Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 15, the 319th day of 2005. There are 46 days left in the year.
1777, the Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, a precursor to the Constitution of the United States.
1806, explorer Zebulon Pike sighted the mountaintop now known as "Pikes Peak."
1881 Payton Johnson patents a swinging chair.
1889, Brazil's monarchy was overthrown.
1921 William A. "Gus" Gaines, who will receive a U.S. patent for a shaving brush which automatically dispenses shaving cream, is born in Mamaroneck, NY.
1926, the National Broadcasting Company debuted with a radio network of 24 stations.
1932 Singer Clyde Lensley McPhatter, who will be honored with a U.S. postage stamp for rhythm & blues singers, is born in Durham, NC.
1939, President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
1948, William Lyon Mackenzie King retired as prime minister of Canada after 21 years; he was succeeded by Louis St. Laurent.
1966 Bill Russell, All-American and All-Pro basketball star, becomes first Black coach of a professional sports team. He will enter basketball's Hall of Fame on his first eligibility date.
1966, the flight of Gemini 12 ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic.
1969, 250,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War.
1979 Civil rights hero Rosa L. Parks is awarded the NAACP's Spingarn Medal.
1982, funeral services were held in Moscow's Red Square for the late Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev.
1985, Britain and Ireland signed an accord giving Dublin an official consultative role in governing Northern Ireland.
Ten years ago: A partial government shutdown stretched into a second day. The space shuttle Atlantis docked with the orbiting Russian space station Mir.
Five years ago: Al Gore made a surprise proposal for a statewide hand recount of Florida's 6 million ballots -- an idea immediately rejected by George W. Bush. Earlier, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris had rejected requests from the counties to update presidential vote totals with the results of hand recounts under way at Gore's urging.
One year ago: The White House announced that Secretary of State Colin Powell was leaving President Bush's Cabinet, along with Education Secretary Rod Paige, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
The U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Ivory Coast's hard-line government after its violent confrontation with France.
Missing in Action
1966 KEIPER JOHN C. RENOVO PA
1966 RAVENNA HARRY M. III SAN ANTONIO TX
1966 TIMMONS BRUCE ALLAN FORT LAUDERDALE FL CRAFT OVERTURNED SUBJ DROWNED
1968 BIRCHIM JAMES D. INDEPENDENCE CA
1969 GRAF JOHN G. GLENDALE CA DIED ESCAPING 02/15/70 WITH WHITE
1969 SUBER RANDOLPH B. BALLWIN MO
1969 WHITE ROBERT T. ST CHARLES IL 04/01/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 98
Pomegranates
One of my earliest memories is that of using money my grandmother had given me to buy candy to buy a pomegranate instead. Oh, I loved them. I loved the fact that we kids had to dress up special in our worst clothes in order to eat them. We had to eat them outside, too (it's still pretty warm in November in Los Angeles where we lived when I was a kid), and spit the seeds out into the shrubbery. Messy, juicy, sweet food that involves sanctioned spitting? We were in heaven.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001580pomegranates.php
San Francisco Chronicle
SACRAMENTO
Prisons' movie studio cost $500,000
Taxpayers funded foundation's film for drug counselors
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Sacramento -- State prison officials, as they grappled last year with the largest deficit in the agency's history, allowed a private foundation that provides drug treatment to inmates to spend nearly $500,000 of taxpayer money to create a movie studio.
The money was earmarked for substance abuse programs but instead was used to buy everything from two high-tech cameras to two 50-inch plasma-screen televisions. It was spent in the same fiscal year that the state's prison system racked up a $543 million deficit.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/15/BAG8QFO8L81.DTL
Boy with rare disease still in limbo
C.W. Nevius
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Little Jack Zembsch got a standing ovation last week.
The Moraga 4-year-old with a rare bone condition was victorious in a battle with his HMO, Health Net, to see a spine specialist at the Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children in Delaware. So when he walked through the door last Thursday, the staff burst into spontaneous applause.
"You guys are helping a lot of sick kids," the specialist, Dr. William Mackenzie, told Jack and his parents, Kim and Mark Zembsch, Kim recalled.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/15/BAG8QFOARH1.DTL
Japan links Tamiflu to 2 teen suicides
64 cases of disorders connected to avian flu treatment
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
An expensive, hard-to-find flu drug that nations are stockpiling against a possible influenza pandemic has been linked to 64 cases of psychological disorders and two teenage suicides in Japan, according to media reports there.
The drug is Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, which will become the world's first line of defense if the avian influenza now spreading among migrating birds from Asia to Eastern Europe ever mutates into a form that transmits readily to people.
In February 2004, according to an online edition of Japan Times, a 17-year-old high school boy under treatment with Tamiflu died after he jumped in front of a truck.
A year later, a 14-year-old junior high student, also taking the drug for influenza, jumped to his death from the ninth floor of his condominium.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/15/MNG29FO9K71.DTL
Even moderate exercise boosts longevity, study says
Rob Stein, Washington Post
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Sorry, couch potatoes -- the verdict is in: People who exercise regularly really do live longer.
In fact, people who get a good workout almost daily can add nearly four years to their lives, according to the first study to quantify the impact of physical activity this way.
The researchers looked at records of more than 5,000 middle aged and elderly Americans and found that those who had moderate to high levels of activity lived 1.3 to 3.7 years longer than those who got little exercise, largely because they put off developing heart disease -- the nation's leading killer. Men and women benefited about equally.
"This shows that physical activity really does make a difference -- not only for how long you live but for how long you live a healthy life," said Oscar Franco of the Erasmus M.C. University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who led the study published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Being more physically active can give you more time."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/15/MNG29FOAJP1.DTL
WORLD VIEWS: U.S. losing friends over torture; Africa's first elected female president
Edward M. Gomez, special to SF Gate
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
The seemingly unstoppable pattern of lies and lying about their lies that has become the hallmark of George W. Bush and his administration's top officials, spokespersons and supporters in the media reached something of a bizarre apotheosis last week.
As news analyst Michael Gawenda, writing in the Australian daily the Age, noted incredulously, "When the president of the United States, under repeated questioning and under pressure, has to declare, as he did [during a stop in Panama], 'We do not torture,' you know that even his allies in Congress no longer believe him."
http://sfgate.com/columnists/worldviews/
The Japan Times
Action plan for bird flu includes ban on gatherings
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry unveiled a plan Monday empowering the government to ban public gatherings and quarantine people to counter the potential outbreak of a new strain of bird flu against which humans have yet to develop an effective defense.
Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in Asia, and it is feared the virus may mutate into a form that can spread easily between humans.
The ministry has estimated that if 25 percent of the population contracts bird flu, the number of deaths in the worst-case scenario would reach some 640,000.
The thrust of the ministry's plan will be to boost stockpiles of the drug Tamiflu, which can treat the symptoms of bird flu. Other developed nations are taking similar steps.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051115a1.htm
Japan imports illegally caught tuna: WWF
Commission likely to slam Tokyo over bluefin bought from Turkey
Japan has imported thousands of tons of bluefin tuna caught by Turkey in the Eastern Atlantic in violation of international agreements, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Fisherman haul in bluefin tuna from a storage farm in the sea near Turkey. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE/KYODO
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna is expected to demand that Turkey observe international rules when it meets in Spain beginning Monday, sources said.
Japan is also likely to face criticism over its imports of illegally caught bluefin tuna.
The ICCAT does not allocate a national quota for bluefin tuna to Turkey but allows it, together with other countries, to catch a total of 1,146 tons a year in the Eastern Atlantic.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051115a2.htm
Reactor increase not needed to cut CO 2 drastically: research
Carbon dioxide emissions can be cut by 70 percent by 2050 in Japan even without adding nuclear power plants if the country improves energy efficiency and increases natural energy generation, a governmental environmental institute said.
The government aims to build more nuclear plants to cut carbon dioxide emissions, but the alternatives are "worth trying for future generations' sake," Junichi Fujino, a researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, said last week.
According to research by the institute under the Environment Ministry, Japan can cut carbon dioxide emissions by increasing use of fuel cells, wind power generation and other new types of energy.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051115f2.htm
Fruit yields not very peachy as global warming fallout rises
By HIROMI OTSUKA
Kyodo News
In what appears to be fallout from global warming, abnormal fruit, including grapes not turning red and peaches with brown flesh, are becoming nationwide occurrences, forcing producers to seek countermeasures.
Red Aki Queen grapes (top) and green ones grow at the Hiroshima Prefectural Agriculture Technology Center.
"If the color is bad, prices are less than half," said researcher Takayoshi Yamane of the Hiroshima Prefectural Agriculture Technology Center's Fruit Tree Research Institute.
Usually large and red, the high-quality Aki Queen grape grown in mild coastal areas in Hiroshima Prefecture along the Seto Inland Sea remained green even in the harvest month of August, apparently because of the high temperatures when the grape should have begun to change color.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051115f3.htm
Team finds Buddhist caves on Afghanistan cliff
KELIGAN, Afghanistan (Kyodo) Japanese researchers have found Buddhist stone caves believed to date back to the eighth century about 120 km west of the Bamiyan ruins in central Afghanistan.
Light streams into a recently discovered cave near Keligan, Afghanistan, believed been used by Buddhist monks in the eighth century. PHOTO COURTESY OF AKIRA INOUE/KYODO
The team, headed by Ryukoku University professor Takashi Irisawa, confirmed in late October the discovery of a group of caves built on cliffs 1 km west of the Keligan ruins.
The discovery indicates the influence of Buddhism may have extended to the upper reaches of the the Band-e-Amir River, centering around the Keligan ruins, in about the eighth century, and that the religion's sphere of influence may have been greater than previously thought, team members said.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051112f1.htm
Beijing appears more apt to seek flu help
By FRANK CHING
HONG KONG -- China's appeal to the World Health Organization for help to determine whether three cases of "pneumonia caused by unknown factors" in Hunan province could have been the result of the H5N1 virus indicates that Beijing is taking the threat of bird flu seriously.
Previously, Chinese health authorities had denied that two children in Xiangtan county in Hunan province -- a 12-year-old girl who died and her younger brother, 9, both of whom had eaten a sick chicken -- had caught the bird flu virus. The third case is a 36-year-old teacher who had handled chickens with a wound in his hand.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20051114fc.htm
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Government agrees to list Puget Sound orcas as endangered species
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
After years of legal challenges, Puget Sound orcas have been granted federal protection as an endangered species, officials announced this morning.
Citing new information and analysis, NOAA Fisheries Service officials acknowledged that the local killer whales were at risk of extinction and reversed an earlier decision not to give the iconic orcas protection under the Endangered Species Act.
By granting protection “we have a better chance of keeping this population alive for future generations,” said Bob Lohn, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries Service’s Northwest region, in a prepared statement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/248422_orca15ww.html
'Intersex' fish found off Calif. coast
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Scientists have discovered sexually altered fish off the Southern California coast, raising concerns that treated sewage discharged into the ocean contains chemicals that can affect an animal's reproductive system.
So-called intersex animals are not new, but most previous instances were in freshwater. Environmentalists say this is among the first studies to document the effects in a marine environment.
Last year, federal scientists reported finding egg-growing male fish in Maryland's Potomac River. They think the abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Intersex_Fish.html
Seattle's job gains continue
By BRAD WONG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
With a nearly month-long strike of Boeing Machinists in its wake, the Seattle economy has added some 6,300 jobs in the past two months -- continuing to account for 54 percent of the state's jobs growth, the Employment Security Department reported today.
An increase in the number of people looking for work in the region, which includes Bellevue and Everett, contributed to October's 4.9 percent unemployment rate, which was up slightly from 4.8 percent in September.
"It's pretty much more of the same," said Rick Kaglic, the department's chief economist. "In our jobs recovery, more of the same is a good thing."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/248427_unemployment16ww.html
Dangerous Navy escapee still at large
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The brig at Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor will undergo an internal investigation after a prisoner convicted last month of stealing small-arms ammunition and considered armed and dangerous escaped Sunday afternoon.
The wife of the escaped former Whidbey Island Naval Air Station aviation technician, James Tait Praefke, 37, was moved from her home shortly after the escape, said Lt. Cmdr. John Daniels, spokesman for Navy Region Northwest.
Praefke has a history of domestic violence, according to the Navy. Praefke's wife is divorcing him, Daniels said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/248357_escape15.html
Resolution recognizes deceased homeless
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A resolution recognizing the dignity of homeless people who have died in the Seattle area was passed unanimously Monday by the City Council.
The resolution is in conjunction with a recent Design Challenge by AIA Seattle (American Institute of Architects), which received designs submitted for a "Place of Remembrance."
Seattle's Women in Black, a group that is part of a network of women who stand in silent vigil calling for peace, justice and non-violent solutions to conflict, have staged a vigil at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle for more than three years honoring the homeless.
Their supporters, Seattle religious leaders and members of the design profession have been working together to establish a homeless "Place of Remembrance" since 2003.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/248374_kcbriefs15.html
First-class stamps to go up 2 cents
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The cost of mailing a letter will increase to 39 cents on Jan. 8.
The Postal Service's board of governors approved the two-cent increase in first-class postal rates late Monday. It is the first increase since June 2002.
The cost of mailing a postcard will increase a penny, to 24 cents, as part of the roughly 5.4 percent, across-the-board hike in most rates and fees.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Postal_Rates.html
Moussaoui death penalty trial delayed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui will be delayed a month as lawyers for the government and the admitted al-Qaida conspirator battle over classified information in the case.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said that the original Jan. 9 date for the start of jury selection would be moved back to Feb. 6. Final selection of the jury and opening statements in the case have been rescheduled for March 6. The jury will decide whether Moussaoui is to be sentenced to life imprisonment or death.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Moussaoui.html
Driver in Rita bus fire avoids indictment
By ABE LEVY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN ANTONIO -- The driver of the bus that caught fire while carrying nursing home residents fleeing Hurricane Rita, killing 23 of them, is cooperating with federal authorities investigating the accident, his lawyer said Tuesday.
A grand jury on Monday refused to indict Juan Robles Gutierrez, 37, in the Sept. 23 accident near Dallas.
"The grand jury obviously saw that they would have suffered the same fate if it were any other driver," defense attorney George Shaffer said Tuesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Rita_Bus_Explosion.html
Funnel cloud seen in twister-hit Indiana
By RYAN LENZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Just eight days after a deadly tornado struck southwestern Indiana, emergency warning sirens wailed Tuesday morning as a storm system produced at least one funnel cloud.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for the Evansville area and an adjacent section of Illinois. Flood warnings also were posted as more than 6 inches of rain fell in parts of the Ohio River Valley.
There were no immediate reports of tornadoes touching the ground.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Tornado_Warning.html
Boy died at Disney from heart condition
By TRAVIS REED
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 4-year-old boy who died after riding a rocket-ship ride at Walt Disney World was killed by a heart condition that can be aggravated by physical or emotional stress, an autopsy said Tuesday.
Daudi Bamuwamye of Sellersville, Pa., died in June after riding "Mission: Space."
The boy had a condition that caused an abnormal thickening of the heart and produced an irregular heartbeat, the autopsy revealed. People who suffer from the condition are at risk of sudden death throughout their lives, the medical examiner's office said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Disney_World_Death.html
U.N. reinstates official fired in scandal
By NICK WADHAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reversed his decision to fire a key official in the Iraq oil-for-food probe, the United Nations said Tuesday, an embarrassing move as the world body recovers from one of the worst scandals in its history.
Annan's decision, made known as he traveled in the Middle East, came after an internal U.N. appeals panel exonerated Joseph Stephanides in a ruling disclosed last week. The Joint Disciplinary Committee agreed that he had been made a "sacrificial lamb" by U.N. officials responding to public scrutiny that surrounded revelations of corruption and mismanagement in the $64 billion operation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_UN_Oil_for_Food.html
Princess chooses love over palace life
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TOKYO -- The only daughter of Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko married a childhood friend Tuesday and began life as a commoner after moving out of the royal palace and giving up the title of princess.
Thousands of well-wishers cheered 36-year-old Princess Sayako as she was driven from the palace grounds to the Imperial Hotel, where she married Yoshiki Kuroda, a Tokyo city employee, in a low-key ceremony.
It was the first time an emperor's daughter had married a commoner, and the wedding was austere by royal standards. Afterward the former princess, now known as Sayako Kuroda, moved to a Tokyo apartment to begin life as a wife and taxpayer.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Japan_Royal_Wedding.html
Karzai warns of more Afghan terror attacks
By DANIEL COONEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday when a bomb exploded near a troop patrol in volatile eastern Afghanistan, while President Hamid Karzai said he expects terror attacks to continue in his country "for much more time to come."
The attack occurred a day after suicide bombers rammed cars filled with explosives into NATO peacekeepers in two attacks in the Afghan capital - the first major assault on foreign troops in Kabul in more than a year. The death toll rose to nine Tuesday as police found more bodies in a ditch and a wounded man died.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Afghanistan.html
Jordan's national security adviser resigns
By PAUL GARWOOD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
AMMAN, Jordan -- Eleven top Jordanian officials, including the national security adviser, resigned Tuesday and the government imposed tough new rules aimed at foreigners in the wake of the deadly hotel bombings.
A fourth American died of wounds sustained in the attacks, according to the U.S. Embassy, raising the death toll to 58, plus the three bombers. The American was not further identified.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Jordan_Bombings.html
Poll: New York Democrats look strong
By MARC HUMBERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ALBANY, N.Y. -- A week after the 2005 elections, a new statewide poll showed Democrats in strong shape headed into the 2006 elections.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer hold huge leads over potential rivals in their respective races for Senate and governor, according to the poll released Monday by Siena College's Research Institute.
The biggest prize last week - New York City mayor - went to the GOP as Michael Bloomberg was re-elected, the fourth straight mayoral election won by Republicans in the heavily Democratic city. But elsewhere in the state, Democrats made significant gains in traditionally Republican strongholds.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1135AP_New_York_Democrats_2006.html
Blood vessels grown from patient's skin
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP MEDICAL WRITER
DALLAS -- Two kidney dialysis patients from Argentina have received the world's first blood vessels grown in a lab dish from snippets of their own skin, a promising step toward helping people with a variety of diseases.
Doctors hope the technique someday will offer a new source of arteries and veins for diabetics with poor circulation and patients of heart bypass or dialysis.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Growing_Veins.html
12 Nigerian children trampled to death
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Twelve children were trampled to death as panicked pupils fled what they thought was a fire in their northern Nigerian school, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
Children aged between 13 and 15 began fleeing their three-story school building in the city of Kaduna on Monday after it filled with smoke coming from a carpentry workshop next door, said Kaduna police spokesman Saad Yahaya.
The children mistakenly believed their building had caught fire. The carpenter was burning trash.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Nigeria_School_Stampede.html
Mexico, Venezuela sever ties over spat
By WILL WEISSERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEXICO CITY -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Mexican leader Vicente Fox of being a "puppy" of President Bush and said: "Don't mess with me, sir." Fox shot back on Monday that "we have dignity in this country" and demanded an apology. Now the two nations are withdrawing their ambassadors.
The severing of diplomatic relations came after a week of verbal sparring that highlighted Latin America's differences over free trade and relations with the United States. The conservative Fox tends to side with Washington on many issues, while Chavez, a socialist and populist, has been one of the hemisphere's strongest critics of Bush.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Mexico_Venezuela_Dispute.html
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