Saturday, 19 March 2011

Bush bombed Iraq 19 March 2003, Obama bombed Libya 19 March 2011: Change we can believe in -

The U.S. and European nations pounded Moammar Gadhafi’s forces and air defenses with cruise missiles and airstrikes Saturday, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising that had seemed on the verge of defeat.
The U.S. fired more than 100 cruise missiles from the sea while French fighter jets targeted Moammar Gadhafi’s forces from the air on Saturday, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising that had seemed on the verge of defeat.
The longtime Libyan leader vowed to defend his country from what he called “crusader aggression” and warned the involvement of international forces will subject the Mediterranean and North African region to danger and put civilians at risk.

The U.S. military said 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from American and British ships and submarines at more than 20 coastal targets to clear the way for air patrols to ground Libya’s air force. French fighter jets fired the first salvos, carrying out several strikes in the rebel-held east.

President Barack Obama said military action was not his first choice and reiterated that he would not send American ground troops to Libya.

“This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought,” Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. “We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy.”

Thousands of regime supporters, meanwhile, packed into the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya military camp in Tripoli where Gadhafi lives to protect against attacks.

Anti-aircraft guns could be heard firing overnight in Tripoli.

Read more - http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-and-allies-launch-libya-intervention-as-gadhafi-strikes-rebel-heartland/2011/03/19/ABhkEdx_story.html

Happy Birthday Twitter - Twitter is Five on March 21 - First Tweet in 2006 @jack - “just setting up my twttr.” -

For Dom Sagolla, the future began on a slide at a children’s playground.

One afternoon in March of 2006, Mr. Sagolla was in South Park, a popular community garden located just a few blocks from AT&T Park, the home stadium of the San Francisco Giants.

He was listening to Jack Dorsey — his colleague at a San Francisco podcasting startup known as Odeo — outline his vision for a new communications service that would allow users to broadcast short bursts of information no longer than 140 characters to a group of people via text message.

A short while later, on March 21, 2006 at 9:50 p.m. PST, Mr. Dorsey would send the first message using the new technology: “just setting up my twttr.”

It wasn’t long before Mr. Sagolla realized the potential of the group’s latest creation. Later that evening, with one of his first messages on the service, he let his feelings be known.

“oh this is going to be addictive.”

Mr. Sagolla is Twitter user No. 9.

“Jack described it as a way to make it so easy to write that you don’t even think about it, you just write,” Mr. Sagolla said in an interview with the National Post.

“When did I realize that it had this potential? I think from the first moment I used it.”

Five years later, Twitter is no longer simply a quirky micro-blogging service used only by the Silicon Valley in-crowd. Twitter Inc. now forms the backbone of a global communications network that connects more than 200 million users around the world — with another 460,000 signing up every day — sending in excess of a billion tweets per week.

It is used by journalists and athletes. By activists and relief workers. By politicians and porn stars. It helped put President Barack Obama in the White House and gave rise to the television show S**t my Dad Says. The United States Library of Congress archives every public Twitter message and it has played a central role in political uprisings in Iran and Egypt.

Indeed, in just 60 months, Twitter has altered the very fabric of the Internet and changed the way we consume information. For its most dedicated users, Twitter is their primary source of news, whether they’re tweeting from their mobile phone or their computer.

It is now the gold standard of real time digital information, a perpetually updating ticker of news, sports and your social life, streaming by in mind size chunks.

In a response to questions from the Post, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote in an email that Twitter’s arrival as a cultural force happened by steps, not a single breakthrough event. “There have been many such moments; it’s hard to pin down just one. Very early on, there was an earthquake in San Francisco, and noticing the way my friends were asking each other if they were OK alerted me to the potential that we could have later in other events,” he wrote.

How close is your home to a nuclear power plant? - enter your zip code and find out -

How close is your home to a nuclear power plant?

If a crisis at a nuclear reactor happened in the U.S., could you be living in a danger zone? In a 10-mile radius, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the air could be unsafe to breathe in the event of a major catastrophe. In 50 miles, food and water supplies may be unsafe.

Priorities? 400 CNN Reporters cover ROYAL WEDDING…50 cover JAPAN QUAKE? -

CNN alone will have a team of roughly 400 reporters, cameramen and crew assigned to the wedding. The network has 50 people on the ground working on the breaking news in Japan, plus others scattered in Bahrain, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Ten cameras will be stationed around Buckingham Palace to capture the day’s money shot—the royal family assembling on the balcony as Prince William and his bride share a kiss.

Read more - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/priorities-400-cnn-reporters-cover-royal-wedding-50-cover-japan-quake/

Introducing...The Grandma Phone - jumbo buttons, a screen that announces each number, and a six-day battery life -

It's hard to imagine a cell phone these days that isn't equipped with a camera, a web browser and assorted other bells and whistles. But Just5, a "simple features phone," takes a counter-intuitive approach. It just lets you make calls. That's it. Nothing else. Nada. Zippo. Think of it as the anti-iPhone.

Or, actually, think of it as The Grandma Phone. As Skatter Tech's review of the Just5 makes clear, this isn't really a phone for the reluctant Luddite. With features like a large SOS button that, if pressed, will sound an alarm and send "help me" text messages to five emergency contacts, Just5 is targeted squarely at senior citizens.

And in fact the phone looks to be pretty useful for its intended purpose and audience. It's got jumbo buttons, a screen that announces each number as you press it, and a six-day battery life when for when septuagenarians are in standby mode. Pretty much the only hitch is that the Just5's suggested retail price is $90--a hefty sum for those on a fixed income. Still, for staying connected with the seniors in your life, the Just5 just might be worth it. So think about getting your own grandmother one.

You did call Grandma today, didn't you?

XIAM007