2005.04.15
Sac Bee covering a Los Angeles Times article

Death by lethal injection, adopted in 37 states as a painless method of execution, actually might inflict enormous suffering on the condemned because of a routine failure to use enough anesthesia, according to a study of death row autopsies.

An examination of 49 autopsies found that in 43 cases, the concentration of anesthesia in the bloodstream was less than required to numb a surgical patient before making an incision.

In 21 cases, the concentration wasn't sufficient to prevent a patient from responding to a verabl command.

Because other chemicals are used to induce paralysis, inmates do not appear to suffer during their executions.

But the data indicate that the condemned might be fully aware as they are dying, according to the study to appear Saturday in the medical journal Lancet.

I guess we can all start new. This is just pure fluff, no formats ... really just an excuse to ramble.

n.p. gridlock :: formless {US}

Without looking, I'm guessing I had this album listed before. It is among one of my favorite albums, and from an incredible local band. My favorite track is called "return", and for some unknown reason it reminds me of "Twin Peaks", but when thinking back I think not. This is so much better.

Quote: Natural Disaster Act
A resolution to improve world security by boosting police and military budgets.

Category: International Security
Strength: Mild

Description:
DEEPLY REGRETTING loss of life and material damages as a result of natural disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, floods, blizzards, etc;

NOTING that these disasters do not stop at national borders;

OBSERVING the Tsunami Emergency Warning Center as instituted by the Tsunami Warning System (Resolution #90);

NOTING that the aforementioned Resolution #90 has limited effect for other natural disasters;

ALSO NOTING that the measures implemented by this resolution can and should be used for further research and development of natural disaster warning systems;

1. DEFINES "natural disaster" as any disaster caused by (physical) geographical, geological or meteorological processes, including but not limited to earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, typhoons, floods, blizzards, etc;

2. ESTABLISHES a Natural Disaster Assessment Organisation (NDAO) which has the following tasks:
a. Conduct research on natural disasters, preventative methods and monitoring systems,
b. Coordinate international cooperation on this field, in scientific research and in practical solutions,
c. Create protocols for warning about possible disasters, evacuation plans and local disaster awareness programmes,
d. Maintain contacts with local authorities and local organisations in order to improve communication of information about possible natural disasters and how to respond to them,
e. Maintain contacts with national governments participating in the NDAO, the Tsunami Warning Center, and the UN;

3. EMPHASIZES that the NDAO is meant primarily for natural disasters with an international impact;

4. REQUESTS that member nations collect and share geological, meteorological and other relevant data with other countries and the NDAO to assist in monitoring, forecasting and researching natural disasters;

5. URGES all nations to establish and fund a National Geological Survey and a National Meteorological Office which can colelct data, contribute to the NDAO as well as work on a national or regional level on the monitoring of potentially dangerous sites and conduct research;

6. EMPHASIZES that technology alone is not enough, but warning and evacuating the population efficiently is just as important, as well as having plans for dealing with a disaster and the rebuilding of the affected region;

7. URGES all nations to contribute financially, organisationally or otherwise to the NDAO;

8. CALLS UPON all nations to provide care and assistance in case of a natural disaster, by themselves or through recognized UN organisations such as the International Red Cross;

The People's Republic of Groot Gouda would like to thank Grosseschnauzer, Mikitivity and the Nederland region for their input.[/quote]

All member nations are invited to share their national flag here, with an explanation on why/how.

The official NS flag of Groot Gouda is based on the RL heraldic shield of Gouda. It is derived from the family crest of the Van Der Goude family. It consists of a central white line, encompassed by 2 red lines. On the sides there are thorns (from per aspera ad astra, through the thorns to the stars) and two lions facing away. The crest has french flowery decorations.

The following are the animals of the IDU:

DO :: Burgeoning Owl
GG :: Weasle
GS :: Wild Schnauzer
KL :: Keeshond
MA :: Tiger
MK :: Burrowing Owl
NL :: Eagle
PK :: Cat
PM :: Horse
YS :: Duck
YU :: Owl
YY :: Poodle
WV :: Wombat

{I'll update this to include all of the animals listed}

The IDU stands for democracy.
No delegate will ban without a regional vote. No delegate will cast his UN vote without a regional vote. No interregional alliances will be forged without a regional vote. The UN Delegate may vote and that vote decides a tie.

The IDU stands for a powerful UN.
Recruitment campaigns will be run in the Pacifics. UN non-members are welcomed but encouraged to join the UN. UN members are encouraged to draft and assist with proposals, as well as to participate in discussions in either or both of our UN forums. The Delegate is encouraged to read the current proposals and approve those deemed worthy of UN attention. With each proposal that reaches quorum, a regional vote will be taken and the Delegate will vote in accordance with the will of the people.

The IDU stands for national sovereignty.
Nothing aside from compliance with the Constitution will be required of any individual nation. Our team of UN writers will strive as much as possible to keep our proposals from infringing upon national sovereignty.

The IDU stands for regional stability and security.
Constructive rather than destructive competition will be the norm. This will insure that whoever holds the Delegacy, they will have the maximum possible number of endorsements, strengthening us against outside attack. Should such an attack occur, the Founder will remove the known invaders as soon as humanly possible. There will be no appeals process for known raiders, they will be regarded as enemies of the state.

The IDU stands for community.
Through this forum and through our internal and external diplomatic relations, we will establish a strong, influential, and vibrant NS community. We will show no hostility to diversity, but rather welcome it with open arms.

The IDU stands for secular government.
We support as a basic human right the right to worship without interence from the state, and also the right to govern without interference from the church.

Brief history of the founding of the IDU
Formerly located at the top of the document

The IDU was founded after a series of raids against The North Pacific. The raiders managed to take the delegacy and mass-ejected many of the region's most valuable members and even some completely random members. At the time of the IDU's founding, the North Pacific ban list contained approximately 150 nations. The vast majority of these were nations who wanted nothing more than a peaceful region where democracy ruled and people were free to play the game without fear of the random banishments that would be illegal in any other region. The current rules unfortunately do not favor that playing style in a Pacific. The IDU is that peaceful, democratic region.

Amendments

This statement was added 9 February 2006 as a new principle:
The IDU stands for secular government. We support as a basic human right the right to worship without interence from the state, and also the right to govern without interference from the church.

This line was added 13 April 2005 to our first principle, but the practice was in force long before it was officially listed:
The UN Delegate may vote and that vote decides a tie.

Originally Posted: Jul 25 2004, 04:34 AM by Xtraordinary Gentlmen, Administrator of the old forum, sometime UN delegate, former active member and sadly now extinct nation.
Group: Admin
Posts: 199
Member No.: 1
Joined: 24-July 04

I'd like to suggest that we agree on a set of standard IDU Country Codes.  We are small enough that a two letter code might be appropriate, but I'm open to hearing ideas.

The general idea is that I was thinking (about the real world) that MK might be an appropriate postal code for Mikitivity. 

If there is an interest in this, I'll create an index of all our codes and move this post lower in this thread.


INDEX

AR - The Amazing Race
BA - Bears Armed
BZ - Byzconia
CS - Christos
EI - Eiria
FX - Franxico
GN - Gnejs
GS - Grosseschnauzer
HN - Haesan
JB - Jebi
KR - Kerlile
LO - Libertas Omnium Maximus
LR - Laeral
LU - Lauchenoiria
MA - Mansilla
NE - United New England
NI - Novella Islands
PS - Purple Schnauzers
QD - Quintessence of Dust
SD - Schnauzer Dominions
SH - Schnauzer Homelands
SR - Sanctaria
SS - Schnauzer States
SY - Sycona
ZO - Zongongia

Historical Record (pre-Jan 2022)

Me: Pixar's "the Incredibles".

I have to say, if you've not seen it, you MUST. It was so good I watched it a few days later.

I figured if I started at the bottom, another other post could surpass this one. :/

Today an obituary was forwarded to me for an engineer who died at the age of 69. When I first hired on for the state, 6 years ago, this guy showed up at a training class. He was a jerk. He was arguementative, and about stupid things. Those of us sitting in the back of the class thought, "Why won't he just shut up!"

He worked in my group about 20 years before I hired on. Something happened, and since it is so long ago, nobody knows what, but he got ticked and left. Since that time he has hated the State of California.

That all is fine, no problems.

Then I read his obituary ... the thing had a few (not many that I know about) flat out lies. WHY? Why lie in your obituary??!!?? It made some false statements about the state, claiming we were using software he wrote. Not a chance, I can pull up not only the source code of most of what we use, but the development staff down the hall can point to the CVS files, which will show that not only is the code written in computer languages that virtually didn't exist in 1981 when the guy left the state, but also happen to be only 4-10 years old.

What bothers me is that somebody needed to padd his obituary so much that they just made up stuff. I do feel bad that he died so shortly after retirement. That stinks. And though the one time I met him, I didn't like him, I do feel bad for his family and him.

My only complaint is about these little newspaper things. With that in mind, I'm torn, when I die should you guys get to do some "creative writting" for my obituary, or should I just have you guys leave nothing behind?

"Michael, he wrote NationStates, and in fact, it was better than some silly novel written by novelist Max Barry!"

(I'm not posting a copy of the obituary, but the above is almost a word for word part taken from the obituary. These things ain't supposed to be parting shots.)

This is a series of news (some important, some not) coming from Mikitivity. Once every few articles, these stories will be forwarded to other news agencies.

[OOC: Often I'll just copy something and maybe alter it. But these are designed to enhance future roleplaying. Please feel free to push these stories along, but just cite Miervatia Today as the news agency reporting them. This would be especially good if a few times a month our regional embassies randomly passed along similar IDU stories.]