aphar

11:52 am: первым ребенком родители кипятят все подряд, со вторым - только соски, с третьим соски обдают горячей водой, а если соску четвертого утащила и грызет собака - то это проблема ребенка как вернуть ее обратно!

02:09 pm: Демократия в арабской стране племенном обществе - это такой тупость абсурд, придумать который могут только американцы законченные идеалисты.

(уточнил)

11:16 am: Prof. Aumann: Freeze is Immoral and Stupid
Professor Robert J. "Yisrael" Aumann, the Israeli who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2005 for his work on conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis, thinks Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not working game-theory to Israel's advantage. Professor Aumann is an Orthodox Jew who immigrated to Israel from the United States in 1956.

Speaking about Prime Minister Netanyahu's 10-month building freeze in Judea and Samaria, Professor Aumann said "I think it's a very, very bad idea."

Professor Aumann went on to say he does not believe anyone – Jew or Arab – should be expelled from his home. He also said he is not opposed to making certain concessions to the Arabs if concessions are also given by them to Israel.

However, he felt strongly that the building freeze is not an instance of appropriate diplomacy. "It's not only immoral, it's stupid!" Aumann said. "It's stupid… because it says to the Arabs, 'you can continue to be intransigent and we will make one gesture, one capitulation after another.' We're giving the wrong signal."

"Just as Chamberlain gave the wrong signal to Hitler in Munich and Chamberlain brought about the Second World War – not Hitler, but Chamberlain brought about the Second World War, made it possible by his capitulation to Hitler in Munich – by sending a signal of weakness, we are encouraging intransigence and in fact, war, on the part of the Arabs. It's simply stupid," Aumann said.

He strongly chastised Israel for making unilateral moves in 2005 which were harmful to Jews and were not met with simultaneous moves towards peace from the Arabs. He called the Disengagement from the Jewish cities of Gush Katif in Gaza "immoral" and "criminal", and accused the Supreme Court of hypocrisy in allowing the program to take place, when it would "never have allowed, and rightly so, to expel even a few Arab famlies from their homes."


http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135850

03:24 pm: NASA & humans to LEO
As you might know, Obama canceled the NASA Constellation program.
This means that NASA is now officially out of the business of putting humans to the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
This, of course, does not mean that we will be relying on the Russians or Europeans - we will be using The Private Enterprise.
So we are now observing a "socialist" Obama privatizing a field which has been the Government domain for half a century.
Go figure...

10:39 am: ООН, Гаити и т.д.
проблема Гаити – это не природная проблема землетрясения...
...что сами гаитяне говорят как о себе, так и о международной помощи. ключевым событием мировой истории была не Хартия вольности, не Американская революция и даже не 1917 года. Это была революция 1804 года, в которой гаитяне, если вы помните, черные, восстав, вырезали всех белых. Я цитирую: «И с тех пор карательный мировой порядок карает Гаити и гаитян за то, что они наставили мир на путь борьбы за свободу против рабства».
...очень интересное отношение к распределению международной помощи. Первая мысль, любимая и понятная – они нас не любят, весь западный мир не любит Гаити за то, что он показал в свою время дорогу к свободе. Второе – помощь вы давайте, но распределять ее мы будем сами. Третье – ваша проклятая помощь является лишь предлогом для вражеского вторжения. Это особенно в огород США. И четвертое – причина бедствия Гаити – это не землетрясение, а проклятый Запад, который – цитирую – «саботировал Гаитянскую революцию 1804 года».
...нигде не встречаешь благодарности за международную помощь. В лучшем случае встречаются описания того, как гаитяне сами себя выкапывают сверхчеловеческими усилиями. В худшем случае говорится, что – цитата – «международная помощь и неразбериха с ее раздачей преследует цель создать фальшивый образ хаоса, который сделает более приемлемым для общественного мнения будущее вторжение».
...самое страшное, что в эту игру вместе с Гаити играет увлеченно не только проклятый Запад, вернее не весь проклятый Запад, а Организация объединенных наций.
...в мире есть такая штука, которая называется глобальная бюрократия, прежде всего в лице ООН. Борется она у нас то с глобальным потеплением, то защищает права человека, то начинает кормить бедных в Африке, то сострадает Палестине. Процесс очень простой.
Всюду, куда вмешивается глобальная бюрократия, любой конфликт, который она пытается разрешить, становится вечным. Если уж глобальная бюрократия начинает кормить бедных в Африке, то эта страна так и будет всю жизнь сидеть на этой игле. Если уж глобальная бюрократия вздумала помогать Палестине, то так это и будет происходить, что количество беженцев возрастет в пять раз, будут замечательные школы ООН, где в подвале собирают ракеты, сверху расположены ученики, специально для того чтобы охранять ракеты от израильских авиаударов. А уж если так повезет и израильтяне долбанут по этой школе, потому что в ней собирают ракеты, так это вообще шикарно: можно предъявить трупы людей миру, и соответствующая организация ООН, она называется UNRWA обязательно подтвердит, что «вы знаете, проклятые израильтяне нанесли удар по мирной школе».
...в игру под названием «мы бедные, несчастные, все нам должны» играют двое: играет страна, которая всё глубже погружается в хаос, и играет мировая бюрократия (и, к сожалению, можно сказать мировая демократия), которая таким образом решает собственные проблемы,

...западный мир с помощью очень красивых концепций, типа права человека, типа забота о несчастных нациях, уничтожает себя сам с помощью международной бюрократии. Из этого может быть только два выхода: либо, когда очень сильно припечет, Запад забудет об этих вещах и начнет действовать как во времена Фрэнсиса Дрейка, либо международная бюрократия съест цивилизацию с помощью новых варваров.

http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/code/650846-echo/

01:13 am: Harry Potter
I just finished the last book. what a journey!
A few loose ends (very few, which is quite amazing!):

1. What is the economic basis of the wizard world? Their imbecilic monetary system (29 sickles per galeon, 17 knuts per sickle) is separate from the muggle system, so, apparently, they do not participate in the muggle economy. Given that the incoming class in Hogwarts is about a 100 students (give or take), the total British wizarding population is about 10,000 people (give or take). Where do they get their food? Clothing? What do they produce? Note the 8 level Ministry of Magic - all the people employed there are not doing any productive work. The same goes for the Knight Bus and other services.


2. Where did Neville Longbottom get the Gryffindor's sword to chop Nagini's head off? Did Griphook relent and lend the goblin-made treasure to a human? Note, BTW, that the goblin idea of ownership (i.e., a goblin-made object belongs to the maker and is only lent to the human who pays for it, and any further transfer of goblin-made objects between humans is merely theft) mirrors the way copyright is understood by RIAA/MPAA.


3. Harry decides to leave the Resurrection Stone - a powerful artifact, one of the 3 Deathly Hallows, capable of producing "an army of Inferi" - lying on the ground somewhere in the Forbidden Forest! And Dumbledore agrees! Isn't that at least somewhat reckless? The same goes for the Elder wand, left in the Dumbledore's tomb. Now, killing Harry (who is carrying his original, inferior wand) is all it takes to become the owner or the Deathstick!

a few literary notes:

1. Given that the book series is pretty much told in the first person (the world as seen by Harry - de facto, if not in the actual writing style), the "Nabokov principle" dictates that there must be an enormous amount of "overhearing" just to have the plot going. And indeed, the Invisibility Cloak, the Pensieve, and the Harry's connection with Voldemort provide an ample opportunity for that.


2. The last few pages of each book is devoted to explaining all the mysteries spun in the rest of the book, which makes me place the books on the "mystery/detective" bookshelf, not the "action/adventure/fantasy" one.

05:22 pm: жизнь - как туалетная бумага.
казалось бы: длинная, белая, чистая.
но вся она уходит на говно.

03:15 pm: Both a Venezuelan state-owned radio and television properties zeroed in on a secret U.S. "weapon of earthquakes" as the cause of the earthquake that struck Haiti last week causing a death toll could exceed 200,000 according to some sources.( Read more... )

Президент Венесуэлы Уго Чавес уверен, что землетрясение на Гаити "является результатом учебных испытаний ВМС США", своего рода "учебным землетрясением американцев". ( Read more... )

12:24 am: the best town in the USA!
Kennesaw, Georgia
On May 1, 1982 the city passed an ordinance [Sec 34-1a] requiring every head of household to maintain a firearm together with ammunition. It was passed partly in response to a 1981 handgun ban in Morton Grove, Illinois. Kennesaw's law was amended in 1983 to exempt those who conscientiously object to owning a firearm, convicted felons, those who cannot afford a firearm, and those with a mental or physical disability that would prevent them from owning a firearm. It mentions no penalty for its violation. According to the Kennesaw Historical Society, no one has ever been charged under the ordinance, but it has still had the effect of reducing crime by at least 50 percent.
( Read more... )

10:51 pm: Ian Kershaw:
"the road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference"

03:00 pm: MPAA/RIAA should love NetHack: scrolls disappear after being read just once!

11:10 am: Bed sharing 'bad for your health'
on average, couples suffered 50% more sleep disturbances if they shared a bed.
the modern tradition of the marital bed only began with the industrial revolution, when people moving to overcrowded towns and cities found themselves short of living space.
Before the Victorian era it was not uncommon for married couples to sleep apart. In ancient Rome, the marital bed was a place for sexual congress but not for sleeping.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8245578.stm

11:05 am: how homeopathy works

02:39 pm: Cellphones may protect brain from Alzheimer's
A study in mice suggests using cellphones may help prevent some of the brain-wasting effects of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

After long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves such as those used in cell phones, mice genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's performed as well on memory and thinking skill tests as healthy mice, the researchers wrote in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

The results were a major surprise and open the possibility of developing a noninvasive, drug-free treatment for Alzheimer's.

...mice were protected if the cell phone exposure was stared in early adulthood. Or if the cellphone exposure was started after they were already memory-impaired, it reversed that impairment...

...the mice [were exposed] to electromagnetic waves equivalent to those emitted by a cellphone pressed against a human head for two hours daily over seven to nine months.

At the end of that time, ... cellphone exposure erased a build-up of beta amyloid, a protein that serves as a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

The Alzheimer's mice showed improvement and had reversal of their brain pathology.

...the mice study is more evidence that long-term cellphone use is not harmful to the brain.

Groups such as the World Health Organization, the American Cancer Society, and the National Institutes of Health, have all concluded that scientific evidence to date does not support any adverse health effects associated with the use of cellphones.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100107/hl_nm/us_alzheimers_cellphones

06:48 pm: captain Obvious reporting
The Most Obvious Scientific Discoveries of 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/12/31/duh-obvious-scientific-discoveries/?test=latestnews

1. High Heels Lead to Foot Pain


2. Men Much More Interested Than Women in Casual Sex


3. Children Are Affected When a Parent Suffers From Depression


4. Coed Dorms Fuel Sex and Drinking


5. Sweets Taste Better When You're High ("endocannabinoids both act in the brain to increase appetite and also modulate taste receptors on the tongue to increase the response to sweets")


6. G-Rated Children’s Films Are Very Straight


7. Eating Lots of Red Meat and Processed Meat Is Bad for You


8. Kids' TV Is Full of Ads for High-Fat and High-Sugar Foods

04:46 pm: правильная дипломатия
http://www.moyrabbi.ru/question/id/42901

Q: Есть ли хоть один комментатор, который утверждает, что слова Якова о том, что он отобрал свое имущество у эмори оружием, - буквальны, и он действительно вел какую-то неизвестную нам войну?

A: Война - не война, а военная напряженность там была. Её упоминает и Йонатан бен Узиэль в своем переводе, и мидраш Берешит Раба. Дело в том, что после небезызвесных шхемских событий международная обстановка на Ближнем Востоке обострилась: одни требовали передать Шимона и Леви суду за военные преступления, другие (а может и те же, обычно так и бывает) - передачи Шхема под их ("международную" юрисдикцию). Праотец наш Яаков, разумеется, отреагировал на все эти дипломатические маневры объявлением военного положения и недвусмысленно дал понять, что международное сообщество ещё не видело военных преступлений, но можно, если нужно, и показать. Это во-первых. А во-вторых, что касается Шхема, то Яаков вступает во владение этим кусочком обетованной Авраѓаму земли, на правах единственного наследника. А если кому то это не нравится, так вступит во владение и тем кусочком, на котором сейчас хозяйничает недовольный.

Это, как и следовало ожидать, подействовало. Т.о. Яаков отслоял Шхем, вяв в руки лук и меч, но не пуская их в ход.

09:46 am: Губерман
Есть люди, их кошмарно много,
Чьи жизни отданы тому,
Чтоб осрамить идею Бога
Своим служением Ему.

11:55 am: Autism seen as asset, not liability, in some jobs
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34047713/ns/health-mental_health/

A new movement helps hone unique traits of disorder into valuable skills

[Autism], which strikes about 1 in 150 U.S. children, is considered a "spectrum disorder" because it affects people in many different ways to varying degrees, from mild social troubles to a severe inability to communicate.

It's often seen as a heartbreaking diagnosis, but now some revolutionary companies see autism as something else: a resource.

A quiet movement is growing around the globe to help transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autistic adults into sought-after job skills.

In Denmark, the company Specialisterne (the name means "the specialists"), trains people with autism as specially skilled employees who are sent out as hourly consultants to companies to do data entry, assembly work and other jobs that many workers would find tedious and repetitive. Founded in 2004 ... the company has 50 employees, 75 percent of whom are autistic. Potential employees go through months of screening and training before they are sent as hourly consultants to clients who must understand that the specialists will work only part-time, and they cannot work in a chaotic environment with more than a few other people in the room. In return, Specialisterne assumes much more responsibility for their employees than most companies, with learning experts and social workers on staff.

In the United States, the non-profit Chicago company Aspiritech recently launched a pilot program to train high-functioning autistics as testers for software development companies. Their first client is mFluent, an iPhone application company near Chicago.

Aspiritech ... claims those who are autistic have a talent for spotting imperfections, and thrive on predictable, monotonous work.

[they] say [their] ability to focus on something to the exclusion of everything else gives [them] an advantage. And Specialisterne says tests show their employees can be up to eight times more accurate at tasks like manual data entry than workers without autism.

"The stuff we do is boring for [others], like going through a program looking at every detail, testing the same function over and over again in different situations, but it doesn't disturb those of us with autism," says Thomas Jacobsen, an autistic employee at Specialisterne. "That's our strength."

Still, software testing isn't simply a repetitive exercise, ... While traits of "detail focus, willingness to repeat tasks and technical aptitude are ones we look for in testers, testing has a lot of creative work," he notes. Testers need to be able to figure out possible solutions to problems and be agile enough to change plans at the last minute or deal with sudden new requirements.

09:34 am: How to Slice a Bagel into Two Linked Halves
http://www.georgehart.com/bagel/bagel.html

03:11 pm: are you a republican?
RNC released a list of "republican principles", i.e., 10 positions, disagreeing with 7 of which disqualifies a candidate from the party support. Let's see...

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill
Check. Note the order: lower taxes after reducing debt and deficit.

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run health care
What is "market-based health care reform"?
Providing health care to employees is the biggest problem for small businesses, so a single-payer system is a must.

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation
The "cap and trade" imbecility indeed does not work.
We need a carbon tax from which the utilities will not be able to weasel out, like they now do with "cap and trade" with the grandfathering provisions.

(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check;
Check.

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
Check. Especially the "assimilation" part. I would also give a visa to anyone with at least a Master's degree in a technical field from a good school.

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
Year, right. Fighting in a way our opponents understand (i.e., mass-murdering civilians) is against our core beliefs, so no surges will do us any good. We should either get out of there altogether or finance a side which would further our goals - ignoring the methods that side might employ. Disgusting? Yes! Can't live with it? Then learn that you cannot explain the notions of liberal democracy to people who practice female genital mutilations and honor killings and get out of those countries!

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;
Dream on. The only thing which works on this planet is force (or a credible threat thereof). We cannot (for internal reasons) threaten these nations with nukes, so we have absolutely no leverage with them.

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
Check. We need to put a stop somewhere, e.g., a "menage a troi" or "human-dog" relationships are obviously (at least for now) not kinds of marriage. Restricting marriage to what it has meant for millennia seems reasonable.

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion;
Huh? So we are supposed to keep vegetables on the ventilator forever?
Seriously, "health care rationing" is inevitable and is already happening.

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership.
Check!!! Make gun ownership mandatory!

Hmm, I guess I am not republican enough.
Тигры не любят чертополоха