velocity of light in furlongs per fortnight

Click blackboard to enlarge.

RATS! I posted this old thing last night, and then clicked on the wrong things, and it vanished. And also my text vanished. RATS! FOOEY!

It's my birthday, I just slicked myself up for my Birthday Lobster Dinner, so maybe later when I get home I'll rewrite the text. No time, no time, I'm late, I'm late!

But to make a long story short -- the above, sometimes a joke, sometimes appearing on math or physics exams -- trust me, if you can solve this problem and Get The Right Answer, you will never again in your life have to fear or get anxiety from any problem involving screwy units of measurement and conversions from one system to another.

EXTRA CREDIT: How much do you weigh in stone?

1st Day Issue / Tierra de los Sueños: Salt and Pepper Shakers

Click stamp to enlarge.

For nutrition and health, use pepper only.

Vleeporn

Click image to enlarge. 

Three examples by the performance artist Narcissister (who goes by that name only).

1st Day Issue / Postalö Vleeptron: Mimi La bohème / baby it's cold outside / The Cat That Walked by Himself (from Kipling's Just So Stories)

Click stamp to enlarge.

All our cats (5!!!) are Shelter Veterans, and before they were shelter cats, most had some unknown but obvious kind of hard-knock life. Mimi is a beautiful sack of anxieties and neuroses. It's clear that previous humans she was associated with treated her badly. She's the only cat who's ever lived with me who absolutely refuses to jump up on the human bed whether humans are in it or not. For all other cats, the human bed is the most wonderful napping place in the house, radiating wonderful warmth and the most delicious smells.

I think Mimi likes living here with us, and trusts us as providers of security and comfort. In winter she particularly loves sleeping in the glider chair in front of the wood stove when there's a fire going. A few times a week the normally reclusive Mimi suddenly has a fugue of desperate need for love and contact with us humans -- with me, she races round and round and round my ankles while I'm standing up, but clearly does not want me to reach down and pet her. She's our only female cat (the vet discovered that our new kitten Daisy Mae had testicles, so to avoid gender identity issues later in life, we renamed him Spike), and doesn't like any of the male cats, she hisses at them and tells them to back off. (But William the kitten seems to have fallen deeply in love with Mimi, he gazes at her in longing. But it is definitely Unrequited Love.)

Yet a lot of the hostility among the cats is just the kind of fairly harmless crap that young human siblings express in the back seat of the station wagon [estate car] when their parents are driving and not watching what's going on in the rear-view mirror.

(A woman once showed me a bite mark on her forearm which her brother had given her in the playpen -- a lifelong sibling souvenir.)

All the cats seem to understand they belong to one pack (which includes two bipeds who have the amazing ability to open cans), and if a neighborhood cat comes near, they instantly chase him/her away with authentic ferocity.

Of all domesticated animals, cats (Felis domesticus, I think, but I've also seen Felis cattus) are the only ones that don't need us. They love us, they enjoy us, they're crazy about the food and treats we feed them and the comforts and toys we provide -- but if we weren't there, they'd survive just fine. They trace to a mutation among wild cats -- best guess is northeast Africa maybe around 10,000 years ago -- that suppressed the wild genetic behavioral instinct to avoid humans. This let the cat explore the advantages of living with humans (there are many besides our skill opening cans), and in return the cat killed an amazing number of vermin that steal our laboriously farmed and harvested grain (which cats have no interest in). Now cities and civilizations free of famine and starvation could finally take hold in human life. No one should be confused or surprised that ancient Egyptians deified and worshipped cats.

(And dung-beetles / scarabs, too, cockroach-like insects that roll huge balls of excrement around -- that confuses and surprises me. If you know why, please Leave A Comment, I shall be grateful finally to get clued in about that aspect of Egyptian worship.)

* * * * * * *

THE CAT 
THAT WALKED BY HIMSELF

from "Just So Stories" (1902) 
by Rudyard Kipling

HEAR and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. The Dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and the Pig was wild--as wild as wild could be--and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.

Of course the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn't even begin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him that she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse skin, tail-down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said, 'Wipe you feet, dear, when you come in, and now we'll keep house.'

That night, Best Beloved, they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones, and flavoured with wild garlic and wild pepper; and wild duck stuffed with wild rice and wild fenugreek and wild coriander; and marrow-bones of wild oxen; and wild cherries, and wild grenadillas. Then the Man went to sleep in front of the fire ever so happy; but the Woman sat up, combing her hair. She took the bone of the shoulder of mutton--the big fat blade-bone--and she looked at the wonderful marks on it, and she threw more wood on the fire, and she made a Magic. She made the First Singing Magic in the world.

Out in the Wet Wild Woods all the wild animals gathered together where they could see the light of the fire a long way off, and they wondered what it meant.

THIS is the picture of the Cave where the Man and the Woman lived first of all. It was really a very nice Cave, and much warmer than it ]ooks. The Man had a canoe. It is on the edge of the river, being soaked in the water to make it swell up. The tattery-looking thing across the river is the Man's salmon-net to catch salmon with. There are nice clean stones leading up from the river to the mouth of the Cave, so that the Man and the Woman could go down for water without getting sand between their toes. The things like black-beetles far down the beach are really trunks of dead trees that floated down the river from the Wet Wild Woods on the other bank. The Man and the Woman used to drag them out and dry them and cut them up for firewood. I haven't drawn the horse-hide curtain at the mouth of the Cave, because the Woman has just taken it down to be cleaned. All those little smudges on the sand between the Cave and the river are the marks of the Woman's feet and the Man's feet.

The Man and the Woman are both inside the Cave eating their dinner. They went to another cosier Cave when the Baby came, because the Baby used to crawl down to the river and fall in, and the Dog had to pull him out.

Then Wild Horse stamped with his wild foot and said, 'O my Friends and O my Enemies, why have the Man and the Woman made that great light in that great Cave, and what harm will it do us?'

Wild Dog lifted up his wild nose and smelled the smell of roast mutton, and said, 'I will go up and see and look, and say; for I think it is good. Cat, come with me.'

'Nenni!' said the Cat. 'I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. I will not come.'

'Then we can never be friends again,' said Wild Dog, and he trotted off to the Cave. But when he had gone a little way the Cat said to himself, 'All places are alike to me. Why should I not go too and see and look and come away at my own liking.' So he slipped after Wild Dog softly, very softly, and hid himself where he could hear everything.

When Wild Dog reached the mouth of the Cave he lifted up the dried horse-skin with his nose and sniffed the beautiful smell of the roast mutton, and the Woman, looking at the blade-bone, heard him, and laughed, and said, 'Here comes the first. Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, what do you want?'

Wild Dog said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, what is this that smells so good in the Wild Woods?'

Then the Woman picked up a roasted mutton-bone and threw it to Wild Dog, and said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, taste and try.' Wild Dog gnawed the bone, and it was more delicious than anything he had ever tasted, and he said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, give me another.'

The Woman said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, help my Man to hunt through the day and guard this Cave at night, and I will give you as many roast bones as you need.'

'Ah!' said the Cat, listening. 'This is a very wise Woman, but she is not so wise as I am.'

Wild Dog crawled into the Cave and laid his head on the Woman's lap, and said, 'O my Friend and Wife of my Friend, I will help Your Man to hunt through the day, and at night I will guard your Cave.'

'Ah!' said the Cat, listening. 'That is a very foolish Dog.' And he went back through the Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail, and walking by his wild lone. But he never told anybody.

When the Man waked up he said, 'What is Wild Dog doing here?' And the Woman said, 'His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting.'

Next night the Woman cut great green armfuls of fresh grass from the water-meadows, and dried it before the fire, so that it smelt like new-mown hay, and she sat at the mouth of the Cave and plaited a halter out of horse-hide, and she looked at the shoulder of mutton-bone--at the big broad blade-bone--and she made a Magic. She made the Second Singing Magic in the world.

Out in the Wild Woods all the wild animals wondered what had happened to Wild Dog, and at last Wild Horse stamped with his foot and said, 'I will go and see and say why Wild Dog has not returned. Cat, come with me.'

'Nenni!' said the Cat. 'I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. I will not come.' But all the same he followed Wild Horse softly, very softly, and hid himself where he could hear everything.

When the Woman heard Wild Horse tripping and stumbling on his long mane, she laughed and said, 'Here comes the second. Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods what do you want?'

Wild Horse said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, where is Wild Dog?'

The Woman laughed, and picked up the blade-bone and looked at it, and said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, you did not come here for Wild Dog, but for the sake of this good grass.'

And Wild Horse, tripping and stumbling on his long mane, said, 'That is true; give it me to eat.'

The Woman said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, bend your wild head and wear what I give you, and you shall eat the wonderful grass three times a day.'

'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'this is a clever Woman, but she is not so clever as I am.' Wild Horse bent his wild head, and the Woman slipped the plaited hide halter over it, and Wild Horse breathed on the Woman's feet and said, 'O my Mistress, and Wife of my Master, I will be your servant for the sake of the wonderful grass.'

'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'that is a very foolish Horse.' And he went back through the Wet Wild Woods, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone. But he never told anybody.

When the Man and the Dog came back from hunting, the Man said, 'What is Wild Horse doing here?' And the Woman said, 'His name is not Wild Horse any more, but the First Servant, because he will carry us from place to place for always and always and always. Ride on his back when you go hunting.

Next day, holding her wild head high that her wild horns should not catch in the wild trees, Wild Cow came up to the Cave, and the Cat followed, and hid himself just the same as before; and everything happened just the same as before; and the Cat said the same things as before, and when Wild Cow had promised to give her milk to the Woman every day in exchange for the wonderful grass, the Cat went back through the Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone, just the same as before. But he never told anybody. And when the Man and the Horse and the Dog came home from hunting and asked the same questions same as before, the Woman said, 'Her name is not Wild Cow any more, but the Giver of Good Food. She will give us the warm white milk for always and always and always, and I will take care of her while you and the First Friend and the First Servant go hunting.

Next day the Cat waited to see if any other Wild thing would go up to the Cave, but no one moved in the Wet Wild Woods, so the Cat walked there by himself; and he saw the Woman milking the Cow, and he saw the light of the fire in the Cave, and he smelt the smell of the warm white milk.

Cat said, 'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, where did Wild Cow go?'

The Woman laughed and said, 'Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, go back to the Woods again, for I have braided up my hair, and I have put away the magic blade-bone, and we have no more need of either friends or servants in our Cave.

Cat said, 'I am not a friend, and I am not a servant. I am the Cat who walks by himself, and I wish to come into your cave.'

Woman said, 'Then why did you not come with First Friend on the first night?'

Cat grew very angry and said, 'Has Wild Dog told tales of me?'

Then the Woman laughed and said, 'You are the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to you. Your are neither a friend nor a servant. You have said it yourself. Go away and walk by yourself in all places alike.'

Then Cat pretended to be sorry and said, 'Must I never come into the Cave? Must I never sit by the warm fire? Must I never drink the warm white milk? You are very wise and very beautiful. You should not be cruel even to a Cat.'

Woman said, 'I knew I was wise, but I did not know I was beautiful. So I will make a bargain with you. If ever I say one word in your praise you may come into the Cave.'

'And if you say two words in my praise?' said the Cat.

'I never shall,' said the Woman, 'but if I say two words in your praise, you may sit by the fire in the Cave.'

'And if you say three words?' said the Cat.

'I never shall,' said the Woman, 'but if I say three words in your praise, you may drink the warm white milk three times a day for always and always and always.'

Then the Cat arched his back and said, 'Now let the Curtain at the mouth of the Cave, and the Fire at the back of the Cave, and the Milk-pots that stand beside the Fire, remember what my Enemy and the Wife of my Enemy has said.' And he went away through the Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.

That night when the Man and the Horse and the Dog came home from hunting, the Woman did not tell them of the bargain that she had made with the Cat, because she was afraid that they might not like it.

Cat went far and far away and hid himself in the Wet Wild Woods by his wild lone for a long time till the Woman forgot all about him. Only the Bat--the little upside-down Bat--that hung inside the Cave, knew where Cat hid; and every evening Bat would fly to Cat with news of what was happening.

One evening Bat said, 'There is a Baby in the Cave. He is new and pink and fat and small, and the Woman is very fond of him.'

'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'but what is the Baby fond of?'

'He is fond of things that are soft and tickle,' said the Bat. 'He is fond of warm things to hold in his arms when he goes to sleep. He is fond of being played with. He is fond of all those things.'

'Ah,' said the Cat, listening, 'then my time has come.'

THIS is the picture of the Cat that Walked by Himself, walking by his wild lone through the Wet Wild Woods and waving his wild tail. There is nothing else in the picture except some toadstools. They had to grow there because the woods were so wet. The lumpy thing on the low branch isn't a bird. It is moss that grew there because the Wild Woods were so wet.

Underneath the truly picture is a picture of the cozy Cave that the Man and the Woman went to after the Baby came. It was their summer Cave, and they planted wheat in front of it. The Man is riding on the Horse to find the Cow and bring her back to the Cave to be milked. He is holding up his hand to call the Dog, who has swum across to the other side of the river, looking for rabbits.

Next night Cat walked through the Wet Wild Woods and hid very near the Cave till morning-time, and Man and Dog and Horse went hunting. The Woman was busy cooking that morning, and the Baby cried and interrupted. So she carried him outside the Cave and gave him a handful of pebbles to play with. But still the Baby cried.

Then the Cat put out his paddy paw and patted the Baby on the cheek, and it cooed; and the Cat rubbed against its fat knees and tickled it under its fat chin with his tail. And the Baby laughed; and the Woman heard him and smiled.

Then the Bat--the little upside-down bat--that hung in the mouth of the Cave said, 'O my Hostess and Wife of my Host and Mother of my Host's Son, a Wild Thing from the Wild Woods is most beautifully playing with your Baby.'

'A blessing on that Wild Thing whoever he may be,' said the Woman, straightening her back, 'for I was a busy woman this morning and he has done me a service.'

That very minute and second, Best Beloved, the dried horse-skin Curtain that was stretched tail-down at the mouth of the Cave fell down--whoosh!--because it remembered the bargain she had made with the Cat, and when the Woman went to pick it up--lo and behold!--the Cat was sitting quite comfy inside the Cave.

'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,' said the Cat, 'it is I: for you have spoken a word in my praise, and now I can sit within the Cave for always and always and always. But still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.'

The Woman was very angry, and shut her lips tight and took up her spinning-wheel and began to spin. But the Baby cried because the Cat had gone away, and the Woman could not hush it, for it struggled and kicked and grew black in the face.

'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,' said the Cat, 'take a strand of the wire that you are spinning and tie it to your spinning-whorl and drag it along the floor, and I will show you a magic that shall make your Baby laugh as loudly as he is now crying.'

'I will do so,' said the Woman, 'because I am at my wits' end; but I will not thank you for it.'

She tied the thread to the little clay spindle whorl and drew it across the floor, and the Cat ran after it and patted it with his paws and rolled head over heels, and tossed it backward over his shoulder and chased it between his hind-legs and pretended to lose it, and pounced down upon it again, till the Baby laughed as loudly as it had been crying, and scrambled after the Cat and frolicked all over the Cave till it grew tired and settled down to sleep with the Cat in its arms.

'Now,' said the Cat, 'I will sing the Baby a song that shall keep him asleep for an hour. And he began to purr, loud and low, low and loud, till the Baby fell fast asleep. The Woman smiled as she looked down upon the two of them and said, 'That was wonderfully done. No question but you are very clever, O Cat.'

That very minute and second, Best Beloved, the smoke of the fire at the back of the Cave came down in clouds from the roof--puff!--because it remembered the bargain she had made with the Cat, and when it had cleared away--lo and behold!--the Cat was sitting quite comfy close to the fire.

'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of My Enemy,' said the Cat, 'it is I, for you have spoken a second word in my praise, and now I can sit by the warm fire at the back of the Cave for always and always and always. But still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.'

Then the Woman was very very angry, and let down her hair and put more wood on the fire and brought out the broad blade-bone of the shoulder of mutton and began to make a Magic that should prevent her from saying a third word in praise of the Cat. It was not a Singing Magic, Best Beloved, it was a Still Magic; and by and by the Cave grew so still that a little wee-wee mouse crept out of a corner and ran across the floor.

'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy,' said the Cat, 'is that little mouse part of your magic?'

'Ouh! Chee! No indeed!' said the Woman, and she dropped the blade-bone and jumped upon the footstool in front of the fire and braided up her hair very quick for fear that the mouse should run up it.

'Ah,' said the Cat, watching, 'then the mouse will do me no harm if I eat it?'

'No,' said the Woman, braiding up her hair, 'eat it quickly and I will ever be grateful to you.'

Cat made one jump and caught the little mouse, and the Woman said, 'A hundred thanks. Even the First Friend is not quick enough to catch little mice as you have done. You must be very wise.'

That very moment and second, O Best Beloved, the Milk-pot that stood by the fire cracked in two pieces--ffft--because it remembered the bargain she had made with the Cat, and when the Woman jumped down from the footstool--lo and behold!--the Cat was lapping up the warm white milk that lay in one of the broken pieces.

'O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy and Mother of my Enemy, said the Cat, 'it is I; for you have spoken three words in my praise, and now I can drink the warm white milk three times a day for always and always and always. But still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.'

Then the Woman laughed and set the Cat a bowl of the warm white milk and said, 'O Cat, you are as clever as a man, but remember that your bargain was not made with the Man or the Dog, and I do not know what they will do when they come home.'

'What is that to me?' said the Cat. 'If I have my place in the Cave by the fire and my warm white milk three times a day I do not care what the Man or the Dog can do.'

That evening when the Man and the Dog came into the Cave, the Woman told them all the story of the bargain while the Cat sat by the fire and smiled. Then the Man said, 'Yes, but he has not made a bargain with me or with all proper Men after me.' Then he took off his two leather boots and he took up his little stone axe (that makes three) and he fetched a piece of wood and a hatchet (that is five altogether), and he set them out in a row and he said, 'Now we will make our bargain. If you do not catch mice when you are in the Cave for always and always and always, I will throw these five things at you whenever I see you, and so shall all proper Men do after me.'

'Ah,' said the Woman, listening, 'this is a very clever Cat, but he is not so clever as my Man.'

The Cat counted the five things (and they looked very knobby) and he said, 'I will catch mice when I am in the Cave for always and always and always; but still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.'

'Not when I am near,' said the Man. 'If you had not said that last I would have put all these things away for always and always and always; but I am now going to throw my two boots and my little stone axe (that makes three) at you whenever I meet you. And so shall all proper Men do after me!'

Then the Dog said, 'Wait a minute. He has not made a bargain with me or with all proper Dogs after me.' And he showed his teeth and said, 'If you are not kind to the Baby while I am in the Cave for always and always and always, I will hunt you till I catch you, and when I catch you I will bite you. And so shall all proper Dogs do after me.'

'Ah,' said the Woman, listening, 'this is a very clever Cat, but he is not so clever as the Dog.'

Cat counted the Dog's teeth (and they looked very pointed) and he said, 'I will be kind to the Baby while I am in the Cave, as long as he does not pull my tail too hard, for always and always and always. But still I am the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.'

'Not when I am near,' said the Dog. 'If you had not said that last I would have shut my mouth for always and always and always; but now I am going to hunt you up a tree whenever I meet you. And so shall all proper Dogs do after me.'

Then the Man threw his two boots and his little stone axe (that makes three) at the Cat, and the Cat ran out of the Cave and the Dog chased him up a tree; and from that day to this, Best Beloved, three proper Men out of five will always throw things at a Cat whenever they meet him, and all proper Dogs will chase him up a tree. But the Cat keeps his side of the bargain too. He will kill mice and he will be kind to Babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.

    PUSSY can sit by the fire and sing,
        Pussy can climb a tree,
    Or play with a silly old cork and string
        To'muse herself, not me.
    But I like Binkie my dog, because
        He knows how to behave;
    So, Binkie's the same as the First Friend was,
        And I am the Man in the Cave.

    Pussy will play man-Friday till
        It's time to wet her paw
    And make her walk on the window-sill
        (For the footprint Crusoe saw);
    Then she fluffles her tail and mews,
        And scratches and won't attend.
    But Binkie will play whatever I choose,
        And he is my true First Friend.

    Pussy will rub my knees with her head
        Pretending she loves me hard;
    But the very minute I go to my bed
        Pussy runs out in the yard,
    And there she stays till the morning-light;
        So I know it is only pretend;
    But Binkie, he snores at my feet all night,
        And he is my Firstest Friend!

1st Day Issue / Tierra de los Sueños: Bob's 66th Birthday!

Click stamp to enlarge.

Tuesday 5 February is my 66th birthday! Send me stuff! I think I'll have a lobster dinner!

Forever Stamps -- last day to get 'em cheap!

Click stamps to enlarge.

Today (Saturday) is your last chance to buy the United States Postal Service "Forever" stamps before the cost rises on Monday. I just bought sheets of these. Once you buy them, they'll always work to mail a first-class envelope, no matter how much USPS raises the rate on first-class mail.

Chinese New Year begins 9 February 2013, I think it's the Year of the Rat. 新年快樂 !

bargains on diamonds and gold from West Africa! Act now! Snooze U Lose!

Click map to enlarge.

Dear Sir, We can supply rough gold and rough diamond from Ghana and Guinea,Leone at competitive prices.Our procedure is FOB Ghana and Guinea price $35,000,/kg fod as for the diamond we expect the buyer choice on the caract  to send the manifest whereby buyer and seller meet at seller's location and sign SPA contract before closing deal at seller's location.Our price for gold is $39,000 per kilo on CIF and our gold is +22 carats and 96% purity. However, if you want us to deliver on CIF procedure, then you must be ready to provide us with an irrevocable/open BG and we will deliver our gold to you on CIF basis.Our payment terms for CIF is via bank to bank wire transfer after refinery Looking forward to your kind and timely response.You also can be our agent in your country. MR MANYATTA CL 21 CITE MILLIONAIRE GRAND YOFF DAKAR - SENEGAL /+221-778-165-820

I guess there must be something I don't comprehend / Sparrows have companions / Even stray dogs have a friend

sound ON
click OPEN IN NEW TAB

Lonely House

(from the musical "Street Scene")
music: Kurt Weill
lyrics: Langston Hughes
linked cover by Betty Carter

At night when everything is quiet
This old house seems to breathe a sigh
Sometimes I hear a neighbor snoring
Sometimes I can hear a baby cry

Sometimes I can hear a staircase creaking
Sometimes a distant telephone
Oh, and when the night settles down again
This old house and I are all alone

Lonely house, lonely me
Funny with so many neighbors
How lonesome you can be

Lonely town, lonely street
Funny, you can be so lonely
With all these folks around

I guess there must be something
I don't comprehend
Sparrows have companions
Even stray dogs have a friend

The night for me is not romantic
Unhook the stars and take them down!
I'm lonely in this lonely house
here in this lonely town

Stench from the French / the farther off from England the nearer is to France / thanks mate! / fart gas wafts over La Manche

Click molecule to make stinkier

Reuters (UK newswire)
Tuesday 22 January 2013
Rotten egg stench
wafts over UK
after French gas leak

by Geert De Clercq

PARIS -- A cloud of harmless gas smelling of sweat and rotten eggs leaked from a chemicals factory in northwest France and drifted across the English Channel as far as London on Tuesday.

The leak occurred on Monday morning at a Lubrizol France plant near Rouen, 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Paris, and winds blew the invisible gas cloud south over northern France on Monday night and then up into England on Tuesday.

The fire brigade in the county of Kent, southeast of London, warned residents to keep their doors and windows closed due to the gas, which may make some people feel nauseous, and police said they had reports of an acrid smell in the capital.

Lubrizol France, which makes additives for industrial lubricants and paint, said the gas was mercaptan, also known as methanethiol, a colourless additive used in natural gas because its sulphurous smell enables gas leaks to be detected.

It was due to start an operation on Tuesday evening to stop the fumes, a process that could take hours or days, Pierre-Henry Maccioni, head of the Seine-Maritime regional government, said.

"It's not so much a leak as a product that has decomposed, which smells very bad and which is escaping," the firm's internal operations director, Pierre-Jean Payrouse, told RTL radio.

"An investigation is under way but our priority is to deal with the problem."

London tabloids, quick to seize on historical animosity between the British and French, went to town with the whiff. A Daily Mail headline lambasted a "French stench" while an article in the Sun cited a "mystery pong" that was "blamed on France".

Meanwhile, authorities in France and Britain assured affected residents the gas was not a health threat.

ROTTEN EGGS

The Paris police department issued a statement saying the gas posed no health risk but warned that it smelled like a mixture of "sweat, garlic and rotten eggs".

A French Cup soccer match between Rouen and Olympique Marseille had to be postponed because of the stink, the French federation said.

The gas, which is non-toxic but flammable in strong concentrations, prompted a flood of calls to emergency services in France, with the Interior Ministry imploring concerned residents to stop phoning, so as not to overwhelm the system.

Britain's National Grid, which receives emergency phone calls when people smell gas, said it had received a record number of phone calls on Tuesday, with more than 100,000 calls registered by 1400 GMT, 10 times its normal call volume.

London's Metropolitan Police tweeted: "We are aware of reports of a strong, noxious, gas-like smell in some South East London boroughs. No risks to public."

Ohio-based Lubrizol, founded in 1928 and part of U.S. conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc since 2011, has production facilities in some 19 countries.

Payrouse said the last time the company had experienced a similar incident was in the late 1980s.

An environmental safety consultant said cold weather and weak winds had probably helped the gas cloud reach Britain.

"The stable weather conditions and low temperatures at the moment ... mean that the smell is drifting across the UK, a distance of over 200 miles (320 km) from the source," Tony Ennis, technical director at Haztech Consultants, said.

- 30 -

Travoys Arriving with Wounded at a Dressing-Station at Smol, Macedonia, September 1916 / by Stanley Spencer

Click image to enlarge.

you rejoice when your claws entrap a mouse

Click stamp to enlarge.

The Monk and His Cat

adapted by W. H. Auden from an 8th or 9th century anonymous Irish text

Pangur, white Pangur,
How happy we are
Alone together, Scholar and cat.
Each has his own work to do daily;
For you it is hunting, for me, study.
Your shining eye watches the wall;
My feeble eye is fixed on a book.
You rejoice when your claws entrap a mouse;
I rejoice when my mind fathoms a problem.
Pleased with his own art
Neither hinders the other;
Thus we live ever
Without tedium and envy.
Pangur, white Pangur,
How happy we are,
Alone together, Scholar and cat.

=============

Messe [ocus] Pangur bán,
cechtar nathar fria saindán;
bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg,
mu menma céin im saincheirdd
Caraim-se fós, ferr cach clú,
oc mu lebrán léir ingnu;
ní foirmtech frimm Pangur bán,
caraid cesin a maccdán.
Ó ru-biam ­ scél cén scis ­
innar tegdias ar n-oéndis,
táithiunn ­ dichríchide clius ­
ní fris 'tarddam ar n-áthius.
Gnáth-huaraib ar greassaib gal
glenaid luch ina lín-sam;
os me, du-fuit im lín chéin
dliged ndoraid cu n-dronchéill.
Fúachaid-sem fri freaga fál
a rosc a nglése comlán;
fúachimm chéin fri fégi fis
mu rosc réil, cesu imdis.
Fáelid-sem cu n-déne dul,
hi nglen luch ina gérchrub;
hi-tucu cheist n-doraid n-dil,
os mé chene am fáelid.
Cia beimini amin nach ré
ní derban cách a chéle;
mait le cechtar nár a dán
subaigthiud a óenurán.
Hé fesin as choimsid dáu
in muid du-n-gní cach óenláu;
do thabairt doraid du glé
for mumud céin am messe.

$6,200,000 awaits in Burkino Faso / it's sorta near Nigeria / the further adventures of the Spanish Prisoner

Click map to enlarge

Dr Lassine Diawara
Senior Auditor Foreign Remittance Unit
Bank Of Africa (BOA)
Ouagadougou - Burkina-Faso
West /Africa.

                 Confidential Business Proposal!!

I am Dr Lassine Diawara, the senior Auditor In charge of Foreign Remittance Unit, Bank Of Africa (BOA) Ouagadougou Burkina Faso. I have a business which will benefit both of us, The amount of money involved is ($ 15.5 Million Dollars) which i want to transfer from an abandoned account to your bank account; it is 100% risk free.

After the end of the business, We shall agree that { 40% } Forty  Percent will be for you in respect of all your assistance for this transaction and { 60% } Sixty- Percent will be for me being the pioneer of the business.

I will like you to provide immediately the below information’s, to enable me use it and get you next of kin application form from my bank.

1. Full Name:..........................
2. Full Address:......................
3.Telephone Number:
4.Country:.............................
5. Occupation:.......................
6. Age:.....................................
7.Sex:......................................

As soon as you reply, I will let you know the next steps and procedures and more details to follow in order to finalize this transaction immediately.

Yours  Sincerely,
Dr Lassine Diawara

Quarter of a Man / from El Rayo-X / BOB GOT HIS VIDEOS BACK

Click to enlarge.

Contrary to what the government plumber said in "Brazil," now and then machines DO fix themselves!!!


speakers: ON
open in new tab:

Quarter of a Man

lyrics: Ben Harper
music: David Lindley
from the 1981 album (and band) El Rayo-X

there's a quarter of a man in the market
with a quarter of a car so it's easy to park it
he gets to the counter
he pays what he can
but he only pays a quarter
he's a quarter of a man
 
now this quarter of a man he got fired
the next damn day he got hired
The only thing wrong with this plan
is he only makes a quarter
he's a quarter of man
 
every day he's on the street
too few quarters to live or to eat
he's so little the people all stare
but he only pays a quarter fare

now this quarter of a man's on vacation
but he still gets his ration
he gets to the market he saves what he can
but he only saves a quarter
he's a quarter of a man

every day he's on the street
too few quarters to live or to eat
he's so little the people all stare
but he only pays a quarter fare

there's a quarter of a man in the market
with a quarter of a car so it's easy to park it
he gets to the market
he saves what he can
but he only saves a quarter
he's a quarter of a man

Happy New Year! Happy Reformed Gregorian Calendar 2013!

Click image to enlarge.

 

Someone -- an authentically talented visual artist -- complimented this, or got a giggle out of it, when Vleeptron first wished everybody a Happy New Year with it. 

 

So here it is again, and here's another Reformed Gregorian Calendar New Year again. And here are Vleeptron's very best and fondest wishes to all of you, and to all you love.

 

The original idea was to create a Happy New Year greeting card with no cliches. No exhausted old man in a long white beard shuffling off to make way for a newborn baby in a diaper/nappy. Vleeptron wanted a new, original cliche. So Vleeptron reached for the Einstein-Minkowski Light Cone -- the shape of Past, Present and Future, a consequence of the universe's speed limit for electromagnetic radiation (one form of which is light). When you're Here and Now, the inside of the Cone contains everything you could possibily ever perceive in the Universe, everything that was, everything that is, everything that will be.

 

To the distressing extent that Luck has anything to do with what's about to happen to all of us in the coming year, Vleeptron wishes everyone who sees this the Very Best Luck, the Very Best Year, sprinkled all over with Pleasant Surprises.

And my favorite magic spell: 

Banish Misfortune!

 

Tuesday 1 January 2013 begins in a few hours, and because the Earth revolves and is carved (awkwardly and semi-arbitrarily) into Time Zones, the whole hoopla begins (according to Wikipedia) here:

 

===============

 

The central Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati claims that its easternmost landmass, uninhabited Caroline Island, is the first to usher in the New Year.

 

===============

 

And eventually it will hit you, wherever you may be.

 

Oh -- just a tip about Something Wonderful coming in 2013. 

 

The buzz in the Comet Community (a very high-class bunch, with plenty of amateur members) is that Earth is going to see a spectacular comet

 

C/2012 S1 (ISON)

 

with teases that it will be the Comet of your Lifetime, will rival the full moon in the night sky, and even be visible during the day. Whatever show ISON puts on should begin around November, so you have plenty of time to plan your ISON party.

 

********

 

Traditionally at the Big Moment, everybody will sing a Scots song whose lyrics (by Robert Burns) begin

 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind

 

The Vleeptron Dude gets sadder and sadder as time goes by and people I loved and liked and admired and got a bang out of drift away.

 

I'll be thinking of every one of you when the world sings Auld Lang Syne, and I wish to hell you'd all drop me a line and let me know sup with you. I take all the blame for all the drifting.

make Vleeptron Dude happy -- e-mail or phone Obama about possible Hagel nomination

to Share Your Feelings with President Obama,

CLICK HERE
 
 ============================
 
The Hill
(daily newspaper covering USA Congress)
Thursday 27 December 2012

Log Cabin Republicans 
attack possible Hagel 
cabinet nomination

by Daniel Strauss

A group representing gay Republicans published an ad opposing the potential nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (Republican-Nebraska) for secretary of Defense.

The ad, published Thursday in The New York Times by the Log Cabin Republicans, cites comments Hagel made 14 years about James Hormel who was then being considered for a diplomatic post. Hormel, who is gay, was nominated by then-President Clinton to be ambassador to Luxembourg.

"They are representing America [as ambassador]. They are representing our lifestyle, our values, our standards. And I think it is an inhibiting factor to be gay — openly, aggressively gay," the ad quotes Hagel as saying.

The Log Cabin Republican ad also attacks Hagel's positions on Iran and Israel.

"Chuck Hagel: Wrong on gay rights. Wrong on Iran. Wrong on Israel," the ad continues. "Tell President Obama that Chuck Hagel is wrong for Defense Secretary."

Hagel, who is seen as the president’s top choice to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, has come under attack from both conservative and liberal groups.

Conservative groups have raised questions about his approach to Israel, hitting Hagel for comments he made as a senator about the "Jewish lobby" attempting to intimidate lawmakers.

Foreign policy hawks also say that Hagel would not do enough to stop Iran's nuclear program from developing weapons, citing his past votes against extending sanctions on Iran.

Earlier this month, Hagel sought to address the growing criticism, releasing a public apology for the comments about Ambassador Hormel.

But a number of senators have said if nominated, Hagel can expect to face a tough hearing.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent-Connecticut.) said he would have "serious questions" about Hagel's stance on national security issues.

And Sen. Lindsey Graham said that a potential "hearing will really matter."

“He has a stellar military record, but I think these comments disturb a lot of people and he’ll have to answer those questions," said Graham on Sunday.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy have also been mentioned to succeed current Secretary Panetta.

- 30 -

Good News from Bethlehem! An unusually peaceful and easy Christmas Pilgrimage!

Click to enlarge. Give screen a good cleaning. Linger.

For best view, travel to Florence/Firenze Italy/Italia. Ask anyone: "Dove Uffrizi?"

Some readers may know that before Vleeptron or VleeptronZ, these operations were also an important NGO meddling in all affairs everywhere on Earth: moNGO, which traces its origins to the ancient Planet Mongo Rocket Forces, (sometimes known by its alternate name Verein für Raumschiffahrt / Nordamerikanisches Kapitel), originally a Model Rocket Construction & Launch Club in Western Massachusetts USA, and later, when the Rocket Launch Club sort of evaporated, a Yahoogroup concerned with Everything Everywhere. But from its inception, when not launching rockets vertically as deep into space as possible on an amateur budget, or throwing a whomp-ass apres-Launch barbecue, moNGO was always a significant NGO kvetching and advising all Sentients, carbon-based or silicon-based (both deserve our respect), about everything moNGO concluded (usually accurately) they were doing wrong, or remarkably well. If you ever did something to merit moNGO's praise and approval, maybe you wouldn't hang it in the most prominent spot on your wall, but throughout the Solar System, a moNGO Honor Certificate was Not Chopped Liver.

And woe unto any entity that could have chosen to behave differently, but pissed off moNGO.

Well -- just one small example -- how'd things work out for the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan after they really pissed off moNGO by destroying the remarkable giant reclining Buddha statues with high explosives. moNGO warned them, begged them not to blow up the statues. moNGO even tried to find the e-mail addie of the Taliban Complaint Department, but I don't think we ever found it. Either they were keeping the addie top secret, or (more likely) the Taliban had no Complaint Department.

Just one of many reminders of the important work moNGO has done, both in the Solar System, and in the near-Vleeptron region of the Dwingeloo-2 Galaxy, for many decades. (moNGO's motto and mission: Straighten Up & Fly Right.)

[open post for more about this important matter in a few hours.]

Maya Long Count Calendar Doomsday commemorative t-shirt

click to enlarge

if i take hardcopy to Paradise Copies tomorrow, I can have my commemorative t-shirt by Thursday.

Please feel free to make your own End Of World Maya t-shirt, tell anyone who asks you got it on Planet Vleeptron.

It will look real nifty when it fades from lots of trips through the washing machine.

humans did this to humans / the Desaparecidos of the Argentine Navy Mechanics School

Click image to enlarge.

IPS / Inter-Press Service
Monday 03 December 2012
 
Argentine military junta
genocide trial under way
 
by Marcela Valente, 
IPS Argentina correspondent

The biggest trial for human rights crimes committed by Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship began Wednesday in Buenos Aires, with 68 people accused of crimes involving nearly 800 victims of the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA).

For the first time, six pilots who flew the so-called “death flights” -- where political prisoners were dumped from planes, drugged but alive, into the [Atlantic] ocean -- will be tried.

The 68 defendants will be charged in cases involving the kidnapping, torture, and forced disappearance of hundreds of victims in ESMA, the regime’s biggest clandestine prison centre, where some 5000 political prisoners were held over the years.

Most of the defendants (56) belonged to the navy, and five belonged to the coast guard. But there are also former members of the army, the police and the penitentiary service, as well as two civilians: lawyer Gonzalo Torres de Tolosa and former finance secretary Juan Alemann.

Five of the defendants are fugitives from justice. The national programme for the search for wanted suspects offers a 100,000 peso (U$20,000) award to anyone who provides information leading to their arrest.

The case is the biggest in Argentina since the human rights trials got underway again in the past decade, after the amnesty laws and pardons protecting human rights violators were declared unconstitutional.

While the accused and their defence counsel, and the families of the victims, survivors and their lawyers took their seats in the courtroom, another stage was set up for people to follow the trial.

A giant screen was installed in the Mabel Gutierrez auditorium in ESMA, which was converted into a human rights museum after it was handed over to human rights groups in 2004.

“This will be the biggest trial so far, because of the number of victims, defendants, and witnesses,” said Carolina Varsky, a lawyer with the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a human rights group taking part in the case, told IPS.

Varsky, the director of litigation in CELS, explained that the case had come to trial in bits and pieces, which she said “hid the true magnitude of the genocide committed” in ESMA.

Progress in the ESMA case began to be made in 2007, when a single defendant, former coast guard officer Héctor Febres, was tried. But he committed suicide in his cell just four days before the verdict was to be handed down.

And in 2011, 16 of 18 defendants in another ESMA trial were convicted.

The current trial is known as the “third branch” or the “unified ESMA case”.

The defendants include former navy captains Alfredo Astíz and Jorge Acosta, who were already convicted of other ESMA crimes. Acosta was also found guilty this year of involvement in stealing babies who were either born to political prisoners in detention or kidnapped along with their parents, who were later killed or “disappeared”. The children were mainly raised by military or police families.

Rodolfo Yanzón, one of the lawyers for a group of 40 survivors and victims’ relatives, told IPS that “we had opposed the breaking up of the cases, because we believed that it was best for the witnesses to not have to testify over and over again, and also because the (imprisoned) defendants had the right to be tried and convicted in a timely manner.”

In response to such demands, and to the recommendation of a higher court aimed at expediting the case, the court where the trial is being held agreed to show filmed testimony given by witnesses in other trials against the same defendants.

One of the survivors who have most often testified is Mario Villani, a 73-year-old physicist who lives in Miami, Florida USA. After he was kidnapped in 1977, he was held in five different detention and torture centres, for a total of three years and eight months. ESMA was the last.

Villani was tortured and forced to carry out different tasks during his detention. He gave his testimony to the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, and testified in the trials held after the dictatorship came to an end, in the 1980s, which were cut short by the amnesty laws and pardons of the members of the military junta.

Since then he has given his testimony -- about the same crimes -- in trials in Argentina, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Israel.

In an email response to IPS from the United States, Villani said he saw the start of the “mega-trial” as “one more step in the direction of justice.”

He said he felt “proud” to be able to help these cases move forward. But he added that “the struggle will continue as long as there are regimes in the world that need to use torture to maintain control.”

The testimony given by Villani and other survivors has helped keep the demand for justice alive for over three decades, bring the accused to trial, and identify some of the former torturers who were living their lives under other identities.

In the book “Desaparecido: Memorias de un cautiverio” (Disappeared: Memories of My Captivity), which he wrote with Fernando Reati, he said he still had nightmares. “If anyone wakes me up, I lift my arms and cover my face, in a defensive stance,” he wrote.

Like other political prisoners, Villani not only suffered torture himself, but also witnessed horrendous crimes, like the murder by torture of a Jewish schoolteacher who belonged to the Communist Party, and whose name he never learned.

“He made him strip, he tied him to the table with the bottom half of his body hanging off. He shoved a stick up his anus and gave him electric shocks,” he testified in the trial against federal police official Héctor Simón, alias “Turco Julián” or “Julián the Turk”.

Simón, who was convicted in several cases, was known for his fierce anti-Semitism. “The f***ing Jew died. Good thing, otherwise I would have had to let him go,” Villani recalls Simón saying when his victim died.

According to government figures, 14,000 people were forcibly disappeared during the dictatorship, although human rights organisations put the number at 30,000.

During the trial, which will last at least two years, three hearings a week will be held, and every seven days, DVDs will be shown, of the testimony of survivors and relatives of victims.

- 30 -

okay, so i didn't win Powerball, but ... / the further adventures of The Spanish Prisoner

From:Head of Accounting  Department,
International Commercial Bank.(ICB)
Mr David Kwabenya

Dear Friend,

I got your contact during my search for a reliable,trust worthy and honest person to introduce this transfer project with.My name is Mr David Kwabenya. I am the Head of Accounting Department ICB, Accra branch Ghana.

I write you this proposal in good faith; I am married with two lovely children. I am a man of peace, and have sincere respect for human feelings and opinions. I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and I. I am the personal account manager to late Mrs Justina D.Williams,who was the former makerting manager of evo oil and Gas,she was also one of the major contractor of National Petroleum Authority Ghana). it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city, Accra at the end of each business year.

My late client deposited the sum of US$6,500,000 (Six Million,Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) with our branch since year 2001,which i happens to be her personal account manager, since the death of my late client in a fatal car accident in Bombay India in November 13 2010, I have tried all my possible best to locate her family,but all my effort prove abortive,because my late client deposited the fund without any beneficiary or next of kin,and my bank headquarters has mandated me as her personal account manager to look for her next of kins,or the fund will be confisticated and sent to Ghana Government Treasure purse.

After several attempt to locate the late deasese family or anybody that is related to her,but i could not succed,but i have reported back to my bank top officials that i have located one of her beneficiaries,which happens to be you,so kindly get back to me immediately if you are intrested in this deal, all i want from you is to stand as the next of kin to the late Mrs Justina Williams, as the personal account to my late client,i have all the vital document that will enable you receive the fund without any hintch. kindly get back to me as soon as possible,so that i can give you all the full details of the transaction.

There are practically no risks involved, the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law, it will be simply a bank-to-bank transfer, and all I need from you is to stand claim as the next of kin. so that my bank headquarters can approve and order the immediate transfer of the fund into your designated bank account within some banking working days. If you accept to work with me I will appreciate it very much as you are the first and the only person I am contacting for this transaction.

I will offer 25% of the total fund as your own share,and you will also help me to invest some of fund into a lucrative business in your country,because i am planing to resign from the bank after the success of this deal,Do not be afraid,because i will be giving you all the necessary guideline and information that the bank might require.

Send me an email as soon as you receive this message, so that we can go over the details.

Thank you in advance and may God bless you and your family.

Sincerely,
Mr. David Kwabenya.

N/B:If you are willing and interested to work with me,forward in your response the following information's to:  ( davidkwabenya@***.****.com )

NAME:...................
AGE.....................
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.............
OCCUPATION:.................
PHONE:..............
COUNTRY:....................
COMPANY:............(IF ANY)
EMAIL.....................
____________________________________________________________
Frenzy Over New Diet Pill
Stores Across U.S. Sold Out of This New 'Miracle' Weight Loss Pill.

legible transcription of previous post / continue to soil undergarments / seeking stuff that pegs the needle / flee for your lives / Iranian nuke guys seem to have screwed pooch bigtime / watch this space for further developments / Jennifer needs new foreign phrases

click image to enlarge

[Agence-Vleeptron Presse has retranscribed the previous post in legible text form. This legible transcription in no way diminishes your need or desire to soil your undergarments.]   

a nuke in Iran has just started to behave in an Anomalous Manner. The nuke seems to have ceased operating within design parameters. A lot of ambulances were observed racing toward area hospitals.

Nobody wants to Leave A Comment?

I got this Alert on my favorite e-list ever, a yahoogroup i like to call "Ionizing Radiation Affacianados" -- about 3000 Garage & Basement hobbyists who share a fondness for radioactive (and usually long-banned and forbidden) materials. If it wiggles oe pegs the needle, they love it and try to buy it on e-bay, or from Central Asians who have cool leftover stuff from the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile I have fallen in love with RSOE EDIS, a shoestring outfit in Hungary whose mission is to give any curious reader the 411 on any potential Life-Extincting Events on the surface of Earth, or in nearby space. I am subscribing like yesterday. It's why I own 2 Geiger-Muller counters in the first place. I I so do not want to be the last guy to hear about crap like this. With e-mails from RSOE EDIS, i can be the 8th or 9th guy to know, in time to hop the last bus out of Fukushima Prefecture.

I am also compiling a webpage with the phrase "FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES" in all known human languages. It's a lot like Jennifer's Language Page, but Jennifer limits herself mostly to unimportant memes like Please and Thank You and Hello.

===================
   
RSOE EDIS
Event Report
    Saturday, 1st December 2012 :: 21:20:15 UTC

    << AlertMap
    Summary
    Description
    Situation Update
    Map
    Other Information
    Country Info
    Population
    Media

Event Description    
Translate
   
Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 44

Nuclear Event in Iran on Thursday, 29 November, 2012 at 14:08 (02:08 PM) UTC.

Description

[NOTICE!!! This information not confirmed!] Iranian nuclear officials are being secretive about the nature of an incident in the Iranian Isfahan nuclear plant that sent many staff members to nearby hospital emergency rooms Wednesday. The head of Iran's Medical Emergency Agency told reporters that staff members of an Isfahan Nuclear plant "have observed some symptoms." He stressed that all medical emergency units in Iran should be ready to "confront nuclear incidents." "Those who have been around UCF Isfahan, have shown symptoms and are receiving treatment," said Gholamreza Masoumi to Iranian state-run news agencies. He did not mention a specific time for the incident nor did he volunteer any details about the nature of it. "We have not yet had any incident outside nuclear designated areas," he said. Masoumi said that the agency has been training the medical emergency unit staff on providing treatment for nuclear incidents. Masoumi told Mehr news agency that recently the Iranian government has formed a "Nuclear Emergency" task force to provide services that would be needed following nuclear incidents. Furthermore, Nuclear Emergency centers in provinces where nuclear sites are located will receive a boost. Masoumi stressed that there has never been an incident of nuclear leakage at any Iranian nuclear plant. Radio Free Europe reported that following the publication of this incident, Mehr news removed the article from its website, however, on June 28, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Freidoon Abbasi, tried to play down the incident. "Any kind of incident may occur in any plant," said Abbasi to Iranian Fars News. "However it does not mean that such events lead to spread of radioactive material."
RSOE shall not be liable for any customer claims based on the content and services distributed by RSOE. RSOE states that the EDIS content means information collected from the related and approved sources and therefore RSOE shall not be responsible for the content of these information.
 
|  Copyright 2004 - 2012 by RSOE |  Terms Of Use |  Privacy Statement |  Email Webmaster |

#     #

RSOE EDIS

"Nothing happens unexpectedly, everything has an indication,
we just have to observe the connections."
 
Disaster and Emergency AlertMap
    Global
    Europe
    North-America
    Asia
    Indonesia
    Australia / New Zealand
    Pacific Ocean
    South-Amerika
    Africa (North) and Middle-East
    Africa (South)

   
Climate Change Monitoring and News

    Visit the website

Notice!

Call and request from you! We would like extend ours earthquake monitoring system. We are looking for as a first step in South and Central America, online resources, especially near realtime XML and / or CSV resources. The sources include: Unique ID, date and time (UTC), magnitude, depth and latitude and longitude.

If you know such a source, please send us an email havaria@rsoe.hu or zsolt.boszormenyi@rsoe.hu. (Subject include: XML / CSV source)

Of course, if you know of other sources such countries (mainly India, Pakistan, Africa, Russia) are also ones interested us. In addition, we need XLS / CSV source, which indicates the status of volcano. (Smithsonnian source are excluded)

We thank you in advance for your help and hope so that more accurate data we can present the events occurred.

I thank yor for your help again!

Zsolt Boszormenyi
Head of RSOE EDIS

National Association of Radio Distress-Signalling and Infocommunications
Emergency and Disaster Information Service - EDIS
Elnok u. 1, Budapest, Hungary-1089

About | Contact

Copyright © RSOE EDIS 2004 - 2012