Kristoff should watch Elvis

 Freakonomics notes:

Kristoff at the NYTimes notes that when parents are paid for learning disabled children, suddenly a lot of normal kids drop out of school or stay in learning disabled classes.

Heh. If Kristoff was an Elvis fan, he would already know that...





The plot is that a family who lives off of various welfare checks gets stranded, and ends up starting their own business...

The film is based on this book.

but I agree with Freakonomics: At least Kristoff is humble enough to notice the problem, and not just following the "two minutes of hate" talking points about the political party out of power.

During a heated election period (which, in the case of the 2012 election, arguably went back all the way to 2008!), advocates on both sides of the aisle are so worried about giving their opponent any ammunition that it affects what they say, how they say it, and how loudly.
The result is more silo-speak — liberals and conservatives each shouting to their blind followers, and demonizing any dissent — and less worthwhile public thinking. I think back to how Bryan Caplan put it in a recent podcast:

People have often said that politics has been the religion of the 20th century, and I think there’s a lot to that. In the same way that people get attached to a religion, they get attached to a political party. And once you’re part of it, you don’t want to hear someone talking about the horrible things that your religion or your party did in the past. You don’t want to go and say the people who now run it might be morally questionable, or hypocritical, or just wrong. Instead, you want to find a sense of community with a bunch of like-minded people. You all tell each other how wonderful you are and try to defeat your Satanic enemies who for some strange reason continue to dispute the truth that you have obtained.

 

Science news below the fold

The "WAGD" article of the day: Shallow Undersea Methane Hydrate Deposits found in Arctic

The newly discovered deposit is of modest size, but such trapped deposits represent a large global carbon reservoir and some researchers fear that their destabilization around the world, caused by changes in sea temperature or drilling, could cause a release of methane into the environment and accelerate global warming.

--------------------------

We all want to protect "indigenous tribes", yet one wonders when outsiders rush in to protect the "rights" of the 1 percent so that the rest of the population, including a lot of poor Brazilians, are prevented from developing the local resources to get out  of poverty.

If you read the book 1491, maybe their "pristine" lifestyle is quite different from the lifestyle of their more sophisticted ancestors... I mean, the life of these tribes is not paradise, except in the eyes of outsiders. Hunger, disease, malnutrition, food insecurity, only primative medical care, etc. Which is why most of their fellow Indians have voted with their feet...

In Mindanao, much of the logging was for foreign corporations but the people didn't complain because they needed jobs and the politicians took bribes. The problem was failure to reforest.

But the disaster after the latest typhoon (see article in previous post) was mainly caused by "mom and pop" miners who don't follow regulations. Bringing in a professional mining corporation who follows the laws to protect the environment is the answer, not the problem, but alas the outsiders want no mining (or jobs for locals) at all...but to force the rich corporations to follow the law you need to stop the culture of corruption, where it's cheaper to pay the gov't to look the other way and kill those who protest.

Sigh.

a discussion of the problem and the complexity of cooperation between mines who bring jobs and the ecology minded HERE.

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Asian economies will surpass Europe, US.

Well, why not? There are a lot more Asians...

The study said that in a best-case scenario, Americans, together with nearly two-thirds of the world's population, will be middle class, mostly living in cities, connected by advanced technology, protected by advanced health care and linked by countries that work together, perhaps with the United States and China cooperating to lead the way.

they also predict less terrorism but more cyber attacks, and potential problems in China and other places where the population is falling, and this:

One bright spot for the U.S. is energy independence. "With shale gas, the U.S. will have sufficient natural gas to meet domestic needs and generate potential global exports for decades to come," the report said.

Ah yes: North Dakota to the rescue...

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They found another source for Adult Stem cells to replace brain cells.

Scientists often reprogram cultured skin and blood cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which can form any cell in the body. However, urine is a much more accessible source. 

But there is a more important part to the story:

Previously, retroviruses were used to insert pluripotency genes into cells. This alters the genetic make-up of cells and can make them less predictable. Instead, in this study, the genes were introduced using vectors which didn’t integrate them into the cellular genome. This produced reprogrammed cells resembling iPS cells after only 12 days, half the time needed to produce iPS cells with current techniques.

[via Nature]
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Dave Barry's ecology headline of the day:

Britain gives millions in 'climate aid' to tackle flatulent Colombian cows

he comments: WE SAW THEM OPEN FOR THE RAMONES

Read more here: http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2012/12/we-saw-them-open.html#storylink=cpy

.
------------------------------
and asking the really important science questions of the day:

How does Gollum see in the dark?

I always thought that, since it was wet in that part of the cave, it was due to the bioluminescent algae:

photo from naturalplaneblog

Happy Chanukah

actually, it is the story about freedom of religion.

Musical Interlude of the day

LINK

Lyrics

Bwana Yesu, Bwana Yesu | My Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus
Kimbilio langu, ni wewe Baba | You are my safe haven Lord
Tumaini langu, liko kwako Yaweh |My hope is on you Yahweh
Mimi sina uwezo, sina Bwana mwingine ila wewe | I don’t have the might, I don’t have another Lord but you
Mimi sina uwezo, sina Bwana mwingine ila wewe | I don’t have the might, I don’t have another Lord but you
Wewe ndiwe Baba yangu, msaada wangu wa karibu | You are my father, my close help
Wewe ndiwe Baba yangu, msaada wangu wa karibu | You are my father, my close help

The "WAGD" headline of the day

Large, Peanut-Shaped Asteroid Headed Toward Earth

but don't worry:

When the peanut-shaped rock is at its closest to the Earth on December 12, it'll be more than 4.3 million miles (6.9 million kilometers) away, or more than 18 times the distance from the Earth to the moon.

and the "sign of the apocolypse" story is via Dave Barry's Blog

Catfish Have Learned How To Hunt Pigeons

Read more here: http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2012/12/this-cannot-be-good.html#storylink=cpy

Sarcastic ? report of the day

From Reuters:

DOHA - At the end of another lavishly-funded U.N. conference that yielded no progress on curbing greenhouse emissions, many of those most concerned about climate change are close to despair.

As thousands of delegates checked out of their air-conditioned hotel rooms in Doha to board their jets for home, some asked whether the U.N. system even made matters worse by providing cover for leaders to take no meaningful action...

The conference held in Qatar - the country that produces the largest per-capita volume of greenhouse gases in the world - agreed to extend the emissions-limiting Kyoto Protocol, which would have run out within weeks.

then the article goes on to the PC whine about hurricanes in the Philippines and NYC....

These were not unusual storms (In NYC, such storms come once a generation, but the local politicians in NYC ignored the problem and didn't fix the infrastructure)

And much of the damage and deaths from the latest Philippine typhoon was from illegal mining and logging...

Geologists say the mountainous area is mostly unsafe for habitation. But numerous small, illegal or poorly regulated gold mines dot its slopes and the local government says they provide 40 percent of the province's economic output. Much of the forest cover was also cut down long ago to make way for row upon row of bananas to supply the major markets of China, Iran and Japan. The plantations and hopes of striking it rich have drawn hundreds of thousands of poor migrants in search of work. They settle in mountain hamlets around which poisonous mercury, used to extract gold from rock, is routinely dumped into rivers.

...but hey, look at the good side: The same politicians who accepted gifts to look the other way or who pocketed money instead of trying to fix the problem can now get rich by taking "aid" for climate change destruction too.

Ah, it's good to be the king.

Stuflf below the fold

Using the HIV virus (modified) to stop Leukemia?

---------------------

Spain letting the Jews back?

Uh, didn't Franco do this awhile back, without the fanfare?

and although the Spanish treatment of Jews was terrible, it is also trumpeted by the British, who conveniently ignore their own persecution of their Catholic minority, not to mention repeated Irish genocides. 
 or the ethnic cleansing of the Scottish highlands...

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The NYTimes mentions another item that wasn't discussed during the election: That the new healthcare bill will raise taxes.

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They eat horses, don't they?

Ever wonder what happens to retired race horses? They get e't... but now, maybe not:

The meat of American racehorses may be too toxic to eat safely because the horses have been injected repeatedly with drugs. 

and they criticize Pinoys for eating dog...
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If you are reading this, thank Ada:  Google remembers Ada Lovelace... bio here.

 ---------------------------------
Another day, another earthquake

again, in the south, so it didn't bother us.

--------------------------------
Death by skin whitener?

actually, I wrote about the problem awhile back on BNN

-----------------------------

The really big news in the Philippines: Pacman's knockout.

Heh. His mom blames it on his becoming Protestant and spending all his time in bible studies (instead of gambling, drinking and wenching) so he was too busy to train properly.

One is reminded of Flannery O'Connor's quip that the Catholics are happier because we isolate all our religious nuts in monasteries so that normal people are left alone.

----------------------------
Speaking of nuts, not only can you choose between Spielburg's lofty and boring Abraham Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln Vampire hunter, 

But now you can see Bill Murray play FDR and entertain the queen (!) and get a new mistress (no, not the queen).

My question is why did Missy put up with the shennanigans, since she was there...or maybe the prudes are right and Missy was a platonic friend and secretary. (one is reminded of the quip: Never make your secretary your mistress. It's easy to find a mistress, but a good secretary is hard to find).

And if that comedy isn't enough, well just wait for FDR American BADA^^^.

Roast Mutton

Roast Mutton: The Hobbit Video Game

and eHow has tips on how to get past the trolls.

Roast Mutton the cartoon.

How mutton "cured" the poet Shelley's malnutrition. (includes recipe).
(headsup TeaAtTrianon)

Philippine roast leg of lamb

Here in the Philippines, the neighbors allow both sheep and goats to graze on the local vacant lots, (and once we had to reimburse the owner when Cocoa, aka "mamadog" killed two. She's large enough to do it but not usually a vicious hunter like her son George the killer Lab...


but actually sheep/mutton is not commonly eaten, but goat is a local delicacy. LINK



Part two here

Family news

Hazy here, and hot.

The typhoon is now just a storm and is coming back to hit off the north coast of Luzon. Again, it should not affect us. PDF HERE.

but the really important headline is Pacman Marquez IV...

Musical Interlude of the day

link

Musical interlude of the day

LINK


-----------------------------

oh yes: The Colbert report has hobbit week LINK

Alas, we don't get it here

The Most sucessful low budget films

Heh. Napoleon Dynamite is there....

as is Mad Max, MyBigFat Greek Wedding, and a bunch of horror films...along with some tiny budget films no one saw but they made a little money that was statistically a large percentage over their cost.

alas, you'll have to rend N.D. because it's not on line for free, but My Fat Greek Wedding can be found HERE.

Stuff below the fold

Another day, another same old typhoon...


Pablo, which hit the southern Islands, has turned NE and may skim off the coast of Luzon.

sigh, and they are still digging out in Mindanao...

ah, but 26 lawmakers have the time and money to attend the Pacquiao/Marquez fight this Sunday.
Priorities you know... most of them claim personal business or business meetings as the reason for going to Las Vegas...

---------------------------
Instapundit on the gender gap for pot legalization:

SO YESTERDAY I ASKED WHY MEN FAVOR POT LEGALIZATION BY BIG MARGINS, WHILE WOMEN OPPOSE IT: Reader Jane Vawter responded: “Women don’t like pot for the most part. It’s a man drug. What they really don’t like is a useless, stoned man…pot makes you stupid, poor company and a poor provider.”

Yes, that sounds about right.
It's the idea of responsibility vs having fun. And if the "julia" types all voted for Obama, it might not be the free birth control, but because the gov't is a better provider for your needs than a pothead.

-----------------------------------------

StrategyPage has more about the Chinese takeover of the west Philippine sea:

December 7, 2012: The Chinese announcement that it would begin enforcing new rules, starting January 1st, that will have Chinese naval patrols escorting, or expelling, foreign ships from most of the South China Sea has mobilized a lot of resistance. This should not be surprising as the new rules include offshore areas of the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei and Vietnam that international law does not recognize as Chinese. India and the United States have both announced that they will not obey and that Indian and American warships expect to move unmolested through the South China Sea in 2013....

No, despite all the talk of an "American tilt toward Asia", it's a paper tiger, which is why China's open aggression waited until after Obama was reelected, since Obama recognizes the nuances of the dispute: i.e.offend the Chinese who could sink the US economy or throw the Philippines under the bus? that's a no brainer. Can you spell "neville chamberlain" children?

 I mean, if Obama's minions were afraid to back up the SEALS in Benghazi for fear of being accused of ignoring Libya's sovereignty, do you really think they are planning to stop China? As for the Philippines, well, our Navy usually is there to stop smuggling or rescue folks. Somehow I don't think that two frigates will stop the Chinese Navy...

what's at stake is more than the oil fields under the Spratlys:

About half the world’s shipping traffic passes through the South China Sea, and US vessels make up a large portion of that traffic.... says Bonnie Glaser, a senior fellow with the CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies. “If tankers could not safely pass through those waters, supply of oil to Japan, a key US ally, would be threatened.”

Did I mention that Japan is also being pushed around by China?

as for that little note about the Indian Navy, well, China is pushing them around too...

------------------------------------


Dr. E at PersianParadox often writes about the environmental movement in her country, and now the LATimes has an article about another environmental activist there, trying to save the lakes from destruction/diversion, and the problems of pollution including the local debate if "clean" but dangerous nuclear electrical plants should be built.

---------------------------------------------
I often point out that the corruption is behind a lot of the mess in the Philippines, but it's worse in oil rich Nigeria. Al Jazeerah report on the sanitation problem here.

and as you know, the English news on AlJazeerah is full of lefties who follow the party line, but this report does bring up one item that may fuel the HIV epidemic in Africa: Migrant labor in mines and factories.
Not mentioned: since there is no retirement funding, even if there is housing for their wives, the men will leave the woman at home so he doesn't lose the rights to his fields, which are owned by the tribe and portioned out only to those who can plow and plant..... Property rights to individuals might help this problem.

also not mentioned: that the South African health minister denied HIV caused Aids so wouldn't allow modern treatment.
As for the evil "drug companies"meme in the article: well, when 700 000  die from counterfeit/fake  medicines every year, maybe there is a reason not to use generics from the lowest bidder.

--------------------------------------------

 

December 7, 1941

actually, it was December 8th here.

 

it is a Catholic holiday, so a lot of folks were in church...

When reports reached this rural town, Lolo, who was still a kid, his mother and some others fled to our rural farmland in fear, but later returned to town.
There were Japanese stationed in our town: Lolo remembers one friendly soldier who gave candy to the street kids. But later it turned deadly, and he reports the Japanese shooting a local man in the street in front of their house.
His older brother joined the resistance, but Lolo was too young...he did join at the end of the war, after the Americans invaded and McArthur called for an uprising against the Japanese.

Ironically, the war doesn't get a lot of play here: bitter memories are part of the reason, but I suspect it is also because a lot of the Manila elites were quislings, and they don't like to be reminded of their grandfather's deeds...

Audio downloads of the week

Yes, since the mayan "WAGD" date is coming up, you might want to check these out from Librivox:

Food Preparedness

A short pamphlet from WWI, first describing basic nutrition, then discussing what foods may be substituted during food shortages without loss of nutrition.

People nowadays are probably not aware of the severe food shortages in Europe during and after both world wars: partly due to the naval blockades (as in the UK) and partly due to fighting, and then the post war Chaos.
The collapse of the Hapsburg dynasty after WWI led to economic chaos and hunger, for example: My aunt reports eating tree bark in Austria. During WWII, some of the nuns I worked with in Africa confessed to me that they ate dogs...

In a less gloomy book, read about bugs at Insect stories.

--------------------------------------

Today's Korean History podcast is part one of the Japanese invasion of Korea...in the First Great Asian War.

When you hear propaganda about the evil west or evil "religion", just point them to this podcast, showing how "civilized" Asians fight.
The fight was between the Japanese samurai and they didn't really want Korea, they just wanted to invade China and Korea stood in their way.

Videolink shows some of the modern weapons used



And this is the war where Admiral Yi and his turtle ships essentially stopped the invasion by destroying their ability to get supplies (they had destroyed the local crops to punish the locals and guess what? nothing to eat) ...Yi's life was made into a popular local Korean serial on TV...you can watch it on youtube...


above is episode 57 where the Japanese invade Korea.



-------------------------------
addendum: Ignatius press is releasing a new book on Tolkien and Lewis...they also post a video of author Michael Brown discussing Catholic fiction.
youtube link

Don't think it's in the same box as the "left behind" series. Catholic fiction includes the historical romance of post Viking days by Kristin Lavransdattir, the black humor of Flannery O'Connor, the sardonic musing of Walker Percy, the gay friendly book of Brideshead Revisited, , the R rated romances of Andrew Greeleyand the spy novels of the leftist sympathizer Graham Greene.

Tolkien, like the Anglo Saxons (including Alfred the Great and the author of the Beowulf) was able to mix the good parts of the northern legends with the hope of Christianity. 

So when you see "holy cards" with the ever effeminate St Michael the Archangel, remember that in LOTR, Gandalf is an angel incarnate, and able to pack quite a punch with his staff....(and Andrew Greeley has the angels rescuing one of his heroines dressed like Navy SEALS).

Science stuff

Earth at night is a black marble

------------------
how to film a hobbit.

------------------------------

well, we might have silted up rivers and sewers and denuded slopes from illegal logging, but NASA is able to track how much rain a typhoon leaves behind. (9 inches)

------------------------------

related item: What area of the earth is safest from natural disasters?

a few folks suggested Ireland, pointing out that the potato famine was not natural but man made.

but I think they ignored the Tsunamis of 1755 and 1761

the 1755 tsunami was from the great Lisbon earthquake, but there is still a debate about where the epicenter of the smaller earthquake near Lisbon that was behind the one in 1761

The 31 March 1761 earthquake was felt in Lisbon at noon, alarming the inhabitants and throwing down ruins of the past 1 November 1755 earthquake. According to several sources the earthquake was followed by a tsunami that was observed as far as Cornwall (United Kingdom), Cork (Ireland), and Barbados (Caribbean). The Portuguese catalogs locate this event on the Horseshoe Abyssal Plain, south of Gorringe Bank, and attribute a magnitude of 7.5. The Caribbean tsunami catalog (Lander et al., 2002) locates the event further north 37° N 10° W and estimates of its epicenter intensity as IX.

more HERE.
-----------------------------------

TurtleBayBeyondBlog notes that the UN holds conferences where those hosting the conference already have drawn the conclusions they want.

to attend you have to sign a paper that includes “a commitment to the values of the ICPD” among the factors for consideration.

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Muscial Interlude of the day

LINK



-----------

PBS has an article about Brubeck's Mass and why his musical compositions included some with religious themes:

Dave has always composed what he sees and feels, so it's little surprise that his experiences as a GI in World War II deeply influenced his early compositions and post-war performances. 'So many of my friends got killed in World War II that it just seems impossible that I wouldn't see them again,' Dave remembers. 'On the parachute landing on D-Day, one of my friends got shot in the air in his harness of his parachute. And you just hear about all your friends that didn't make it. It gives you a sense of, 'Why am I here? Why did they get killed?' And then also you say to yourself, 'I'm alive and I'm gonna do as much as I can.''.... 'At that time I was thinking about composing a piece - I was in my early twenties - on the Ten Commandments, concentrating on all the commandments but concentrating mostly on 'Thou shalt not kill.,' Dave explains. 'And knowing that our enemy, being Catholic from Italy, basically they knew these same Ten Commandments. The Germans being Catholic and Protestant, knew these same Ten Commandments. Why didn't they stick with us? And why is there a war if this is one of our commandments from God is that you shouldn't kill each other? It's still a part of many of the religious pieces I write.' Brubeck's questions about the meaning of life and death filtered into his music.

yes, he was a veteran: from wikipedia

After graduating in 1942, Brubeck was drafted into the army and served overseas in George Patton's Third Army. He was spared from service in the Battle of the Bulge when he volunteered to play piano at a Red Cross show; he was such a hit he was ordered to form a band. Thus he created one of the US armed forces' first racially integrated bands, "The Wolfpack"

more, including links, at GetReligionBlog.

Ender with Indy

LINK

Image Credit: Richard Foreman Jr

the original short story can be found HERE.

The book brings up a lot of issues, not just on child soldiers (taking a child from his family to train him has parallels on child athletes and musicians). And when killing is done by UAV/drones similar to computer games, who is the one who is guilty of killing.

Ender, of course, is a child who never should have been allowed to be born, his parents are both "rebels" in their own way, and he saves the earth, not out of hatred, but to get out of the terrible situation in his school.

And, unlike "starship troopers", he does it not by shootemouts but by a Kobiashi Maru type ploy...

the short story has expanded into a series of books, but one has to note that Ender later rescues a bug pod so that the Bug's civilization is not completely destroyed.

This brings up a question: In a time when human rights folks are trying to eliminate child soldiers, do films like Hunger Games and Ender's Game seem to justify using children in war?

This chilling paragraph from the short story explains why terrorists and "insurgents" are so eager to kidnap and reprogram children to fight:

Maezr smiled. "A hundred years ago, Ender, we found out some things. That when a commander's life is in danger he becomes afraid, and fear slows down his thinking. When a commander knows that he's killing people, he becomes cautious or insane, and neither of those help him do well. And when he's mature, when he has responsibilities and an understanding of the world, he becomes cautious and sluggish and can't do his job. So we trained children, who didn't know anything but the game, and never knew when it would become real. That was the theory, and you proved that the theory worked."

-----------------------------------
Another big SciFi film in the make is a new StarTrek, supposedly loosely based on the plot of "where no man has gone before", the second pilot show.

The trailers for both of these are not very original so I didn't post them.

Stuff below the fold

"Zombie financing" for doctors".

Obama's 27 percent cut for Medicare reimbursement? Yes. Another item no one brought up during the election.
But the real problem is this one:

In addition to ending the SGR formula, Dr. Madara explained the importance of transitioning Medicare into an improved payment and delivery system that rewards high-quality care.

Translation: You spend more time documenting what you've done than seeing grandmom. And the way the gov't works is that your charts better document every little thing you did and translating it into all the correct numbers in the latest ICD-M code is correct (it's now up to number ten, and if you put down the wrong number, hey you won't get paid).

I have an idea: Ten bucks a visit, no paper work.

Then you can do "non medical things" like discover stuff that isn't in the books but more important to what is going on, like doing a physical exam or talking trivia about their lives. You find a lot of the really important things that way and hey, it makes the patients happy. And then maybe our patients won't go to quacks for hands on treatment.

-----------------------


I mentioned in a previous post about Google drones watching Rhinos to stop poaching, but StrategyPage has this in an article about Iran's claim they shot down a US drone:

the photo showed a Scan Eagle without military markings...(so it might be) a commercial version of Scan Eagle (in service since 2005 to help high seas fishing ships find schools of fish to go after)

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CIA CYA?

Maybe. But that doesn't explain why an American citizen is sitting in a US jail for making a porn film.

and finally, the NYTimes noticed something is rotten, and notices the bad guys were getting lots of weapons, and the Obama administration was helping them get the weapons.

Ah, but don't worry: There is no evidence that the bad guys used these weapons to shoot the Ambassador. Presumably they only used genuine certified non American supplied weapons to do so.

American officials say that the United Arab Emirates first approached the Obama administration during the early months of the Libyan uprising, asking for permission to ship American-built weapons that the United States had supplied for the emirates’ use. The administration rejected that request, but instead urged the emirates to ship weapons to Libya that could not be traced to the United States.

italics mine.
----------------------------------------
From Dave Barry:

Man arrested after 'punching through JetBlue plane window because he was not allowed to sit with his mother'
(Thanks to Jeff Meyerson)
Does anybody else find it troubling that it's possible for a passenger to punch through an airplane window?

Read more here: http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2012/12/tota.html#storylink=cpy

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Modern art attack: the giant slinky.

It's a Darwin's memorial sculpture in his home town: it cost over £1 million.


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Cat item of the day

link

Musical Interlude of the day

LINK

 video link





Dave Brubeck, RIP

Stories below the fold

How can anyone be against a global treaty on disability rights?

Uh, maybe because of the fine print that would allow outside, unelected officials to order you what your laws should say?
or as the blog points out: these treaties are like Arthur Dent's eviction notice:

Readers of the late Douglas Adams’ classic book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” will no doubt remember the following exchange, which occurs when protagonist Arthur Dent confronts the local bureaucrat who is attempting to demolish his house:

`…You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to [the plans] had you? I mean like actually telling anyone or anything.’
`But the plans were on display…’
`On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.’
`That’s the display department.’
`With a torch.’
`Ah, well the lights had probably gone.’
`So had the stairs.’
`But look, you found the notice didn’t you?’
`Yes,’ said Arthur, `yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying “Beware of the Leopard.’

Sadly, the practice of deciding on a course of action, forcing it through by any means necessary, and then retroactively pointing out that one’s critics could have voiced their objections at the proper time and place is not just the stuff of comedy...

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Big Brother Google is watching you....

Google is funding World Wildlife Foundation to use drones to catch poachers. Presumably the big money mafiosos behind the poachers will stop their evil deeds...or maybe they'll just shoot them down.

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Could Iraq be the new superpower in the Middle east within the next decade? TPMBarnett discusses. Videohere.

---------------------------------
Related item: Why manufacturing could return to the US...

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Cuba has released a blogger/democracy advocate from jail.

ntonio Rodiles, curator of the independent scholarly forum Estado de SATS [es], was released in Havana last Wednesday after enduring over three weeks of detention. Rodiles was arrested on November 7, along with numerous other bloggers and civil society advocates on the island, including well-known blogger and attorney Laritza Diversent, author of the blog Jurisconsulto de Cuba [es] (Cuban Legal Advisor). There has been no report of Diversent’s release as of December 3, 2012.

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Bulgaria's golden treasures from the Bronze age.

As Eastern Europe, the Ukraine and the Russian steppes open to archeology, expect the history books to be rewritten.

------------------
Sanctions are hurting Iran: There is now a medicine shortage.


Yes. The trouble with corrupt gov'ts is that they take care of themselves and use money to get around sanctions, and let the people suffer...

Over the past three weeks though, local media in Iran have highlighted allegations of mismanagement and mishandling of imports by the government. This has contributed to the drug crisis and revealed corruption and incompetence at the highest levels.
Hossein Ali Shahriari, the head of the parliament's health commission, stated [fa], “The government has paid no attention to the domain of health and medicine.” He added that there has been “virtually no currency” for the budget and the import of medicines over the last six months.
The minister of health, Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, also criticized the budget allocation, saying: “We don't know what happened to the hard currency allocated to the purchase of medicine.” According to her, only 24% of the required budget for the purchase of medicine has been provided by the Central Bank.

-------------------------------
Bloggers comment on Kim Kardashian's visit to Bahrain.

Best comment:

WafaAlsayed: No offense, but asking Kim kardashian 2 comment on the political situation in Bahrain is like asking a chipmunk 2 prepare a 3 course dinner

----------------------------------
Freakonomics : "Homicide victims rarely talk to police" and other horrible headlines 

go check out headlines such as:

Philippine news

Typhoon hit the poorest area of the country, Mindano, and alas several hundred died, mainly from floods/mudslides/storm surge.
LINK

LINK

The elites here will echo the west and blame global warming, when everyone living in the boondocks knows the flooding is from lack of evacuation from low lying areas, inadequate and/or silted up drainage systems, and many of the mudslides were from illegal logging etc.

one note: 90 percent of the banana crop was destroyed, since most of the export bananas come from plantations in this area. That probably won't hurt us, since we eat locally, but will affect the economy.

AFP photo.


But when I see this photo, I wonder: Did the banana plantations contribute to the flooding? (i.e. no grass, no weeds, no hardwood trees with deep roots etc)...I don't know enough about bananas to answer that one.

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Obama was reelected, so China figures they can get away busy pushing around it's neigbors, and has a new passport that includes the West Philippine sea and parts of India's territory on the pass port map of China.

From StrategyPage: The War with China begins on January 1.

December 5, 2012: The government is moving its new warships (retired American frigates and coast guard cutters) to offshore areas that China claims. That won’t be enough, because China already has many more warships is building over 40 new coast guard and navy patrol ships and boats. Plus, China has a growing number of navy patrol and combat aircraft. The Philippines needs a major ally, like the United States, to provide enough naval muscle to keep the Chinese from enforcing their new rules that will, starting January 1st, have Chinese naval patrols escorting, or expelling, foreign ships from most of the South China Sea. This includes offshore areas of the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei and Vietnam that international law does not recognize as Chinese. Happy New Year to you too. 

In other words, they are theatening not only our fishermen but the sea lanes.

As for India; they are putting up anti missile defenses:

As a result of this and several other successful tests earlier this year, Indian missile development officials believe their anti-missile system is ready for mass production and deployment. This would provide some Indian cities protection from Pakistani or Chinese ballistic missiles.

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Here, we had no storm. Just light rain.

Audiobook of the week

quick, before the internet police find it's there:

The Simarillion is for download at Internet Archive LINK

they also have the Hobbit read by Nicol Williamson.

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and if you want an introduction to the gospel of Matthew that won't turn your stomach, check out Barclay's Matthew part one. A very lovely gentleman who can be read by believers and skeptics without a problem.
text


I only brought two bible studies with me: Barclays and Asimov's.

But if you want the latest academic bible study, Yale has two courses for your listening pleasure.

I heard the old testament but haven't listened to the new testament yet.
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Speaking of Asimov, they have an old radio play version of  his Foundation trilogy

Family news

Joy's grandmother died yesterday: she was 100 years old. Joy just visited her because she was dying and asking for Joy and the rest of the family to say good bye. So now they all will return for the funeral.

Blogging will be light because of internet connection problems (with the router: I have to sign in up in the office not with my own computer in my bedroom).

The typhoon hit south of here: Only a little rain in our area.

ULO!

We went out on an errand today, and had lunch at Luz, the local Philippine style home cooking restaurant.

I had friend fish file (sweet and sour) with veggies, and he had Salmon fish head soup.

It sounds better in Tagalog: Sinigang na ulo ng Salmon.
Recipe HERE.



and while cooking, you can just sing along:

Stories below the fold

headline of the day

Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds

but it remains unclear whether they were formed via Earthly contamination or whether they contain only elements indigenous to the planet.

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Headline of the day take two:

Sweden runs out of garbage, forced to import from Norway

the country relies on waste to heat and to provide electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes through a longstanding waste-to-energy incineration program. So with citizens simply not generating enough burnable waste to power the incinerators, the country has been forced to look elsewhere for fuel. Says Catarina Ostlund, a senior advisor for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency: “We have more capacity than the production of waste in Sweden and that is usable for incineration.”

They are welcome to come here and clean the garbage from the local vacant lot and open trench sewers...

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 Dave Barry notes that the oh so trendy Turner prize is as classy as ever

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Bald cats are friendliest, but moggies are the grumpiest, study finds

Pedigrees were found to be notably more amiable, and the friendliest of all was the hairless sphynx cat, which was even happy to visit the vet and be bathed. The researchers believed the sphynx’s affectionate nature could be due to its reliance on humans to keep warm.....

Those identified as the most unfriendly were non-pedigree, crossbreed “moggies” — also known as domestic short-haired cats — which are Britain’s most common variety. They scored poor marks for their interactions with humans, being the most likely to ignore their owners and run away from strangers.

 photo from CatManDo blog, who has an article on the favorite cats of movies/tv...

which brings up this trivia question: What is the name of Data's cat (and why should a robot need one)? answer here.

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Another day, another typhoon

South of here...we have overcast sky and a bit of rain.

Spin Spin Spin *(plus rants). Ignore please

http://youtu.be/jQmc-eeNXCU

yup propaganda...

..I  suspect whatever caused the back pain was the cause of the sepsis: and have written about the differential diagnosis on my rant blog...however, one should note that the docs followed  the AAFP guidelines for PROM

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We are expecting similar propaganda here since the RH bill is now suddenly back in the news.It is about population control, not maternal child health, and will fine medical personnel and employers if they don't push the pill or dare to advise against it. THAT should improve the ability to recruit Catholic and Muslim midwives for isolate rural areas (not)...

Note: 30 percent give birth without a trained attendant,...and folks die here all the time because they can't afford antibiotics or high blood pressure medicine...

 My solution? Village Pill ladies, which worked for us in Zimbabwe and worked wonders in Bangladesh...and if the Catholics wants NFP to be used, they can teach it at every parish...

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And the schools here are now pushing promiscuity under the guise of "sex ed", using the "huge increase in the rate of HIV" to justify it...

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS or UNAIDS has noted that while elsewhere HIV/AIDS growth rates have declined, the Philippines and Bangladesh have posted at least 25% increase from 2001 to 2009 (UNAIDS 2011).

25% growth? Gasp! Except...they are lying with statistics.

Wikipedia reports that the Philippines had 10,600 cases...since many cases are unreported, it's probably double that...yet Thailand has a  million cases of HIV and is cited as a "success story"...:( is it the culture or the Tuli?  check map to see differences..)

The absolute numbers remain low, and the increase is mainly in our OFW and local gays who cruise in Manila...

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Speaking of hate: The pope now has a twitter account, but the haters have already gotten busy filling it with the usual hate.

and GetReligion notes the cheerleading by the press to push gay marriage, but that they never bother to discuss what marriage, gender, or sexuality means, and how imposing a new morality could affect society.

The press pretends it's only about gays, but it's really about Julia, a single isolated woman who gets through life with government supplying her every need, not relying on family or spouse. For when you destroy all intermediate institutions such as family and churches, your only hope is the Leviathan..

And it will result in churches that support self control as being seen as hate speech, never mind that Confucius said the same thing.
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WMD? What WMD? If Hillary says it, it must be true.

You mean some of those trucks seen carrying supplies from Saddam to Syria before the Iraq war might have been carrying WMD's?

And is the US secretly arming the rebels?  Fox asked that six weeks ago, but never  mind, only racists raise such questions that go against this official claim:

Up to now, the United States has opposed military intervention or providing arms support to Syria's rebels for fear of further militarizing a conflict...

 As StrategyPage points out: 700 thousand refugees and counting, and if Assad goes, the next civil war will be the locals vs the radicals, whose ranks include many who are al queda linked foreigners experienced in war.

and I had to laugh: Only Ralph Nader is honest enough to notice that Obama is just as bad as Bush when it comes to war.

No, I don't agree with him, but at least he is honest about being anti war: The rest of those who made a frenzy against Bush were merely posturing for political reasons....
 
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The UK Mail has had a few articles about the overuse of the Liverpool pathway, (which was originally devised to be used for patients in pain with terminal cancer) and the UKMail notes they are now using the "protocol" to kill handicapped infants..

The usual sardonic Dustbury says:

Medical practitioners being fond of cutesy acronyms and such, I suggest something like Seems Nearly Unhealthy: Finalize (SNUF).

Well, why not? The medical rationing board/death panel in the UK is named (I kid you not) NICE...

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a little less dismal news is in the papers too:

Guess who is pregnant?

Best wishes to her and the family.

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some watching the hobbit complained of dizzy spells.

I felt the same way the first time I watched an IMax movie...it felt like I was in a car moving with the camera...so I wonder: Is it the increase frame rate to blame, or because it was IMax?

So take a Meclizine before viewing if you are prone to motion sickness.
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Yeah, just let'm die

How many weeks after the storm hit, yet only today we read that the reason that they didn't evacuate a couple thousand nursing home folks in NYCity was because the mayor and the governor told them not to do it. why? Because their priorities was to avoid being criticized, not to save folks lives: .

Before Tropical Storm Irene, the officials ordered nursing homes and adult homes to evacuate. The storm caused relatively minor damage, but the evacuation led to millions of dollars in health care, transportation, housing and other costs, and took a toll on residents. As a result, when Hurricane Sandy loomed, the officials were acutely aware that they could come under criticism if they ordered another evacuation that proved unnecessary.

Sorry, but when the Red River of the North was rising, we got a lot of folks from Fargo and Grand Forks to house during the emergency, even though Fargo did okay, but Grand Forks got flooded when the sandbags couldn't keep up. This is a no brainer, but never mind. they're doing an "internal examination" of the problem, so don't hold your breath.

Musical interlude of the day

LINK

Stuff below the fold

There is an Orthodox church on an island at the tip of Antarctica

photosource en.wikipedia Erected to serve the nearby Russian research station.

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 Other chapels on the continent of Antarctica LINK

some Church is multi-confessional, so that is the case of the Chapel of the snow at US McMurdo Base, other are Ortodox as the St. Kliment at the Bulgarian Base or the Russian Ortodox Trinity Church at Bellinghausen Base.

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 FYI: There is ice on Mercury.

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DRB has a photo essay on weird water towers. 

(images credit: 3rd Sibling Photography, Janice)

Perhaps inspired by the coffee pot design, this coffee cup water tower can be seen in Stanton, Iowa (left image ). On the right is a very nice way to welcome you to Ashley, Indiana - with a big smile...

some of the older watertowers look like defensive towers or castles:

 (images credit: Kaspar Bams, Tomasz Przechlewski)
The Drobeta-Turnu Severin Water Tower in Romania looks distinctly medieval but was built in the early twentieth century (left image below). The red brick water tower in Malbork, Poland (right image) dates from 1905:
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and scientists answering the really important question of the day: Here we eat Durian, the fruit that "Smells like hell but tastes like heaven".
However, they are  not loved by many:



Why does Durian smell so bad?

An aroma extract dilution analysis applied on the volatile fraction isolated from Thai durian by solvent extraction and solvent-assisted flavor evaporation resulted in 44 odor-active compounds in the flavor dilution (FD) factor range of 1–16384, 41 of which could be identified and 24 that had not been reported in durian before. High FD factors were found for ethyl (2S)-2-methylbutanoate (fruity; FD 16384), ethyl cinnamate (honey; FD 4096), and 1-(ethylsulfanyl)ethanethiol (roasted onion; FD 1024), followed by 1-(ethyldisulfanyl)-1-(ethylsulfanyl)ethane (sulfury, onion), 2(5)-ethyl-4-hydroxy-5(2)-methylfuran-3(2H)-one (caramel), 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-one (soup seasoning), ethyl 2-methylpropanoate (fruity), ethyl butanoate (fruity), 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol (skunky), ethane-1,1-dithiol (sulfury, durian), 1-(methylsulfanyl)ethanethiol (roasted onion), 1-(ethylsulfanyl)propane-1-thiol (roasted onion), and 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethylfuran-3(2H)-one (caramel). Among the highly volatile compounds screened by static headspace gas chromatography–olfactometry, hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg), acetaldehyde (fresh, fruity), methanethiol (rotten, cabbage), ethanethiol (rotten, onion), and propane-1-thiol (rotten, durian) were found as additional potent odor-active compounds. Fourteen of the 41 characterized durian odorants showed an alkane-1,1-dithiol, 1-(alkylsulfanyl)alkane-1-thiol, or 1,1-bis(alkylsulfanyl)alkane structure derived from acetaldehyde, propanal, hydrogen sulfide, and alkane-1-thiols. Among these, 1-(propylsulfanyl)ethanethiol, 1-{[1-(methylsulfanyl)ethyl]sulfanyl}ethanethiol, and 1-{[1-(ethylsulfanyl)ethyl]sulfanyl}ethanethiol were reported for the first time in a natural product. Journal reference: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry search and more info website Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-scientists-substances-aroma-king-fruits.html#jCp

Videolink

Musical interlude of the day

With Broccoli..

.

Advent wreath

I predate the Advent wreath fad, and never heard of the custom until I read about it in Maria Von Trapp's story of her life.

But now it's just another commercial project as a table decoration, not a way to light a candle while saying prayers or bible reading, which was the original idea. And no, we don't make them here in the Philippines, where the main decoration is the Christmas star.

However if you are into Advent wreaths, the Curt Jestor has a widget for your blog spot.

Craft item of the day

I no longer have the eyes or ability (due to arthritis) to knit/crochet amigurmi or make tiny things

But if you like to do these things, Buttercup miniatures is having an Advent Calendar plan:

This year, as in previous years, we have designed a project that is suitable for any season or setting. By choosing your own colour scheme you will have on completion a 1:12th scale ladies skirt and bouse set, shown above, which will compliment your setting or scene. Starting today we will publish a part of the pattern daily, until 24th December, which will then complete your project.

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and if you like things slightly larger, Crafty Cattery has the pattern for a Amigurumi Madonna and child.

stories for later reading

we're going to church so I am putting stories down for later reading since I have to shut down the computer.

Imagine Catholics who are catholics.

TORN reports there is a Fran Walsh interview at the NYTimes

Tehran Live has photos of drag racing

and a photo essay on how ordinary Iranians celebrate Ashura.

the US press seems to love the excesses of the flagellants to show how crazy these Muslims are, which always reminds me of how they cover the "Crucifixions" here in the Philippines... just a way to ridicule people's religious beliefs.

Persian paradox has an article on the celebration and I'll post it later...

Factoid of the day

Mithril, or actually MIThril, is an MIT project done in 2003 to make a wearable computer.

it stands for the MIThril Inference Engine

Craft item of the day

No, it's not mithril, but you can craft your own chain mail shirt out of discarded soda can pop tops.



more including this photo at thatsalotofgiraffes... 

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A mail coat of aluminum pop tops? Why yes.

 Mithril was aluminum,according to this article... which until modern times was very hard to manufacture.

But Tolkien gateway says mithril was probably the harder titanium, although aluminum, platinum (which is probably too heavy to fit the description) and magnesium are other possibilities.
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Cat item of the day

Mean kitty rap

Cat Bloopers

Attention internet police

I was debating whether or not to try to download the latest JamesBond film for Lolo via P2P, but it turns out I don't have to: Chano bought a good copy from a street vendor in Manila for a dollar. Skyfall opened here a few weeks ago, and so far has earned over 2 million dollars. and according to the article, we do have iMax and 3D theatres here in the Philippines. Just not in our town, which has only had a small movie theatre since the mall opened a few years ago... so is the film any good? I don't know: visually interesting, but Lolo fell asleep in the middle and I turned it off. Guess it didn't have enough naked women in it to keep him awake... ;-)

Musical interlude of the day

Sleep holy babe 



you can also find  the lyrics and midi on line.

Stuff below the fold

Another day, another typhoon sub tropical cyclone...due to hit south of here next week

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The press distorted what the pope said (so what else is new?). and the blaphemous comments are enough to show you that the comment checker in the Washington Post thinks it's okay to be anti Catholic.

The press distortion gives one impression that the probably fictional parts of the stories were important but ignoring the dogma in his book...more HERE.

But reaffirming Christ was God, and why this is important, was completely ignored.
God is real, God is a person not a force, God cares about us and entered into history as a man, not with a miraculous force, and God didn't change the world by becoming a powerful king to force us to be good, but as a child in a poor family, to identify with ordinary people and to show us how to live.

as the hymn says:

Oh Lord of Earth and sea and sky

How sweet it is to see Thee lie

Upon thy mother's breast.

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Religious headline of the day:

Pentagon Spends $100,000 to Find Out: ‘Did Jesus Die for Klingons Too?’

In addition to $1.5 billion being spent on a plan to invent roll-up beef jerky, an iPhone app that helps people schedule their coffee breaks and scientific research on the swimming patterns of goldfish, was a workshop blending Christianity with the existence of aliens.

The event, entitled “Did Jesus Die for Klingons Too?,” focused on “the implications for Christianity if intelligent life were to be found on other planets.” According to the Global Post, actors such as LeVar Burton and Nichelle Nichols were present, and an “intergalactic gala celebration” was included, at which attendees were urged to don “starship cocktail attire.”

Actually as any CSLewis fan can tell you, if we meet ET's they might be like the CSLewis Martians or Narnians, and either not need a redemption, or maybe Maladil had sent their own redeemer... or maybe they were so fallen that they were not open to redemption (something that Tokien pondered about the orcs).... Since Klingons can do good, I doubt they fit into this last catagory.
 

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Stupid goldfish tricks 


  




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Factoid of the day

Downton Abby is inspired by the family of Lord Carnarvan, the guy who funded the Tut excavation.

Officially, Almina was the daughter of Marie and Fred Wombwell. Unofficially, she was the beloved bantling of French Marie and her fabulously rich lover, Alfred de Rothschild. Keen to cement a social position that was still slightly tricky for a Jewish banker, Rothschild announced that his fortune would be bestowed upon Almina. Enter Lord Carnarvon, proprietor (despite a vexing lack of ready cash) of four estates, at least 6,000 acres, and Highclere Castle, the grandly Victorian monster-mansion best known today as Downton Abbey, home of the Granthams.
Highclere, at the time that the tiny Almina (nicknamed "the pocket Venus") became its mistress in 1895, was beginning to topple under the enormous weight of its upkeep.

ah, but there is also an R rated version of the family:

To some, Lord Fellowes’s first series appeared a little far-fetched. But an explosive new biography of Highclere’s chatelaine of the time makes it look tame by comparison....

Lady Almina liked spending money and liked boy toys, but found her match in the ex wife of her second hubby...




headsup UncleOrson