BASE-jumping has nothing to do with jumping to base. They all come down eventually anyhow. The apronym BASE is short for building-antenna-span (bridge)-earth and gives the list of objects jumpers jump from, not where they land. (And an apronym is an acronym that forms a previously existing word.) The time to open the parachute is extremely short and the sport is therefore considered far more dangerous than parachuting from a plane or sky-diving.

BASE-jumping evolved out of sky-diving, but due to the lower height of the starting point for BASE-jumping the jumper never reaches terminal velocity. Higher airspeed allows better body control as well as faster opening of parachutes. The short time span allotted to the BASE-jumper makes the sport more risky than jumps from higher up.

The first base-jump was recorded in 1912 in New York from the Statue of Liberty, but the name was given to the sport was invented in 1981. 1912 is also the date of the first death, when tailor Franz Reichelt tested his newest invention, the coat parachute. There are two further jumps on record for 1913 after which a 50 year interval occurred. In 1965 the first jump after the interval was executed in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy.

BASE-jumping gained a wider audience and world view in 1976 when the opening sequence of the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me” showed a jump from Mount Asgard in Canada.

While some countries have forbidden BASE-jumping, others allow it upon review of a submission for permission, and some such as Switzerland, France, Italy, and Norway allow it from well-known and clearly defined rock formations. The stunt in Zurich which led to the death of the jumper was a permitted jump.

One of the world’s most famous jumping sites is in the Lauterbrunnen-Valley in Switzerland which has developed as one of the main jumping sites in the world. On the flip side, the deaths reported from jumps in that region are also the world’s highest. Until April 2009, 133 deaths from BASE-jumping activities had been recorded, of which 19 (or over 15 percent) in Lauterbrunnen-Valley.

Ueli Gegenschatz was reckoned one of the leading BASE-jumpers in the world with over 1,500 jumps to his credit. In an interview prior to the Zurich stunt he said that the risk of BASE-jumping was calculated and in no way suicidal. He might gain entry into the next edition of Famous Last Words. According to eye-witnesses he was knocked unconscious by the fall but regained consciousness still on site. His first reaction was an apology for a bungled jump.

The jump from the 88 meter (270 ft.) high Sunrise building was the start for a publicity campaign for Red Bull Mobile. Red Bull’s classical advertising slogan in German is “Red Bull makes you grow wings.” Red Bull and Sunrise have cancelled the publicity campaign immediately following the accident.

Gegenschatz died on Friday from the injuries he sustained during the incident.

Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr

It was a terrible day for our country when one of their own opened fire and killed 13 soldiers and wounded 31 others . Many of them were returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Others were preparing to leave for these countries. Those soldiers returning from the war were probably experiencing the first feeling of safety they had felt for many months when they were taken by surprise and shot down in a flurry of bullets coming from two pistols held in the hands of one of their own personnel.

“A lot of people are angry because they feel this could have been prevented,” said Spc. Brian Hill, a 25 year old soldier from Nashville,Tennessee, who was injured in Iraq and walks with a cane. “Somebody should have been paying attention.” The finger pointing has already begun in Washington. The shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a military psychiatrist came to the attention of authorities long before last Thursday’s massacre at Fort Hood.

Communications have come to light that Hasan was in direct contact with an Imam who praised Hasan on Monday on his web site, saying the Army psychiatrist “did the right thing” in attacking soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. Hasan’s outspoken views and declining stability have been noted but government officials said they gave no evidence he was likely to engage in violence. Officials said Hasan acted by himself, lashing out as a result of a combinations of factors, including his outspoken opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his deepening religious fervor as a Muslim. Hasan was shot down by military police and is at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He is in critical but stable condition and is able to talk. Hasan’s family have hired a lawyer.

Image via Wikipedia

Even as President Obama honored the dead at Fort Hood the investigation intensified in Washington. Questions are being asked about whether officials at several agencies had failed to coordinate as they tracked the suspects activities or to react to warning signs in the months before the attack. Hasan came to the attention of two joint Terrorism Task Forces in December as he corresponded by email as many as 20 times with radical imam Anwar al-Awlaqi, who has exhorted followers in the United States, Great Britain and elsewhere to pursue violent jihad.

President Obama called each fallen soldier by name and spoke of each soldier’s interests, his family and how the victim lived rather than how he died. He pledged to the crowd that the killer will be met with justice in this world and the next. The president spoke of the tranquility and liberty that we enjoy at home and and how the 13 gave their lives for it. After the ceremony the president and first lady walked along the row of boots and placed a commander-in-chief’s coin by each picture.

The saddest and most heartfelt moments were when the role was called and the silence that followed when each of the dead soldiers names were called.

http://socyberty.com/issues/military-suicide/

http://newsflavor/world/middle-east/soldiers-die-in-iraq-due-to-contractors-shoddy-work/

http://thrifter.com/usa-canada/illinois/kennesaw-mountains-unknown-soldier/

http://newsflvor.com/world/usa-canada/honoring-our-soldiers/

A new ‘possible’ site for Atlantis may have been discovered off the coast of southern Greece.  A team of archaeologists and marine geologists from Greece and England’s University of Nottingham have been working together to ‘fathom’ (sorry couldn’t resist the nautical term me hearties!) whether this underwater city, known as Pavlopetri, could have been the basis for the great myth of Atlantis. 

Dr Jon Henderson from the University of Nottingham has confirmed that the site dates back around 5,000 years which would have been when Homer was Greece’s ‘best selling author’.  It’s been a fantastic find as its size and the detail within the ruins are ‘unprecedented’ according to our experts out there in Greece.

Jon Henderson has stated that there’s ‘no doubt’ it’s the oldest ‘undersea town’ in the world.  It has remains dating way back to 2800 BC.  I know you’re all going to be sending me comments saying that this isn’t the case; that there are older undersea ’sites’, but this is the first one that is set out as a planned town.

The site takes up about 30,000 sq metres and it’s thought it was probably swallowed by the ocean around 1000 BC.  It was apparently discovered about 40 years ago by a British oceanographer but it wasn’t until now, with all our modern digital techonology, that a real dig and a dive could be undertaken to survey the whole of the site.

But it was only due to the settlement’s location in a protected bay that so much detail still remains and the current exploratory works have shown the lay-outs of courtyards and streets which themselves have revealed tombs and religious buildings as well as numerous pieces of pottery.  Our intrepid investigators also unearthed (or unsea-ed!) ceramics dating way back to the end of the stone age which is why they believe the site dates right back to around 5000 BC.

9,000 sq metres of new buildings were discovered as was a possible ‘megaron’ which (as I’ve been led to believe by these extremely knowledgeable Anglo Greek experts) was a huge structure with a large rectangular hall and would have been used by the elite.  This would of course elevate the status of the town.

It’s a really exciting find as it gives such a fantastic insight into the Mycaenae people who were around in this area of Greece at the time and who liked nothing more than a good old fisticuffs with all and sundry – being a nation of warriors rather than merchants.

Nobody so far has any idea why this wonderful town disappeared under the ocean but the most obvious causes would be due to a rise in sea level, a tsunami or an earthquake.  But whatever the reason for its demise it’s certainly caused a stir in the local town of Neapolis.

This find is the first underwater city discovered in Greece which predates the time Plato wrote about Atlantis and as our digitally equpped divers continue with their exploratory work it’s going to be interesting to hear what else is discovered down in the depths!

On Halloween morning, Shannon’s mother and her boyfriend told police that the girl had disappeared from their residence, though all three had been sleeping in the same room, a suspicious circumstance at best. The adults are purportedly cooperating with investigators, at least to some extent. Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies from three counties and volunteer firefighters have been searching the town and its surroundings for clues.

The Town Left Behind

Chipley is a small backwater in Florida’s panhandle, about 80 miles northwest of Tallahassee, far removed in time and space from the opulent communities and tourist meccas to the south. It is a place whose dirt roads, beat up trailers and tin roof shacks reflect the quiet desperation of its residents. Neighbors keep largely to themselves amid ‘Beware of Dog’ signs, jacked-up clunkers and clotheslines sighing in the breeze.

Chipley is also an enclave from the encroaching terrain that encircles it, a desperate land of trees, tangled vines and swamps. It is an area straight out of an H. P. Lovecraft novel, difficult to search and capable of swallowing up secrets very quickly.

Bobby Haddock, Washington County Sheriff, is quarterbacking the investigation into Shannon Dedrick’s disappearance. He hasn’t released the names of the mother or her boyfriend, who have been interviewed. Sheriff Haddock has identified a ’person of interest,’ whom he hasn’t identified, either. He has issued a missing child alert, but that appears to be pro forma when analyzed in light of other things he has said and done.

First, Haddock spelled out the obvious point that Shannon could not have walked or crawled out of the room. Not only is she a mere seven months in age, but may be developmentally disabled. “This child cannot walk or crawl,” he said. “It did not leave the residence by itself.”

Of equal import is this finding: “There’s nothing to lead us to believe at this time that this was an abduction,” Haddock told the Panama City News Herald. This means two things. Haddock has rejected the significance of a mysterious grey van spotted on several occasions near the trailer where the child had lived. It also means that, by default, the boyfriend and/or mother are under suspicion. The interest in Shannon’s immediate family is heightened by Haddock’s belief that the child went missing no later than 8 AM October 31, 2009, encompassing a delay of at least three hours before the police were notified.

Haddock also said he is not concerned about the safety of anybody else in the community, further strengthening the perception that he is focused on the trailer’s adult occupants.

Shannon would be helpless if alone, and the places being searched could only yield her remains. Late Monday, Sheriff Haddock claimed: “We have searched every dumpster in the city limits of Chipley, we have turned over every garbage can.”

As to efforts in the outlying wilderness, the pattern of the search is telling. It began near the point of disappearance and is radiating outward in concentric circles. That would be the most efficient means of finding a girl alive if she were seven years old rather than seven months. It looks like a body search. It could be the investigators are looking for clues also, but if Shannon had been secreted to any safe place, the clues would not be in the woods or swamp.

Your writer would change these facts if he could, but can only keep you informed. Those who hope that Shannon will be found alive will need a miracle, so keep her in your prayers.

Update: Shannon Dedrick Found Alive in Babysitter’s Home

Just after this article went to press, baby Shannon was found, in a box under the bed of babysitter Susan Baker. County Sheriff Bobby Haddock is considering charges against the sitter and Shannon’s mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer, probably for filing a false police report. Yet Shannon Dedrick lives, and that makes this writer’s morning.

Her father Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, who fled the scene, and was a subject of a manhunt, was finally arrested at Atlanta’s Airport last Thursday, after his attempt to flee to the United Kingdom was thwarted. It is reported that when he arrived in the UK, he was denied entry, and returned to the US where the police was there to welcome him. He was interviewed by the Peoria police, and transported back to Arizona to face charges.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the county prosecutor Stephanie Low told the judge that the father had admitted he had committed the crime. Low reportedly told the court “By his own admission, this was an intentional act and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family” Low further said “This was an attempt at an honor killing”

It was reported that members of the family told the authorities that Almaleki attacked his daughter because he was upset that she had become too “Westernized” and her lifestyle was not in keeping with Iraqi values.

Almaleki, who had originally faced charges of aggravated assault, since his daughter’s death, he now faces upgraded charges, according to the Peoria police spokesman Mike Tellef, in an interview with the AP.

The Almalekis reportedly migrated to the US in the 1990’s, but the daughter had moved out and was living with her boyfriend’s mother, Amal Khallaf, who was also injured in the accident, and is expected to survive.  

Source

Professor Nutt called for the implementation if an “index of harm,” (which you can see HERE) providing accurate information regarding the dangers of both illegal and legal drugs, and accused the government of covering up the facts and misleading the public. (You can read the full story HERE). However, the government reacted quickly to prevent any disclosure of truth – backed up by scientific evidence gathered by an academic clearly considered by them to be the best man for the job when they initially employed him – by immediately demanding he resign from his position.

The following statement was released by a Home Office Spokesperson: “The home secretary has asked Professor Nutt to resign as chair of the ACMD [Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs]. In a letter he [Alan Johnson] expressed surprise and disappointment over Professor Nutt’s comments which damage efforts to give the public clear messages about the dangers of drugs. We remain determined to crack down on all illegal substances and minimise their harm to health and society as a whole.” Source

Richard Garside, director of the centre for crime and justice, who supported Nutt’s briefing paper – based in fact rather than upon moral stance – said: “I’m shocked and dismayed that the home secretary appears to believe that political calculation trumps honest and informed scientific opinion. The message is that when it comes to the Home Office’s relationship with the research community honest researchers should be seen but not heard. The home secretary’s action is a bad day for science and a bad day for the cause of evidence-informed policy making.” Source

Professor Nutt is said to be disappointed by the reaction, but is clear about the reasons for his dismissal. He yesterday released the following statement: “It’s unusual political times, I suppose, elections and all that. It’s disappointing. But politics is politics and science is science and there’s a bit of a tension between them sometimes.” Source

When later questioned on live television by the BBC, Professor Nutt said “It is a very bleak day for science… In many days it’s a worse day for Politics.” He also said his colleagues – who worked freely for thousands of hours – are “upset” about his dismissal, and claims the situation will “undermine confidence” in this type of position within the scientific community.

Clearly, those in power care more about the results of impending election than they do for truth and honour, science, and the even health and safety of the entire population of the UK.

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Source

Professor Nutt, chairman of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College, London, and head of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit at Bristol University, is now calling for the creation of an “index of harm,” to enable members of the public to compare the differences in danger levels between various drugs, both legal and illegal. In this index, alcohol would be considered the fifth most dangerous substance, after cocaine, heroin, barbiturates, and methadone. Cigarettes would be ranked number nine – higher than cannabis, LSD, and ecstasy, ranked  respectively at 11, 14, and 18. Drugs in the index are scored and ranked based on the physical harm they may cause the user, the likelihood of dependence, and harm caused to society.

Source

Professor Nutt criticised the government for providing mis-leading information, saying the artificial separation between legal and illegal drugs gives people the wrong impression about the dangers involved in the use of certain substances. He even went as far as saying smoking cannabis produces only a “relatively small risk of psychosis” – contradicting the government’s own advice, which claims it massively increases the risk of mental illness. He accused the former home secretary, Jaqcui Smith – famous for her porn-watching husband and shameful involvement in the MPs expenses scandal – of “distorting and devaluing” scientific research, when making the decision to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug. She accuses him of “trivialising” the dangers of drugs.

Professor Nutt has recently released a statement, saying: “No one is suggesting that drugs are not harmful. The critical question is one of scale and degree.” He added: “We have to accept young people like to experiment — with drugs and other potentially harmful activities — and what we should be doing in all of this is to protect them from harm at this stage of their lives. We therefore have to provide more accurate and credible information. If you think that scaring kids will stop them using, you are probably wrong.” Source

Source

The first and most obvious problem glaring at us from this “index of harm” is the incredibly high placement of alcohol, at number five – something many readers will be very surprised to see. A huge number of us drink on a regular basis, and probably consider consumption of this perfectly legal substance far healthier and less dangerous than regular use of either cannabis, LSD or ecstasy. But, if there’s scientific evidence to prove this to be more than marginally inaccurate, don’t the government owe it to us to tell us so?

The second issue is the idea that cigarettes could be more dangerous than cannabis, LSD, and ecstasy, which is shocking, by anyone’s standards. Here in the UK, we’re bombarded with press releases about the dangers of smoking cannabis; parents up and down the country are terrified their spliff-smoking teens will almost certainly find themselves suffering from schizophrenia if they insist in continuing their illegal past-time. Equally, LSD and ecstasy are promoted as dangerous, even lethal drugs – and most parents would much prefer their children were just having a drink and/or smoking some cigarettes, than taking either substance. But what if they’re wrong?

Source

From Professor Nutt’s above statement, we can see he openly accuses the UK government of scare-mongering tactics that he personally believes will never work. And he’s probably right, if previous campaigns are anything to go by. He’s also perfectly clear in his research-based, professional opinion as a scientist, that alcohol and cigarettes are far more dangerous than is currently admitted. So why are the government ignoring the evidence provided by his careful research and clinging to false statements made by politically-motivated individuals?

Could it be anything to do with the MASSIVE income they receive from the tax they charge on alcohol and cigarettes?

I don’t know about you, but as a parent – and regardless of any financial implications they may face as a result – I fully expect the government to provide me with the cold, hard facts about the dangers regarding drugs, as and when they discover them, so I can attempt to keep my children as safe as possible – as my job as a mother dictates. I simply cannot do so if they insist on lying to me.

LATEST NEWS: Government Sacks Scientist for Telling The Truth About Drugs

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It must have been evident to even the most casual of observers that Hines was dead and had been for some time. Investigators would later find 32 knife wounds and evidence of beating. Further, witnesses told police they thought Feliciano’s CPR efforts seemed half-hearted.

Feliciano also enjoyed a favorable reputation around the church, as a ‘second father’ to the kids. All that would change within a day.

Police found that Father Hines’ cell phone was still active, though it was no longer in the rectory. He had tried to use it to call 911 during the attack, but the killer said everything was fine, hung up, and the cops could not get a trace. The killer had taken the phone with him, police surmised. They were right, and on Saturday the traced it to Jose Feliciano’s home. There they found one cell phone, some bloody clothing, a distraught wife, and the church janitor.

Feliciano was arrested, Marandized, and gave a somewhat dissatisfying confession. He and Father Hines had had an argument Thursday night, and Feliciano had killed the priest.

If the police were told what the argument was about, they are giving no specifics as of yet, but they are pursuing the idea that there may have been some kind of relationship between them. The reasoning is blood simple. This was an extremely violent and passionate murder, not the type of thing that happens between people who merely work together.

So this argument would not be about something like whether the janitor emptied the trash often enough. To the janitor, at least, it was a basic rift in their relationship, and had there been no emotions in the relationship, one would not see them reflected so clearly in the murder. It is left for us now to wait until the full truth comes out.

I can guarantee that there will be no criminal conduct or civil liability found in connection with these three men’s deaths. Ten days earlier, two women and one man suffered fatal injuries during a ‘Spiritual Warrior’ program at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona. Like the men who fell at the half-marathon, these people were in good physical condition, had signed waivers acknowledging that what they were going to do could be dangerous, and died while participating in an ancient pursuit that had a relatively safe track record. Yet their deaths in a sweat lodge ceremony are being investigated by the county sheriff as ‘homicides,’ and one civil action for wrongful death is already being prepared. How can this dichotomy be resolved? The devil is in the details.

James Arthur Ray, harmonicwealthweekend.com

The man who conceived of and led the retreat is James Arthur Ray, a charismatic public speaker, author of self-help books, who appears to be selling the concept of material wealth through a combination of ‘new age’ spirituality, American Indian ritual, astrology and numerology. He has taken a page from the Scientologists in method, by holding free seminars to entice attendees to pay for pricier ones. These include the $4,000 ‘Quantum Leap’ workshop, the $5,300 weeklong ‘Practical Mysticism’ seminar, and the $9,000+ ‘Spiritual Warrior’ retreat, which was in progress when the fatal injuries occurred.

On October 8, 2009, Ray led between 50-60 followers into a sweat lodge. There were hot coals in the lodge and Ray, as facilitator, periodically poured water over them. Two hours later, Kirby Brown, 38 and James Shore, 40 were pulled unconscious from the lodge. The nurse was performing CPR on them as ambulances arrived, but they died soon after. Nineteen others required hospitalization; one of these, 49 year old Liz Neuman, was in critical condition, comatose, and would die of multiple organ damage. Autopsies are to be conducted on Brown and Shore.

The Yarepai County Sheriff Steve Waugh said the deaths were “not accidental.” He continued: “A combination of circumstances led to the deaths. Whether or not we can prove a criminal case, that has yet to be determined.” This statement does not bode well for Ray and his assistants in this homicide investigation. The word “homicide” simply means the killing of another human being. A finding that the deaths were accidental would be the best thing Ray could hope for as it would absolve him of any criminal guilt. Yet if Ray’s actions were negligent, grossly negligent, or willful and wanton misconduct, there is criminal exposure.

Waugh says investigators are looking at how the lodge was built, the fact that people have gotten sick at prior sweat ceremonies run by Ray, and the questionable level of on site medical care (one nurse for more than 50 people).

Both the police and the relatives of Kirby Brown have talked to people who attended the sweat lodge group. It was apparently almost pitch dark in the lodge, so it would be harder to notice that someone passed out. Kirby Brown’s cousin Tom Feeley, who believes the three people were “murdered,” painted a portrait of confusion in which people were passing out and coming to, and that a lot of people probably would have left had Ray not been stationed by the door.

This writer would expect civil suits to be filed in all three cases once the investigation and autopsies are finished. A lawyer for the estate of Liz Neuman is already getting revved up to file a suit for wrongful death.

So this is a different case from the Detroit Marathon. There are many people who would run long distances even if there were no sanctioned races, and anyone is free to drop out of a race if they feel ill. Deaths in distance races are rare events; the last death to occur in the Detroit race was in 1994. In Sedona we have people crammed into a sweat lodge of questionable design and led by a charismatic person whom they trusted. And that is a different story.

The pirate trade has been the most notable export commodity of Somalia for some years, and its turn-over figures showed a steep rise up to the point where the European Union and the United States decided to step in. The pirates’ modus operandi was to kidnap a trading vessel and its crew to blackmail the owners of the ship into paying ransoms amounting to several million dollars each time.

Unbelievable as it is, paying ransom has not been outlawed under terrorist acts even though persons paying ransom are directly colluding with terrorists. Instead, several European nations and the US have deployed naval forces near the coast of Somalia to safeguard the passage of trade ships. The French navy is part of this deployment under the code name Atalanta. The bill for it all is not footed by the companies directly profiting from the naval action but by the taxpayer as is normal with very rich companies belonging to very rich families.

Image source

The Somali pirates seemingly assumed that the La Somme was a civil transport vessel and attacked it from small boats firing several volleys from their Kalashnikovs. I imagine that the pirates were slightly taken aback when the attacked ship turned round and took up their pursuit. A French naval spokesperson issued a statement to the point that nobody had been hurt in the incident and that five pirates had been apprehended.

By default, the French might have found the solution on how to make their job easier. There are many civil transport ships lying idle all over the world that could be requisitioned and transformed into pirate traps. If a mouse trap works for a mouse, a pirate trap should work for a pirate, wouldn’t you agree? As the whole operation is paid for by the taxpayer so that private companies might send their ships by way of Somalia to the Suez Channel, it should be paramount to keep the time spent y the navies in Somali waters to a minimum.

Luring the pirates out to prepared traps would certainly help shorten manpower available to pirate chiefs and make the recruiting of new members more difficult. Using the attraction of a seemingly helpless ship manned by marines would certainly be more efficient than waiting for a pirate attack on a real civil transport with the chance that no naval vessel is nearby. It certainly beats the awful thought of chasing pirates over the dusty hills of Somalia by miles.

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