- A remnant of the 1990s had its ending written Friday in
The Hague, Netherlands when the most senior Croatian military officer convicted of war crimes
during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s was released after an appeal. Serbian
President Tomislav Nikolic quickly denounced the "political decision"
and warned it would open old wounds in the region. General Ante Gotovina was
cleared by an appeals chamber of the U.N. war crimes tribunal on his conviction
of targeting hospitals and other civilian institutions during a Croatian army
operation to retake its Krajina region from rebel ethnic Serbs. Gotovina is an
especially polarizing figure in the Baltic Sea area, hailed as a hero at home
but reviled in neighboring Serbia. Following the court’s decision, he was freed
along with Croatian police commander Mladen Markac. Together, the two men were expected
to fly home later on Friday. In the Croatian capital Zagreb, citizens
celebrated the verdict while those in Serbia reacted with anger and dismay. Nikolic
suggested that the U.N. tribunal's decision had destroyed its neutrality. "It
is now quite clear the tribunal has made a political decision and not a legal
ruling. Today's ruling will not contribute to the stabilization of the
situation in the region and will open old wounds," Nikolic said in a
written statement. "If we had reasons to believe that the tribunal is
neutral, fair and more than a court only for Serbia and its people, these
reasons are now annulled with the acquittal of war criminals." Even for
those outside Croatia and Serbia, the appeal is the biggest reversal for the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia during its near two
decades of hearing cases. Gotovina served as a commander when the Croatian army
ousted rebel Serb forces from the Krajina region in Operation Storm in 1995.
During the NATO-backed operation, Gotovina allegedly targeted civilian
institutions in the Krajina towns in a deliberate attempt to spread fear to
drive Serbs out of the region. Appeal judges ruled that the civilian
institutions had not been targeted on purpose, ruling: "Without a finding
that the artillery attacks were unlawful, the Trial Chamber's conclusion that a
joint criminal enterprise existed cannot be sustained." Gotovina was
sentenced to 24 years in jail at the end of his original trial, but his fate
has swung from war criminal to vindicated hero, at least in Croatia……….
- Discovering what science believes mankind was doing
500,000 years ago is usually fun. In this case, researchers are suggesting that
ancestors
to modern man began hunting with spears tipped with sharpened stones 500,000
years ago. If they are correct, then mankind was actually hunting with spears
200,000 years earlier than previously believed. Previous estimates put the start
of the stone-sharpened spear hunting era at 300,000 years ago, but scientists
recently compared visible wear on a 500,000-year-old stone point found in South
Africa with modern experimental stone points fired by a specially calibrated
crossbow at a springbok carcass. Using this test, the researchers were able to prove
that the spear tips had been used for hunting. Based on their findings, they
concluded that both Neanderthals and prehistoric humans hunted with stone-tipped
spears. Their findings offer the first evidence showing that spear hunting
technology originated prior to or near the diversions of the two species. Such
spear tips are normally found in Stone Age archaeological sites after about
300,000 years ago. The 500,000-year-old stone points investigated in the study
were discovered at a South African archaeological site called Kathu Pan 1.
Testing showed that the stone tips were also used in the early Middle
Pleistocene, which is a period associated with Homo heidelbergensis, known as the
last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans. Breaks in the stone
points display similar characteristics to stone points used for other
functions. “The archaeological points have damage that is very similar to
replica spear points used in our spearing experiment,” said researcher Jayne
Wilkins. “This type of damage is not easily created through other processes.”
Good to know, J., now how does this help anyone in 2012…………
- Royce White’s NBA career is not off to a flying start –
pun intended. White, who suffers from an anxiety disorder and is terrified of
flying, is currently AWOL from the Houston Rockets and the rookie is showing no
signs of reporting to the team any time soon. Prior to the season, he tried to
negotiate alternate travel plans to some road games based on his plan to buy
and maintain a personal luxury bus. However, he flew
with the team to its season opener in Detroit before traveling by bus to games
at Atlanta and Memphis. Now, he has left the team entirely and the Rockets are
not happy. In fact, Rockets owner Leslie Alexander on Tuesday said that there
were "internal repercussions" for White missing practices
and games and said the team intends to fine White for every day he remains away
from the team or does not attend sessions with a therapist arranged by the team.
The 16th pick in June's draft suffers from a fear of flying and obsessive compulsive disorder and to help him make the
transition to the NBA, the Rockets have arranged for White to be treated
by Dr. Aaron Fink of Baylor College of Medicine. He has reportedly flaked on
his treatment sessions and instead has expressed concerns to Fink that the
problem between himself and the Rockets is about "support" rather
than anxiety. "In hindsight, perhaps it was
not a good idea to be open and honest about my anxiety disorder -- due to the current situations at hand that involve the
nature of actions from the Houston Rockets," White said in statement.
"As a rookie, I want to settle into a team and make progress, but since [the] preseason, the
Rockets have been inconsistent with their agreement to proactively create a healthy and successful
relationship." At present, Alexander insists the team has no plans to
trade or release White………
- There would seem to be a natural link between indie/folk
rising stars Mumford & Sons and folk legend Bob Dylan. Dylan has been a
folk icon for decades, whereas Marcus Mumford and Co. are part of the bridge
connecting indie, folk and the mainstream. Lead singer Marcus Mumford has
admitted an affinity for Dylan, but not for the reasons most people would
expect. Dylan has been outspoken politically and socially during his career and
is viewed as a genuine, real storyteller who speaks his mind and says what he
thinks. Not so, Mumford days. "The authenticity thing has never been an
issue for me. Not since I came to the realization that Dylan, who's probably my
favorite artist ever, the richest artist for me, didn't give a sh*t about
authenticity,” Mumford said. “He changed his name. And modeled himself on Woody
Guthrie. And lied to everyone about who he was.” Yes, but everyone needs a good
stage name and back story to succeed in the music game. Don’t try to claim that
Robert Allen Zimmerman is going to be anywhere near as successful and Bob Dylan
because there is no way in hell that happens. Mumford’s biggest issue seems to
be the criticism his band receives for being inauthentic. For the most part,
though, the response from critics and music fans has been mostly positive for
“Sigh No More,” the band’s second release. With work on the follow-up underway
and Mumford & Sons reportedly drawing inspiration from fellow indie rock stalwarts
The National, along with Elton John and The Band, maybe something authentic
will emerge……..
- Everyone has been there: You’re late for a meeting, an
event or for work and when you get where you’re going, all of the good parking
spots are taken. You have to find a place to park or you’re going to be even
later and even more screwed than you already are. Then, you see them. Those
damned handicapped spots, right by the building and conspicuously unused. There
are like 20 of them and there is no damned way 20 handicapped people are
showing up at the same time. Still, most people would rather not incur the $250
fine for parking in one of those spaces and elect to do another lap around the
lot in search of an open space. Don’t count Shawnee (Kan.) Mayor Jeff Meyers in
that group because the mayor ain’t waiting for a non-handicapped spot to open
up. Meyers was running late for a city council meeting this week, a bad look
for the guy in charge. He needed to park and get inside, so he slipped his
truck into a handicapped spot and went right on in. Predictably, someone
recognized his vehicle and used their smartphone to take a picture of the
scene. Former councilman Kevin Straub
snapped the picture and said it wasn’t the first time Meyers has committed that
particular offense. "I think he considers that his spot," said
Straub, who happily shared his cellphone pictures with anyone who wanted a look.
Left with no other options, Meyers said that on top of paying his $270 fine, he
would also donate 50 percent of that amount - $135 - to the Mayor's Christmas
Tree Fund. He also released a statement saying he knew "a full house was
waiting on him because the parking lot was completely filled." "The
disabled spots were the only ones available and I made the decision that I
would park there and accept whatever consequences occurred in order to get the
meeting started. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best decision. It won't
happen again," Meyers said. Straub disputed nearly everything in the
statement, saying he entered the U-shaped parking lot just ahead of Meyers and
that the mayor didn’t even bother to circle the entire lot. "If you don't
go all the way around, you don't know if it's full or not," he said.
"But he was running late and grabbed the first spot that was available.”
According to Straub, Meyers blew him off when confronted initially and is only
now acting contrite because his crime has become public……….
No comments:
Post a Comment