Russia Flushed and other Lunacies
It's a Crying ShameRussia must regain its pre-revolutionary status as the country with the best lavatories in the world, said the head of the National Toilet Association Wednesday, decrying the current state of the country's toilets.
"Before the revolution of 1917 the quality of toilets in Russia was the best of the world", Vladimir Moksunov told reporters.
He recalled that on April 9,1699, Peter the Great published a trailblazing decree which made it a punishable offence to throw sewage into the street.
"But now we do not even have official regulations for the quality of public toilets except a document from 1972 that talks about cesspits", he said, adding that Moscow had a "crying need for modern toilets."
The state of public lavatories is generally seen as a disgrace in Moscow, with citizens having to endure stinking and aging facilities even though they usually have to pay for the privilege of using them.
In a bid to raise awareness, Moksunov proposed naming April 9 as the national day for toilets, similar to the November 19 World Toilet Day to be held later this week. Agence France-Presse
What's the world coming to, for heaven's sake, the symbol of civilization utterly degraded...!
Dancing With the Incompetents
A 67-year-old rural Wisconsin man enraged over Bristol Palin's lack of skill on Dancing with the Stars blasted his television with a shotgun, leading to an overnight standoff with a SWAT team, according to police. A Dane County Sheriff's detective said Steven Cowan felt Palin was "not a good dancer and was only on the show because of her famous mother [former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin]."
Then Cowan allegedly shot his TV before turning the gun on his wife, who ran out and escaped. SWAT officers surrounded the home and talked Cowan out on Tuesday morning. Cowan was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted. It is unclear if Cowan knows that Palin advanced to next week's finals of the ABC competition. The Hollywood Reporter
Who can blame nonentities for taking grasping all the advantages life offers? Mr. Cowan's hapless wife could use a few advantages of her own, and ditch the disadvantage she's tied to.Sydney Morning Herald
Budget Flights With No Runway Left
A sleepy pilot who had been snoring loudly was responsible for an aircraft crash that killed 158 people in southern India in May, an investigation has found.
A court of inquiry concluded that Zlatko Glusica, 55, from Serbia, was dozing for much of the three-hour flight from Dubai to Mangalore and was "disoriented" when the aircraft started to descend.
The budget flight, operated by Air India Express,which is owned by the state carrier Air India, overshot the runway at Bajpe airport, plunged down a forested slope, and burst into flames. Only eight people survived the inferno.
Voice recordings picked up the Indian co-pilot saying: "We don't have runway left", seconds before the disaster. The last words recorded were: "Oh my god."
The Indian co-pilot, Captain H.S. Ahluwalia, had repeatedly warned Glusica that his angle of approach was wrong and advised the pilot to abort his descent and try again.
Crash investigators found that the throttle of the Boeing 737-800 was in the forward position, suggesting that the pilot tried to abort the landing. The Times, London
"Oh my God" doesn't quite cut it when a sleep deficit and a lack of commitment to the lives of hundreds of of people being conveyed within a thin aluminum body are forfeited because of same.
Labels: India, Russia, United States, World News
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, November 18, 2010
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