Monday, February 28, 2011

Quiz Question

Whenver our Maximum Leader goes through her cat door, she reminds me of one of these.


Quiz question: What are they and where are they referenced?

Cheezburger of the Day

If Tim McIlrath Wins, He Still Loses

So some dude named Tim McIlrath performed at one of the Wisconsin Union rallies recently. He played that ghastly CSNY song, Ohio, and urged the ralliers to "rise against" ... compound interest tables.

Fight the power! Or maybe the exponent!

Poor Timmy, you see, can't seem to fathom the whole pensions-are-underfunded thing nor does he get the idea that the Unions are the power. They negotiate with the politicians who agree to have Union dues taken directly out of employee paychecks so part can be handed over to the politicians to re-elect them so they can go back and negotiate with the Unions again. In any case, here's the Timster crooning that lovely ballad written to commemorate a few students who got shot after they spent a cheery afternoon throwing rocks and bottles at people with guns.


The song is a fitting choice for too many reasons to list here. It's a famous ballad from a group that personified the empty-headed selfishness of the time that led us to so much that is wrong with America today. The kids in the audience will spend their lives paying, paying, paying for the idiocies of the CSNY crowd. Perhaps his next selection might be that wonderful paean to sexual gratification for males and economic slavery for single moms, Love the One You're With.

Or maybe just a reenactment of the Greek riots of last year.


These Unions won their fight with The Man, Timmy, but lost to the compound interest tables. That's your stage down there in the bottom center at about 0:35, getting peppered with rubber bullets and engulfed in tear gas. Go on up there and play, man, go on! You're next!

Wow Keren, Inilah Eksperimen Dari Sebuah Teh Celup

Kali ini kita akan bereksperimen menggunakan teh celup, apa yang bisa kita lakukan dengan benda kecil itu? Sebelum kita bereksperimen, ada baiknya kita mengetahui sejarah dibalik pembuatan teh celup ini.

Teh celup tercipta secara tidak sengaja ketika seorang pedagang teh dan kopi bernama thomas sullivan (1904) memasukkan teh yang akan dijualnya ke dalam kemasan sutera.



Awalnya pelanggan yang membeli harus membuka kemasan sutera tersebut untuk mengambil teh yang ada di dalamnya. hingga suatu ketika ada pelanggan yang memasukkan kemasan sutera berisi teh tersebut ke dalam air panas dan merasa cara itu lebih mudah untuk membuat teh.

Setelah itu teh kemasan sutera itu menjadi terkenal dan menjadi cara baru untuk menikmati teh.

Ok langsung aja kita ke eksperimen yang akan dipraktekkan. Untuk eksperimen kali ini bahan-bahan yang diperlukan adalah:

1. Teh celup (gunakan yang kemasannya dilipat dan ada staplesnya)
2. Korek api
3. Piring atau wadah



Langkah-langkah:

1. Buka satu kemasan teh celup (lepaskan staplesnya), keluarkan teh yang ada di dalam kemasan. Kemudian bentuk kemasan teh celup hingga menyerupai silinder (bisa diberdirikan di atas wadah).



2. Nyalakan korek api, kemudian bakar bagian atas silinder kemasan teh celup.



3. Biarkan api bergerak ke bawah dan membakar silinder kemasan teh celup tersebut.



4. Ketika api mendekati bagian bawah, kemasan teh celup tersebut Api akan terbang dan melayang ke atas.




Bagaimana hal itu dapat terjadi?

Ketika api membakar bagian atas silinder teh celup, udara di sekitarnya memanas, mengembang dan bersifat kurang padat.

Karena udara panas di atas api kurang padat dari udara (dingin) di sekitarnya, maka kemasan teh celup tersebut akan terdorong dan terbang ke atas.

(Gambar siklus udara di sekitar silinder kemasan teh celup)


Ketika udara panas naik ke atas, udara yang lebih dingin bergerak dan menggantikan posisi udara panas sebelumnya. Gerakan perpindahan panas ini berlangsung berulang-ulang menyebabkan kemasan teh celup terbang lebih tinggi dan lebih tinggi dari sebelumnya.

Pada awalnya, silinder kemasan teh celup masih terlalu berat untuk dapat diangkat. Tetapi ketika dibakar, massanya akan berkurang, semakin ringan sampai akhirnya cukup ringan bagi arus udara untuk mendorongnya terbang ke udara.

Sumber :
melorot.blogspot.com

inilah Jawaban Atas Misteri Manusia Magnet yang Manghebohkan

Discovery News meragukan kemampuan magnetik atau supranatural milik Bogdan, bocah laki-laki asal Serbia, sehingga perabotan rumah tangga bisa menempel pada kulitnya. Ada penjelasan dengan fisika mengenai "kemampuan" itu.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-NXZAZmGChAtps2NkD3MedkArQ-v6tHGCPdP-XPvF4Ffb3-o18W3B6PMm10DV674pdoOC0acCLFuKYYlKjWzLCI9wYwj-uIJ7gSVuCxhK1iLesmLcE-HsOljH7LVVrSPN6aTKfLpeidZ/s1600/manusia+magnet.JPG


Dalam sebuah artikel, Discovery News menyatakan bahwa fenomena itu tidak terletak pada sifat magnet atau kemampuan mistis, tetapi terletak pada fisika friksi pada kulit.

"Kulit elastis dan bisa menyelaraskan bentuknya dengan obyek yang menyentuhnya. Efek ini semakin terasa pada hari yang panas dan kulit tersentuh oleh tempat duduk plastik. Kulit juga bisa bersifat adhesif atau perekat pada beberapa material," demikian tertulis dalam artikel.

Bukti lain akan tiadanya sifat magnetik yang disebutkan oleh Discovery News adalah tidak semua benda metal menempel pada kulitnya. Piring plastik dan gelas juga menempel.

"Apa persamaan besi, gelas, dan plastik? Mereka punya permukaan yang mulus," demikian penjelasan Discovery News.

MSNBC dan The Daily Mail melaporkan ada bocah laki-laki dari Serbia yang punya kemampuan magnetik.

Sendok, garpu, pisau, dan perabotan dari besi lainnya bisa menempel di tubuhnya. Selain itu, Bogdan dan orang lain yang mengaku punya kemampuan serupa, juga memiliki sedikit rambut pada kulit sehingga obyek bisa menjalin kontak nyaris sempurna dengan kulit.

Discovery News juga menunjukkan cara paling sederhana untuk membuktikan adanya medan magnet. Bogdan selalu menempelkan objek-objek langsung pada kulit, tanpa pakaian.

Apabila memang ada medan magnet, seharusnya Bogdan juga bisa menempelkan obyek ketika ia mengenakan pakaian karena medan magnet bisa menembus kain tipis.

Daily Mail menurunkan berita mengenai Bogdan. Keluarganya mengaku, Bogdan memiliki kemampuan magnetik sejak lahir. Keluarga Bogdan melarang si bocah mendekati alat-alat listrik seperti televisi dan komputer. “Kemampuan magnetnya membuat alat-alat seperti itu mati,” ujar keluarga.

Sumber : 

Tersesat di Hutan? Ayo Kita Belajar Dari Monyet

Masyarakat yang hidup di perkotaan, mungkin tidak banyak tahu soal kehidupan masyarakat suku pedalaman.

Bila kita tersesat di hutan dan mengalami kelaparan atau kehausan, suku pedalaman Talang Mamak di Riau menyebut, tidak ada salahnya kita belajar dari monyet.


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi58atPM8nuEtLxikx6nVYmu6U5de0UZB7FAdCNSdzziwqqsH8U8wBi1lwHL9UJAYkvqRvXdduxe_4-u8yC0Xne6zDjDHyQvqVg3eSsE2lMPc8SKpNgEdY_B_huNur4JMNEchH6CbKtqVs/s1600/smiling+monkey.jpg


Marilah kita simak beberapa kearifan lokal bagi kita yang ingin memasuki kawasan hutan. Memasuki kawasan hutan belantara, kita diminta untuk tidak sesumbar atau tidak berbuat yang aneh-aneh.

Jika kita kehabisan bekal di tengah hutan, jangan terlalu panik. Suku pedalaman di Riau atau suku pedalaman apa pun yang ada di kawasan hutan belantara di Sumatera memiliki ilmu yang sama untuk bisa bertahan hidup di tengah hutan.

Menurut salah seorang tokoh adat Talang Mamak, Sidam Katak (70) yang hidup di dusun Datai, di kawasan puncak Taman Nasional Bukit Tigapuluh (TNBT), Kab Indragiri Hulu (Inhu) Riau, bila kita kehabisan bekal makanan maka kita harus belajar dengan monyet. Di tengah hutan, banyak buah-buahan yang jarang dilihat dan jarang juga di makan masyarakat.

"Jika sudah di tengah hutan perbekalan anda habis, jangan khawatir. Anda bisa memakan buah-buahan yang ada di hutan. Belajarlah dari monyet. Makanlah buah yang dimakan monyet, karena buah yang dimakan monyet pasti tidak beracun."

"Tapi sebaliknya, bila monyet tidak mau memakan buah itu, jangan coba-coba kita memakannya. Buah yang tidak dimakan monyet pasti buah beracun," kata Pak Katak begitu sapaan akrabnya.

Ilmu lain yang perlu kita pelajari adalah, bila kita tersesat di dalam hutan. Dalam kawasan hutan rimba, kita tidak bisa melihat sinar matahari secara jelas. Kondisi ini akan membingungkan kita untuk melihat dimana posisi timur atau barat.

Menurut Pak Katak, jangan khawatir bila tidak bisa memastikan mana arah timur dan barat tersebut. Tipsnya adalah, lihatlah ujung pohon di kawasan hutan itu.

http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/homes/s0094539/remarkable_forest.preview.jpg

Ujung pohon umumnya akan condong dan kecondongan itu pasti mengarah ke matahari terbit. Jika tidak bisa terlihat secara jelas, maka tips lainnya kita disuruh melihat lumut di bagian bawah pohon.

"Pohon tengah hutan bagian bawahnya biasanya berlumut. Lihat saja, lumut yang paling tebal dan hijau, itu pasti bagian timur. Sedangkan lumut yang tidak terlalu tebal, dipastikan berada di bagian terbenamnya matahari," kata Pak Katak.

Kalau kita kehausan di tengah kawasan hutan dan tidak menemukan aliran sungai, lanjut Pak Katak, disarankan untuk mencari air dalam lubang-lubang kecil atau besar.

"Minum saja air dalam lubang-lubang itu sepanjang di dalam lubang ada jentik-jentik nyamuk. Kalau jentik nyamuk saja bisa bertahan hidup dalam air itu, maka kita juga bisa meminum airnya."

"Tapi jika ada air yang bening, namun tidak ada jentiknya, jangan coba-coba untuk kita minum, bisa jadi air itu ada racunnya. Atau bisa juga kita perhatikan monyet tadi, kalau monyet mau meminum air itu, dijamin air itu tidak beracun," kata Katak.

Sumber :
detiknews.com

Sunday, February 27, 2011

How To Change A Tire

Spicy Mushroom Gravy

Playing around with my new Blogger app on my Droid.


Glee, House And Charlie Sheen

The last episode of House that we watched featured an annoyed Dr. House speaking at a grade school for career day. Trying to get out of the assignment, he decided to be his usual, shocking self. He described a vaginal exam for a woman who had overused her vibrator. The teacher was scandalized, but the real joke was on the one fat kid in the back of the room who didn't know what a vibrator was.

As I understand it, the last episode of Glee involved the kids all getting drunk and then performing.

Once we have properly "educated" our children and none of them are shocked any more by what they here or see - straight up pornography, drug abuse and drinking, then what?

In other news, Charlie Sheen, living the life endorsed and recommended by House, Glee, and his own show, Two and a Half Men, has completely self-destructed. No hint of irony was detected on anyone reporting the event.

Update: And, of course, a couple hundred young, fatherless men were arrested last night and sent to jail. But then again, that happens every night. What's the big deal?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Rich Boy Syndrome

Our Holy Ambassador to the Mainstream Media, Peggy Noonan, penned a great column today. Here's a tidbit.
Another reason for budget denialism is that everyone now in Congress lived through the greatest expansion of wealth in the history of man on earth. It happened here, in America, in the past 30 years. And we were rich even before that. But when you grow up in a time of constant expansion, when you grow up immersed in the assumption that we are rich and will always be rich, that we're powerful and will always be powerful, you start to think that America can take any amount of damage and still continue. This is called optimism, but it is not optimism, it is Rich Boy Syndrome. A boy is lucky enough to be born to rich parents who are themselves the product of generations of wealth going back as far as the eye can see. But he never got into the habit of making money, never learned to respect it, and never felt protective of the system that allowed it to exist. So the money went away. Rich Boy Syndrome is thinking wealth will just continue no matter what you do. A lot of members of Congress have Rich Boy Syndrome. They think they can do anything and America will always be rich.
It's worth reading the whole thing as this was not her main point, just one of many things in the column that struck me as particularly good.

Multiculturalism Explained

... as only Andrew Klavan can explain it.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Things I Recommend

I just started playing with the pages feature in Blogger and decided to put together a page of things I use all the time and would recommend to others. You can see it in the sidebar to the left. I'm not terribly happy with the content or formatting, but I figured I'd get started and modify it as I go along.

Something I Did Not Know

A friend invited me into a closed Facebook discussion on abortion and Libertarian morality. Thanks to my own warped view, it has devolved into a conversation about the first principles from which one might derive secular morality. In the process of the discussion, the topic of faith vs. science came up. I did some digging and here is the Catholic position on the two:
When a religious view is contradicted by a well-established scientific fact, then the sources of revelation have to be re-examined, and they will be found to leave the question open. When a clearly-defined dogma contradicts a scientific assertion, the latter has to be revised, and it will be found premature. When both contradicting assertions, the religious and the scientific, are nothing more than prevailing theories, research will be stimulated in both directions, until one of the theories appears unfounded.
If established science and accepted matters of faith collide, science wins and the matters of faith are re-examined. Way cool!

Hall-of-Famer science dude Louis Pasteur was a Catholic. Go team!

Update: Don't take this as a slap at anyone else. It's just something that made me smile.

Because Friday Is The Traditional Day For Catblogging

The air was cold and the hood was warm.

The Price Of Gold

A random observation: Every time we find out that the world isn't really going to end after all, the price of gold goes down.

Concentric Flowers

Sarapan di pagi hari .. Thats very Important !

Manfaat Sarapan
Sarapan atau makan pagi penting untuk dilakukan. Alasannya karena saat tidur selama kurang lebih 8 jam tubuh kita tidak ada makanan yang masuk dalam tubuh sedangkan aktivitas seperti bernafas, bergerak atau aktivitas ringan lain tetap berjalan. Akibatnya kadar gula dalam tubuh sangat rendah. Sedangkan pagi hari aktivitas fisik mulai berjalan, seperti melakukan perjalanan ke kantor, berpikir atau perlunya konsentrasi agar dapat melakukan kegiatan dengan baik. Semua ini memerlukan adanya energi dan energi didapatkan dari makanan yang disantap. Dengan menyantap makanan yang baik, akan membuat tubuh akan merasa kenyang dan akan membangkitkan semangat untuk melakukan aktivitas. Anda tidak akan merasa lesu atau disibukkan oleh perut yang kelaparan. Sarapan yang sehat dapat membantu menurunkan kadar kolesterol. Secara emosi, sarapan dapat menjadi tempat berkumpulnya seluruh anggota keluarga, saling bercerita, berkomunikasi dan mendekatkan diri secara emosi. Ini merupakan hal yang baik untuk menciptakan keluarga yang harmonis.

Mengapa Tidak Sarapan?
Tetapi, walau menyadari pentingnya sarapan. Ada orang yang merasa enggan melakukannya karena beberapa alasan. Misalnya:
©      Diburu waktu, agar tidak terlambat sampai di kantor, seseorang melewatkan sarapan atau hanya minum susu atau kopi sebagai sarapannya. Untuk mengatasi masalah ini, ada baiknya Anda bangun lebih pagi. Agar tidak merasa mengantuk saat bangun pagi, Anda harus tidur lebih awal. Mendisiplin diri agar tidak tergoda untuk menonton TV atau berinternet yang dapat membuat kita terjaga sampai larut malam.
©       Takut gemuk. Mengurangi jatah masuknya makanan di pagi hari dapat membuat kita terlihat langsing. Pendapat ini salah besar karena justru tanpa sarapan, kalori yang disantap bisa lebih banyak. Tanpa sarapan, metabolisme tubuh dan pembakaran lemak dalam tubuh akan menurun sehingga nafsu makan siang akan meningkat. Tubuh yang terasa lapar dapat membuat Anda mencari cemilan sehingga kalori yang masuk dalam tubuh meningkat.
©       Tidak terbiasa, merasa mual atau sakit perut bila makan di pagi hari. Anda harus menanamkan dalam pikiran untuk bersungguh-sungguh membiasakan diri sarapan agar tetap sehat. Coba untuk tidak langsung sarapan setelah bangun tidur tetapi berikan jeda waktu antara 1-2 jam setelah bangun baru menyantap sarapan Anda. Hal lain yang dapat dilakukan adalah dengan tidak lengsung menghabiskan sarapan, tetapi membaginya dalam beberapa porsi kecil yang dapat disantap sepanjang pagi. Pastikan agar kemasan tidak rusak yang dapat menyebabkan makanan menjadi rusak.
©       Bosan atau tidak nafsu untuk menyantap sarapan. Solusinya adalah dengan membuat menu sarapan bervariasi tidak hanya nasi goreng, roti selai, telur dadar atau menu lain yang hanya itu-itu saja. Memang hal ini tidak mudah, karena mungkin Anda yang bekerja, Anda bisa terlambat ke kantor bila harus menyiapkan makanan yang repot. Tetapi Anda dapat mencoba mempersiapkan bahan makanan untuk sarapan pada malam hari. Esoknya, Anda tinggal menyelesaikan makanan dengan memasak yang akan menghemat waktu. Dengan meyediakan waktu lebih banyak, manfaat yang bisa didapat lebih banyak pula.

Menu Sarapan
Sarapan sudah dilakukan setiap hari. Tetapi, apakah menu makan pagi Anda sudah sehat? Banyaknya kalori yang sebaiknya masuk dalam tubuh kita waktu sarapan adalah sebanyak 300-400 kalori. Makanan yang dianjurkan untuk sarapan adalah menu yang cukup gizinya, menu yang sesuai dengan “Empat Sehat Lima Sempurna”, yang 3 diantaranya adalah terdiri dari karbohidrat, protein, susu, sereal. Pilihan lain adalah dengan minum jus buah, 2 porsi buah besar, susu atau susu rendah lemak.
Karena waktu yang hanya sedikit, para karyawan sering sarapan setelah sampai di kantor. Sisi negatif dari membeli makanan adalah kita tidak tahu sampai sejauh mana kebersihan makanan tersebut. Untuk menghindari penyakit akibat makanan yang kotor, upayakan untuk memilih mengkonsumsi makanan yang sehat yang mengandung kandungan gizi yang cukup. Pilih makanan dalam kemasan yang tertutup agar dapat dipastikan makanan tersebut tidak dihinggapi lalat atau nyamuk yang membawa bibit peyakit.
Upayakan juga untuk menghindari makanan yang kurang sehat atau yang berminyak di menu sarapan yang dibeli. Misalnya Anda dapat menghindari mengkonsumsi jeroan saat bersantap bubur. Hindari santan saat menikmati bubur kacang hijau, hindari kerupuk saat bersantap nasi atau saat makan ketoprak. Tetapi, jangan lupa untuk tidak membiasakan diri dengan bersantap gorengan sebagai menu sarapan pagi karena kalori yang tinggi dan penggunaan minyak goreng yang kurang baik.
Kini, tidak ada alasan lagi untuk memulai hari tanpa sarapan karena ternyata ada banyak manfaat yang bisa didapat bila kita sarapan sehat secara rutin. Hal ini juga dapat dilatih pada anak-anak agar mereka terbiasa untuk sarapan yang akan memberikan energi bagi mereka untuk mengikuti kegiatan sekolah yang padat, membantunya berkonsentrasi dan memahami pelajaran yang diberikan. Maka, upayakan untuk menyediakan menu sarapan yang sehat dan lezat yang akan dinikmati seluruh anggota keluarga.




Thursday, February 24, 2011

Cheezburger of the Day

It's Like Watching NASCAR

... just to see the wrecks. With 42 minutes to go to finish the thing, I came across this.
O you who believe! do not take My enemy and your enemy for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth, driving out the Apostle and yourselves because you believe in Allah, your Lord? If you go forth struggling hard in My path and seeking My pleasure, would you manifest love to them? And I know what you conceal and what you manifest; and whoever of you does this, he indeed has gone astray from the straight path. If they find you, they will be your enemies, and will stretch forth towards you their hands and their tongues with evil, and they ardently desire that you may disbelieve. Your relationship would not profit you, nor your children on the day of resurrection; He will decide between you; and Allah sees what you do. Indeed, there is for you a good example in Ibrahim and those with him when they said to their people: Surely we are clear of you and of what you serve besides Allah; we declare ourselves to be clear of you, and enmity and hatred have appeared between us and you forever until you believe in Allah alone...
WHAMMO! Glass and metal and tires are flying in all directions!

When I listen to the thing, I can't help but do so trying to figure out just how it's been bent to encourage war and destruction. And then I hear verses like that and think it was never bent at all. Just like the video Secular Apostate posted said, the thing is picking up speed as it gets near the end.

Dangerous, frightening and yet utterly engrossing.

Fra Chris, Zig Ziglar and the Pro-Life Movement

Over at Portiuncula*, Fra Chris is re-thinking the pro-life movement. Less screaming (well, no screaming) and more praying and kindness. It's a very Zig Ziglar approach.

In his excellent Secrets of Closing the Sale, Zig teaches us that selling is the transferrance of emotion. When the prospect feels about your product the way you do, she buys. Kindness and empathy transfers feeling much better than screaming. Further, prospects never admit they were wrong. You can't get them to change their minds, only to make a new decision. Rather than arguing with them when they turn down your product, you need to present new information that allows them to make a new decision. I love the free ultrasounds outside of abortion clinics for this.

In any case, check out the video over at Portiuncula. It's a very nice example of Christian teaching informing a practical decision.

* - Have you tried Mystic Monk Coffee yet? You should. It's quite good.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

We've Got Some Serious Mental Disconnect Going On Here

There's an MSN article about Greeks starting an I Won't Pay movement.
At dawn last Friday, about 100 bleary-eyed activists from a Communist Party-backed labor union covered ticket machines with plastic bags at Athens metro stations, preventing passengers from paying their fares, to protest public transport ticket price hikes.

Other activists have taped up ticket machines on buses and trams. And thousands of people simply don't bother validating their public transport tickets when they take the subway or the bus.

"The people have paid already through their taxes, so they should be able to travel for free," said Konstantinos Thimianos, 36, an activist standing at the metro picket line in central Syntagma Square.
This being MSNBC, you don't get any sense of scale. It could be a dozen protestors doing it or it could be a nationwide movement. Whatever the size of the thing, here's the mind-bending part.
(M)any see the "I Won't Pay" movement as something much simpler: the people's refusal to pay for the mistakes of a series of governments accused of squandering the nation's future through corruption and cronyism.
Umm, dude, Greece is a democracy. If the government has wrecked the place, the person to blame is always nearby.

You did this to us on purpose, didn't you?

Some Pointless Macro Photography

I was playing around with my Nikon D60 artillery piece this weekend and shot this photo. I liked it a lot, so I thought I'd share. I uploaded a nice version of it, so I think the photo is worth a click.

A Little on Wisconsin

Here are just a few tidbits of idle thought on the showdown in Wisconsin.
  • I saw this in a comment thread elsewhere and found it an excellent summary of the Unions' position: They're fighting over money that isn't there.

  • If you run away, as the Democrats have done, you leave the press to interview your opponents.

  • Unions exist to prevent oppression of the workers by their management. In this case, the management is the voters as represented by their elected officials. Calling us all oppressors probably isn't a good idea.

  • Seriously, they're doomed. Even if the governor caves, which seems unlikely, they're doomed. Where is the $3B going to come from? Even if they split it evenly between taxes and cuts, the Unions are going to get whacked. The game is over and they've lost, the only thing left to determine is the score.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

It Made My Day

It's an awesome new site from the Cheezburger gang.

I Find Your Sensitivity Insensitive

Valued commenter Jeff Burton left a comment on this post that, combined with my trudging through the Koran, triggered a thought.

Cultural sensitivity is itself insensitive.

From The Pilgrimage chapter of the Koran:
Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabeans and the Christians and the Magians and those who associate (others with Allah)-- surely Allah will decide between them on the day of resurrection; surely Allah is a witness over all things. Do you not see that Allah is He, Whom obeys whoever is in the heavens and whoever is in the earth, and the sun and the moon and the stars, and the mountains and the trees, and the animals and many of the people; and many there are against whom chastisement has become necessary; and whomsoever Allah abases, there is none who can make him honorable; surely Allah does what He pleases. These are two adversaries who dispute about their Lord; then (as to) those who disbelieve, for them are cut out garments of fire, boiling water shall be poured over their heads. With it shall be melted what is in their bellies and (their) skins as well. And for them are whips of iron. Whenever they will desire to go forth from it, from grief, they shall be turned back into it, and taste the chastisement of burning.

Surely Allah will make those who believe and do good deeds enter gardens beneath which rivers flow; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and (with) pearls, and their garments therein shall be of silk. And they are guided to goodly words and they are guided into the path of the Praised One.
The Koran is nothing if not repetitive; such verses can be found in almost every chapter*. Imposing cultural sensitivity on true believers of the Koran is itself insensitive.

As an aside, reading the Koran is the perfect antidote for multiculturalism and a complete explanation why Europe is in such trouble. The culturally sensitive are playing for a tie while the Islamofascists are playing for the win.

... and they're not hoping for a close game, either.

* - Yes, I know the Bible has such verses, too. Before you equate the two in any way, shape or form, read them both and then make your analysis. They are not equivalent at all and it's insulting to both sides to say so.

Kitty and Bob – The “Hep” Cats 1946

Kitty and Bob the hep cats cartoon dancing zoot suit vintage funny animal comic book scans cartoon cats cartoon cats 1940's funny animal comics Zoot-suit wearing cartoon cats go to dance cartoon cat bobby sox girls singing to crooner cartoon cats play drums at the dance comic book funny animals
This is the final story from Hi-Ho Comics #1 – the epic H. Chambers psycho-delic funny animal comic book from 1946. If you missed the other tales of fever-dream funny animal frolics, links are below!
HiHo1_01 Hi-Ho Comics Eddie Elephant cartoon comic face Eddie Elephant Percy Pelican Hi Ho Comics H Chambers Percy Pelican
Bertie Bruin cartoon Bear funny animal comic book scan Bertie Bruin Daffy Dragon comic book funny animal H Chambers Daffy Dragon Gravity monster by cartoonist Holly Chambers Lil Chief Hotshot

Multiculturalism and Medicine

Here is part of the Wikipedia definition of multiculturalism:
Multiculturalism has a number of different meanings. At one level the term means the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g. schools, businesses, neighborhoods, cities or nations. In this sense multiculturalism approximates to respect for diversity...

In a political context the term has come to mean the advocacy of extending equitable status to distinct ethnic and religious groups without promoting any specific ethnic, religious, and/or cultural community values as central. Multiculturalism as "cultural mosaic" is often contrasted with the concepts assimilationism and social integration and has been described as a "salad bowl" rather than a "melting pot."
Does this work for medicine as well? That is, do we respect and value Galen as much as we do Anton van Leeuwenhoek? Galen believed that our health was governed by humors in the body. Leeuwenhoek is considered the father of microbiology. As far as I can tell, no one of significance is suggesting that bleeding people with leeches or applying herbal enemas to bring a patient's humors into equilibrium is equivalent to examing tissue samples under a microscope to perform a diagnosis.

Why not?

Penicillin or leeches? Hey, it's all one to me, man.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Are We Pushing Our Kids Too Hard?

... or has societal evolution raised the bar for them?

I've just spent an hour going through YouTube videos on overcoming performance anxiety and how to prepare for soccer tryouts. As I did so, I thought about the criticisms of modern parents that we push our kids too hard. I've heard other parents in the stands at games exclaim, "We never had travel baseball when I was growing up. We didn't have club soccer, either!"

Whatever things were like in the past, we have kids' competitive sports leagues now and that's just the way it is. It's an evolution of sorts, people learning how to get better at all ages in all things. For example, we didn't have computers decades ago, so school was a bit easier, particularly engineering curricula. There was less to learn. Now there's more learning, more competition and you have to work harder to achieve success. Sports is no different. It's more sophisticated than ever.

Maybe instead of pushing our kids too hard, what we're doing is reacting to a new reality. I know that for my daughter, her goal of playing high school soccer is unattainable if she doesn't play club ball. I have to push her harder than girls her age were pushed 40 years ago. She has to learn how to succeed in the America of 2011, not some world of the past.

This is not your daughter's swim team.

To Jerusalem We go, for us to be the Martyrs of the Millions

Uh oh.

Boys' Vs. Girls' Sports Anxiety Treatments

My daughter, who plays club soccer, needs some help overcoming performance anxiety. She sometimes panics in games and doesn't trust her skills. She has a tendency to pass the ball too quickly when she gets control of it instead of dribbling it up the field. I spent some time on line looking up techniques for overcoming sports performance anxiety and came up with two distinct schools of thought.

The most common one, best exemplified by this article on WebMD, recommends you banish all negative thought.
  • Shift the focus off of yourself and your fear to the enjoyment you are providing to the spectators. Close your eyes and imagine the audience laughing and cheering, and you feeling good.
  • Don't focus on what could go wrong. Instead focus on the positive. Visualize your success.
  • Avoid thoughts that produce self-doubt.
Another school of thought, whose example link I lost, suggested that you get your teammates all around you to laugh and jeer while you learn to block it out. That sounds like it's guaranteed to fail for most girls.

I've been blessed to manage both my son's Little League teams and my daughter's school soccer teams. Boys and girls react very, very different to criticism and mocking. You can do it in small doses with boys, and practically never with girls. As I read through the articles on the web, I was surprised that they didn't break down their recommendations by sex. Another casualty of politically correct thinking, I suppose. Oh well.

Expert Village hits the nail right on the head in this video on coaching girls' soccer.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Meanwhile, In Libya

Dig this.
Snipers shot protesters, artillery and helicopter gunships were used against crowds of demonstrators, and thugs armed with hammers and swords attacked families in their homes as the Libyan regime sought to crush the uprising.

"Dozens were killed ... We are in the midst of a massacre here," a witness told Reuters. The man said he helped take victims to hospital in Benghazi.
Friendly regimes are toppled as we support the uprisings, hostile regimes are ignored as they slaughter protestors. It doesn't look like this will end well.

The View From The Other Side

I wrote a post about this yesterday, but felt it was too flippant and took it down.

I downloaded the Koran from Audible and am slogging my way through it now. The writing style is not very fluid and the composition is nonlinear, so it's probably better in an audio version than text. Last week I was listening to the Gospel of St. Matthew and the contrast on all levels is dramatic.

I'm 1/3 of the way through it and have already come across the beat-your-wife-if-she's-disobedient part as well as the recommendations on taking slave girls (by all means, do so!) and the kill the infidels part (attack!). All in all, it's a very aggressive book. Something I saw on Secular Apostate's blog suggested that it gets even more aggressive as it goes along and so far that's held up. It's also a schizophrenic book.

The Koran is a big on righteous living, being good to orphans and avoiding sin. You can certainly see how it could be interpreted as a religion of peace by some. Seen through a particular prism, the Koran would lead you to respecting and loving your spouse, raising your children to be good citizens, telling the truth and caring for the poor.

Seen through a different lens, you could be properly following it when you killed Jews, Christians, secularists and any other idolators, infidels or transgressors. My own personal reading of it is that the peaceful parts apply to Moslems and the warlike parts apply against the infidels. If I were Moslem, that's the way my mind would reconcile the two halves. I'd be squarely in the jihadi camp and completely at peace with my world view and religion.

I've got another 9 hours or so to go to listen to it all. One thing became clear within the first hour and has been reinforced over and over again as I've gone along - arguing that the Islamofascists are improperly interpreting the Koran is never going to work.

Bono's got a tough job ahead of him.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

If they would rather die, said Scrooge, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population

... after all, that would reduce their carbon footprint. (Frankly, this looks like a win-win for the AGW crowd.)

Our Monastery of Miscellaneous Musings has an excellent post about how biofuels, our food-based answer to Global Warming, has contributed to food riots around the world.
Nearly all assessments of the 2008 food crisis assigned biofuels a meaningful role, but much of academia and the media ultimately agreed that the scale of the crisis resulted from a "perfect storm" of causes. Yet this "perfect storm" has re-formed not three years later. We should recognize the ways in which biofuels are driving it.
I wonder if taking huge swaths of California's farmland out of production to save a tiny fish* has anything to do with it.

* - Flipping the Dickensian analogy on its head, we have this:
``At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,'' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, ``it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Delta Smelt, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.''

``Are there no aquariums?'' asked Scrooge.

``Plenty of aquariums,'' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

``And the aquafarming establishments?'' demanded Scrooge. ``Are they still in operation?''

``They are. Still,'' returned the gentleman, `` I wish I could say they were not.''

``Biology departments and zoos are in full vigour, then?'' said Scrooge.

``Both very busy, sir.''

``Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,'' said Scrooge. ``I'm very glad to hear it.''

Forget History, He's On The Wrong Side Of Math

So President Obama has decided to mobilize Mobilize America* and support the Teachers' Union protest in Wisconsin. Maybe he's forced into this because the unions are a big part of his coalition, but it looks like a sure loser to me. If the unions win the day, they'll end up with layoffs instead of benefit cuts. The math is against them.

Further, in many cases, the teachers called in a sick day to protest, closing down some schools. Moms and dads had to scramble to find a sitter for Junior so the teachers, whose pay is probably higher than theirs and whose benefits almost certainly are, could run off and chant in unison. Again, probably not a good move, particularly in a state where Obama's side just took a historic beating.

Writing that last sentence and considering the budget he just released, it looks over and over again like the guy is completely disconnected from reality. Wisconsin has to balance its budget by law. There aren't too many places to cut. The electorate in Wisconsin just let everyone know they've had it with the Democrats. Obama is doubling down on a losing hand by sending out his own political action group to man the front lines.

Crazy, man. Crazy.

Civil discourse!

* - Or is that organize Organize America? Whatever.

FUNNY PICTURE ABOUT CAT :)






 Kucing juga bisa bergaya .. :) kenapa kita tidak??
kucing juga bisa merasakan summers dan berkreasi, kenapa kita tidak??
^^ ayoo kita berkreasi !! mengembangkan bakat yang ada di dalam diri kita masing-masing !
Guys, Semangat terus, dalam hidup ini tidak ada istilah menyerah !! SEMANGAT TERUS !! 
FIGHT !! Jia You !!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Possibly The Greatest YouTube Video Of All Time

Cheezburger of the Day

Fantastic Movie

We saw this a few nights ago and highly recommend it.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Easiest Solution To The Budget Crisis

Don't raise the debt ceiling. Period. That will have the same force as a Balanced Budget Amendment. Imagine the scrambling that would go on then. I'd love to see it happen, but I'm sure it won't.

If He Was Going To Lead, Wouldn't He Have Done It By Now?

All across the blogosphere and the newsmedia, people are wound up about the president's pathetic and timid budget. Here's a sample.
If a motto summed up the Obama presidency, it might be, “Life is short. Eat dessert first.” His policies are all about self-indulgence in the present, to be paid for with either long-run economic decline, or painful sacrifices by future generations.

His recent budget proposal, which contains a mix of real spending increases and mostly imaginary “cuts,” is a case in point. It pretends to cut spending and the deficit, but its “cuts” are slated to occur largely in the distant future (and thus may never happen), while its increases kick in almost immediately.
The details are here.

Spending is going up, not down.

What did you expect? When has this guy ever led?
  • The stimulus bill was left to Congress.
  • He never enumerated what he wanted out of the health care bill
  • He left the Iranian protestors to die in the streets rather than face the mullahs.
  • He left the Egyptian government to collapse rather than face the protestors.
Why is his latest budget a surprise? Stop expecting this guy to lead, have a plan, or make anything resembling a hard decision. He's just winging the whole thing, except for the speeches.

For the next two years, we're totally on our own.

Storyboard Artist JOBS: DisneyToon Studios Needs Storyboard Artists for Tinkerbell

Just passing along a new job announcement for Storyboard Artists at Walt Disney Animation:

Storyboard Artist 

DisneyToon Studios
is looking for
Storyboard Artists to join the
Tinker Bell production team and other projects at their Glendale, CA studio.


For more info, click HERE

Know-Y

... has got a pretty interesting website and some great videos. Like this one.

seorang Pria Mendapatkan Wajah Baru Setelah Kecelakaan

Ia adalah orang ketiga setelah Conie Culp yang menerima transplantasi wajah bulan lalu, sekarang James Maki 59 tahun harus menerima transplantasi wajah setelah terjatuh dari kereta listrik 4 tahun lalu, ia kehilangan kehilangan hidung, bibir atas , pipi dan atap dari mulutnya

Ini Wajah James Waki Sebelom Kecelakaan 
 
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa449/ariinside/0663750600.jpg 






ini Sebelum Dioperasi Face Off
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa449/ariinside/0663749700.jpg 
 
 
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa449/ariinside/0663750100.jpg 
 
 
Sesudah Operasi Gan
 
 
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa449/ariinside/0663752300.jpg 
 
 
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa449/ariinside/0663752500.jpg 
 
 
http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa449/ariinside/0663753200.jpg 
 
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