News for April 20, 2006

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CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character (April 14, 2006) - Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver. The purple sorbet in cut glass he was serving tumbled onto the expensive white gown of an obviously rich and important woman. "I watched in slow motion ruining her dress for the evening," Odland says. "I thought I would be shot on sight." Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the stain out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction. She was startled, regained composure and, in a reassuring voice, told the teenage Odland, "It's OK. It wasn't your fault." When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter. ... And beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, "I could buy this place and fire you," or "I know the owner and I could have you fired." Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power. ... "Watch out for people who have a situational value system, who can turn the charm on and off depending on the status of the person they are interacting with," Swanson writes. "Be especially wary of those who are rude to people perceived to be in subordinate roles." ... The Waiter Rule also applies to the way people treat hotel maids, mailroom clerks, bellmen and security guards. Au Bon Pain co-founder Ron Shaich, now CEO of Panera Bread, says he was interviewing a candidate for general counsel in St. Louis. She was "sweet" to Shaich but turned "amazingly rude" to someone cleaning the tables, Shaich says. She didn't get the job. more...

Egypt, Saudi Pressing Hamas to Recognize Israel (April 20, 2006) - Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wants to arrange a meeting between interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Mubarak would like the meeting to take place when Olmert arrives in Egypt for a visit. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are not the only countries pressuring Hamas. The Jordanian government announced Tuesday the cancellation of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar's visit to Jordan. The Jordanian authorities claim Hamas operatives smuggled materiel into Jordan to carry out terrorist attacks. Hamas countered by accusing Jordan of "capitulation" to Israeli-American pressure following the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv three days ago. Regarding a compromise proposal, an official Egyptian source told Haaretz that the goal is to create two levels of talks between Israel and the Palestinians. "The first, on the level of ongoing activity that includes public services, operating the Palestinian economy and rebuilding the systems needed to run everyday life. The second, the political system, which means strictly maintaining the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and building a mechanism for negotiations through Abu Mazen," he said. more...

Former Military Air Traffic Controller Claims Comet Collision with Earth on May 25, 2006 (April 19, 2006) - Eric Julien, a former French military air traffic controller and senior airport manager, has completed a study of the comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann and declared that a fragment is highly likely to impact the Earth on or around May 25, 2006. Comet Schwassman-Wachmann follows a five-year orbit that crosses the solar system's ecliptic plane. It has followed its five year orbit intact for centuries; but, in 1995, mysteriously fragmented. According to Julien, this is the same year that a crop circle appeared showing the inner solar system with the Earth missing from its orbit. He argues the "Missing Earth" crop circle was a message from higher intelligences warning humanity of the consequences of its destructive nuclear policies. He links this crop circle to May 25, 2006, and identifies the comet Schwassmann-Wachman as the subject of higher intelligence communications. Using NASA simulations of the comet's path, Julien concludes that impact is likely around May 25 precisely when the comet crosses the Earth's ecliptic plane. While the first fragment will cross at approximately 10 million miles, lagging fragments threaten to collide. While astronomers have stated that the comet poses no direct threat, Julien argues that some fragments are too small to observe. Astronomers have predicted possible meteor showers indicating some commentary debris will enter the atmosphere. more...

Iran says any attacker will regret action (April 19, 2006) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during an armed forces parade on Tuesday that any aggressor would regret attacking the Islamic Republic, which is embroiled in a nuclear dispute with the West. The president declared Iran a nuclear power last week after he said it had successfully enriched uranium to the level used in power stations. Iran insists its program is civilian despite accusations by the West that it wants atomic bombs. The United States has said it wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff but has not ruled out military action. "Today, Iran's army is one of the most powerful armies in the world and it will powerfully defend the country's political borders and the nation," Ahmadinejad said in a brief speech before troops and missiles took part in an annual parade. more...

Huge ice chunks fall in California (April 19, 2006) - Twice in one week large chunks of ice have inexplicably fallen from the sky in California, leaving experts mystified. In Loma Linda, Calif., Thursday a chunk of ice the size of a microwave oven came crashing through the roof of a recreation center, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The ice then fragmented into several opaque, white chunks. No one was injured in the incident. "I've been in the fire service for 31 years. I've heard and read about these things, but I've never seen this in person,'' Rolland Crawford, division chief of the Loma Linda Fire Department, told the paper. April 8 in Oakland a similar ice ball plunged to earth in a field at a park, making a 2-foot crater in the ground. A typical explanation may involve ice falling from an airplane, but ice caused by leaks from a plane's lavatory is blue in color and these objects were white. Myriad other hypotheses have been offered, with one scientist even blaming global warming. more...

Former Director of Proposed Carter White House Extraterrestrial Communication Project to Present New Initiative at Crop Circles Film Screening in Victoria, Canada (April 19, 2006) - The controversial documentary film “Star Dreams” explains that there have been almost 11,000 recorded crop circles worldwide since 1980, many of them baffling prominent scientists. A new version of “Star Dreams” includes the latest crop circles and will be shown publicly in Victoria, BC on May 6th, 2006. After the film, Alfred Webre will present the Star Dreams Initiative (SDI), the evolution of his work as former Director of the proposed 1977 Carter White House extraterrestrial communication project. The proposal was prepared through his work as futurist at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and it came about as a result of Carter’s interest in the subject after he saw a UFO in 1969. more...

Floods threaten 160,000 in southeastern Europe (April 18, 2006) - A swollen tributary of the Danube river rose to a record level in Hungary and Serbia, threatening at least 160,000 people and 50,000 homes as southeasthern Europe battled massive floods. Emergency crews scrambled to bolster the banks of the Tisza River that flows into Serbia from Hungary Tuesday after it reached its highest level in parts of the two countries already hit by flooding of the Danube. Further downstream in Romania, the rising Danube forced authorities to evacuate more than 4,700 people, mainly in the southern towns of Calarasi and Fetesti. In neighbouring Bulgaria, thousands of volunteers joined army troops to strengthen embankments along the surging Danube with sandbags. The situation was expected to worsen across the Balkans within hours, with heavy rainfall forecast later Tuesday or Wednesday, adding to the melting snow which has contributed to the flooding. more...

Israel Warns of New 'Axis of Terror' (April 18, 2006) - Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned that a new "axis of terror" — Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government — was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century. "A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," he said. A Palestinian suicide bomber struck a packed fast-food restaurant during Passover, killing nine people and wounding dozens in the deadliest bombing in more than a year. In a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian government's condemnations of bombings, the Hamas-led administration defended the attack as a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression." The Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, condemned Monday's suicide bombing and the loss of innocent civilians on both sides. But he attacked Israel for its latest military escalation — which killed 21 Palestinians from April 7-9. The bloodshed and Hamas' hard-line stance could set the stage for harsh Israeli reprisals and endanger Hamas' efforts to secure desperately needed international aid and acceptance. Israel said it held Hamas responsible for the attack in Tel Aviv even though a separate group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility. Islamic Jihad has close ties to Israel's archenemy, Iran. more...

Strong earthquake off west coast of Sumatra (April 20, 2006) - A strong earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale struck off the western coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia on Thursday, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta said. The quake, centered 33 kilometres (20 miles) under the floor of the Indian Ocean some 300 kilometres west of Simeulue, was only moderately felt on the island, said Hardiyanto of the agency's office in the capital Jakarta. There were no reports of injuries or damage from the quake, which struck at 2:36 am local time (20:36 GMT). more...

Indonesians on Slopes of Mt. Merapi Prepare for Eruption (April 17, 2006) - Indonesia was preparing Monday for the possible evacuation of nearly 30,000 people living on the slopes of Java's simmering volcano Mount Merapi, officials and reports said. Vulcanologists have declared alert stage two, one level below ordering an evacuation of the 29,000 residents and two below a full eruption, Media Indonesia newspaper reported. Central Java Governor Mardiyanto said all districts on the slopes of the 2,914-metre (9,616-feet) volcano were preparing to coordinate relief and rescue efforts in the event of an eruption, the state Antara news agency reported. Villagers have set up early warning teams to monitor the volcano -- Indonesia's second most active -- around the clock, he added. more...