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Congratulations to Vladimir Kramnik who today won the World Chess Championship, becoming the first unified world chess champion since 1993 when Kasparov left FIDE. Kramnik’s next opponent will be Deep Fritz 10, a German chess program, in a “Man versus Machine” match beginning November 25th. Good luck, Mr. Kramnik!
The last of the United States Navy’s F-14 Tomcats will be officially retired from active service today in a fitting ceremony at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Their flight service ended yesterday at about 3:30pm local time when the last F-14 landed at Oceana.
The Navy’s F-14 Tomcats have been replaced gradually by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which will now (officially) be the Navy’s only active fighter. Strange to consider that as of today, only Iran’s air force will be flying F-14’s.
The F-14 has flown continuously in the defense of liberty since 1974, and will never be forgotten by those who served with her.
Nobody’s asked me yet, but here’s my definition of a planet:
A spherical body orbiting a body of stellar or greater mass, with sufficient mass to prevent any stable, coplanar, non-resonant orbit with a period between 2/3 and 3/2 of its own period.
Point by point:
Anybody heard of a better one?
A friend and I talked today about the sheer number of alternative realities represented on the Web, and he commented that Freedom of Speech might have been taken too far. He was joking, but I took the opportunity to vehemently disagree.
I believe that it is CRITICAL to the continued advancement of human knowledge that crackpots be allowed to freely publish their rants and ravings. The benefits are legion:
As always, there is an appropo Far Side cartoon: Illustrated in each quadrant of the cartoon were a spiny puffer fish, an arched and hissing cat, a coiled rattlesnake, and a man with a boot on his head and an inflatable duck ring around his waist, carrying a bazooka. The caption was “How nature says, ‘don’t touch.’”
British thespian Paul Bettany plays Silas, an “albino monk assassin,” in the new film The da Vinci Code.
Am I the only one who reads the phrase “albino monk assassin” and wonders whether it’s an albino monk who kills people, or a person who kills albino monks? If it’s the latter, he’s gotta be the loneliest guy since the Maytag repairman…
I finally upgraded my ancient and somewhat flaky CTX monitor. Its replacement is an Acer AL1916, 19″ LCD, which was a steal for $189 — $157 after tax and rebate. (If you haven’t been to slickdeals.net, go now.)
A friend at work just bought an EVGA nVidia 6200 VGA+DVI video card to run two analog monitors. Unfortunately his PC doesn’t have an AGP slot (a must-have if you intend to use an AGP video card), so he went back and bought a PCI-Express video card. Unfortunately his PC doesn’t have a PCI-Express AGP slot either, so he went back and bought a PCI card. It fit, and he’s all happy now, but he has to ship two cards back and pay for restocking. What to do?
I bought his AGP card, hooked it all up last night and the difference is spectacular. I now have the best computer video and monitor I’ve ever had, all for less than $200, and I have to say to anyone who has not done so: Get an LCD now. Get DVI, too–it’s well worth the price difference, and will give you a good excuse to upgrade your old video card. You’ll have less eyestrain, fewer headaches, and that great “new computer” feeling without all the expense.
Plus, if you want a PCI-Express card, I know where you can get one cheap.
reporting on Stephen Hayes’ explosive article in the November 21 issue of the Weekly Standard about Iraqi documents captured by the Iraq Survey Group weapons search team and still being analyzed by our intelligence services. The documents refer to plans made by Hussein’s government to hide weapons of mass destruction before the March ‘03 invasion, and that government’s intimate relationship with al Qaeda before 9/11. Don’t waste time here–read the article.
Proof that country music fans have class
The following quote appeared in a story released yesterday by the New York Times and the Associated Press. It refers to the Uptown Wal-Mart in New Orleans, opened a year ago and recently demolished by post-Katrina looting.
“They took everything — all the electronics, the food, the bikes,” said John Stonaker, a Wal-Mart security officer. “People left their old clothes on the floor when they took new ones. The only thing left are the country-and-western CDs. You can still get a Shania Twain album.”
Rock was gone. Rap was gone. Even the children’s CDs were taken. But there appears to be one thing the most destructive and self-serving looters had in common; they weren’t country fans.
Our prayers and support are with those who are struggling to survive, recover and rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. God bless.
Congratulations to NASA and the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery on this morning’s successful launch of the first manned U.S. space mission since the loss of Columbia. Godspeed, guys.
Today the news media are filled with stories that the supposed mastermind of the 7/7 London bombings has been captured in Egypt. This is really great news, and I congratulate those responsible for his apprehension.
What I haven’t seen, however, is that the suspect, Egyptian biochemist Magdy Mahmoud Mostapha al-Nashar (formerly of the University of Leeds—the preceding link is from Google cache), was (indirectly) funded by grants.
According to what I’ve found so far, Magdy is a Fellow of the Bioscience Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship, a business incubator program. The BYEF has apparently funded his work in “carrageenan gel matrix scaffolds,” possibly for as much as £40,000 (about $70,400) in grants and interest-free loans. Supposedly, some of this money was intended to be used to purchase chemicals for his work. How much of these chemicals went to London last week?
I’m not commenting (yet) on the backstory here–I just found this quite interesting. For more about Magdy, try Google and Google News.
UPDATE: Leeds Today now reports that while he was indeed awarded a fellowship and given a £30,000 grant, “he never accessed any of the cash.” Seems odd, considering recent events.
Please pray for our brothers in arms in the United Kingdom, where the War on Terror has opened another front.
Born in Meridian, Mississippi on July 1st, 1927, Bryant Winfield Culberson Dunn served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II, then returned to graduate from the University of Mississippi with a B.B.A. in 1950, and from the University of Tennessee Medical Units in Memphis with a D.D.S. in 1955.
Dunn started a successful dental practice in Memphis after his graduation, and soon thereafter became active in city politics. Dunn soon became of Shelby County Republican Party Chairman, and later was a delegate to the 1968 Republican National Convention.
The Republican Party made considerable gains in the South in the 1960s, and this was especially true in Memphis. In 1970, Dunn ran for the Republican nomination for governor, an office for which the GOP hadn’t even fielded a nominee in the previous election. Dunn defeated four opponents in the primary, then went on to defeat John Jay Hooker to become the first Republican governor of Tennessee elected in half a century, having never before held public office.
Dunn stands out as one of the finest governors in our state’s history. He was active in education, civil rights and the advancement of industry and commerce in the state. He instituted a statewide kindergarten program for Tennessee children, instituted improvements and higher efficiency in several major branches of state government, and developed successful highway construction plans and health programs. Dunn created the Department of Economic and Community Development, as well as the Department of General Services to increase efficiency and cost savings in state purchasing and property management. He divided the State Department of Personnel and enhanced efficiency there as well.
One of Winfield Dunn’s goals as governor was to strengthen the bonds between the state’s Grand Divisions. With this in mind, he issued an executive order to change all the state line greeting signs from “Welcome to the Three States of Tennessee” to “Welcome to the Great State of Tennessee.” He enlisted talented and capable members of both parties from every corner of the state in his administration.
From 1971 to 1973, Governor Dunn was a member of the National Governors’ Conference Executive Committee and chaired the Education Commission of the States. In recognition of his statesmanship he was elected to serve as chairman of the Republican Governors Association from 1973 to 1974.
Governor Dunn could have easily won reelection, but at that tim the state Constitution prohibited governors from serving consecutive terms. Governor Dunn did not return to dentistry, however, but became a highly successful businessman in Nashville, especially in banking. He chaired the Tennessee State Board of Regents as well as the Tennessee Board of Trustees. In 1988, he served as chairman of George Bush’s Tennessee Steering Committee.
Governor Dunn has devoted countless hours of service to a laundry list of worthy causes such as the Nashville Conference of Christians and Jews, the Nashville Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the United Way. He has been chosen three times as Tennessee’s Man of the Year.
Now semi-retired, Governor Dunn continues to be a greatly respected and beloved elder statesman of the Tennessee Republican Party.
I had the extreme good fortune to meet Governor Winfield Dunn back in 1996 when one of his business interests shared an office building with my own company. He was open and personable, and always had time to speak to everyone. In the few times I’ve seen him since then he has always been warm and gracious, and I’ve always considered myself blessed for having spoken with him.
Governor Winfield Dunn was and is a giant of a man in every way, and there is no better example for anyone in Tennessee public service to follow. On the occasion of his 78th birthday, I want to remember and thank him for all that he has done and continues to do for his Great State of Tennessee.
President Bush will deliver a message to the nation tonight from Fort Bragg. The network coverage will begin at 7:00pm central time.
For those who can’t wait, though, Associated Press reporter and Democratic operative Jennifer Loven has already published her report on the speech. With a dateline nearly ten hours before the speech, Loven still had the temerity to phrase it as though the event had already happened. Guess she didn’t want to miss Gilmore Girls to hear a guy who really isn’t her president.
Also, I’d love to know what journalistic standard caused the Associated Press to decide hours later to change the headline from “Bush Appeals for Nation’s Patience on Iraq” to “Bush: Bloodshed in Iraq Is ‘Worth It’”. Good thing there’s no liberal bias in the mainstream media, eh?
Later update: The story’s dateline has now changed to 7:06 PM ET, but not one word was changed since the original version was posted nearly nine hours before.
New York Governor George Pataki had some choice words for Senator Hillary Clinton (D, NY) on Thursday. She had demanded that he condemn White House advisor Karl Rove for his comments that liberals were–well, liberal. Speaking to reporters, Pataki said:
I think it’s a little hypocritical for Senator Clinton to call on me to repudiate a political figure’s comment, when she never asked Senator Durbin to repudiate his comments. She never responded when asked to respond.She never responded to Howard Dean’s insult to every single Republican, saying that they never earned an honest day’s living.
She never responded to Senator Reid’s unfair criticism of the President; he called the President a loser and a liar. He’s never apologized; she never requested that.
She never called for an apology or clarification when Moveon.org called for “moderation and restraint” in response to the terrorist attacks.
So, when she does that, I’ll be glad to listen to her call for me to ask someone to apologize.
So, who else wants to draft Pataki in 2008?
The United States Supreme Court has once again proven why it needs at least one more conservative justice. In their decision handed down today in Kelo v. New London, the court abdicated their duty to enforce the Bill of Rights, especially the Fifth Amendment’s limitation of the states’ power of eminent domain.
Dan Ackman’s salient Forbes essay titled “Power to the Public” is an excellent overview of what SCOTUS has done, and why it was not at all for the greater good. [Update: George Will’s Friday essay presents the entire issue in an astonishingly pure light.]
Father’s day means quite a lot to me these days. My son Jackson has made the last two extremely special, allowing me to finally see the day from the perspective of the honoree. But the last three have also been special for another reason.
I nearly lost my Dad in January 2003 to a severe subdural hematoma. It was touch-and-go for several months—my first blog chronicled that period for Dad’s family and friends around the country. Thankfully, with God’s help, Mom’s tireless support and all our love, he slowly pulled himself back to awareness, then to mobility and finally home. Now he’s alert and active and even driving again, and though he still has bad days as well as good, we’re all very grateful to have him back in our lives.
I’ve been blessed to be able to honor my Dad for these last three Father’s Days, and doubly blessed to also share my first two with him.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
We’ve all heard someone spread slander while simultaneously condemning it—something like, “Did you hear the rumor that…? Well, I HATE that rumor!” It’s an old joke, but it still seems that people who haven’t heard it (or think that YOU haven’t heard it) are always trying it.
Howard Dean, the outspoken chairman of the Democratic National Committee, released just such a statement yesterday (archived here in case the original changes) about anti-Semitic literature that was passed out at DNC headquarters. The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon during a DNC-sponsored anti-war rally (shades of the Winter Soldier “Investigation”). Anti-Semitic documents, replete with accusations worthy of Dick Durbin’s Nazis, were handed out to the audience as the organizers distributed anti-administration and anti-war paraphernalia.
The Friday statement claimed that “members of the audience” actually “took it upon themselves” to distribute this hate literature, implying that the DNC and their minions had no part in it—This, even though one of their “witnesses” spoke at length that Israel was the enemy and wanted control of the region, that the Israeli PM controlled the U.S. government, and that he had been branded by the Republican administration as being anti-Semitic. Oh, really?
After taking a full day to think it over, Dean issued the statement indicating the DNC’s “disagreement” with the “allegations” in the distributed literature. Not lies, not hate speech, not even exaggerations, but allegations. For those unfamiliar with the English language, an allegation is not a falsehood, but a statement made prior to offering proof to support it. [Hint to the DMC: If you’re distributing bumperstickers at an event that call the President a liar and a murderer, you have to condemn the anti-Semitic literature that you members of the audience handed out in at least equally strong terms.]
The statement goes on to summarize the anti-Semitic “allegations” for those who didn’t get a copy. Since the first media mention of it was in the text of Dean’s statement, that includes just about everybody.
Al-Jazeerah and others are already reporting joyously on the rally, pointing to it as proof that support of American efforts in Iraq is crumbling (as if the DNC were, until Thursday, staunch supporters of the President), and quoting the “witness” and his anti-Israel remarks, spurring Israel’s enemies to even greater hatred.
You’ve forgotten a basic truth, Mr. Dean. In the Middle East, anti-Semitism isn’t a pamphlet passed around at a D.C. publicity stunt. To our strongest ally in the region, to six million people surrounded by enemies, defending a tiny, arid strip of land smaller than New Jersey, it is a constant threat of death at the hands of the enemies that surround them. In the eyes of an Israeli child who may be killed next week by a suicide bomber that you helped to inspire, you’re the anti-Semite.
Yale Professor David Gelernter has written another wonderful commentary that everyone should read and every parent should put into practice.
I don’t know what could be more ironic than PETA employees getting arrested for animal cruelty. Perhaps this sad story will force more people to see the hypocrisy of this terrorist-supporting, anti-human organization. Visit petakillsanimals.com (or hundreds of other sites) for more information.
Question: Since PETA asserts that the lives of animals and humans are morally equivalent, shouldn’t these people be dealt with as if they’d “rescued” 31 human orphans, then killed them and thrown them in a dumpster? Come on, PETA, don’t be hypocrites! Call for the death penalty for these two mass murderers! Ingrid Newkirk must step down now in response to these atrocities!
Well, at least they didn’t make the poor things wear panties on their heads.
[Editor’s note: The author’s original submission included a call for the Animal Liberation Front to respond to this “animal holocaust” by firebombing PETA headquarters. The author intended this as a satirical comment on radical animal-rights groups in general and did not intend for it to be taken literally. We have nevertheless deleted that passage to avoid offending our readers or the braindamaged sociopathic pyromaniacs of the ALF. Thank you for your understanding.]