8.30.2007
On the Air
Tonight, Thursday 8/30, will be my first broadcast of the season. I've got a new partner, who's a nut. We'll be on 1490am and if things go right we'll be global at protalk1490. Check out the site I did to back things up - blackbearfootball.com.
It's just easier to show how I incurred 2 hours of lost time....
U-Boat Engineering Officer: North Atlantic, 1944 - Naval Engineer's black "leather" jacket and trousers, dark blue cloth officer's cap with insignia, black combat boots, die cast wrench and hammer. Vintage-style figure body....
This figure is an accurate depiction in 1:6 scale of Napoleon Bonaparte as he was in 1805; the year of the Battle of Austerlitz and at the pinnacle of his military glory. He is attired in his favourite uniform of Colonel of Chasseurs '87 Cheval de la Garde Imperiale that was his standard dress while in the field ... with a full assortment of garments and personal belongings including his sword, telescope, watch and even a favourite snuffbox....
Roman Vexillarius- IGN-AR-023 - The "Vexillarius" carried the banners of the Legion. In this case Ignites Vexillarius carries the banner of Legio X Gemina. Set comes with real metal helmet, and two swords. Banner staff is also topped with metal decoration. Figures wears red tunic, simulated mail armour and rubber molded wolf's skin wrap. Accessories include shield, sandals and belt....
Which, of course, led me to
8.29.2007
Unbelievable govt. waste
Break out the Glug!!
I'm getting these even if I have to sell my truck-boat-truck.
Squidbillies, Vol. 1 (2005)
Starring: Squidbillies Rating NR
Squidbillies, Vol. 1 (2005)
Starring: Squidbillies Rating NR
List Price: $29.98
Amazon.com Price: $22.49
This title will be released on October 16, 2007. Pre-order now! Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Amazon.com Price: $22.49
This title will be released on October 16, 2007. Pre-order now! Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Squidbillies Logo T-Shirt
at Hot Topic
$18.00
Other Sizes available for $20.00
Tuck that mullet under your trucker hat, call your friends at the NRA and get ready to watch some NASCAR. This cream T-shirt features a brown outlined image of Early Cuyler with the Squidbillies logo below. 100% cotton.
at Hot Topic
$18.00
Other Sizes available for $20.00
Tuck that mullet under your trucker hat, call your friends at the NRA and get ready to watch some NASCAR. This cream T-shirt features a brown outlined image of Early Cuyler with the Squidbillies logo below. 100% cotton.
Not just for Travian junkies
Vercingetorix (pronounced [werkiŋgˈetoriks] in Gaulish) (died 46 BC), was chieftain of the Arverni, originating from the Arvernian city of Gergovia and known as the man who led the Gauls in their ultimately unsuccessful war against Roman rule under Julius Caesar. Known primarily through Caesar's accounts, Vercingetorix's revolt is frequently used as a heroic example of Gallic virtue and resolve.
Read it all at Wikipedia.
8.28.2007
Gul Elected President To A Divided Turkey
Turkish Armed Forces Issued a Stern Statement to Mark Victory Day - One Day Before Gul Becomes President
Read it all at The MEMRI Turkish Media Blog.
Abdullah Gul is elected as the 11th president of Turkey. In the third round of the election Gul received his own party AKP’s 339 votes out of the 448 MPs present on the floor of the parliament. The main opposition party CHP did not participate.
The parliament is in recess for about two hours after which it will reconvene for the swearing in ceremony of the new president. Gul will take over the presidency tonight in Cankaya (the presidential palace) from Ahmet Necdet Sezer with a modest ceremony.
While massive celebrations are planned in Abdullah Gul’s hometown Kayseri and other places, half of the nation is sad and concerned.
Source: All Turkish dailies, August 28, 2007
Turkish Armed Forces Issued a Stern Statement to Mark Victory Day - One Day Before Gul Becomes President
Turkish Chief of General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit’s written statement came three days before the 85th anniversary of August 30 ‘Victory and Armed Forces Day’ in Turkey.
In his strongly worded message General Buyukanit said, “Sinister plans to destroy the unity of our people and the democratic, secular nature of our country are emerging every day in different shapes and forms. Turkish Armed Forces as it has in the past will continue to guard and protect Turkey as a democratic, secular, social state of law, without compromise.”
Read it all at The MEMRI Turkish Media Blog.
8.27.2007
I'll Lower Your Taxes If You Whip It Out
If you're ever approached for sex in a men's restroom, it is now statistically probable that it will be by an elected Republican.
First you have the recent case of Florida Republican Bob Allen, who was caught soliciting sex from a cop in a public restroom. Guess what Bob wanted to pass tougher laws against. Go ahead, guess. That's right: sex in public restrooms! But it was all ok: the blacks scared him into doing it. Oh, what a hilarious misadventure of misplaced shame, self-hatred, and repressed racism that was!
Not to be outdone, Larry Craig, the Republican Senator from Idaho, has plead guilty to lewd behavior in an airport's public restroom. And it looks like he knows how the game works, like this wasn't his first time at the (gay) rodeo. Uck! The thought of that creepy old coot rubbing one out next to the auto driers has caused by scrotum to ascend into my bladder. Thanks for that Larry.
And yes, Larry is a member of the "Singing Senators" barbershop quartet (chuckle, convulse, barf), and--not surprisingly--he doesn't vote very gay-friendly. Give the man credit for not voting with his dick I guess...
First you have the recent case of Florida Republican Bob Allen, who was caught soliciting sex from a cop in a public restroom. Guess what Bob wanted to pass tougher laws against. Go ahead, guess. That's right: sex in public restrooms! But it was all ok: the blacks scared him into doing it. Oh, what a hilarious misadventure of misplaced shame, self-hatred, and repressed racism that was!
Not to be outdone, Larry Craig, the Republican Senator from Idaho, has plead guilty to lewd behavior in an airport's public restroom. And it looks like he knows how the game works, like this wasn't his first time at the (gay) rodeo. Uck! The thought of that creepy old coot rubbing one out next to the auto driers has caused by scrotum to ascend into my bladder. Thanks for that Larry.And yes, Larry is a member of the "Singing Senators" barbershop quartet (chuckle, convulse, barf), and--not surprisingly--he doesn't vote very gay-friendly. Give the man credit for not voting with his dick I guess...
8.25.2007
Their Rods And Thy Staff
What is it with Christians and whores?
A fairly well-known North Carolina Christian Right activist, who opposed alcohol sales and gay marriage, is found running a prostitution ring. Hey Privette: Jesus ministered to prostitutes, not ad-ministered over prostitutes. If you're not going to bother to follow your trashy book's rules, then we'd appreciate it if you wouldn't insist that the rest of us do.
And if you're really going to be like Jesus, you'll need some young naked men hanging around as well. They let children read this stuff?
A fairly well-known North Carolina Christian Right activist, who opposed alcohol sales and gay marriage, is found running a prostitution ring. Hey Privette: Jesus ministered to prostitutes, not ad-ministered over prostitutes. If you're not going to bother to follow your trashy book's rules, then we'd appreciate it if you wouldn't insist that the rest of us do.
And if you're really going to be like Jesus, you'll need some young naked men hanging around as well. They let children read this stuff?
That part of my brain which produces cynical, snarky comments has just blown a fuse...
Fallen Pastor Seeks Financial Support
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - The Rev. Ted Haggard, who left the megachurch he founded after admitting to "sexual immorality," has asked supporters for financial assistance while he and his wife pursue their studies.Read it all at Breitbart.
The former New Life Church pastor plans to seek a master's degree in counseling at the University of Phoenix while his wife studies psychology, he said in an e-mail sent this week to KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs.
The couple and two of their sons planned to move Oct. 1 to the Phoenix Dream Center, a faith-based halfway house in Phoenix, where Haggard and his wife would provide counseling, the e-mail said.
"It looks as though it will take two years for us to have adequate earning power again, so we are looking for people who will help us monthly for two years," the e-mail said. "During that time we will continue as full-time students, and then, when I graduate, we won't need outside support any longer."
8.23.2007
Viking Landers may have discovered evidence of life on Mars
Calculating the Biomass of Martian Soil
Read it all at Mars Today.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Viking 2's image of Utopia Planitia on Mars.
A new interpretation of data from NASA's Viking landers indicates that 0.1% of the Martian soil tested could have a biological origin.
Dr Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, believes that the subfreezing, arid Martian surface could be home to organisms whose cells are filled with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. In a presentation at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam on Friday 24th August, Dr Houtkooper will describe how he has used data from the Gas Exchange (GEx) experiment, carried by NASA's Viking landers, to estimate the biomass in the Martian soil.
Dr Houtkooper said, "The GEx experiment measured unexplained rises in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels when incubating samples. If we assume these gases were produced during the breakdown of organic material together with hydrogen peroxide solution, we can calculate the masses needed to produce the volume of gas measured. From that, we can estimate the total biomass in the sample of Martian soil. It comes out at little more than one part per thousand by weight, comparable to what is found in some permafrost in Antarctica. This might be detectable by instruments on the Phoenix lander, which will arrive at Mars in May next year."
Read it all at Mars Today.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Viking 2's image of Utopia Planitia on Mars.
Following up on the robot holocaust
Daniel C. Dennett in MIT Technology Review: "It's been 10 years since IBM's Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in chess. A prominent philosopher asks what the match meant" - article.
8.22.2007
Bull Shite!
Richard Dawkins' "Enemies of Reason" is available on Google here. Let's hope some US station picks it up; they passed over "Root of All Evil." But then again, we have Penn & Teller.
Toward a New Bomber
There is talk of building a new bomber, but there are about a billion different options.
I'm pulling for the B-1R, but I know it won't win.
8.21.2007
House Favorites.
Magic of Consciousness symposium in Las Vegas.
You just know who was there.
NYT article.
Bugmenot/Fake register if necessary - worth it.
Mommy Needs These Special Tic-Tacs To Stop The Pain
The moral, Bible-believing, Jesus saves, get right with Gawed, pious South is full of drug abusers. The Holy Spirit must be filling out prescriptions.
But when you live a suppressed life full of self-inflicted shame and ignorance, and when Rush Limbaugh is your role model, what can one expect? Just remember, those bitter mommies at Publix, the ones with the Laura Bush smiles, the Courtney Love eyes, the gaudy $500 cross necklaces, and the horrifying broods of screaming failures running all about the place: they're just one pill over giving a shit.
All 50 states saw increases in the distribution of hydrocodone between 2001 and 2005. But the trend was particularly significant in the South, where all the top 10 states in terms of increased distribution are located, according to the DEA. Four of the top five -- Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky and Alabama
But when you live a suppressed life full of self-inflicted shame and ignorance, and when Rush Limbaugh is your role model, what can one expect? Just remember, those bitter mommies at Publix, the ones with the Laura Bush smiles, the Courtney Love eyes, the gaudy $500 cross necklaces, and the horrifying broods of screaming failures running all about the place: they're just one pill over giving a shit.
We're Not Going To Honor Those Bogus Treaties
Have fun on the robot reservations, suckers!
Science will overtake all mankind's gods in 3-10 years. James Cameron will be in a bunker. Christians will be raptured (and good riddance). The rest of us will enjoy the sublime companionship that can only come from droids.
8.20.2007
New MEMRI spin-off
Introducing MEMRI's Turkish Media Blog
In view of the historical developments taking place during this time in Turkey – developments that will determine the future of the Turkish republic, its relations with its neighbors in the region, and its positioning vis-à-vis, or its alignment with, the E.U. and the U.S. – MEMRI is announcing the launch of its Turkish Media Blog (www.thememriblog.org/turkey/).
The blog will provide firsthand primary-source material translated from the Turkish media – left, center, right, and Islamist, as well as original analyses.
One of the components of the Turkish Media Blog will be translations of speeches, interviews, sermons and segments from TV and movie programs in Turkish, found on youtube and other online video sites.
The MEMRI Turkish Media Blog will supplement MEMRI's Turkish Project's Special Dispatch and Inquiry & Analysis series.
Visit daily to see news before it appears anywhere else in the Western media.
This is almost more sci-fi news than a Inspiration For Quiverfulls
If you haven't seen any of the Discovery Channel specials on this creepy cultist fundie Arkansas family, consider yourself lucky. I bled from the eyes from watching the last one.
I've Said It Before: The Air Force Is Jerks
As if massive cost overruns on the wrong choice of stealth fighter, fundie Christian proselytizing at their Academy, and recruiting with the power of Jesus weren't enough, our illustrious Air Force has decided that they alone should control air drone procurement for the entire military.
*I of course mean their leadership, not their war fighters.
The ruffled feathers and parochial egos belong to the air force ... the marine corps, navy, special forces and army are co-operating across acquisition programmes, common ground stations and future programme development,I'm not surprised: all those groups have to work together all the time. The Air Force is jerks.*
*I of course mean their leadership, not their war fighters.
8.19.2007
Oh, those wonderful lyrics of yesteryear
We're Wild Rebels!
Crunchy, fruity, rebels!
Pouring milk on them is like shooting off a gun.
....
I got a job today.
He's hired.
I'm selling Chevrolets.
He's hired.
I'm bringing home good pay.
He's hired.
I just got hired.
He's hired, he's hired, he's hired, he's hired.
....
Sidehackin' is the thing to do
When it doesn't hurt to have a low IQ.
Take a life you like and a little love.
The big band prize is twenty-five bucks.
Sidehackin'll quench your danger thirst
The stupid ones always seem to come in first, yeah.
Pouring milk on them is like shooting off a gun.
....
I got a job today.
He's hired.
I'm selling Chevrolets.
He's hired.
I'm bringing home good pay.
He's hired.
I just got hired.
He's hired, he's hired, he's hired, he's hired.
....
Sidehackin' is the thing to do
When it doesn't hurt to have a low IQ.
Take a life you like and a little love.
The big band prize is twenty-five bucks.
Sidehackin'll quench your danger thirst
The stupid ones always seem to come in first, yeah.
...
The 5:15 from Duluth,
Oh my, it's just derailed.
The toxic waste is spillin'
The conductor's been impaled.
A benzene cloud has risen,
And the whole town's starting to cough.
Within a matter of days
All of our skin will fall off.
Oh my, it's just derailed.
The toxic waste is spillin'
The conductor's been impaled.
A benzene cloud has risen,
And the whole town's starting to cough.
Within a matter of days
All of our skin will fall off.
Aerogel
Saw this at Marshall Space Flight On Redstone almost 10 years ago: Scientists hail ‘frozen smoke’ as material that will change world
At right: A 2.5 kg brick is supported by a piece of aerogel weighing only 2.38 grams.
"A Number Of Remarkable Coincidences"
A new investigation would lead a cynical person--that would be me--to understand that Republicans used government monies and grants--that would be my tax dollars--to fund their campaigns. I guess they are for public financing after all, just an ex officio, furtive, roguish kind of "not-so-public" financing that makes the libertarian in me want to shove my foot up their ass.
I don't know if it's technically illegal, but IT STINKS!
I don't know if it's technically illegal, but IT STINKS!
8.17.2007
Those Damn Gender-Mixers!
JEDDAH, 17 August 2007 — Immigration officials arrested 165 Ethiopians who were attending a party attended by men and women, according to a report in yesterday’s Al-Riyadh newspaper. Authorities said some of the women arrested admitted to being illegally married to some of the men in the party.
Story here.
Story here.
8.16.2007
From waaaaay downtown...
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Marcus Aurelius
8.14.2007
Via Drudge
U.S. to Designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as Terrorists
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 14, 2007; 9:14 PM
"The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong military branch, as a 'specially designated global terrorist,' according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.
The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials describe as the group's growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran's nuclear program, officials said.
The designation of the Revolutionary Guards will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It identifies individuals, businesses, charities and many extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guards would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said -- a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.
The order allows the United States to block the assets of terrorists and to disrupt operations by foreign businesses that 'provide support, services or assistance to, or otherwise associate with, terrorists.'
The move reflects the escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran over issues including Iraq and Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran has been on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1984, but in May the two countries began their first formal one-on-one dialogue in 28 years with a meeting of diplomats in Baghdad.
The main goal of the new designation is to clamp down on the Revolutionary Guards' vast business network, as well as on foreign companies conducting business linked to the military unit and its personnel. The administration plans to list many of the Revolutionary Guards' financial operations."
Read it all at WAPO.
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 14, 2007; 9:14 PM
"The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong military branch, as a 'specially designated global terrorist,' according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.
The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials describe as the group's growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran's nuclear program, officials said.
The designation of the Revolutionary Guards will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It identifies individuals, businesses, charities and many extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guards would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said -- a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.
The order allows the United States to block the assets of terrorists and to disrupt operations by foreign businesses that 'provide support, services or assistance to, or otherwise associate with, terrorists.'
The move reflects the escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran over issues including Iraq and Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran has been on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1984, but in May the two countries began their first formal one-on-one dialogue in 28 years with a meeting of diplomats in Baghdad.
The main goal of the new designation is to clamp down on the Revolutionary Guards' vast business network, as well as on foreign companies conducting business linked to the military unit and its personnel. The administration plans to list many of the Revolutionary Guards' financial operations."
Read it all at WAPO.
Trouble in Mahdi-Come-Lately Land?
Iranian president sacks ministers to deflect blame for policy failure
Tue. 14 Aug 2007
"The Guardian
· Cabinet shakeup follows criticism of Ahmadinejad
· Attempt to tighten grip on power before elections
Robert Tait in Tehran
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has sacked his oil and industry ministers in an apparent attempt to tighten his grip on power while deflecting blame for failed economic policies.
In a major cabinet shakeup, Mr Ahmadinejad announced he had 'accepted the resignations' of Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh and Alireza Tahmasbi. Despite the diplomatic wording, there appeared little doubt yesterday that the two men had been forced out, to be replaced by interim ministers until permanent successors are appointed.
Their departures follow widespread criticism of the president for presiding over an economic landscape of rising inflation and high unemployment, in contrast to his pre-election promises to alleviate poverty and generate prosperity."
Read it all at Iran Focus.
Tue. 14 Aug 2007
"The Guardian
· Cabinet shakeup follows criticism of Ahmadinejad
· Attempt to tighten grip on power before elections
Robert Tait in Tehran
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has sacked his oil and industry ministers in an apparent attempt to tighten his grip on power while deflecting blame for failed economic policies.
In a major cabinet shakeup, Mr Ahmadinejad announced he had 'accepted the resignations' of Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh and Alireza Tahmasbi. Despite the diplomatic wording, there appeared little doubt yesterday that the two men had been forced out, to be replaced by interim ministers until permanent successors are appointed.
Their departures follow widespread criticism of the president for presiding over an economic landscape of rising inflation and high unemployment, in contrast to his pre-election promises to alleviate poverty and generate prosperity."
Read it all at Iran Focus.
8.12.2007
Hypocricy For $1000, Alex
Mitt Romney on religion:...the nation does need to have people of different faiths but we need to have a person of faith lead the countryMitt Romney on religion:
Attacks of religious bigotry have absolutely no place in politics today. It's unfortunate other camps stoop to such levels.So which is it, "Saint" asshole? From here.
I'm Sorry, But Your Local Weather Guys Are...Faulted...Severely
So I'll be the pudding stick. From Wikipedia on John Christy:
And as for Roy Spencer: he supports intelligent design. That doesn't mean his science on the atmosphere is wrong, but it does raise my suspicions...and my skepticisms as to his being a serious scientist. And his work suffers the same "apples and oranges" problem of Christy's. Although, from what I can tell, Christy at least supports teaching real science, ie evolution, in science classes, despite his noted fundamentalism.
There are plenty of questions to explore concerning our atmosphere and its future. I don't consider these two's contributions of much merit overall, nor do I think our understanding is complete enough to warrant extreme government intervention.
After earning his divinity degree he founded a Southern Baptist church in South Dakota before pursuing a career in science and teaching.I've heard that before, in the ID/creationist field. And:
Unlike some other major climate data sets, the satellite data are constantly being refined and adjusted as new discoveries are made in the relatively new science of remote sensing. Notable adjustments were made to compensate for the effects of orbital drift and orbital decay, and most recently to correct an arithmetic error. Christy and Spencer use intercalibration between instruments on different satellites to adjust for instrument bias, then try to validate their data by comparing it to data gathered by weather balloons and surface stations.That's apples and oranges, and it doesn't fly in my book. Sorry, but the more I read about these guys and their work (more than I cared), the less I'm inclined to accept them as serious scientists. And I checked up on this Wikipedia claim, and it's valid (again, long reading on my part). Poor, poor, poor science. Granted, I just have a Master's degree in an unrelated field, but the problems are there for all to see.
And as for Roy Spencer: he supports intelligent design. That doesn't mean his science on the atmosphere is wrong, but it does raise my suspicions...and my skepticisms as to his being a serious scientist. And his work suffers the same "apples and oranges" problem of Christy's. Although, from what I can tell, Christy at least supports teaching real science, ie evolution, in science classes, despite his noted fundamentalism.
There are plenty of questions to explore concerning our atmosphere and its future. I don't consider these two's contributions of much merit overall, nor do I think our understanding is complete enough to warrant extreme government intervention.
I guess those cirrus clouds haven't seen AlGore's Power Point presentation
Cirrus disappearance: Warming might thin heat-trapping clouds (8/9/2007)
"The widely accepted (albeit unproven) theory that manmade global warming will accelerate itself by creating more heat-trapping clouds is challenged this month in new research from The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Instead of creating more clouds, individual tropical warming cycles that served as proxies for global warming saw a decrease in the coverage of heat-trapping cirrus clouds, says Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in UAHuntsville's Earth System Science Center.
That was not what he expected to find.
"All leading climate models forecast that as the atmosphere warms there should be an increase in high altitude cirrus clouds, which would amplify any warming caused by manmade greenhouse gases," he said. "That amplification is a positive feedback. What we found in month-to-month fluctuations of the tropical climate system was a strongly negative feedback. As the tropical atmosphere warms, cirrus clouds decrease. That allows more infrared heat to escape from the atmosphere to outer space."
The results of this research were published today in the American Geophysical Union's "Geophysical Research Letters" on-line edition. The paper was co-authored by UAHuntsville's Dr. John R. Christy and Dr. W. Danny Braswell, and Dr. Justin Hnilo of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA."
Read it all at the UAH site.
"The widely accepted (albeit unproven) theory that manmade global warming will accelerate itself by creating more heat-trapping clouds is challenged this month in new research from The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Instead of creating more clouds, individual tropical warming cycles that served as proxies for global warming saw a decrease in the coverage of heat-trapping cirrus clouds, says Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in UAHuntsville's Earth System Science Center.
That was not what he expected to find.
"All leading climate models forecast that as the atmosphere warms there should be an increase in high altitude cirrus clouds, which would amplify any warming caused by manmade greenhouse gases," he said. "That amplification is a positive feedback. What we found in month-to-month fluctuations of the tropical climate system was a strongly negative feedback. As the tropical atmosphere warms, cirrus clouds decrease. That allows more infrared heat to escape from the atmosphere to outer space."
The results of this research were published today in the American Geophysical Union's "Geophysical Research Letters" on-line edition. The paper was co-authored by UAHuntsville's Dr. John R. Christy and Dr. W. Danny Braswell, and Dr. Justin Hnilo of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA."
Read it all at the UAH site.
Even The Wind Is Hot
I worked outside for 20 minutes today, mostly re-organizing the vast array of sales literature in my trunk, cleaning out my car (a now weekly chore), and engaging in sundry plant husbandry. I now feel like a camel's asshole. No word yet if any of the divines' faithfuls heat stroked out in their day-after-the-Sabbath's best.
Curse you, evil yellow face!
Curse you, evil yellow face!
8.11.2007
You People Suck
What is the point of this blog if you people aren't going to tell me that the second season of Feasting On Asphalt has started?
If I weren't such a curmudgeonly dipsomaniac who couldn't get new friends, I would toss out the lot of you. Cheers!
If I weren't such a curmudgeonly dipsomaniac who couldn't get new friends, I would toss out the lot of you. Cheers!
So good I'm posting it all
Flying Imams
John Doe provision in perspective
by Raymond Ibrahim
Private Papers
As a 6’3”, 250-pound weightlifter of Middle Eastern descent, who sometimes wears a full beard, seldom wears a (perfunctory) smile, and who’s last name is “Ibrahim” — a name that sometimes appears in rather “unflattering” headlines, such as the recent attacks in Glasgow — I don’t mind telling you that, well, sometimes I get askance looks of “concern” whenever I board airplanes. Do I take any special delight in that? Not really. Do I understand it? Totally.
Since 1984, 20 of the 27 airplane hijackings have been carried out by Arabs, Pakistanis, Turks, et. al. — all people of “Middle Eastern” appearance. Moreover, since 9/11, the lion’s share of dramatic and fatal terrorist attacks carried around the world — such as the Bali nightclub bombing, where 202 were killed, or the Madrid train bombings, where 191 killed, or the Chechen hostage crisis, where 344 civilians, including 186 children were killed, or the London train bombings, where 52 were killed, or the Sharm al-Sheikh bombings, where 64 were killed — have all been committed by Muslims. This is not to disparage but simply state a fact.
It is understandable, then, why I, a non-Muslim, whose last name is nonetheless Ibrahim, may be a source of special attention in an airport or airplane. Yet so long as I am not unduly harassed or slighted and am treated professionally — and, most importantly, since I have nothing to hide — I am always happy to comply. It simply makes sense. Even so, I don’t believe that I have ever been treated differently than the majority — no doubt because I don’t go out of my way to be conspicuous.
A practicing Muslim associate of mine — call him Ishmael — once told me that, while riding the train, he noticed a bearded man dressed in traditional Pakistani garb, swaying back and forth in his seat in recitation while holding a Koran. At the next stop, Ishmael exited the train and chose to wait for the next one, adding, “I pray and recite from the Koran, too, but since 9/11 I know better than to engage in easily misconstrued activities” — activities from a fellow Muslim which worried him enough to board another train.
It is in this backdrop that one should best appreciate the current debate about the “John Doe” provision and the infamous case of the “flying imams.” Unlike myself and Ishmael, these six imams, exploiting religious freedoms granted them that their own religion, Islam, does not grant others, and no doubt fully aware of the scene they’d inevitably cause, decided to fall prostrate in prayer in the middle of an airport, chanting “Allahu Akbar” — the usual last words of Islamist suicide bombers prior to detonation — and then when they boarded the plane, began talking loudly in Arabic, with only words like “Osama bin Laden” being intelligible to English ears.
Why is it that Ishmael and myself and countless other people of Middle East and/or Islamic backgrounds are cognizant enough to know that discreet behavior in airports and airplanes goes a long way in ensuring a hassle free flight, while these imams decided to take an “in-your-face” approach?
Ironically, airports provide non-denominational “meditation” rooms, but, as I’ve heard before, many “pious” Muslims — such as the “flying imams,” one can be assured — feel their prayers are sullied if recited next to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, or Hindus — that is, infidels. So they take to the middle of the terminal floors.
More ironic still, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) is trying to make it so that any American who observes such “aberrant” behavior and decides to report it — you know, to avert another 9/11 — can be sued. So now, supposedly Muslims who were raised in stoic environments — whether run by dictatorial, authoritarian, or theocratic governments — and who themselves support the draconian dictates of sharia law (stoning adulterers and murdering “apostates”); Muslims whose attire is markedly different from their Western hosts and who must therefore be used to constant stares — supposedly these same Muslims are now “hurt” and “traumatized” and need monetary compensation because some concerned citizens thought, due to their totally inappropriate behavior in an airport, that they may have had nefarious intentions and thus reported them to the authorities. This is CAIR’s approach at trying to foster better “American-Islamic relations” — its own namesake — threats, fear, and intimidation.
Of course and for the record, should the imams wish to avoid a similar incident next time they board a plane, behaving “normally” (yes, there is such a thing) — like everyone else, both Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern, Muslim and non-Muslim — is a sure bet that they most likely won’t be harassed.
Raymond Ibrahim is the editor of the Al-Qaeda Reader, translations of religious texts and propaganda.
Link
John Doe provision in perspective
by Raymond Ibrahim
Private Papers
As a 6’3”, 250-pound weightlifter of Middle Eastern descent, who sometimes wears a full beard, seldom wears a (perfunctory) smile, and who’s last name is “Ibrahim” — a name that sometimes appears in rather “unflattering” headlines, such as the recent attacks in Glasgow — I don’t mind telling you that, well, sometimes I get askance looks of “concern” whenever I board airplanes. Do I take any special delight in that? Not really. Do I understand it? Totally.
Since 1984, 20 of the 27 airplane hijackings have been carried out by Arabs, Pakistanis, Turks, et. al. — all people of “Middle Eastern” appearance. Moreover, since 9/11, the lion’s share of dramatic and fatal terrorist attacks carried around the world — such as the Bali nightclub bombing, where 202 were killed, or the Madrid train bombings, where 191 killed, or the Chechen hostage crisis, where 344 civilians, including 186 children were killed, or the London train bombings, where 52 were killed, or the Sharm al-Sheikh bombings, where 64 were killed — have all been committed by Muslims. This is not to disparage but simply state a fact.
It is understandable, then, why I, a non-Muslim, whose last name is nonetheless Ibrahim, may be a source of special attention in an airport or airplane. Yet so long as I am not unduly harassed or slighted and am treated professionally — and, most importantly, since I have nothing to hide — I am always happy to comply. It simply makes sense. Even so, I don’t believe that I have ever been treated differently than the majority — no doubt because I don’t go out of my way to be conspicuous.
A practicing Muslim associate of mine — call him Ishmael — once told me that, while riding the train, he noticed a bearded man dressed in traditional Pakistani garb, swaying back and forth in his seat in recitation while holding a Koran. At the next stop, Ishmael exited the train and chose to wait for the next one, adding, “I pray and recite from the Koran, too, but since 9/11 I know better than to engage in easily misconstrued activities” — activities from a fellow Muslim which worried him enough to board another train.
It is in this backdrop that one should best appreciate the current debate about the “John Doe” provision and the infamous case of the “flying imams.” Unlike myself and Ishmael, these six imams, exploiting religious freedoms granted them that their own religion, Islam, does not grant others, and no doubt fully aware of the scene they’d inevitably cause, decided to fall prostrate in prayer in the middle of an airport, chanting “Allahu Akbar” — the usual last words of Islamist suicide bombers prior to detonation — and then when they boarded the plane, began talking loudly in Arabic, with only words like “Osama bin Laden” being intelligible to English ears.
Why is it that Ishmael and myself and countless other people of Middle East and/or Islamic backgrounds are cognizant enough to know that discreet behavior in airports and airplanes goes a long way in ensuring a hassle free flight, while these imams decided to take an “in-your-face” approach?
Ironically, airports provide non-denominational “meditation” rooms, but, as I’ve heard before, many “pious” Muslims — such as the “flying imams,” one can be assured — feel their prayers are sullied if recited next to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, or Hindus — that is, infidels. So they take to the middle of the terminal floors.
More ironic still, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) is trying to make it so that any American who observes such “aberrant” behavior and decides to report it — you know, to avert another 9/11 — can be sued. So now, supposedly Muslims who were raised in stoic environments — whether run by dictatorial, authoritarian, or theocratic governments — and who themselves support the draconian dictates of sharia law (stoning adulterers and murdering “apostates”); Muslims whose attire is markedly different from their Western hosts and who must therefore be used to constant stares — supposedly these same Muslims are now “hurt” and “traumatized” and need monetary compensation because some concerned citizens thought, due to their totally inappropriate behavior in an airport, that they may have had nefarious intentions and thus reported them to the authorities. This is CAIR’s approach at trying to foster better “American-Islamic relations” — its own namesake — threats, fear, and intimidation.
Of course and for the record, should the imams wish to avoid a similar incident next time they board a plane, behaving “normally” (yes, there is such a thing) — like everyone else, both Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern, Muslim and non-Muslim — is a sure bet that they most likely won’t be harassed.
Raymond Ibrahim is the editor of the Al-Qaeda Reader, translations of religious texts and propaganda.
Link
8.09.2007
Wow. Just... Wow.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Rines (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)
NASA's Spitzer Spies Monster Galaxy Pileup
"Four galaxies are slamming into each other and kicking up billions of stars in one of the largest cosmic smash-ups ever observed.
The clashing galaxies, spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, will eventually merge into a single, behemoth galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way. This rare sighting provides an unprecedented look at how the most massive galaxies in the universe form.
'Most of the galaxy mergers we already knew about are like compact cars crashing together,' said Kenneth Rines of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. 'What we have here is like four sand trucks smashing together, flinging sand everywhere.' Rines is lead author of a new paper accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters."
Read it all.
'Fantastic Four' Galaxies
"This artist's concept shows what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical planet around a star tossed out of an ongoing four-way collision between big galaxies (yellow blobs). NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted this 'quadruple merger' of galaxies within a larger cluster of galaxies located nearly 5 billion light-years away.
Though the galaxies appear intact, gravitational disturbances have caused them to stretch and twist, flinging billions of stars into space -- nearly three times as many stars as are in our Milky Way galaxy. The tossed stars are visible in the large plume emanating from the central, largest galaxy. If any of these stars have planets, their night skies would be filled with the monstrous merger, along with other galaxies in the cluster (smaller, bluish blobs)."
Read it all.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
Fight Fire With...Unicorns?
A group has started a campaign to put up a billboard near the odious Creation Museum in Kentucky advertising the Unicorn Museum. I celebrate and condone their snarkiness. Perhaps Tom Cruise might join in?
8.08.2007
I wish them luck
New Opposition Group In Syria
from The MEMRI Blog
"Representatives from 55 Syrian Arab tribes have declared the establishment of a joint association called the 'Party of the Nation.'
A communiqué released by the party stated that it 'will function democratically, together with the other opposition forces, to change Assad's criminal dictatorial regime.'
Source: Akhbar Al-Sharq, Syria, August 6, 2007"
from The MEMRI Blog
"Representatives from 55 Syrian Arab tribes have declared the establishment of a joint association called the 'Party of the Nation.'
A communiqué released by the party stated that it 'will function democratically, together with the other opposition forces, to change Assad's criminal dictatorial regime.'
Source: Akhbar Al-Sharq, Syria, August 6, 2007"
Revisiting Pascal's Wager
If hell is as hot as Alabama now, I might consider eating a cracker, quaffing some grape juice, and bending a knee to avoid an eternity of (according to my car) 105F misery.
But then again, who wants to live forever with churchgoers and piously irate aborted fetuses? And, come to think of it, I'm too American to bend a knee. Fuck it, I'll take the heat.
But then again, who wants to live forever with churchgoers and piously irate aborted fetuses? And, come to think of it, I'm too American to bend a knee. Fuck it, I'll take the heat.
They can't even hang on to their own Elvis
“In France, To Earn A Lot Of Money Is To Be Seen As A Little Bit Criminal”
"However, the smart ones are voting with their feet:
Angry at paying more than 72 percent of his income in taxes, he moved to the ski resort of Gstaad last December in a storm of publicity. After Sarkozy's May election, Hallyday hinted he might come back. His press attache Catherine Battner says he has yet to make up his mind.
Households fleeing the fortune tax climbed to a record 649 in 2005 from 370 in 1997, according to a study by French Senator Philippe Marini. "
Read it all at No Pasarán.
"However, the smart ones are voting with their feet:
Angry at paying more than 72 percent of his income in taxes, he moved to the ski resort of Gstaad last December in a storm of publicity. After Sarkozy's May election, Hallyday hinted he might come back. His press attache Catherine Battner says he has yet to make up his mind.
Fleeing the Tax
Households fleeing the fortune tax climbed to a record 649 in 2005 from 370 in 1997, according to a study by French Senator Philippe Marini. "
Read it all at No Pasarán.
8.07.2007
And yet American media still give CAIR officials airtime & ink
War is Deception
"Last week, we reported that an FBI agent identified Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) executive director Nihad Awad among those invited to a 1993 meeting of HAMAS members and supporters.
On Monday, jurors in the terror support trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) were taken inside that 1993 meeting through transcripts obtained by the FBI. Federal agents were aware of the meeting and wired the Philadelphia hotel where it took place.
...
'War is deception,' defendant Shukri Abu Bakr said. Abu Bakr was the HLF president until the organization’s assets were frozen in 2001 for its alleged support for terrorism. 'Deceive, camouflage. Pretend that you’re leaving while you’re walking that way. Deceive your enemy.'
Also at the Philadelphia meeting, Omar Ahmad, a CAIR co-founder, who today serves as CAIR’s chairman emeritus, picked up on the theme, offering an analogy of a basketball player’s fake. 'He makes a player believe he is doing this while he is doing something else,' Ahmad said. 'I agree with you…like they say, politics is a completion of war.'
Read it all at Counterterrorism Blog."
"Last week, we reported that an FBI agent identified Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) executive director Nihad Awad among those invited to a 1993 meeting of HAMAS members and supporters.
On Monday, jurors in the terror support trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) were taken inside that 1993 meeting through transcripts obtained by the FBI. Federal agents were aware of the meeting and wired the Philadelphia hotel where it took place.
...
'War is deception,' defendant Shukri Abu Bakr said. Abu Bakr was the HLF president until the organization’s assets were frozen in 2001 for its alleged support for terrorism. 'Deceive, camouflage. Pretend that you’re leaving while you’re walking that way. Deceive your enemy.'
Also at the Philadelphia meeting, Omar Ahmad, a CAIR co-founder, who today serves as CAIR’s chairman emeritus, picked up on the theme, offering an analogy of a basketball player’s fake. 'He makes a player believe he is doing this while he is doing something else,' Ahmad said. 'I agree with you…like they say, politics is a completion of war.'
Read it all at Counterterrorism Blog."
8.06.2007
From the land of Orwell....
Neil Harding and the DNA Database
"Timmy has already drawn this comparison, but I shall do so here too. Here's Sam Leith in The Telegraph, talking about the National DNA database (and the whole article is worth a read).
What this is actually about is the police asking the Government to extend the powers of the state for its convenience. The argument in favour of the establishment, de jure, of a compulsory national DNA database has been lost. This is the first attempt to sneak it in - without any proper argument at all - de facto.
That is why it needs to be resisted. It is based on the alarming rationale that there exists an absolute divide (one expressed in an abrogation of your right to privacy) not only between all those who have ever broken any law and the rest of the population but also between all those who have ever been suspected of breaking the law and the rest of the population. That's not the characteristic view of a free society. Our privacy is something that belongs to us: not something the Government gives us, on probation, as a favour. They serve us: not vice versa. This may be a matter of principle, but it is one that could scarcely have more profound practical importance."
Read it all at The Devil's Kitchen.
"Timmy has already drawn this comparison, but I shall do so here too. Here's Sam Leith in The Telegraph, talking about the National DNA database (and the whole article is worth a read).
What this is actually about is the police asking the Government to extend the powers of the state for its convenience. The argument in favour of the establishment, de jure, of a compulsory national DNA database has been lost. This is the first attempt to sneak it in - without any proper argument at all - de facto.
That is why it needs to be resisted. It is based on the alarming rationale that there exists an absolute divide (one expressed in an abrogation of your right to privacy) not only between all those who have ever broken any law and the rest of the population but also between all those who have ever been suspected of breaking the law and the rest of the population. That's not the characteristic view of a free society. Our privacy is something that belongs to us: not something the Government gives us, on probation, as a favour. They serve us: not vice versa. This may be a matter of principle, but it is one that could scarcely have more profound practical importance."
Read it all at The Devil's Kitchen.
8.05.2007
Superstitious, Murderous Thugs
The editor of the Oakland Post is executed in cold blood in broad daylight. Guess what he was investigating.
Before 300
One of the trailers on the manly atheist 300 DVD was for The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster. Another, better trailer can be found here. Not only is it a weird role for Foster, but take a look at the director: Neil Jordan? Since I'm a huge fan of his, and of Foster, I might have to go see this one. And has Jodie done something different with her hair?
Oh, the irony.
'Stefani to cover up for Malaysia show'
"I wonder what she would have said if Christian groups in the U.S. had made the same request. Sharia Alert from modern, moderate Malaysia, from Reuters (thanks to all who sent this in):
THERE will be no revealing costumes at US singer Gwen Stefani's concert in Malaysia this month, a newspaper reported, after a Muslim student group demanded that the event be cancelled as being too obscene.
Although Malaysia is a moderate Muslim country with sizeable non-Muslim minorities, conservative groups often frown upon departures from strict Koranic injunctions.
Malaysian mobile phone firm Maxis Communications, which is promoting the August 21 show as part of Stefani's "Sweet Escape" tour, promised it would feature no revealing costumes, the Star newspaper said."
"I wonder what she would have said if Christian groups in the U.S. had made the same request. Sharia Alert from modern, moderate Malaysia, from Reuters (thanks to all who sent this in):
THERE will be no revealing costumes at US singer Gwen Stefani's concert in Malaysia this month, a newspaper reported, after a Muslim student group demanded that the event be cancelled as being too obscene.
Although Malaysia is a moderate Muslim country with sizeable non-Muslim minorities, conservative groups often frown upon departures from strict Koranic injunctions.
Malaysian mobile phone firm Maxis Communications, which is promoting the August 21 show as part of Stefani's "Sweet Escape" tour, promised it would feature no revealing costumes, the Star newspaper said."
Jihad in a digital world
Virtual jihad hits Second Life website
"Recruiting in the fantasy world for real-life jihad. By Chris Gourlay and Abul Taher for the TimesOnline (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
Islamic militants are suspected of using Second Life, the internet virtual world, to hunt for recruits and mimic real-life terrorism.
Police and the intelligence services are concerned that it may have been infiltrated by extremists to proselytise, communicate and transfer money to one another. Radicals may also be responsible for “virtual” terrorist attacks in which buildings depicted on the website are blown up.
Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian government’s High Tech Crime Centre, said jihadists may also be using the virtual reality world to master skills such as reconnaissance and surveillance. “We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities,” he told a security industry conference in Sydney."
Read it all at Jihad Watch.
"Recruiting in the fantasy world for real-life jihad. By Chris Gourlay and Abul Taher for the TimesOnline (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
Islamic militants are suspected of using Second Life, the internet virtual world, to hunt for recruits and mimic real-life terrorism.
Police and the intelligence services are concerned that it may have been infiltrated by extremists to proselytise, communicate and transfer money to one another. Radicals may also be responsible for “virtual” terrorist attacks in which buildings depicted on the website are blown up.
Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian government’s High Tech Crime Centre, said jihadists may also be using the virtual reality world to master skills such as reconnaissance and surveillance. “We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities,” he told a security industry conference in Sydney."
Read it all at Jihad Watch.
8.04.2007
In Between The Candle And The Dark, But Closer To The Latter
I bought the new Babylon 5 DVD today and watched it. Overall, not terrible, and certainly not great. Here's the rundown.
It basically is comprised of 2 "lost" stories that JMS never got to do. Great. And standing alone, both "episodes" are as good as any stand-alone stories of B5. They both center on the theme of "perinormal," ie those unexplained phenomenon that intersect science and the mysticism. I don't have a problem with that theme; I would expect us to find such things should we ever explore interstellar realms.
The first story involves a man believed to be possessed. The discussion around him, and the religious implications involved, are pretty cool. But the ending is, well, underwhelming in a Star Trek fashion. No explanation, just a tidy conclusion.
The second story has Sheridan being told by Galen that he must kill someone in order to prevent a future holocaust. Ah, Galen. We all love him. And the ending: turns out that Galen is more Galenier than we thought. Is that it?
Sadly, that's it: weird shit happens and Galen is coy. All these actors were reunited, all this money was spent on new sets (but not that many) and on good special effects (mostly), and all for two stories about the perinormal? I'm underwhelmed. Scant decent was contributed to the grand narrative, both stories--though shoved together--were not connected other than by their themes, and nothing was resolved.
I had hoped for 2 stories linked together cleverly plot-wise, ones that helped fill the vast, uncharted holes in the B5 story. I was sorely disappointed. But it could have been worse, I suppose. Mostly, it just made me sad, like a sick pet that needs to be put down but that you love too much.
It's about damn time.
"Where are our flying cars?", you ask.
Makes me a little giddy -
article, company, pdf,
video (with far-out music).
8.03.2007
Interesting on two fronts...
More Overlooked History: The Muslim Libel Cases
"Two news flashes on August 1, 2007. First, the lawyers representing the so-called Flying Imams in their lawsuit against US Airways announced that they were not going after the unnamed passengers whose concerns prompted the men to be pulled off the Arizona-bound flight (here). I suppose that is good to know, now that the long-term policy implications of their lawsuit are about to justify (literally) an act of Congress. Second, Cambridge University Press announced that it was going to destroy all copies of the 2006 book Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World, in response to a libel claim filed in England by Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi banker ....
Connected? Absolutely. Each story involves people who do not like how information flows these days. Each chose litigation as the means to try to get their way.
...
DATELINE – BIRMINGHAM 1935
The Birmingham Post reports that an Arab sheik is interested in acquiring an American bride for his harem, and describes what he is looking for and some of his good attributes. The newspaper is sued for libel. White v. Birmingham Post Co., 233 Ala. 547, 172 So. 649, Ala. 1937."
Read it all at Counterterrorism Blog.
"Two news flashes on August 1, 2007. First, the lawyers representing the so-called Flying Imams in their lawsuit against US Airways announced that they were not going after the unnamed passengers whose concerns prompted the men to be pulled off the Arizona-bound flight (here). I suppose that is good to know, now that the long-term policy implications of their lawsuit are about to justify (literally) an act of Congress. Second, Cambridge University Press announced that it was going to destroy all copies of the 2006 book Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World, in response to a libel claim filed in England by Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi banker ....
Connected? Absolutely. Each story involves people who do not like how information flows these days. Each chose litigation as the means to try to get their way.
...
DATELINE – BIRMINGHAM 1935
The Birmingham Post reports that an Arab sheik is interested in acquiring an American bride for his harem, and describes what he is looking for and some of his good attributes. The newspaper is sued for libel. White v. Birmingham Post Co., 233 Ala. 547, 172 So. 649, Ala. 1937."
Read it all at Counterterrorism Blog.
For my favorite teacher, St. Eugenius
I thought this might interest you ...
(I don't know how efficacious it is since one reviewer wrote about sending her daughter to collage [sic] ... twice.)
(I don't know how efficacious it is since one reviewer wrote about sending her daughter to collage [sic] ... twice.)
8.01.2007
Once Again, Hitchens Does Us Proud
Here here to the "lucid" first amendment! And kudos to Paula Zahn and Dennis Prager.
And I did post my proposal for the Quran. I would note that I did not know that the student stole the books, but I don't really care. That's stealing: prosecute him for that. Hate crimes are silly at best and "thought crimes" at worst.
And I did post my proposal for the Quran. I would note that I did not know that the student stole the books, but I don't really care. That's stealing: prosecute him for that. Hate crimes are silly at best and "thought crimes" at worst.
A Vacation?
Update: And today, Wed., I killed a snake in the turtle corral.This is what I've been doing during the last week or so of my vacation:
- Fighting our lawn mower (replaced fuel pump to avoid FIRE and still have to get more of the plastic bags off of the blades to avoid FIRE). It runs like a dream, but still have to take off the blades & clean/sharpen. More on this later.
- Drove to Tuscaloosa on Saturday to see Bromide (had a fine time).
- Took Horace to the vet (he's okay, swollen foot, possibly a sting) and I got nipped a couple of times, because we all know how much he likes being made to do things. The vet said he was a big wuss...
- Cleaning much of the junk off of the carport to be hauled away by the local govt. It looked like a cheap furniture tractor trailer had lost it's load in front of GateTree Manor for a couple of days.
- Getting offered and ultimately turning down the "soccer sponsor" job at school.
- Reading this odd book - Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, while Tobermory reads this freaky one - House of Leaves.
- Playing this stupid game - Travian.
- Playing this stupid game - NCAA Football 2008.
- Waiting for Tobermory's new computer to arrive.
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