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A knifeman has killed at least eight pupils in a rampage at their school in western Japan. Officials say more than 20 other pupils were hurt, along with several teachers. Some are seriously ill in hospital. It is believed the children were aged six or seven.

The KFPS Friesian Horse- beautiful, versatile, athletic, kind, willing, and able to do anything! The Friesian is a horse breed that originated in the Netherlands. During the Middle Ages ancestors of Friesian horses were used as war horses. Their size enabled them to carry a knight in armor.

Did you ever read “The Prophecies of St. Malachy?” Malachy, an Irish saint, “prophesied’ the reigns of Popes from his time of 1143 AD to the end of his list – the next pope after Benedict XVI in an era of persecution and the destruction of “the seven hilled city.” He didn’t predict their names or state his list as the end of time (nor do I), but he does predict judgment following…interestingly accurate in its 1 to 5 word phrases codifying each succeeding Pope. E.g., Pope John Paul I was called 869 years ago “of the half moon” –...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: When I was growing up, an older member of the family used to say, "What you don't know would make a big book." Now that I am an older member of the family, I would say to anyone, "What you don't know would fill more books than the Encyclopedia Britannica." At least half of our society's troubles come from know-it-alls, in a world where nobody knows even 10 percent of all. Some people seem to think that, if life is not fair, then the answer is to turn more of the nation's resources over...

Edward M. Kennedy Jr. announced today he would not run for US Senate in Massachusetts, removing a potentially formidable contender for the seat that will be left vacant if US Senator John F. Kerry is confirmed as secretary of state. “Although I have a strong desire to serve in public office, I consider Connecticut to be my home, and I hope to have the honor to serve at another point in my future,” Kennedy said in a statement. Kennedy lives in Connecticut but also owns a house at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. He is the son of the late...

Budget: Plan Boehner — also known as Plan B — has failed in the House because the Republican speaker couldn't get the Republican members to follow him. So what should they do now? Wait until next year. [snip] Not that a vote would have mattered: Harry Reid's do-nothing Senate — it hasn't passed a budget in more than three years — would not have even taken up the bill. [snip] Let him send his budget to Congress in February, as required by law, and show his plans for escaping the cliff. {snip}After all, won't Obama be responsible for the tax...

An Afghan policewoman gunned down a US military adviser inside the Interior Ministry today. The insider, or green-on-blue, attack is the first in nearly six weeks, and the first recorded by a female member of the Afghan security forces. The policewoman, who was identified as Nargis, is "assigned to the gender and equality department" at the Afghan Interior Ministry, according to Pajhwok Afghan News. "She fired one shot at the advisor, a construction engineer, in the head at close range," according to the Afghan news agency. The policewoman's motivation for shooting the civilian adviser is not know. She is...

Washington is abuzz about the Fiscal Cliff, a combination of tax increases and modest cuts in spending growth. Since the Old Media and most of Washington always favor tax increases, the fear must be over spending. But even with the cuts, Washington will remain overfunded. So, what is not to like about the Fiscal Cliff? The Cliff allows for tax rates to return to those Pres. Clinton approved in the early 1990's. Most taxpayers will see their rates increase and some people who now pay no income tax will have to begin paying. In a 2007 primary debate, Pres. Obama...

It has long been known that volcanic activity can cause short-term variations in climate. Now, researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany), together with colleagues from Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) have found evidence that the reverse process also occurs: Climate affects volcanic activity. Their study is now online in the international journal "Geology". In 1991, it was a disaster for the villages nearby the erupting Philippine volcano Pinatubo. But the effects were felt even as far away as Europe. The volcano threw up many tons of ash and other particles into the atmosphere causing...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Tammy Wilson is referencing scripture, 1 Samuel Chapter 16, Verse 7, and looking through her purse to find her Bible. Turns out it's in her work bag, which just means she'll go from memory. "It's not the countenance of a man nor the height," she begins. "But the heart." And then Russell Wilson's mother begins to speak of the difference between fact and truth. The fact that her son, the Seahawks' quarterback, stands short of 6 feet does not define the truth of his abilities. And the fact her husband was once feared brain dead did not...

These libs are out of control. One of them is Nicole Lapin who is a former CNN financial reporter who wants to ban all semi-automatic weapons because they ‘can be turned into machine guns’. Yeah, she really said that. She also said that if the Sandy Hook shooter had walked in with a handgun, that he could have only killed 2 people. Yeah, just like in the 1800s? Oh wait, those were six-shooters. Well, seems clear she is far more beautiful than she is bright.

Private contractors capable of helping the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) prepare for potential future actions in Syria still are being sought by the agency. USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) last week extended until Dec. 28 the deadline for Personal Service Contract (PSC) applications for two positions based in Turkey: OTI Country Representative-Syria (Solicitation #SOL-OTI-13-000010) and OTI Deputy Country Representative-Syria (Solicitation #SOL-OTI-13-000011). USAID in 1994 created OTI: as a distinct operating unit within USAID to help local partners advance peace and democracy in priority conflict-prone countries. Seizing critical windows of opportunity, OTI works on the ground to provide...

YouTubeIf I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.”...

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory ran a Molten Salt Reactor for over 55,000 hours from 1970 to 1976. It used molten thorium fluoride salts as fuel, which in its liquid state is a clear blue liquid. Thorium is fertile, not fissile, so the Oak Ridge reactor achieved criticality with the introduction of U-239 and later U-233 as a source of neutron radiation. A Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) operates at atmospheric pressure, maintaining a peak temperature of 1,300 degrees F. A LFTR will not go kerpow like Fukushima Daiichi because you do not need power to cool fuel rods...

All you need to know as an American politician or bureaucrat is that Thorium is bad, because it is radioactive. Thorium was discovered in 1828 by the Norwegians who named it after the God of Thunder. At one time, annual U.S production of brightly glowing thorium mantles in gas lamps stood at 40 million units. But as we in the U.S. matured from a manufacturing powerhouse, we learned that nearly all naturally occurring thorium exists as thorium-232, which undergoes alpha decay with a half-life of about 14.05 billion years. Alpha decay consists of two neutrons and two protons, basically...

We have a lot of stupid people the United States governments. ItÂ’s not their fault. The creators of our Constitution designed a system that should rarely entangle itself in highly profitable transactions that involve innovative products or strategies. As a result, our economy historically bids the most driven and intelligent away from government jobs. Government, then, finds a governing formula that works, and sticks to it, often no matter what. China, as every American senses, differs. There, the government bears no shame in announcing that it is the sole source of all beneficial economic activity. In this way, the...

HOUSTON – Investigators are searching for answers after a suspected drunken driver was found shot dead after he allegedly slammed into a family's truck on a rural Houston-area road, killing two young brothers. 12-year-old David Barajas and his 11-year-old brother, Caleb, were helping their father push his disabled truck down the road when 21-year-old Jose Banda allegedly slammed into them from behind, MyFoxHouston.com reports. Neighbors say they heard gun shots minutes after the crash. Police responding to the crash found Banda shot in the head, but no gun at the scene. Banda and both boys died.

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A century ago next year, one of the most extraordinary events in the modern history of Christianity took place there. In the summer of 1913 the Aegean was penetrated not by pleasure-craft, but by the navy of the Russian tsar. A gunboat and later two transporters, complete with a party of marines, sailed up to a giant monastic house. A Russian archbishop tried negotiating with a bitterly divided community. When that failed, the troops opened up with a water-cannon, directed at the cells of monks on the losing side in a theological argument. For six years the Russian monks of...