French President Nicolas Sarkozy bans tall bodyguards

Tall security agents have been discreetly advised not to apply for a job guarding Nicolas Sarkozy, police sources have claimed. The vertically challenged French president is said to have banned statuesque bodyguards despite their added value of being able to spot potential attackers in a crowd.
A police source said that "there's no point recruiting supermen" as "large-sized" candidates stood little chance of being taken on. The presidential guard, known by its acronym GSPR, has been beefed up from 50 to 80 men since 2002, when a mentally disturbed man managed to take a potshot at Jacques Chirac, Mr Sarkozy's predecessor, with his hunting rifle before being overpowered.
President Sarkozy is notoriously sensitive and secretive about his diminutive height of around 5ft 5 ins – making him shorter than Napoleon. He has gone out of his way not to stand small on the world stage or when next to his 5ft 10 ins former model wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who mostly wears flat pumps.
Besides wearing specially-designed stacked shoes, Mr Sarkozy has been caught standing on tiptoes in global leader group shots and stood on a box to remain shoulder to shoulder with Barack Obama, the US President, when the pair gave speeches to commemorate the Normandy landings last year.

Fox would not have attacked baby twins unprovoked, say wildlife experts

Pauline Koupparis said she found her nine-month-old daughters Lola and Isabella covered in blood with a fox still prowling in the nursery of their East London, England home.
But John Bryant, an expert in urban wildlife, said attacks on humans by foxes were unheard of, and suggested the injuries were more likely to have been caused by a domestic pet.
“I’ve only ever heard of two [similar] cases in my 40 years dealing with foxes, one of which turned out eventually to be a German shepherd and the other a cat, so it’s not in my experience of fox behaviour,” he said.
Mr Bryant, an Animal Welfare Consultant at the British Humane Wildlife Deterrence Association, said if a fox was responsible for the attack it was likely to have been a cub.
“There are thousands of three month old teenage cubs now wandering around beginning to explore their parents’ territory,” he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

“They would be on the prowl looking around and if there’s an open door, even a cat flap, they will walk into houses and walk round and mess on the bathroom floor and sometimes sleep on the bed if the people aren’t around.
“But I see no reason why a fox would do this, unless it jumped into a cot and then found itself with squirming children underneath it and couldn’t get out through the bars or something. I don’t know, but it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Terry Nutkins, the English naturalist and television presenter, also said a fox was highly unlikely to be responsible for the attack on the twins.
“They are carnivores and opportunist feeders, but they don't attack humans. I can't remember a single verified case of a fox attacking a human unprovoked,” he wrote in an online article.
Mr Nutkins agreed with Mr Bryant that, if a fox did attack the twins, it was probably a cub who panicked on finding itself trapped in their bedroom.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7807232/Twin-girls-in-hospital-after-fox-attack-at-London-home.html

JOKE:

Mrs. Yetta Rosenberg gets off the plane in Miami and, being tired from the flight, goes to the first hotel she 

sees in order to get a room. She walks up to the desk and tells the clerk, 'I'm Mrs. Yetta Rosenboig, and I 

desire a room for de night.'

The clerk looks disdainfully at her and coldly says, 'I'm sorry, madam, but our hotel is completely booked.'

Just then, a man with his suitcase in hand, drops his key and a check at the desk, and heads for the door.

'Oy, vot luck, says Mrs. Rosenberg. 'I can take his room.'

'I'm sorry, madam,' says the clerk, 'but I thought you understood my meaning. To be blunt, we do not cater to Jews.'

'Jews?' exclaims Mrs. Rosenberg. 

'So, who's a Jew? I'm a Cat'lic.'

In obvious disbelief, the clerk asks her, 'If you're a Catholic, then answer this question: Who is the Son of God?'

'Dot's easy,' says Mrs. Rosenberg, 'Jesus Christ.'

The clerk, still not convinced, then asks, 'Who was Jesus' mother and father?'

'Mary and Joseph,' replies Mrs. Rosenberg , testily.

Then the clerk asks, 'And where was Jesus born?'

'In a manger in a barn,' answers Mrs. Rosenberg, becoming agitated.

'And why was Jesus born in a manger in a barn?' asks the clerk.

''Cause a shmuck like you vouldn't rent a room to Jews!!!' 

JOKE: Morris Was Having an Affair with His Secretary

Morris came home to find his wife crying.

"What's wrong, Sadie?"

Sadie replied, "Mrs. Goldberg told me you're having an affair with your secretary. Why, Morris? Haven't I been a good wife? I've cooked, raised our children, and stood beside you for thirty-five years. What haven't I done for you?"

Embarrassed, Morris confessed, "It's true, Sadie, you're the best wife a man could hope for. You make me happy in everyway... but one. You don't moan when we have sex!"

Sadie looked up. "If I moaned during sex, you'd stop cheating on me? All right, let's go to the bedroom right now so I can show you how I can moan during sex!" They went to the bedroom, got undressed, and climbed between the sheets.

As they kissed, Sadie asked, "Now, Morris? Should I moan now?"

"No, not yet, Sadie."

As Morris fondled Sadie, she asked, "What about now? Should I moan now?"

"No. I'll tell you when." He climbed on top of her and began intercourse.

"Now, Morris? Do you want me to moan now?"

"Wait. I'll tell you when." Moments later, in the heat of passion, seconds before reaching climax, Morris yelled, "Now, Sadie! Moan! MOAN!"

With great sincerity Sadie cried, "Oy! What a day I've had today..."

China: Cracks in the Three Gorges Dam

In China, cracks are appearing – in the neighbourhood of the massive Three Gorges Dam, the country’s great prestige project, and also in the Great Internet Firewall of China, enabling the ominous news to leak out. Three years ago stories were already emerging in the Chinese media about landslides, ecological deterioration and accumulation of algae further down the river. And less and less effort seems to be made to plug the leaks.
Recent media reports tell of a series of landslips, minor earthquakes and cracks appearing in roads and buildings along the central section of the Yangtse, between the dam and the city of Chongqing. Almost 10,000 “dangerous sites” have been identified, but many of the people living near them cannot be relocated for lack of money. Two years ago thousands of children died in Sichuan Province because their schools were not resistant to the earthquake which hit the area; in the town of Badong near Chongqing children are attending school in buildings which have been recognised as far more vulnerable. What else can they do? The local authorities can’t afford a new one.
Like many such megaprojects, the Three Gorges was always driven as much by politics as by economics. Its rationale covered irrigation and flood control in the lower Yangtse plain, hydroelectric power generation, which sounds sensible: but objections were bulldozed in the tense political atmosphere of the late 1980s, when the final decisions were made. The dam was the pet project of then prime minister Li Peng, who was involved in the party split which led to the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, in which he was the triumphant prime mover. In this context he was not going to back down on the dam, and the debate was closed down.
So the construction was forced through without even what passes in China for proper debate. The number of local people who had to be relocated came to 1.4 million – equivalent to the obliteration of Birmingham. Now it looks like another 300,000 will have to be shifted – add Coventry to that. This, in China, means getting a few weeks’ notice to quit and putting up with wherever the authorities see fit to put you. On top of that a large number of historic sites from one of the most ancient cradles of Chinese civilisation had to go. Yes, China has vast numbers of people to feed and cannot afford sentimentality, but perhaps a bit more care might have been taken to ensure that the costs and benefits had been properly calculated.
But even three years ago, with Li Peng and his family safely out of the way, official Chinese sources were admitting that things had gone horribly wrong. In the official media references were made to landslides, ecological deterioration and accumulation of algae. The Chinese aren’t unworldly and irresponsible greenies. When they point things like this out it’s because it’s causing real damage. Of course the authorities are careful not to promote mass panic, but so far the incidents are far enough apart to prevent collective protest; local complaints can still be suppressed without too much trouble.
Meanwhile, at the centre, it would appear that there is no great enthusiasm to see this all hushed up. The current supremo Hu Jintao has always taken care not to associate himself with the project. Hu’s faction of the Communist Party is broadly opposed by the “princelings’ faction” – i.e. the rich-kid offspring of the post-Mao leadership – and appears disinclined to pull Li Peng’s chestnuts out of the fire.
******************************************************
Built at a great cost, not only financially but in human suffering with the forced move of millions of people who lost their land and homes and for many their way of life with minimal compensation, I will be one of the first to say "I told you so".
Frankly, I worry for any large structure built in China due to so many issues related to graft and corruption and poor building regulations . Not long ago I posted a blog showing a high rise apartment building that just fell over..completely intact. Given that this is perhaps the largest engineering feat ever attempted, there were sure to be problems. A growing nation with a strong economy has a tremendous thirst for electrical power but the cost effectiveness of this venture is poor.
China has always loved the idea of enormous engineering feats, particularly dams. Sadly they don't care for them and maintain them properly after they're built. Environmentally dams flat out suck with a life span of only about 30 years before they silt up and become dangerous because sluice gate no longer can open. Their environmental impact both ecologically and in terms of CO2  emissions is staggering. 
It's time that I blog in the near future about  Banqiao Dam and the monumental loss of life and property that ensued in 1975. I suspect that few know of this and if nothing else it will educate those who think that dams are the answer.
 Let me just say at this time that I have a friend in Harbin, Heilongjiang China who is a senior editor on the Harbin Daily newspaper. In discussing my fears for the new at that time about Three Gorges Dam I cited the Banqiao Dam disaster. (An educated woman with a master degree and she knew nothing about this disaster. I've learned that this is par for the course in China, where they are only taught the good things about the communist party.)   According to the Hydrology Department of Henan Province, in the province, approximately 26,000 people died from flooding and another 145,000 died during subsequent epidemics and famine. In addition, about 5,960,000 buildings collapsed, and 11 million residents were affected. ..Rick
13 story apartment building in Shanghai fell over in 2008

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