World News Links

India Today - Airplane overshoots runway, lands in sea:

The Air Niugini plane overshot the runway and sank in a sea lagoon at about 9.30 am local time on Friday. Air Niugini Limited is the national airline of Papua New Guinea.

Image: India Today

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Trump praises Brett Kavanaugh. The Telegraph:

President Donald Trump described Thursday's heated Senate hearing as "brutal" and "hard to watch" during an evening Republican fundraiser.

But he also praised his Supreme Court nominee for defending himself against allegations of sexual assault.

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Former judge's assistant weeps upon cocaine lie being uncovered. SMH:

The 34-year-old told the Downing Centre District Court on Friday he was "desperate" and "not thinking clearly" when he fabricated the story to conceal the fact police officers had caught him snorting cocaine in a Double Bay bar[.]

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Daily Beast - Star Wars Actress mocks Dr. Christine Ford:

... Los Angeles-based voice actress Rachel Butera thought another aspect of Ford’s testimony was worthy of attention—her voice.

In a now-deleted Twitter video, Butera mercilessly mocked Ford’s vocal mannerisms, specifically her slight vocal fry and her “baby” voice.
[.]
She added, “I sound like I’m still back at that high school party,” [.] (Uh- yeah, Ford she sure did/does. - DD)
[.]
“I can’t help it,” Butera said of her affected voice as she’s imitating Ford. “I just have this voice, like a baby, even though I’m a doctor…"

Rachel Butera's satire and parody of Ford's voice is spot-on, which is why the Libs went ballistic over Butera's satire and parody.
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China Daily -  Ministry of National Defense said the United States is solely to blame for the recent rise in tension between the Chinese and US militaries [sic][.]

Well, of course CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, NPR, the China Daily would say that.

Image credit: VCG

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French police chief stabbed to death. BBC:

Pascal Filoé was stabbed three times in the middle of the street by an individual known to police.
[.]
"The attacker was known to police. He had defaced the city hall door on 11 April", [said Mayor Christian Teyssèdre].

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Trump's Protectionist Gamble.  The story is published in Le Monde diplomatique. So you know what you're getting into before clicking the link.
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Time.com - Duterte Admits Extrajudicial Killings Occurred are, "my only sin."

In what was described as a rambling speech to government officials outside the presidential palace Thursday, Duterte conceded that his “only sin is the extrajudicial killings,”[.]
[.]
Although he has claimed to have personally killed at least three people in the past, Duterte has long denied responsibility for extrajudicial killings that occurred as part of his administration’s brutal war on drugs. Officials claim that casualties of the drug war died as a result of resisting arrest.

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Elon Musk and five facts from the SEC lawsuit against him.  The Telegraph:

Elon Musk’s share price was inspired by weed.

Tesla’s board had never received a formal proposal.

...employees were confused, but they still doubled down.

Saudi Arabia wanted its own Tesla factory.

Mr Musk sent the first tweet from his Tesla car.

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InFacts - Six months until Brexit, six months for people to fight it:

The government is in a mess, and there are no good options on the table. This is not a done deal. That’s why we need a People’s Vote to ask the public whether they still want to go through with this.

Here are six things you can do to help give the people the final say.

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TVNZ -  World Beer President named: 

Tim Cooper, managing director of the largest Australian-owned beer company, will serve a one-year term at the head of the 50,00-member Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

World News Links - September 30, 2017

From the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights:

[In] 39 months of its “Caliphate”, the “Islamic State” organization executes about 2750 civilian citizens in its controlled areas in Syria[.]
[.]
[The number of executions] reached 2747, the number of civilians, including 105 children and 148 women, who were executed by the “Islamic state” organization by shooting, beheading, stoning, throwing off high place or burning[.]

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The Guardian:  Boris Johnson, UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, accused of "incredible insensitivity".

...he recited part of a colonial-era Rudyard Kipling poem in front of local dignitaries while on an official visit to Myanmar in January.
[.]
Britain colonised [sic] Myanmar from 1824 to 1948 and fought three wars in the 19th century, suppressing widespread resistance.

Johnson’s impromptu recital was so embarrassing that the UK ambassador to Myanmar, Andrew Patrick, was forced to stop him.
[.]
In London last year [Johnson] stood alongside former US secretary of state John Kerry and was asked about describing Hillary Clinton as looking “like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”.

Boris gets it right 50% of the time. Give him a break.
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IBT: Michael Bolton, no, not the singer, banished by entering over 1,400 UK supermarkets:

A 51-year-old man from Surrey has been banned from shopping in more than a thousand supermarkets across the UK after a magistrate found that he had "engaged in behaviour that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress" to others.
[.]
On top of the ban, the criminal order also prohibits Bolton from exposing his genitals or urinating in public[.]

Heh - the wording of the story makes it sound as if, except for Bolton, it's okay for everyone else to do what he did.
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Metro: Female gangs going through garbage.

Gangs of women pictured going through people’s bins are suspected of trying to steal documents and paperwork.

Two women appeared to be working together (Picture: Terry Harris/PaperPix)

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The Daily Star: Guys, just click the link. You'll be glad you did.
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The Independent: Man beats daughter's boyfriend to death.

An Oklahoma man has been arrested for allegedly beating to death his daughter’s abusive boyfriend, police said.
[.]
The victim’s family said the couple were expecting a child next month.

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Radio Australia:

Barcelona resembles a war zone ahead of banned independence vote[.]
[.]
Thousands of national police are patrolling Barcelona's streets as the city prepares to defy the Spanish Government's orders not to vote in an independence referendum this weekend.

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The Telegraph: This shows the radioactive cloud if NK were to detonate a nuke in the Pacific.
 

"Hypothetical atmospheric burst" Credit: @SinaZerbo/Twitter

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Market Oracle: Is Bitcoin just Fool's Gold?

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The Independent: Ex Pres' Clinton, Bush & Obama avoid Trump at President's Golf Tourney.

Trump is scheduled to attend the multi-day event on 1 October but it is unclear if he was not invited to attend with the other presidents or busy with White House meetings.

If we don't know if Trump was or wasn't invited that day, it's really a stretch to claim the Ex Pres' avoided him.
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The Atlantic: The Software Apocalypse is coming.

It’s been said that software is “eating the world.” More and more, critical systems that were once controlled mechanically, or by people, are coming to depend on code. This was perhaps never clearer than in the summer of 2015, when on a single day, United Airlines grounded its fleet because of a problem with its departure-management system; trading was suspended on the New York Stock Exchange after an upgrade; the front page of The Wall Street Journal’s website crashed; and Seattle’s 911 system went down again, this time because a different router failed.

Our software (& a lot of hardware) infrastructure is old and needs to be updated.
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The humble Traffic Cone serves multiple purposes. From The Daily Mirror:

...a group of drunken male university students dressed just in their underpants try to break into a female-only halls of residence run by nuns.
[.]
Earlier in the week freshers at the University of Leon in northern Spain were filmed stripping off and dancing naked during a mock student election.

Topless girls were videoed cavorting on stage with their hands covering their breasts.

Men also got involved, with one completely naked while others covered their modesty with traffic cones.

World News Links

Unidentified Chemical haze mist off Sussex Coast sends over 100 to the hospital. Sky News:

People were warned to avoid beaches and keep doors and windows shut after an "unknown haze" drifted in off the Sussex coast.
[.]
"This seems to have been caused by an unknown haze coming in from the sea, but the source has not yet been established[.]

Mystery mist over Sussex coast. Photo: Jacob Ward

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World Press: The world wept for Cecil the lion. Who will weep for Asaad the man?

...it's time for people all over the world to be outraged over ISIS slaughtering and beheading Khalid al-Asaad, the 83-year-old caretaker of antiquities in Palmyra[.]

[.]
...jihadists dragged him to a public square on Tuesday and cut off his head in front of a crowd.

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New Eurpoe: Man shot dead after stabbing soldier in Brussels.
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French President Emmanuel Macron's popularity plummets. The Express:

...over half of French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron’s performance as president.

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Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams says one-third of the U.S. doesn't recognize a joke when they hear it. CNS News:

"... they can only tell you’re kidding if they see somebody else laughing, or you say, “Ha, Ha” or “JK” or something after the joke. They actually can’t tell."

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Red Orbit: Experts don't think middle-age people walk fast enough.
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RTT News: Morning Asian markets open lower.

Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi refrained from providing clues on monetary policy outlook [.]

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The Local: Swiss woman charged with being a jihadi tourist/terrorist:

...30-year-old Zurich woman, a Swiss national,
[.]
... who tried to travel to Syria to join Islamic State is charged with supporting terror groups and will be tried in Switzerland’s federal criminal court[.]

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Neowin:  China implements Real ID Procedure for online commenting.
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Living in an inverted pyramid. TecheBlog:

...an inverted pyramid home in Spain...

Photo credit: Sadao Hotta

World News Links

Breaking News, 12:35AM Mountain Standard Time: Deadly Quake Hits China:

A strong earthquake shook a mountainous region in southwestern China, killing 13 people, injuring 175 others and knocking out power and phone networks[.]

At least five of the dead were tourists, China's official Xinhua News Agency said. The government in Aba prefecture in Sichuan province said 13 people were killed, and 28 of those hurt were seriously injured.
[.]
The magnitude-6.5 quake struck a region bordered by the provinces of Sichuan and Gansu at a depth of just 9 kilometers[.]

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The Sydney Morning Herald: Ten year old dental brace lodged in a woman's intestines.
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Sky News: "Crazy Uncle" Kimmy Jong Un planning missile hit(s) on Guam?
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Worldpress.org: British model Chloe Ayling escapes kidnapping after being sold for sex in the Middle East.

[She] was in Italy for a photoshoot, was allegedly taken captive for six days by a group calling itself "Black Death"[.]

The young model was attacked by two men, drugged and abducted to be sold in an online auction, Italian police said, with reports suggesting a sum of £230,000.

She was told she would be "sold to somebody in the Middle East for sex", her lawyer Francesco Peschi said.

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Eurasianet.org: Putin visits breakaway republic of Abkhazia and pledged to support its “stability and independence”.(Keep a look-out for John McCain. If he travels to Abkhazia, he'll fcuk it up bad. Real bad).
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NewsAsia: Disney pulling all movies from Netflix. Will use their own streaming service. (Yeah, this move never made any business sense. Why didn't Disney do this in the first place?)
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The Middle East Eye: Christians in Syria fighting in Raqqa: "We must defend ourselves."
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The Hockey Stix Gallery! Yay! Viva Le Hockey...eh? View from the Hubble.
Courthouse News Service:

The Hockey Stix Gallery. Image: NASA

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ZD Net: Starmind co-founder,"True AI does not yet exist, and it won't until companies stop comparing the human brain with computers and look into understanding the principles of the brain through[.]"
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Bitcoin sets new record; over $3,500. Beta News
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Doc's in New Zealand want to ban alcohol sales in supermarkets. The New Zealand Star
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The Scotsman: Scottish Conservative Ruth Davidson breaking with Theresa May’s policy on foreign students and questioning the government’s 100,000 net migration target.
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The Daily Telegraph: Police arrest multi-millionaires' Ibrahim brothers and others as they disembark multi-million luxury yacht. $ 2 Million is a suitcase.
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Zimbabwe Men: Juju responsible for man menstruating? Another man has full female reproductive system.

These are two strange stories, both from Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe Man Menstruating. Zimbabwe News Online:

In a case of suspected juju, a 40-year-old Chitungwiza man claims he is experiencing menstruation periods for the past two weeks.

Joseph Mwale showed H-Metro how he is experiencing pains during urination and discharging blood accusing his wife Sheilah Kahari of bewitching him.

“I am in pain brother, to be honest with you I have been cheating on my wife and I strongly suspect that my wife used juju on me,” said Joseph.

FYI: Juju.
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Doctors discovered that another Zimbabwe man with a full, female reproductive system. izimbabwe.co.zw / Kuzeya Nyaya News:

A 44-year-old man went to the doctor complaining of a stomach ache only to discover that he has a full female reproductive system.

The married man, Mr Chen from Zhejiang province, was shocked when doctors told him that his stomach ache and the blood in his urine was actually because he was experiencing his menstrual cycle and had been a woman all along.
[.]
He also has a penis [and a]  CT scan taken at the hospital showed that he had ovaries and a uterus in addition to male genitals.

World News Links

"Something ate his legs." Australian teenager's legs bloodied after being chewed by flesh eating lice. The Sydney Morning Herald. (Video Image warning advised, bloody content per SMH).
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Help Wanted: Planetary Protection Officer. USAJobs.
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The New Bitcoin Cash price skyrockets. From The Street.:

Bitcoin cash, with similar bottom technology to bitcoin but with larger block sizes, can process about 30 transactions per second, four times more than bitcoin, though still a far cry from the thousands of transactions handled by Visa every second.

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TechCrunch: Apple. A One Trillion Dollar company? Absolutely.
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Does the name Marcus Hutchins or his aka MalwareTech, ring a bell? He's the guy who stopped the WannaCry ransomware by registering the domain name. Well, the US detained him and accused him of some serious charges. Extreme Tech:

WannaCry began infecting critical infrastructure across Europe and in the United States, rising to 230,000 infected machines in 150 countries within a day of its release.
[.]
[Hutchins] was arrested on Thursday by the FBI. (Initially it was reported he was held by the US Marshals, but this appears to have been inaccurate.) The FBI has filed a formal indictment against Hutchins, alleging that he and an unnamed co-conspirator (whose name has been redacted from the filing) “knowingly conspired and agreed with each other to commit an offense against the United States.

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Large, multi-ship military training exercise off the coast of Saipan. Saipan Tribune.
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From The Deparment of "I thought We Already Did This.": $ 2 Billion allocated for broadband in rural areas. NextGov.
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Horrifying - Woman stalked, kidnapping attempt also? The Hindustan Times.
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"Knife-wielding" Danukul Mokmool's Facebook profile says “nice and friendly”; but shot dead by police. A truly sad story. Daily Telegraph.
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In Denmark, performance artist Julian Toldam Juhlin on display as "Virgin in a Glass Cage." The Copenhagen Post. (And No, I'm not making this up).
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Is this because of North Korea? Public schools in Hawaii urged to conduct nuclear drills. Hawaii Tribune Herald.
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So THIS is how you go viral. I wish someone would have told me this sooner. The Evening Telegraph.

World News Links

Freedom to Tinker - LinkedIn reveals your email to all connections.
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Sidney Morning Herald - Man jumps off plane in San Fran as plane waits to taxi to gate.
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Red Orbit - recall on coffee marketed as a "male enhancement product." 
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Courthouse News Service - Air France passenger jet flies over Sea of Japan moments before North Korea ICBM launch.
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Geek.com - 201 GB crammed into a one inch square of tape.
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Geek.com - I did not know that August 2 is National Coloring Book Day.  Happy (belated) Coloring!
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Singapore Star - two in three Singaporeans not getting enough mobile data.
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The Scotsman - former First Minister of Scotland calls Trump an "utter nincompoop."
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The Herald - will editing of human embryo gene eradicate inherited diseases?
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Idaho Press Tribune - jogger fights attacking bear by kicking.
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Sky News - Oxford Uni employee is suspect in murder of Chicago man.
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CNS News - is Calexit exporting the Middle Class?
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CBC News - large number illegal border crossing in Quebec by asylum seekers.
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West Central Tribune - Minnesota mom accidentally runs over 2 year old daughter killing her.
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Evening Telegraph - angry mob targets man accused of being a child predator.
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Der Spiegel - German car makers accused of "cartel collusion."
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The Jerusalem Post - Poland excludes Russia from Sobibor Museum project.

World News Bits

Time. There's not enough of it. Let's look at some world news.

"Fireworks" possibly led to shooting of Justine Damond.  The Sidney Morning Herald:

...revelations about the possible setting off of fireworks near where she was killed could provide an explanation as to why Officer Noor fired.

A source with knowledge of Minneapolis law enforcement, who asked not to be identified, said it "would be good common sense to investigate" [.] [t]he sound of fireworks may have startled Officer Noor[.]

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Tech Crunch: Uber facing lawsuit; lack of wheel-chair accessible vehicles.
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 (Photo: Varde Kommune)

The Copenhagen Post: The reopening in Denmark of a museum built into Nazi bunker. (I wonder what they sell at the gift shop?)
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C|Net reviews the first Mercedes-Benz pickup.
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$ 2 Billion hedge fund goes bust. RTT News.
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EurasiaNet: Armenians mark one year since armed takeover of police station.
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Beta News: A hacker nets $ 7 Million in three minutes.

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The Evening Telegraph: Some British residents pissed about tree cutting to make room for housing development.
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Gender neutral toilets coming to public schools in Scotland. The Scotsman.
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Bodies of Swiss couple found 75 years later.  Xinhuanet:

Swiss couple disappeared near a ski resort in the Alps their frozen and mummified bodies have been found[.]  The frozen corpses of Marceline and Francine Dumoulin were found lying near each other[.]

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27 Contact lenses mistaken for cataract.  Red Orbit:

Doctors [preparing a 67-year-old woman for routine cataract surgery ] [when they discovered the actual cause of her vision problems – a congealed mass of disposable contact lenses that she had reportedly been wearing for decades.

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Jeff Sessions is wrong and so is this law. Courthouse News Service:

The process, known as asset forfeiture, is controversial because people can lose their property, such as cars and cash, without ever being convicted or even charged with a crime.

There shouldn't even be a question here; that no property or cash can be taken until a guilty verdict is reached or a law is broken.
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Spelling correction 7/21/2017

World News Bits

Tech News World: Linux malware infections are growing.
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Ars Technia: CNN threat to creator of WWE-Trump-CNN Logo video.
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C/Net: Darknet 101. ("Buying drugs, guns or the hacked personal details of millions of unsuspecting people -- welcome to the darknet, where everything is off the grid.")  Yeaaahh...it's not that simple and you may end up in a Honeypot. And you don't want that.
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Argentina News: London retains title of European Tech Hub.
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Beta News: OneDrive users Pissed at Microsoft.

Microsoft has made a change to its cloud synchronization and storage service OneDrive[.]
[.]
The change came out of the blue, with no announcement from Microsoft, meaning that anyone using a non-NTFS drive, such as an SD card, suddenly found themselves unable to use their OneDrive[.]

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International Business Times: Flushed birth control meds creating Transgender Fish.
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Courthouse News Service: Can, or will, driverless cars make moral choices?
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Sydney Morning Herald: No Sugar-Free Coca Cola at Woolworths downunder.
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YLE (Finnish Public Broadcasting): Big Meth bust in Finland.

...more than 10 kilos of methamphetamine from Lithuania [smuggled into Finland].

The seized drugs had a purity level of between 39 and 42 percent[.]

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Life In Italy: 82-year-old woman sets herself on fire.
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Jakarta Post: Python meat...ask your grocer.
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News Asia: France ID's 100 registered gun owners on terrorist watch list.
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Courthouse News Service: DEA Seizes enough Fentanyl to kill entire state of Illinois. {Well...(ahem, cough...cough)... it is a Blue state...}
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The Scotsman: Prof warns Sex Robots could be dangerous to humanity.

...professor seeks to raise awareness of sex robots and issues grim warnings about the “dark side” of the rapidly advancing technology that could involve issues of rape and paedophilia.

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Portugal News: Google fine 2.42 Billion Euros.

Google, "abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors.”

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The Independent: Jesus and Apostles no longer shown eating burgers and pizza at Last Supper.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper, with the food replaced by chips, burgers and pizzas was removed yesterday and replaced today.

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ZD Net: iOS 11 Public Beta = Suffering.
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Tech Crunch: Particle collider explained in layman terms.
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USA Debt Clock: Real time U.S. Debt Clock. (Caution: may cause depression)