Archive for June, 2008
‘Lost’ Amazon tribe a hoax to raise awareness on logging
The man behind photos of warriors from an “undiscovered” Amazon tribe that were beamed around the world has admitted it was a hoax.
Indigenous tribes expert, José Carlos Meirelles, said the tribe’s existence had been noted since 1910, and they had been photographed to prove that “uncontacted” tribes still existed in an area endangered by logging, The Guardian reported.
Mr Meirelles, who was working for Funai, the Brazilian Indian Protection Agency dedicated to finding remote tribes and protecting them, said he found the group, recorded they lived, and planned the publicity to protect them from losing their habitat.
UPDATE: Response from the organization that started all this:
Today, Survival International released a statement to try to clarify things, including: “The story is not a hoax, and none of those involved in working to protect these Indians’ rights have ever claimed they were ‘undiscovered.’”
Survival never claimed that the tribe was lost. The story got out of control, says Fiona Watson, Survival’s Brazil expert, as a result of irresponsible reporting.
Ah. But we didn’t see them running to straighten things out back then when the misreporting helped their cause. Suddenly, when reporting threatens to harm it, they’re falling all over themselves to set the record straight.
And the media could be “irresponsible”? Who knew?
Michigan news: The Marines are getting a few good triplets
Andrew, Sam and Elizabeth Foltz of Cadillac may have disagreed now and then growing up, but they’re taking the same post-high school path — enrolling in the U.S. Marine Corps.
They decided separately and are not entering the service together.
Palestinian rockets fired at Israel despite truce
The jackasses who fired the rockets claim it was retaliation for an Israeli raid in the West Bank, which is not part of the Gaza cease-fire agreement.
I’ve mentioned this a few times, but here’s video of the M1028 canister round for the M1 tank:
This is in the field in Iraq and has been for some time. I haven’t heard much about it.
KDT via Rustmeister:
- Why aren’t all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons and asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?
- Where are the Dixie Chicks, and Sean Penn in his rescue boat?
- Why isn’t the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn’t solved the problem?
- Where are all the FEMA trucks and trailers?
- Why isn’t the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?
- When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines?
- Where are all the 24/7 lurid news tales of cannibalism and unnecessary drownings?
- Why did Iowans evacuate so prematurely; why are they not holed up in deathtrap sports centers?
Read all of them at KDT’s.
I think it’s only fair to point out that, for all we know, Sean Penn WAS there with his rescue boat. We can’t rule out the possibility that it sank again but he didn’t get out this time and he’s at the bottom of the river.
Regardless, Iowa seems to be getting by fine without him.
Photo from Zombietime’s coverage of protests and counter-protests at the Berkeley Marine Corps Officer Recruiting Office:
They did this during the playing of The Star Spangled Banner. Those are some classy folks.
It takes a real courageous person to stand in Berkeley and criticize the US government and the military.
I particularly like the guy saluting with his left arm. Must be too busy texting with his right hand to do it right.
I’m working on a magazine article about home invasion and home defense. I’m particularly interested in defensive shotgun use. If any MO readers have knowledge or expertise in this area, I’d sure like to hear from you.
Email Murdoc if you can help him out.
This will be a surprise to no one, but I’ve been suffering from some rather major technical difficulties over the past several months. I’m not sure where the blame lies, but I suspect that it’s split equally between my software platform Movable Type and my host JaguarPC.
Movable Type has been quite good to Murdoc, but the move from version 3.x to 4.x has been a near total disaster.
JaguarPC worked nearly flawlessly for about a year after a number of hops between various hosts, and I thought that I had finally found what Murdoc Online needed. Then, on May 13-14, everything went to hell. When I ask what happened on May 13-14, I’m told to check with my software vendor for bugs. When I tell them that the same problems started on the same day on two different installations on two different domains that have been moved to two different boxes, I’m told to check with my software vendor for bugs. When I tell them that I’ve upgraded one of my installations to a newer version and still have the same problems, I’m told to check with my software vendor for bugs. When I tell them that no one I can find seems to be suffering from the same issues that I am and will someone please tell me if anything changed on May 13-14, I’m told to check with my software vendor for bugs.
Yesterday they decided to hose my nameserver settings. When I contacted tech support and told them all of my sites were down, they fixed one and told me “everything is fine now.” Except that they only fixed one of my domains. Once I spelled out to them which domains were on my account, they fixed them too and “everything is fine now.”
So I’ve got a couple of questions for the blogging/technically inclined:
- Does anyone else use MT on JaguarPC and have you had any issues?
- Does anyone have any experience rolling MT 4 sites back to MT 3?
- Is setting up my own server and ditching hosting worth the trouble?
I’m removing all the remaining JaguarPC links from my sites. First, they weren’t making me any cash. Secondly, and more importantly, I cannot possibly recommend them to anyone any longer.
It’s too bad. Three months ago I was planning to upgrade to JaguarPC’s next level of hosting. Today I’m considering running my own server.
Finally, I apologize once again for all of the technical difficulties you have been encountering here. Believe me, it isn’t for a lack of effort on my part. I don’t claim to be any sort of tech-head, but I’m not completely unskilled in this stuff. Regardless, I’ve been barely able to keep the site online and have been spending more time working on problems than I have been writing. I’ve got a number of big non-blog project deadlines coming up, and I’m not going to be able to do much in the way of overhauls for the next month or so, so hang in there.
First, a couple tanker links:
GAO: Boeing was Right, Scrap the $100 Billion Tanker Deal
Tanker Ruling Shows Air Force in Disarray
And on to the regularly scheduled linkzookery:
U.S.: Israel military sends message to Iran
3517th verse, same as the first. But still worthy of scary headlines. Next thing you’ll know, we’ll be getting alarmist news stories that claim Israel has even “drawn up plans” for an attack. And just wait until we rotate the next carrier to the Gulf…it will be proof of a coming attack, just like the past fifteen times we’ve done it.
“Gas Has Gotten So Expensive, We Can’t Afford To Sell It!”
Credit card fees burn away most or all of a station’s profits on gasoline.
Baghdad Base’s New Generators Run on Trash
There’s no shortage of trash in Iraq.
AeroCam Turbine First to be Blowin’ in the Wind for Under $1 Per Watt
I have long been skeptical of both wind and solar power on a large scale, but I’ve said before I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong.
The 38 state Union
Someone’s 1970s proposal to redivide the US into new states.
Caged boy ‘skinned, eaten by family’
A neighbor put up a video monitor to monitor his baby and instead got images from a similar monitor the wackjob mom had to keep an eye on her son/food. I take this to mean that his receiver just picked up the signal, though I’m not sure.
More on the Tokyo Stabbing
Not all the bystanders stood by and did nothing at all. Plus a creepy bit of info concerning the killer.
Teen ‘pregnancy pact’ has 17 girls expecting
One of the fathers “is a 24-year-old homeless guy”. Smart move by these girls.
One Easy Piece
Are you man enough to fill it?
New York in Black and White
Lots of old school pictures.
Oh, and Vote for GUN PUNDIT Already
Register yourself to go with if you’d like.
Convince China to jack up their gasoline tax big time. India, too, though China’s system would probably be easier to manipulate.
I’d be willing to use the CIA to make it happen.
Just an idea.
Discuss.
