Mexico mine rescue is abandoned

The rescue effort at the mine lasted almost a week

There is no chance of survival for 65 miners trapped underground in northern Mexico for almost a week, the mine owners have said.

It had been hoped some miners, most trapped at least 2km (1.25 miles) inside the mine, might have survived if air pockets were present.

But now the mine company has told relatives there is no further hope.

Grupo Mexico, said tests of air in the mine showed there was not enough oxygen for anyone to survive.

The men were trapped early last Sunday, when a methane explosion brought down debris and cut them off.

Ten men who were underground escaped safely, and another 12 were rescued, suffering from burns and broken bones.

But nothing more was heard from the larger group further along tunnels, 150 metres below ground.

'Nothing to be done'

Mine director "Ruben Escudero told us all the miners were dead," Juan Hernandez, whose nephew Margarito Zamoran is one of the missing at the Pasta de Conchas mine, told the AFP news agency.

For relatives of the miners, all the waiting has come to nothing

"There's nothing more to be done," Mr Escudero had added.

"We are moving on to the hard task of the physical recovery of our miners so the families can start their mourning," said Xavier Garcia, a senior executive at Grupo Mexico, according to Reuters news agency.

However, he said that it might be two days before rescuers could safely return to the mine.

'Tricked'

Operations were halted on Friday because of the risk of further methane explosions. The gas also made breathing difficult for the 100-strong rescue team, as methane is lethal when it forms more than 15% of the atmosphere.

Rescuers were unable to used heavy mechanical equipment for fear of sparking new explosions, but moved more than 800,000 tonnes of debris in days of digging.

Relatives were angry at what they saw at deception and raising of false hopes by the mine's management.

"They tricked us because they knew from the beginning how the mine was," said Aida Farias, whose husband, Elias Valero, is one of the missing.

"They played with us like puppets."

Union leaders have alleged that Grupo Mexico ignored safety concerns, and Labour Minister Francisco Salazar has said an investigation is to be carried out.

Grupo Mexico says it will pay compensation of about £70,000 for each of the dead miners.

Thomas Pink iPod tie keeps your nano on your neck

Posted Feb 23rd 2006 4:15PM by Marc Perton
Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

Finally, for the man who has everything -- except a job where he can dress casually -- it's the Commuter Tie from Thomas Pink. The bright pink silk tie has a hidden pocket on the back that's the perfect size for an iPod nano, and includes an extra loop to keep headphone wires from getting tangled (though from Pink's promo pic, right, it looks like the wires will get a bit jammed anyhow, since the headphone jack on the nano is on the bottom). We can't help but worry that using this with anything heavier than a nano would result in a curious tightening around the throat -- not to mention a rather unattractive stretching of our neckwear. And if you're going to spend $95 on a tie, we'd like to think you can also come up with a few bucks for a dedicated carrying case for your audio player. Of course, all of this is irrelevant to us, since we're not in the market for a pink tie -- it would clash horribly with our pajamas.

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Teaser spiderman 3

Ananova:

Row over nuclear toys

An Italian toy maker has caused controversy by unveiling models of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

Brumm unveiled its £6 Little Boy and Fat Man 1:43 scale model bombs at the Nuremberg toy fair.

Critics say the toys are in bad taste but a Brumm spokesman said: "We want to protest against the insanity of nuclear-war."

More than 350,000 people were killed when the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.

Dave Perry Resigns From Shiny

Dave Perry Resigns From Shiny

Prominent studio head steps down to help sell his company.
by Jeremy Dunham

February 21, 2006 - After learning that Atari would be selling its studios in an effort to meet its bottom line, Shiny Entertainment President Dave Perry has stepped down from his lofty position to help Atari find a buyer for his studio. The reason? According to the Orange County Register which first reported this story, it's because an employee of the publisher isn't allowed to help facilitate a buyout, whereas an outsider can do whatever they wish.

"Atari can go ahead and sell Shiny but I think I can help too because I'm on the board of a lot of things. I can bring a lot of parties to the table and I can do that faster if I hit the streets myself," said Perry. "If I'm an employee of Atari, then I'd be stepping all over them. This way, I'm representing a buyer. I can act swiftly and get buyers on the table. I pitched Shiny last time and got $47 million [in reference to Atari's purchase of Shiny from Interplay in 2002]."


We've been waiting for a Jim sequel forever... if Shiny Entertainment is bought, apparently we'll get one.
Reportedly, Perry has already begun his sales pitch to several companies to which he is quoted to saying, "There is a lot of interest out there."

Should a new buyer purchase Shiny Entertainment, it is Perry's full intention to come back on board. As the guy who founded the now-56 employee-strong company in 1993, he wants to continue to watch it succeed.

It should also be noted that whichever company ultimately purchases Shiny will inherit a minimum of three games that Shiny is already working on -- including a long-awaited sequel to Shiny's most famous property, Earthworm Jim.

More as it develops.

From engadget

Viliv P1 PMP coming to US

Posted Feb 21st 2006 12:11PM by Marc Perton

If you had told us last year that the Viliv P1 PMP would soon be available in the US, we would have laughed in your face (well, OK, maybe we would have been polite and chuckled into our hands). After all, not only does the device have a suspiciously familiar controller, but it's also from Yukyung Technologies, a company with zero US presence. But this is one case where we're happy to be proven wrong, since the player will apparently make its North American debut on March 1 via a dedicated e-store. Specs include a 30GB drive, DivX and Xvid support, 4-inch display, FM radio and CF slot. And, yes, it does still have that round, white controller, but we're willing to overlook that (though we don't know if you-know-who will do the same).

from the encouraging-better-customers dept.

d writes "Gamespot has an article about an association of prostitutes protesting the GTA games. Apparently, the sex workers of the Sex Workers Outreach Project aren't too happy about their ingame counterparts being treated violently in the GTA games. They note that the games are a bad influence on children, and might encourage rape and violent behavior towards prostitutes in real life."

Munich

No vi el partido del América el jueves (por que ya sospechaba lo peor) y porque tenia ganas de ir al cine, así que me lanze a ver Munich.

La verdad siempre me ha parecido que el estado de israel no debería existir, que es una provocación terrible para los musulmanes (que por cierto ahorita andan enardecidos por lo de las caricaturas de Mahoma) y que Estados Unidos ha cometido una gran pendejada, con su visión a futuro, un futuro en el que los campos de petroleo seran suyos.

Bueno, el asunto es que en 1972 Israel ya tenia sus añitos y sus pleitos con los arabes, y ya se hablaba de alcanzar la paz en el "medio oriente" , como lo ocurrio durante el gobierno de Clinton.

Yo era muy joven en aquellos ayeres (como 13 años) y con musica de Michael Jackson de fondo en verdad crei que estabamos conjurando el peligro de una guerra que venga del islam, me aterran porque son muchos, son irreflexivos y bastante sensibles.

Bueno, volviendo al asunto de Israel, uno de estos golpes publicitarios que suelen dar las naciones para "Demostrar que son fuertes" fue tomar venganza por el asesinato de la representación del estado de Israel en los olimpiada de Munich.

El asunto si fue una tragedia, mucha gente piensa que fue una de la estratagemas de los judios para ponerse como las victimas de la cuestión y que los arabes son unos desalmados.

Bueno como haya sido, los judios enviaron a la unidad asesina del Mossad (¿que no el mossad es de por si al igual que el MI6, la KGB, la CIA y demás agencias de inteligencia una bola de asesinos?) llamada Kidon (bayoneta) a matar a las 11 "mentes maestras" que planearon Munich en la manera más violenta y llamativa que fuera posible.

Volviendo a la pelicula, es de verdad escorazonador saber que tantos secretos se intercambian entre los servicios de inteligenica y algun player independiente, así como que en todo el mundo andan sueltos sujetos dispuestos a desaparecer a los enemigos.

Algo que me agrado de la pelicula es que no ponen a los objetivos como villanos de pelicual antigua, ya saben, malos malos, sino que son personas con las que hasta se pueden encontrar empatia en sus breves minutos en camara.

El final se me hace medio vulgar, sexo con flashbacks de "el rescate" fallido.

El final tiene lugar en Manhattan, bueno, no, de hecho no es Manhattan, es del otro lado del rio, pero se ve la isla, a mediados de los 70, y claro, ahi estaban las flamantes Twin towers (de las que se especula que fueron destruidas por Bush, así que existe cierta concordancia), me gusta tambien que no hace ver a los judios como blancas palomitas obligadas a actuar en contra de su voluntad, si sabemos que son unos inches asesinos que no tiene reparos.

Lo que no me gusta es que Spielberg siente que ya hizo oir su voz:

Nueva York . Steven Spielberg opina que los cineastas tienen que volverse más provocadores en Estados Unidos ante la situación política, según publica la revista Newsweek de este lunes. Al menos desde la relección del presidente George W. Bush ha llegado el momento de tomar posición, asegura. "Pienso que cada uno intenta manifestar su independencia y dejar claro en que cree. Nadie nos representa, así que nosotros representemos nuestros sentimientos e intentemos devolver los golpes", afirma el director de Munich.

Si no mal recuerdo este canijo apoyaba las invasiones de Bush, creyente d las guerras preventivas, pues si, debería irse a vivir a Israel.

Sólo puedo repetir lo que en alguna ocasión dijo el gato culto

"Cuando abundan los dioses abundan las guerras"