High on sewage stench?!

This info bulletin is legit. But I was doubtful about the subject matter. I checked out snopes.com and they have a story about it. In fact Zambia's street children have been getting high on the gas from the fecal matter. Blehhhh.

What to do when the shaking begins.

Last Tuesday there was a magnitude 5.6 tremblor in the Bay area. The shaking was felt as far as Lodi, which is only 10 miles from where we live. I have never experienced any tremblor in my life, and living in California it is expected that earthquakes could happen.

But if the big one does happen, I want to be prepared for it. I found the following information from the San Jose Mercury News. It was an info sheet provided by the Red Cross.

If there is any shaking my first instinct would be to run out of the house. But the info sheet says it is not the best thing to do. :-(

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What to do when the shaking begins

Choose a safe place in every room — under a sturdy table or desk or against an inside wall where nothing can fall on you. Move only a few steps to a nearby safe place.

DROP, COVER AND HOLD ON. Drop under a desk or table, hold on and protect your eyes by pressing your face against your arm.

If there is no table or desk nearby, sit on the floor against an interior wall away from windows, bookcases or furniture that could fall on you.

Be prepared for the next one

Teach children to drop, cover and hold on. Practice at least twice a year. Choose an out-of-town family contact.

Consult a professional to find out additional ways you can protect your home, such as bolting the house to its foundation and other structural mitigation techniques.

Take a first aid class from the Santa Clara Valley Red Cross. You can register online at www.scv-redcross.org or at your local Red Cross chapter's Website.

Get training on how to use a fire extinguisher from your local fire department.

Inform babysitters and caregivers of your plan.

Fallout

Portland's school-based health centers have not been reporting all illegal sexual activity involving minors as required by law, but they will from now on, city officials said Thursday.

Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson questioned the health centers' reporting practices after the Portland School Committee decided last week to offer prescription birth control at the King Middle School health center.

The King Student Health Center has offered comprehensive reproductive health care, including providing condoms and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, since it opened in 2000. The school serves students in grades 6 to 8, ages 11 to 15.

Maine law prohibits having sex with a person under age 14, regardless of the age of the other person involved, Anderson said.

Full story here.

When the story was first reported nobody in the news media brought up the issue of sex with anyone under age 14 was illegal. The public was never informed that a health care provider, at school or in private practice, MUST report known and suspected cases of sex involving persons under 13 to the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

It is clear that in their eagerness to provide birth control to kids, the school board and the health care provider at the school's health center ignored the law and ignored the parents' rights over their children.

I think schools should refrain from providing such services, that is, providing birth control. Some school health centers have taken and expanded patients' privacy rights beyond the scope given to them, especially when they are dealing with minors.

2,500 dollar car

Nissan and Renault hope to start selling a car for about 2,500 dollars in India in around 2010 along with their local partner there, chief executive Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday.

"We have already practically decided all the attributes of the car," Ghosn told reporters at the Tokyo Motor Show.

"We have the full intention to do it -- if it's feasible. Hopefully this is going to be 2010 in India," he said.

Ghosn, who heads both Japan's Nissan Motor Co. and its French partner Renault, said he would visit Indian partner Bajaj Auto next week for talks on the car.

Full story here.

Will Proton and Perodua be able to come up with a similar car, a car that many low income Malaysians will be able to afford? Isn't Renault already involved in one of the Malaysian car companies? I don't see why they can't come up with a similar low priced car for sale in Malaysia!

Driving a car is a lot safer than riding a motorcycle. Children being driven to school in cars are a lot safer than being sent to school on a motorcycle. I have seen an adult with two or three kids on his motorcycle. That is definitely not safe!

A thought just came to my mind. If there are cars that cheap available in Malaysia, that means the Mat Rempits can then afford to own cars. Imagine the Mat Rempits menacing other road users in their cars! * shudder*

Send Your Panties!

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.

"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.

The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.

To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.

Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.

"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials," Hilton said.

Source: AP

I hope the panties they send are stinky ones, unwashed ones! Show those generals how despised they are! Let those panties sap their power!

You know what, if there was a Burmese embassy near where I lived, I would go there and throw my panties at it too.

The people of Burma have been under the yoke of the military junta for too long. People in other Asian countries are slowly coming out of poverty but in Burma many people are just concentrating on survival. But not for the generals though. They live secluded in their luxury villas in Naypyidaw, cut off from the squalor of Rangoon and other towns.

I say down with the military junta and support the democracy movement. I'd like to support the democracy movement but how do we get our voices heard? There have been protest marches against the recent military crackdown, and signed petitions were sent to international leaders to pressure the Burmese government.

That's a start because last week a senior general offered to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Keep those pressures on Burma's military leaders and hopefully things will begin to change for the better in Burma.

Further Reading: Q&A: Protests in Burma | Free Burma Coalition

Two headed turtle

This conjoined turtle sure looks freakish. I guess the stronger of either will be the one forcing the direction the turtle is to go.

I supposed Jay Jacoby, manager of of Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter, is right in that the turtle is not likely to survive life in the life.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - A two-headed turtle captured by a turtle collector is a rare example of a conjoined-twin birth, its owner said.

The turtle would have likely died in the wild because it swims awkwardly and would be an easy target for predators, according to Jay Jacoby, manager of Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in East Norriton.

The store bought the tiny turtle from the collector for an undisclosed price and will keep it on display, he said.

The 2-month-old turtle, known as a red-eared slider, fits on a silver dollar. It has two heads sticking out from opposite ends of its shell, along with a pair of front feet on each side. But there is just one set of back feet and one tail.


Read full story here.

Driving while female

Wajeha al-Huwaider of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, co-founded a group urging that women be permitted to drive. The group sent King Abdullah a petition with more than 1,100 names. (By Faiza Saleh Ambah -- The Washington Post)

In Saudi Arabia, women are not permitted to drive. One of the reasons for not allowing women to drive is that it would lead to Western-style freedoms and an erosion of traditional values. *Rolling my eyes.*

"Allowing women to drive will only bring sin. The evils it would bring, mixing between the genders, temptations, and tarnishing the reputation of devout Muslim women, outweigh the benefits," wrote one man to the al Watan newspaper in response to an article about a group of women who are petitioning King Abdullah to let women have the right to drive.

Saudi women are forced to rely on hired drivers or male relatives to drive them to places. Taxis for an unaccompanied woman is not safe either. For some, hiring a driver who is usually a foreigner, is beyond their means.

We take our ability to drive our car wherever and whenever we want for granted. It is inconceivable to think that, at this modern day and age, there are women who do not have the right to drive. Women all over the world are marching with the progress of time but in Saudi Arabia, they are still stuck in the mindset of men ruling with 7th century laws.

Read the story about Saudi women petitioning their King their right to drive here.