Breaking News Thread Version 2.0

[Hefe]

Corey Haim DEAD!!!!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/corey-haim-dead-apparent-drug-overdose/story?id=10060487

[Peelz]

Corey Haim DEAD!!!!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/corey-haim-dead-apparent-drug-overdose/story?id=10060487

this shoulda been in the "tool" thread.

[Krandall]

haha awesome.

[Krandall]

N.Korea says ready for dialogue and war with US
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100309/ts_afp/nkoreaskoreausmilitarynuclearweapons


SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea said Tuesday it would strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response to US military threats and is prepared for both dialogue and war with Washington.

The comments from a foreign ministry spokesman follow Monday's launch of a major US and South Korean military exercise which the North depicts as a rehearsal for invasion.

On Monday the communist state said it had ordered its military on full alert and announced readiness to "blow up" South Korean facilities.

The US and South Korea say the annual Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercise, which involves 18,000 American and 20,000 South Korean troops, is defensive.

North Korea habitually responds angrily to the war games south of the border but they normally pass off without major incident.

This year's exercise coincides with diplomatic efforts to bring the North back to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. The North quit the forum last April, a month before staging its second atomic weapons test.

As a precondition for returning, it demands a US commitment to open talks about a peace treaty to replace the armistice which ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

The ministry spokesman, quoted by Pyongyang's official news agency, described the military drill as "nuclear war exercises aimed at mounting a preemptive attack" on the North.

The exercise proved the justice of the proposal for a peace treaty, the spokesman added.

"The DPRK (North Korea) is fully ready for dialogue and war. It will continue bolstering up its nuclear deterrent as long as the US military threats and provocations go on."

[Hefe]

this shoulda been in the "tool" thread.

for sure!

[Colorado700R]

N.Korea says ready for dialogue and war with US
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100309/ts_afp/nkoreaskoreausmilitarynuclearweapons


SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea said Tuesday it would strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response to US military threats and is prepared for both dialogue and war with Washington.

The comments from a foreign ministry spokesman follow Monday's launch of a major US and South Korean military exercise which the North depicts as a rehearsal for invasion.

On Monday the communist state said it had ordered its military on full alert and announced readiness to "blow up" South Korean facilities.

The US and South Korea say the annual Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercise, which involves 18,000 American and 20,000 South Korean troops, is defensive.

North Korea habitually responds angrily to the war games south of the border but they normally pass off without major incident.

This year's exercise coincides with diplomatic efforts to bring the North back to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. The North quit the forum last April, a month before staging its second atomic weapons test.

As a precondition for returning, it demands a US commitment to open talks about a peace treaty to replace the armistice which ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

The ministry spokesman, quoted by Pyongyang's official news agency, described the military drill as "nuclear war exercises aimed at mounting a preemptive attack" on the North.

The exercise proved the justice of the proposal for a peace treaty, the spokesman added.

"The DPRK (North Korea) is fully ready for dialogue and war. It will continue bolstering up its nuclear deterrent as long as the US military threats and provocations go on."

Bring it Bitcholas!!!

[Krandall]

Really cool story, to big to post though.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Search-for-the-Guggenheim-Treasure.html?c=y&page=1

[Krandall]

Army drops bayonets, busts abs in training revamp
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_new_basic_training


FORT JACKSON, S.C. – At 5 a.m. on the Army's largest training base, soldiers grunt through the kinds of stretches, body twists and bent-leg raises that might be seen in an "ab blaster" class at a suburban gym.

Adapting to battlefield experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army is revamping its basic training regimen for the first time in three decades by nixing five-mile runs and bayonet drills in favor of zigzag sprints and honing core muscles.

Trainers hope the switch will better prepare soldiers physically for the pace of combat, with its sudden dashes and rolling gun battles. They also want to toughen recruits who are often more familiar with Facebook than fistfights.

The exercises are part of the first major overhaul in Army basic fitness training since men and women began training together in 1980, said Frank Palkoska, head of the Army's Fitness School at Fort Jackson, which has worked several years on overhauling the service's fitness regime.

The new plan is being expanded this month at the Army's four other basic training installations — Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Fort Sill, Okla., Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Knox, Ky.

"We don't run five miles in combat, but you run across the street every day," Palkoska said, adding, "I'm not training long-distance runners. I'm training warriors" who must shuttle back and forth across a back alley.

Drill sergeants with combat experience in the current wars are credited with urging the Army to change training, in particular to build up core muscle strength to walk patrols with heavy packs and body armor or to haul a buddy out of a burning vehicle.

One of those experienced drill sergeants is 1st Sgt. Michael Todd, a veteran of seven deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

On a recent training day Todd was spinning recruits around to give them the feel of rolling out of a tumbled Humvee. Then he tossed on the ground pugil sticks made of plastic pipe and foam, forcing trainees to crawl for their weapons before they pounded away on each other.

"They have to understand hand-to-hand combat, to use something other than their weapon, a piece of wood, a knife, anything they can pick up," Todd said.

The new training also uses "more calisthenics to build core body power, strength and agility," Palkoska said in an office bedecked with 60-year-old black and white photos of World War II-era mass exercise drills. Over the 10 weeks of basic, a strict schedule of exercises is done on a varied sequence of days so muscles rest, recover and strengthen.

Another aim is to toughen recruits from a more obese and sedentary generation, trainers said.

Many recruits didn't have physical education in elementary, middle or high school and therefore tend to lack bone and muscle strength. When they ditch diets replete with soda and fast food for healthier meals and physical training, they drop excess weight and build stronger muscles and denser bones, Palkoska said.

Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, the three-star general in charge of revamping all aspects of initial training, said his overall goal is to drop outmoded drills and focus on what soldiers need today and in the future.

Bayonet drills had continued for decades, even though soldiers no longer carry the blades on their automatic rifles. Hertling ordered the drills dropped.

"We have to make the training relevant to the conditions on the modern battlefield," Hertling said during a visit to Fort Jackson in January.

The general said the current generation has computer skills and a knowledge base vital to a modern fighting force. He foresees soldiers using specially equipped cell phones to retrieve information on the battlefield to help repair a truck or carry out an emergency lifesaving medical technique.

But they need to learn how to fight.

"Most of these soldiers have never been in a fistfight or any kind of a physical confrontation. They are stunned when they get smacked in the face," said Capt. Scott Sewell, overseeing almost 190 trainees in their third week of training. "We are trying to get them to act, to think like warriors."

For hours, Sewell and his drill sergeants urge on helmeted trainees as they whale away at each other with pugil sticks, landing head and body blows until one falls flat on the ground. As a victor slams away at his flattened foe, a drill sergeant whistles the fight to a halt.

"This is the funnest day I've had since I've been here!" said 21-year-old Pvt. Brendon Rhyne, of Rutherford County, N.C., after being beaten to the ground. "It makes you physically tough. Builds you up on the insides mentally, too."

The Marine Corps is also applying war lessons to its physical training, adopting a new combat fitness test that replicates the rigor of combat. The test, which is required once a year, has Marines running sprints, lifting 30-pound ammunition cans over their heads for a couple of minutes and completing a 300-yard obstacle course that includes carrying a mock wounded Marine and throwing a mock grenade.

Capt. Kenny Fleming, a 10-year-Army veteran looking after a group of Fort Jackson trainees, said men and women learn exercises that prepare them to do something on the battlefield such as throw a grenade, or lunge and pick a buddy off the ground. Experience in Iraq has shown that women need the same skills because they come under fire, too, even if they are formally barred from combat roles.

Fleming said those who had some sort of sports in high school can easily pick up on the training, while those who didn't have to be brought along. One hefty soldier in a recent company he trained dropped 45 pounds and learned to blast out 100 push-ups and 70 sit-ups, he said.

"We just have to take the soldier who's used to sitting on the couch playing video games and get them out there to do it," Fleming said.

[Krandall]

Bond set for man in kid punchings
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/03/13/bond-set-for-man-in-kid-punchings.html


The 68-year-old grandfather accused of punching random children in a Northwest Side Walmart remained in jail after his first court appearance yesterday.

Franklin County Municipal Judge Mark Hummer set bond for Ralph Conone of 5687 Shadowbrook Dr. at $150,000. Should Conone post bond, he is ordered to stay away from his victims and Walmart while the case proceeds.

Conone stood quietly in court, his hands cuffed in front of him. He is being held in the Jackson Pike jail.

Columbus police have charged Conone with two misdemeanor counts of assault, but they said they expect that additional accusers will come forward.

Hummer ordered the news media not to photograph Conone in court to protect the police investigation. Police said they hope other children who were punched can identify him.

Conone was held Wednesday night at the Walmart at 2700 Bethel Rd. after a 6-year-old boy complained to his mother that Conone had punched him in the back of the head. The woman followed Conone out of the store, grabbed his arm, led him back inside and notified security.

Police said a review of the store's surveillance video not only confirmed the punching of the boy but also revealed blows to his 7-year-old brother and two other boys.

Sgt. Rich Weiner, a Police Division spokesman, said investigators have yet to identify the two other boys.

Conone told police he would put his keys between his fingers and strike the children when their parents weren't looking. He said he'd been doing it since January because he liked the excitement of getting away with it.

His public defender said in court that Conone has mental-health issues.

tdecker@dispatch.com

[Hefe]

Police said a review of the store's surveillance video not only confirmed the punching of the boy but also revealed blows to his 7-year-old brother and two other boys.

so, one kid gets punched, and 3 others get blown?
doesn't seem fair!

[Peelz]

Police said a review of the store's surveillance video not only confirmed the punching of the boy but also revealed blows to his 7-year-old brother and two other boys.

so, one kid gets punched, and 3 others get blown?
doesn't seem fair!

LOL talk about out of context! 

[Krandall]

notice his last name?

so hummer's giving hummers?

[Hefe]

What about Sgt Weiner?

[Krandall]

Students pitch in to help save town from flood
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100317/ap_on_re_us/us_flood_threat_student_volunteers


FARGO, N.D. – Some children lugged sandbags that weighed more than they did. Determined teens showed up just after dawn with groups of friends, ready and willing to shovel. New groups of kids arrived by the busloads, all ready to join the race to protect their city from the rising Red River.

Thousands of volunteers are lending a hand this week to fill and stack sandbags to place along the river and near endangered homes as Fargo faces the threat of a severe flood after the river's expected crest Sunday. But the heart of that volunteer corps are the city's youngest citizens.

It's a job that elsewhere might be reserved for emergency workers or at least, their parents. But here, students can be excused from class with their parents' permission and join the hundreds of adults who are taking on the task of filling 1 million sandbags to hold back the impending floodwaters.

"They pretty much have saved our community," said David Stark, 62, who worked beside hundreds of student volunteers Tuesday. One of the few seniors to join the effort, he had to take a break after hurting his hand and was in awe of the students' dedication.

Many of the volunteers know that what they're doing may help save a neighbor or friend. Michael Russell, 14, didn't mind missing a day of school to get dirty filling sandbags. He guessed many would end up near his own home or his friends' homes.

"I think I'm helping the city and my friends," he said.

Emilee Stevens normally can't wait more than a few minutes without itching to send a text message to a friend. This week, she didn't think about touching her cell phone as she shoveled, stacked and filled sandbags to help save her town.

"Texting would be hard to do sandbagging but it doesn't matter because all my friends are here anyway," said the 14-year-old Stevens.

The students are providing critical manpower when their community needs it most. Since March 1, volunteers have been bused in to Fargo's "Sandbag Central," an arena-size utility building normally used to house a fleet of 25 garbage trucks, said Terry Ludlum, the city's solid waste utility manager. There, with the help of machines and volunteers, up to 100,000 sandbags can be filled in a 12-hour shift. Fifty volunteers can fill about 1,000 sandbags an hour.

The volunteers are expected to meet their goal Wednesday afternoon, three days ahead of schedule and largely because of the help of the young students, Ludlum said. More than 1,000 children and teens have participated in the effort.

"We certainly would not be this far along without the help of these kids," Ludlum said.

Student volunteers are a critical part of Fargo's flood response plan, and without them, the city would be sunk. College students helped with the sandbagging effort last year when the region lived through record flooding, but this year, they are on spring break. To fill the gap, hundreds of middle school and high school students have been enlisted to work three- to four-hour shifts for 12 hours each day.

Some children are in grade school, or not even old enough to enroll.

Tina Gianakos brought her three sons to help out. Three-year-old Carsen Gianakos brought his own plastic shovel, and kept pace with brothers Bradley, 8, and Adam, 11.

"We're helping save people's houses so the little kids don't drown," Bradley said.

Carsen was lugging a 35-pound sandbag to a pallet for loading, something that impressed Tom Kempel, a city employee who was overseeing the effort.

"That sandbag is as big as he is, probably bigger," Kempel said. "He feels like he's part of the effort, and he is."

Carsen put down his toy shovel only long enough to take an occasional slide down a sand pile, or to watch heavy machinery that hauled the sandbags away.

"Wow!" he said, pointing to a bucket-loader that chewed into 10-foot-high piles of sand.

Ciera Watkin, a 17-year-old high school senior, said the sandbagging was hard work. Watkin and her friend, 17-year-old Alysa Lerud, were exhausted after pulling a nearly five-hour shift on Tuesday.

"This is hard and my back hurts from shoveling and everything," Watkin said. "But I'll come back."

Gov. John Hoeven said the sandbagging effort couldn't have been done without the student volunteers.

"They're moving those bags like crazy," said Hoeven, who filled a few sandbags and patted the backs of many young workers. "They are taking pride in helping their community and we are grateful."

[Hefe]

I been listening to the damn Socialized Health Care stuff today..
kinda worried about all this
could change our world as we know it