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Maya demand an end to doomsday myth


Google
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:09 UTC
Mayan Women
© AFP/File, Jose Miguel Lam
Indigenous women of the village of Plan de Sanchez, in Guatemala City.
Guatemala City - Guatemala's Mayan people accused the government and tour groups on Wednesday of perpetuating the myth that their calendar foresees the imminent end of the world for monetary gain.

"We are speaking out against deceit, lies and twisting of the truth, and turning us into folklore-for-profit. They are not telling the truth about time cycles," charged Felipe Gomez, leader of the Maya alliance Oxlaljuj Ajpop.

Several films and documentaries have promoted the idea that the ancient Mayan calendar predicts that doomsday is less than two months away, on December 21, 2012.

The Culture Ministry is hosting a massive event in Guatemala City -- which as many as 90,000 people are expected to attend -- just in case the world actually does end, while tour groups are promoting doomsday-themed getaways.

Maya leader Gomez urged the Tourism Institute to rethink the doomsday celebration, which he criticized as a "show" that was disrespectful to Mayan culture.

Experts say that for the Maya, all that ends in 2012 is one of their calendar cycles, not the world.
      Read More...
Coffee

People Power! UK coffee chain pulls out of town after public protest campaign


BBC News
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:12 UTC
Totnes
© Unknown
Totnes currently has 41 independent coffee outlets
A national coffee chain has pulled out of a Devon town that prides itself on having independent shops.

South Hams District Council had approved plans by Costa Coffee to open in Fore Street, Totnes.

But in a letter, Chris Rogers, managing director of Costa, said the company had "recognised the strength of feeling" against national brands in the town.

The move, detailed in a letter to "the people of Totnes", has been welcomed by campaign group No to Costa.
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Vader

Pennsylvania may force workers to pay taxes to their employers

Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:28 UTC
Image
© Shutterstock.com
A bill that landed on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's (R) desk this week would give companies that hire more than 250 new workers a gobsmacking tax incentive: 95 percent of those workers' state income taxes would be paid to the employer, and not the state.

It's a bizarre strategy meant to attract companies from other states, specifically designed to lure California-based software maker Oracle into Pennsylvania. It's also, as Philadelphia City Paper put it, "lavish corporate welfare" writ large across state government.

The bill, HB 2626, passed on October 17 with bipartisan support. Just 80 members of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives, most of the Democrats, voted in opposition.
      Read More...
Heart - Black

U.S. soldier stationed in Afghanistan 'watched wife have sex with 15-year-old girl on webcam'


The Independent
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:18 UTC
Image
A US Army soldier serving in Afghanistan who allegedly watched his wife have sex with a 15-year-old girl over Skype, has been charged with child sex abuse.

Shawn Raymo, 22, and his wife Jessica Raymo, 21, who both live on the Fort Drum army base in Upstate New York, were arrested on Tuesday on charges of endangering a child's welfare, and of using a child in a sexual performance.

The alleged crime took place while Shawn Raymo was deployed in Afghanistan in July 2011.

Mrs Raymo is alleged to have had oral sex with the teenage girl while her husband watched via a webcam.

Mr Raymo, who returned from deployment in last Autumn, was arraigned in court and held in jail on $5,000 bail along with his wife - after the charges recently came to light.

A spokesman for Fort Drum told the New York Daily News this was the first time he had heard of sex crimes happening involving soldiers at the US Army post before.

'We are constantly trying to brief our soldiers on things that they should not be doing,' Lt Col David Konop said.
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Eye 2

New York police officer latest to turn into real-life zombie: Gilberto Valle arrested over plot to kidnap and eat women

Adam Gabbatt
The Guardian
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:20 UTC
Image

Gilberto Valle, the latest person to be infected by The Virus
A New York City police officer was charged Thursday with plotting to kidnap, rape, torture and kill women, and then cook and eat their body parts.

Gilberto Valle was taken into custody by the FBI on Wednesday and suspended from the New York police department. He was expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later Thursday.

In a criminal complaint, investigators cited numerous emails and other internet communications that portray a ghoulish scheme of torture and cannibalism. They allege Valle met one potential victim over lunch, but there was no information that any women were harmed.

"The allegations in the complaint really need no description from us," said Mary E Galligan, acting head of the FBI's New York office. "They speak for themselves. It would be an understatement merely to say Valle's own words and actions were shocking."
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Black Magic

Ghost busting

Andrea Boyle Tippett
University of Delaware
Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:43 UTC

The fourth installment of the Paranormal Activity films topped the box office last week. Television channel SyFy's hit show Ghost Hunters scares up big ratings, and has spawned copycat series on networks ranging from Biography to Animal Planet.

The omnipresence of paranormal entertainment piqued the interest of Paul Brewer, professor of communication at the University of Delaware, who wondered what makes viewers believe -- or disbelieve -- what they see on the screen.

His resulting study, recently published in the journal Science Communication, examines the influence of media messages about paranormal investigators on how people perceive the investigators' credibility. Brewer conducted an experiment asking participants to read one of four versions of a newspaper article. After reading the selected article participants filled out a questionnaire.

"It wasn't just any story about paranormal investigators that made people believe in ghosts and haunted houses," Brewer said, "it was a story about how they were scientific."
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Cult

Jimmy Savile scandal: BBC director general engulfed by 'tsunami of filth'

Lisa O'Carroll, Mark Sweney and John Plunkett
The Guardian
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:37 UTC
Image
© Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
George Entwistle, the new BBC director general, had a 'tsunami of filth' breaking over him because of the Jimmy Savile scandal, says BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten.
The BBC Trust chairman has defended George Entwistle's performance before parliament, saying he was unfortunate to be engulfed by a "tsunami of filth" - his description of the Jimmy Savile scandal - less than two weeks into his new role.

In a Radio 4 interview, Lord Patten also admitted that the Savile sex abuse scandal had done "terrible damage" to the corporation's reputation.

Patten's defence of the beleaguered BBC director general on Thursday came as Entwistle asked Radio 5 Live controller Adrian Van Klaveren to lead the corporation's editorial coverage of the Savile child abuse scandal, taking over responsibility from BBC News director Helen Boaden and her deputy, Steve Mitchell.
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Arrow Up

Higher taxes, rising prices in store for Americans in 2013

Edward Krudy
Reuters
Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:50 UTC
Image
© American Institute for Economic Research
Consumers will have to dig deeper into their pockets next year to pay for costlier healthcare, more expensive grocery bills and higher taxes, an extra drag on the country's already slow-moving economy.

The additional outlays look set to test the resilience of consumers, whose spending accounts for around two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

"We think it's going to be a difficult six to nine months," said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics for Moody's Analytics. "If anything, conditions are likely to get worse, particularly at the start of the year."

The strength of consumer spending has surprised some economists, given unemployment near 8 percent and anemic wage growth. Consumer spending has cushioned the blow to the United States from slower foreign demand for its goods.

U.S. households have shed about $880 billion in debt since the peak in the first quarter of 2008, according to Federal Reserve data. That has put many consumers on a path back to financial health.

Comment: 25 Horrifying Statistics About the U.S. Economy That Obama Does Not Want You To Know
America's Third World Economy
US: Slow-moving economy runs into brick wall

The illusion of freedom [Economy] will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater. - Frank Zappa

      Read More...
Handcuffs

Teen arrested in Colorado girl's abduction, death

P. Solomon Banda
Associated Press
Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:57 UTC
Austin Reed Sigg
© AP/Westminster Police Department
This booking photo released by the Westminster, Colo., Police Department shows Austin Reed Sigg.
Westminster - A teenager who lived just a mile from a 10-year-old Colorado girl who was abducted and killed earlier this month has been arrested in her death, along with a May attack on a runner, authorities said Wednesday.

Police in the Denver suburb of Westminster said they took 17-year-old Austin Reed Sigg into custody on Tuesday night after receiving a phone call, apparently from his mother, that led them to Sigg. He was formally arrested Wednesday.

Reached by phone, Sigg's mother told The Associated Press he turned himself in.

"I made the phone call, and he turned himself in. That's all I have to say," said Mindy Sigg, before she broke down in tears and hung up.

Police announced the arrest as agents searched the home of Sigg, an Arapahoe Community College student described by former classmates as a smart "goth kid" who was interested in mortuary science.
      Read More...
Nuke

Dominion investigates shutdown of North Anna nuclear reactor

Joe Macenka
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:08 UTC
Image
© Dean Hoffmeyer/Times-Dispatch
North Anna's Unit 1 was unaffected by the automatic Unit 2 shutdown and continues to operate at full power, the NRC said.
Dominion Virginia Power is investigating what caused one of the two nuclear reactors at its North Anna power station to automatically shut down today. The shutdown came less than a week after the unit had been restarted following repairs.

A preliminary report filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Unit 2 at North Anna, in Louisa County some 45 miles northwest of Richmond, tripped automatically at 1:47 a.m. today.

"The unit is in a normal post-trip electrical configuration. All systems functioned as required," the NRC report said.

The commission's report, filed one hour after the event, said Richmond-based Dominion was focusing on turbine intercept valves or reheat valves that malfunctioned "for reasons unknown at this time."

North Anna's Unit 1 was unaffected by the automatic Unit 2 shutdown and continues to operate at full power, the NRC said.

Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher said the utility had been able to trace the shutdown of Unit 2 _ which is more than three decades old _ to four valves that govern the flow of steam in the turbine system for spinning the unit's generator.
      Read More...
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