The revelation was kept secret until now to avoid embarrassment.
According to a new book, the Titanic had plenty of time to miss the iceberg but the helmsman panicked and turned the wrong way Photo: REX
But now it has been revealed they spotted it well in advance but still steamed straight into it because of a basic steering blunder.
The 500-liter Self-Serve Wine Vendor La Cuve, Réserves Précieuses
It seems like we get everything from automated vending kiosks these days, from cash to DVDs to postal service to gasoline. The French have simply taken the next logical step. Putting a modern (and greener) spin on an old way of doing business, a French vendor has begun selling wine by volume from 500- and 1,000-liter vending pumps in French supermarkets. All customers need is a container.
A new study suggests a zero cap gains rate could create millions of jobs at a fraction of the cost of the spending stimulus.
Congress is deliberating on what to do about the "Bush tax cuts"—the reductions in income, capital gains and dividend taxes legislated in 2001 and 2003—currently set to expire at the end of this year. The recession may officially be over, but what Washington does on tax policy still matters for an economy that's creating very few net new jobs and is stuck with an unacceptably high unemployment rate and record-high federal budget deficits of over 9% of GDP.
Capital gains taxation is one area in which lawmakers can help jump-start the economy.
The IRS should make better use of the third-party data it receives from employers, government agencies and financial institutions to reduce erroneous refunds, increase revenues and promote voluntary compliance. ... TIGTA found that the IRS:
- Could make better use of available third-party data to identify and prevent more than $1 billion in potentially erroneous refunds;
- Does not have a centralized control point for third-party data requested or received from outside sources; and,
- Lacks a standardized procedure for validating data.
Something stinks.
The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The downturn officially ended, and the recovery officially began, in June 2009, according to an announcement Monday by the official arbiter of economic turning points. Since that point, total output — the amount of goods and services produced by the United States — has increased, as have many other measures of economic activity.
But nonfarm payrolls are still down 329,000 from their level at the recession’s official end 15 months ago, and the slow growth in recent months means that the unemployed still have a long slog ahead.
CUBA AND THE DEATH OF COMMUNISM: Fidel Castro Finally Admits The Obvious. “There may yet be admirers of Cuban communism in certain precincts of Berkeley or Cambridge, but it’s hard to find them in Havana.”
Consider this comment from a knowledgeable Cuban critic who was asked if the country's brand of socialism, created by Fidel Castro after his 1959 revolution, could be of use in other countries: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." That remark would have gotten him in trouble with authorities, if his name were not Fidel Castro.
Mother Earth could have parted the Red Sea, hatching the great escape described in the biblical book of Exodus, a new study finds.
A strong east wind, blowing overnight, could have swept water off a bend where an ancient river is believed to have merged with a coastal lagoon along the Mediterranean Sea, said study team member Carl Drews of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. While archaeologists and Egyptologists have found little evidence that any events described in Exodus actually happened, the study outlines a perfect storm that could have led to the 3,000-year-old escape.
"People have always been fascinated by this Exodus story, wondering if it comes from historical facts," Drews said. "What this study shows is that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws."
Drew and his colleagues used models that showed that a wind of 63 mph (101 kph), lasting for 12 hours, would have pushed back waters estimated to be 6 feet (1.8 meters) deep. This would have exposed mud flats for four hours, creating a dry passage about 2 to 2.5 miles (3.2 to 4 kilometers) long and 3 miles (4.8 km) wide.
To match the account in the Bible, the water would have to be pushed back into both the lake and the channel of the river, creating barriers of water on both sides of newly exposed mud flats, which is exactly what the models show could have happened.
As soon as the winds stopped, the waters would come rushing back. Anyone still on the mud flats would be at risk of drowning.
Crossing path on the Red Sea before the wind blows away the water. Credit: NOAA.
Crossing path after the wind blows. Credit: NOAA.
World's oldest man marks 114th birthday in Montana...
Walter Breuning was a century old when he walked into a downtown Great Falls bank in the mid-1990s to take advantage of a promotion.
Five-year certificates of deposit were being offered at a special rate, and Breuning wanted to take advantage of the deal, according to former Great Falls resident Gavin Seeberger, now of Portland, Ore. His father is former Great Falls banker John Seeberger, a onetime Great Falls school board chairman.
The elder Seeberger and another bank representative politely told Breuning he might want to consider a two-year certificate of deposit instead.
"Mr. Breuning firmly declined and insisted on a five-year CD, saying that he would be there to collect it in person at maturity," Gavin Seeberger said.
And that's exactly what happened. Breuning waltzed into the bank at age 105 and collected his earnings.
"That is being sure of one's self," Seeberger said.
This tale reveals a few character traits of Breuning, who worked as a railroad clerk in Montana for half a century.
"He is outspoken; he says what he thinks," said George Pamenter, a fellow resident at Rainbow Retirement Community in downtown Great Falls and a pal of Breuning.
Addressing a full house, Pope Benedict spoke to those gathered in Westminster Hall -
Thank you for your words of welcome on behalf of this distinguished gathering. As I address you, I am conscious of the privilege afforded me to speak to the British people and their representatives in Westminster Hall, a building of unique significance in the civil and political history of the people of these islands. Allow me also to express my esteem for the Parliament which has existed on this site for centuries and which has had such a profound influence on the development of participative government among the nations, especially in the Commonwealth and the English-speaking world at large. Your common law tradition serves as the basis of legal systems in many parts of the world, and your particular vision of the respective rights and duties of the state and the individual, and of the separation of powers, remains an inspiration to many across the globe. . .
“For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology.”
The full text is here.
ULCER TRUTH WAS HARD TO STOMACH. “Back in 1984, a young Australian doctor called Barry Marshall swallowed a nasty-tasting solution of bacteria. This was no accident. He did it to convince his peers that his suspicions about a highly prevalent disease were not as far-fetched as they thought. . . . Yet we now know that Marshall was right. After downing his bacterial concoction, he soon became far more ill than he had expected, vomiting and developing stomach inflammation. Later studies confirmed the theory. His discovery made it possible for millions of people to be cured of their ulcers with antibiotics, instead of having to take acid-reducing drugs every day.”
Lately, the White House and its allies have been drawing attention to the political activities of libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. ... While the attention is unwanted for the Kochs, if somewhat expected, a lawyer for Koch Industries now tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the administration may have crossed a line by revealing tax information about Koch Industries. According to Mark Holden, senior vice president and general counsel of Koch Industries, a senior Obama administration official told reporters at an August 27 on-the-record background briefing on corporate taxes:
So in this country we have partnerships, we have S corps, we have LLCs, we have a series of entities that do not pay corporate income tax. Some of which are really giant firms, you know Koch Industries is a multibillion dollar businesses. So that creates a narrower base because we've literally got something like 50 percent of the business income in the U.S. is going to businesses that don't pay any corporate income tax. They point out [in the report] you could review the boundary between corporate and non-corporate taxation as a way to broaden the base.
Fresh off of referring to Chris Coons
, the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Delaware, as his "pet," Harry Reid has now called Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
"the hottest member" of the Senate. The comment about Gillibrand came at a fundraiser. The junior Senator from New York reportedly turned red.
Not long ago, of course, Reid said of then-Senator Barack Obama
I won't miss Harry Reid
if he's defeated this year; in fact, I'll probably break open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. But I will miss his candid comments about his fellow Democrats.
Sweden's Social Democrats party leader Mona Sahlin addresses media during a news conference at the party headquarters in Stockholm September 20, 2010, the day after the Swedish national elections.
PARIS (Reuters) - The crash of Sweden's long-ruling Social Democrats to their worst defeat since 1914 highlights the decline of socialist parties in much of Europe, drained by social change, economic crisis and the rise of new issues.
Mathematicians have found that the brain uses a substantial amount of energy to halt the flow of information between neurons
To stop a thought, the brain uses inhibitory neurons to prevent excitatory neurons from passing information from one to another.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100920172736.htm
Legless, Armless Frenchman Swims English Channel
Philippe Croizon, a 42-year-old Frenchman whose arms and legs were amputated, swims across the English Channel on Saturday using leg prostheses that have flippers attached.
US Teen Hearing Loss Is Much Lower Than Has Been Widely Reported, Study Shows
New research from hearing scientists shows that fewer than 20 percent of teenagers in the United States have a hearing loss as a result of exposure to loud sounds
"Most media have emphasized the link between exposure to loud sounds and hearing loss when referring to the JAMA study," says Bert Schlauch, professor in the university's Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. "However, many of the findings of the JAMA study are not consistent with hearing loss caused by exposure to loud sounds."
Under oath?
When challenged by Congress to explain the dismissal of an already-won criminal prosecution for voter intimidation against a New Black Panther Party activist, the Department of Justice claimed that political appointees were not part of the decision-making process. Thomas Perez, the Assistant Attorney General under Eric Holder, made that claim under oath. New records obtained by Judicial Watch under a FOIA request shows that Perez did not tell the truth, and that the decision to drop the case did involve political appointees.
