Monthly Archives: August 2010

Wut HappenedFiesta De UrcupinaI speak spanish better when Im drunk

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Wow...what happened to my week Just got back from the park up the street and was reading Zen andthe art of motorcycle maintenance. Left for the park at about 5pm and since Ive been hung over all daysleeping and reading various books I decided to get some sun before she went down. As I approached the park there is a fairly large firing envoloping a the nearest valley of tunari smoke covering a s

Ground Zero Mosque issue moves to Center Stage for 2010 Elections

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Republican candidates now asking, where do Democrats for Congress stand on GZ Mosque?

From Eric Dondero:

What might be the first video produced challenging a Democrat incumbent Congressman on the GZ Mosque. John Gomez, Republican for Congress, NY's 1st CD (Long Island) asks where does Steve Israel stand?

Interesting Sidenote - Gomez is Sean Hannity's best friend from childhood.

Ground Zero Mosque location – aerial map shows clearly it’s part of GZ site

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From Eric Dondero:

Some on the Left, and even a number of Left Libertarians have tried to argue that the proposed Ground Zero Mosque is not at Ground Zero, at all, but "a few blocks away."

This from reporter Ben Smith of Politico this morning, about halfway through his piece, "GOP takes harsher stance toward Islam" (emphasis added):

But the attacks on what is now nationally known as the "Ground Zero mosque" —it is a few blocks north of the site — also stand in for a broader turn in the cultural politics of the right...

The property line for the Burlington Coat factory is 600 feet from the Ground Zero construction site.
The second photo shows a part of the landing gear from the first plane to hit the Twin Towers, that rammed through the roof of the Burlington Coat factory.

According to various dictionaries "a few" is undefined and inexact, but more than one. Moreover, numerous language experts at the UK's Yahoo Answers concur with the following:

* a couple is exactly two
* a few is three, rarely four
* several is at least three but small, not exceeding five

From the aerial photo, the area of destruction on 9/11 is one block away from Burlington. It is two blocks from the property line of the World Trade Center complex. Politico and others using the adjective "a few" to describe what is clearly one block, two if you count only the WTC complex, are making quite a stretch indeed.

Photo hat tips Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs, and KingShamus.

Is the site of the Ground Zero Mosque truly Private Property?

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by Eric Dondero

Some libertarians and other free market advocates are taking the side that the site at Ground Zero of the proposed Mega-Mosque is private property, and the Muslims have every right to build there.

If this was truly private property, I'd agree that they have every right to build their Mega-Mosque, even as extremely offensive as the proposed project may be. It's no different from a porn shop, after all. Though, you could easily argue that pornography is far less offensive than a shrine to Muslim Terrorists.

However, there are some serious questions as to whether this plot of land is indeed private property. Con-edison, which is heavily subsidized by the New York state government, owns half the property.

Even putting that aside, you have to ask, should a war memorial be considered "private property"? Ground Zero is no different from Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, or Arlington Cemetary. It was the site of the very worst attack on the United States in our history. To be consistent, one would also have to advocate privatization of the Pearl Harbor memorial. It's become a bit cliche', but it's a valid argument. Would we allow the Japanese to set up a memorial to Kamakaze pilots at Pearl Harbor? Should we allow the KKK to set up a Welcome Center and Museum at Gettysburg? The American Nazi Party a Museum honoring Hitler at Arlington Cemetary or at the U.S. cemetary plot on Normandy Beach in France?

As principled a libertarian as I am, I don't advocate privatizing every single monument, park, museum, and symbol of the United States of America. Most especially, Military-related sites should remain public property.

Photo of Normandy burial ground, which the French have designated U.S sacred and sovereign territory.

Right Libertarians react to Obama coming out in favor of Ground Zero Mosque

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From Eric Dondero:

Barack Obama came out forthrightly in favor of building a Grand Mosque at Ground Zero in a press conference on Friday. We at Libertarian Republican solicited comments from leaders of the libertarian and libertarian-conservative movement.

First though, Greg Gutfeld, libertarian-conservative host of Red Eye on Fox News, appearing on the Glenn Beck show:

I went on to their Web site, the Cordoba House website. It's a lovely website, and they talk about preaching tolerance and communication.

And I thought how interesting is it that they are preaching tolerance and communication to Americans? I thought, wouldn't it be great to test their tolerance?

So I figured let's open an Islam-friendly gay bar next door to the mosque. That is my proposal and I'm sticking by it.

The Gutfeld approach - Let them build, but give 'em hell for doing so

I say let them build the mosque, but I reserve the right to stand in front of it on the public sidewalk and eat pork rinds loudly and messily. -- Dave Nalle, National Chairman, Republican Liberty Caucus rlc.org

Build a Church next door that specializes in Gay Marriage

My view is tolerant on the issue... If the zoning permits it, I say let 'em build. IF they can find licensed union workers who will do the job. IF the co owner of the property sells. BUT - Let them not complain when we permit a church to go right next door - one that specializes in gay marriage, and is, oh, 50' taller, with a cross. Let them not complain when Greg Gutfeld opens his Grind Zero gay bar right across the street. And I would like to see a deli next door as well - one that specializes in Black Forest Ham sandwiches, pork pies and American beer. A Victoria's Secret shop. A Marines recruitment center. Let's eventually zone the street as a high-end red-light.

I say let's play ball, and play for keeps.-- Ranald Hay, Publisher, Si Vis Placem

Quite possibly the stupidest thing Obama has ever said or done

I try not to be too much of a cynic. Even with President Obama, you have to try and give every person at least the tiniest benefit of the doubt. However, in the last 24 hours he has said perhaps the dumbest, most idiotic things of his short political career. And I know-- that's saying a lot.

Obama has come out in support of the Ground Zero mosque idea, despite many of the victims of the September 11th, 2001 atrocities families being against the plan. Apparently he has moved to the left of even Governor Paterson, who tried to move the mosque away from the sacred ground.

Apparently it's all the rage for the Left to defend the mosque. But God forbid a cross going up on or near public property. Or forbid a cultural center that isn't politically correct. Let's hope they're not building a church or a war memorial near the school, or it might offend someone.

President Obama's said some really stupid things in the last several years. However, this is a direct slap in the face to survivors of the horrific tragedy and furthermore show how far we have come as a country in those nine years. So far that even our own President and Mayor of New York can forget the lessons and pain of that terrible day. -- Matthew Avitabile, Jumping in Pools

Could lead to the next Civil War

No Christian president would ever celebrate Ramadan in the White House and no American patriot would ever support planting a Mosque on the hollowed ground of 9/11. This White House resident is intentionally pushing the American citizens to civil conflict, at ground zero, on the southern border and in cities across this nation. How many more dots do we have to connect? -- JB Williams, Syndicated Columnist, Tenn.

From a strictly political standpoint - big gain for Republicans

I'm hoping Obama's endorsement will do for the Ground Zero mosque what it did for Jon Corzine, Creigh Deeds, Martha Coakley, & Arlen Specter -- and it just may. The American public doesn't support building a mosque at Ground Zero, they're not going to change their mind about it, and Obama's comments cast an even bigger spotlight on the issue. -- John Hawkins, Publisher, Rightwingnews.com

Fairs, fair: Build the Mosque, but give Christians the same right in Muslim lands

The President says Muslims should have equal rights to members of other religious faiths in this country, and I heartily agree. Muslims should not have suprerior rights to the Chirstians whose house of worship was blown up on 9-11 and who have been delayed for nine years now in rebuilding their church. Furthermore, if Muslims can wear a head scarf at places of work, Christians must be allowed to where the cross. If Muslims can have time to pray in our schools, then so should Christians. If Muslims can have holy days added to the calendar, then what the hell is the government doing renaming the Christmas holidays as "Winter Break." As the self-proclaimed leader of a Muslim country, the President should tell his fellow leaders of Muslim countries that they should repect the equal rights of all religions in their countries. Of course, certain places should be kept holy, in the sense of separate, places where the practices of only a particlar religion are allowed, or which are free of any sectarian religion, notwithstanding religious freedom. Clearly, the holy places of Islam in Saudi Arabia are such places. And, to show our commitment to the universal right of religious liberty, we will consider using the geographic extent of the the holy places in Saudi Arabia as a guide for how close Muslim practices can be allowed near holy places in out country such as ground zero. - Clifford Thies, Senior Editor, Libertarian Republican

Too difficult to separate mainstream Islam from the radicals

Progressive-collectivists love to invoke 'private property rights' when it suits their purposes. But they use the iron fist of eminent domain, zoning laws and the mob of political correctness when it doesn't. For moral relativists and collectivist like Obama property rights, along with other issues is just a means to an end.

As a conservative-libertarian, the mosque issue is deeply troubling to me. On one hand, I support laissez faire, 100% unabridged, pure property rights. No exception, no infringement of this right.

And on the other hand is the sheer lunacy of construction of a mosque near hallowed ground where nearly 3000 people died because of a distortion of Islam - violent jihad.

Can we separate mainstream Islam from it's distortion? Or is it not worth the risk? 70% of Americans sure don't think so. Neither do I. -- Tim Daniel, Left Coast Rebel

Obama confuses their right to build, with whether it's appropriate?

The proposed mosque/community center two blocks from Ground Zero was a local matter for President Obama until the Ramadan dinner at the White House last night, where he endorsed its construction. The motto of this administration is now, apparently, "Never let an iftar go to waste."

President Obama's decision hasn't surprised many people, least of all me. Neither has President Obama apparently confusing whether Muslims have the right to build the "Park51" project on that spot with whether it's appropriate to build it there. What did surprise me was the stunningly bad sense of history President Obama once again put on display -- Wesley M., inmycopiousfreetime.blogspot

Private Island Culinary Adventure

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peter-island2Peter Island, which I featured a number of times on the Private Islands Blog is the largest private island in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).  Home to one of the poshest hotels in the Caribbean the resort offers a 2:1 guest/staff ratio, an Ayurvedic seaside spa, five pearl-white beaches and unspoiled landscapes—and it’s steeped in pirate lore.

Now the resort is taking it a step further rebranding itself as an intimate culinary adventure for well heeled foodies. Accomodating up to 10 couples or 20 individuals at a time, guests will get up close and personal with Peter Island’s talented on-site chef Lisa Sellers. Guests will also also learning tricks of the trade from a visiting guest chef—culinary artists like TV sustainability guru Christopher Ivens-Brown and corporate executive chef of Norwegian Cruise Lines Jason Drysdale.

The program includes private cooking classes in a breathtaking villa called Falcon’s Nest, as well as a private boat tour to Paraquita Bay, a working agricultural farm where they will select local ingredients for an evening feast. “We have people coming from all over the world to attend these events and we want to create an unforgettable experience for them,” says Sellers. Prices for the event start at $575 per person or $1,150 per couple based on a fivenight stay (not including accommodations).

Source: Luxe Life

IBEX Spacecraft Finds Discoveries Close to Home

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Imagine floating 35,000 miles above the sunny side of Earth. Our home planet gleams below, a majestic whorl of color and texture. All seems calm around you. With no satellites or space debris to dodge, you can just relax and enjoy the black emptiness of space.

But looks can be deceiving.

In reality, you've unknowingly jumped into an invisible mosh pit of electromagnetic mayhem — the place in space where a supersonic "wind" of charged particles from the Sun crashes head-on into the protective magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet. Traveling at a million miles per hour, the solar wind's protons and electrons sense Earth's magnetosphere too late to flow smoothly around it. Instead, they're shocked, heated, and slowed almost to a stop as they pile up along its outer boundary, the magnetopause, before getting diverted sideways.

Space physicists have had a general sense of these dynamic goings-on for decades. But it wasn't until the advent of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer or IBEX, a NASA spacecraft launched in October 2008, that they've been able to see what the human eye cannot: the first-ever images of this electromagnetic crash scene. They can now witness how some of the solar wind's charged particles are being neutralized by gas escaping from Earth's atmosphere.

A New Way to See Atoms

IBEX wasn't designed to keep tabs on Earth's magnetosphere. Instead, its job is to map interactions occurring far beyond the planets, 8 to 10 billion miles away, where the Sun's own magnetic bubble, the heliosphere, meets interstellar space.

Only two spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, have ventured far enough to probe this region directly. IBEX, which travels in a looping, 8-day-long orbit around Earth, stays much closer to home, but it carries a pair of detectors that can observe the interaction region from afar.

Here's how: When fast-moving protons in the solar wind reach the edge of the heliosphere, they sometimes grab electrons from the slower-moving interstellar atoms around them, like batons getting passed between relay runners. This charge exchange creates electrically neutral hydrogen atoms that are no longer controlled by magnetic fields. Suddenly, they're free to go wherever they want — and because they're still moving fast, they quickly zip away from the interstellar boundary in all directions.

Some of these "energetic neutral atoms," or ENAs, zip past Earth, where they're recorded by IBEX. Its two detectors don't take pictures with conventional optics. Instead, they record the number and energy of atoms arriving from small spots of sky about 7 degrees across (the apparent size of a tennis ball held at arm's length). Because its spin axis always points at the Sun, the spacecraft slowly turns throughout Earth's orbit and its detectors scan overlapping strips that create a complete 360 degrees map every six months.

A Collision Zone Near Earth

Because IBEX is orbiting Earth, it also has a front-row seat for observing the chaotic pileup of solar-wind particles occurring along the "nose" of Earth's magnetopause, about 35,000 miles out. ENAs are created there too, as solar-wind protons wrest electrons from hydrogen atoms in the outermost vestiges of our atmosphere, the exosphere.

Other spacecraft have attempted to measure the density of the dayside exosphere, without much success. NASA's Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft probably detected ENAs from this region a decade ago, but its detectors didn't have the sensitivity to pinpoint or measure the source.


Now, thanks to IBEX, we know just how tenuous the outer exosphere really is. "Where the interaction is strongest, there are only about eight hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter," explains Stephen A. Fuselier, the Lockheed Martin Space Systems researcher who led the mapping effort. His team's results appear in the July 8 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

The key observations were made in March and April 2009, when IBEX was located far from Earth — about halfway to the Moon's orbit — and its detectors could scan the region directly in front of the magnetopause. During some of the March observations, the European Space Agency's Cluster 3 spacecraft was positioned just in front of the magnetopause, where it measured the number of deflected solar-wind protons directly. "Cluster played a very important role in this study," Fuselier explains. "It was in the right place at the right time."

The new IBEX maps show that the ENAs thin out at locations away from the point of peak intensity. This falloff makes sense, Fuselier says, because Earth's magnetopause isn't spherical. Instead, it has a teardrop shape that's closest to Earth at its nose but farther away everywhere else. So at locations well away from the magnetopause's centerline, even fewer of the exosphere's hydrogen atoms are hanging around to interact with the solar wind. "No exosphere, no ENAs," he explains.

A Versatile Spacecraft

Since its launch, IBEX has also scanned another nearby world, with surprising results. The moon has no atmosphere or magnetosphere, so the solar wind slams unimpeded into its desolate surface. Most of those particles get absorbed by lunar dust. In fact, space visionaries wonder if the moon's rubbly surface has captured enough helium-3, an isotope present in tiny amounts in the Sun's outflow, to serve as a fuel for future explorers.

Yet cosmic chemists have long thought that some solar-wind protons must be bouncing off the lunar surface, becoming ENAs through charge exchange as they do. So does the moon glow in IBEX's scans? Indeed it does, says David J. McComas of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, who serves as the mission's Principal Investigator.

In a report published last year in Geophysical Research Letters, McComas and other researchers conclude that about 10 percent of the solar-wind particles striking the Moon escape to space as ENAs detectable by IBEX. That amounts to roughly 150 tons of recycled hydrogen atoms per year.

Meanwhile, the squat, eight-sided spacecraft continues its primary task of mapping the interactions between the outermost heliosphere and the interstellar medium that lies beyond. McComas and his team are especially eager to learn more about the mysterious and unexpected "ribbon" of ENAs that turned up in the spacecraft's initial all-sky map.

At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., IBEX Mission Scientist Robert MacDowall says the spacecraft should be able to continue its observations through at least 2012. "We weren't sure those heliospheric interactions would vary with time, but they do," he explains, "and it's great that IBEX will be able to record them for years to come."

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ibex/em-crash.html

Non-surgical Baldness Treatments Rated Ineffective by Most Patients

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Only 27% of men who used Propecia (finasteride) said it was “very” effective. Finasteride is a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor used to treat prostate enlargement symptoms and baldness. Finasteride has 2 trade names: Propecia for baldness and Proscar for BPH.

Over-the-counter minoxidil (Rogaine) is applied directly to the scalp and is the only hair regrowth drug approved for use by women. Just 4% of respondents said it was very effective, with 43% of users saying it was not effective at all.

Only 2% of men surveyed underwent hair transplants; but of these, 49% were either very or completely satisfied with the results of their surgery, the poll shows.

Image source: Finasteride, Wikipedia, public domain.
Comments from Facebook:
"Ah...so you are supposed to rub it on the scalp.. I've been drinking it all these years, no wonder it has had no effect"

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.


MASSACHUSETTS: Indy favorite Christy Mihos says Mike Stopa best for Congress over Joe McGovern

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LR EXCLUSIVE!

From Eric Dondero:

Breaking news out of Massachusetts. Libertarian Republican has the exclusive.

The former Independent candidate for Governor, and briefly insurgent Republican primary candidate, Christy Mihos, expresses his support for libertarian Republican Mike Stopa for Congress.

Stopa is a physicist at Havard; virtually the only "free market" voice at the university. He is a Pro-Defense libertarian.

Stopa is challenging entrenched incumbent and ultra-liberal Rep. Jim McGovern, who some have cited as "more vulnerable" this cycle.

stopaforusrep.com

GOP Libertarian for Congress, Massachusetts: Mosques in some cases bases for "Islamic radicalism"

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Burden of proof that they are not Violent is on the Mosque

Mike Stopa is a libertarian Republican candidate for US Congress, challenging longtime incumbent Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern. Stopa is a physicist and professor at Havard. He has said he's a "loner free marketeer" at the university.

Stopa issued a statement on the Ground Zero Mosque controversy:

Mosques are not exclusively places of worship but are, on some occasions, places where violence is planned.

One major difference between mosques and churches or jewish temples is that anyone may enter a church or a jewish temple. Only muslims may enter a mosque (or at least the principal prayer areas). It is not the bricks and mortar of the mosque building to which people object. Rather, the concern is with what goes on inside. To what extent are they seed beds of terror ? We do not know because we are not allowed to go in and see and hear. This makes the life of Muslims and their mosques rather like secret societies. We know that people like the Fort Hood shooter were indoctrinated in American mosques. We know that there is radicalism in Islam. And we are not allowed in the door to see how much of that is going on.

Islam seeks a world of believers and is willing to put its worldly sword to the task of getting them. I therefore don’t like having Muslims meeting in secret to discuss these things in my neighborhood. The burden of proof that what’s going on inside is all innocent is with the followers of Islam.

Stopa is a self-describred "libertarian" follower of economists Milton Friedman and Frederich Hayek.

GloboTreks: making travel an adventure

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Norbert Figueroa finds the world a source of inspiration – one which he shares on GloboTreks. With a Masters in Architecture and backpack full of wanderlust, he travels the world to experience local cultures (and architecture, I’m sure) firsthand. His site offers his personal stories, travel tips, reviews and inspiration, of course.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. |
GloboTreks: making travel an adventure |
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