Shuff's General Chat Thread ... #73 - Talk about anything and everything...  

South Korea investigate Korean Air over Heather Cho outburst of nut service; company faces $2m fine

Photo: Heather Cho (right) has publicly apologised and resigned from all her posts at the family-run Hanjin Group. (Getty Images: Chung Sung-Jun)

The daughter of a Korean Air executive who delayed a flight because she was unhappy about how she was served nuts will be reported to prosecutors and the airline could face a fine of up to $US2 million, South Korea's transport ministry says.

A ministry official said its investigation had confirmed Heather Cho engaged in abusive behaviour towards flight attendants in the December 5 incident at John F Kennedy airport in New York and may have broken aviation law.

Ms Cho may face legal charges if prosecutors pursue the case.

She is the daughter of the airline's chairman and was previously head of its in-flight services.

Ms Cho apologised over the incident, which fuelled outrage and ridicule in South Korea, and resigned her posts last week.

"As it has been confirmed that [Heather] Cho raised her voice and used abusive language as testified by some flight crew members and passengers, we will report her to the prosecution for potential violation of aviation safety law," the transport ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Korean Air also violated aviation law and it is reviewing punitive measures for the airline, which could include flight suspensions and a fine of up to $2 million, the statement said.

Korean Air did not immediately comment on the ministry's comments.

The plane pushed away from the airport departure gate as the incident was taking place on board.

The pilot then brought the plane back to the gate to expel the cabin crew chief, after Ms Cho complained about being served macadamia nuts by a flight attendant in a bag and not on a dish.

Public outrage grew after Korean Air issued what many in the country took to be a half-hearted apology for what it termed an inadequate performance by the cabin crew chief, appearing to rationalise Ms Cho's conduct.

The crew chief said in a local television interview that Ms Cho swore at him and jabbed his hand with a document folder, pointing her finger at him while he kneeled to apologise to her.

The ministry said it was not able to confirm whether she physically assaulted any of the crew members.

Reuters/AFP

Native American Council Offers Amnesty to 220 Million Undocumented Whites

Dec 12, 2014


A council of Native American leaders has offered partial amnesty to the estimated 220 million illegal white immigrants living in the United States.

At a meeting of the Native Peoples Council (NPC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday, Native American leaders considered several proposals on the future of this continent's large, unauthorized European population. The elders ultimately decided to extend a pathway to citizenship for those without criminal backgrounds.

"We are prepared to offer White people the option of staying on this continent legally and applying for citizenship," explains Chief Wamsutta of the Wampanoag nation. "In return, they must pay any outstanding taxes and give back the land stolen from our ancestors.

"Any white person with a criminal record, however, will be deported in the next 90 days back to their ancestral homeland. Rush Limbaugh will be going to Germany. Justin Bieber will depart for Canada. And the entire cast of Jersey Shore will be returning to Italy."

Sustained European colonization of North America began in the 16th and 17th centuries, when arrivals from France, Spain and England first established settlements on land that had hitherto been occupied by native peoples. Over the past 400 years immigrants from these countries and others throughout Europe have transformed the demography of the continent.

Despite their numerical superiority, many scholars question the legality of the European settlement, as it was founded on a mixture of unauthorized immigration, war and genocide.

3-D Printing Is Changing the Future of Prosthetics

Thanks to 3-D printing, a lifetime of prosthetics will cost less than one commercially made device.

Soon enough, anyone with a 3-D printer will be able to build custom prosthetics. No longer will these devices—traditionally created by a doctor—cost thousands of dollars, removing the financial burden families face when members (especially children) may need multiple each year.

Two companies, e-NABLE and Not Impossible Lab’s Project Daniel, are changing the accessibility of prosthetics for growing children. Both e-NABLE and Not Impossible Labs use open source for designs, meaning anyone with access to a 3D printer and materials can customize and print the design plans. By creating technology for social good, the organizations are opening doors to people who would not be able to obtain prosthetics otherwise.

E-NABLE began in May 2013 with one prosthetic hand design and 70 volunteers. Now, with the help of over 3,000 medical professionals, teachers, engineers, and students, e-NABLE creates colorful and lightweight 3-D printed prosthetic hands for no cost to those in need. With designs named “The Raptor Hand,” “The Cyborg Beast” and “The Odysseus Hand,” kids feel like superheroes and are proud of their prosthetics. Each hand costs just 50 dollars in materials.

“Our volunteers donate their time, materials, and use of their 3-D printers to create them,” Jen Owen, a member of e-NABLE, said. “If a parent wanted to purchase a 3-D printer of their own and produce hands for their own child, the cost of the printer and the materials to make the hands for their child for the next 10 years would be less than the cost of the creation of one commercially made prosthetic device.”

Though 3-D printed prosthetics are not as strong as commercially created prosthetics and can break after periods of use, they are much easier to fix and replace—a replacement part can be reprinted and assembled in just hours. And while some commercially created prosthetics cannot be immersed in water because of electronic materials, 3D printed prosthetics use a durable plastic that allows hands and arms to be worn in the shower, building the user’s independence.

“A lot of people want to maintain their privacy and dignity, so they would like a solution they can use in different settings, Elliot Kotek, Not Impossible’s chief of content, said. “That’s also where these 3-D printed and DIY prosthetics can come into play.”

With designs named “The Raptor Hand,” “The Cyborg Beast” and “The Odysseus Hand,” kids feel like superheroes and are proud of their prosthetics. Each hand costs just 50 dollars in materials.

In addition to bringing e-NABLE into classrooms to generate excitement for science, math, and engineering, and teach students how to use 3-D printers, the organization hopes to create outreach missions to bring 3-D printers to underserved nations.

“Our hope is to obtain enough funding to send 3-D printers, materials, and teams of volunteers to train local doctors and nurses how to create the devices in remote areas where there are countless victims of war and natural disasters who could benefit from a simple ‘helping hand,’” Owen said.

In late 2013, Not Impossible’s CEO and founder Mick Ebeling created a 3-D printing prosthetic lab and training facility in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. The mission is to teach any person to use technology for independence and empowerment no matter where they are located.

“Not only could we print an arm for [Project] Daniel, but we could also train a group of locals so they could continue to print 3D arms later on,” Kotek said. “With 3D printing you can continue to use the file and update.”

Not Impossible’s hand and arm design includes the use of customizable Orthoplastic, a breathable plastic to cover the part of the arm where the 3-D printed pieces attach.

According to Kotek, changing the size of the 3-D printed components is not necessary unless the prosthetic is made for a younger child. The entire process of preplanning and printing the hand, brackets, and cuffs takes just over a day. Materials for Not Impossible’s prosthetic arm total around 100 dollars, but are free of charge to those in need with funding help from large corporations like Intel and Precipart. “We encourage businesses to do good,” Kotek said.

The greatest part of open source is that anyone can access prosthetic designs and create them. In addition to the designs found on e-NABLE, prosthetic designs can also be found on Github, a website for uploading and sharing code, and 3-D Hubs is a great resource to find local printers.

DATES ANNOUNCED FOR 2015

Date: 15/12/14



2015 is just around the corner! With that we are happy to announce the dates for the Sydney and Brisbane Jamboree's for 2015.

2015 SYDNEY JAMBOREE - MARCH 7TH

The Sydney Jamboree will again be held on a Saturday with the Sunday the 8th set aside as a rain day.

2015 BRISBANE JAMBOREE - AUGUST 29TH

2015 will be the 25th Anniversary of the Brisbane Jamboree. A pretty awesome milestone if I do say so myself. Longest running independent drag racing event in the Southern Hemisphere!

With the Team Kiwi coming and some more surprizes still to come, the 2015 Brisbane Jamboree will be one not to miss. Saturday August 29th with the Sunday the 30th set aside as a rain day.

The Sport Compact Group would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing in 2015!

Los Angeles porn actors must wear condoms, appeals court rules


A regional U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Monday that pornographic movie actors in Los Angeles must wear condoms during sex scenes, upholding a lower court decision that was challenged by the adult film industry.

In 2012, voters in Los Angeles County approved a measure to require condom use during sex scenes in pornographic movies, as well as the regular testing of actors for sexually transmitted diseases.

Lawyers for the industry challenged the regulations in U.S. District Court, arguing that the condom requirement went against their clients' right to freedom of expression under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Pornographic movie producers have said visible contraceptives put off some of their customers, because they reminded them of real-world worries such as pregnancy and disease.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the requirement on Monday, saying it was narrowly tailored to achieve the County's interest of reducing the rate of sexually transmitted infections while also leaving open "adequate alternative means of expression."

The panel said it agreed with the lower court that, whatever "unique message" the film makers might hope to convey by depicting condomless sex, it was unlikely that viewers of adult films would understand that message.

Likewise, the San Francisco-based appeals court said, mandates to test actors, and to require producers to complete a county-approved training course on blood-borne pathogens, served the goal of preventing sexually transmitted infections.

It noted that three adult film makers listed among the plaintiffs in the case already required performers to provide identification and to submit to tests at least once a month.

Much of the U.S. adult movie industry, which is worth an estimated $9 billion to $13 billion a year, is based in Los Angeles County. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has said actors in pornographic films are 10 times more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease than the general public.

With just 40 gun murders in Australia in 2012, Sydney hostage crisis looms large


Australia was rocked by a rare episode of gun violence on Tuesday, when a tense hostage siege in Sydney came to an end after police pushed into a downtown cafe and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The gunman, reportedly armed with a pump-action shotgun, was killed by police, who entered the store after gunfire was heard inside. Two hostages also died, though it was unclear whether they were killed by the hostage-taker or by police who sought to free them.

The battle at the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in the heart of Sydney initially looked more complicated than a "damaged goods individual" with a gun, as the gunman's former lawyer recently described him. There were reports of possible explosives, an ominous display of a flag with an inscription of the Islamic declaration of faith, and rumors that the gunman may have ties to other terror suspects.

Some of the early suspicions appear to have been debunked. However, Australia is nevertheless reeling from something the country seldom sees: people killed by guns.

"We have lost some of our own in an attack we never thought we would see here in our own city," New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said at a news conference Tuesday.

In 2012, Australia saw 40 murders by firearm, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This was a five-year high. Australia's gun homicide rate for the year was .20 per 100,000 residents, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC.

Compare that to the United States, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saw 11,622 homicides by firearm in 2012. The U.S. gun homicide rate for the year was 2.2 per 100,000 residents, according to UNODC.

Australia and the US have drastically different relationships with guns and gun control, and Australia has historically had substantially less gun violence. In 1996, a shooting spree claimed 35 lives in Port Arthur, Tasmania, leading to an ambitious package of gun control legislation. It banned all automatic and semi-automatic weapons, imposed strict licensing, background check and waiting-period rules for new purchases, and implemented a massive gun buyback program.

There hasn't been another mass shooting since. The number of homicides by firearm has fallen over the past 15 years. Still, recent reports suggest gun ownership is becoming more commonplace and the market for illegally imported or stolen weapons is growing, leading to disturbing outbreaks of gun violence - though not necessarily deaths - in certain areas.

Tuesday's hostage crisis in Sydney showed the two nations still respond to gun violence quite differently. Before full details of the siege had even been released, Australian politicians were rushing to make statements championing the nation's steadfast resolve in the face of the violence. Media in Australia and around the world blanketed the airwaves with minute-by-minute updates. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called the ordeal "profoundly shocking." On Tuesday afternoon, flags at government buildings in Australia were flown at half mast and residents lay flowers near the cite of the standoff in a makeshift tribute to the victims.

Meanwhile, more than 9,000 miles away, in the Philadelphia suburbs, a manhunt was ongoing Monday night for a gunman accused of killing six people in a spree of three shootings. The motive appears personal, with authorities saying the suspect is related to all of the victims.

Still, the Pennsylvania violence has so far played out without much notice from elected officials or international media. Perhaps that's not surprising. If US leaders and the world turned their attention to American gun violence every time people were shot to death, there would be little time to focus on much else.

interesting site

http://www.census.gov/popclock/

>>>LARGEST STORMS OF THE SEASON COULD HIT SEQLD / NENSW INC. BRISBANE ON THURSDAY<<<


*PLEASE SHARE, TAG AND DOT*
• Thursday's potential storm setup looks absolutely potent with hot temps combining high humidity in what looks to be a volatile forecast!
• SUPERCELLS and VERY DANGEROUS SEVERE STORMS a distinct possibility with models suggesting a 75% chance right over Brisbane. These types of storms can cause damage and destruction and contain the following risks: Destructive Winds over 125km hr, Large Hail to 9cm in diameter, Heavy Rainfall leading to flash flooding, an "elevated" risk of tornados.
• Severe storms LIKELY East of a line from Roma to Lismore with a 90% chance of developing. Severe storms contain the following risks: Large Hail over 2cm, Damaging Winds over 90km hr, Heavy Rain leading to flash flooding.
• All storms of this nature have frequent dangerous lightning.
• This forecast is not "hyped" it's real and produced from reliable forecast data. Max temps need to be around 35c for initiation, thus the only inhibiter for severe development would be cloud cover during to day.
• BE AWARE BE PREPARED
• Exact locations are impossible to forecast however the map provided shows likely severe storm potential in the red shaded areas at 4pm on Thursday.
• This forecast will be reviewed tomorrow night for accuracy and minor changes.
Stay safe, stay tuned!
~ Jeff Higgins ~

Was just sent this in an email

Chrysler changes name to FCA US

The change in name reflects Chrysler's subsidiary status to Italian parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

US automaker Chrysler unveiled its new name, FCA US, reflecting its subsidiary status to Italian parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Until now, the company, the smallest of the "Big Three" US automakers including General Motors and Ford Motor, was known as the Chrysler Group.

The company was gradually acquired by Milan-based Fiat after emerging in June 2009 from a US government-backed bankruptcy restructuring and bailout.

Fiat fully completed the acquisition of Chrysler in January 2014, making Fiat the seventh-largest automaker in the world by annual vehicle sales.

Fiat officially adopted its new name Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in October when it listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Chrysler said its name change does not affect its headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, its management team or brands, including Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.

The company, founded by Walter Chrysler in 1925, employs more than 77,000 people worldwide, with 96 percent of them based in North America.

It operates 36 manufacturing sites, including 23 in the United States, seven in Mexico and six in Canada.

When you look at how fast that World Population Clock is ticking over,there must be a lot of rooting going on

one every eight seconds.

I wasn't talking about the US population, the world population, it's like the litre counter on a f'king fuel bowser :mamoru:

Now on ANOTHER can of worms...
if just ONE of those 18 people was a trained, licensed shooter with a concealed carry permit, there is no doubt in my mind that there would be 2 less dead people today.
KGO

Usually in the countries that can least afford population growth.

finally got around to watching Gone Girl...
must say probably one of the best movies ive seen since Prisoners..
that women was a nut case.

i agree. i quite liked the movie too. didnt expect it.

Sydney siege: Harrowing images captured by Channel Seven cameraman Greg Parker


Monday morning had started like any other day for veteran Channel Seven cameraman Greg Parker.

He was at work in the network's headquarters overlooking Martin Place, always a bustling pedestrian mall about 9.30am on a weekday, but even more so on this day, the week before Christmas.

Seven cameraman Greg Parker spent 16 hours behind the lens as the siege unfolded.

Parker, who has covered major news stories around the world for the network, looks back now and remembers one of his producers walking back into the studio at that time, a "Lindt hot chocolate in hand".

Soon that name - Lindt - would consume his every thought and movement. For the next 16 hours, he and a police sniper did their best to monitor the movements of gunman Man Haron Monis, who was holding 17 hostages inside the popular Lindt Chocolat Cafe located directly opposite the Channel Seven building.

Within minutes of the triple-0 call being made to police about 9.45am on Monday, Parker had trained three cameras on the cafe, including one with a powerful 600-millimetre lens.

It allowed him to capture extraordinary, harrowing images of the hostages whose simple trip to a Sydney cafe on a Monday morning had landed them in very real danger.

"Such upsetting footage": A hostage in the window of the Lindt cafe now identified as Marcia Mikhael who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.

One of those harrowing faces is that of 43-year-old Westpac project manager Marcia Mikhael, who was carried from the scene early on Tuesday morning with a gunshot wound to the leg.

The mother of three was in a stable condition in hospital on Tuesday.

"For me, one of the hardest things to see was ... three women forced to hold that flag up against the glass, and then another image of a poor guy in obvious distress with the muzzle of a shotgun in frame being pointed at his head," Parker said in an interview with Channel Seven.

"One of the hardest things to see": Hostages, including 43-year-old Ms Mikhael, far left, hold the flag against the window.

"That was the first time we'd seen a clear threatening pose, that the gun was pointed at a bloke's head who was in a very passive stance up against the glass."

Soon a police sniper recognised the unique vantage point of the Channel Seven headquarters, and moved in to take up position. The newsroom was evacuated - but the sniper quickly identified the potential value of Parker and his cameras.

"I knew we were getting something pretty remarkable in what we could see with our lens on the camera, and the sniper concurred and said 'Could we stay there and keep sweeping?' and giving him continual information of what we were seeing behind the glass [of the cafe window]," Parker said.

Channel Seven had initially been broadcasting live footage of the hostage drama, but cut that feed at the request of police. Instead, Parker fed those images back to police headquarters where senior officers were devising an action plan.

Soon those officers were asking Parker for specific camera shots.

"So we put on Kevlar vests and came down and relocated cameras as they needed them to be. Specifically, that window that they called 'Window 4', where the flag was being sort of held up, was where the gunman was continually positioning himself and putting hostages between himself and the window and between himself and the door," he said.

"It was genuinely horrible. In 20 years, it's very rare to come across such upsetting footage. There's nothing you can do.

"For a real long time it was just him [the sniper] and I, I think for five or six hours, making small talk and, you know, to be honest, the situation kept us pretty busy because we were both looking for any opportunity that was going to affect a positive outcome, and we continually were sort of blown away at just how sad the situation was. It went on and on. We both just were sort of praying that these people were going to get out."

When a group of hostages ran from the building late on Monday afternoon, Parker said he and the sniper were cheering, "high-fiving almost".

"But then the longer it went on, the lights [in the cafe] went off, you know, signs weren't looking good and the scene was getting worse by the hour."

As the hours went by, Monis' actions became more erratic, Parker said. He became agitated, was shoving the hostages, and using them as a shield between himself and the windows.

When a single gunshot rang out just after 2am on Tuesday, police quickly sprang into action, he said.

"We heard a shot, he [the sniper] confirmed 'Hostage down, window two'. Six seconds later, we saw the special forces guys breach. It was ... pretty loud, pretty frightening, it's like nothing I've ever seen before, ever.

"The moment he [Monis] crossed the line, of taking down a hostage, it was a forced action from police. They, in my mind, and probably in anyone else's seeing it, I don't think they were going to sit around and wait for another hostage to have the same fate."

Parker said the "look of just anguish" on the faces of the hostages would live with him forever, as would the courage and professionalism of the police who carried out the dangerous operation.

The tragedy would not dim his love for the city he had grown up in, he said.

"I love Sydney, born and bred. I don't think anyone will let the lunatic that we saw harm our way of life. It's a beautiful city," he said.

"To me it's the best country in the world and always will be."

Did you see the population of Nigeria. fcukers are breeding like rabbits - 177 million.

Or the Pope could just stop lying to them maybe? Nahhhh...

I am disgusted by the media coverage personally. I find the reluctance to describe it as a what is was in the name of political correctness-an Islamic terror attack-absolutely appalling.

One Nation's Queensland President Jim Savage's calls for politicians to start blaming Islam for similar incidents.


Mr Savage said politicians and media were gutless for not pointing fingers at the religion.

"Already the Islam apologetics on national TV are trying to suck up to Muslims and are telling us this is just a lone gunman, a 'lone wolf' and nothing to do with Islam," he said earlier on Tuesday.

"They are saying this murderer is from an opposing cliche (sic) to ISIS therefore Islam is not responsible. I do not care which branch of the worldwide Islamic struggle this monster comes from.

"All branches and sects of Islam come from the same head. That head is the 7th century cult of murder, killing, honour killing, paedophilia, slave trading and dishonesty when dealing with any non-muslim, the cult of ISLAM."

Parties reject pro-gun Senator David Leyonhjelm's call for more Australians to carry guns
Pro-gun crossbench Senator David Leyonhjelm's call for more Australians to carry guns has been rejected by the Opposition and Greens.

The Liberal Democrat has suggested that if more people had guns, someone could have stopped the hostage-taker in the Sydney siege.

Senator Leyonhjelm argues Australians should be allowed to carry concealed weapons, as in some states in America.

"What happened in that cafe would have been most unlikely to have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America, or perhaps even Switzerland as well," Senator Leyonhjelm told the ABC's AM program.

"Statistically speaking" in those jurisdictions, "one or two of the victims" would have had a concealed gun, he said.

But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has bluntly rejected his views.

"I don't see how providing more guns into the population make us safer," Mr Shorten told AM.

"Our rate of gun deaths for the same population proportionately is far less [than America] and I do not see how putting more guns into the community makes us safer."

Mr Shorten would not say if he believed Australia's laws needed to be tougher, but he did acknowledge "we've got to review that".

"One question here is are the laws adequate? The next question is are the laws enforced?" Mr Shorten said.

"We've got to learn the lessons but we've got to do it calmly. We owe that to the survivors and the victims of the Martin Place siege."

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer has also weighed into the debate and said it was "seductive nonsense" to suggest American-style firearm policies would be appropriate in Australia.

Mr Fischer backed gun control laws in the wake of the Port Arthur Massacre.

"Debate will always go on in a good democracy but where it is built on a pack of lies from the NRA it should be dealt with swiftly," he said.

"It is seductive nonsense to say concealed gun laws would somehow work here in Australia."

Acting Greens Leader Adam Bandt has called the Sydney siege "Tony Abbott's Port Arthur moment" and said it should lead to tougher gun laws.
More guns increases likelihood of mass murder: Howard

Former Australian prime minister John Howard, who took on the gun lobby in 1996, said Senator Leyonhjelm was wrong to suggest that Australia was a "nation of victims" because people could not properly protect themselves.

Mr Howard told The World Today, Senator Leyonhjelm's views reflected a "simplistic and flawed analysis".

He said the guns laws which were introduced after the Port Arthur massacre had made Australia a safer country.

He also said there was ample research evidence to show that gun-related homicides had fallen in Australia.

"Around the world, those laws are praised and seen as a model for other countries, struggling with gun-related violence, to emulate," Mr Howard said.

He said he respected Senator Leyonhjelm's views on other matters, but he could not agree on the gun issue.

Mr Howard said the senator was misguided to think that more guns in the community would equate to a safer environment.

"It's just an exercise in logic to understand that the more guns there are in the community the greater the likelihood of mass murder," he said.

Mr Howard said he did not believe there would be much community support for more lax gun laws.

"I don't think there's going to be a resurgence in attempts to roll back those laws. I'm confident that at both state and federal level, any attempt to roll back those laws would be resisted," he said.

Mr Howard said he still got feedback from many Australians and Americans telling him that his gun laws had made the community safer.

He said it was always a better option to have fewer weapons circulating within the community.

"You can never guarantee that a seemingly sane, calm person who's got a licence to hold a weapon, won't at some point in the future go berserk and use it."

Federal Attorney-General George Brandis said questions had been raised about how gun laws were enforced.

"It appears the gun he [Man Haron Monis] held was a weapon that was banned as a result of the Howard government's changes in 1996 so the question is not whether the laws are tough enough but the way in which the laws are enforced," Senator Brandis said.