World News(Stuff to Discuss) Free For All

Ship Buried in 18th Century Unearthed at WTC Site

NEW YORK -- Workers at the World Trade Center site are excavating a 32-foot-long ship hull that apparently was used in the 18th century as part of the fill that extended lower Manhattan into the Hudson River.

It's hoped the artifact can be retrieved by the end of the day on Thursday, said archaeologist Molly McDonald. A boat specialist was going to the site to take a look at it.

McDonald said she wanted to at least salvage some timbers; it was unclear if any large portions could be lifted intact.

"We're mostly clearing it by hand because it's kind of fragile," she said, but construction equipment could be used later in the process.

McDonald and archaeologist A. Michael Pappalardo were at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when the discovery was made Tuesday morning.

"We noticed curved timbers that a back hoe brought up," McDonald said Wednesday. "We quickly found the rib of a vessel and continued to clear it away and expose the hull over the last two days."

The two archeologists work for AKRF, a firm hired to document artifacts discovered at the site. They called the find significant but said more study was needed to determine the age of the ship.

"We're going to send timber samples to a laboratory to do dendrochronology that will help us to get a sense of when the boat was constructed," said McDonald. Dendrochronology is the science that uses tree rings to determine dates and chronological order.

A 100-pound anchor was found a few yards from the ship hull on Wednesday, but they're not sure if it belongs to the ship. It's 3 to 4 feet across, McDonald said.

The archaeologists are racing to record and analyze the vessel before the delicate wood, now exposed to air, begins to deteriorate.

"I kept thinking of how closely it came to being destroyed," Pappalardo said.

[nzdawghaus]

Cops: NJ woman made up carjacking, car-sex crash

VINELAND, N.J. ? Authorities say a New Jersey woman lied twice to cover up the theft of a laptop computer, claiming first that she was carjacked and then that her car crashed because she was having sex.

Authorities say 23-year-old Sarah Blasse of Vineland initially told police Saturday that she broke her arm during a carjacking.

Police say Blasse later claimed her car crashed into a tree while she was performing a sex act on a man she had picked up.

Camden County prosecutor's spokesman Jason Laughlin says Blasse and her boyfriend actually stole a laptop computer from a car and slipped away from pursuing police in her car, but then crashed and attempted to set the vehicle on fire.

Blasse and 27-year-old Henry Goode Jr. face charges including arson, burglary and hindering apprehension. Authorities say they don't yet have lawyers.

[nlogax]

Soon, machines will use us for power.

A Research project by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seeks to exploit the untapped power reserve of the human body. By utilizing piezoelectric and thermodynamic power generation components, the researchers hope to provide enough energy for a suite of planned embedded technologies.

Some readers may be familiar with piezoelectric components, which generate electricity from the vibrations created by movement. The DARPA initiative is also looking into generating power from thermodynamic reactions?such as the difference between body temperature and the surrounding air?much like how these boots from Orange generate electricity to recharge gadgets.

The main objective of the project is to create enough power to drive a bunch of military-friendly gadgets. Examples include "Sensor-studded clothing worn by a soldier tracks his movements and vital signs", and "contact lenses that function as computer screens" and receive information via radio.

In The Matrix franchise, robots enslaved humankind as a source of power. They turned humans into giant living batteries, tapping the thermal and kinetic energies produced by our bodies. While machines intelligent enough to take over are awhiles away, they'll at least know how to use as batteries when the time comes.

[ThatHaole]

Peen

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[nzdawghaus]

Dog that was shot six times and survived may not be adoptable

People from as far away as Alaska have expressed interest in an Ohio German shepherd that survived six gunshot wounds. But a dog warden says Sarge may not be an adoption candidate.

Lucas County dog warden Julie Lyle said Thursday the dog has a record of biting, so she could not release him directly to a new home but only to a rescue group. And, she says if aggressiveness testing finds Sarge would be a public safety threat, he?d have to be put down.

The dog allegedly bit his owner and the man's girlfriend on July 1, according to warden's office records. The woman sought medical treatment.

The owner and another man are accused of shooting at the dog July 9 while the animal was caged. The owner is due in court next week, the other man has pleaded no contest.

[Trips]

Yup, just as I suspected. Rabble rabble rabble indeed.

Utah Identifies 2 Allegedly Behind Illegal Immigrant List

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Constitution =/= Articles of confederation

[maxbailey]

Petition to stop school's lessons in The Simpsons

More than 400 people have signed a petition calling for a Somerset school to stop teaching the US cartoon series The Simpsons in lessons.

The opening sequence and an episode are being covered in the media module of the course at Kingsmead Community School, in Wiveliscombe.

The school said the show demonstrated use of language in the media.

Parent Joseph Reynolds said it was not the right quality of learning material for his daughter and her classmates.

Mr Reynolds collected signatures for his petition in the local community, but the school's governors upheld the school's decision to continue teaching the cartoon.

'Waste of time'

Mr Reynolds said: "I don't think it's strong enough content. The national curriculum actually lists a great number of authors we could use and The Simpsons is never listed.

"The school has kind of fallen back on a weaker programme here just because kids like The Simpsons.

"If you want to use The Simpsons once in a while as a hook to get kids interested in A Midsummer Night's Dream or get them interested in some other stronger content, I think that's great.

"There's a big difference between that and actually teaching The Simpsons for six weeks and I think it's a waste of the kids' time."

Andy Dunnett, the school's assistant head teacher, said work on the cartoon took place in Year Eight as part of a "broad, balanced and diverse" curriculum.

He said: "Students are encouraged to look at the text in a critical way. Initially it's about building up their skills as critical thinkers.

"They also learn about different aspects of the media; audience, visual narrative, presentation and stereotypes, and some quite high level thinking ideas like satire, irony and parody.

"Far from dumbing down... we believe we are giving students a really vital and important part of their general education."

Mr Dunnett added: "Our students get a very wide diet including three Shakespeare plays over five years at Kingsmead.

"We would be doing our students a disservice if we didn't give them the opportunity to learn about the way media products are made and the way they affect the world around them."

[nzdawghaus]

Fourteen swaps, two years and countless hours online payoff for a teenage trader

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High school student Steve Ortiz may be zipping around Glendora, Calif., in a silver sports car these days, but don't let his ride fool you -- he's not a spoiled rich kid, and this isn't his family's car either.

His 2000 Porsche Boxster S is the result of patience, hard work and the Craigslist bartering section.

The 17-year-old student at Charter Oak High School has made 14 trades over two years to finally acquire the vehicle.

He started with just a cell phone.

The teen would spend hours a day browsing Craigslist looking to swap.

"I get so many people who say, 'Can you trade my phone for a car?' I just say, 'Yeah. It's not that easy,'" he told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

At first, he traded the old cell phone for a better cell phone. From there, he swapped for an iPod. After a few dirt bikes, he ended up with a MacBook Pro, which eventually turned into a 1987 Toyota 4Runner.

There was just one minor problem -- Ortiz was too young to drive, so he traded again for a souped-up off-road golf cart.

That led to another dirt bike, a streetbike and then a series of cars ending with a 1975 Ford Bronco.

Ortiz then traded the Bronco -- which turned out to be a collectible valued at about $15,000 -- for the Porsche.

While Ortiz mastered the art of trading up, he's still learning some lessons about upkeep and maintenance on a luxury vehicle. At 17, the $150 oil changes and $1,000 tune-ups are a little bit steep.

So for now Ortiz is back on Craigslist, plotting his next trade.

[Predator24]

14 yearold kid torches family and kills himself as well

Cops: 14-Year-Old Torched Family, Killed Himself
Say Staten Island Blaze Was Set Intentionally; Razor Blade Found Under Teen's Body In Separate Room Reporting
John Slattery STATEN ISLAND (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
Five people were killed when a fire broke out on Staten Island Thursday.
CBS

CBS 2 HD has learned that the fire that killed a mother and her four children on Thursday morning on Staten Island was intentionally set by the woman's 14-year-old son in a murder-suicide.

What was already a tragedy is now even worse after the five victims were found dead in a fire that police and FDNY officials said moved extremely fast.

Fire officials initially suspected that the fire was caused by arson, but it wasn't until officials examined the victims' bodies that they were able to determine murder-suicide. Two of the victims' throats were slashed.

They believe that the oldest child, a 14-year-old boy, set the fire that killed the others and then turned a razor blade on himself. He was found in another room with his throat slit and the blade under his body.

The blaze ripped through the second floor of a two-story, four-unit building on Nicholas Avenue.

"The flames were just shooting high up in the air," neighbor Richard Panek said.

Three families got out, including Nicholas Cotton's.

"It was coming in the other side, through the bathroom. At that point, I just closed the door because the flames coming out. Then I went inside, I got my wife and the kids, and we all went downstairs," Cotton said.

One family, though, did not get out.

The victims were 32-year-old Lisa Jones, and her four children: 14-year-old son C.J. Jones, 7-year-old Melanie Jones, 10-year-old Brittney Jones and 2-year-old Jermaine Sinclair.

The three younger children attended a daycare run by Jackie Brooks.

"They were loving, sweet, kind children, very mannerly, just full of life," Brooks said.

Their lives ended just after 4 a.m. Thursday, when the fire raced through their apartment, and into the attic and roof. It was a three-alarm blaze in which fire officials said there was no evidence of a smoke detector.

"We keep trying to remind people that a simple $10-$15 smoke detector could have made a difference in saving five lives here," FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said.

Neighbors said Jones, a single mother, was taking classes to become a beautician.

"She was the most loving person in the world," friend Shaquana Meaders said. "She was kind-hearted, she was sweet, she was caring, she loved her kids."

The Fire Department said it will continue to investigate the blaze.

[TheSNakE]

The Chinese Alligator, A Species On The Brink
A story about the disappearing wetlands in China and some dude working with Chinese alligators.

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