h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well the flame may have blown out but look on the bright side. At least the Greeks have a pot to piss in now.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed a sonic device will be deployed in London during the Olympics.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18042528

Is that wise? With all those Olympic rings nearby, won't that be too much temptation for the pesky hedgehog?

The anniversary of the 15M movement, The outraged, or Los indignados, "camps" in the international press: (scroll down a bit to see the links to the journals)

http://www.publico.es/internacional/432943/el-12m15m-acampa-en-la-prensa-internacional

Which is important compared with how the Spanish far-right media has treated the news here.(they have most of the media)

one of the journals, the Italian Il´Manifesto, uses the expression Intignati, instead of indignati. The reason is that the far-right media uses a pejorative expression for the people who protest. They insist that the indignados are a few dirty hippies or perro-flautas and groups of far-left terrorists.

The truth that media manipulates and omits is that there are all kind of citizens, whole middle-class families, pensioners, plenty of them!! students, and mainly, young people who can´t find a job, many, too many have left the country already.
::

Meanwhile, Mario Draghi is very happy with the Spanish goverment. Good boy Rajoy is a faithful believer of the Neoliberal Dogma:

You shall wipe out the social rights of citizens, who scared and shocked, will became our slaves.

Fear you not those who protest, as they are the temptation the Evil Left sends to fluffy politicians.

We know we are right, we are the elite, the choosen ones by destiny, which is more important than democracy.

About time this lying fraud and terrorist got picked up. I hope in his absence his culty followers/worshippers come to their senses, but I'm not counting on that.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/13/paul-watson-arrested-in-germany.html

Time magazine seem to have a pretty good handle on Scottish football.

Rangers and Glasgow Celtic have dominated the Scottish Professional League forever— they were both European powers once— but their bitter, sectarian-based rivalry has helped to undermine them. Their vile and violent fans—Protestants in the case of Rangers; Catholics for Celtic—are everything that’s wrong with football. If Rangers were to fold, some of the religious hatred could be drained and perhaps new rivalries might develop in the SPL.

Read more: http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/05/11/scottish-soccer-fans-to-american-savior-no-thanks-yank/#ixzz1uqqLca2Z

the problem with rangers celtic is i don't think it's actually about the religion any more... perhaps it was at one time but now thats just something they throw in there as an added extra, sometimes a city is too small for two such large teams

“Al Nakba” – 15th May
http://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/2012/05/08/al-nakba-15th-may/


“Al Nakba” is the name for the day that marks the start of the dispossession, ethnic cleansing, apartheid… for the Palestinian people, officially commencing in 1948. It’s commemorated each year on the 15th May. Al Nakba is the Pealestinian equivalent of Invasion Day and is translated as “the Catastrophe”.


The swallowing of Palestinian land since 1948 can be seen here:
http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/photos/maps/landloss.html

Wrong Man Was Executed In Texas. [So what's new ? - but this time it's definite.]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wrong-man-executed-texas-probe-says-041125698.html

Thieves take £11,000 of sex toys in Stourport-on-Severn

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-18073459

What caught my eye was - "If they manage to sell them then I would give them a job."

My initial reaction to that was 'Wha....? £11,000 worth of sex toys in Stourport OS? It's only a small place!'

But having read it, I understand. They must ALL sent elsewhere.

PP.

And am I the only one who feels a bit icky about it being a father / daughter run firm?

PP.

Why sell? Just give one to a few people per day for a while.

erm...QUICK!

DUCK!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/-when-worlds-collide--stunning-picture-of-star-wars-in-centauras-a.html

Paralysed patients use thoughts to control robotic arm

Video footage shows 58-year-old Cathy Hutchinson using the neural interface to control a robotic arm and bring a flask of coffee to her mouth. It was the first time in nearly 15 years that she had taken a drink unaided.

She communicates by picking out letters on a board using eye movement and wrote: "I couldn't believe my eyes when I was able to drink coffee without help. I was ecstatic. I had feelings of hope and a great sense of independence."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18092653

Jesus H Christ....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/17/texas-war-on-history

FB

On a happier note:

Hey, two outa three aint bad
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadian-owned-ill-another-wins-preakness-keeps-triple-224405833--rah.html

Place your bets. Place your bets, laddies and punters.

~jwf~

I read this headline a couple of days ago and decided I really ought to look into it a bit closer. How come they only just discovered that the Rhine is a whole 5 million years older than hitherto thought? That's an incredibly large timespan. Can any archaeologists explain this to me? Normally, like with dating the first human, you would expect them to edge backwards slowly with their dates, as more discoveries are made.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/05/17/Study-Rhine-River-5-million-years-older/UPI-93631337288000/

I'm going to guess they use carbon dating which isn't very accurate and dosn't really do small increments of time

>> Can any archaeologists explain this to me? <<

I too would like to see some further explanation.
Just yesterday, looking at a relief map of North America
I thought I perceived how the Great Lakes were created
and the Mississippi and Missouri rivers might have been
formed by the retreating glaciers of the last ice age.
And that was just 10,000 years ago.



Meanwhile, I note with some satisfaction that Bob Dylan
has received the Presidential Meal of Freedom from Obama
a half century after his music inspired Civil Rights.

http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/Features/2012-Presidential-Medal-of-Freedom-recipients/6540/?spt=rcc&or=hn#!/2/


~jwf~

And what was the menu on the "Presidential Meal"