THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† A High-Energy Particle Physics Rapper: After it got fired up for testing on September 10th, the Large Hadron Collider – a 17-mile circular atom smasher that tunnels under the Swiss-French border – operators detected a mechanical problem. Further investigation revealed “a faulty electrical connection between two magnets that stopped superconducting, melted and led to a mechanical failure and let the helium out," James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) tells The Associated Press. The $10 billion particle collider, which shoots proton beams around the tunnel from opposite directions at near light speed, will need to be shut down for at least two months for repair.
† Dems Knew About Foley E-Mails For A Year, But Did Nothing To Protect Pages: Looks like former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) is off the hook for sending lewd e-mails and instant messages to underage male pages because state and federal authorities cannot authenticate the electronic communications, and because FL’s three-year statute of limitations on any potential crimes had elapsed in 2006, reports The Associated Press. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement explained that the investigation was slowed by Foley’s refusal to allow his computer hard drives – which considered privileged material – to be examined.
Meanwhile, Larry Craig (R-ID), Foley’s pervy counterpart in the Senate, has launched a legal fund - dubbed “Fund for Justice” - to help pay for his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea to charges stemming from a MN airport men's room vice squad sex sting, reports The Associated Press. Maybe it should be called “Fund for Suckers,” since - get your mind out of the gutter – you’d have to be pretty gullible to pony up for such a ridiculous and probably futile undertaking.
† The Purloined Letters: Historian and author Edward Renehan Jr., 52, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing letters were written by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from the Theodore Roosevelt Association on Long Island while he was its acting director, reports The Associated Press. Renehan must also pay more than $86,000 in restitution to a
† What It's Like To Go From A Nine-Figure To An Eight-Figure Income: With the turmoil in the financial markets and paychecks - let alone hefty bonuses – hanging in the balance the Masters and Mistresses Of The Universe are trying to economize any way they can, reports The Wall Street Journal:
The financial crisis on Wall Street has
Veep candidate Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) may have started a new fashion trend: buying second hand designer duds (third item). The Washington Post reports that “a recent survey of about 200 thrift stores found that more than half enjoyed sales jumps averaging 30 percent.” And at a fashion show/auction held in the lobby of the French Embassy in
† Updates To Previous Posts (What Part Of “Loose Lips Sink Ships” Doesn’t The New York Times Understand?: Part II): Addressing a joint session of Parliament Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari tried to walk a fine line between public resentment of military incursions into the country’s tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan by U.S. troops and the need to bring the lawless areas under government control, reports The New York Times:
“We will not tolerate the violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity by any power in the name of combating terrorism.” …
“I have a dream for
He also said his government would move to bring the tribal areas, which are troubled by militancy, into the national political mainstream by removing their special federal status, which dates from colonial times.
In his speech accepting his party's nomination for president, Obama mocked McCain – “John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.” If the gates of hell are located in the tribal regions of
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