Entries from March 2007
Terrorists in Iraq were waved through a checkpoint because they had two children in the back seat of their car — then blew up the car with the kids still in it. The cowards didn’t even have the courage to stay in the car themselves and become martyrs for the cause.
There is only way to deal with monsters like this: Crush them. Without mercy. Yet many of our politicians want to turn the country over to these thugs. Unbelievable.
Oh, and I’m sure this is in no way related to recent reports of “foreigners” applying for jobs as school bus drivers here in the States.
Categories: Islam · Politics
What a friend of Dennis Prager witnessed at his son’s baseball game explains much that is wrong in our society. When “feelings” trump truth, fairness, hard work, character, and striving for excellence, our young people grow up woefully unprepared to handle the real world.
Categories: Culture
No, it’s not a sequel to a Tom Clancy novel. According to their website, it’s a group that is “dedicated to protecting and expanding democracy by winning the global war against terrorism and the movements and ideologies that drive it.” The list of members looks like a who’s who of leaders in government, academia, business, and law — all of whom share a deep concern for the threat posed by the rise of radical Islam, and the lack of a vigorous response to this threat. The group is bi-partisan, as reflected in two of its chairmen, Senators Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). The group is getting some media attention. That’s good — we need heavy hitters like this to push our elected officials into some serious debate on the crisis, instead of the political grandstanding and multicultural blather that seems to dominate the issue.
Categories: Islam · Politics
Dr. Leen Ritmeyer is a prominent archaeologist who has spent much of his career excavating in the vicinity of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. “Things are developing so rapidly in the world of Biblical Archaeology” that he has started his own blog to inform the public of the latest discoveries–including the possible discovery of King David’s palace.
Categories: Archaeology
New Scientist magazine describes a new type of matter that is unlike anything else we’ve seen in the universe so far: “string-net liquid.”
Scientists have been able to construct a type of matter that displays something called the “fractional quantum hall effect” (or FQHE).
Different phases of matter are characterised by the way their atoms are organised. In a liquid, for instance, atoms are randomly distributed, whereas atoms in a solid are rigidly positioned in a lattice. FQHE systems are different. “If you take a snapshot of the position of electrons in an FQHE system they appear random and you think you have a liquid,” says Wen. But step back, and you see that, unlike in a liquid, the electrons dance around each other in well-defined steps.
The researchers discovered an impure sample of this type of matter in a green crystal found by geologists in Chile many years ago (called “herbertsmithite”, see photo). The geologists had no idea what they had found. But the scientists were inspired to create a pure sample in their lab. The sample they created displayed properties never before seen in any existing material. For example, it maintained steady heat conductivity in temperatures down to just above absolute zero.
All kinds of theoretical implications have arisen from this discovery–and some very practical ones, such as the possibility of constructing quantum computers.
Fascinating stuff.
Categories: Something Different
Bernard Lewis is a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. He is recognized as the preeminent historian of our time on Islam and its history. Last year he granted a wide-ranging interview on the clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. His assessment of the West’s timidity in the face of Islam’s arrogance is chilling:
I think that the way that Ahmadinejad is talking now shows quite clearly his contempt for the Western world in general and the United States in particular. They feel they are dealing with, as Osama bin Laden put it, an effete, degenerate, pampered enemy incapable of real resistance. And they are proceeding on that assumption. Remember that they have no understanding or experience of the free debate of an open society. Where we see free debate and criticism, they see fear, weakness and division; they proceed accordingly, and every day brings new evidence of that from Iran.
I think it is a dangerous situation. And my only hope is that they are not right in their interpretation of the Western world. I have often thought in recent years of World War II — you were told earlier that I’m ancient myself. The most vividly remembered year of my life was the year 1940. And more recently I have been thinking of 1938 rather than of 1940. We seem to be in the mode of Chamberlain and Munich rather than of Churchill.
It’s a long read, but well worth the time.
Categories: Islam · Politics
Mike Rosen comments on Utah’s recent decision to enact an education voucher system for all families in the state. Depending on each family’s income, the vouchers will be from $500 to $3,000 per child, enabling ordinary families to shop around for the best schools–public or private–for their kids.
Naturally, the Utah teachers’ union is fighting this furiously. Monopolies always hate competition.
Categories: Culture · Politics
Theodore Dalrymple tells an hilarious story about trying to track down his lost cellphone at his local bank in London — via the nice customer service people in India. His conclusion: “The modern world isn’t always more efficient.”
Categories: Something Different
The Defense Department recently tested a new generation Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) weapon — aka “Bunker Buster” — at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Check out this bad boy here.
Categories: Islam · Something Different
Alison Armstrong runs a women’s organization called PAX Programs (Latin for “peace”), dedicated to bringing peace in the never-ending war between the sexes. She conducts a series of popular workshops around the country. Several of Alison’s articles have been collected at the Conscious Loving web site. There are several gems in these pieces. For example:
Men are “Single Focused.” This means that they pay attention to one thing at a time. Being multi-tasking and multi-awareness, women have often made the mistake of interpreting Single Focus as being stupid or stubborn. It is not. It is just a different way of thinking that is extremely effective for many purposes.
Or this:
While men are accused of being “shallow”, they are actually the opposite. They are like deep, deep wells. If you don’t give him a chance to draw up another bucket, you will only get what was on the surface. Make sure you are safe to talk to — this means that you can’t have a “right answer” in mind. If his answer will get him in trouble with you, he can tell this and is likely to not answer at all. The odds of him answering the question the way you would are slim, be willing to be surprised and learn something from him.
This gal gets it.
Categories: Culture · Gender
Richard Viguerie says that he “is not focusing on 2008. Realistically, it will probably take until the year 2016″ before conservatism regains the luster it enjoyed during the Reagan years. No doubt, when the conservative baby boom starts impacting society.
Categories: Culture · Politics
Including a collection of stories about people who have fallen from great heights and survived: The Free Fall Research Page. “A few people have survived a fall of thousands of feet without a working parachute. This research page is dedicated to recording their stories.” Poke around in the categories in the menu bar at the top for some really amazing — and apparently true — stories of survival.
Categories: Something Different
In November 2006, six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, because of complaints from other passengers about their very suspicious behavior. Now the imams are suing US Airways for discrimination. More ominously, they are seeking to identify and sue the individual passengers who complained about them.
With this recent development, the original episode appears more than ever to have been deliberately staged to provide a pretext for legal action. The intent is to bully and intimidate us into silence.
First, they used our own technology and freedom against us. Now, they are using our own legal system against us. And Muslims wonder why Americans are so uncomfortable about the rise of Islam in our society.
UPDATE: Little Green Footballs has already received offers from lawyers to provide pro bono legal aid to any passengers named in the suit.
Categories: Islam
If you’re into archaeology, check out the story of a collection of ancient Roman ships that are being unearthed in the city of Pisa, just a short distance away from the famous leaning tower. (Be sure to follow the links at the bottom of the page for additional text and photos.) Although the sea is now six miles away, the ships sank long ago in what was then the main harbor of the city. Preserved by centuries of silt, the ships have yielded a treasure trove of ordinary objects that tell a remarkable story of maritime life some two millenia ago. In one ship, archaeologists discovered the remains of a sailor and his dog, and were able to reconstruct what apparently happened to him. If you can read Italian, go to the official website of the “ancient ships of Pisa” (follow the side bar links to see more photos and diagrams). Read more here. Or get the book.
Categories: Archaeology
John Leo documents several cases where the MSM bends over backwards not to reveal the racial or ethnic identity of perps in criminal cases. Of course, those rules somehow don’t apply to, say, rich white frat boys accused of raping a black girl.
And the media can’t figure out why their credibility is so low in the eyes of the general public. Duh!
Categories: Culture · Politics
Even those who support Al Gore’s campaign against global warming are urging him to back off his shrill pronouncements of doom and gloom. They are concerned that “some of Mr. Gore’s central points are exaggerated and erroneous.” Furthermore, this article — in the NY Times, of all places — quotes a number of distinguished scientists who are openly skeptical of Gore’s claims. According to one marine biologist, “Nowhere does Mr. Gore tell his audience that all of the phenomena that he describes fall within the natural range of environmental change on our planet.” A very inconvenient truth, indeed.
UPDATE: Two women who set out to reach the North Pole to raise awareness of the dangers of global warming had to abandon their trek–because of the extreme cold. One of the hikers got frostbite on her toes, and their batteries froze, rendering some of their electronic equipment inoperable. Temperatures inside their tent reached 58 degrees below zero. Outside, it was greater than 100 below. They had planned to “don body suits and swim through areas where polar ice has melted.” Alas, the globe wasn’t as warm as they had hoped.
Categories: Global Warming · Politics
In recent years, I have noticed a peculiar phenomenon in my circle of acquaintances: those who are politically and culturally conservative tend to be married and have large families; those who are liberal tend not to be married, or if they are, they have small families. This personal observation is not unique. A number of articles in the last year or so document this growing “fertility gap” between liberals and conservatives.
A good introduction to the subject is an op ed piece by Arthur C. Brooks in the Wall Street Journal. Brooks argues that “liberals have a big baby problem: they’re not having enough of them.” The long-term effects of this baby bust could spell trouble for Democrats in future elections. “It would appear liberals have been quite successful controlling overpopulation–in the Democratic Party.”
An older article by Steve Sailor in The American Conservative analyzes the numbers in greater detail. The demographics are overwhelmingly in favor of conservatives. The following chart shows the striking correlation between white fertility and the states that went for Bush in ‘04. (In case you’re curious, the blue dot in the lower left corner is Washington, D.C. The red dot in the upper right corner is Utah. Surprised?)
Mark Steyn has written extensively on the slow cultural suicide that liberal Europe is experiencing due to its declining birthrate. At least here in the States, there is still a sizable chunk of the population — conservatives — who think that making babies and raising families is fun.
If this demographic trend holds up for another generation or so, conservatives will rule the land, simply by virtue of having out-multiplied the competition. Of course, there are two factors that could lessen the impact of this trend: widespread defections among the youngsters raised in conservative homes (which explains liberals’ tight grip on the educational establishment), and illegal immigration (which explains the Democratic Party’s refusal to address the issue). But even accounting for those offsets, I suspect the future looks very red indeed. One can only hope.
DISCLAIMER: My wife and I have four kids and five grandkids (so far). Want to guess my political bent?
Categories: Culture · Politics
In honor of all my Texas relatives:
Network TV is reported to be developing a Texas version of “Survivor,” the popular TV show.
Contestants must travel from Amarillo through Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and back to Amarillo, through San Marcos and Lubbock. Each will be driving a Volvo with a bumper sticker that reads: “I voted for Kerry, I’m gay, and I’m here to take your guns.”
The first contestant to complete the round trip is the winner.
Categories: Humor
A British newspaper reports that US covert operatives are hot on the trail of Osama bin Laden — inside Pakistan, apparently with Musharraf’s tacit consent. This marks a major new development in the war on terror.
Categories: Islam · Politics
Victor Davis Hanson, one of my favorite historians, reviews the new Zach Snyder movie “300.” He prefaces it with a superb sketch of the battle of Thermopylae and its place in history, honoring “this universal idea of Western soldiers willing to die as free men rather than to submit to tyranny.”
UPDATE: Liberals hate it “as a textbook example of how race-baiting fantasy and nationalist myth can serve as an incitement to total war.” The parallels to our modern struggle must strike close to home.
Categories: Movie reviews
Looks like CBS News is being groomed to serve as Hillary’s personal campaign organ. Who needs public campaign financing when you’ve got the MSM carrying your water for you?
Categories: Politics
By profession, I am a technical writer. Two years ago, I was given the title of “Information Architect,” with a mandate to analyze and better organize the vast horde of information that our company was throwing at our customers. Alas, I kept my existing role as project lead, which prevented me from spending much time on the IA function. That is about to change, and I am now able to spend more time architecting the information.
Information architecture is still in its infancy. If you google “Information Architect,” you get a ton of links that define an IA as someone who designs websites. But there are other definitions that encompass much more than just websites. My role fits in those other definitions — I have nothing to do with our company’s website.
Joshua Porter at Bokardo.com has written an excellent piece on the impending death of information architecture. He argues that the most effective architecture of information focuses not on the information, but on the users of the info — what the user wants, needs, does. He quotes one of his readers who suggests better titles such as “interaction architect” or “experience designer.” Whatever the label, his observation on IA mirrors my own experience in the field of technical writing: the most effective documentation is user-centric, rather than product-centric. Which is another way of saying, never let your R&D engineers write the product documentation. They will document the product to a “tee,” but the poor users won’t have a clue what to do with it.
Categories: Personal
Afghan army forces captured a key Taliban leader who was wearing a unique disguise. “Maybe that traditional Muslim dress reveals a lot more than one might think?”
Categories: Islam · Politics
Authorities have revealed a detailed account of the twisted love triangle involving three astronauts, that culminated in the bizarre attack by one of the women on her rival. This affair will become a TV movie, I have no doubt. In the meantime, the story of how these three people’s lives became so tragically entangled teaches a couple of lessons that our society has forgotten:
- First, what people do in their private lives very much DOES affect their job performance — especially if their private lives involve colleagues in the workplace. The effort to completely divorce the two is sheer fantasy.
- Second, no matter how much training they may undergo to maintain a professional relationship, men and women are still sexual creatures. Throw them together in close proximity for long periods of time, and hormones will begin to flow. The havoc wrought by this social experiment in the astronaut corps is repeated countless times in businesses every day. Even the military is having to deal with this kind of problem now.
I’m not advocating an Islamic gender segregation policy, but we do need a restoration of common sense in anticipating and avoiding the potential problems associated with gender-mixing in high-stress environments.
Categories: Culture
After several years of reading a plethora of other blogs, I’ve finally decided that the blogosphere is still not big enough. It needs one more. So please welcome (drum roll, please) Poppypundit.
Who is Poppypundit? Domestically, he is a husband, father, and grandfather, so he has a keen interest in the world he leaves behind to his family. Spiritually, he is a Christian, although difficult to pigeonhole. Politically, he is a conservative Republican, with a dash of libertarianism tossed in to add some spice. Geographically, he is a Midwesterner, with proud Texas roots. Professionally, he is a technical writer, so he digs the geeky stuff. As you can tell, there’s opportunity for all sorts of biases and opinions here.
Expect original commentary on current events, with a lot of links to other items of interest. A few personal details will occasionally find their way in, but not enough to bore the reader. (Okay, my mom thinks this is a recipe for boredom in itself, but she’ll just have to deal with it.)
Finally, it wouldn’t be a real blog if it didn’t generate comments. So feel free to jump in. Just keep it clean.
Categories: Personal
