Friday, August 09, 2013

Stuff below the fold

MERS might be a camel virus that spread to man...at least the Lancet found MERS antibodies in a lot of camels. (Mers is the new fatal viral pneumonia similar to SARs that has killed a dozen people in the Middle East or Europe)

But does it spread from person to person? (the real danger)? One report I linked to previously said two nurses caught it in June...

Related item:
and Drudge had a link a few days ago that China has cases of human to human bird flu transmission, but I don't have the link or details...

------------------------------------
Maybe it wasn't grandmom's LOLCat emails:

StrategyPage says that the embassy shutdown was due to threats related to Yemen, and has the details.
despite the hyperventilation of the press, AlQaeda is losing (but still kicking: like in all wars, these things go on for years).
The U.S. did not reveal why Zawahiri wanted some action now. Yemen noted that the plot they had thwarted was not believed to be part of the broader al Qaeda plan to make a spectacular attack at the end of the holy month of Ramadan to regain some respect in the Moslem world.

as for the airport that burned down in Kenya: well, they haven't commented on the real story behind that attack, but my take is that they couldn't get explosives or the bad guys on the planes. And anyone could have started a fire...

update: Was it a coverup for robbers gone bad, or did some folks just take advantage of the chaos?
So what about those bombings in the Philippines? the latest theory is that they are a small group trying to stop the peace process there.

or maybe the NPA or just a private feud. Who knows? Lots of small bombings in the south in the last year...the bad news is that the bomb threats might lead to cancelling the local festival.

Not in our area, although we do have Muslims here (including some local vendors).

do you know that we have our bags examined and are wanded down with a metal detector when we go to the mall? The main threat is the NPA and/or (more commonly) local gangs who get mad and bomb you if you don't pay protection.

---------------------------------
It's now official: The pope is against money laundering, supporting terrorism, and spreading weapons of mass destruction.

If you are wondering what is going on in Rome, check John Allen at NCR.

Even beggars who ply their trade around the Vatican have clued in that something has changed. Vatican personnel say that if they spurn a request for spare change today, they're likely to hear back, "Cosa direbbe Papa Francesco?" -- meaning, "What would Pope Francis say?"
Old lefty Archbishop Cruz likes the new pope. Like Francis, he has a worldview that links prolife/antieugenics opinions with anti corruption, care of the environment, and non violence.

Some right wing Catholic blogs were upset that they used cheap plastic cups to give out communion miss the point: when half a million are expected, and 3 million show up, you have to make use of what's available....Anyway, as all Indiana Jones fans know: Christ's cup was not exactly made of precious metals (it was clay, and in the movie, it is shown that it was coated with gold, probably by devotees).

Related item: One right wing blog complained about Elysium being political.
Of course, it is political, but so was district 9, and the Hunger Games.
But with a South African director, it might have just as much to do with the history of apartheid, or the gated suburbs in third world countries as with LA...

When I read the yuppie oriented NYTimes or similar yuppie type stuff on the web, all I can do is shake my head and say: Children are picking stuff out of garbage heaps, and moms are begging for money to pay for their medicine, and you are worried about what?


----------------------------------------------
 
 HeirsOfDurinBlog has translated an article on the next Hobbit from a German Fan magazine.  German language experts can join in the comments whether or not it was translated correctly.

----------------------------------
Local Muslims are celebrating Eid'l Fitr.
Eid'l Fitr marks the end of a Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer and sacrifice for Islam. It is a holiday in the Philippines.


-------------------------------------
DIY toothpaste instructions...from an ancient papyrus written in Greek 400AD, but probably based on an ancient formula.

---------------------------------


Don't mix tylenol with durian, at least if you are a rat...



Durian: the fruit that smells like hell and tastes like heaven.



No comments: