Whale strandings in New Zealand, AustraliaScientists look for cause of mass strandings
Tuesday, November 30, 2004 Posted: 9:17 AM EST (1417 GMT)



SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- Scientists and wildlife officials continued to search on Tuesday for what may have caused a series of mass strandings which left 169 whales and dolphins dead on Australian and New Zealand beaches in the past three days.
Authorities and volunteers worked through Monday night to save dozens of whales and dolphins after three separate beachings in Australia and New Zealand.

By Tuesday, 96 long-finned pilot whales and bottle-nosed dolphins had died after the first beaching on Sunday at King Island, midway between the Australian mainland and the southern island state of Tasmania.



...Bob Brown, leader of Australia's Greens party, said earlier on Tuesday that ocean seismic tests for oil and gas should be stopped until the whale migration season ends.

Brown, a senator in the Australian parliament, said "sound bombing" of ocean floors to test for oil and gas had been carried out near the sites of the Tasmanian beachings recently.

He said in a statement that research data on the possible impact of such practices on marine life was inconclusive.


We humans are some inconsiderate fuckers, aren't we? SOUND BOMBING probably confuses the SHIT out of creatures that use SOUND to navigate their environment.

Ridge announces resignation
Former Pa. governor was first Homeland Security secretary
Tuesday, November 30, 2004 Posted: 3:09 PM EST (2009 GMT)


(CNN) -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced Tuesday that he is stepping down from his post.

Ridge, 59, told his senior staff of the decision Tuesday morning, after which an e-mail was sent to the department's 180,000 employees, the officials said.

The former two-term governor of Pennsylvania said he will remain at the helm of the agency until February 1, unless a successor is confirmed before then.



Like rats leaving a sinking ship, innit?

Colombia police report abduction by C-section
Wednesday, November 24, 2004 Posted: 7:50 AM EST (1250 GMT)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Police said Tuesday they have arrested a woman in the abduction of an unborn baby who was cut from its mother's womb while she was unconscious.

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Sixth hunter shot in deer stand dispute dies
Authorities name suspect, but no formal charges filed
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 Posted: 7:49 AM EST (1249 GMT)


(CNN) -- The weekend shootings of a group of deer hunters in northwestern Wisconsin claimed a sixth life Monday, hospital officials and the man's family said.

Five others died in the immediate aftermath of the shootings Sunday afternoon, which Sawyer County Sheriff James Meier said were sparked by a dispute over a tree stand on the first weekend of Wisconsin's deer hunting season.

....

"This is an incredible tragedy," Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said. "One in which a great family tradition like a deer hunt has turned into such a great loss for the families involved. The whole state of Wisconsin feels the deepest sympathy and pain."



I kinda wonder if this is how the deer community feels every year...

Christmas is sneaking up on me and I don't like it. I really need to get around to hoarding presents already.

So. A plane crashed that was supposed to have former President Bush on it. Must they tease us? Ok. I know that's bad and wrong and unkind. And I don't really want the president's daddy to die. Or the president. Really. Well, mostly I don't. One should never wish for someone else's death. The whole karma/balance thing coming into play would not be pleasant. But damn. I wouldn't cry.


There's lasagna in the oven and I'm so so so so so so so hungry. It needs to cook faster. This whole taking an hour bit is ridiculous.

I know it's a good thing but all the little $0.00 balances on my credit cards kinda freaks me out. I haven't been paying my bills myself. Where's it all coming from? Oh yeah. Husband. Heh. I so silly. It's nice to not have to worry about making payments on time.


In other news, the DA's office sucks donkey balls. How an $8 check not being deposited by the County Clerk's office for about a month can result in me owing someone (not sure who) $227 is beyond me. Stupid ho office.

Apparently, I'm not allowed any extra days/hours off till after Christmas is out of the way. This means that I can't plan a sleepover with Noikle till after the New Year, I think. Poop. We haven't had a sleepover since... ok, since September, when I went to Iowa with her. But she has a new apartment! And I haven't even SEEN it yet. Gah. I gave her some plants to decorate her place with, tho. :) I like that my job has meant that I can indulge myself and her in some plant-fun. She's done so well with her plants, too. Prolly better than I have since I've collected so many that I don't know what to do with. heh.

Blahdy blah. You're bored, I can tell. Not by that glazed look in your eyes. That's always there. It's the drool.

Rapper O.D.B. dies at recording studio
Saturday, November 13, 2004 Posted: 9:43 PM EST (0243 GMT)



NEW YORK (AP) -- The rap artist O.D.B., who lived a life as wild as his lyrics, collapsed and died inside a recording studio Saturday, his record label said. He was 35.

O.D.B. had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, according to a statement from Roc-a-Fella records.


For some reason, this makes me sad.

Veteran killed in parade accident
Victim hit by van driven by friend
Thursday, November 11, 2004 Posted: 1:03 PM EST (1803 GMT)


WHITMAN, Massachusetts (AP) -- An 80-year-old veteran of World War II was killed Thursday morning when a van backed over him as he prepared to march in a Veterans Day parade.

I can't formulate a single thought about how sad I still feel about the result of the election. I guess I should just be consoled knowing that the Daily Show will be funny for the next four years.

Ack fuck.

I should just be glad I still have a job. Hopefully my little piece of employment won't be affected by any insane mistakes the administration may make.

November 6, 2004
Health Textbooks in Texas to Change Wording About Marriage

AUSTIN, Tex., Nov. 5 (AP) - The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks for the state's high schools and middle schools on Friday after the publishers agreed to change wordings in the texts to depict marriage strictly as the union of a man and a woman.

The decision involves two of the biggest textbook publishers and is another example of Texas' exerting its market influence as the nation's second-largest buyer of textbooks. Officials say the decision could affect hundreds of thousands of books in Texas alone.

On Thursday, a board member said that proposed new books ran counter to a Texas law banning the recognition of gay civil unions because the texts used terms like "married partners" instead of "husband and wife."

After hearing the debate on Thursday, one publisher, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, agreed to include a definition of marriage as a "lifelong union between a husband and a wife." The definition, which was added to middle school textbooks, was already in Holt's high school editions, Rick Blake, a company spokesman, said.

The other publisher, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, changed phrases like "when two people marry" and "partners" to "when a man and a woman marry" and "husbands and wives."



Uh, we're still on Earth, right? And in America? Land of Freedom and whatnot?

Job growth soars

October report shows greatest strength in employment since April, easily topping forecasts.
November 5, 2004: 9:08 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. employers added far more jobs in October, the best performance in six months, according to a government report Friday that came in well above Wall Street expectations.


The Labor Department report showed a net gain of 337,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in the month, up from the revised 139,000 gain in September. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were looking for only a 175,000 job gain.


um... those wouldn't be seasonal jobs, would they? cause, i'm pretty sure they don't count as growth since they're transient.

GAH.

Last night, I couldn't go to sleep right away because my brain was spinning with the election results that had come in so far. I nearly got up a couple times to check the progress but you know what they say about a watched pot. Got up this morning just convinced I was going to see bad news and here CNN is reporting a 254/252 standoff. I'm tempted to just take a break from checking for updates since nothing new has happened in the hour since I woke up. It's like watching a Stanley Cup final when the game has gone into a triple over-time. You know the outcome could change at any second but it's more stressful to watch and wait than it is to just turn it off and hope for the best.

You know what? It's cold as ass outside. I can see my breath!! Looks like fall has settled in for now. A wet winter is right around the corner and I'm hoping I don't hate my job by the end of it. Actually, hoping I don't get sick since then they will hate ME. And that would be bad.

I am inordinately proud of my beer bong prowess.