Live video from Cario’s Tahrir Square: Mubarak steps down

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Suleiman came out for a few seconds and announced that Marbarak is resigning.

Raucous celebration greets news that Mubarak has resigned

“As word of Mubarak’s resignation spread through Cairo’s Tahrir Square, a raucous celebration erupted among the protesters who have made his departure from power their no. 1 goal.  Mohammed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who returned to Egypt to join the protests, said, "This is the greatest day of my life. The country has been liberated."

Crocodile tears don’t work: Study shows how to spot a fake apology

“Canadian scientists have discovered that there are ways to tell the difference between people who are sincerely remorseful and those who are just faking it -- but you have to be able to watch them while they’re saying they’re sorry.

The researchers, led by Leanne ten Brinke of the University of British Columbia, rounded up 31 college students who were videotaped while making sincere or insincere apologies, according to a new study published in the journal Law and Human Behavior.

The study volunteers were first asked to describe, while being videotaped, a non-criminal event that they felt intensely and genuinely remorseful about. They were then asked to describe an episode of cheating for which they felt no remorse, but to act as if they did.

When researchers compared the two sets of recordings, they saw major differences between the people who were truly sorry and those who were just faking it.”                           Read the rest here.

Noam Chomsky on ‘Why America can’t tackle Climate Change’

Noam Chomsky has a big ol' brain, and over the years, he's devoted it to revolutionizing linguistics, pushing the boundaries of analytic philosophy, formulating trenchant political theory, and pissing off establishment figures. Whether or not you agree with his politics, there's no denying that he's a sharp fella. Which is why it's well worth watching his take on why the United States has thus far failed to tackle climate change: (Video below)

Image: cloud2013, Flickr, CC

Yes, I know YouTube lists the running time as 20+ minutes, but to get the climate-related part, you only need to listen to the first few.

Much of this has been said before -- that vested interests have been successful in confusing the American public by bombarding them with misinformation from various sources, that the media's failure in covering the climate story is twofold, and that the interests that combat climate action have institutional prerogatives to do so -- but Chomsky pulls it together so well, it could serve as a crash course on the roots of climate denial.

There's a bunch of interesting commentary on labor, health care, and the outsourcing of jobs -- even green ones -- that fills the second chapter of the vid, so if you have some time, it's worth a peek as well.

Story, video, photo source 

More on America and Climate Change
33 US Generals & Admirals Say " Climate Change is Threatening National Security"
How Climate Change Could Destroy America

Sculpture on display in Milan: Imaginative portrait head by American filmmaker

A 15-feet-tall fiberglass sculpture by U.S. artist and filmmaker Philip Haas is on display in downtown Milan, Italy on February 10.

The sculpture is inspired by Italian Giuseppe Arcimboldo's painting. Source

Puppies for Parole: deaf dog gets sign language training

A dog who couldn't hear has learned some sign language thanks to inmates at a U.S. prison and children at a school for the deaf.

Inmates at a Missouri prison trained the deaf dachshund named Sparky in sign language and then asked the Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton to take him in. Today, Sparky is right at home with the school's youngsters, who have taught him additional sign language. And a second deaf dog, a Boston Terrier named Petie, may be on his way to the school soon. STORY HERE

As It Stands selection for Scum of the Month: meet Christopher Lee

A married congressman from upstate New York resigned suddenly today after a scandal erupted over emails and a shirtless photo supposedly sent to a woman in response to a Craigslist dating ad.

Republican Christopher Lee had just begun his second term representing New York's 26th District. Just hours after the scandal broke on Gawker.com,announced he was quitting Congress, and a clerk read his letter of resignation on the House floor:

"It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York. I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness….” and so on.                                                   Story here.

From the ‘Money Talks Department’: Seven-year-old boy buys fighter jet on eBay

This was too good not to share with viewers of this blog. What do you think happened when Dad found out? (Story link at bottom)

The think is, I can see one of my grandchildren doing the same thing! I’m curious about how he planned to pay for it. A lemonade stand in London Square perhaps? And, where did he plan on keeping his Harrier jet? I know for sure his bedroom is out!

Thanks to eBay, a seven-year-old London boy managed to purchase a real-life Harrier fighter jet. It was easy: All he had to do was click on a bright "buy it now" button on the auction site, send a payment of about $113,000, and he'd be ready to live out every young man's fantasy. There was just one problem: He didn't have the money — and his dad found out about his shopping spree.

Story here

NRA, gun group, assure that cartels are well-supplied with AK-47s

There might have been a time when the NRA actually did some good…but that’s long past.

The NRAs efforts at keeping sales open for large purchases of long guns, especially AK-47s (the cartels weapon of choice), is going to keep the weapons flowing to Mexico. You can’t tell me an average American citizen needs to buy a dozen AK-47s for shooting practice.

No one should be naive enough on this subject to think the NRA is protecting anyone by stopping this flow of weapons into war torn Mexico.

While drug violence continues to spread in Mexico, White House officials have decided the  situation doesn’t rank as an “emergency” under federal rules, officials told NBC News. If that isn’t the biggest crock of shit I ever heard, I don’t know what is! No wonder Mexican authorities are sick of our apparent failure to stop supplying the cartels with AK-47s and other semi-automatic rifles.

“The decision scuttles — at least for now — a controversial proposal requiring gun stores in four Southwest border states to report multiple sales of semiautomatic assault rifles and other long guns to authorities.

The decision to delay the proposed federal rule, which comes amid fresh reports that rival cartels are waging murderous gun battles in the once peaceful city of Guadalajara, drew an unusually sharp rebuke from Mexico’s ambassador to the United States.

“It is certainly disappointing that politics trumps sound policy,” Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan said in an email to NBC about the White House decision. “We can’t keep on fiddling while the issue of arms trafficking to Mexico continues to burn.” Story here.

Why doesn’t our government respond to Mexico’s pleas to cut back on sales of AK-47s in large quantities? The answer: because the NRA and a gun industry group lobbied their asses off with key senators to stop any legislation to curb the sale of these semi-automatic long guns in mass quantities.

“But after a ferocious lobbying campaign by the National Rifle Association and a gun industry group, including letters from pro-gun members of Congress, White House budget officials recently confirmed that the rule was being postponed for at least two months.”

So be sure to thank the NRA and all the special interest gun groups that are making these sales possible and fueling the cartels war in Mexico and across to our borders.That’s the spirit boys!   

PHOTO - U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke announces the indictment in Phoenix on Jan. 25 of 20 people who allegedly took part in a ring that sought to smuggle more than 700 guns into Mexico for use by a drug cartel.

More stories on The War Next Door

1. Countless Juarez residents flee 'dying city'
2. Violence, scandal mar governor's race in Mexico
3. Gang's terror felt far from drug war on border
4. 31 dead in 4 days in Mexico's Acapulco
5. Images from Mexico's drug war
6. NBC News: ‘War next door’ linked directly to U.S.

Man sues Disneyland after getting stuck on 'Small World'

Looks like the price of tickets will be going up again thanks to this sue happy guy.

A quadriplegic man is suing Disneyland in federal court, alleging the theme park left him on the "It's A Small World" ride for 40 minutes after it had stalled while staff evacuated other passengers.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, alleges Disneyland violated the Americans With Disabilities Act because it didn't have proper procedures in place for evacuating disabled passengers from the ride.

Jose Martinez is also suing for negligence, emotional distress and liability.

He alleges Disney employees did not summon paramedics when his blood-pressure spiked while he was trapped on the ride. Source/comments

PC Air - Pioneering airline hires 'Ladyboy' flight attendants

PHOTO - Transsexual flight attendants (from left to right): Nathatai Sukkaset, 26, Dissanai Chitpraphachin, 24, Chayathisa Nakmai, 24, and Phuntakarn Sringern, 24, pose for photographers at the PC Air office in Bangkok on Feb. 9.

The president of the first Thai airline to hire transsexuals as flight attendants yesterday said he was a "pioneer" and predicted other carriers would follow his lead.

Fledgling airline PC Air has already recruited six crew of the "third sex" and boss Peter Chan said recruitment, driven by a belief in equal rights, would continue.

More than 100 transsexual people applied for the first round of jobs. STORY HERE.

Meandering With Millie: adventures and good karma…

Every so often I like to check in with readers and share my “Meandering With Millie” musings…just because it’s fun.

Millie (left) and I, walk every day. If possible. We live in a very beautiful area adjacent to McKinleyville; Dow’s Prairie, where there’s large open fields, trees, and very little traffic. This is nice because cars can be distracting.

There’s great scenery, as we walk down our street and head up Baird Avenue toward the Blueberry Farm. Along the way we have our stops. We visit with the three Shetland ponies, and two donkeys that are on our route. There’s another yard where two big dogs bark playfully every time we walk by (I think they’re males and Millie’s strutting her stuff for them!). 

One of our neighbors hired a professional tree cutter yesterday, and as we walked by today we saw the two really large Coastal Oaks in their yard were gone. I don’t know why, but it made me feel kinda sad. I’m not a nutty “tree-hugger” so don’t get yourself worked up on that account. I do, however appreciate and love all the beautiful landscape around me.

Another one of our regular stops has been to see “Mogli” a male Pug. Lately he’s been acting weird and Millie just walks by him like he’s not there. I don’t know what little “doggie exchange” happened between them (not being a dog whisperer), but it looks like we’ll be scratching that stop off of our walk.

The neighbors are all really nice and wave when we walk by. Their probably thinking “There goes that big galoot with his little Pug...wave and hopefully he’ll keep walking!” But, I don’t know that for sure.

I always feel better after our walk. It’s such a pure and simple way to enjoy one’s self. Especially if you bring a friend along. Millie has been my companion for seven years now. It still amazes me how much I love her. There was a time….but we won’t go into that now gentle reader.

As for good Karma, look at what I found out today: 

“In healthy adults, the hippocampus — a part of the brain important to the formation of memories — begins to atrophy around 55 or 60. (PS – I’m 60!) Now psychologists are suggesting that the hippocampus can be modestly expanded, and memory improved, by nothing more than regular walking. That’s right. I’ve been doing something right all these years.

In a study published on Jan. 31 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers randomly assigned 120 healthy but sedentary men and women (average age mid-60s) to one of two exercise groups.”