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Archive for June, 2010

Wonderful World Cup Calendar

Posted by Richard on June 12, 2010

I'm not a soccer fan, but if I were, I'd be spending a lot of time in the next few weeks at Marca.com's wonderful World Cup Calendar.

Come to think of it, I've already spent a fair amount of time playing with that calendar anyway, just because it's so cool. The elegant design, clarity of presentation, and usability are worthy of Edward Tufte. It's one of the best applications of Web 2.0 technology I've seen.

Check it out. See how many seconds it takes you to determine when and where Germany is playing Australia, and what other matches are scheduled for that day. See how long it takes you to stop playing with it. 🙂

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Blackhawks win — did vitamin D give them the edge?

Posted by Richard on June 11, 2010

Belated congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years. I'm not a Blackhawks fan (although I do have fond memories of their coach, Joel Quenneville, formerly of the Colorado Avalanche). But their victory is an opportunity to recall a bit of supplement-related news from Life Extension Foundation last month: 

The Chicago Blackhawks are the First Vitamin D Team in Modern Professional Sports History

PRNewswire-USNewswire

05-28-10

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Chicago Blackhawk team physicians began diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency in all Blackhawk players about 18 months ago. Apparently, most players are on 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day. To confirm this assertion, simply ask the Blackhawk organization.

After many losing seasons, last year the Blackhawks came out of nowhere to get to the Western conference finals. This year the Blackhawks are playing even better.

According to my sources, improved athletic performance is only one of the benefits for the Blackhawk players. The other is a reduction in the number and severity of lower respiratory tract infections and a reduction in the number and severity of repetitive use injuries.

Did those vitamin D supplements give the Blackhawks the edge they needed to end their long drought? Well, they certainly didn't hurt.

In the past couple of years, about a bazillion studies have shown that most people are deficient in vitamin D, and that restoring one's vitamin D levels to the optimal range has significant health benefits. I'm taking 5,000 IU of vitamin D per day.

If you're not currently using nutritional supplements to enhance your well-being, you might want to look into vitamin D and other substances that can enhance your health and life. Start here.

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Obama was following Matt Lauer’s instructions

Posted by Richard on June 11, 2010

I don't usually watch any of the nightly network newscasts (bad for my blood pressure), so I didn't realize that President Obama's much-ballyhooed "kick ass" remark was apparently made at the urging of NBC's Matt Lauer. Media Research Center put it this way (via email; emphasis in original):

Lauer’s bizarre take on the Gulf oil spill was that the administration should continue to search for someone to blame, rather than to show some the desperately needed leadership that has been missing from the White House during this horrible situation.

More than 24 hours after Lauer prompted Obama to kick some a## over the oil spill disaster, Obama obliged, saying in an interview with Lauer that he was gathering information on the oil leak “so I know whose a## to kick.”

Network news outlets all salivated over the soundbite, airing it multiple times to show the world how angry Obama was over the disaster. Just days before, news anchors reported that Obama was being criticized for not conveying his anger over the nation’s greatest environmental disaster.

But with the perfect soundbite squarely in his mouth by the so-called “news” media, Obama fired back at his “critics.”

 

Hmm, if only President Bush had known that he needed only to drop the “A-word” to get the media’s support in the Katrina disaster …

NewsBusters noted the Lauer-Obama connection, too, as well as the eagerness of competitors like CBS to promote the NBC interview and kick-ass sound bite. I can just imagine the scene in MSM newsrooms everywhere: "Woohoo! Our guy is finally sounding tough and in control! It's about damned time!"

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Carbon pollution

Posted by Richard on June 9, 2010

Lots of people in the blogosphere are laughing over the latest evidence that Sen. Barbara Boxer is dumber than a box of rocks. Ed Morrissey has the video clip and money quote:

Let’s see how Senator Ma’am’s priorities work in this revealing clip from her speech earlier today in the Senate. We’ve had four terrorist attacks in less than a year, two of which succeeded in killing people and another two which only failed because of the incompetence of the terrorist. Iran is a year or less away from getting a nuclear weapon. Turkey is rapidly sliding towards Islamism. North Korea is doing their best to restart the Korean War.

And what keeps Barbara Boxer awake at night? A raging case of the vapors:

I’m going to put in the record, Madam President, a host of quotes from our national security experts who tell us that carbon pollution leading to climate change will be over the next 20 years the leading cause of conflict, putting our troops in harm’s way. And that’s why we have so many returning veterans who want us to move forward and address this issue, so we can create those new technologies that get us off this foreign oil.

Yeah, claiming that "carbon pollution" and "climate change" are greater threats to our national security than Iran, al Qaeda, or North Korea is pretty silly.

But what strikes me as absurd to the point of being surreal is that a carbon-based life form, standing on a planet full of carbon-based life forms, where carbon is one of the most abundant elements, would speak seriously of "carbon pollution" — as if the fourth-most-abundant element in the universe were some dangerous, unnatural substance being introduced into our environment by those evil chemical companies.

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Gov. Christie: This is the fight we have to win for our kids

Posted by Richard on June 8, 2010

Every time I see a video of or read a statement by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, I like him better. In this 4:42 clip from a town hall meeting, he talks about the teachers' union. I love the schoolyard bully metaphor.


[YouTube link]

Nice rhetoric, you say, but what specifically is Christie doing? Glad you asked. In "The Reform Agenda: Changing Course in N.J.," Christie described the state's monumental fiscal crisis, which had been years in the making (state spending growing at double-digit annual rates for decades; 116 tax increases in nine years). Then he outlined his reform proposal. It consists of constitutional caps on property tax increases and discretionary spending, accompanied by a comprehensive set of legislative reforms on collective bargaining, civil service, health care, education, and pensions. 

That bold and broad reform proposal follows putting together a budget that cuts state spending by over a third. And by all accounts, Christie is remarkably popular. I hope he serves as an example for other state leaders around the country on how to restore fiscal responsibility and tackle tough problems instead of kicking them down the road. 

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Amazing urban ruins

Posted by Richard on June 6, 2010

Hashima Island, a.k.a. Battleship Island, is 15 kilometers from Nagasaki. At one time, it was the most densely populated place on Earth. Now, it's a fascinating urban ruin. Some call it the "ruin of ruins." Dark Roasted Blend has a great collection of photos of Hashima Island and the equally amazing ruins of the Walled City of Kowloon. Have a look.

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Cheese and missiles for the kids

Posted by Richard on June 5, 2010

Watch the Latma TV Flotilla Choir's marvelous "We Con the World." Then share it with your friends. Awesome, truly awesome! Bravo, Carolyn Glick and associates! (HT: Big Journalism)

UPDATE: Banned by YouTube! "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Warner/ Chappell Music, Inc."

But you can still watch it at PJTV!

UPDATE 2: Don't miss the new music video from Latma TV, The Three Terrors!

UPDATE 3 (7/10/10): It's back on YouTube (and below)! This is a slightly different version, with some minor lyric changes, and with more video of the "humanitarians" attacking the IDF soldiers boarding the ship.


[YouTube link]

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Why did the White House try to help Bennet?

Posted by Richard on June 4, 2010

Dick Morris has a theory about why the Obama administration offered Andrew Romanoff his choice of high-level jobs if he gave up his primary challenge against appointed Senator Michael Bennet. Morris thinks they did it to buy Bennet's vote for Obamacare.

It's purely speculation, but it does seem to make sense. As Morris noted, Bennet was "no great friend of the White House" and he "lacked a political base and was never a particularly strong candidate." In fact, one could make the case that a Senator Romanoff would be more to the liking of the administration than Bennet. So it's hard to come up with any other compelling reason why they'd go out of their way — to the point of doing something certainly unethical and possibly illegal — to protect Bennet.

Despite all kinds of pressure, Bennet remained uncommitted on Obamacare for many months. Given how unpopular the bill was in Colorado, he had good reason to vote against it. Unlike the other Democratic holdouts (Landrieu and Nelson come to mind), he never won any well-publicized special treatment or benefit for Colorado. Yet that fall, a few weeks after administration officials apparently tried to bribe Romanoff to drop out of the race, Bennet suddenly decided that passing Obamacare was utterly vital to the nation and his highest priority in life. 

I wonder if some reporter will have the stones to ask Bennet directly, "Senator, did you trade your vote for Obamacare in exchange for the administration's efforts to get Andrew Romanoff out of the race?" And after the inevitable, "Of course not," to follow up with pointed questions about the timing, about why Bennet had the sudden change of heart on the bill, and about which members of the administration he had communications with and when during that time period. 

I'm not holding my breath.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 launch scheduled

Posted by Richard on June 3, 2010

The inaugural flight of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation's Falcon 9 launch vehicle is scheduled for this Friday, with a backup launch date of Saturday. The launch window on both days is from 11 AM to 3 PM Eastern, and the launch will be webcast here.

The Falcon 9 is SpaceX's next step in cheap, reliable private space transportation. Its predecessor, Falcon 1, has already successfully placed satellites into orbit. Falcon 9 will provide much greater payload capacities, including the reusable Dragon crew and cargo capsule that's expected to be used to resupply the International Space Station. 

One of the few decisions President Obama has made that I wholeheartedly agreed with was the cancellation of NASA's Ares/Orion shuttle replacement program in favor of relying on private companies like SpaceX. Unfortunately, after an uproar from all the vested interests and their congresscritters (Republican and Democrat), he backpedaled, so now it's going ahead in some kind of scaled-back form.

When Obama originally cancelled Ares/Orion, SpaceX CEO/CTO Elon Musk succinctly stated the argument against the breathtakingly expensive shuttle replacement: "The President quite reasonably concluded that spending $50 billion to develop a vehicle that would cost 50% more to operate, but carry 50% less payload was perhaps not the best possible use of funds."

Orion was designed to carry four people and cost $1.5 billion per flight. SpaceX's Dragon capsule will carry seven people in crew configuration. SpaceX has a contract with NASA to resupply the ISS using Falcon 9 and Dragon. The cost? $1.6 billion for twelve flights. Total. Just a smidge more than a single Orion mission.

I hope the Falcon 9 flight goes well (although a failure or limited success wouldn't be a big deal; the first Falcon 1 launch failed, but it went on to success). The commercialization and privatization of space flight can't come soon enough. As Glenn Reynolds says, "Faster, please!"

UPDATE (June 4): Woohoo! A completely successful inaugural launch:

Posted June 04, 2010 11:54 Pacific Time
T+ 00:09:34 Please continue to check SpaceX.com for additional flight information, including photos and videos as they become available!

Posted June 04, 2010 11:54 Pacific Time
T+ 00:09:04 Falcon 9 has achieved Earth Orbit!

Unfortunately for me, it happened while I was out getting lunch. Oh, well — I'm sure they'll post a video here soon enough.

UPDATE 2: The first video clips are available. 

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National Doughnut Day

Posted by Richard on June 3, 2010

The first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day, and that means you can probably score a free doughnut at your local doughnut shop or a national chain outlet (like Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' Doughnuts). But don't overdo it, running from one location to another to score all you can. Remember, doughnuts will kill you — they're on more than one list of top ten unhealthiest foods.

 

 

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Silencing their critics

Posted by Richard on June 3, 2010

Reason's Jacob Sullum expertly dissected the Democrats' DISCLOSE Act, a bill intended to undermine Citizens United v. FEC and silence critics of incumbent politicians (while leaving public employee unions largely unaffected). It's coming to a vote soon.

Among other things, Sullum noted that "Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) said he wants people to worry about a fine or prison sentence when they dare to speak ill of him." This prompted Glenn Reynolds to comment that:

Hacks don’t like criticism. But they should be careful. They’ll like tar and feathers even less, and that’s what you get when you make criticism illegal.

Tar and feathers have been out of favor for far too long. It's high time they came back into fashion. Given recent events in Massachusetts, maybe that would be a good place to try resurrecting the practice. Watch your ass, Capuano! 

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The “peace activists” fraud

Posted by Richard on June 3, 2010

Five of the six ships in the "humanitarian flotilla" that tried to break the Israeli sea blockade of Gaza were boarded peacefully by IDF soldiers. The blockade is necessary and justified under international law in order to prevent massive shipments of rockets and other munitions to Hamas for attacks on Israel. The ships were escorted to an Israeli port, where the passengers were allowed to disembark.

Their cargo, after inspection, will be forwarded into Gaza by land. Along with the hundred or so tractor-trailers that pass through Israeli checkpoints into Gaza every day — there is no "humanitarian crisis" or shortage of food, water, and other merchandise in Gaza; the store shelves are full. 

So what was different about the sixth ship, the Mavi Marmara, where all the violence occurred? This was the ship of a Turkish Islamofascist terrorist organization called IHH. It was full of self-described mujahideen eager to become shahid (martyrs) in the cause of annihilating the Jews. A number of them are reportedly al Qaeda members. They were armed, organized, and positioned for a battle before the Israelis boarded. The Israeli soldiers were set upon with knives, iron pipes, and concussion grenades the moment they set foot on deck. 

Most of the mainstream media — and shamefully, the U.S. and other Western governments — were too busy shedding tears for the poor "peace activists" and quickly rushing to condemn Israel to wait even a few hours for the true story to begin to come out. Most are still failing to report what really happened — that the Israelis were the victims, not the aggressors, and that this was a deliberate propaganda stunt. The jihadists know that they can always count on our media to abet them in such efforts. 

For more about these "peace activists," go here and here. And here, too. For tons of info, links, and videos, see Backspin's liveblogging parts one and two. And this HonestReporting alert. You can read about and watch video of Netanyahu's excellent response to this travesty here.

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Dangerous delusions

Posted by Richard on June 1, 2010

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is promoting her new book, Nomad, and recently was interviewed by Tavis Smiley on PBS (HT: Booker Rising). She made the point that she'd recently revised her opinion regarding religions. She previously believed that "all religions are the same and all religions are inherently evil." But she now has a more positive view of Christians and wishes that Muslims would "distance themselves" from the facets of their religion that are "hostile to humanity" as most Christians have. Muslims haven't, she argued:

… I say in the book right now we cannot speak of moderate Muslims because they still cling to the absolute idea that everything in the Qur'an is the true word of God and cannot be changed by human beings, and that the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, left a moral guidance behind and all we can do is follow it, not question it.

Smiley, somewhat incoherently, expressed doubt that anything needs to be done to change Muslims or "take on Muslims here in the West." Hirsi Ali tried to explain:

… The people who are engaged in terrorist activities look like you and me. They look like everybody else here.

 Major Nidal Hasan, the military guy who in November shot 13 of his colleagues and injured 32, he's going to be on trial pretty soon, I think this week, the young man, Faisal Shahzad, in Times Square who tried to blow innocent people that he doesn't know up, these guys are acting on conviction. Somehow, the idea got into their minds that to kill other people is a great thing to do and that they would be rewarded in the hereafter.

Smiley objected, revealing a profound delusion about the world in which he lives (emphasis added):

Tavis: But Christians do that every single day in this country.

Ali: Do they blow people up (unintelligible)?

Tavis: Yes. Oh, Christians, every day, people walk into post offices, they walk into schools, that's what Columbine is – I could do this all day long. There are so many more examples of Christians – and I happen to be a Christian. That's back to this notion of your idealizing Christianity in my mind, to my read. There are so many more examples, Ayaan, of Christians who do that than you could ever give me examples of Muslims who have done that inside this country, where you live and work.

Wow. I guess I haven't been checking the same news sources as Smiley. I wasn't aware of all the bombings and mass killings and aborted terrorist plots in the name of Christianity. No, wait — I'm being too snarky. There's something more seriously amiss here. 

Smiley specifically mentioned Columbine. Does he really think Columbine was an example of Christian terrorism analogous to the Ft. Hood massacre or the Times Square bombing attempt? Apparently he does. That's simply insane.

Occasionally, people who are purportedly Christians shoot up schools or offices, rob banks, or rape and murder people. But here's the thing — they're not doing it in the name of Christianity, to punish, intimidate, or destroy non-Christians, or for the purpose of subjugating all non-Christians and imposing Christian law on all the inhabitants of Earth. That's the difference, Mr. Smiley — can you not understand that??

But Smiley isn't the only person who's delusional regarding Islamists. This administration is full of them. Case in point (emphasis added): 

The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies. 

During a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan described violent extremists as victims of "political, economic and social forces," but said that those plotting attacks on the United States should not be described in "religious terms." 

"Nor do we describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children," Brennan said.

As Robert Spencer noted, purifying one's community according to Islamic law is not something the nation's counter-terrorism chief ought to be endorsing: 

Brennan should study the Qur'an and Sunnah in order to discover just how Muslims understand what it means to purify "one's community," and what the Islamic understanding is of the term "innocent." He would find, of course, that a community that is fully purified is one in which non-Muslims live as subjugated dhimmis, and that non-Muslims are never understood in the Qur'an and Sunnah as being "innocent." But he will not undertake such a study, and will never find these things out.

This ignorant son of a bitch is what stands between you and the next terrorist attack, folks. Maybe when a tactical nuke or a "dirty bomb" is detonated in Manhattan, John Brennan will finally understand what Islamists mean by "purifying one's community."

And speaking of dangerous delusions, the U.S. government is actually trying to deport Mosab Yousef. Yousef is the son of the founder of Hamas, the author of Son of Hamas, a convert to Christianity, a one-time Israeli counter-terrorism agent, and a passionate opponent of radical Islam. Check out the interview with Yousef at GQ. It is insane, contemptible, and vile to move to deport this man. Who is responsible for this travesty of justice? 

For the ridiculous details of why Yousef has been declared a terrorist, see this World Net Daily post. And then ask yourself, given the above, whether you think this administration is capable of effectively protecting you from terrorists.

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