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.