HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

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Zouheir Alnajjar, a Collective Journalism contributor who lives in Gaza, gives us an exclusive look at a group of Palestinian militants who make – and set off – homemade rockets headed for Israel.

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Alone among major Western nations, the United States refused to sign a United Nations declaration calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality. The U.S. was joined by China, Russia, the Roman Catholic Church, and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in rejecting the declaration. In 2004, the Vatican and Islamic Conference had lobbied vehemently and successfully to prevent the U.N. Human Rights Commission from outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Nonetheless, in August, despite contentions from UN watchdogs about homosexual organizations’ “historical alignment with organizations advocating pedophilia,” the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council accorded two homosexual groups “consultative status” for standards-making and problem-solving of economic and social issues. Presently, homosexuality remains illegal in 77 countries, in seven of which it is punishable by death. The UN Declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity remains open for signatures.

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Zimbabwe’s central bank says it will soon introduce a 100 trillion dollar note as the once prosperous country battles to keep pace with hyperinflation that has caused many to abandon the country’s currency.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said the new notes that includes 50 trillion, 20 trillion and 10 trillion would be released for the “convenience of the public,” according to statement released Thursday.

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After a stricken US Airways jet made an extraordinary emergency landing in the Hudson River on Thursday, a flotilla of commuter ferries, water taxis and other boats plucked all 155 passengers and crew — many shivering as they stood on the plane’s wings — to safety in as little as five minutes.

It was the charmed culmination to what could have been a tragic flight after the Airbus A320 lost power over New York and glided into the icy river.

“I believe we’ve had a miracle on the Hudson,” Gov. David Paterson said of the landing, executed by a veteran pilot who runs a safety consulting business on the side.

No, governor, it’s not a miracle. Calling this a miracle belittles the pilot’s extraordinary skill and bravery. Attributing such events to God’s grace is an insulting cop-out. So, here’s the guy who made repeated landings just like this one in a simulator. Here’s the guy who did the hard work:

The pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, has more than 40 years of flying experience, the last 29 as a captain with US Airways.

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Large-scale enterprise vendors like IBM, Oracle, SAP and Microsoft sell complexity and arbitrage general IT cluelessness, fear and risk adversity. It’s good business if you can get it.

Does anyone still wonder why they go out of their way to not make their products less user-hostile when the obligatory training, support and maintenance taxes are integral profit channels without which some of these products may not even be viable?

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