Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
We chat about our lives, our health, our families, our social circles, our pets, etc. We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, etc.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
This diary series is produced by the Team DFH group but anyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome.
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Good Morning! Happy Friday the 13th!
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Drop in any time of day or night to say hello. |
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A Few Quotes for This Morning
The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. ~Wilson Mizner
Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit. ~R.E. Shay
Luck has a peculiar habit of favoring those who don't depend on it. ~Author Unknown
Luck never made a man wise. ~Seneca, Letters to Lucilius
Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves. ~Larry King
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News
A tenuous ceasefire in Syria...
In Syria, Activists Report Quiet but No Pullback of Forces
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A fragile cease-fire negotiated by the special envoy Kofi Annan prevailed in most of Syria on Thursday, the first vaguely optimistic signal in months in that nation’s bloody antigovernment uprising. But some deadly clashes were reported and activists said areas that had been riven by violence remained under virtual martial law, with tank deployments, armed checkpoints and rooftop snipers.
United Nations diplomats said they were encouraged by the apparent adherence to the cease-fire on its first day by President Bashar al-Assad’s government and his opponents in the conflict, but emphasized that the government had yet to make good on its pledges under the plan to withdraw troops and heavy weapons from major cities.
They said the true test would come on Friday, the traditional day of protest, when demonstrators possibly emboldened by the cease-fire plan’s provision for peaceful demonstrations were expected to pour into the streets.
Imagine that! Pakistan not thrilled with our drone attacks on them nor our endless war in next-door Afghanistan...
Pakistan approves new guidelines for US ties
Pakistan's parliament on Thursday unanimously approved new guidelines on relations with the United States which include a ban on transporting weapons through the country to Afghanistan.
The recommendations drawn up by a national security committee also include a call for an end to drone attacks in Pakistani territory and an unconditional apology for US air strikes in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Western officials were keen for Islamabad to commit to reopening NATO supply lines closed in the wake of the air strikes before a summit in Chicago next month.
Well, at least they're brainstorming, even if it probably won't work...
Global warming scientists foresee Sun-reflecting cities
Scientists sketched a vision on Friday of converting the world's cities into giant sunlight reflectors to help fight global warming but met with scepticism from fellow academics.
Gradually replacing traditional urban roofs and roads with white or lighter-coloured materials would yield a cooling benefit that, over 50 years, would be the equivalent of a reduction of between 25 and 150 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), researchers in Canada said.
At the top end of the scale, this equals the emissions of all the world's cars over the same period, their study published in Britain's Institute of Physics' journal Environmental Research Letters stated.
Whoopsies!
The Photos North Korea Doesn't Want You To See
An Associated Press story that ran Wednesday morning told the tale of a North Korean press bus that took a wrong turn into a part of Pyongyang usually shielded from reporters. Woops!
Man, sometimes those prudes just don't cut any slack... Sheesh!
Texas Teacher Fired for Unwed Pregnancy Offered to Get Married
A teacher and coach at a private Baptist school in Texas fired for an unwed pregnancy wants to set the record straight about who she is for those who question her fitness as a "Christian role model."
"I'm not just some teacher that went out to a bar and go pregnant and went back to school saying it's okay," Cathy Samford told ABCNews.com today. "I was in a committed relationship the whole time and probably would have been married if things had gone differently and this would be a non-situation."
Samford, 29, was in her third year as a volleyball coach at Heritage Christian Academy in Rockwall, Tex., and her first year as a middle school science teacher when she discovered she was pregnant in the fall of 2011.
She and her fiance had been planning to get married at the end of the summer, but a series of events had delayed the wedding.
(emphasis mine)
OMFG! We're gonna have to deal with idiot stories like this for the next year aren't we?
George Zimmerman buys $79.84 worth of items from jail store
George Zimmerman is cooling his heals in jail, where he recently purchased a collection of items from the Seminole County jail store to help pass the time.
One more whoopsies for today!
Break-in attempt at home of alarm company president proves bad choice
TORONTO - Talk about picking the wrong house.
Three men are facing charges after an alleged break-in attempt at the Toronto home of an alarm company president.
AlarmForce Industries (TSX:AF) says Joel Matlin was on vacation in February when a man went to the front door of his house late at night.