her Los Angeles attorney, Gloria Allred.

"This situation was totally out of control. I will not sit quietly. No one deserves to be treated this way."

The TSA, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security that was set up after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, said it was investigating the incident but that agents were trained to search people with piercings in "sensitive areas" with dignity and respect.

"TSA is well aware of terrorists' interest in hiding dangerous items in sensitive areas of the body, therefore we have a duty to the American public to resolve any alarm we discover," the agency said in a written statement.

The TSA said incidents of female terrorists hiding explosives in "sensitive areas" were on the rise and provided a picture of a "bra bomb" that was used in training its agents.

Allred said the incident began when Hamlin, who has a number of piercings, set off a hand-held metal detector and told a TSA officer that her nipple rings were the problem.

A small group of TSA officers gathered around Hamlin, Allred said, and told her she would have to remove the jewelry from her nipples if she wanted to board her flight.

Hamlin went behind a curtain and removed one of her nipple piercings but could not budge the other, tearfully telling the officers it could not be taken out without pliers, Allred said.

"As Ms. Hamlin struggled to remove the piercing behind the curtain, she could hear a growing number of predominantly male TSA officers snickering in the background," the attorney said.

Allred said TSA policy called for a pat-down under such circumstances but did not require the piercings to be removed.

(Editing by John O'Callaghan)

VR

[VinReaper]

Ford sells Jaguar, Land Rover to Tata
By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto WriterWed Mar 26, 6:23 PM ET

After spending billions of dollars on Jaguar and Land Rover, Ford Motor Co. gave up on the storied British automakers Wednesday and unloaded them to India's Tata Motors Ltd. for a mere third of the original purchase price.

The deal is another sign of the growing economic muscle of India and something of an economic role reversal, with two icons of British industrial might expanding the global reach of a premier conglomerate in the former British colony.

Ford nets about $1.7 billion, a far cry from what it paid for the properties — $2.5 billion for Jaguar in 1989 and $2.7 billion for Land Rover in 2000. Counting losses and product development, analysts figure Ford spent more than $10 billion on the brands.

Those acquisitions, like General Motors' purchase of Saab and Chrysler's entanglement with Mitsubishi, came when cash was rolling in at the U.S. automakers as drivers snapped up cars and pricey pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

But Ford's fortunes have changed, with slumping U.S. sales and billions in losses. The fire-sale price comes as the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker concentrates on its main brands.

"You have to cut your losses at some point," said Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting firm IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids. "It's been draining them of cash and resources."

Tata is India's oldest and largest conglomerate, with holdings in steel, information technology and autos. It should have the cash to save Jaguar and Land Rover and develop new products to better compete with luxury automakers, Merkle said.

The proceeds of the deal aren't enough to rescue Ford's finances, but the sale will allow the company to focus on restructuring its core brands, Merkle said. Ford does not break out financial results for its individual brands, but Merkle said Jaguar has never made a profit in the nine years Ford has owned it.

"They were a long time coming to the realization that this thing wasn't working," said Burnham Securities analyst David Healy.

Tata said Ford will continue to supply engines, transmissions and other components for five to nine years. The Indian company said it expects no significant changes for Jaguar and Land Rover's 16,000 workers, and its statements said it would preserve the heritage of the brands.

Indeed, British Labour Party lawmaker Richard Burden said Tata appeared to recognize the importance of "retaining the essential Britishness of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands."

Some workers were similarly optimistic about the sale and the investment it could bring, but others worried about the future.

"I am pleased I have kept my job. But for how long?" asked Paul Hoyte, 35, a Land Rover worker at Solihull in central England.

The sale raises Tata's profile on the world stage, said V.G. Ramakrishnan, lead auto analyst with the consulting firm Frost and Sullivan India.

"Many people will see this deal as the future of things to come — you will see more companies out of India acquiring global companies. They want to be seen as major global players," Ramakrishnan said.

Tata, which Ford named the preferred bidder for the British automakers in January, has made a slew of previous acquisitions, including Britain's Tetley Tea and Boston's Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Its Tata Steel Ltd. bought Britain-based Corus Group last year for $13 billion. And in January, Tata Motors unveiled the planet's cheapest car: a $2,500 four-seater that could change the global auto industry.

C. Ramakrishnan, Tata's chief financial officer, said the company paid for Jaguar and Land Rover using a 15-month, $3 billion loan but expects to replace that financing with a mix of equity and debt during the next several months.

Ford had hoped to turn Jaguar, which was founded in 1922, into a high-volume brand that could compete with BMW and Mercedes-Benz. But its entry-level X-Type sedan, introduced in 2001 to lure younger buyers, sold poorly and was criticized for conservative styling. Jaguar's U.S. sales were down 24 percent last year.

Land Rover, founded in 1948 — the year after India gained its independence from Britain — has fared better thanks to popular products such as the Range Rover Sport and LR2. U.S. sales rose 4 percent last year.

But unlike Jaguar, which has improved its quality rankings under Ford, Land Rover placed last in J.D. Power and Associates' rankings of initial quality and dependability in 2007.

Ramakrishnan acknowledged Jaguar's financial difficulties but said the brand is turning around, and he expects it to be profitable within two years.

"Land Rover is a highly profitable company ... and Jaguar is well on its way," he said in a conference call with reporters.

Ramakrishnan said the brands' existing management will continue.

Ford, which lost $12.6 billion in 2006 and $2.7 billion last year, has been looking to sell the brands for months. It has mortgaged assets to keep operating and expects to burn up $12 billion to $14 billion until 2009, when it plans to become profitable again.

Ford shares fell 13 cents to $5.87 Wednesday. They have traded in a 52-week range of $4.95 to $9.70.

Associated Press Writers Sam Dolnick in New Delhi, Jeff Karoub and Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.


VR

[Ink]

hopefully american car makers can start moving in the right direction. I guess the new mustang did nothing for ford's bottom line

[VinReaper]

Originally Posted by inkfire00

hopefully american car makers can start moving in the right direction. I guess the new mustang did nothing for ford's bottom line

I guess not! but the real estate market and stock market's lull and decline hasn't helped them either. Buyers have been holding off in spending on that second car as their weekend toy/fun car.

I feel it too since it directly reflects in my business as well. Luxury items, be it a car, art or a bottle of wine take the hit first!


VR

[VinReaper]

Vicar offers stress relief in grave
Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:05am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - A vicar in Germany who had the novel idea of helping parishioners escape the stresses and strains of daily life by letting them lie in an open grave was upset when intrusive journalists spoiled the atmosphere.

"I meant it as a meditative exercise," pastor Thorsten Nolting told Reuters. "I wanted people to think about what weighs on them down in the darkness and gather the energy to resist it."

Nolting, from the western German city of Duesseldorf, said his plan went "horribly wrong" when journalists' persistent questioning as parishioners were "laid to rest" earlier this week ruined the serenity of the occasion.

"It wasn't silent, as it should have been. They ruined it. (They) would not go away, even when I asked them," he said.

Extraverts who could cope with the incessant questioning were happy to climb down into the two meter long hole, and then rave about their "resurrection," Nolting said.

But a local newspaper said one man was still shaking, 20 minutes after his seven-minute spell in the dank grave ended.

(Reporting by Carolyn Palmer, editing by Tim Pearce)

VR

[lord odin]

Originally Posted by VinReaper

Vicar offers stress relief in grave
Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:05am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - A vicar in Germany who had the novel idea of helping parishioners escape the stresses and strains of daily life by letting them lie in an open grave was upset when intrusive journalists spoiled the atmosphere.

"I meant it as a meditative exercise," pastor Thorsten Nolting told Reuters. "I wanted people to think about what weighs on them down in the darkness and gather the energy to resist it."

Nolting, from the western German city of Duesseldorf, said his plan went "horribly wrong" when journalists' persistent questioning as parishioners were "laid to rest" earlier this week ruined the serenity of the occasion.

"It wasn't silent, as it should have been. They ruined it. (They) would not go away, even when I asked them," he said.

Extraverts who could cope with the incessant questioning were happy to climb down into the two meter long hole, and then rave about their "resurrection," Nolting said.

But a local newspaper said one man was still shaking, 20 minutes after his seven-minute spell in the dank grave ended.

(Reporting by Carolyn Palmer, editing by Tim Pearce)

VR

I laid down in an open grave before it was no big deal.
I hope these people didn`t pay for it.

[VinReaper]

Originally Posted by lord odin

I laid down in an open grave before it was no big deal.
I hope these people didn`t pay for it.

I wouldn't mind charging people for it! Just another way to earn money for statues!

LOL!

VR