Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 New Haiti president calls for ‘collaboration’

by Andrew Gully, AFP

1 hr 56 mins ago

AFP

2 Border post seized, NATO warns Libya civilians

by Andrea Bernardi, AFP

10 mins ago

3 Foreign military advisers head for Libyan rebel bastion

by Marc Burleigh, AFP

Wed Apr 20, 4:38 pm ET

4 Syria president scraps decades-old emergency rule

AFP

44 mins ago

5 Nigeria leader says unrest recalls civil war build-up

by Ola Awoniyi, AFP

24 mins ago

6 Nigerian unrest kills more than 200: rights group

by Aminu Abubakar, AFP

Wed Apr 20, 5:03 pm ET

7 Japan PM declares no-go zone around nuclear plant

by Harumi Ozawa, AFP

Thu Apr 21, 6:27 am ET

8 Sri Lanka warns UN not to publish war crimes report

by Amal Jayasinghe, AFP

2 hrs 59 mins ago

9 Fiat makes $1.3-bln Chrysler bid for world status

by Mathieu Gorse, AFP

Thu Apr 21, 1:04 pm ET

10 Over 100,000 paid subscribers for NYTimes.com

by Chris Lefkow, AFP

38 mins ago

11 A year after BP spill, Obama vows to restore Gulf

by Craig Guillot, AFP

Wed Apr 20, 7:31 pm ET

Reuters

12 GE’s profit beat fails to stir Wall Street

By Scott Malone, Reuters

Thu Apr 21, 1:07 pm ET

13 Economy struggles for momentum, data shows

By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters

1 hr 44 mins ago

14 Rajaratnam defense in last shot to urge acquittal

By Jonathan Stempel and Grant McCool, Reuters

2 hrs 20 mins ago

15 Lawsuits fly in BP’s Gulf spill blame game

By Tom Bergin and Moira Herbst, Reuters

1 hr 14 mins ago

16 BP sues Transocean for $40 billion over oil spill

By Jonathan Stempel and Paritosh Bansal, Reuters

Wed Apr 20, 10:33 pm ET

17 Gulf gets taste of recovery one year after spill

By Kathy Finn, Reuters

Wed Apr 20, 10:29 pm ET

18 For $20 billion BP claims fund, legal challenges loom

By Moira Herbst, Reuters

Wed Apr 20, 7:58 pm ET

19 Antigua says U.S. online poker shutdown was illegal

By Jane Sutton, Reuters

1 hr 24 mins ago

20 Troops pound Misrata, U.S. condemns "vicious" action

By Michael Georgy, Reuters

1 hr 27 mins ago

21 Rebels seize Libya-Tunisia border crossing: witnesses

By Tarek Amara, Reuters

Thu Apr 21, 11:03 am ET

22 Japan makes no-go nuclear zone, PM faces more criticism

By Yoko Kubota and Kazunori Takada, Reuters

Thu Apr 21, 10:22 am ET

23 Bernanke briefing could be political boon for Fed

By Mark Felsenthal, Reuters

Thu Apr 21, 7:03 am ET

24 Political rift was tipping point for S&P

By Daniel Bases, Al Yoon and Edith Honan, Reuters

Thu Apr 21, 4:14 am ET

25 Politics, ideology overshadow debt limit talks

By Andy Sullivan, Reuters

Wed Apr 20, 9:22 am ET

26 Lobbying push targets lawmakers on debt vote

By Tim Reid and Rachelle Younglai, Reuters

Wed Apr 20, 2:50 pm ET

27 At Facebook headquarters, Obama seeks 2008 energy

By Jeff Mason, Reuters

Thu Apr 21, 1:49 am ET

28 Special Report: How Singapore lost Down Under in ASX bid

By Michael Smith and Saeed Azhar, Reuters

Thu Apr 21, 2:58 am ET

Full Lyrics

(h/t emptywheel)

Natural Easter Egg Dyes

In the Gilmore house there is no surer sign of Easter than onion skin boiled eggs.  I like them much more than the traditional store kit dyed kind because they have a subtle onion scent that lingers even after you peel them.  In fact sometimes I’ll even make them off season.

We do 3 dozen at a time and the recipe is very simple-

If you have cardboard cartons you can use them for draining racks.  The color will tend to rub off pressure points or if you rub them before they have cooled and the color has set.  Overnight is best.

Naturally dyed eggs are naturally matte finished, if you want them slightly glossy you can rub them with shortening or merely with your hands.

You may find that several eggs are cracked, those eggs are extra special oniony good and you should eat them first.

Vinegar

My Mom doesn’t generally use it because my brother hates it.  When I make for myself I do.  Just as with the commercial kits it helps the dye penetrate the shell of the egg.  Most recipes recommend 2 or 3 Tablespoons per Quart, some people dip their eggs in Vinegar before boiling too.

Cold Dying

Mom’s is a general Boiled Color recipe, but there is a slightly different process that is recommended for some of the Alternate Color Natural Dyes (I’ve marked them below with a |(cd)|, it stands for Cold Dyed).

For this process you boil and cool your eggs separately and then make the dye in an isolated step.  Frankly I don’t see the necessity or advantage of this approach for most colors as the colder it is, the longer it takes for the dye to infuse.

In fact most recipes direct you to soak them overnight in the refrigerator though some are direct analogs of the store kit dye experience except that the colors are more… ah… subtle.

Basically you boil the dye ingredient separately in very little water, about a quart or so depending on the volume of the ingredient.  For a Paprika dye they recommend a half cup!  Boil for at least 30 minutes depending on the color intensity you want (it’s never as dark on the egg).

Strain.  Dip cold eggs in dye.  Leave in refrigerator overnight if necessary.  You will almost certainly want to use vinegar with this method.

Alternate Color Natural Dyes

If we are especially lucky or foresighted it’s sometimes possible to collect enough Red Onion skins to do a whole batch just Red.  Don’t bother trying to scrape them up off the bottom of the bin the week before, the good ones are already gone.

That’s the only one I have personal experience of and likewise has a yummy aroma, with some of the dye ingredients however you may wish to consider if you have a tolerance.  Some people don’t like cabbage, but the results are spectacular

I got that list as well as my Cold Dying recipe from WhatsCookingAmerica.net.  Other than Cooked Carrots I can’t see the need and couldn’t you cook them within an inch of their life in, oh, half an hour or so?

Maybe it’s just harder to clean up some ingredients without rubbing the color off.

Beet juice dye is very strong and will result in red tones from pink to grey depending on how much you use and how long you leave the eggs in contact with it.  Most people recommend using the cold method with beets.

Dying Variations

Some people like to give eggs deliberately non uniform color treatment.  One common way to do this is to be extra specially careful removing the onion skins and then wrapping each egg individually with a nylon stocking pouch or with rubber bands holding the dye material next to the egg.  You’d use this with Boiled Color recipes.

For a mottled effect you can also dab with paper towels or sponges before the color fully sets.

Some techniques require a Cold Dye method, for instance wrapping with dye infused cloth or paper towels.

Resist Techniques

By creating dye resistant areas on the egg you can make designs or personalize them with people’s names (which my Mom did for us).  The most common tool (included in most dye kits) is a wax crayon.  Any color will do, but the way you remove it is to melt the wax off in a hot bath after the dye has set.  Don’t scrub or scratch it.  Crayons are not usually compatible with the Boiled Color method and are less successful the hotter your dying solution.

Resists that do work with Boiled Color are Rubber Bands and this innovative technique from Green Momma on a Budget.  She puts small leaves or flowers on the egg and wraps with dye material in a tight nylon pouch and gets images of the leaves and flowers.

Hard Boiled Eggs

I like them with just salt and pepper, still they’re just fine deviled, sliced or chopped on a salad, or in an egg salad, but in a potato salad not so much (not a big fan of potato salad).

You can also pickle them.

Pickled Eggs

There are a zillion recipes for pickled eggs some of which incorporate your dye ingredients and which would be most appropriate to compliment and enhance eggs dyed that way (Dill, Chili, Onion, Beets, Celery Seed, Cumin, Tumeric).

One thing they all share in common is that you peel the eggs first.

Still your naturally dyed eggs do retain the scent of the dye so you might want to think about that before you start adding Ginger or Garlic.

What they share in common is a solution of Water and Vinegar which you adjust depending on how sour you like it (1:1 is a good place to start)

Salt, Sugar, and Pickling Spice (usually containing Mustard Seed, Peppercorns, and Bay Leaf) are added to adjust the flavor.

Cover the Eggs and let them sit for at least a couple of days (better a week or more) refrigerated so they pick up the pickling flavor.  If you’re going to use Garlic, Chili, Onions, or Beets at all I recommend whole cloves or chilis or big slices of onions or beets, because the object is to infuse the flavor and not over power the eggs.

Likewise Sugar and Salt in small doses.

Alton Brown offers 2 recipes-

Heat your solution to make sure the Salt and Sugar are thoroughly dissolved.  Don’t heat your whole ingredients (Garlic, Chili), add them with the Eggs to your container and pour the Pickling Solution over the top.

Well I’m out of ideas, but I suppose there are other things.  I try not to eat more than 3 a day because some people worry about cholesterol, but I don’t get more than dozen from Mom so they seldom last.

My preferred method of cooking eggs is over easy on garlic toast with the yolks nice and runny.

Sometimes I’ll make up a smaller batch of onion skin eggs for myself if I miss them.

Onions

One of the by products is a whole pile of peeled onions.  One way to get rid of a large quantity of onions is French Onion Soup.

Here’s a fairly decent recipe-

Piping hot!  Watch out.

I am not a prophet, but sometimes I have prophetic dreams, like the one where I was at a garden party.

Excuse me. Everyone, I have a brief announcement to make. Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the Devil, and the government is lying about 9/11. Thank you for your time and good night.

Mmm-hmm! You were havin’ that dream where you made the white people riot, weren’t you?

But I was telling the truth!

How many times have I told you, you better not even dream about tellin’ white folk the truth! You understand me? Shoot! Makin’ White people riot! You better learn how to lie like me! I’m gonna find me a white man and lie to him right now!

McClatchy Points Out Key FBI Failure in Amerithrax Investigation

By: Jim White Thursday April 21, 2011 5:58 am

In an article published Wednesday evening on their website, McClatchy points out yet another failing in the FBI’s Amerithrax investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people. The article focuses on the fact that the FBI was able to get a clear genetic fingerprint of a bacterial contaminant that was found in the attack material mailed to the New York Post and to Tom Brokaw (but not to either Senator Daschle or Senator Leahy). This contaminant, Bacillus subtilis, is used in some cases by weapons laboratories as an anthrax simulant, because its behavior in culture and in drying the spores is very similar to Bacillus anthracis but it is easier to handle because it is not pathogenic.  I covered the FBI’s failure to link this B. subtilis contaminant to Ivins in this diary in February of 2010.

…

Buried in the McClatchy article is an admission from a source close to the investigation that seems to shed some light on why the FBI continues to insist that Ivins was the sole attacker, even going so far as to concoct an after-the-fact “forensic psychiatric profile” in an effort to bolster their case:

“If they ever had any doubts, once he committed suicide, they had to unite,” this person said. “Otherwise, you’ve driven an innocent man to suicide. And that’s a terrible thing.”

Yes, driving a man to suicide is a terrible thing. But is it any less terrible to continue to insist on the guilt of a man who cannot conclusively be proven to have carried out these horrendous attacks ten years ago?

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”

New York Times Editorial: How Not to Plan for the Future

The agreement between Congress and the White House to virtually eliminate money for high-speed rail is harebrained. France, China, Brazil, even Russia, understand that high-speed rail is central to future development. Not Washington.

The budget package eliminated about $1 billion that President Obama had wanted to add to the current budget, and it rescinded $400 million of $2.4 billion that was already designated for high-speed rail this year.

Laura Flanders; US Lack of Investment Is Destabilizing the World

Here in the United States all we seem to hear about is deficits and debt. Yet even the countries that hold a lot of our debt are concerned for our lack of investment at home.

China’s pension fund head recently said that the US government needs to reduce not just its fiscal deficit but its trade gap, in order to maintain the dollar’s stability. US average levels need to be closer to those of developing nations and emerging markets, the manager of China’s Sovereign Wealth fund advised.

The Management Myth

By Matthew Stewart, The Atlantic

June, 2006

After I left the consulting business, in a reversal of the usual order of things, I decided to check out the management literature. Partly, I wanted to “process” my own experience and find out what I had missed in skipping business school. Partly, I had a lot of time on my hands. As I plowed through tomes on competitive strategy, business process re-engineering, and the like, not once did I catch myself thinking, Damn! If only I had known this sooner! Instead, I found myself thinking things I never thought I’d think, like, I’d rather be reading Heidegger! It was a disturbing experience. It thickened the mystery around the question that had nagged me from the start of my business career: Why does management education exist?

Management theory came to life in 1899 with a simple question: “How many tons of pig iron bars can a worker load onto a rail car in the course of a working day?” The man behind this question was Frederick Winslow Taylor, the author of The Principles of Scientific Management and, by most accounts, the founding father of the whole management business.

Taylor was forty-three years old and on contract with the Bethlehem Steel Company when the pig iron question hit him. Staring out over an industrial yard that covered several square miles of the Pennsylvania landscape, he watched as laborers loaded ninety-two-pound bars onto rail cars. There were 80,000 tons’ worth of iron bars, which were to be carted off as fast as possible to meet new demand sparked by the Spanish-American War. Taylor narrowed his eyes: there was waste there, he was certain. After hastily reviewing the books at company headquarters, he estimated that the men were currently loading iron at the rate of twelve and a half tons per man per day.

Taylor stormed down to the yard with his assistants (“college men,” he called them) and rounded up a group of top-notch lifters (“first-class men”), who in this case happened to be ten “large, powerful Hungarians.” He offered to double the workers’ wages in exchange for their participation in an experiment. The Hungarians, eager to impress their apparent benefactor, put on a spirited show. Huffing up and down the rail car ramps, they loaded sixteen and a half tons in something under fourteen minutes. Taylor did the math: over a ten-hour day, it worked out to seventy-five tons per day per man. Naturally, he had to allow time for bathroom breaks, lunch, and rest periods, so he adjusted the figure approximately 40 percent downward. Henceforth, each laborer in the yard was assigned to load forty-seven and a half pig tons per day, with bonus pay for reaching the target and penalties for failing.

When the Hungarians realized that they were being asked to quadruple their previous daily workload, they howled and refused to work. So Taylor found a “high-priced man,” a lean Pennsylvania Dutchman whose intelligence he compared to that of an ox. Lured by the promise of a 60 percent increase in wages, from $1.15 to a whopping $1.85 a day, Taylor’s high-priced man loaded forty-five and three-quarters tons over the course of a grueling day-close enough, in Taylor’s mind, to count as the first victory for the methods of modern management.

Of course, at the end of the song John Henry dies (h/t Avedon @ Eschaton).

Obama to supporters: I understand your frustration

By JULIE PACE, Associated Press

Thu Apr 21, 6:27 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Easing into his 2012 campaign, President Barack Obama is telling his supporters he understands their frustration over the compromises he’s made with Republicans, while preparing them for more to come.

It’s a timely warning given the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling and the ongoing debate over long-term deficit reduction, both issues Obama says can only be solved if Republicans and Democrats work together. But further compromises could prove a tough pill to swallow for many of Obama’s liberal backers, who have grown tired of watching the president cede ground to the GOP on spending cuts and tax breaks for the wealthy.

…

Obama senior adviser David Plouffe offered a more sobering political forecast to the hundreds of young supporters gathered for the nighttime rally.

“This is going to be a close campaign,” Plouffe said. “The one thing we better assume is that it’s going to be closer than the last one.”

No shit Sherlock.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here. (Click on image to enlarge.)

April 21 is the 111th day of the year (112th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 254 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1777, British troops under the command of General William Tryon attack the town of Danbury, Connecticut, and begin destroying everything in sight. Facing little, if any, opposition from Patriot forces, the British went on a rampage, setting fire to homes, farmhouse, storehouses and more than 1,500 tents.

The British destruction continued for nearly a week before word of it reached Continental Army leaders, including General Benedict Arnold, who was stationed in nearby New Haven. Along with General David Wooster and General Gold Silliman, Arnold led a contingent of more than 500 American troops in a surprise attack on the British forces as they began withdrawing from Danbury.

Sybil Ludington (April 16, 1761- February 26, 1839), daughter of Col. Henry Ludington, was a heroine of the American Revolutionary War who became famous for her night ride on April 26, 1777 to alert American colonial forces to the approach of enemy troops.

The Ride

Ludington’s ride started at 9:00 P.M. and ended around dawn. She rode 40 miles, more than twice the distance of Paul Revere, into the damp hours of darkness. This is especially remarkable because modern day endurance horse riders using lightweight saddles can barely ride such distances in daylight over well marked courses (see endurance riding). She rode through Carmel on to Mahopac, thence to Kent Cliffs, from there to Farmers Mills and back home. She used a stick to prod her horse and knock on doors. She managed to defend herself against a highwayman with her father’s musket. When, soaked from the rain and exhausted, she returned home, most of the 400 soldiers were ready to march.

The memoir for Colonel Henry Ludington states,

Sybil, who, a few days before, had passed her sixteenth birthday, and bade her to take a horse, ride for the men, and tell them to be at his house by daybreak. One who even now rides from Carmel to Cold Spring will find rugged and dangerous roads, with lonely stretches. Imagination only can picture what it was a century and a quarter ago, on a dark night, with reckless bands of “Cowboys” and “Skinners” abroad in the land. But the child performed her task, clinging to a man’s saddle, and guiding her steed with only a hempen halter, as she rode through the night, bearing the news of the sack of Danbury. There is no extravagance in comparing her ride with that of Paul Revere and its midnight message. Nor was her errand less efficient than his. By daybreak, thanks to her daring, nearly the whole regiment was mustered before her father’s house at Fredericksburgh, and an hour or two later was on the march for vengeance on the raiders.

The men arrived too late to save Danbury, Connecticut. At the start of the Battle of Ridgefield, however, they were able to drive General William Tryon, then governor of the colony of New York, and his men to Long Island Sound.

 753 BC – Romulus and Remus founded Rome (traditional date).

43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.

900 AD – The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: the Honourable Namwaran and his children, Lady Angkatan and Bukah, are granted pardon from all their debts by the Commander and Chief of Tundun, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah. Luzon, Philippines.

1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.

1519 – HernAn CortEs lands in Veracruz, Veracruz

1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil’s independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.

1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmuhl.

1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

1863 – Baha’u’llah, considered the founder of the Baha’i Faith, declares his mission as “He whom God shall make manifest”.

1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jorgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.

1898 – Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.

1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.

1922 – The first Aggie Muster is held as a remembrance for fellow Texas A&M graduates who had died in the previous year.

1941 – Emmanouil Tsouderos becomes the 132nd Prime Minister of Greece.

1942 – World War II: The most famous (and first international) Aggie Muster is held on the Philippine island of Corregidor, by Brigadier General George F. Moore (with 25 fellow Texas A&M graduates who are under his command), while 1.8 million pounds of shells pounded the island over a 5 hour attack.

1945 – World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.

1952 – Secretary’s Day (now Administrative Professionals’ Day) is first celebrated.

1960 – Brasilia, Brazil’s capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.

1962 – The Seattle World’s Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World’s Fair in the United States since World War II.

1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.

1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair opens for its second and final season.

1966 – Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.

1967 – Greek military junta of 1967-1974: A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d’etat, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.

1970 – The Hutt River Province Principality secedes from Australia.

1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.

1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.

1987 – The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, killing 106 people.

1989 – Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.

1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis Garcia Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.

1994 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.

2004 – Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.

Holidays and observances

   * Aggie Muster (Texas A&M University)

   * Birthday of Rome (Rome)

   * Christian Feast Day:

       Abdecalas

       Anastasius Sinaita

       Anselm of Canterbury

       Beuno

       Conrad of Parzham

       Holy Infant of Good Health

       Shemon Bar Sabbae

       Wolbodo

       April 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Grounation Day (Rastafari movement)

   * Heroic Defense of Veracruz (Mexico)

   * Inauguration of Brasília (Distrito Federal, Brazil)

   * Kartini Day (Indonesia)

   * National Tree Planting Day (Kenya)

   *Parilia, in honor of the Pales. (Roman Empire)

   * San Jacinto Day (Texas)

   * The first day of the festival of Ridvan. (Baha’i Faith)

   * Tiradentes (Brazil)

   

I know you all ♥ your trick little iPhone and Apple is all that stands between you and the evil empire that is Microsoft (for the record I don’t think they’re evil so much as clueless hacks who produce second rate products).

But did you know that your iPhone is storing a record of every place you carry it, whether it is turned on or not?

True enough.  This is why smart criminals won’t have a cellphone at a sit down.  In fact most of them can be set to listen to everything within a 15 foot radius remotely without your even being aware of it.

Here’s what John Aravosis at Americablog thinks-

Holy crap. This is for real. I just ran the software and found the secret file on my laptop, detailing where I’ve been over the past year, including lots of details of where I visited in Vegas last year during the Netroots Nation conference, where I’ve been to in DC, and Chicago. It even shows you, over time, where I’ve been. Watch the video below I made of the data using the software I link to above. It show where I’ve traveled, and when I traveled, and how much. It gets a lot more detailed, in terms of location, I’m showing you the general view.

And it’s actually much worse than the video shows.  The guys who uncovered this, and who made it possible for you to see your own data, have washed the data slightly – it’s FAR more detailed than my video shows below:

A detailed record, second by second, of everywhere you have been over the past year.  And anyone with an iPhone knows that the damn phone knows where you are within a few feet.  It seems they’re only using cell tower data, rather than GPS data, but still, that data is pretty accurate if you’re in a bit city.

For those of you who don’t know how tower triangulation works your cell phone is constantly seeking the best signal.  By recording the strength (which translates to distance for the most part) you can use a compass and three known reference points to locate yourself “within a few feet” just as John says.

I’m still trying to decide if “bit city” is a typo or another piece of jargon I have to memorize so I can appear hip.

Bahrain’s secret terror

Desperate emails speak of ‘genocide’ as doctors who have treated injured protesters are rounded up

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor Thursday, 21 April 2011

The intimidation and detention of doctors treating dying and injured pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain is revealed today in a series of chilling emails obtained by The Independent.

At least 32 doctors, including surgeons, physicians, paediatricians and obstetricians, have been arrested and detained by Bahrain’s police in the last month in a campaign of intimidation that runs directly counter to the Geneva Convention guaranteeing medical care to people wounded in conflict. Doctors around the world have expressed their shock and outrage.

Libyan refugees flee to Tunisia as government crushes western rebellion

UN agency says 11,000 have fled from western mountain region in a crisis so far overshadowed by siege of Misrata

Harriet Sherwood in Tripoli

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 April 2011

Thousands of people are fleeing heavy fighting in Libya’s western mountains region, close to the Tunisian border, as government forces seek to crush a rebellion that has been largely overshadowed by the siege of Misrata.

According to the UN agency for refugees, UNHCR, around 11,000 refugees from the area have crossed the border into Tunisia in the past 10 days, mainly from the city of Nalut.

“They are fleeing because of shelling and intensified fighting between government and opposition forces,” Firas Kayal of the UNHCR told the Guardian by phone from the Tunisian border.

Asylum seekers torch Australian detention centre in night of riots

Angry and desperate asylum-seekers have torched an immigration detention centre in Sydney, burning nine buildings to the ground after Australian authorities denied some of their requests for refugee status.

By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney 2:47AM BST 21 Apr 2011

During a night of rioting, security guards were attacked with fire extinguishers and pelted with roof tiles and timber in one of the most serious eruptions of violence among asylum-seekers in Australia, where the government’s policy of indefinite detention is a sensitive political issue.

Riot police had to be called in to quell the protest after the centre’s unarmed guards were forced to retreat in the face of the attacks.

About 100 asylum-seekers at the Villawood immigration detention centre, which houses many people whose requests for refuge have been rejected and are pending deportation, climbed onto roofs late at night and began setting fire to buildings.

Fukushima Disaster Boosts Chernobyl Tourism

A Day Trip with a Geiger Counter

By Benjamin Bidder in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Yuri Tatarchuk is standing in front of a group of visitors from Europe, Asia and America. The 38-year-old tour guide is built like a wrestler and is wearing combat boots and army fatigues.

Tatarchuk hands out Geiger counters, distributing tidbits of well-intended advice as he does so. “Distance is the best protection,” he says. “Panicking doesn’t help.”

The tourists look at Tatarchuk’s t-shirt with curiosity. The slogan on the garment, which is stretched a little over his belly, reads “Hard Rock Cafe Chernobyl.” It is Tatarchuk’s ironic take on the tourist development of the exclusion zone around the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear plant in northern Ukraine.

Policy of peaceful protest divides Swazi activists

 

LOUISE REDVERS Apr 21 2011 00:00

It is understood that the unions have vowed to stage regular labour demonstrations in the months ahead, culminating in a major event on September 6, the 43rd anniversary of Swaziland’s independence.

This week Mduduzi Gina, the secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, said members had resolved that the protests would continue.

“We want the removal of the government and prime minister and to have a constitutional monarch and multiparty democracy,” he said.

Foreigners put pro-democracy rallies on hold to help disaster survivors



2011/04/21

Although dictators, oppression and even war continue to cause enormous suffering in their home countries, a number of foreigners remain focused on helping survivors of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Some have been leaders in demonstrations and other activities to promote democracy in their homelands. But after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami devastated coastal areas of northeastern Japan, they shifted their attention to the victims of the disaster.

Adel Suliman, 23, a Libyan and a member of Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization Peace Boat, is working with other staff in Senshu University’s branch campus in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, a stronghold of volunteer work.