Bear Attacks Girl During Alaska Bike Race

...the (14 year old) girl was fortunate to be wearing a bike helmet because the bear had bitten her head.

The animal attacked the girl around 1:30 a.m., during the darkest part of the morning.

"It's not light enough to read, but it's light enough to see your way," Hill said of the conditions one week after the summer solstice. Riders could see rocks, trees and the trail but may have been using headlamps or a bike headlight, Hill said.

The girl called 911, and dispatchers heard someone struggling to breathe. She whispered one word — "bear" — and the line went dead, Hill said.

Following procedure for when an emergency call is cut off, dispatchers called the number back. Another rider heard the phone ringing, stopped to investigate and spotted the teen off the trail.

"That rider was able to pick up the phone and talk with the police department," Hill said.

One more rider appeared and stayed until emergency workers arrived. That took courage in the darkened forest, knowing a bear had attacked and could again, Hill said.

"It had to be extremely unnerving, if not terrifying," Hill said.

Honeybees Are Disappearing: Is the Human Race Doomed?

Honey, I'm Gone
Abandoned Beehives Are a Scientific Mystery and a Metaphor for Our Tenuous Times

By Joel Garreau
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 1, 2007; C01

Urban Waterfalls In New York City

Tomatoes Tainted With Many More Cases Resulting

The outbreak’s source remains a mystery. Food and Drug Administration investigators have spent the past week inspecting farms in parts of Florida and Mexico and the warehouses and other stops those farms’ tomatoes made on the way to market.

The government continues to urge consumers nationwide to avoid raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes unless they were grown in specific states or countries that FDA has cleared of suspicion. Check FDA’s Web site — http://www.fda.gov — for an updated list. Also safe are grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached.

Latvia Un-Earths Tetrapod Skull From 365 Million Years Ago

The 365 million-year-old fossil skull, shoulders and part of the pelvis of the water-dweller, Ventastega curonica, were found in Latvia, researchers report in a study published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Even though Ventastega is likely an evolutionary dead-end, the finding sheds new details on the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapods. Tetrapods are animals with four limbs and include such descendants as amphibians, birds and mammals.

Harsh Interrogations and the CIA

A senior CIA lawyer advised Pentagon officials about the use of harsh interrogation techniques on detainees at Guantanamo Bay in a meeting in late 2002, defending waterboarding and other methods as permissible despite U.S. and international laws banning torture, according to documents released yesterday by congressional investigators.

Torture "is basically subject to perception," CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong."

The document, one of two dozen released by a Senate panel investigating how Pentagon officials developed the controversial interrogation program introduced at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002, suggests a larger CIA role in advising Defense Department interrogators than was previously known. By the time of the meeting, the CIA already had used waterboarding, which simulates drowning, on at least one terrorism suspect and was holding high-level al-Qaeda detainees in secret prisons overseas -- actions that Bush administration lawyers had approved.

Konami's METAL GEAR Training Missions

An Egyptian Asks 'Will America Really Elect A Black Man Of Muslim Descent?'

"Obama? Do you think they will let him win?” (It’s always “let him win” not just “win.”)

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Democrats’ nomination of Obama as their candidate for president has done more to improve America’s image abroad — an image dented by the Iraq war, President Bush’s invocation of a post-9/11 “crusade,” Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and the xenophobic opposition to Dubai Ports World managing U.S. harbors — than the entire Bush public diplomacy effort for seven years.

Of course, Egyptians still have their grievances with America, and will in the future no matter who is president — and we’ve got a few grievances with them, too. But every once in a while, America does something so radical, so out of the ordinary — something that old, encrusted, traditional societies like those in the Middle East could simply never imagine — that it revives America’s revolutionary “brand” overseas in a way that no diplomat could have designed or planned.

'Blowing the Whistle' in Japan

TOKYO — A car company that hid dangerous flaws to avoid embarrassing recalls. A meat processor that sold ground pig hearts as beef. A fancy restaurant chain that served customers leftover sashimi from other diners.

In recent years, Japan’s faith in its corporate establishment has been shaken by a series of scandals in which companies of all sizes have been caught in frauds ranging from the merely nauseating to the patently dangerous. More shocking than the misdeeds is the fact that employees are blowing the whistle.

A decade ago, corporate whistle-blowing was almost unheard-of in Japan. A person’s place of employment was part of his identity, and unflinching company loyalty was the highest of virtues. But the unquestioningly obedient salaryman is becoming a relic, the result of a broader transformation of Japan and the global economy.

Stabbing Rampage in Tokyo Leaves 7 Dead

TOKYO - A Japanese man rammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers, jumped out and went on a stabbing spree in Tokyo's top electronics district Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding 10 others.

The deadly lunchtime assault paralyzed the Akihabara neighborhood, which is wildly popular among the country's cyber-wise youth. The killings were the latest in a series of grisly knifings that have stoked fears of rising crime in Japan.

A 25-year-old man, Tomohiro Kato, was apprehended in the attack.

'I Believe' License Plate Offered In South Carolina At Cost

South Carolina is to offer an "I Believe" license plate to drivers with a cross in front of a stained glass window, essentially advertising the religious bent of the driver. Why anyone would sue South Carolina for allowing an individual to select this plate is beyond me. For 70 dollars, you can show your support for the arts, the Boy Scouts, teachers, etc. No one has sued South Carolina saying that this is unconstitutional!

'Things About America I Didn't Know While Lived There'

Check this list out! Some eye-opening, intriguing information about us (i.e. the US) and other places in the world (i.e. Japan).

US Stock Market Falls 400 Points

NEIL KING JR. writes:

Crude oil notched its largest price jump ever on Friday, leaping nearly $11 to more than $138 a barrel, on news of a weakening dollar and continued jitters over the reliability of world supplies.

The surge, coming just as many analysts thought oil prices were set to fall, sent stocks plunging amid fears that the U.S. economy could be in for a combined bout of inflation and slow growth. The skyrocketing price of oil, now up more than 44% so far this year, is battering the airline and auto industries and causing consumers to cut back on driving and nonessential spending.

Going After The Women's Vote

NY Times reports:

With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ending her campaign for the Democratic nomination, the presumptive nominees are moving to claim her followers, especially her signature bloc, the millions of women who cast primary votes for her.

'Quake' Lake in China Drains; Orphans Remain

The quake centered in Sichuan province killed 69,127 people, with 17,918 still missing, according to the latest government figures.

The provincial government has estimated about 7,000 of the victims were children with no siblings. The National Population and Family Planning Commission will send a medical team to the quake zone to perform reverse sterilization operations on couples that want to have another child, Xinhua reported.

China's family planning policies restrict most couples to one child, although rules allow for another baby if their child is killed, severely injured or disabled.

Authorities said they had recorded 4,700 unclaimed children whose parents presumably died in the quake. But Civil Affairs Ministry official Zhang Shifeng said the final number of orphans was expected to be about 1,000 to 2,000, as children were gradually handed over to members of their extended families.

Zhang said parents from around China were showing huge interest in adopting quake orphans, with 10,000 families registering for adoption in one province alone. He indicated the ministry could give priority to parents who (lost) children in the quake.

Barack Obama Takes Democratic Party Nomination

MSNBC reports:

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois claimed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night, NBC News projected based on its tally of convention delegates.

By doing so, he shattered a barrier more than two centuries old to become the first black candidate ever nominated by a major political party for the nation’s highest office.

Mirena: Catering to Men, Mucking with Women

A new drug, Mirena is being marketed to married women (or to women 'in a stable relationships') as a means to decrease the number of normal menstrual cycles during the years of childbirth.

Drug researchers and manufacturers continue to alter a woman's body for the convenience, ultimately it seems, of men. What drug manufacturer or researcher is looking for a pill designed to decrease the number of sperm a man produces or to decrease the quality of a man's sperm so that impregnation is less likely or even impossible? We continue to muck with a woman's physiology without any concern at all for the long-term consequences to her health and well-being. We also continue to cater to men.

Monkeys Learn to Control Mechanical Arm Via Sensors Implanted in Brain

BENEDICT CAREY reports: Two monkeys with tiny sensors in their brains have learned to control a mechanical arm with just their thoughts, using it to reach for and grab food and even to adjust for the size and stickiness of morsels when necessary, scientists reported on Wednesday. The report, released online by the journal Nature
(i.e. Cortical Control of a Prosthetic Arm for Self-Feeding (Nature), is the most striking demonstration to date of brain-machine interface technology.

United Nations Looks Closely at Iran's Nuclear Program

After challenging Iran’s atomic efforts with everything from diplomatic crusades to shows of military force, the Americans backed off late last year, based on a new intelligence finding that Tehran had suspended work in late 2003 on the design of nuclear arms. Now, in the waning days of President Bush’s second term, it would be difficult — politically, diplomatically and militarily— for them to try to press for a new confrontation.

But early this year, Washington also turned over a trove of its own intelligence to the atomic investigators in Vienna, who put it together with clues gathered from many foreign capitals and findings from their own long years of inquiries.

On the basis of that combination of new and old evidence, over the last few months, the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency have come to worry that Iran — before suspending its work nearly five years ago — may have made real progress toward designing a deadly weapon.

Barack Obama Says 'Good-bye' To Long-Time Trinity Church Membership

My question is: Didn't Mr. Obama hear any of this abhorrent rhetoric from the pulpit in the 20 years he and Mrs. Obama attended Trinity? Surely, he was aware of the views of his pastor prior to this election year? Why did he tolerate it then? Or did he? I think this is the more important question - are we, as members of a church, accountable for the beliefs of our pastors?

'Half-Votes' Given to Michigan and Florida Delegates in Compromise

Democratic Party leaders agreed Saturday seat Michigan and Florida delegates with half votes into this summer's convention with a compromise that left Barack Obama on the verge of the nomination but riled Hillary Rodham Clinton backers who threatened to fight to the August convention.