Wednesday, February 26, 2014


News Clips For The Day


California couple strikes gold after finding $10 million in rare coins
By Dana Ford, CNN
Wed February 26, 2014

(CNN) -- Eureka!
A husband and wife are reveling in their good fortune after finding $10 million in rare gold coins buried on their property in Northern California.

The gold country discovery is thought to be the largest of its kind in U.S. history, according to David Hall, co-founder of Professional Coin Grading Service, which authenticated the find.

"It's quite a story. People were walking along on their property in Northern California, noticed something, began digging and they found cans of gold coins," Hall said.
"It should have happened to you and me."

California discovers gold again

The coins were unearthed in February 2013 by the husband and wife, who wish to remain anonymous.
They were walking their dog when they spotted something shiny on the ground.
The couple dug and eventually discovered eight metal cans, containing more than 1,400 gold coins.

No one knows how they got there, or who the coins might have belonged to.
"Somebody could have buried them and then died before they let anybody know where they were," Hall said.

"Believe it or not, I know cases where they forgot they had something, or they moved or whatever ... It could have been some kind of robbery deal ... Who knows?"
The treasure is known as the "Saddle Ridge Hoard" because it was discovered near a hill the couple called Saddle Ridge.

In their effort to stay anonymous, the husband and wife aren't saying exactly where the fortune was found.

These coins could change history
The coins

The coins, in $5, $10 and $20 denominations, are dated from 1847 to 1894. Most were minted in San Francisco.

They have a combined face value of about $27,000, but experts believe they could fetch $10 million or more.

The couple is planning to sell much of the collection.
Approximately 90% of the coins will go up on Amazon.com's "Collectibles" site, according to Don Kagin, of Kagin's, Inc., who is assisting the anonymous owners.
Collectors wanting a sneak peak can see some of the coins at the American Numismatic Association's 2014 National Money Show in Atlanta, which opens Thursday.

"Unlike other hoards and treasures, this one includes a great variety of coins struck over many different years, and many of the coins are still in pristine condition," Kagin said in a statement.

"And add to that a wonderful human interest story: this family literally found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."





A number of years ago my father was digging in his backyard garden and discovered a large, smoothed stone. He thought he knew what he had and brought it to me in Chapel Hill, NC. We took it to an archaeologist on the campus, who stated that it was a 6,000 year old Indian grindstone. I still have that stone in my apartment in Jacksonville.

That was a great find, but nothing like these gold coins. I am imagining an old miner who was a hermit. Instead of running into the local bar and buying everybody drinks whenever he found more gold, he sold his gold for coins, gradually collecting this hoard. He spent very little, so the coins just continued to accumulate. He died alone from a heart attack. His body was found and he was buried in a pauper's plot, and the gold remained hidden. He had lived a spartan life, and the neighbors found no signs of wealth in his dwelling, so they suspected nothing. Eventually the land was sold to developers who put up housing on it, and this family bought their plot.

The article said that it could have been the proceeds of a robbery, but I doubt it. I don't think the coins would have been of varied years over such a long period of time unless it was something like a hermit's hoard. A Wells Fargo robbery would have been in mainly new coins, I think. Also, that's a lot of money for a robbery. Whatever, it is now going to be sold off ignominiously coin by coin on Amazon.com, not even in a spectacular auction. That is clearly the easiest way for the couple to translate their find to modern day currency, and they can retain their anonymity in the process. May they live long and enjoy the pleasures of their newly found wealth.




NATO chief backs Obama's threat to Karzai, says alliance will pull out of Afghanistan without BSA – CBS
CBS/AP February 26, 2014

BRUSSELS -- NATO's secretary general says that if Afghan leaders and the White House can't agree on a key security pact, the U.S.-led alliance will pull all of its troops and equipment out of Afghanistan by December.

The blunt statement from Anders Fogh Rasmussen Wednesday at the start of a NATO defense ministers meeting ratchets up pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to strike a deal.

On Tuesday, President Obama threatened to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year if the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) isn't signed.
CBS News correspondent David Martin reported that while the threat of the so-called "zero option" -- a complete withdrawal -- had been on the table for some time, and the Pentagon has been working on contingency plans for it, Tuesday's phone call was the first time Karzai had heard it directly from Mr. Obama. 

Hagel: Karzai's reluctance on security agreement is frustrating
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he hopes Afghan President Hamid Karzai signs a security agreement for a post-2014 U.S. presence in Afghanistan...
Crucially, the White House indicated Wednesday that while the U.S. is adamant that a BSA must be signed, and the number of troops likely to remain in the country decreases the longer that signature lingers, the Obama administration is willing to wait until Karzai himself is replaced in an Afghan national elections in April. Many of the candidates vying to replace him have already indicated that they would sign a BSA with the U.S.

"We will leave open the possibility of concluding a BSA with Afghanistan later this year," the White House said in a summary of the call between the two leaders. However, the White House added that "the longer we go without a BSA, the more likely it will be that any post-2014 U.S. mission will be smaller in scale and ambition."
Martin said the U.S. currently has about 34,000 troops in Afghanistan, and the top American commander in the country has suggested keeping around 10,000 there after the bulk come home this year -- but only if the U.S. and Afghan governments can agree to and sign a BSA.

Without that agreement, Rasmussen said, forces from other NATO countries and partners cannot stay beyond 2014 either. There are roughly 19,000 non-U.S. forces now in Afghanistan.

"Let me stress, this is not our preferred option," Rasmussen said. "But these are the facts." The NATO chief was to hold meetings with other defense chiefs, including his U.S. counterpart Chuck Hagel, during this week's meetings in Brussels, and Afghanistan was expected to be a primary topic of discussion.

Many Afghan leaders and security officials have expressed serious concern about the readiness of the nation's police and soldiers to stand up to the Taliban and other insurgent groups without Western backup.

On Tuesday, speaking to CBS News on the condition of anonymity, a senior government official from neighboring Pakistan put it starkly, saying the "zero option should not be an option. It means civil war in Afghanistan."

The official said Afghan security forces were simply not ready for the fight on their own, and cautioned that many -- as much as 30 percent of the overall Afghan security force -- could simply walk off the job and return to their villages if the U.S. troops pulled out entirely.

He also worried that without foreign military backup, bloodshed in Afghanistan would increase and spill over the border in the form of more attacks on Pakistan. Afghanistan's leaders have for years pointed the finger, in turn, at Islamabad, saying many of the attacks on Afghan and NATO troops are carried out by militants who have bases on the Pakistani side of the nations’ shared border.

The official noted that Pakistan was already home to "millions" of Afghan refugees, and said any new influx sparked by a deterioration in the already-tenuous security situation in the neighboring nation would be a disaster for Pakistan's government.





If the US pulls out completely, our efforts there will be for nothing, and both Afghanistan and Pakistan will be harmed. The US, however, is willing to wait until Kharzai is replaced, as many of those who want to run for that office are willing to sign the agreement. I hope that this is, therefore, not the crisis that the news agencies are portraying. We will have to watch the situation as time goes on.




As more arctic air nears, massive ice jams wreck property across Midwest – CBS
By Dean Reynolds CBS News February 25, 2014

WILMINGTON, Ill. -- A new blast of arctic air is driving across the northern United States, and adding to the cold weather problems are ice jams.

Considerable damage has already been done in Tippecanoe County, Ind., where buckling ice from Wildcat Creek ran wild, literally plowing trees and wrecking property.
Video from Ohio last week captured the speed and strength of an ice jam on the move, and many in the region are now fearing a similar fate.

"This is probably 12 feet from the river's edge, and look at it -- it's like just mass destruction. You can't stop the ice," said Steve Highbaugh, who has lived along the Kankakee River for a quarter century.

Highbaugh's property is in danger of being pulverized both by the ice and the flooding that could follow.

The combination of the thaw and rain late last week got the ice going. Even when it appears motionless, it's generating dangerous pressure on infrastructure, and the water underneath could quickly reroute sideways to get around the jam, causing flooding.

"We are looking at something that looks very still and very calm right now, but at any time it could cause massive problems with the break-up and start flowing," said Trent Thompson, chief of operations for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.
Residents along the river are watching it closely, knowing that the next move it makes could force them from their homes.

As for what's in the forecast, chief meteorologist Eric Fisher at CBS Boston station WBZ says the arctic air will be dropping south over the next three days. By Thursday, lows will be in the teens and 20s in Texas and across the deep South on Friday.  




I have been watching the movements of the jet stream for years now on the weather reports, and it always seems to shift according to rules of its own. When it comes south now, unfortunately, it's bringing very cold air. This article didn't mention the “Polar Vortex” but the effect is much the same as last month's events. This damaging ice is the first mention I have ever heard of such danger in the Continental US, though I imagine if we were to go back through a hundred years worth of weather data there would be other cases like this. I do hope this current ice buildup doesn't produce large floods later, like we had about ten years ago on the Ohio River. Many people's homes were inundated then.





Inside China's pollution problems – CBS
CBS News February 26, 2014

Beijing is suffering through a week of dangerous air pollution levels. Even Chinese officials say the air is "unbearable."

Beijing's skyline disappears into smog as traffic cops and even toddlers don masks. Pollution is primarily caused by coal burning for heat and the more than five million cars on the road.

Students outfitted statues with masks to push classmates to think about pollution, while others are making smog a not-so-subtle partner in photos circulated online.
CBS News' Seth Doane reported from Beijing, "Many of us (who live in China) have apps on our phones that tell us the current pollution levels. The (Environmental Protection Agency) established a scale that runs from zero to 500, with 500 the worst. Today's pollution reading is above 500 -- beyond index. That means the average pollution levels are around 20 times higher than what the World Health Organization considers 'safe.'"

There's not much of a view from the 15th floor of American doctor, Richard St. Cyr's apartment. At Beijing United -- where he's a family physician -- patients pepper him with questions.

St. Cyr said, "(Patients ask) 'Does an air purifier actually work?' 'Does a mask actually do anything?' 'Should you exercise outside on a bad day or not?'"
St. Cyr said not only does he not have all the answers, "it's things that I want to know."

He started a blog to dole out advice and reveal what data he could uncover.
"Many times I've gone around my apartment like a crazy man with an air particle monitor, and I've borrowed like many machines and I've tested them in different rooms and I'll publish the results on my blog," St. Cyr said.

Beijing has not yet raised its color-coded alert to red -- the highest level -- but for nearly a week, the city has encouraged schools to keep kids inside and residents to wear masks.

State media has broadcast pictures of a steel factory being demolished -- because it's one of the heavy-polluting industries -- and it's reporting that 147 industrial companies in Beijing have cut or suspended production to combat smog.

While clothing was optional at Beijing's annual "Naked Run," masks were worn. And when China's President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to a Beijing neighborhood earlier this week, much of the chatter online was that he did not wear a mask.
China's pollution problems are expected to be on the government's agenda at the national Peoples Congress set to begin March 5. After last year's meeting, China's premier said pollution gave him a heavy heart. However, the Chinese government's attempts to deal with pollution problems are difficult to detect on a day like this.




Many US cities could offer advice to China if they want to consult with us. Jacksonville, FL where I currently live had pollution bad enough to eat holes in women's nylon hosiery not too long ago, and the air is now much clearer after a massive government effort to clean it up. It was a big improvement for me here when I moved down from Washington, DC in 1995, where I had constant allergy and sinus problems causing frequent headaches and other problems.

It is possible to clear up a city's air, but it takes government efforts and restrictions on factories and car pollution. The fact that citizens in Beijing are burning coal for heat is probably one of their biggest problems. We have factories here, including two paper mills, but the air is still passable. Every city's situation is different. When I was in Washington I was aware of fungus spores from dead leaves and auto and bus pollution. My window sills collected a fine black soot deposit from the air. There were also many ornamental gardens around the city putting out pollen. I miss the free museums in Washington, but I don't miss the air quality.





Woman claims she was attacked for wearing Google Glass at bar – CBS
By Crimesider Staff CBS News February 26, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO - A woman took to Facebook to report being attacked for wearing Google Glass at a bar Friday night, according to CBS San Francisco.

Sarah Slocum, a technology writer, said she was at Molotov’s in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. She was showing someone how the high-tech headset works when two women confronted her, Slocum wrote on her Facebook page. Then, a man allegedly ripped the glasses off of her face.

“OMG so you’ll never believe this but… I got verbally and physically assaulted and robbed last night in the city, had things thrown at me because of some ---- Google Glass haters,” Slocum posted to Facebook.

Slocum said she recovered the Google Glass, and the video on the device that shows the man ripping the glasses off her face, from the assailant. However, her purse and phone – which she says were also stolen – have not been found.

According to witnesses, some people at the bar were upset about possibly being recorded by the glasses. Brian Lester, who was at the bar Friday night, said he saw a man insult Slocum outside the bar. Then, another man, who was accompanying Slocum, started a fight with the man who insulted her.

“The crowd was jeering as any last call crowd would do with a fight outside of a bar,” Lester said. “She was running around very excited… and people were telling her, ‘You’re being an ---, take those glasses off.”

“I think everybody was just upset that she would be recording outside of a bar this late with obvious embarrassing behavior going on,” said Lester. “And just rather insulted that someone thinks it’s okay to record them the entire time they’re in public.”

Slocum received sympathy and support about the ordeal from friends posting on her Facebook page.

Google recently sent out a list of do's and don't for Google Glass wearers on ways to use the headset.

Slocum declined an interview request by CBS San Francisco.



Google: How not to be a "Glasshole"
CBS News February 19, 2014

As the public release date approaches, Google is helping Google Glass wearers deal with all of the attention the new technology attracts. 

The digital eyeglass-style headsets -- which can search the Internet on voice command, record video, and more -- are expected to hit the market by the end of the year. Preview models have already proven popular with doctors and professional sports teams, along with a growing number of early adopters.

But the devices have not been welcome everywhere. One Seattle restaurant banned the wearable technology in November 2013, and an Ohio man was questioned when he wore his Google Glass to a movie theater.

 Models sport Google Glass on runway
Google co-founder Sergey Brin and designers Diane Von Furstenberg and Yvan Mispelaere walk the runway during New York's fashion week on Sept. 9, ...
 
Google Glass in surgery? Doctor testing tech says it's a "safety net"
High-tech device can stream live video of an operation to doctors in other cities, making surgery into a collaboration, according to Brent Ponce,...

 "Reactions range from the curious – 'Wow! Are those the "Google glasses'? How do they work?' – to the suspect – 'Goodness gracious do those things see into my soul?!' Luckily as the Explorer Community grows, so does their collective wisdom," Google wrote on its website.

And so, the company asked current "Glass Explorers" for their do's and don'ts. It posted the tongue-in-cheek advice on its site. The highlights read like a hybrid between an etiquette manual and a sales training guide. For example:

Don't "Wear it and expect to be ignored"
"If you’re worried about someone interrupting that romantic dinner at a nice restaurant with a question about Glass, just take it off and put it around the back of your neck or in your bag."

Don't "Be creepy or rude (aka, a 'Glasshole')"
"Respect others and if they have questions about Glass don’t get snappy. Be polite and explain what Glass does and remember, a quick demo can go a long way... Breaking the rules or being rude will not get businesses excited about Glass and will ruin it for other Explorers."

Do "Ask for permission"
"Standing alone in the corner of a room staring at people while recording them through Glass is not going to win you any friends."

Do "Take advantage of the Glass voice commands"
"Glass can free your hands up to do other things like golfing, cooking, or juggling flaming torches while balancing on a beach ball."

The list also includes some common-sense advice, such as warning users not to wear Google Glass during high-impact sports, or for extended periods of time. "If you find yourself staring off into the prism for long periods of time you’re probably looking pretty weird to the people around you," it says. 

  Google Glass gets new designer look
Google's futuristic glasses are redesigned
 Google sums it up by suggesting that users treat the glasses like they would a cell phone; if a situation is not appropriate for a cell phone camera, it's not appropriate for Google Glass.

The advice comes as Google Glass technology is becoming increasingly widespread. Google unveiled plans earlier this month for the technology to be incorporated into prescription eyewear. The NYPD also announced it will be testing the device for possible law enforcement use.




Well, Sarah Slocum needs to read this accompanying article from Google Glass on the do's and don'ts of the technology. In both these cases, at the movie theater and Slocum's altercation, a number of people are upset about being recorded. I wonder if jealousy is involved in the consternation, with anger at the expense of the glasses, such as wearing a fur coat and a hand full of diamonds with a pear of jeans – conspicuous consumption.

According to the first article there are restaurants and other venues which have banned Google Glass to assure the privacy of their customers. It does strike me as being more trouble than it's worth, and they could be distracting mentally at times when you are crossing a busy street or driving and you need to be paying attention to what you're doing. I don't want Google Glass. I don't need to record my life, and I get enough computer time when I'm doing my blog.




­

Solitary Confinement Costs $78K Per Inmate And Should Be Curbed, Critics Say – NPR
by Carrie Johnson and Bill Chappell
February 25, 2014
­
Former prisoners spoke about the effects of solitary confinement Tuesday, in a congressional hearing aimed at banning the treatment for some inmates. The federal push to reduce solitary confinement is being led by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who calls it "a human rights issue we can't ignore."

Inmates who are held in solitary confinement spend 23 hours a day in small windowless cells, receiving their food on trays that are pushed through a slot in the cell's door.

The use of solitary confinement is also extremely expensive and counterproductive, according to a news release from the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights,which Durbin leads.

NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson, who attended today's hearing, says that Durbin's calls for change, which is aimed only at the rules governing juveniles, pregnant women and the mentally ill, come as some states have already begun to cut the use of solitary confinement.

"In the last couple of years, a lot of factors have come together," Carrie tells Melissa Block on All Things Considered. She'll also report on the issue for Morning Edition Wednesday.

"There have been efforts by states to save a lot of money and reduce violence in prisons," Carrie says. "And also, a critical mass of advocacy by the ACLU and some researchers," she says, along with bipartisan interest in the issue.
"One fact that came out today was that it costs about $78,000 a year to house someone in the federal prison system in solitary," Carrie says. "That's three times as much as it costs to put somebody in a regular prison unit."

Carrie says that states "have been leading the way" in curbing solitary confinement.
New York recently announced a broad revamping of its prison poliicies last week, for instance, spurred by a federal lawsuit in which critics said " thousands of inmates — some of them pregnant or mentally ill — are being held for months and even years in isolation, often for minor infractions," as NPR's Brian Mann reported.

Mississippi, Maine, and Texas have also taken up the issue. Today, Durbin and his allies urged more states and the federal government to ban the use of solitary confinement.

"The United States holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other democratic nation in the world," Durbin said ahead of the session. "The dramatic expansion of the use of solitary confinement is a human rights issue we can't ignore."
Carrie calls the testimony that was given by former prisoners on Capitol Hill today "incredible."

Particularly moving were the words of former inmate Damon Thibodeaux, who was exonerated after serving nearly 15 years in solitary confinement in a Louisiana prison.

"Humans cannot survive without food and water," Thibodeaux told the senators. "They can't survive without sleep. But they also can't survive without hope."
"Years on end in solitary, particularly on death row, will drain that hope from anyone. Because in solitary there's nothing to live for," he said.

"After realizing what my existence would be like for years on end, until I was either executed or exonerated, I was on the verge of committing what was basically suicide by state," Thibodeaux said, "by voluntarily giving up my legal rights and allowing the state to carry out the sentence of death."

He asked, "What does it say about us as a nation that even before the law allows the state to execute a person, we're willing to let it kill them bit by bit and day by day, by subjecting them to solitary confinement?"

Interest in today's hearing was so intense that its location was shifted to a new venue on the Hill. The witness list included Piper Kerman, author of the memoir Orange Is the New Black, based on her own experience in prison.

Kerman said that for women in prison, the risk of solitary confinement can make them reluctant to speak up about rape and other abuses, for fear of possible retribution.
"The terrible threat of isolation makes women afraid to report abuse, and serves as a powerful disincentive to ask for help or justice," she said.

The proposed changes are meeting with resistance from prison officials and guards, whose union president, Eric Young, said today that "isolation or segregation is a vital tool to prevent anarchy in prisons," Carrie says.

And the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Charles E. Samuels, Jr., said that there are inmates, such as gang leaders, who must be separated from the rest of the prison population.

"If they see that we will lower our standards, we will not hold individuals accountable, it puts our staff at risk," he said. "It puts other prisoners at risk."
The Senate panel released information today stating that of the more than 2.3 million people who are in America's jails and prisons, "the United States held over 80,000 people in some kind of restricted detention."




"The United States holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other democratic nation in the world," said Durbin. Yet the prison officials say it is “a vital tool” to protect the main body of the prisoners from the gang leaders and other violent inmates, and that there would be anarchy without it. Durbin's proposed measure only protects “juveniles, pregnant women and the mentally ill,” and that some prisoners are discouraged from complaining about issues such as rape for fear of being placed in solitary. It is good to see that a number of states have already begun to examine the use of complete isolation with the possibility of banning it.

I would like to see Durbin stretch his measure to cover all prisoners. Solitary confinement is like that tactic of feeding selected prisoners Nutriloaf rather than regular meals as a punishment. It is too demoralizing and depressing. I also am one of those people who think the prison system should be actively involved in rehabilitating prisoners rather than just punishing them. Real change is a positive thing, not just the result negative punitive actions, and requires a positive attempt by the prison system. Prisoners who have not changed are much more likely to go back to a life of crime once they get out, than “go straight.” That makes their stay in prison basically worthless. Not only is it much more humane to try to change them mentally and emotionally, it is better for the whole society.