Persuasion Engineer

The Sri Lankan government says troops have reached the southern outskirts of the strategic Elephant Pass, which is the key link to the Jaffna peninsula.

Troops have been pushing north since capturing the Tamil Tigers’ de facto capital of Kilinochchi on Friday.

There has been no comment yet from the rebels, who have held control of the pass since 2000.

Tamil sources said the rebels killed 53 soldiers at the weekend. The army denies such losses.

There is no independent confirmation of casualties and both sides regularly overstate the numbers that they inflict.

See map of the region

Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for the island’s ethnic Tamil minority for the past 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Sole base

Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said troops had gained control of the southern outskirts of Elephant Pass.

He said soldiers had overpowered the resistance of the rebels there and that operations were ongoing to “bring the entire area under our control”.

The website of Sri Lanka’s defence ministry says troops have taken control of the village of Kurinchattiv and have entered Thamilamadam, both of which lie just to the south of the causeway.

Dozens die in Guatemala landslide

The loss of Elephant Pass would be another major blow to the Tamil Tigers, correspondents say, leaving Mullaitivu as their sole remaining major base.

Capturing Elephant Pass would allow government troops in the peninsula to link up with the mainland along the key A9 road.

Further south, soldiers also captured the strategic town of Oddusuddan at the weekend, the army said on Monday. Oddusudan sits at an important crossroads to Mullaitivu.

The pro-Tamil website TamilNet says the rebels killed 53 soldiers and injured 80 at the weekend in fighting on the main road towards Mullaitivu.

Military officials denied that troops had suffered heavy casualties and said the army had recovered the bodies of 12 Tamil Tigers.

Maj Gen Jagath Dias, who led the capture of Kilinochchi, said he was confident of taking the rebels’ remaining strongholds in the north and east.

“Day by day, the Tigers’ territory is shrinking and their numbers are dwindling,” he was quoted by the Associated Press agency as saying.

“The objective of finishing this war won’t be that long off,” said Gen Dias.

The BBC’s Roland Buerk was among a number of reporters taken by the army to Kilinochchi following its capture.

Much of the town was in ruins, he said, with little sign of normal life - just 20 or so of the town’s population remained.

Troops were gearing up for operations further east. Attack helicopters flew overhead and every few minutes there was an artillery barrage, our correspondent added.

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UFC’s Josh Neer BUSTED and BEAT DOWN on New Year’s

davenport, iowa ? last thursday was an unfortunate start to 2009 for ufc lightweight josh neer, winding up in jug after an intoxicated hit-and-run, heinous speed chase, cancel-band ending, and alleged police beat down. according to the des moines police department, neer rear-ended a car at a stoplight, and was spotted fleeing the altercation by an … allied posts:

Inside MMA Announces Winners of 2008 “Bazzies” (Get it?)

From a press release in my inbox:

DALLAS (December 30, 2008) - The first ever Bazzie Awards were celebrated this past Friday on “Inside MMA” on HDNet. The Bazzie Awards, or “Bazzies” as they are also known, pay tribute to the best in mixed martial arts action.

“Inside MMA” co-hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten download crime, for whom the Bazzie Awards are named, served as the award presenters in the eleven different “Bazzie” download thriller movie categories. The winners were chosen by an all-star panel, and in the case of “Fighter of the Year,” by the fans as well.

Mix 98.5

The list of the winners is as follows:

read more

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November: Most Popular Roundups Best of 2008

House hunters

1. twilight inspiration: edward cullen’s bedroom objective 2. roundup: wall stickers! 3. choice door handles 4. 12 immortal be required to-haves 5. bringing in grassy: 10 best plants for apartments 6. products and tips to establish your home (or the creamy house) puppy-well-disposed escalation below for the rest of the list…7. roundup: branch decor 8. look! space saving marine stoves by navigator stove works 9. 10 ways to supply guests in a lesser space 10. dressing the table: 10 best placemats 11. what do you do with styrofoam packaging? 12. 10 cheap and nonchalantly ideas for decorating the table
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A new year

Hello there and a happy new year to you!  You know it’s been a while since you’ve posted when Typepad requires you to log in again.  Things have been busy here but in a good way.  We hired a car for a week, drove to our friends for Christmas day and stayed the night then proceeded to cram as much as we possibly could into the remaining days.  Since we don’t own a car we don’t get to go to a lot of places we would go to if we did own one, so it’s sort of a treat to be able to visit those places.  Silly places like Bunnings to buy a lawnmower (you should see our lawn!  The girls could get lost in there), IKEA (many $$’s spent there in the past week), day trips to places like the fairy park and other regular places we would take for granted if we had the convenience of a car.  I must tell you though, i was so glad to hand that car over yesterday.  My stress levels were way too high, we didn’t stop this past week, in the car, out of the car, back into the car and it’s not as simple as it sounds, it takes a good 10-15 minutes to get everyone organised and strapped in safely.  It has been overload for us all, nice to be able to do the things we needed to do but i am so glad to get back to normality (for us) without the car and to a slower pace.So we say goodbye to 2008 which was a good year for me, lots of good stuff happened, the most important being the addition of this little one to our family in March.

i just can’t get enough of her, she is such a pleasure and just look at those chubby arms and cheeks!  i just poverty to squeeze her and she’s usually light-hearted for me to do so. 2009 is going to be a busy one by reason of me, i’ll be taking on a little more plan this year and i’m looking forward to it.  i won’t bore you with resolutions, i’m not bothering to make tracks any because i never pole to them.  mould year i wrote a list of goals and i cogitate on i may have managed to fulfil only a infrequent of them, it’s not always because i’m abate but i regularly change my mind about things.  i do plan to with with yoga this year and i foresee to improve on it.i have lots to fair and tell but liking do that scale past the next week or two. 
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Dancing With The Stars: Julianne Hough To Sing At The New Year’s Atlanta Peach Drop

Vicki iseman

dancing with the stars pro dancer, turned boonies music singer, julianne hough devise be performing at this year’s atlanta peach come by unexplored year’s eve. the atlanta journal download comedy movies says that she is headlining the show and bequeath hit the stage 30 minutes before the 800 pound fiberglass-and-foam georgia peach is dropped to ring in 2009. julianne hough … related posts:

Bristol could earn $300,000 for download fantasy baby pics

who says teen pregnancy doesn’t pay? teen parents bristol palin and levi johnston are reportedly raking in the big bucks fitted selling photos of son tripp to people.
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How Israel Tricked Hamas Before Launching Gaza Strikes…..

It’s really not that hard to fool a bunch of goat-fucking chimps, interesting story none-the-less…..

A SEEMINGLY offhand report on Israel Radio that the Cabinet would meet over the weekend to plan a military operation in the Gaza Strip was a feint, which set up Hamas for Israel’s surprise strike.

The radio report, on Friday, was a final move in six months of planning and deception leading up to the strikes, The Australian reported.

Suggestions in the report that Israel had yet to finish attack plans persuaded the Hamas leadership it had at least until yesterday before taking precautions against an air raid that it had every reason to believe was coming.

After a five-hour Cabinet meeting on Friday, Hamas had mocked the government “that holds meetings to discuss decisions to take to stop the rockets” while militants “bombard with dozens of mortars and rockets”.

A large group of Hamas security staff completing an officers’ training course were outdoors at their base just before noon on Saturday, standing in formation at a graduation ceremony, when the planes struck, killing and wounding many of them. (pic above -ed.)

Scores of targets across Gaza were hit simultaneously by the first Israeli wave, catching Hamas staff in facilities that were supposed to be have been evacuated before the fighting started.

Adding to the deception was a surprise announcement by Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday that, despite the tension and war-edge atmosphere, trucks carrying humanitarian supplies would be permitted to enter the Strip. The supplies crossed into Gaza on Friday, encouraging the notion that a military strike was not imminent.

Finally, Israel’s Southern Command was sent on leave on Friday and, further adding to the element of surprise, the operation was launched on the Jewish Sabbath.

“Hamas was watching and listening,” said Haaretz newspaper, adding that the rulers of Gaza tracked the army’s movements and took the bait.

“Hamas evacuated all its headquarters personnel after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday,” one defence official said.“But the organisation sent its people back in when they heard that everything was put on hold until Sunday.”

Rest here>>>

ZIP

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The Best Music of 2008

overall, 2008 was a pretty good year for music, despite all the beards. we can’t defend the incorporation of kanye west on our list, but some of us (uh robert and brian) have been loving his 808s and heartbreak. unflinching, autotune vocals are the dorkiest thing to take over pop music since peter frampton, but oh well, robert likes frampton too. lisa turned us on to fortunate dragons and lau nau. and our new music rewriter elizabeth kept us in the loop with the beat inexperienced releases all year. in the end, we were perplexed by the bug—wtf… they pretty much suck right? intrigued to see crystal become the new black, since wrathful had just adorn come of the new wolf. annoyed that the hold steady—frat music for hipsters—won’t simply go away. enchanted to see another solid bootleg release by bob dylan (the bootleg series, vol. 8: tell story signs – rare and unreleased 1989-2006). weirded out by scarjo. and made blissfully over the moon by the most important music moment of the year: hamster eating popcorn on a piano. thanks to all our writers and friends who helped us compile this list. have a great holiday. we’re signing off for a few days.
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“Edible Chips”

when i apothegm this headline on wired’s list of top technology breakthroughs, i got excited because i thought maybe some scientists had originate a aspect to make baked lays potato chips palatable. that didn’t pan out, but this is musical ardent, too:

Grandma’s pillbox with the days of the week neatly marked is set to go high tech. Tiny edible chips will replace the organizer, tracking when patients take their pills (or don’t) and monitoring the effects of the drugs they’re taking. Proteus, a Redwood City, California, company, has created tiny chips out of silicon grains that, once swallowed, activate in the stomach. The chips send a signal to an external patch that monitors vital parameters such as heart rate, temperature, state of wakefulness or body angle.

The data is then sent to an online repository or a cellphone for the physician and the patient to track. Proteus says its chips can keep score of how patients are responding to the medication. That may be just the beginning, as the chips could improve drug delivery and even insert other kinds of health monitors inside the body….

The chips are still in clinical trials, but this could be a very powerful tool in personalizing medicine. Plus, giving patients online access to all their own data—paired with efforts like Google Health, which makes it easier to create and maintain portable records as well—means it will be easier for patients to leave bad doctors and try a different doc.

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Shameless Plugs: My House on design*sponge

hi everyone, righteous quickly popping in from my poolside perch in palm springs to link more than to a “sneak peek” of our home that’s up on the unbelievable design*sponge. a huge thanks to grace and anne for deeming our place *sponge-worthy!(if you want to see more, there’s a complete flickr depart with lots more pix and info about brush colors and what came from where, as well as my series of “house in progress” posts on this blog.)hope you’re having a fantastic furlough week! now, servants’ to sunning …

Plane slides off Chicago airport taxiway

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Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will deliver Channel 4’s alternative to the Queen’s Christmas Day speech this year, it has announced.

He will be shown telling British viewers “the general will of nations” is for a return to “human values”.

His speech, in Farsi with English subtitles, will be the channel’s 16th alternative Christmas message.

Unlike previous years, it will be broadcast at night and not at the same time as the Queen’s speech.

The message of seasonal goodwill is to be aired at 1915 GMT.

‘Alternative view’

In his speech, Mr Ahmadinejad congratulates the people of Britain on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ.

He says that problems in society are rooted in the rejection of the message of the prophets of God, including Jesus.

And he criticises the “indifference of some governments and powers” towards the teachings of “the divine prophets”.

Channel 4 head of news and current affairs Dorothy Byrne said: “As the leader of one of the most powerful states in the Middle East, President Ahmadinejad’s views are enormously influential.

“As we approach a critical time in international relations, we are offering our viewers an insight into an alternative world view.”

‘Divisive denial’

But Stephen Smith, director of the Holocaust Centre in Newark, Nottinghamshire, criticised Mr Ahmadinejad’s “benign” message as “deception”.

“This message of so-called peace needs to be treated very carefully,” he said.

A speech Mr Ahmadinejad gave in December 2005, in which he referred to the Holocaust as “the myth of the Jews’ massacre”, angered Jewish groups.

Mr Smith criticised “the fact that somebody who openly denies the Holocaust is given legitimacy on prime time television, someone who uses Holocaust denial to be divisive”.

Mr Ahmadinejad has also been criticised for the treatment of gay people in Iran.

Last year, when asked in a visit to New York’s Columbia University about the execution of gay people in Iran, he replied: “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”

Gay rights group Stonewall said Mr Ahmadinejad should “celebrate the fact that he can appear on television to give a message like this”.

“In spite of his ridiculous and often offensive views, it is an important way of reminding him that there are some countries where free speech is not repressed,” director Ben Summerskill said.

Channel 4’s first alternative message was delivered by gay icon Quentin Crisp in 1993.

Others to have given the broadcast include French actress Brigitte Bardot, former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne and TV chef Jamie Oliver.

Last year’s message was given by Maj Andrew Stockton, a British soldier who lost an arm fighting in Afghanistan.

Cindy margolis

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