Decius wrote:
] ] A set of four glass ramps positioned in a square clearly
] ] show water travelling up each of them before it pours off
] ] the top, only to start again at the bottom of the next
] ] ramp.
] ]
] ] It is a sight which defies logic, and has become probably
] ] the most memorable image of this year's show.
] ]
] ] Mr Dyson says his inspiration was a drawing by the Dutch
] ] artist MC Escher (he of Gothic palaces where soldiers are
] ] eternally walking upstairs, and of patterns where birds
] ] turn into fish).

Neat! I wonder if there's a movie of it on the web somewhere. I'd like to see it in motion.

RE: BBC NEWS | UK | How does Dyson make water go uphill?

] Today's visit was the team's second to Tuwaitha. It
] located and identified four radioactive areas. The first
] was a storage building in what appeared to be a research
] area. There, the team found a lead-lined container that
] held Cesium-137, which measured the highest source of
] radiation detected today -- about 2.8 millirem per
] hour. Normally, it takes about 1 rem per hour before
] health hazards are a concern.

More information about the area where the looting of radioactive material at Tuwaitha took place.

New York Times: U.S. Experts Find Radioactive Material in Iraq

] ElBaradei had urged Washington "to allow the IAEA to send
] a mission to Al-Tuwaitha (south of Baghdad) to
] investigate the disturbing reports of looting at the
] nuclear site".
]
] "We don't consider it necessarily a problem of nuclear
] proliferation but it could be a problem of health and
] safety and environmental contamination . . ."

Finally, the mainstream media and agencies are catching up with what MEMRI reported last week (http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid6610/ ) -- that looters stripped a nuclear site in Iraq, carting off radioactive barrels and using them to store food and eating utensils, until they learned the barrels were "hot" at which point they dumped them in the river and sewage systems. :( This story could potentially be huge, so I'm glad it's getting more attention.

U.N. requests permission to investigate looting at Tuwaitha nuclear site in Iraq

] Customers at the Sky Port diner near Schenectady came up
] with the idea of a creating a fish sling after Dick the
] goldfish fell ill in November and had difficulty swimming.
 . . .
] To remedy Dick's swimming problem, several customers
] devised a sling made up of fishing bobbers, drinking
] straws, gauze and string. When the 8-inch-long fish is
] placed in the sling, he's able to swim like normal.

Okay, *now* I've heard everything.

Newsday.com - Goldfish Is Placed in Sling

A picture of one of my associates, back in his "Cold War Warrior" days.

Lunch as a Spy near Allstedt, East Germany - 1981

Jessica wrote:
] Today, April 21st, is Rattle's birthday!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
] Everyone, near and far, raise a toast (or several) to this
] great man!!!!!!! :)

And the women go wild! *smooch!* Happy Birthday Nick. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RATTLE!!!!!!!!!!

] London (KurdishMedia.com) 16 April 2003: The family of
] the suspected war criminal, Nizar Al-Khazraji, has
] disappeared yesterday from Denmark, reported Al-Sharq
] Al-Awsat, the Arabic daily.

A few months ago, Khazraji disappeared from Denmark while "out for a walk". Certain reports suggest that he was spirited out of Denmark by the CIA, to be offered as a potential leader in the new Iraqi government. More info here: http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid5495/

Now, Khazraji's remaining family members have "disappeared" from Denmark too?

Who needs UFO abductions, when you've got this kind of fun stuff going on?

KurdishMedia News - Khazraji's Family Disappears from Denmark

] U.S. commandos in Baghdad have captured Abul Abbas, the
] leader of the violent Palestinian group that killed an
] American on the hijacked cruise liner Achille Lauro in
] 1985

"...terrorists, and those who harbor them." HOOAH!

Yahoo! News - Achille Lauro Mastermind Abbas Caught

] Late last month, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that
] Russian intelligence agents had been sent to Baghdad to
] gather archives of the Iraqi secret service in case
] Hussein's regime fell.
]
] The San Francisco Chronicle reported that documents found
] in the secret police office show that at least five Iraqi
] agents graduated Sept. 15, 2002, from a two-week course
] in surveillance and eavesdropping techniques at the
] Special Training Center in Moscow.
]
] Graduation certificates from the center bear the
] double-eagle symbol of the Russian Federation, but the
] newspaper said it was not clear if the training center
] was a government agency

If it's verified that the Russian government was training Iraqi intelligence agents, this could well be a "smoking gun" of Russia violating U.N. sanctions. Not that that would be particularly surprising . . .

Moscow Times: Documents Show Ties to Iraqi Secret Service

] The doors of the town house opened to reveal a playboy's
] fantasy straight from the 1960s: mirrored bedroom, lamps
] shaped like women, air-brushed paintings of a topless
] blonde woman and a mustached hero battling a crocodile.
]
] On the wall and in the bedroom were photos of Saddam
] Hussein and one of his mistresses. Military officials
] suspect they found one of the paranoid Iraqi leader's
] many safe houses.
]
] "This must have been Saddam's love shack," said Sgt.
] Spencer Willardson of Logan, Utah.

Shagadelic!

Safe house or bachelor pad? Troops discover home of one of Saddam's hideaways