Modern day college football

Here in Evans, Georgia the major universities in the area are the University of Georgia, Clemson University, South Carolina University and Georgia Tech. The rabid fans of each school are numerous and the papers obviously cover them to varying extents. Today, there was an article on the U. of Georgia football team. The coach, Mark Richt, was questioned about the "character" of his players. Since April, 2004, 11 of his players have been arrested and 6 of his 19 incoming players (students recruited to join the school this Fall) are ineligible to play because of poor grades. There could be another one depending on the outcome of an investigation of alleged cheating by another player who also had a charge of battery associated with the cheating incident dropped. Richt says he is unsure what action to take against this player, but he did say his program is under control. This may be true if he compares his program with others in the area. South Carolina has had 12 students arrested since January and the school has admitted to 5 major NCAA violations and 7 others. Tennessee has also had 12 players arrested since February, 2004. Georgia Tech had to dismiss a player because he was the designated recipient of several pounds of marijuana sent through the mail. Tech is supposed to have the most intelligent students, also.
It seems to me the recruiting profiles being used by the coaches needs to be refined somewhat. It makes little sense to brag in February about how pleased you are with the recruiting class if you have to unlock the jails at the end of the summer to get them in pads.

Reports from Iraq

Most of the TV and print "journalists" in Iraq do their work from the Green Zone. The content of their reports consists of passing on reports from the field back to headquarters from the troups out in the field. This might be smart on their behalf, but you can't really get a feel for what is going on up close and personal reporting this way. To the best of my knowledge, there is only one reporter who is actually in the field. His name is Michael Yon. The travels all over Iraq and is now embedded with a group of soldiers from A Company, 1-24th Infantry Regiment. There is an E-mail service he has which will alert you when he has another report. The one I read today is really good and I recommend that you bookmark his site and sign up for the E-mails. You can do all that here.

Urban Outfitters not PC

Urban Outfitters clothing store is once again being targeted for controversial T-shirts that are viewed as racist.

Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval and a group of Latino youths will hold a news conference today denouncing Urban Outfitters for selling T-shirts that bear what they deem a "racially offensive'' slogan.

The T-shirts, which read "New Mexico: Cleaner Than Regular Mexico,'' are inappropriate and "recycle an insulting image of Mexico and Mexicans that the Latino community has fought long and hard against,'' according to Sandoval's office.

Sandoval's office called the store a "repeat offender,'' eluding to a T-shirt sold in 2003 that read "Ghettopoly,'' and bore pictures of marijuana leaves and malt liquor bottles. The store stopped selling the shirts after black leaders protested them.

The store also offended some with a T-shirt it sold that said, "Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl,'' which was surrounded by dollar signs. The company eventually altered the shirts and removed the dollar signs.

"Our community is outraged by this blatant display of derogatory stereotyping,'' said Sandoval, whose parents were born in Mexico.

More from Mark Steyn

For four years, much of the western world said, " Bomb us, and we agonise over the "root causes" (that is, what we did wrong). Decapitate us, and our politicians rush to the nearest mosque to declare that "Islam is a religion of peace". Issue bloodcurdling calls at Friday prayers to kill all the Jews and infidels, and we fret that it may cause a backlash against Muslims. Behead sodomites and mutilate female genitalia, and gay groups and feminist groups can't wait to march alongside you denouncing Bush, Blair and Howard. Murder a schoolful of children, and our scholars explain that to the "vast majority" of Muslims "jihad" is a harmless concept meaning "decaf latte with skimmed milk and cinnamon sprinkles".

Read it all here.

Lucky Bush

Politicians thrive when their enemies lend themselves to derision and scorn. Bush, for example, was re-elected in large part because, I think, he was demonized by a big fat slob like Michael Moore. Now I learn that Jane Fonda intends to tour the U.S. this Fall in a bus fueled with vegetable oil to protest the war in Iraq. How could he be so lucky?

What kind of slime did this?

Not even 24-hours after Private First Class Tim Hines's wife and family said goodbye at his funeral, American flags that had adorned their Fairfield yard were piled beneath a car and burned.

Hines' sister-in-law woke up to hear her car alarm around 5:30 a.m. and saw her car on fire.

As firefighters brought the fire under control they discovered a pile of around 20 American flags underneath the car.

Neighbors say Hines' wife's family had flags line their front yard and on the porch.

Those were taken as well as flags in neighboring yards.

Hines was injured in Iraq and flown to Walter Reed Hospital in the Washington, D.C. area, but succumbed to the injuries before he could return home.

Hines' wife Katy is eight-months pregnant with their second child. She buried her husband on Friday.

Katy Hines had just moved back into her parents' home and woke up to find her sister's car consumed by flames.

Military Report from Iraq

July 24, 2005: For thousands of Sunni Arabs who worked for Saddam’s security apparatus, the day of judgment is getting closer. Saddam’s enforcers rarely hid their identities, and many Kurds and Shia Arabs know the names, and faces, of the Sunni Arab thugs that tormented, and tortured them, and murdered their friends and family. These thugs have supported al Qaeda’s terror campaign in Iraq, and participated in some of the non-suicide attacks on Iraqis and foreigners. For the last two years, the enforcers were able to hide out in Sunni Arab towns and neighborhoods that were free of government control. But this provided only temporary refuge, and created other problems. The lack of police meant that criminal gangs, terrorist groups and warlord militias were in charge. These three groups didn’t always get along with each other. But they all left the old Saddam thugs alone. Now, with the government taking control of Sunni Arab areas, the Saddam thugs are in trouble, and getting desperate. These guys have several options. They can leave the country. Many have already done this. But there are no real sanctuaries for former Saddam killers. Syria is safe for the moment, but that is expected to change soon. Eventually, however, these guys can expect the war crimes indictments to catch up with them. If they stay in Iraq, they can either hope for an amnesty deal, or getting themselves back into power. Both of these options are being pursued, which means that violence and peace negotiations are both getting more intense. The problem here is that the Kurds and Shia Arabs are not willing to give a lot of Saddam’s killers a free pass. In response to that, the killers are getting more involved in the violence. Now Arab diplomats are being attacked. The message is clear; make a deal with the Sunni Arabs, or get more reminders of how Saddam stayed in power for so long. Playing it this way only makes more Iraqis determined to join the police and army, and go after the killers where they live, and bring them to justice (often on the spot.) The bullets are going both ways.

Democrats and terrorism

At every turn some liberal democratic senator can be heard declaring that we are not doing enough to fight or defend ourselves from terrorists. We are not spending enough. We are not doing enough to protect our chemical factories. We are not doing enough to guard against terror coming in through our ports. Our protection of trains and subways is not sufficient. We should be doing more to protect our food supply. Our borders are too porous and we should beef up that effort. The brilliance of all this is that when we are attacked again...and it will happen...they will come out and point to prior warnings that were not acted on to a sufficient extent or soon enough. The fact that there is no way we can provide unlimited resources to the effort and no way we can maintain a free society and achieve perfect defense. Bush will be blamed in a blizzard of demogoguery for failing at an impossible task.

Both Bush and Congress deserve blame for not setting any priorities in spending the money we do on home security. The slimy congressmen all insist on getting their "share" of the money even though some small town in Kansas is not a high terror target any more than some blue haired old lady is a threat to our air travel. In many cases, the small towns which do get their money just buy real nice police uniforms with it. Pathetic.

Biological Destiny

For some time now it has been apparent to me that if you have a marathon, for example, someone from Kenya is more likely to win it than someone from an Eskimo village in Alaska. Blacks predominate on NBA teams for a reason beyond culture. Turns out highly successful athletes are subjected to some of the most rigorous testing possible. Lance Armstrong, for example, has a heart 20% larger than normal, produces 1/3rd less lactic acid during exercise, and delivers oxygen to his legs at a higher rate than almost anyone alive. These studies and others suggest that in order to be a truly dominate athlete, one must be a genetic freak. Armstrong, it turns out, does not have one physical factor which distinguishes him from the rest of us, but in fact he has several extraordianry traits which exist in only a few hundred human beings. The odds of all these things being consolidated in one body are probably one in a billion.

Other examples? Michael Phelps, is an Olympic champion swimmer and propels himself through the water with feet that are truly like flippers. They are not only large (size 14), but also outrageously flexible. He can lie down flat on his back, legs outstretched and touch the tips of his toes to the floor. Mia Hamm, the soccer star, in some tests of her famous stamina, was found to produce less than one liter of sweat an hour--25-50% less than normal.

How long will it be before parents begin to test their youngsters to see how suited for the sport they are pushing them toward?

A toxic combination

When you start with bad science and add trial lawyers you really have a potential problem and that is what we see currently with Teflon. This substance has long been seen as a useful coating for cooking utensils, but on July 19th two law firms filed a class action suit on behalf of consumers regarding perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The lawyers claim the substance could be hazardous and they want DuPont to pay $5 billion.If the suit is successful whatever is left after attorney's fees would go to replace everyone's cookware and pay for medical monitoring and more research. Note that nobody has died or is even sick.
What happened is an EPA advisory panel concluded research with PFOA given in massive doses to rodents suggested that the substance was "likely" a carcinogen in humans. The problem is rodents are not just little people and in high doses the chemical probably makes the DNA-repair systems of rats and mice go haywire and tumors result. Be that as it may, the new report has nothing to do with Teflon on your cookware. PFOA is destroyed in the manufacturing process used to make Teflon. Several studies have looked at Teflon with an eye to find PFOA associated with Teflon and have come up empty (even the lawyers can't point to studies showing results to the contrary). This will not deter the slimy lawyers, however. They will only argue that DuPont must show that Teflon is not harmful to their consumers. Take that to some sections of Mississippi and Texas and you just won the lottery if you are a sleezy trial lawyer.

London Bombs

How long will it take subway riders in London to get off the train when someone with a backpack gets on?

Poor Bush

It just came on me today as I was driving along on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Smoky Mountains that the ultra left who considers poor George Bush to be such a bumbling idiot and inept in all previous undertakings is suddenly some raving genius who was able to dip into the pool of available lawyers and pluck out the one stealth candidate for the Supreme Court who will completely reverse all their liberal gains in the past 50 years. The right wing is afraid that he made the same mistake as his Daddy and we will have another Souter. I think the fears of the right are more realistic, but probably not well-founded.

CNN can't hide their position

We are on the road and don't have our usual news sources so we had to watch the press reveal that Judge Roberts was the President's choice for the Supreme Court on CNN. Within minutes they had a crawl under the picture of Judge Roberts which alternated between two facts. First, we were informed that he assisted President Bush in the 2000 recount. Next they informed us that he was a deputy to Ken Starr when he was Solicitor General. That should have been enough red meat for the dems to get their panties in a permanent wad. I predict a fight but not a war, however.

Ebonics is back

Incorporating Ebonics into a new school policy that targets black students, the lowest-achieving group in the San Bernardino City Unified School District, may provide students a more well-rounded curriculum, said a local sociologist.

The goal of the district's policy is to improve black students' academic performance by keeping them interested in school. Compared with other racial groups in the district, black students go to college the least and have the most dropouts and suspensions...

Mary Texeira, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, commended the San Bernardino Board of Education for approving the policy in June. Texeira suggested that including Ebonics in the program would be beneficial for students. Ebonics, a dialect of American English that is spoken by many blacks throughout the country, was recognized as a separate language in 1996 by the Oakland school board.

If Ebonics is all that's keeping them interested, what's going to happen when they enter the real world, where Ebonics won't be the accepted form of communication?

Phthalates not scary?

Contrary to earlier reports, everyday exposure to phthalates -- chemical plasticizers used extensively in household products and in certain medical products -- may not have harmful effects on fertility in young men, a new study shows. Let's call it the Halloween Factor: if research shows even the most tentative risk to health from a chemical, the media will be all over it; but if further research finds that there is, in fact, no risk, then the media will largely ignore it.

Dr. Bosse A.G. Jonsson from Lund University Hospital, Sweden, and colleagues looked for associations between phthalate metabolite levels in urine and semen quality and reproductive hormone parameters in 234 young Swedish men entering the military.

There was "no clear pattern of associations" between any of the phthalate metabolites and any of the biomarkers of reproductive function measured.

In fact, exposure to phthalic acid seemed to be associated with improved reproductive function, as measured by several markers."

Good Week Award

Who had the best weekend in Europe? How about Lance Armstrong pulling ahead of the pack in the race up some mountain in France? Tiger Woods winning the British Open for his second major victory this year? Good choices, but it would be hard for either of them to challenge J.K. Rowling's selling 6.9 million Harry Potter books in 24 hours. May have to read one of her books one of these days.

Ben Stein makes a good point

In a NY Times article, Ben Stein who is on various talk and financial shows made the point that Phillip Purcell was just shown the door at Morgan Stanley, a big Wall Street company, and given a $113 million severance package and his successor who is a loyal friend of his is given an estimated $32 million to take his place. Hedge fund managers are now being reported to make $350 to $500 million each per year. Stein makes the case that the system is really out of whack when the men and women like the Navy Seals who make this good life possible are paid about $1900 per month with combat pay. Here is how he puts it:

Remember that it all depends on the fighting men and women, not on the people in finance. It depends on the guys whose names you will never know, guys who come home and work - not at jobs in which helicopters ferry them to secret-deal meetings in New York or London, but at jobs in places like a car wash in Burleson, Tex., where one of the men who captured Saddam Hussein is working without complaint and with barely mentioning that he was in Iraq.

Petite Party People

As a geezer, I know I know I am out of the main stream in most areas and don't even suspect a lot of what is going on today. This morning I was reminded again just how true this is. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal dealing primarily with the potential scandal of Wall Street brokers being feted excessively by interested individuals. No big surprise there. However, at a party in trendy South Beach in Miami there was a groom-to-be who was entertained on a yacht by at least one dwarf hired for the occasion. It seems there is a real business (see Shortdwarf.com) that rents dwarfs for parties at rates starting at $149 per hour. The owner of the business says some people are just into dwarf entertainment.

Islam Threatened

A statement that has warned against the dangers of allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia was released on the Internet on Friday. More than 100 sheikhs, imams, judges, Islamic scholars, Islamic university teachers, several heads of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice centers in the Kingdom, as well as some teachers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah signed the statement.

The statement said that the enemies of Islam are seeking to destroy the great role women have been given in Islam by corrupting them and hence corrupting the Islamic world.

Small World

Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar is the biochemist currently being held in Egypt for chats about his role in the London bombings. British media reported that police had found evidence of the explosive TATP in his bathtub. This is the same explosive which was to be used by the shoe bomber Richard Reid who was affiliated with the same mosque in London. el-Nashar was in Raleigh, N. C. for one semester studying at North Carolina State. The problem is he stayed here for a total of 13 months. We really need to find out what he did during that time an who he had contacts with.

Mars Hoax

I am really disappointed that Mars won't be as big as the moon. It will be big on October 30 or 31 of this year, but not as big as the moon. Here is the link.

London Bombing Suspect Caught

The former North Carolina State student thought to be involved in the London bombing in the role of bomb maker has been arrested in Egypt. Turns out to be a male Muslim. We may be developing a pattern here.

France vs. Great Britan

This is an interesting comparison of the ways in which France and England have supported the U.S. in the war on terror and in Iraq. I have always thought Daniel Pipes knew what was what in the war on terror.

I wish Bush was this articulate

The following is a response by John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, to a question from a reporter:

MAXINE McKEW: Prime Minister, if as you say you can't rule out that possibility that we could have potential bombers right here in Australia, what if today's announcement, this redeployment to Afghanistan and our continued presence in Iraq is all the provocation they need?

JOHN HOWARD: Maxine, these people are opposed to what we believe in and what we stand for, far more than what we do. If you imagine that you can buy immunity from fanatics by curling yourself in a ball, apologising for the world - to the world - for who you are and what you stand for and what you believe in, not only is that morally bankrupt, but it's also ineffective. Because fanatics despise a lot of things and the things they despise most is weakness and timidity. There has been plenty of evidence through history that fanatics attack weakness and retreating people even more savagely than they do defiant people.

Essay School

If 15-year-old Anna Zvagelskaya were a shoe, she writes, she would be pink, with a very pointy toe, a flared heel, straps and a diamond buckle.

It's five months before the application deadline at most elite colleges, and a year and five months before Ms. Zvagelskaya's application is due at Harvard, her top choice. But on a summer day here at Tufts University, the San Francisco high-school junior and a dozen other teenagers are enrolled in a two-week college-application camp, spending two hours a day in class -- and hours more each night -- crafting the essays that they hope will vault them to the head of the college queue.

"There are so many kids with perfect grades out there," says Ms. Zvagelskaya, who frets over "a few B's" on her transcript. "Your essay gives you an extra push, a chance to shine"...

Ah, that's it. These students aren't writing simple, well-crafted essays; they're writing artsy, confabulated crap in an attempt to avoid having to suffer the ignominy of a state school. Sheesh.

Support for my prediction

As I stated in the previous post on this blog, the response by some in the U.S. to the next terrorist attack will not be pretty. Two minutes after putting that opinion up, I went to Lucianne Goldberg's blog and read the following comment to an opinion piece published by Tony Blankley in the Washington Times. This is probably a very, very minority opinion now, but my prediction is based on the conclusion that his thoughts will be not only more prevalent, but acted upon:

"Things will get progressively worse until we finally get fed up and have the Big Raghead Roundup we should've had right after 9-11. We have all these unused military bases slated for closing- why not put all the Mohammeds in there until we can sort them out. This is a race war and a religious war and the socialists within our ranks are the most dangerous vermin who rot our structures willingly; ally themselves with our dire enemies. We ARE at the Gates of Vienna; where is our Sobieski?"

Terror Response

In the aftermath of the London bombings polls show that the British have widely increased support for a greater and more vigorous response by the government to preempt further attacks. This is a new position since the British have long been reluctant to intercede in a fashion which could be considered heavy-handed and certainly not in a way which could target a specific group such Muslims. I do not find this surprising and I am ready to predict that if the U.S. is attacked again in a small or large way, the reaction will be one where innocents of all religions will be victimized. In the U.S. we differ greatly from the British in that we have weapons and the Muslims who are currently refusing to choose sides in the war will find themselves right in the middle of one. In a way, this will be both unfortunate and fully understandable. Mosques will cease to exist and many Muslims will go to bed and simply not wake up the next morning.

A friend sent me this. Should be cool.

MARS SPECTACULAR!
The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is
catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest
approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars
may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on
Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has
not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long
as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within
34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest
object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear
25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification

By August 27, Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.


Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the
east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at
nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty
convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded
history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow
progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with
your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS
AGAIN

Alfred E. Newman

Hillary said Bush reminded her of Alfred E. Newman.

Tolerance in Great Britan

Various pundits are commenting on the fact that at least a part of the London bombing foundation was built by the preaching of the Imams or whoever in the mosques in England. The teachings of hate there could well be responsible if the bombings were home-grown as now suspected. I wonder how long the British would tolerate Christian evangelists using their pulpits over there to advocate the murder and decapitation of Islamists?

An interesting take on London bombing

1. I really, really don’t get the point about divorcing the “Muslim” label from the terrorists. The Bali bombing was carried out by radical Muslims from Indonesia. They were home grown and home indoctrinated.

   The Thai Bhuddists are getting their heads lopped off by Thai Muslims who live in the states bordering Malaysia. They are home grown Muslim radicals.

   There are many Indian Hindus who have been slaughtered by homegrown Pakistanis who learned to be radical Muslims in the madrasses of Pakistan.

   Most of these people do not share a common language.

   Our bad luck has been to meet up with the Arab radical Muslim terrorist.

   In every case of terrorism I have cited, the terrorist was not motivated by the ideology of fascism. The terrorist was driven by radical Islam.

   You can slice it and dice it any way you want to sleep better in your politically correct linens, but in the final analysis, the terrorists and suicide bombers are acting out of pure radical Muslim zeal. And if they can blow up a Jew or two, they are that much more delighted. So far as I know, Jews are still a religious classification.

   Comment by David Stacy — 7/9/2005 @ 7:25 pm

Source of Islamic Terrorism?

Sura 4-89: “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus
be on the same footing (as they): but take not friends from their ranks until
they flee in the way of Allah (from what is forbidden). But if they turn
renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case)
take no friends or helpers from their ranks…”

Sura 9-29: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold
that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor
acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the
Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves
subdued.”

Sura 22-9: “As for the unbelievers for them garments of fire shall be cut and
there shall be poured over their heads boiling water whereby whatever is in
their bowels and skins shall be dissolved and they will be punished with
hooked iron rods.”

Sura 47-4: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when
you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining
captives”

Muslims regard the book from which these obscenities were taken as the Literal
Word of God. They dare not dissent from that proposition, for that would
constitute apostasy, and Islam decrees that apostates must die.

Judith Miller

It seems almost surreal to follow a blog on Stephen Hawking with this one on Judith Miller. She is the New York Times journalist currently sitting in jail to the profound chagrin of the entire media establishment. She was asked by a grand jury to testify and she refused. So the judge said she would go to jail if she didn't comply and she chose not to based on a reluctance to reveal a "confidential source". The decision of the judge was upheld all the way up to the Supreme Court. The media think this is just awful since she didn't even write anything. Furthermore, it would be just dreadful if journalists couldn't keep those sources which they didn't just make up confidential. My question is why the journalists feel testimony before a grand jury would be revealing since those procedings are supposed to be secret. They may not be, but the journalists already must usually reveal the source to the editor(s), so the confidentiality is not absolute. I am a huge fan of the First Amendment, but my lack of respect for most journalists puts me on the side of those who don't particularly mind having old Judith in jail for failing to comply with the same laws the rest of us have to obey.

Stephen Hawking

This fellow may be the most interesting man on earth. His story is one we should all read. He wrote a book called "A Brief History of Time" which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and there aren't 20 people in the U.S. who read it and even fewer who could understand it. I didn't buy that book, but I did pick up a paperback of his a few years ago called 'Blackholes and Baby Universes" which I promptly skimmed and set aside. I set it aside so well, I just found it again today and started again to try to see what it was he contributed to science. Well, I rediscovered just how stupid I am and how impossible it is for me to comprehend such things as black holes. It is not Stephen Hawking's fault. He writes quite well. Here, is an example of his writing in which he is explaining how a black hole might be created.
"Imagine a star with a mass ten times that of the sun (I can't even do that). During most of its lifetime of about a billion years (say what?), the star will generate heat at its center by converting oxygen into helium. The energy released will create sufficient pressure to support the star against its own gravity, giving rise to an object with a radius about 5-times the radius of the sun (now he has really lost me). The escape velocity from the surface of such a star would be about a thousand kilometers per second (can't comprehend that). That is to say, an object fired vertically upward from the surface of the star with a velocity of less than a thousand kilometers per second would be dragged back by the gravitational field of the star and would return to the surface, whereas an object with a velocity greater than that would escape to infinity ( I have already confessed in a previous blog about my problem with infinity, but how does Hawking know that is where that object is going?)
When the star had exhausted its nuclear fuel, there would be nothing to maintain the outward pressure, and the star would begin to collapse because of its own gravity. As the star shrank, the gravitational field at the surface would become stronger and the escape velocity ould increase. By the time the radius got down to thirty kilometers (can you imagine the math necessary to get him to that measurement?) , the escape velocity would have increased to 300,000 kilometers/second, the velocity of light. After that time any light emitted would be dragged back by the gravitational field. According to the special theory of relativity, nothing can travel faster than light, so that if light cannot escape, nothing else can either. "

So there you have it. A black hole: a region of space-time from which it is not possible to escape to infinity. Next time you see Hawking's book on someone's coffee table, that is what it says.

Kyoto Update from G8

Tony Blair took his turn as head of the G8 this year to put global warming and Kyoto on the table--along with an equally idiotic plan to send more money to corrupt nations in Africa. Bush was forced to sit there and listen to all this nonsense for 2-3 days. Here are the facts:
U.N. forecasters see one to two degrees of warming over the next century. Even if every nation that signed on to Kyoto followed it slavishly, the expected warming would be trimmed by less than one-fifth of a degree. Reading the newspapers, you’d think that humans were the sole source of C02, dumping huge amounts into the atmosphere. Not so. Human sources account for 0.3% of the total; the rest — 99.7% — comes from nature. Man simply can't compete with volcanos, for example. But what about all the scientists who have reached a “consensus” on global warming? Well, professor Dennis Bray of Germany’s GKSS Forschungszentrum recently surveyed 530 top climatologists — experts with the most direct scientific knowledge about warming. Just 9.4% strongly agreed that “climate change is mostly the result of (human) causes.” Nearly a third were described as skeptical, while 9.7% “strongly disagreed.” In short, there is no consensus. Not that those who pushed Kyoto were serious about it in the first place. As much as anything, Kyoto was a hypocritical attempt by European nations to impose global controls over the U.S. economy, and regulate it to death.
After excoriating the U.S. for failing to ratify Kyoto, they failed to follow it themselves. The European Union is supposed to cut greenhouse gases 8% by 2010. But the European Environment Agency recently reported that emissions increased 1.3% in 2003, and that 12 of 15 EU members are out of compliance. Nevertheless, the EU’s parliament in May called for trade sanctions against the U.S. for not cutting back its C02 emissions. It is hard to escape the consequences of bad science.

Here it comes, folks.

BIRD flu, which kills more than half the humans that it infects, could be spread to Europe by migratory geese from China, scientists say.

An estimated 1,500 birds died two months ago at Qinghai Lake in western China and survivors could introduce the virus to parts of Asia beyond the Himalayas. There, they would come into contact with birds that use “migratory flyways” linked to Europe, according to a study published by the journal Nature.

The World Health Organisation estimates that that there is a more than 50 per cent chance that the bird flu virus will mutate into a form leading to a pandemic such as the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 that killed 25 million people.

The Joint Influenza Research Centre of the Shantou University Medical College and the University of Hong Kong said in its study: “Our findings indicate that H5N1 (bird flu) viruses are now being transmitted between migratory birds at the lake.

“There is a danger that it might be carried along the birds’ winter migration routes to densely populated areas in the south Asian sub-continent, a region that seems relatively free of this virus, and spread along migratory flyways linked to Europe.”

Circumcision and AIDS

I didn't wake up this morning intending to make AIDS topic of the day on this blog, but the Wall Street Journal had an article which caught my interest. It seems there is a study just completed by French and South African researchers which clearly shows that male circumcision reduces the risk of AIDS by about 70%. This, of course, reduces the risk in women since their partners would be less likely to be infected. I won't comment on the scientific study itself, even though the approach they took seems valid, but it is interesting to consider what use is or can be made of this information. One problem is circumcision does not make one immune to AIDS so implementation must be accompanied by intensive counseling which would boil down to convincing an adult African man to undergo an alteration of his manhood which would not protect him absolutely. If the education is not completely successful, HIV transmission could actually increase by behavior based on the mistaken belief the operation conferred protection. Another problem is the chance the operation could be performed under less than sanitary conditions which could lead to complications which might set the program back considerably once word gets out. A final problem is that some tribes in Africa practice circumcision and others do not for cultural reasons. So, in order to implement the results of the research, the targets would not be easily convinced to participate. Put me down in the skeptical column. If you can'tconvince them to use condoms, circumcision seems to be a long-shot remedy to AIDS in Africa.

AIDS Drugs

"In previous negotiations, we managed to get the prices of these drugs reduced, but now we want to lower the costs even further". This was the statement issued by Dr. Paulo Roberto Teixeira who is Director of the Brazilian National STD/AIDS Programme. As a result, Brazil is preparing to allow its scientists to steal several pharmaceutical patents and produce their own versions of AIDS drugs developed by U.S. companies. Brazil has the 11th ranking economy in the world and yet it believes that other nations or companies therein owe it a medical version of the free lunch. Washington has no general duty to protect the profits of U.S. firms operating overseas, but we should seriously consider sanctions and other measures to prevent Brazil and other countries from developing and exporting generic substitutes which could destroy pharmaceutical innovation.

Flag Burning

The following observation of Mark Steyn summarizes my view on flag burning here on the 4th of July, 2005.

A flag has to be worth torching. When a flag gets burned, that's not a sign of its weakness but of its strength. If you can't stand the heat of your burning flag, get out of the superpower business. It's the left that believes the state can regulate everyone into thought-compliance. The right should understand that the battle of ideas is won out in the open.

Vaccines and Autism

Here is another hoax being inflicted on the naive and uninformed Mothers in the U.S. Because of the fact that children get their vaccinations at a time which is shortly before children are commonly diagnosed with autism, the spurious corellation has been made that the two must be related and lawyers focused in on thimerosal. This is a preservative once used in vaccines and even though there was never any evidence that it caused autism, greedy lawyers set about suing vaccine manufacturers for damages and now the mercury-based preservative is no longer used in vaccines. The Institute of Medicine issued a 214 page report which concluded, "The evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism." A similar clean bill of health was given by the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization. To those of us who have looked into the biology and chemistry of the relationship, this should be the end of the concern, but it isn't. Idiots like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. write error-ridden books and make hysterical claims which fuel the controversy. A big part of the fallacy surrounds his ignorance of ethyl- and methyl-mercury. The former, which comes from thimerosal is metabolized much faster than methyl-mercury and is known to be orders of magnitude less harmful. Ignorance on this subject is made especially clear by the vigor with which fearmongers rail against the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine which never contained thimerosal. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that autism rates have increased after thimerosal use ended and childhood infections should not be allowed to threaten our younger population by withholding needed and effective vaccinations.

Vaccines and Autism

Here is another hoax being inflicted on the naive and uninformed Mothers in the U.S. Because of the fact that children get their vaccinations at a time which is shortly before children are commonly diagnosed with autism, the spurious corellation has been made that the two must be related and lawyers focused in on thimerosal. This is a preservative once used in vaccines and even though there was never any evidence that it caused autism, greedy lawyers set about suing vaccine manufacturers for damages and now the mercury-based preservative is no longer used in vaccines. The Institute of Medicine issued a 214 page report which concluded, "The evidence fravors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism." A similar clean bill of health was given by the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization. To those of us who have looked into the biology and chemistry of the relationship, this should be the end of the concern, but it isn't. Idiots like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. write error-ridden books and make hysterical claims which fuel the controversy. A big part of the fallacy surrounds his ignorance of ethyl- and methyl-mercury. The former, which comes from thimerosal is metabolized much faster than methyl-mercury and is known to be orders of magnitude less harmful. Ignorance on this subject is made especially clear by the vigor with which fearmongers rail against the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine which never contained thimerosal. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that autism rates have increased after thimerosal use ended and childhood infections should not be allowed to threaten our younger population by withholding needed and effective vaccinations.

Vaccines and Autism

Here is another hoax being inflicted on the naive and uninformed Mothers in the U.S. Because of the fact that children get their vaccinations at a time which is shortly before children are commonly diagnosed with autism, the spurious corellation has been made that the two must be related and lawyers focused in on thimerosal. This is a preservative once used in vaccines and even though there was never any evidence that it caused autism, greedy lawyers set about suing vaccine manufacturers for damages and now the mercury-based preservative is no longer used in vaccines. The Institute of Medicine issued a 214 page report which concluded, "The evidence fravors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism." A similar clean bill of health was given by the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization. To those of us who have looked into the biology and chemistry of the relationship, this should be the end of the concern, but it isn't. Idiots like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. write error-ridden books and make hysterical claims which fuel the controversy. A big part of the fallacy surrounds his ignorance of ethyl- and methyl-mercury. The former, which comes from thimerosal is metabolized much faster than methyl-mercury and is known to be orders of magnitude less harmful. Ignorance on this subject is made especially clear by the vigor with which fearmongers rail against the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine which never contained thimerosal. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that autism rates have increased after thimerosal use ended and childhood infections should not be allowed to threaten our younger population by withholding needed and effective vaccinations.

Las Vegas for the 4th

If you live in Southern California, say Los Angeles, you are 270 miles on I-15 from Las Vegas and if you would like to spend the weekend prior to July 4th attached to a slot machine, you will have 75,000 others join you on the highway. This trek across the desert starting Friday afternoon takes 8 hours (about 33 miles/hour) and the last portion of the trip can be traversed at the more appropriate speed of 70 miles/hour. On large portions of the trip you are either stopped or crawling along at 20 mph. This trip is across desert with temperature commonly at or over 106 F. Gas stations and restaurants are often 60 to 70 miles apart so "comforts" are really appreciated when you get there. As one might predict, everyone wants to stay in Vegas as long as possible prior to going back to work after the mini-vacation, so the trip back is slower and I suspect the hangovers, lack of sleep and empty wallets make that a real fun trip for some. They really know how to have fun on the left coast, don't they?

The Placebo Effect

When I was 6 or 7 I developed warts all over my hands. Since we lived in little Weatherford, Oklahoma my Mother took me to a dermatologist in Oklahoma City where it was decided to spend a lot of time convincing me that the pills I was to take would make the warts go away. I was encouraged to take them faithfully and this therapy was reinforced by parental encouragement. After only a few weeks of taking sugar pills my warts were gone. This well-known phenomenon is called the "placebo effect" and for many years has been the source of consternation because it has confounded attempts by drug companies to establish the efficacy of new drugs. Now there is some interest in using the placebo effect to treat a "condition" where I think it shows great promise. This is in the so called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Millions of children now take Adderall or Ritalin for this and studies are now underway to see if sugar pills will be at least as effective or maybe serve as "enhancers" which can convince the children that their symptoms will moderate and their "attention" will improve when taken faithfully. I predict success and Mothers should try this first.

Small Mystery Solved

On our last cruise the dinner menu had two entrees which were available every night in case you didn't care for the other 5 or 6 which were offered that evening. One was salmon and the other was "ranch steak". On a cruise based in a foreign country with a chef from France or someplace, I knew I didn't know what a ranch steak was, but I didn't think much about it. If pressed, I would have guessed some form of NY strip. I saw some and that is what they mostly looked like. Now it turns out that the price of beef has risen to the point where some 20,000 restaurants are now offering "new steaks" which are carved from parts of the cow which were heretofore considered less desirable than the classic top loin and filet mignons. Here is a guide to the new menu offerings. A Flatiron or Flat Iron steak is from the shoulder and also called top blade steak. It can be broiled or cooked in a skillet and is said to be the second most tender steak after the filet mignon. One problem is the grocery stores sell a shoulder top blade steak which is not a Flat Iron and you really want the latter. It is recommended you consult the meat manager if confused. The Ranch Steak is a shoulder center steak and it is recommended that you marinate it to improve tenderness. If you see a Western Griller it is a bottom round steak and you gotta marinate strongly or braise (cook in liquid) in order to chew it. We have little round steak-looking cuts of meat where we shop that are nice and lean and they call them "beef tenders" or somesuch which I now learn are from the beef shoulder and despite their name are not as tender as the filets they are cut to imitate. Now I am off to look for some Flat Iron steak to cook this weekend.