Iraqi elections today, and what to expect

Once again, my favorite journalist has agreat article on the expected outcome of the election.

The summary of the events, of course:
turnout is expected to be around 72% of eligible voters, and unexpectedly high numbers of people are voting in Falluja, Mosul, and other "sunni triangle" cities that are threatened with bloodbaths.

At least 27 people have been killed by suicide bombers and morters, but the voters are actually ignoring the violence, even in cases where it's close nough to rattle the windows of the polling stations.

Your Iraqi blogs:
Iraq the model
democracy in Iraq
Iraq election wire
The first two each have a hefty list of Iraqi blogs, so I won't crowd this page with more links.

Now, some Iraqi mainstream media-type sources:
Alsabaah
Azzaman
Iraq.net

There are plenty more blogs and internet news sources, and I am trying to find a good one that is on the other side of the political spectrum. That's hard, because Iraq doesn't care much about the political spectrum; Iraqis are voting almost entirely on safety.

What more is there to say? Got the link to the predicted election outcomes, optimism that the election will be successful, and some links to blogs and major news sources. I doubt that Iraq's neighbors will do much right now, there is too little time and too much risk for any election-day event.
Oh yes, some idiots in Spain are protesting. It's barely even worth mention, and I won't bother with a picture, because downloading the picture would waste more of your time than its worth.

State Of The World

I'll try a very different post today; a summary of some of the important international/worldwide events that are developing today.

Human Rights:
Few have made good on promises to stop or limit the genocide in Darfur, Russia is reverting to state control, the governments of southeast Asia have almost no interest in spending their own money to recover from the tsunami, few nations in South America show any promise (Columbia has some chances, and has received the US's favor because of it), and the majority of Africa and the mid-east fail to acknowledge even the concept of human rights – much les women's rights or the rights of different ethnic/religious groups. On the other hand, there is hope for better relations between Israel and Palestine, China is improving overall living conditions, South Africa is developing – economically, politically, and socially – and may provide hope for much of Africa by becoming a regional leader, former USSR states are advancing toward democracy and modern economies, Iraq is getting better in almost every way (still has problems, of course), Nelson Mandela has taken notable efforts for African AIDs-awareness (even announcing his son died of HIV, which has an incredible stigma in Africa), parts of Mongolia are modernizing, and the mid-east is/will realize that it needs to learn what human rights are.

Overall, the world has many of the same bad conditions as before, but many parts are improving, even if those parts are small or their improvement is slow. There is a chance that a competent and dedicated nation in South America – with the help of considerable international support – and become a leader in the region, but such would take more than a decade. Further, there is good reason for optimism that South Africa will be successful.


World Order:
Russia shows signs of reverting to a system of state control, especially after the clearly illegal government takeover of the Yukos oil giant, Chirac of France has proposed a global tax to "combat AIDs" (the tax is a 'test tax', which means it will only grow over time), the world is assigning the US the prestige it deserves as the sole superpower, the UN is faltering in the mind of the US but Europe has – for the most part – ignored its scandals, Canadian and European medical systems could be taken down if the US gets the misguided impression that foreign drugs are cheaper for some supernatural reason.

Time for a bit of elaboration. On the Chirac world tax issue, there is an article here. I'll be shocked if such a world tax comes anywhere near a reality. On the specific issue of AIDs, a main cause of its spread is the lack of care in Africa to stop it. In Africa, people think they have HIV because god wants them to have HIV, not because they got the disease from someone else. Thus, people think the disease can be cured through quasi-religious (and quite disgusting) measures. That "god gave me HIV" mentality is what gives the disease its stigma. The only thing that I can image a global tax for is some type of space station which would need a huge, reliable supply of funds, and such a project would never be controlled by the UN.
On this foreign drug issue, Europe and Canada have cheap drugs for one real reason: federal price controls severely limit the amount drug companies can charge, and therefore almost all the expense of research and development is pushed onto the US. An average prescription drug can take $800 million and 12 years to develop, according to what I believe is the most credible study on the subject. If the US starts to re-import the drugs which Canada can buy cheaply, then either drug companies will stop selling to Canada (or limit supply to barely cover Canadians) or the Canadian government will raise drug prices so the US stops buying cheap drugs from Canada and, therefore, the Canadian government stops the problem before drug companies take it into their own hands. A decent, apparently credible article on the subject is here.


This, of course, is not complete. A summary of world events takes far longer than a page and a half. So, I hope to include other editions of this later, as I really want to bring up the issues with China (especially get a good analysis of the China-Taiwan conflict). I must admit, this style is enjoyable; it gives me the freedom to branch my argument out as I see necessary, and I can show some of the inter-relatedness of world events.

Russia's nationalists call for ban on Jewish groups

article

Russia's nationalist lawmakers have asked the prosecutor general to ban all Jewish organizations because of their "extremist" views, in a vitriolic call ahead of this week's 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

The letter was dated January 13 but only rose to public attention this week. It shocked human rights defenders and even some of the original signatories reportedly changed their minds and were recalling their names.

A foreign ministry statement issued on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's attendance at the Auschwitz memorial commemoration in Poland said "the statement has nothing to do with the official position of the Russian leadership."

The seven-page call signed by 20 members of the 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament that included the Communist Party and nationalist groups used some of the most profane language against Jews publicly published in the post-Soviet era.

"The whole democratic world today is under the financial and political control of the Jews," said the statement.
...
"We would not want our Russia, which is subject to a permanent, extra-legal war seeking to prevent its rebirth, to find itself among unfree countries," the statement said.

It called on the Russian courts to ban "all Jewish religious and community groups" which the statement also described as "anti-Christian" and accused Jews of staging attacks against their own community as a provocation so they could pin blame on others.

"We would like to underline that many anti-Jewish acts around the world are staged by the Jews themselves as a provocation in order to take punitive measures against patriots," the letter said.

If you ever wondered why Bush shows little reluctance to ignore "allies", this type of thing is why. Let me reiterate one point: the letter was signed by 20 of the 450 members of the Durma, a major part of the Russian government. This isn't signed by a few disgruntled post office employees.

Whenever I read something like this, the first people I doubt are those who signed the letter. The next person I try to examine is myself, to try to determine if I am struck by this because my perspective is unrealistic, and others may be more in touch with reality. The third person is the reporter, though I will often give them the benefit of the doubt if the data in the article seems to add up properly. When I say I doubt myself, I mean both my personal perspective and the general ideology of America, as I certainly understand that the US may seem like a lunatic to other parts of the world which, to the US, look like nutcases. I always try to determine, in the specific case, which nation has the right perspective on things, if either more or less does, and how to best analyze this issue.
If you're wondering "how could you possibly misjudge an obviously racist statement by the Russian government?", two names: Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond (sp?). There is a good chance that all governments have this type of problem, and though it should be addressed in the context of racism, it might mean little in the long-term political realm.

There is no doubt that racism is a worldwide problem, and more of a problem in some countries than in others (by far). However, this letter has something different which raises alarms: "We would not want our Russia, which is subject to a permanent, extra-legal war seeking to prevent its rebirth, to find itself among unfree countries". I'll assume the letter claims that Jews wage that "extra-legal war" in an effort to stagnate Russia and destroy that little bit of freedom that Russia allows in no uncertain terms. If Russia falls again, which it has a good chance of, and relapses into strict government control, which it probably will, it may be blamed on the Jews. This is, for all intents and purposes, the same thing Hitler did: blame the Jews for everything bad, in order to help the government strengthen in 'defense' of the nation against the Jews. This letter might mean that anti-Semitism will last for a very, very, very long time – you may be lucky to see it subside in the western and industrialized world within your lifetime.

Now, on a different but anti-Semitism related note, Russia has been selling weapons to Syria and the like, or at least attempting to do so. I can guarantee that governmental racism isn't driving the policy; if the two are related, then the weapons sales have helped governmental racism develop. Politicians have been known to push ideologies to excuse less-than-moral actions in the past, and there is little to keep them from doing so today.


That's my post of the day, it seems to hold a suitable amount of analysis, and I hope it was worth your time to read it.

Terrorists focus on western Europe

Frontline press release

It's about 2:30 AM, so I don't have much time to write.
In short: terrorists are having a hard time getting into the US (yay! Good work Homeland Security Dept.!), so they have decided to focus on western Europe, instead. Britain alone has already stopped about a dozen planned attacks.
Because western Europe has about 16 million Muslims, some of them are swayed by jihadist radicalism, and may be working independently from al-Qaeda and similar international organizations. So, the threat to Europe is partially, or mostly, from those who already live inside the borders. This means that Europe will have to work very, very hard to prevent any large-scale attack, because it must monitor its own citizens, rather than just those who attempt to enter the countries.

What has happened to the Democratic Party?

Why is the Democratic Party split, leaderless, and ignoring the future?

The actions of the more outspoken democrats are well known, and need only reference, rather than explanation: raise suspicions about the Ohio vote, disrupt Bush's confirmation despite their inability to hold Bush back, have two congress members vote against Condi Rice, and complain about Bush's confirmation. These actions are fitting for a campaign season, and could be expected in the month or two before the election, but they look incredibly different today. These actions can easily be called obstructionist, and makes the Democratic Party look like it exists only to oppose the Republican Party, rather than to try to do something better for the nation.
It seems like the entire democrat party is determined to attack Bush, and do little else. The absence of any democrat admitting "damn, we lost. We'll try to make the best of it" on November 3rd tells more about the party than any press release. The Democratic Party is as active and loud as it's ever been, but it has stopped thinking. No matter how many times they were explained to me, I simply couldn't understand or remember Kerry's plans for the nation, and I believe this is due to a lack of a coherent, reliable, and logical underlying belief or morality.

The Democratic Party will not have a proper leader until the party has beliefs that its members can, more or less, agree on. Further, the party will receive little popular support by opposing Bush's plans, yet presenting no alternative. (scroll to the bottom of this post if you want to skip some of the details – which are insignificant – and read about the broad, overall situation)

What should the democrats do?
First, they need to find a moral base which they can plant an agenda on. They will probably have to steal some of this from republicans, whom have developed some excellent, malleable ideologies.
Then, they need to get an agenda in order, and scrap parts of the platform that are opposed by most of the nation and losing their remaining popularity. One such item is abortion; democrats have been adamant about allowing abortion, even though most of the nation opposes it (except in cases of rape or severe physical harm to the mother). The democrats can easily select adoption as a great alternative, and can point out the lack of people willing to allow their child to be adopted compared to those who wish to adopt, the incredibly painful process that adopters and those who give up their child go through, and the incredible and unwarranted cost of adoption. It's hard for anyone to oppose adoption, and yet both parties have ignored the subject, preferring to argue over abortion.
Another compelling issue is immigration, which democrats should support more of (according to their philosophical beliefs). The party can easily argue that we need to enforce the border with Mexico, but allow many more immigrants to come to the US legally (thus reducing the number who resort to illegal methods). The quotas on immigration are outdated, illogical, and somewhat immoral, and democrats would do well to make them an issue - with a bit of caution.
A third issue may be corporate abuse. It's easy to say, and compelling to believe, that a company cannot get away with something that is illegal for an individual. And, they could do a lot more to encourage competition in a few sectors or industry, such as oil – especially considering the high gas prices.
The democrats must scrap their environmentalist factions, which have done more harm to the party than they have done to save the environment. The EPA should not shrink, but it's policies changed so it can act reasonably to each situation as it appears. For example, if there is an endangered species of mouse or bug, the EPA will impose crushing regulations on whatever area that creature happens to live in, even though the creature is of no importance to anything. In this case, the EPA could do far better by supplying funds for a zoo to house some of that species, and increase its population. This would improve the zoo, and the area where the species happens to live will not waste tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to follow environmental regulations. Additionally, the democrats must choose between keeping ANWR desolate and claiming that the US must be independent of mid-east oil.


These few issues are really just details to show that the democrats must get their party back in order. The only way to restore the party is by doing what republicans have done: build a moral foundation, announce the philosophies that guide the party to its position on issues, and draw up attractive plans – based on the party philosophy – that offer logical solutions to the nation's problems.

"I paid $21,000 for this?!"

article

It’s not the name; it’s the money.

That was the reaction from readers who thought the $21,000 the state spent on coming up with COSMIX was more offensive than the acronym for the Interstate 25 widening project through Colorado Springs.

Short for Colorado Springs Metro Interstate Expansion, the nickname will be posted on freeway signs and used in print references to the 12-mile, threeyear project.

I guess that ChexMix was taken.

I have an idea, why not have some reputable, local, respectable, home-grown company pay about $21,000, or more, to have the highway named after that company? Streets, for example, are often named after people or companies (or trees, for no apparent reason). The exact same thing is done with stadiums (Enron Stadium is an example, though Enron isn't quite reputable), too.
Or, if the city has a beautification project, name it the Ralph Lauren Highway.

Unlike the people quoted in the article, I find both the name and cost of the name to be bad. I am beginning to doubt the competence of any focus-group. Often, whenever a focus-group is formed to pick an artwork to 'beautify' an area, they pick the worst possible one. At Northern Kentucky University, for example, a giant rectangular prism was purchased for hundreds of thousands of dollars, paid for by the National Endowment for the Arts. Just a rectangular prism (a cube, but stretched so the length may be longer than the width and height, for example). It might be the size of a mobile home; it's very, very big, and made out of stainless steel. The really sad thing is that the prism replaced an artwork that was actually good; the old sculpture depicted a movie scene that was being created, it was actually donated by the director of the depicted movie. The director was moderately popular, or so I hear. The good sculpture was moved because the director, allegedly, had some race issues, though such issues were in no way apparent in the excellent sculpture.

Iran gets belligerent with US

article. No giant quote this time, just a short summary:
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Iran is trying to claim that the US is playing hardball (which it is), and threatens to be nasty right back if the US actually puts pressure on Iran to stop developing nukes, as compared to Europe's program which effectively subsidizes Iranian nukes. Iran warned that it would respond to any "unwise measure" by Washington (just how would Iran respond? The only real threat would be nukes, which Iran claims to not have), and that Washington's goals are "not to help and encourage Europe to peacefully settle some disagreements through diplomacy and talks, [but rather] to disrupt the Iran-EU nuclear talks by pretending they are unsuccessful."
Actually, I will have a small blockquote:

"We recommend the new American foreign minister avoids repeating past mistakes by reviewing America's wrong and unsuccessful policies of unilateralism and oppression," [Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi] said of Rice.
"The United States of America has fallen into an abyss of several crises as a result of the wrong attitude of hard line neo-conservatives. There is no way out unless it reviews and corrects past mistakes."

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First things first: Asefi is a dead man. If and/or when the US goes into Iran, Asefi will be one of the first targets, probably because of the idiocy and arrogance of these statements (assuming this article is accurate). Asefi, BIG MISTAKE, you never screw with a Texan. How did Iran turn into an SOB all of a sudden?

So, what will happen in the future? The US will keep trying to drag Iran in front of the UN. Sanctions would be very tough to get, given the amount of oil that Europe, China, and the like get from Iran, but the US would probably insist on it. So, Iran's economy will slump a bit. Most people in Iran have a favorable view of the US, because both the US and the Iranian people hate the Iranian government. The US is in no hurry, however, to start another big war in the mid-east. The US's best bet is to get Iraq's democracy started, and put it on solid ground, so that the people of Iran might have a fighting chance against their government. If Iran has a revolution, Iraq could then help the Iranian people set up a proper, democratic, and non-corrupt government. However, Iraq won't be ready for something like this for a few years (20 months, at the very least), so this would be a long-term strategy, and a bit riskier than most would like.
On the other hand, the US could just fly air missions over nuclear facilities if Iran really is developing nukes, and destroy whatever research or production is in progress. Of course, this is an old strategy, and is at best moderately successful.

The Legacy Of King

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We have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
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Spliced version of Dr. Martin Luther King's famous speech. (full version here)

Of King's entire speech, "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred" was exalted more than any other line. Today, it is intentionally overlooked by those who'd rather celebrate themselves than liberate their people. America is a house turned against itself, rising above the toiling poor of this barren world. But, as America's two hands struggle to harmonize, they fight the enemies of our foundation. Our foundation is of truths self-evident; vitality, liberty, equality, and prosperity. From these basic values, we have built a great nation – forged by those of the barren valley who dreamed of their mansion on the hill. And from this hill, after every storm, water flows to the masses of the poor, and our nation strives to cleanse them of their poverty and inspire in them the wondrous soul of all mankind.

In the coming days, a troubled neighbor will knock on the door of America and proclaim their determination to share the dreams, and the deeds of those dreams, of all mankind. And America has already promised that neighbor our unyielding help, and our impenetrable aegis that protects from the wolves prowling the forest which haunts the dream. And so, at this time of remembrance, let this great nation do for another nation what Dr. King did for his fellow Americans.

This new nation, like ours, has its destiny through four basic freedoms.
Freedom of trade and prosperity will allow our neighbor to take his dream and set it on a foundation, and to build his mansion of the strongest materials known to man, and not depend on wood from the forest. And with prosperity the house shall be adorned with art depicting the full spectrum of human thought and brilliance.
The second freedom is of the night watchman, who stares the wolves into the eye and proclaims that fear, terror, and hatred will rule no more, and it is the undying joy and optimism of the human soul that will ultimately triumph against the corruption of the corroded forest. And the wolves will learn that only the request of a friend and welcoming of a kind neighbor will open the gates to the house, and that growls, teeth, and claws are mere phantoms in the night.
The third freedom is at the dinner table, where all can converse as they please. This freedom of speech is upheld by the mutual respect that all have for their neighbors, because disagreement is caused by a difference in experiences and interpretation, and a great goal of humanity is to understand all experiences and interpretations. Thus, each human, with their few experiences and singular interpretation, will embrace the words of his neighbor as a fountain of knowledge, providing free drinks to quench the unyielding thirst of mankind's wondrous nature and eternal search for knowledge. And in the house of each man will be a library that encompasses the works, ideas, and inventions of man throughout the centuries. These works will stand as a testament to the unspoken freedoms of expression, press and thought, in which anyone, no matter how shy, can display their wisdom without fear of persecution or judgment.
The fourth freedom is of religion, which is manifested in words, thoughts, and action, and thus a restriction of this freedom would be a restriction of all freedoms. It is our god who can provide the greatest assurance against our enemies and the pledge that fuels our optimism. And thus we will worship as we please, assured that the sanctity of our neighbor's religion ensures the protection of our own.

Airbus to Unveil Largest Passenger Jet

Airbus shows off a freakishly huge jet.

The A380, a four-aisle, four-engine, double-decker "superjumbo," will roll onto the tarmac Tuesday at Airbus headquarters in southern France, in a lavish ceremony attended by EU leaders and thousands of guests.
...
Over the next 20 years, Airbus sees global demand for 1,250 A380-size behemoths to shuttle passengers between the world's largest airports, which serve as connecting hubs for flights to less busy destinations.
More than half the new superjumbos will fly between just 10 major airports, Airbus forecasts, mainly in Asia. Singapore Airlines Ltd. is scheduled to become the first carrier to operate the A380, in the second half of 2006.
Chicago-based Boeing Co., like Airbus, expects overall air passenger traffic to increase threefold over the next two decades. But Boeing forecasts only 'a few hundred' sales of very large planes, as travelers reject stopovers in favor of direct service aboard smaller long-range jets � like its fuel-efficient 7E7 Dreamliner, due to enter service in 2008.
'The data shows unquestionably that passengers, when they can, want to fly from wherever they are to wherever they're going, without having to connect in a hub,' said Boeing spokesman Todd Blecher. 'The A380 is flying into the headwind of reality.'
But Boeing, which delivered 285 planes in 2004 to Airbus' 320, is hedging its bets. It announced plans last year for a larger, 450-seat 747, despite having dismissed the case for a bigger plane since Airbus began discussing the concept in 1991. A launch decision is expected in mid-2005.
Whichever way the wind blows in Toulouse on Tuesday, the A380 seems certain to become a milestone in civil aviation history alongside the 747 and Concorde. Unlike the supersonic Concorde, however, whose claim to fame was how fast it crossed the Atlantic, this latest fruit of European aerospace cooperation will ultimately be judged on how fast it makes money.

OK, you got some of the main points. Discussion on reducing the weight of airplanes is quite boring, and therefore skipable.

Personally, I think Airbus and Boeing are simply looking at different groups of people when they decide whether customers want large flights from hub to hub or flights directly from point A to point B, no matter where A and B are. I've never heard a European complain about connecting flights, but Americans probably do so as much as we complain about security, and more than we complain about food. Thus, the European A380 will be more popular in Europe, while America's Boeing airplanes will be popular in the US. Perhaps the difference has something to do with the fact that European countries are geographically smaller than the US, so connecting flights or drives to the final destination are not as long.

I'll list the common and annoying, though not major, problems with air travel, and we'll see how Airbus really does:
1: reduce the noise. Can you just put the engine farther out on the wing or something? I know it's a pain to pack more insulation into the fuselage (which is actually the part where the passengers sit), but perhaps a bit more should be considered.
2: a section for fat people. Fatties have sued airlines which, rightfully, have charged passengers weighing more than a quarter of a ton for the two seats that their excess lard occupies. A very, very fat person has no chance of fitting in one seat; if they try, they will spill well into the two adjacent seats. Thus, it is better for an armrest to be moved so the fatty can have a pair of seats. This also reduces the stress on the chair, which just might buckle if required to hold upwards of 500 pounds (though that's probably impossible). There was actually one case where a woman suffered severe medical problems because something like 200 pounds of lard from a gargantuan freak was resting on her for a 12-hour trip. I can't believe that there were no psychological problems as well.
3: some better food. Technically, airline food isn't that bad, due to all the artificial chemicals; but, for the price of the ticket, something slightly better should be provided. In 1st class, desert (yeah, desert) might include a surprisingly good slice of cheesecake; maybe such should be implemented for the entire plane (except for those in the fat section, they are given only Slimfast).
4: decent airline movies. Find quality, major-budget films that can be watched over and over again without making people want to kill themselves (thus, not the Star Wars prequel trilogy), and show them. On those 12-hour+ flights, show the entire Lord of the Rings series. Or, just have some portable DVD players that passengers have to return on their way off the airplane, and have a stockpile of DVD's (or just broadcast the DVD over the wires that previously were for the unused radio station thing, so you need only a few DVD's and passengers can select what they want to watch, if you want to be cheap).
5: bigger, better ventilated bathrooms. A few inches, maybe even a foot, increase in size would be great. That way, it would actually be possible to fit, even for those of us who are in shape.
6: better ventilation. The plane is moving at hundreds of miles per hour, and you can't scope any fresh air into the plane (pressurize it, of course)? Do you not allow fresh air in the belief that low oxygen levels will help passengers go to sleep faster? Sorry to tell you, but that's not working too well! If you want to do that, put a very mild sleeping/drowsyness agent into the drinks or peanuts (at the very least, make those bags bigger, too).

I wonder how many of these problems either of the major aircraft makers will work to fix.

Titan, one of Saturn's Moons,

The Pumkin Planet.. er, Moon, whatever
Now, for those quotes which I shameless copy:

Data beamed back from Titan, one of Saturn's moons, sketched a picture of a pale orange landscape with a spongy surface topped by a thin crust.
"The closest analogues are wet sand or clay," said John Zarnecki, in charge of instruments analyzing Titan's surface.
...
Images taken on descent, from about 12 miles right down to the surface, suggest the presence of liquid, possibly flowing through channels or washing over larger areas, said Marty Tomasko of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
"It is almost impossible to resist speculating that the flat, dark material is some kind of drainage channel, that we are seeing some kind of a shoreline. We don't know if it still has liquid in it."
A thick layer of cloud or fog that obscures the planet was found to be hanging at about 12 miles from the surface, but absent closer to the ground.
The clouds are most likely methane and dark areas on the surface are "a reservoir" of liquid methane, said project scientist Shushiel Atreya.
A boom mike extended from the 705-pound Huygens probe has captured a loud, rushing sound. Mission scientists did not immediately say what it might mean, but instruments on the probe have detected winds of about 15 mph.
...
The probe is sending data to NASA's Cassini mother ship above Saturn, which relays them to the ESA by way of NASA. The mission was launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. - a joint effort by NASA, ESA and the Italian space agency. It is named for 17th-century Saturn observers Jean Dominique Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. [just to include some of the background information]

nice image here, and from the description: "The surface [of Titan] is darker than originally expected, consisting of a mixture of water and hydrocarbon ice". Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Inter-Steller oil tanker! ;)
Other article here.

Reservoirs of liquid methane, those sound wonderful. I wonder if this can generate some corporate sponsors for a future mission. NASA, after all, will probably have to work with corporations in the future, as NASA is moving from exploration and discovery to detailed research on things much farther away than the moon. Now that there is no competition with the Soviet Union, there is less motivation to fund NASA (as politicians rarely think of anything long-term), but both corporate interest in space and the cost of research and exploration are rising.

Scientists haven't had much time to go through the data, so I hope for some new information in the near future. One of the most commentable things is that the probe was launched in 1997. All the technology on that thing is more than 7 years old. I hope NASA finds some way to make these probes move faster, as we'd be able to get much better data from technology that is not outdated by the time it's finally put to use.
In fact, NASA is doing just that. A proposal with a wonderful name, Project Prometheus, has excellent hopes of giving spacecraft the cutting-edge technology and power to bring them up to speed, by giving them nuclear engines.
From here

Announced early last year, NASA has been seeking funds to establish the Nuclear Space Initiative. The program would develop new types of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), as well as perform research on nuclear propulsion.
That technology would not only support robotic exploration of the Solar System. NSI research could open the door for more rapid human access to targets beyond low Earth orbit, should the nation decide to pursue such a long distance goal.
The NSI is set to develop reactor technologies for advanced robotic exploration, Savage said. "We’re also looking at ion propulsion and things of that nature…but not looking at a specific human mission to Mars," he added.
Savage said that the term "nuclear rocket" is not what NASA is developing. Rather, reactor technology is being pursued.
Nuclear rocket is a term that's very easily misconstrued in the public, Savage said. "In their mind, they see the spewing out of radioactivity from the back end of a rocket. That's not what is being talked about in any of the programs we're looking at," he said.

Now, what do the "no nukes in space" lunatics say?

[Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of some anti-nuclear group] said that he and his group fear that the nuclear reactors for Mars missions are "the ice breakers that end up becoming the reactor technologies that get adapted for space based weapons systems, long the dream of the Pentagon Star Warriors."

Yes, that's actually a quote from the last article I linked to. Give this man enough rope, and he will hang himself.

Let me explain something. These anti-nuke protestors are idiots for quite a few reasons, but I only feel like discussing one. That issue is their inability to distinguish between nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons, and power sources that simply utilize radioactive elements.
So, which is NASA using?

[radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which NASA has been developing] are not nuclear reactors. Rather, they use heat created by the natural decay of Plutonium-238 to generate electricity.
In the past, these devices have been used in a variety of deep space missions, such as the Galileo mission to Jupiter, as well as onboard the [..] Cassini spacecraft to Saturn. A Kuiper Belt-Pluto spacecraft expected to be launched in the 2006-2007 time frame would also be RTG powered. NASA is reviewing use of the souped-up RTG for use on its Mars Smart Lander slated for launch in 2009.

At present, NASA is doing little more than taking radioactive things away from the earth, and getting something out of their habit to decay, which happens on both Earth and in space.

Compare to an educated person:

"Administrator O'Keefe's decision to develop space nuclear power is a wise move that will save billions of dollars and greatly expand our space capabilities," [Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society in Indian Hills, Colorado] said.
"The decision by NASA to revive its nuclear rocket development program is a tremendously positive step. It will greatly enhance the prospects for human exploration and settlement of the Solar System," he told SPACE.com .
Using nuclear thermal rockets, the payload delivered from low Earth orbit to the Moon or Mars can be doubled, Zubrin said. That cuts in half the launch costs associated with lunar or Mars exploration programs. Nuclear power reactors are essential for Mars base surface power. Duties performed include powering life support hardware, ultra-high data rate communications, and making on-the-spot propellants, he said.
"The name 'Project Prometheus' is well taken. Prometheus gave fire to man, giving us the power needed to create civilization on Earth. NASA's Project Prometheus will give us the power we need to extend human civilization to the heavens," Zubrin said.

The paragraphs were rearranged as I saw fit. That is a rather beautiful comparison. Hat tip to O'Keefe.

Personally, I'd love for NASA to use nuclear power as it sees fit. The entire anti-nuclear thing is simply insane. Everyone dislikes nuclear weapons, and the world would be great if no nation needed or had nuclear weapons, but nuclear technology can do incredible things to help mankind.

Sorry for the length of the post, and the fact that it's mostly quotes; I'll try to limit the next post to 1 page.

What's Up With Spyware?

Article which has a few good points, but I doubt the accuracy of, due to past fact-checking of other articles written in a similar way.

here's the important paragraph:

The biggest factor behind the rapid increase in spyware is the amount of money at stake. Ads for such blue-chip companies as Motorola Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co. appear in spyware programs.

Motorola, Verizon, and JP Morgan, you are on my permanent blacklist. The blacklist is simple, to be put on it, a company needs to do one (or both) of two things; 1: intentionally and knowingly rip-off customers or potential customers; 2: intentionally and knowingly rip-off employees (or past employees, as the case may be). The others on that list are AOL/Time Warner, and DirecTV has been added today (it has been pending for several months, and I decided to add it based on some of the horror stories from here). Sadly, I may add my formerly-beloved Earthlink to the list, as they made a hefty contract with AOL/Time Warner, and they did the exact same thing that AOL/Time Warner did to me over a year ago.

Well, I have a new reason to hate some phone companies.

Fox: "I've got an idea, lets throw the two retarded hookers into a middleschool to teach!"

article

The Fox TV reality series "The Simple Life" will not be using a South Jersey school as the setting for one of its episodes.
"The show will not come to Cleary School," Buena Regional School District Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said Monday night.
...
Producers of the hit show starring racy heiress Paris Hilton had approached school officials in December, offering to pay $5,000 to film an episode at a school in the mostly rural community 30 miles west of Atlantic City.
This season's episodes will have Hilton and co-star Nicole Richie traveling the country trying their hand as interns at various jobs. The idea for the Buena episode was to have Hilton and Richie work as substitute teachers and cafeteria monitors at the J.P. Cleary Middle School.
School district officials initially were amenable to the idea, and permission forms and a letter from the show's production company were sent home to parents last week.
But some responded angrily, saying that Hilton, whose celebrity was fueled by an X-rated home video that made the rounds of the Internet, was not a fit role model for middle school students.
"I just feel that it's ludicrous that the Board of Education and the administration would invite Paris Hilton to teach 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds, and Nicole Richie, too," parent Sue Barber said last week. "Their reputation leaves a lot to be desired."
...
She said she believed that a majority of the community did not object to the show being done there, and noted that 340 parents had returned forms giving their children permission to participate, while only 34 said no.

Who are these 340 parents that said "yes"? Just how rural is this school? I'm under the impression that noone in the area can recieve television signals, nor any other news source whatsoever.
Let me remind you, Paris Hilton became famous because she released a sex video on the internet. The least she could do is have some professionals put it in a box and sell it in places that only cater to adults, but she just threw it out over the internet. Had she sold the video, there would be evidence that there is atleast one half-witted thought to have come out of her head – she would have been motivated by money (I think she's been disinherited, so she might not have that much money). But, no, she left herself without the slightest excuse.

First off, the guy who decided to have Simple Life 2 is a complete moron, fire that idiot. Remember that Joe Millionaire thing? The first got ratings, the second crashed almost as fast as Howard Dean. There are almost no reality shows that manage to have a second season, for good reason – people finally wake up and the neurons in their head start to fire properly when the series ends. They could have at least replaced Nicole Richy, or whoever she is, with someone else, just to mix things up a bit.
Note: rant. You can scroll to the "end rant" note if you want
Why not grab Carman Electra? I hear she's not the brightest tool in the shed. Now, who was the hot model who practically destroyed her career by moving to a cabaret in Brazil for about two years? Maybe they should try Angelina Jolie, whom I think is the most overrated actress on earth. Seriously, watch her try to act, she simply can't. I only saw one short clip of Tomb Rader 2; it was the part where Angelina was making out with some guy, and yet still talking about business or something boring. It was painful to watch! Angelina Jolie was making out, and I changed the channel, it was that bad. The only good movie she has been in was Sky Captain, and that movie stayed good because Angelina was in only about 3 minutes of actual film. Does anyone agree with me on this? Yes, I know she is hot, and I know it's plastic, but I think she is a horrid actress. She can't even get an accent to either sound correct or sound like something that could possibly be an accent at all.

end rant
Yeah, replace Richy with Angelina Jolie, and then you can get some ratings for the second season, but Jolie would probably cost upwards of 50 million.

Now, for the even worse idiot who wanted to send Dumb & Dumber to a school. If they are substitute teachers, what class do you think they will want to teach? They would teach sex ed. And, on that day, the class would be watching a video. To be more exact, they would probably watch the Paris Hilton sex tape. I don't think Fox can handle lawsuits that would stem from the fiasco.

Further, how did the schoolboard give initial approval? I can't imagine a schoolboard, which should be intelligent because it works at a school, taking that type of risk for a mere $5000. The kids at that school are worth a lot more than five grand.

North Korea Turns 'Bad Hair Days' Into Law

Long hair 'steals the brain's energy'

[Stalinist] North Korea has stepped up its campaign against long hair and untidy attire which its media says represents a "corrupt capitalist" lifestyle, reports said.

North Korean state television, radio and newspapers have led the grooming drive, urging people to cut their hair short and to dress tidily, the BBC said in a dispatch citing broadcasts from Pyongyang.

Men were asked to have crew cuts with hair growing up to five centimetres in a twice-a-month visit to the barber, it said.

Not only health and hygiene but also intelligence was cited by the North Korean media as reasons for the crackdown on appearance.

Pyongyang television noted long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy, according to the BBC.

But another serious reason came from state radio which said tidy attire "is important in repelling the enemies' maneuvers to infiltrate corrupt capitalist ideas and lifestyle" in North Korea, it said.

The ruling communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, even warned inappropriate appearance under foreign influence could lead to national decay.

"People who wear other's style of dress and live in other's style will become fools and that nation will come to ruin," Rodong was cited as saying.

Some North Korean TV broadcasts adopted a hidden-camera style video of longhaired men on various locations throughout Pyongyang in an unprecedented break with their usual approach.

The program showed those who were not "in accordance with Socialist lifestyle" just run away or make excuses of being too busy to trim their hair.

I would normally have some guilt for quoting an entire article, but this is from Agence France-Presse (the French).

In reality, this has nothing to do with the western world, of course. The ban on long hair is probably caused by Kim Jung Il's personal feelings of insecurity, as Kim Jung is going bald. Kimmy is more concerned about his near-midgethood, as he stands at 5 feet two inches, but he grew his hair to add a few more inches to his appearance, which is already heightened by platform shoes.

So, Little Kimmy has proclaimed "If I can't have big hair, no one can have big hair, waaah!" (OK, the crying "waaah" might not have been said, but it can reasonably be implied). Tomorrow, he will have the shins of all adult males cut off. The feet will then be reattached to the knees. Kimmy doesn't have an afro (which descended from the word "Africa"), but he has something similar, so I'll call it the "asiafro". OK, now I'll get a bit serious now.

This has removed my suspicion that Kim Jung Il was faking his insanity to keep the rest of the world on its toes. After all, you can have predictable, relatively easy diplomacy with a calm and rational person. But, you never know what a nutcase will do, and you prefer to play it safe. Either Kim Jung Il will have to enter reality when his insecurity becomes too much for him and he changes his life, which is quite unlikely, or Kim will go even more nuts and, perhaps, even more secluded.


Well, you got the comedy and the point of the commentary: Kimmy is going bald and crazier than ever.

State Of The Blog & Whatnot

for some unexplainable reason, I am a search result for Nvidia (5700, usually, which is a decent card, but the recent Radeon models are better, from what I hear) and Radeon graphics cards, especially the x300, 9800, 9900, and all that stuff. Also, several people have reached me in a search for the game Rome: Total War, which I think is funny as I only mentioned it once in passing in a "what to buy your teenage son for Christmas" post (I also mentioned Simcity 4 in that, there's another search result for you).
I don't know what google is thinking, to be honest. Yes, I bring up technology in the blog from time to time, but I talk about NASA and very big things, not computer games or graphics cards.

And yet, I'm never a search result for "news" or "conservative viewpoint", not even "analysis of current events", though those words are in the description of quite a few links to me. So, I am changing the little tagline thing at the top of the page to something that search engines should like more. No one remembers Mark Hacking, for good reason (he was the nut who cut his wife up than ran around naked while people were searching for the wife he reported missing. Then he put himself into a nuthouse, and will probably be executed soon enough), and I hate reading the names "Kobe Bryant" and "Michael Jackson", as well.

This post is loaded with enough useless smalltalk and keywords packed in for the fun of it, time to move to something slightly more interesting. As you should notice, there is a handy google search bar now on the site. I tried to make it a few pixels lower, but the Blogger template preview and the actual page turn out different every once in a while. I'm also considering making that green header image wider and shorter, or perhaps replacing it completely, if I find something good to replace it with. I don't think there is a way to combine NASA, republican, and analysis all into one image, I can only do so in a post with the help of ADD.

What's next on the agenda? I hope to get some real work done on my International Realist Theory thing in Wikipedia's Wikibooks. If I actually do that, it would be nice to set up links to chapters of the semi-book in the sidebar, though I don't know how many people really care about political theory. I'd love to learn a bit about economics so I can have some idea what I'm talking about, too, and it'd be even better if I can explain some economics without making people want to kill themselves out of boredom. Have you ever heard Alan Greenspan speak? Dear god, its not just economics that bores people, but his voice even sounds incredibly boring! I'm not talking the Leiberman type boring, this is an entirely new level of suicidal boredom; Leiberman sounds like Martin Luther King Jr. compared to Greenspan. Don't get me wrong, Greenspan is a smart guy, but his skill is not as a public speaker.
I also hope to add some more info to the "about me" section, and make the blog more user-friendly. Plus, I look forward to updating the "News Resources" with Bush's inaugural address, and getting rid of everything else in that section.

Finally, and I've decided that I may have to put this off until summer, I'd love to make a "news of the day" section, in which I simply have the titles of important articles in a box, with the title linking to some newspaper story, and having a summary (written by me, of course) appear when the mouse is held over the link. If I could fit the thing into a small box, small enough to fit into the sidebar of an average blog, I intend to allow others to put the box on their blog (it would have a link back to me, of course). It would take a lot of time to set this up, and I'd have to update the box thing in the morning so the news is up-to-date; I can't do that until summer because school takes up too much time.


So, that's the state of the blog, and some keywords just for the fun of it.

The UN: Working 25 Hours Per Day To Better Screw You

Internal U.N. Audits Ignite Debate

Internal audits sent to the director of the Iraq oil-for-food program uncovered extensive mismanagement of multimillion-dollar deals with contractors and fraudulent paperwork by its employees, according to copies of some of the reports obtained by The Associated Press.
...
An independent panel led by former Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Paul Volcker, who was appointed in April by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) to investigate corruption in the oil-for-food program, was given access to the files and planned to release 400 pages of the audits Monday.

But the United Nations had refused access to congressional investigators until Volcker's panel sent them copies on Friday. A congressional aide provided the AP with copies of three of the 56 audits, including one that found that the United Nations was billed over several years for 31 days of work in June, which only has 30 days.
...
A third audit on April 20, 1999, of the U.N. Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, the agency responsible for the implementation of humanitarian aid under the program, also revealed discrepancies in the procurement of equipment including cars, computers and furniture.

In one instance, the agency submitted invoices totaling $42,518 for furniture from a company in Jordan. The auditors determined that the "purchases had actually been made from a local vendor in contravention of sanctions," and that the price had been exorbitant.

Wow. Now, for that last item, I have a theory as to how he price was so much. Suppose the furniture actually cost about $10,518. However, the person buying the furniture says "I have an idea, why don't you charge me $42,518, and give me $30,000, and you can pocket an additional $2,000". Mind you, that's only a theory, but I wouldn't put it past the UN to try such things. Heck, as a comparison, a lot of the "aid money" from Europe to tsunami-affected areas has restrictions on it so that the aided countries can only spend that money on products from the country from which the aid came (the "aid money" is not aid money, but rather a new way for government to subsidize exports).

Is this UN stuff getting tiring to anyone else? I'm looking at it as more comedy than anything else; I don't think there is any other way to observe something like this and not go insane.

Help The Relief Effort, Buy Flooded Coffee

The Coffee Review - the world's leading coffee buying guide reviews 12 coffees from the Tsunami-affected areas.

The first place coffee is Sumatra Mandheling, by Terroir Select Coffees, from northern Sumatra, Indonesia.The second and 3rd place holders, from the same area, are Sumatra from Quartermaine Coffee Roasters and Sumatra Mandheling Grade 1 from Stumptown Coffee Roasters, respectively. OK, all the coffees except one are from the northern part of Samatra, Indonesia. That exception is from southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Some other good types, listed here, are: CoffeeMaria's Indian Mysore Nuggets and Paradise Roasters' Indian Mysore Nuggets, all from southern India.

by the way, I am guessing on if these are company names and specific coffee types, check the link to get information from someone who has a clue what they're talking about. Heck, I never even drink coffee. I'm just writing this post because I think the concept of coffee competitions to help the economies of those hit by the tsunami is quite interesting.

Additionally, it seems that the UN is actually doing something helpful. Naturally, the devastated countries are receiving virtually no tourism, on which much of their economy depends. The UN, in its brilliant and benevolent efforts, rescued the tourism industry by filling high-class hotels with bureaucrats. It's not just the UN 'crats who are helping the industry, either; because of all the publicity the UN is generating for itself, journalist from the US and Europe are in flocks behind Kofi Annan & Crew, and are filling all the lower-class hotels as well. What charity!

The Game Of Politics

Gonzales was interrogated before the senate, and was accused of allowing the torture of prisoners. here is a decent article.

Gonzales probably has very little, if anything, to do with the torture. The democrats in the senate are challenging him for several reasons. First, they want to remind the US population that the attorney general can and will be questioned. Second, they want to shrink the power of the attorney general after Ashcroft built it up. Third, they want a bit of power over Gonzales to make sure he doesn't become the next Ashcroft. The questions have nothing to do with torture, these questions were brought up because torture is one of few things the democrats can pin Gonzales to.

The question of torturing prisoners is not new, though it has rarely seen this much attention, and its current context is original. During the Cold War, it was a rule of thumb that 95% of prisoners would talk if you simply asked them to. In other words, torture was quite unnecessary. However, almost no terrorists will talk, no matter what we try to do with them. They have already determined that they want to die fighting the US, so they would be happy if the US kills them for refusing to talk. Some of the terrorists have actually gone to camps where they learn what the US can and can't do, and study how to better resist interrogation techniques. Those who haven't been to such camps learn quickly.
Thus, I will flip-flop a bit, I now support some hefty torture of those whom the US knows are terrorists. Torture intending to inflict pain, rather than scare the tortured, is not to be done on those whom are only suspected. I don't like to support torture, and I don't want such methods to have a precedent in the American legal system, but I view it as something of a necessity at this time. If future generations look back at this era and admit "some of what they did was horrible – but they had to do it", then the US will turn out alright.


I hope I have written a good starting point for some further discussion, as I believe I have either created some fairly original thoughts or compiled thoughts that were previously scattered. However, my analysis as to what happens next is almost entirely absent, and considerations of what these interrogations show what America has become have slightly more mention.

South Korea Adds Satellite TV Service For Cell Phones

Yahoo! News article

Sometimes, I love South Koreans. Please skim through this post to see why I love this new idea for cellphone use. I'll admit that I didn't evn think that cellphones could pick up satellites, though I specifically stated that I want to watch TV on a cellphone (South Korea already has this, and apparently has pay-per-view movies as well).

I am honestly amazed at the people who think the Sirius satellite radio has been plucked from the distant future. I wouldn't consider Sirius "modern" (in the technology, not art, sense) unless it came bundled with OnStar and a good GPS system (all are physically packed into one item, rather than separate items that are discounted when all purchased at the same time).

Good luck to South Korea with their plan, though they probably don't need it. I wish American cellphone companies would wake up, as they can be replaced within a year. The best and easiest (in the long run) thing for the cellphone companies to do is make a deal with the Korean company to buy some technology, and deploy some new satellites over the US. This would get rid of the retarded "calling area", or whatever it is, system that American phone companies currently have. It shouldn't cost more than a few billion, honestly. Maybe it needs a hefty government subsidy; too bad most politicians look only to the immediate future and poll numbers, and haven't the slightest clue what long-term planning is. I actually got a book about that very subject, aptly entitled Thinking Beyond Stage One; the first 40 pages have been quite good, both well-written and educating.

Hillary Clinton's Campaign Finance Director Indicted

article

I don't think this can be used to hurt Hillary that much, as the alleged fraud was a while ago.

I also doubt that this is a political ploy. However, I will outline some basics in the near-impossible case that it is. This could be punishment for opposing the conformation of Bush's reelection; it could also be a threat to prevent Hillary from running for prez in 2008, or a later election. If this is punishment, it happened incredibly quickly, so republicans would have to know well beforehand that some would oppose the confirmation of Bush as president. If it was a threat, then it is a useless one, because Hillary has virtually no chance of reaching a higher office than senator. Additionally, it seems that Barbara Boxer was the only senator to oppose the verification, which is usually a ceremonial affair and hasn't been opposed for more than a century. Because of the opposition, the joint session had to split into the House and Congress to vote individually; both endorsed the election with near-nil opposition (though there are 31 idiots in the House). Here is an article that describes in more detail, much of which you either know already or don't want to read. And here is a Smoking Gun report. Those Smoking Gun guys are great at finding original documents.

In an interesting note, John Edwards actually got one electoral vote for president. What idiot gave Edwards a vote? I was more afraid of Edwards than Kerry. Kerry at least has some idea of how to run the country, though I believe he would run it into a ditch, but Edwards hasn't the slightest idea at all.

I might as well debunk something while I'm at it. Boxer claims her objections are over "a number of problems in Ohio, including rejection of provisional ballots, long lines and inadequate numbers of voting machines in urban neighborhoods that tended to back Kerry". For that "long lines" point, I suspect that she means there were too few poll workers to handle the voters. Guess what, some (if not all, I don't know my state's regulations) were volunteers. That means that, if democratic areas didn't have enough poll workers, then the democrats in that area have only themselves to blame, because a few more people should have volunteered to work at those under-manned polls.

Now, about these stupid voting machines. Machines should be far more accurate than hand counts. And, only idiots believe that counting machines will be rigged so one candidate gets more votes than another. I don't even know how that can be done, if it is possible at all. Now, if votes were manipulated, the manipulator would be the intermediary between the counting machines and the media. Someone could easily misreport the numbers from the machine; it'd be a lot easier than the alternatives. Now, I am under the impression that machines can be very accurate. In fact, that's one of two reasons that humans use machines at all; the other reason is that they are faster and more powerful than humans. For example, the countless filled-in bubbles on SAT tests must be counted with near-perfect precision (I'll admit that the SAT machines are slower, but there are probably far fewer of them). I honestly don't know how voting machines can be so different. I'll bet the largest source of incorrect votes is based on a mistake by the voter, rather than the machines.
Of course machines can have problems, and when machines have problems, they are big problems. However, such problems can be eliminated somewhat by a paper trail from the machines. I'm sure you're getting tired of reading this, so I'll end the post here, and work on another one.

Clean Power = Bird Blender

Wind turbines taking toll on birds of prey

[M]assive fiberglass blades on the more than 4,000 windmills have been chopping up tens of thousands of birds that fly into them, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, burrowing owls and other raptors.

After years of study but little progress reducing bird kills, environmentalists have sued to force turbine owners to take tough corrective measures. The companies, at risk of federal prosecution, say they see the need to protect birds. "Once we finally realized that this issue was really serious, that we had to solve it to move forward, we got religion," says George Hardie, president of G3 Energy.

So, where else could the turbines be put? Apparently, nowhere. Cape Cod was considered, but people in the area claim it will cause "visual pollution" (ruin the view, which they pay so much for). Of course, many in cape cod want wind power, but not in their backyard.
So, nice places are off the list.

What about unused/useless places, like the Flint Hills of Kansas, which has apparently seen very little development? Not that, either, as that area is "one of America's few remaining stands of native tallgrass prairie and harm habitats of migrating prairie birds".
So, useless, undeveloped places are off the list.

I know, what about in the ocean, which has no real landscape and where there is no precious, native prairegrass? Nope, that may ruin prime fishing spots. If you put the turbines closer to the shore, and thus not in prime fishing areas, people complain that the turbines ruin the view of the ocean.

Additionally, making the windmills taller would be more expensive, and it's speculative as to whether or not such measures would prevent the shredding of birds.


So, current windmills kill too many birds. Taller windmills are more expensive and may not be different. And, different locations must be preserved because locals don't want their view to be spoiled, or because some unknown and worthless vegetation will be slightly effected. Thus, windmills can not be used on land, higher in the sky, or over the oceans. It seems to me that the only place left to put windmills is underground; sadly, windmills are useless underground, because they are WINDmills.

Dear god, the environmentalists are practically at war with each other! All of their petty, short-sighted, tunnel-vision aided, issues are conflicting with one another. Of course, this has been going on for years, and I noted it before when commenting on an article describing how some humanitarian groups prevent efforts that would improve the lives of tens of thousands of impoverished people (Foreign Policy article, NGOs: Fighting Poverty, Hurting the Poor, is here, and recommended. Free registration required). Foreign Policy magazine has an interesting article by Colin Powell in their January/February 2005 edition, by the way.


What's he lesson from this story? After a bit of research, I find that nuclear power isn't really cheaper than coal, and that coal is getting quite clean. America is believed to have 250 years worth of coal left, if not more, so there is no chance of us running out any time soon. I'm all for renewable energy and a clean environment, but there are limits. My definition of a "clean environment" means no smog, clear, clean air, clean water that doesn't glow uranium-green, and low concentrations of toxins (many of which are natural). However, the US shouldn't cripple itself with BS environmental regulations based on the phantom fear that humanity will run out of resources tomorrow, and that every chemical produced by modern industry is bound to kill people.

What should Osama do to get those ratings up?

The Alliance asks What should Osama do to get those ratings up?

First off, like all TV programs, he needs a theme song. I recommend a slight modification to Christina Aguilera's song "beautiful", so it goes as follows:
"I kill Americans every single day.. bombs strapped to my chest, oh oh oh
I kill Americans, the whole USA, with my suicide vest,
oh yeah, It really is the best"
(hat tip to Glenn Beck and his crew)

I bet you're asking "what show are you talking about?" Why, if you have a bunch of wanted terrorists in a cave, what other type of show could you have? I am talking about Survivor 218: Al-Qaieda Cave, of course! Like all other reality TV shows, this will have pathetic little games between the contestants, like "find water, so you can take your first bath since May 2003, and your stench won't give your position away". But, rather than granting the winner immunity, the loser has to leave the cave and forage for food. Of course, they are supposed to come back, but that's not likely, as US troops are hunting them down.
And, because Osama hates democracy, there are no votes to kick people out of the cave. The deaths of foragers should suffice to limit the cave population.

And how to fund this show, as Osama's bank accounts are closed? Osama can do infomercials for villainsupply.com (Internet Archive version, the original looked better). Why, he is the perfect person to pitch the Ex Al-Qaieda Cave that they recently added to the Bases & Lairs department (highlight page to see all text)!
And, of course, who would be better proof that a good terrorist needs a good lair, one with a proper bathroom and hair-care products.

Speaking of hair, Osama needs to remove the beard and that headrag, which looks like it came from Gilligan's Island. Then, Osama should put the beard-hair on his head, preferably with some glue, but not enough to turn the toupee into a solid entity like Donald Trump's hair. You may also need to make the camera slightly blurry to hide the obvious imperfections, but Americans expect cavemen (literally) to have some difficulty with a digital camera.

One thing that all reality shows have is hot chicks. OK, that might be a problem. May need to call in a favor from the Saudis, as they have tons of chicks hanging around the palaces, and they can easily be shipped to desolate parts of Afghanistan – they're chained up, after all.


Additionally, Osama can work out a book deal with the Mein Kampf Publishing Company.

What Is The UN Doing In The Tsunami? ........ Yep, That's About It

Thanks, Powerline, for providing a link to a blog that I wish I found sooner; The Diplomad. This guy works for the State Department and with the UN, and rightfully insults the UN, especially over the Tsunami.

Let's check out one of the Tsunami-relevant UN people, Ms. Margareeta Wahlstrom, United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance in Tsunami-affected countries (I hope I copied-and-pasted that title correctly). So, what does this person actually do? First, she will spend a few hours making a new nameplate thing for her desk, probably made out of some valuable metal, and including her entire title (this is a guess, I have no information to support this, but it is likely). But, in the two days she will spend in the disaster-ridden area, she will "provide leadership and support to the international relief effort. She will undertake high-level consultations with the concerned governments in order to facilitate the delivery of international assistance". The US and Austrilia have already done this quite well. The US and Australia are also providing actual relief to the area, rather than merely sending bureaucrats, who stay in 5-star hotels (yep). Those bureaucrats have set up a headquarters, of sorts, in their hotel room, and have already arranged for 24-hour room service.

Meanwhile, the US and Australian militaries are airlifting supplies to isolated communities that, otherwise, would die. In fact, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its entourage left Hong Kong shortly after the tsunami, and began sending relief supplies by helicopter immediately.

Now, let me quote The Diplomad

A colleague came back from a meeting held by the local UN representative yesterday and reported that the UN rep had said that while it was a good thing that the Australians and Americans were running the air ops into tsunami-wrecked Aceh, for cultural and political reasons, those Australians and Americans really "should go blue." In other words, they should switch into UN uniforms and give up their national ones.

Apparently, the UN wants to take credit for the relief effort, though it is doing virtually nothing. And, where was Kofi Anan shortly after the disaster struck? Why, he was skiing. In fact, he enjoyed his ski trip so much, he extended it by three days. His private jet was waiting on the airport tarmac for those three days, all prep'ed and ready ("prep'ed" is slang for "prepared") for when Kofi decided to get back to work. Now that he's back at work, or at least claims to be back at work, he plans to go to conferences. Also, he plans to set up a little camp with kitchens, sleeping quarters, probably a recreation room, and the like – not for tsunami victims, no that would be logical and help needy people; the camp is for UN employees who have yet to do anything to help those who are suffering. Oh yes, the UN is trying to take credit for stuff the US and Australia have done;

Mr. Egeland: Our main problems now are in northern Sumatra and Aceh. <...> In Aceh, today 50 trucks of relief supplies are arriving. <...> Tomorrow, we will have eight full airplanes arriving. I discussed today with Washington whether we can draw on some assets on their side, after consultations with the Indonesian Government, to set up what we call an “air-freight handling centre” in Aceh.

Tomorrow, we will have to set up a camp for relief workers – 90 of them – which is fully self-contained, with kitchen, food, lodging, everything, because they have nowhere to stay and we don't want them to be an additional burden on the people there.

I provided this to some USAID colleagues working in Indonesia and their heads nearly exploded. The first paragraph is quite simply a lie. The UN is taking credit for things that hard-working, street savvy USAID folks have done. It was USAID working with their amazing network of local contacts who scrounged up trucks, drivers, and fuel; organized the convoy and sent it off to deliver critical supplies. A UN “air-freight handling centre” in Aceh? Bull! It's the Aussies and the Yanks who are running the air ops into Aceh. We have people working and sleeping on the tarmac in Aceh, surrounded by bugs, mud, stench and death, who every day bring in the US and Aussie C-130s and the US choppers; unload, load, send them off. We have no fancy aid workers' retreat -- notice the priorities of the UN? People are dying and what's the first thing the UN wants to do? Set up "a camp for relief workers" one that would be "fully self-contained, with kitchen, food, lodging, everything."

I hate to quote such large swaths of someone else's material. If someone can find a way to link to a specific post on Diplomad, please tell me; I seem unable to get a single post on a page, even the comments link doesn't seem to give me a copy of the post.

RIAA Loses Court Case

a very big PDF

I have pitty for some of the good musicians who may be hurt by pirating, but I dislike the record companies more, and I blame the record companies for the problems of small bands. I am overjoyed to see the RIAA slapped in the face, as the RIAA has acted quite irrationally and like a brat. The main market of record companies is the anti-institution generation, and by suing music fans, record companies now look like part of the institution which their customers hate. Ever wonder why the RIAA is completely unsuccessful at preventing piracy, even though it goes after tons of people (far more than it sues, it's been known to contact colleges and threaten them with legal battles unless something quite serious is done to the student).

Now, for the older generation, don't act so high-and-mighty. I know humanity better than that. You held the tape recorder up to the radio, and you know it. You also snuck in to the drive-in theatres (which are nearly gone now because indoor theatres are better). You'd also tip the pinball machines and cheat poor store owners, and abuse the simplistic engineering of vending machines to get free drinks or candy. Heck, my dad went drag racing in his parent's car without them knowing it, and he won some of the time (word of advice: don't keep trophies, they are obvious evidence). Why, the older generations did plenty of illegal stuff, but they never used computers, and some of it was stupid and dangerous. Pirating music does not threaten to drive over pedestrians; parents should be thankful that their children are so safe and cautious (hehe).


(sorry, going to put that gay marriage post off until tomorrow or later. Next week is exam week, so I've been busy, sorry).

Zarqawi Caught?

Drudge article

U.S. military and intelligence sources are denying print and broadcast reports that terrorist Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi has been arrested in Iraq, MSNBC reported Tuesday.

MSNBC said senior U.S. military and intelligence sources told it the reports are not true. A newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, al-Bayane, reported in its Tuesday edition that the Jordanian-born terrorist had been arrested in Baqouba, Iraq. Iraqi Kurdistan radio also reported the arrest of al-Zarqawi.

The U.S. military in December said al-Zarqawi likely is in the Baghdad area.

Drudge is usually right on these off-chance stories, and I can't remember a time when he has been wrong, even for incredibly speculative things like this. Still, I have my doubts, as I believe the US military would give "probably false nnews, but no real comment anyway"- type responses if there is a good chance Zarqawi has been caught.


Anyway, the gay marriage thing that I mentioned yesterday should be my next post (I plan on finishing it sometime today, and hope that means well before midnight). Life can get busy..