Great article at the American Spectator outlining a Congressional field trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. The environmental lobby has sucessfully prevented oil extraction in the ANWR for over 30 years, most notably by arguing that the area's a beautiful pristine mountain wilderness and that oil production would harm native wildlife such as the caribou herds. However, the ANWR is a huge tract of land, and while beautiful mountains make up quite a bit of it, the section known as 10-02, where oil extraction has been proposed, is NOT one of them. Instead, this area is a swampy tundra on the northern coastal plain abutting the Arctic Ocean.
"At about 19.5 million acres, ANWR is the size of the state of South Carolina. Located in Alaska's northeast corner and stretching from that state's northern coast along the frigid Arctic Ocean to two hundred miles south, ANWR includes a broad spectrum of Alaskan wilderness. The spectacular geography of the southern three-quarters of ANWR is offset by the flat, barren and desolate northern slope along the coast. The two contrasting landscapes are separated by the Brooks Mountain Range running east and west. The section of ANWR known as Area 10-02 is about 1.2 million acres in size and includes a sliver of about 2,000 acres identified for oil extraction."
But I digress, the article goes on to note the 7 Congress critters that went to Alaska and visited not only the ANWR, but Prudhoe Bay, where 750,000 barrels of oil a day is still being produced, and found the area being utilized in a very careful and well thought out manner, with no serious environmental impact. They also visited the locals, and found them extremely in favor of further drilling, as is the State's Governor Sarah Palin.
So why aren't we drilling and producing oil from 10-02 - oh yeah, Bill Clinton vetoed the idea in 1996.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: You, kid.
Garrett: Yes. sir.
Denny: Fix my tie. [to Sara] You, you know my name?
Sara: Yes, sir.
Denny: Good. Maybe someday I'll learn yours.
Garrett: Yes. sir.
Denny: Fix my tie. [to Sara] You, you know my name?
Sara: Yes, sir.
Denny: Good. Maybe someday I'll learn yours.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
OWH on Ekeler
The OWH reports on the local boy made good, Husker LB coach Mike Ekeler. Ekeler, a fellow Blair native, played for Bill Snyder at Kansas St, got into coaching with Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, then followed Bo Pelini to LSU and eventually home to Nebraska when Pelini was hired by Husker AD Tom Osborne. Ekeler has some unconventional aspects to his personality, but was noted as a gritty competitor in high school and college. He often modified his hair cut weekly while playing at K St, was the only team captain at the school ever appointed by Snyder - and can quote pretty much the entire dialogue of the movie 'Caddyshack'.
"At KSU, Mike Ekeler carried the razor-toothed fish — named Carl Spackler, after Bill Murray's character in "Caddyshack" — around the K-State football complex, mounted it above his locker and paid homage to it before games.
Occasionally, Ekeler added to the locker room entertainment by reciting direct quotes from "Caddyshack."
"Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac . . . It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!"
Ekeler knows the entire movie, Hocutt said. He showcased that particular talent last winter during a recruiting trip to Will Compton's house. The Spacklerisms from the 1980 movie likely went over young Will's head, but parents Bill and Kathy nearly hit the floor laughing."
Ekeler's antics and intensity are having quite the impact on the recruiting trail, with new NU quaterback recruit Cody Green being quoted as saying "Have you ever met Coach Ekeler? . . . He's wild. Just talking to him, he got me all fired up." when asked about why Green made the NU his choice over home state Texas A & M.
I may be off base, but I'm expecting a much improved Blackshirt squad this season, particularly with regard to the front seven.
"At KSU, Mike Ekeler carried the razor-toothed fish — named Carl Spackler, after Bill Murray's character in "Caddyshack" — around the K-State football complex, mounted it above his locker and paid homage to it before games.
Occasionally, Ekeler added to the locker room entertainment by reciting direct quotes from "Caddyshack."
"Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac . . . It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!"
Ekeler knows the entire movie, Hocutt said. He showcased that particular talent last winter during a recruiting trip to Will Compton's house. The Spacklerisms from the 1980 movie likely went over young Will's head, but parents Bill and Kathy nearly hit the floor laughing."
Ekeler's antics and intensity are having quite the impact on the recruiting trail, with new NU quaterback recruit Cody Green being quoted as saying "Have you ever met Coach Ekeler? . . . He's wild. Just talking to him, he got me all fired up." when asked about why Green made the NU his choice over home state Texas A & M.
I may be off base, but I'm expecting a much improved Blackshirt squad this season, particularly with regard to the front seven.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: This isn't meaningful; practicing law and drinking scotch at 9 o'clock in the morning. Well, ok, maybe the scotch is meaningful.
(Editor's Note: Scotch is always meaningful - even at 7 o'clock in the morning.)
(Editor's Note: Scotch is always meaningful - even at 7 o'clock in the morning.)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Baseball Bat Composition
Livescience looks at the physics of baseball bats and the apparently increasing number of broken bats (and injured fans and players) generated from the switch from ash to maple wood initiated by slugger Barry Bonds' use of maple. An increasing number of players have switched to maple, thought to be lighter, stronger and less prone to chipping than ash, allowing for greater bat speed and less turnover. Conversely, many of the traditional greats like Babe Ruth used hickory, which is heavier than either ash or maple.
"Hickory was a common wood, and it's still known today as a good strong wood," said Lloyd Smith, a mechanical and materials engineer from Washington State University. "But it is very heavy ... that was one of the criticisms, was that it was a heavy bat."
The desire for a lighter-weight bat (for faster swinging and higher batting averages) eventually led to the adoption of ash as the wood of choice for major leaguers. And it stayed the preferred type of wood up until a few years ago. But because it is lighter, ash is not as strong hickory.
"The problem with most wood is that strength is proportional to weight, so if you want a really strong wood, you can do that, but you end up getting an increase in weight," Smith explained. "And if you want a really light wood, you can do that, but you pay for it because your strength goes down. So there's this kind of optimum balance."
In the 1990s, maple started to make the rounds as an alternative. It was appealing because it was stronger (which is better for hitting longer distances) and less prone to flaking than ash, so players didn't go through bats as quickly. Most players still stuck to their ash bats, though — that is, until Barry Bonds got the single-season home run record in 2001, using a maple bat. Now, just a few years later, maple is no longer on the fringe.
"For 50 years, northern white ash was the wood. Today half of the bats in the major leagues are made out of maple. So it was a very dramatic shift," Smith told LiveScience."
The issue is that the modern woods used in bats break in dramatically different fashions, with ash prone to splitting or chipping in smaller chunks, and maple more prone to often catastrophically large jagged shards. Ash wood is ring porous, leading to the wood flaking, while maple is ring diffuse, with more evenly distributed pores in the wood grain, which makes the wood more durable but also more inclined to snap in large pieces when it does eventually break. The reduction in chipping may also lead a player to use a maple bat longer, since an ash bat would be replaced after chipping. The cracking in ash tends to follow the wood grain due its porous nature, while maple can break in almost any direction due to the more diffuse nature of its rings.
Another contributing factor is the reduction in the size of bat handles. More modern bats are produced with thinner handles to reduce weight, which also reduces the durability. The force of the impact of a baseball on a bat by a Major league player can exceed 5000 lbs.
I always wondered if there wasn't a better type of wood out there than either ash or maple after being informed of the switch during a game about a decade ago.
"Hickory was a common wood, and it's still known today as a good strong wood," said Lloyd Smith, a mechanical and materials engineer from Washington State University. "But it is very heavy ... that was one of the criticisms, was that it was a heavy bat."
The desire for a lighter-weight bat (for faster swinging and higher batting averages) eventually led to the adoption of ash as the wood of choice for major leaguers. And it stayed the preferred type of wood up until a few years ago. But because it is lighter, ash is not as strong hickory.
"The problem with most wood is that strength is proportional to weight, so if you want a really strong wood, you can do that, but you end up getting an increase in weight," Smith explained. "And if you want a really light wood, you can do that, but you pay for it because your strength goes down. So there's this kind of optimum balance."
In the 1990s, maple started to make the rounds as an alternative. It was appealing because it was stronger (which is better for hitting longer distances) and less prone to flaking than ash, so players didn't go through bats as quickly. Most players still stuck to their ash bats, though — that is, until Barry Bonds got the single-season home run record in 2001, using a maple bat. Now, just a few years later, maple is no longer on the fringe.
"For 50 years, northern white ash was the wood. Today half of the bats in the major leagues are made out of maple. So it was a very dramatic shift," Smith told LiveScience."
The issue is that the modern woods used in bats break in dramatically different fashions, with ash prone to splitting or chipping in smaller chunks, and maple more prone to often catastrophically large jagged shards. Ash wood is ring porous, leading to the wood flaking, while maple is ring diffuse, with more evenly distributed pores in the wood grain, which makes the wood more durable but also more inclined to snap in large pieces when it does eventually break. The reduction in chipping may also lead a player to use a maple bat longer, since an ash bat would be replaced after chipping. The cracking in ash tends to follow the wood grain due its porous nature, while maple can break in almost any direction due to the more diffuse nature of its rings.
Another contributing factor is the reduction in the size of bat handles. More modern bats are produced with thinner handles to reduce weight, which also reduces the durability. The force of the impact of a baseball on a bat by a Major league player can exceed 5000 lbs.
I always wondered if there wasn't a better type of wood out there than either ash or maple after being informed of the switch during a game about a decade ago.
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: What would you do as mayor of Boston?
Denny: Oh, I don't know, attack Rhode Island. Small.
Denny: Oh, I don't know, attack Rhode Island. Small.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
New Dwarf Planet - Makemake
We have a new 'official' fourth dwarf planet, discovered by Cal Tech's Dr. Mike Brown three years ago, the Kuiper Belt Object and plutoid formerly known as 2005 FY9 has been designated Makemake (prenounced makimaki), the creator god of Easter Island mythology. It is the third largest trans-Neptunian object yet discovered after Eris, also discovered by Brown, (the event which led to the new 'dwarf planet classification) and Pluto itself.
"This object was discovered by Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rainowitz on March 31, 2005, just before Easter that year. They nicknamed it Easterbunny (which is easier to say than 2005 FY9 or 136472) and after tossing a few different names around, they finally came up with Makemake because of its Easter Island, (also known as Rapa Nui) connection.
Makemake is the creator of humanity and the god of fertility in the mythology of the South Pacific island of Rapa Nui. He was the chief god of the Tangata manu bird-man cult and was worshipped in the form of sea birds, which were his incarnation. His material symbol, a man with a bird's head, can be found carved in petroglyphs on the island."
"This object was discovered by Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rainowitz on March 31, 2005, just before Easter that year. They nicknamed it Easterbunny (which is easier to say than 2005 FY9 or 136472) and after tossing a few different names around, they finally came up with Makemake because of its Easter Island, (also known as Rapa Nui) connection.
Makemake is the creator of humanity and the god of fertility in the mythology of the South Pacific island of Rapa Nui. He was the chief god of the Tangata manu bird-man cult and was worshipped in the form of sea birds, which were his incarnation. His material symbol, a man with a bird's head, can be found carved in petroglyphs on the island."
Captain Cook
Interesting note on the career of English explorer James cook via Livescience, from the site's 'changing history' series. Cook not only took part in a series of exploratory missions to the Pacific, he was responsible in part for the British conquest of Canada. As a navigator to the British Expedition to French Canada, he charted the waters of the St. Lawrence River, giving the British an opportunity to conduct the conquest of Quebec and win the war and causing the Frenhc to give up their Canadian possessions.
Almost a decade later, Cook led an expedition to the South Pacific island of Tahiti, leading a team of scientists to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun and allowing for a precise measurement of the distance from the Earth to our parent star. The same expedition has 'secret' orders from the Admiralty to head south and explore the mysterious continent of Australia. Within another ten years, British ships would arrive with the first of the convicts that would go on to settle the continent. Cook's second expedition in 1773 explored much of Polynesia and the south Pacific islands.
Cook's third expedition in 1778 in an attempt to discover the long theorized 'Northwest Passage' discovered insteadthe Hawaiian island chain, where he met his death after being stabbed in an attempt to seize a Hawaiian chief hostage.
Almost a decade later, Cook led an expedition to the South Pacific island of Tahiti, leading a team of scientists to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun and allowing for a precise measurement of the distance from the Earth to our parent star. The same expedition has 'secret' orders from the Admiralty to head south and explore the mysterious continent of Australia. Within another ten years, British ships would arrive with the first of the convicts that would go on to settle the continent. Cook's second expedition in 1773 explored much of Polynesia and the south Pacific islands.
Cook's third expedition in 1778 in an attempt to discover the long theorized 'Northwest Passage' discovered insteadthe Hawaiian island chain, where he met his death after being stabbed in an attempt to seize a Hawaiian chief hostage.
Fighting in Two Places at Once
Christopher Hitchens pretty much demolishes the idea that the Iraq war has "distracted" from the war in Afghanistan. AS the author points out, several of the Al-Qaida leaders in Iraq, most notably al-Zarqawi, arrived in Iraq after being driven from Afghanistan by coalition forces. Also of note is that the coalition forces in Afghanistan are comprised of many nations, including a number of NATO allies. He points out that the issues in Afghanistan are not from a lack of tropps and/or resources being applied there, the issue is that there is a 'safe haven' across the border where the Taliban are able to reorganize and plan their attacks - from Pakistan. Additionally, the counter insurgency lessons learned in the sands of Iraq are being utilized now in Afghanistan with some degree of success.
"In other words, any attempt to play off the two wars against each other is little more than a small-minded and zero-sum exercise. And consider the implications. Most people appear now to believe that it is quite wrong to mention Saddam Hussein even in the same breath as either a) weapons of mass destruction or b) state-sponsored terrorism. I happen to disagree, but just for an experiment, let us imagine that some regime did exist or did arise that posed such a combination of threats. (Actually, so feverish is my imagination that I can even think of one whose name also begins with I.) Would we be bound to say, in public and in advance, that the Western alliance couldn't get around to confronting such a threat until it had Afghanistan well under control? This would be rather like the equivalent fallacy that nothing can be done in the region until there is a settlement of the Israel-Palestine dispute. Not only does this mean that every rogue in the region can reset his timeline until one of the world's oldest and most intractable quarrels is settled, it also means that every rogue has an incentive to make certain that no such settlement can ever occur. (Which is, of course, why Saddam threw, and now the Iranians throw, their support to the suicide-murderers.)"
The very idea that the United States of today, the wealthiest and most powerful nation on the planet, should have a problem fighting a rather small group of religious fantatics in two relatively distant regions of the world simultaneously is patently absurd. The scale of the combat and the logistical complexities aside, our efforts today are minscule in comparison to the challenges the nation faced sixty plus years ago during World War Two - where we fought two significant nation states across two oceans half a world apart and over three continents.
"In other words, any attempt to play off the two wars against each other is little more than a small-minded and zero-sum exercise. And consider the implications. Most people appear now to believe that it is quite wrong to mention Saddam Hussein even in the same breath as either a) weapons of mass destruction or b) state-sponsored terrorism. I happen to disagree, but just for an experiment, let us imagine that some regime did exist or did arise that posed such a combination of threats. (Actually, so feverish is my imagination that I can even think of one whose name also begins with I.) Would we be bound to say, in public and in advance, that the Western alliance couldn't get around to confronting such a threat until it had Afghanistan well under control? This would be rather like the equivalent fallacy that nothing can be done in the region until there is a settlement of the Israel-Palestine dispute. Not only does this mean that every rogue in the region can reset his timeline until one of the world's oldest and most intractable quarrels is settled, it also means that every rogue has an incentive to make certain that no such settlement can ever occur. (Which is, of course, why Saddam threw, and now the Iranians throw, their support to the suicide-murderers.)"
The very idea that the United States of today, the wealthiest and most powerful nation on the planet, should have a problem fighting a rather small group of religious fantatics in two relatively distant regions of the world simultaneously is patently absurd. The scale of the combat and the logistical complexities aside, our efforts today are minscule in comparison to the challenges the nation faced sixty plus years ago during World War Two - where we fought two significant nation states across two oceans half a world apart and over three continents.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Dissent Not Necessarily Patriotic
Author/columnist Ralph Peters (at the NY Post, via RCP) takes on the bumper-stickerization of America, particularly the "dissent is the highest form of patriotism" gang. The quote is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, who never said any such thing.
"Parrot-talk on policy infects both ends of the political spectrum. Extremists like things neat and simple. But, these days, tape-loop talk has reached epidemic proportions on the left. Rational debate? Ain't going to find it at that MoveOn fund-raiser. Worst of all, the most enduringly popular slogans tend to be either dishonest, misattributed - or just plain dumb.
We've all heard humorless America-haters promote themselves by announcing, As Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." The first problem with that self-righteous bull is that Jefferson never said it. On the contrary, he warned of the dangers of political dissension carried to extremes.
The earliest traceable provenance of the slogan goes back to an obscure 1960s lefty who just made it up (long before activist-historian Howard Zinn commandeered it)."
In short, dissent can be patriotic, but spirited public debate should be based on facts, and not on some mushy 'feelings' and as Peters puts it, dissent should emphatically NOT be a fashion statement.
Could not agree more.
"Parrot-talk on policy infects both ends of the political spectrum. Extremists like things neat and simple. But, these days, tape-loop talk has reached epidemic proportions on the left. Rational debate? Ain't going to find it at that MoveOn fund-raiser. Worst of all, the most enduringly popular slogans tend to be either dishonest, misattributed - or just plain dumb.
We've all heard humorless America-haters promote themselves by announcing, As Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." The first problem with that self-righteous bull is that Jefferson never said it. On the contrary, he warned of the dangers of political dissension carried to extremes.
The earliest traceable provenance of the slogan goes back to an obscure 1960s lefty who just made it up (long before activist-historian Howard Zinn commandeered it)."
In short, dissent can be patriotic, but spirited public debate should be based on facts, and not on some mushy 'feelings' and as Peters puts it, dissent should emphatically NOT be a fashion statement.
Could not agree more.
Boston Legal Quotes
Congressman Jacobs: Raymond Jacobs, you handled my first divorce 15 years ago. My wife's name was Lois.
Denny: I remember.
Congressman Jacobs: Why wouldn't ya. You slept with her.
Denny: Only after the divorce was final.
Denny: I remember.
Congressman Jacobs: Why wouldn't ya. You slept with her.
Denny: Only after the divorce was final.
Friday, July 11, 2008
How Greens Captured US Energy policy
JR Dunn at The American Thinker has a run down on the way the environmental movement has hamstrung US energy policy since the 1960s, succeeding in ways most political pressure groups do not. The catalyst for the movement was the 1969 Santa Barbara oil platform spill, which left a sizable chunk (35 miles0 of California coastline mired in petroleum. Left unsaid by most environmental groups is that the culprit was that the US Geological survey had allowed the platform owner to ignore mandated construction regulations.
"The public rallied to save the wildlife with some success. Environmentalists rallied alongside them. Within days, an anti-oil activist group, GOO (Get Oil Out) was in operation, calling for boycotts and circulating petitions to end offshore drilling. Ignored in all the uproar was the fact that Union Oil had been allowed to skimp on heavy-duty protective sheathing by the U.S. Geological Survey. If the piping had been reinforced as called for by standard procedure, the rupture might not have occurred, or might well have been contained."
As a result, most offshore drilling was banned over the next 10 years, just as the first 'gas shortage' devloped due to the Iranian hostage crisis. Then the Exxon Valdez incident occured in 1989 where a drunken captain ran an oil tanker aground dumping 11 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Alaska, confirming the "oil is evil" tautology.
As if this wasn't enough, the Three Mile Island incident, where no radiactivite materials were released took nuclear energy off the table - no new reactors have been built in the Us for over 30 years. Adding insult to injury, this was followed by the much more serious Chernobyl incident in the Soviet Ukraine (note for the record that the Chernobyl reactor design would NEVER had been licensed in the US!).
As Dunn puts it:
"The appropriate response in these cases (Chernobyl being the exception: the only solution there was to tear the system down and start over) would have been to convene a panel of experts, send out investigators, hold hearings, issue recommendations, and see to it that reforms went into effect. This is what occurs following aircraft disasters, large-scale fires, building collapses, or any other catastrophic incident where suspicion exists that things were not being handled according to best practice. (Consider the investigation following the Challenger disaster, for one example.)
But this is not what occurred in these cases. Not in any meaningful sense. Under the new Green paradigm, oil and nuclear energy were not industries to be reformed, but "evils" to be either contained or destroyed. The Greens could have served a useful purpose by pushing for serious reform in management of critical energy industries. Instead, we got the religious impulse, distorted into sheer apocalypticism, with the environmentalists fighting oil and fissionables (plutonium in particular) as products of dark sin, placed on earth to tempt humankind from the path that Gaia intended."
"The public rallied to save the wildlife with some success. Environmentalists rallied alongside them. Within days, an anti-oil activist group, GOO (Get Oil Out) was in operation, calling for boycotts and circulating petitions to end offshore drilling. Ignored in all the uproar was the fact that Union Oil had been allowed to skimp on heavy-duty protective sheathing by the U.S. Geological Survey. If the piping had been reinforced as called for by standard procedure, the rupture might not have occurred, or might well have been contained."
As a result, most offshore drilling was banned over the next 10 years, just as the first 'gas shortage' devloped due to the Iranian hostage crisis. Then the Exxon Valdez incident occured in 1989 where a drunken captain ran an oil tanker aground dumping 11 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Alaska, confirming the "oil is evil" tautology.
As if this wasn't enough, the Three Mile Island incident, where no radiactivite materials were released took nuclear energy off the table - no new reactors have been built in the Us for over 30 years. Adding insult to injury, this was followed by the much more serious Chernobyl incident in the Soviet Ukraine (note for the record that the Chernobyl reactor design would NEVER had been licensed in the US!).
As Dunn puts it:
"The appropriate response in these cases (Chernobyl being the exception: the only solution there was to tear the system down and start over) would have been to convene a panel of experts, send out investigators, hold hearings, issue recommendations, and see to it that reforms went into effect. This is what occurs following aircraft disasters, large-scale fires, building collapses, or any other catastrophic incident where suspicion exists that things were not being handled according to best practice. (Consider the investigation following the Challenger disaster, for one example.)
But this is not what occurred in these cases. Not in any meaningful sense. Under the new Green paradigm, oil and nuclear energy were not industries to be reformed, but "evils" to be either contained or destroyed. The Greens could have served a useful purpose by pushing for serious reform in management of critical energy industries. Instead, we got the religious impulse, distorted into sheer apocalypticism, with the environmentalists fighting oil and fissionables (plutonium in particular) as products of dark sin, placed on earth to tempt humankind from the path that Gaia intended."
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: I heard about Tara. I feel you're hurt.
Alan: What's most upsetting, Denny, is I don't hurt.
Denny: So I don't have to hug ya and tell ya I'm there for ya and all that crap.
Alan: We can skip it.
Alan: What's most upsetting, Denny, is I don't hurt.
Denny: So I don't have to hug ya and tell ya I'm there for ya and all that crap.
Alan: We can skip it.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Interview with Dr. Tom
Realfootball365's Marc Hudgens interviews Husker athletic director (and former coach) Dr. Tom Osborne.
Osborne's biggest moment? The big win in Miami in the 1995 Orange Bowl for his first National title. I have to say it was a pretty big deal to me and the rest of the state as well.
Lowest point? Having to deal with the Lawrence Phillips situation later that year.
Hudgens also asks about how it was following in the footsteps of the legendary Bob Devaney, and how Tom arrived at the decision to hire Bo Pelini. I thought the answer was a pretty good one.
"OSBORNE: We needed a lot of help on defense, and I didn’t know of anybody that had better defensive coaching credentials. The other thing he had going for him is [that] he had coached here in 2003 for one year, and had turned our defense around in that year into one of the top defenses in the country from a rather average defense in 2002. So I knew that he understood and could motivate players and communicate with players and (get them) to play with intensity and passion. The other thing that was in Bo’s favor was I was able to talk to a lot of players who played for him in 2003 and a lot of assistant coaches who worked with him on defense. And in his last month, he was named interim coach when (Frank) Solich was fired, so Bo coached the bowl game for about five weeks, [and] he acted as the head coach. All of the comments I got from the former players and former coaches, all of whom I knew well and trusted, were very positive. So I was able to get more information on him. In most other people, you would get information on simply by interviewing them. So that was the main decision on Bo."
Hudgens also asked about politics and some illuminating personal questions - apparently Tom's passion for fishing is partially due to the fact it's one of his favorite foods, particularly salmon, and that legendary Husker running back Bobby Reynolds was a boyhood hero.
Osborne's biggest moment? The big win in Miami in the 1995 Orange Bowl for his first National title. I have to say it was a pretty big deal to me and the rest of the state as well.
Lowest point? Having to deal with the Lawrence Phillips situation later that year.
Hudgens also asks about how it was following in the footsteps of the legendary Bob Devaney, and how Tom arrived at the decision to hire Bo Pelini. I thought the answer was a pretty good one.
"OSBORNE: We needed a lot of help on defense, and I didn’t know of anybody that had better defensive coaching credentials. The other thing he had going for him is [that] he had coached here in 2003 for one year, and had turned our defense around in that year into one of the top defenses in the country from a rather average defense in 2002. So I knew that he understood and could motivate players and communicate with players and (get them) to play with intensity and passion. The other thing that was in Bo’s favor was I was able to talk to a lot of players who played for him in 2003 and a lot of assistant coaches who worked with him on defense. And in his last month, he was named interim coach when (Frank) Solich was fired, so Bo coached the bowl game for about five weeks, [and] he acted as the head coach. All of the comments I got from the former players and former coaches, all of whom I knew well and trusted, were very positive. So I was able to get more information on him. In most other people, you would get information on simply by interviewing them. So that was the main decision on Bo."
Hudgens also asked about politics and some illuminating personal questions - apparently Tom's passion for fishing is partially due to the fact it's one of his favorite foods, particularly salmon, and that legendary Husker running back Bobby Reynolds was a boyhood hero.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: I can't be sure, but in the middle I think I actually felt smoke coming out my ass.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The Unique Earth
Nice article at FoxNews (apparently linked in from Space.com) about the many unique and interrelated features of our shiny blue marble. First up is the location - at just the right orbit around our sun for the temperature to allow liquid water to form.
"It has liquid water, plate tectonics and an atmosphere that shelters it from the worst of the sun's rays. But many scientists agree our planet's most special feature might just be us. "It's the only planet we know of that has life," said Alan Boss, a planet formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C."
Liquid water allows for plate tectonics, the movement of the planet's land masses which allows for the carbon-silicate cycle (where the seafloor recycles carbon by subducting under the land masses) all of which also helps regulate the planet's temperature to keep the water largely in a liquid state. Plate tectonics may also help drive the rotation of the Earth's core, generating the magnetic field that protects the Earth and its atmosphere from the solar wind and high energy particles.
"Plate tectonics and water are inextricably linked. Not only does plate tectonics enable liquid water to exist by way of regulating the temperature, but many scientists have argued water enables plate tectonics to happen. "Without water the planet would be geologically dead," said Caltech's Mike Brown, discoverer of the newly reclassified "plutoid" object named Eris, which lies beyond Pluto in our solar system. "Water is what lubricates plate tectonics, which is what leads to the extreme difference between continents and seafloors, the large amount of earthquakes and volcanoes, fresh mountain-building. Venus has no water, no plate tectonics, no deep sea floor, no steep mountains, no continents, probably few earthquakes or volcanoes. A much less geologically interesting place!"
Another aspect is the Earth's size - large enough to hold an atmosphere, yet small enough to remain rocky and not grow into a gas giant. There is also the factor of the Moon, which drives the Earth's ocean tides and stabilizes the Earth's rotation, preventing the poles from wandering erratically, which could lead to massive climate shifts and prevent life from evolving. These tides may also have helped life along by giving an assist to life capable of living on land, which is the really the most unique aspect of our planet - life itself, and (so-called) intelligent life to boot. The examination of the Martian soils currently underway and future research on moons such as Titan and Europa are not likely to change this primary characteristic of Earth.
"It has liquid water, plate tectonics and an atmosphere that shelters it from the worst of the sun's rays. But many scientists agree our planet's most special feature might just be us. "It's the only planet we know of that has life," said Alan Boss, a planet formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C."
Liquid water allows for plate tectonics, the movement of the planet's land masses which allows for the carbon-silicate cycle (where the seafloor recycles carbon by subducting under the land masses) all of which also helps regulate the planet's temperature to keep the water largely in a liquid state. Plate tectonics may also help drive the rotation of the Earth's core, generating the magnetic field that protects the Earth and its atmosphere from the solar wind and high energy particles.
"Plate tectonics and water are inextricably linked. Not only does plate tectonics enable liquid water to exist by way of regulating the temperature, but many scientists have argued water enables plate tectonics to happen. "Without water the planet would be geologically dead," said Caltech's Mike Brown, discoverer of the newly reclassified "plutoid" object named Eris, which lies beyond Pluto in our solar system. "Water is what lubricates plate tectonics, which is what leads to the extreme difference between continents and seafloors, the large amount of earthquakes and volcanoes, fresh mountain-building. Venus has no water, no plate tectonics, no deep sea floor, no steep mountains, no continents, probably few earthquakes or volcanoes. A much less geologically interesting place!"
Another aspect is the Earth's size - large enough to hold an atmosphere, yet small enough to remain rocky and not grow into a gas giant. There is also the factor of the Moon, which drives the Earth's ocean tides and stabilizes the Earth's rotation, preventing the poles from wandering erratically, which could lead to massive climate shifts and prevent life from evolving. These tides may also have helped life along by giving an assist to life capable of living on land, which is the really the most unique aspect of our planet - life itself, and (so-called) intelligent life to boot. The examination of the Martian soils currently underway and future research on moons such as Titan and Europa are not likely to change this primary characteristic of Earth.
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: My New Year's resolution...is to appreciate my friends every day and catch more fish.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
McCain on the Economy
Ross Kaminsky over at Human Events covers a McCain appearance in Denver where the Republican candidate explores the differences between him and his opponent on economic policies, and took some questions from the crowd.
"Throughout this stop on the campaign trail, Senator McCain made direct comparisons between his positions and those of Senator Obama. He pointed out several significant differences, starting with Obama wanting to hamper small business “by imposing a ‘pay or play’ health mandate on small business. This adds $12,000 to the cost of employing anyone with a family. This means new jobs will not be created. It means existing employees will have their wages cut to pay for this mandate.”
Moving on to taxes, McCain used a line voters are likely to hear frequently over the next four months: “If you believe you should pay more taxes, I am the wrong candidate for you. Senator Obama is your man….Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won’t. I will cut them where I can….When you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs. I’m not going to let that happen.”
McCain also pointed out differences on trade, noting that 25% of all American jobs are linked to exports, and that a number of competitive swing states such as Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have almost 5 million such jobs. The candidate also swung at Congress over spending and earmarks such as the $100 million requested by Senator Obama in 2007 alone.
McCain also talked about expanding nuclear energy, calling for 45 new nuclear plants and the need to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies, noting 80% of Colorado's energy needs are met by America's most prodigious energy source. McCain then answered questions on the needs of veterans, healthcare, the question of security versus privacy rights, immigration, and Social Security, showing a deft handling of often difficult questions and an ability to think on his feet. McCain also renewed his calls to meet his opponent in just such a setting, playing to his obvious strengths in such a town hall setting.
If Mac can keep it close during the summer months, my guess is it will be anyone's game come November.
"Throughout this stop on the campaign trail, Senator McCain made direct comparisons between his positions and those of Senator Obama. He pointed out several significant differences, starting with Obama wanting to hamper small business “by imposing a ‘pay or play’ health mandate on small business. This adds $12,000 to the cost of employing anyone with a family. This means new jobs will not be created. It means existing employees will have their wages cut to pay for this mandate.”
Moving on to taxes, McCain used a line voters are likely to hear frequently over the next four months: “If you believe you should pay more taxes, I am the wrong candidate for you. Senator Obama is your man….Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won’t. I will cut them where I can….When you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs. I’m not going to let that happen.”
McCain also pointed out differences on trade, noting that 25% of all American jobs are linked to exports, and that a number of competitive swing states such as Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have almost 5 million such jobs. The candidate also swung at Congress over spending and earmarks such as the $100 million requested by Senator Obama in 2007 alone.
McCain also talked about expanding nuclear energy, calling for 45 new nuclear plants and the need to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies, noting 80% of Colorado's energy needs are met by America's most prodigious energy source. McCain then answered questions on the needs of veterans, healthcare, the question of security versus privacy rights, immigration, and Social Security, showing a deft handling of often difficult questions and an ability to think on his feet. McCain also renewed his calls to meet his opponent in just such a setting, playing to his obvious strengths in such a town hall setting.
If Mac can keep it close during the summer months, my guess is it will be anyone's game come November.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: When God strips you of your talent, He should at least have the decency to strip away the memory of having had it.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Invention of the Steam Engine
via Livescience, another of Heather Whipps' articles on items that "changed the world" - in this instance, the steam engine.
"Sixteen hundred years after the ancient Greek scientist first made mention of the untapped power of steam, the technology would become the hero and the engine that drove the Industrial Revolution.
When it was refined by 18th century scientists such as James Watt, steam power overcame the limitations of using relatively weak men or tired horses to do grunt work and sped factories along at a pace never before seen."
While Watt did not invent the steam engine, he certainly popularized it along with British manufacturer Matthew Boulton, modifying Watt's engine to expand its use in a number of industries. The steam engine allowed manufacuring plants to be located outside fast moving rivers and dramatically altered the textile and manufacturing industries in particular. The invention of the locamotive and the steam ship completely revolutionized transportation, freeing the need for horse and sails.
"Sixteen hundred years after the ancient Greek scientist first made mention of the untapped power of steam, the technology would become the hero and the engine that drove the Industrial Revolution.
When it was refined by 18th century scientists such as James Watt, steam power overcame the limitations of using relatively weak men or tired horses to do grunt work and sped factories along at a pace never before seen."
While Watt did not invent the steam engine, he certainly popularized it along with British manufacturer Matthew Boulton, modifying Watt's engine to expand its use in a number of industries. The steam engine allowed manufacuring plants to be located outside fast moving rivers and dramatically altered the textile and manufacturing industries in particular. The invention of the locamotive and the steam ship completely revolutionized transportation, freeing the need for horse and sails.
People Wore Shoes Earlier than Thought
National Geographic states a recent study of ancient human remains in China indicate that at least some humans were wearing shoes 40,000 years ago, around 10,000 years earlier than previously believed.
"Now the dainty-toed fossil from China suggests that at least some humans were sporting protective footwear 10,000 years further back, during a time when both modern humans and Neandertals occupied portions of Europe and Asia."
Shoe wearing humans leave anatomical traces in the bones of the feet and toes, particularly the middle toe bones, which appear more slender than barefoot humans due to decreased forces applied on the bones when walking in footwear. The oldest footwear yet discovered only dates to around 10,000 years ago, however.
"Now the dainty-toed fossil from China suggests that at least some humans were sporting protective footwear 10,000 years further back, during a time when both modern humans and Neandertals occupied portions of Europe and Asia."
Shoe wearing humans leave anatomical traces in the bones of the feet and toes, particularly the middle toe bones, which appear more slender than barefoot humans due to decreased forces applied on the bones when walking in footwear. The oldest footwear yet discovered only dates to around 10,000 years ago, however.
Boston Legal Quotes
Shirley: I make over a million dollars a year, and I'm in a basement looking for a dead midget.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: When a beautiful woman says, 'get me off', you 'get her off', Shirley, it's as simple as that.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Kelly: [to Denny] How 'bout you go back to your office? I'll have a pair of my pants delivered. You can try and get in them on your own time.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: Not everything is about money, Shirley. Sometimes sex counts, too. It used to count with you. One minute you couldn't get enough of me, the next you lose interest. What happened, Shirley? I need to know.
Shirley: They invented color television.
Denny: You and me. In my office. Gimme 2 minutes.
Shirley: If you could last 3 I might consider it.
Shirley: They invented color television.
Denny: You and me. In my office. Gimme 2 minutes.
Shirley: If you could last 3 I might consider it.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Large Cache of Exoplanet Discoveries Announced
Great note from Astrobiology last Sunday on the recent spate of "superEarth" discoveries, including the find of a single system that includes at least three near Earth mass planets. The system is located 42 light-years away near the constellations Doradus and Pictor. While the planets have short orbital periods, all less than 20 days, they weigh in at only 4-9 Earth masses.
"Using the HARPS instrument at the ESO La Silla Observatory, they have found a triple system of super- Earths around the star HD 40307. Moreover, looking at their entire sample studied with HARPS, the astronomers count a total of 45 candidate planets with a mass below 30 Earth masses and an orbital period shorter than 50 days. This implies that one solar-like star out of three harbors such planets - a finding may help astrobiologists understand the potential for habitable environments in the Universe."
These discoveries make it near certain that the holy grail of planet hunting, a near Earth mass planet in the habital zone of its star, will be found in relatively short order if the implications of these observations bear out as expected.
"Using the HARPS instrument at the ESO La Silla Observatory, they have found a triple system of super- Earths around the star HD 40307. Moreover, looking at their entire sample studied with HARPS, the astronomers count a total of 45 candidate planets with a mass below 30 Earth masses and an orbital period shorter than 50 days. This implies that one solar-like star out of three harbors such planets - a finding may help astrobiologists understand the potential for habitable environments in the Universe."
These discoveries make it near certain that the holy grail of planet hunting, a near Earth mass planet in the habital zone of its star, will be found in relatively short order if the implications of these observations bear out as expected.
Boston Legal Quotes
ADA Jackson: No cell phones allowed in here. How'd you get by with that?
Alan: I told the guard we're waiting for a last minute call from your conscience. Collect.
Alan: I told the guard we're waiting for a last minute call from your conscience. Collect.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Suadis Ready Plans to Boost Oil Output
via MSNBC, the world's leading oil exporter is working feverishly to ramp up production in its few remaining large untapped oil fields. Saudi Arabia is referring these production increases as the largest expansion of production in history, and if they bear out as expected, they could go a long way toward giving the globe additional breathing space to develop alternatives to the sticky black gold. Unlike most of their existing fields located in the northeastern corner of the nation, these fields are located west of the Suadi capital, Riyadh.
"Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, Aramco, is spending $10 billion to build the infrastructure to pump 1.2 million barrels of oil per day by next June from the Khurais field and its two smaller neighbors. That alone would be more than the total individual production of OPEC members Qatar, Indonesia and Ecuador.
The project forms the centerpiece of the Saudi plan to increase the total amount of oil it can produce to 12.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2009 — up from a little more than 11 million barrels per day now."
While there are technical hurdles to producing in this area, including the searing 100 degree heat and the need to pump in as much as 2 million gallons of seawater into the rock formaitons to maintain well pressure into the 5,000 foot deep oil strata, the Saudis believe they will be able to pump as much as 1.2 million barrels a day by next June. In addition, they expect production of up to 500,000 barrels a day from another new field located at Khursaniyah in August of this year, although this field had been expceted to go online at the end of 2007 but ran into equipment and labor shortages. They are also developing their last large oil formation in the Persian Gulf at Manifa.
Now if the morons we've elected to Congress would allow more drilling here at home, maybe we wouldn't be paying $4 a gallon for freaking the stuff the runs (for better or worse) our entire transportation industry. Still, some encouraging news on the subject is better than continued doom and gloom.
"Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, Aramco, is spending $10 billion to build the infrastructure to pump 1.2 million barrels of oil per day by next June from the Khurais field and its two smaller neighbors. That alone would be more than the total individual production of OPEC members Qatar, Indonesia and Ecuador.
The project forms the centerpiece of the Saudi plan to increase the total amount of oil it can produce to 12.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2009 — up from a little more than 11 million barrels per day now."
While there are technical hurdles to producing in this area, including the searing 100 degree heat and the need to pump in as much as 2 million gallons of seawater into the rock formaitons to maintain well pressure into the 5,000 foot deep oil strata, the Saudis believe they will be able to pump as much as 1.2 million barrels a day by next June. In addition, they expect production of up to 500,000 barrels a day from another new field located at Khursaniyah in August of this year, although this field had been expceted to go online at the end of 2007 but ran into equipment and labor shortages. They are also developing their last large oil formation in the Persian Gulf at Manifa.
Now if the morons we've elected to Congress would allow more drilling here at home, maybe we wouldn't be paying $4 a gallon for freaking the stuff the runs (for better or worse) our entire transportation industry. Still, some encouraging news on the subject is better than continued doom and gloom.
Pluto's Status Has Kids Confused
via Livescience, the confusion of astronomers about the definition of planet and the subsequent impact on the status of the solar object called Pluto has left American school chidren (and probably children and adults globally) pretty confused. Traditionally accepted as a planet since its discovery in 1930, the International Astrnomical Union redefined the world as a "dwarf planet" two years ago, only to recently coin yet another term for it and object like it, "plutoid".
"Science teachers and publishers already worked to update their resources to read "dwarf planet." And now, boom, that category is out of favor among astronomers.
"Students who have just learned about the concept of dwarf planets must now be taught the new concept of plutoid," said Janis Milman, who teaches earth science at Thomas Stone High School in Maryland. "This will lead to confusion in the classroom and resistance to learning the new terms, because the students will question, why learn something that might change again in a year or so?"
This has left educators and textbook manufacurers scrambling to keep up and everyone scratching their heads, and has left even some astronomers vowing to keep up the good fight to maintain Pluto's status as a planet. The difference between a dwarf planet and a plutoid appears to be simply location: plutoids are small rocky/icy objects located outside the orbit of Neptune, so recently discovered Kyper Belt Object Eris is also a plutoid, leaving the object Ceres (formerly an asteroid) as the only true "dwarf planet" - even my head is spinning and I follow this stuff pretty closely.
Stay tuned for further developments.
"Science teachers and publishers already worked to update their resources to read "dwarf planet." And now, boom, that category is out of favor among astronomers.
"Students who have just learned about the concept of dwarf planets must now be taught the new concept of plutoid," said Janis Milman, who teaches earth science at Thomas Stone High School in Maryland. "This will lead to confusion in the classroom and resistance to learning the new terms, because the students will question, why learn something that might change again in a year or so?"
This has left educators and textbook manufacurers scrambling to keep up and everyone scratching their heads, and has left even some astronomers vowing to keep up the good fight to maintain Pluto's status as a planet. The difference between a dwarf planet and a plutoid appears to be simply location: plutoids are small rocky/icy objects located outside the orbit of Neptune, so recently discovered Kyper Belt Object Eris is also a plutoid, leaving the object Ceres (formerly an asteroid) as the only true "dwarf planet" - even my head is spinning and I follow this stuff pretty closely.
Stay tuned for further developments.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: My God, you're even more striking in person.
Kelly: Who is this man? And why is his face about to explode?
Alan: Kelly Nolan, this is Denny Crane. Success has caused his head to swell.
Kelly: Who is this man? And why is his face about to explode?
Alan: Kelly Nolan, this is Denny Crane. Success has caused his head to swell.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Comparing Tasks of Devaney and Pelini
Tad Stryker of Huskerpedia compares the tasks facing Bob Devaney in 1962 with that of current NU head football coach Bo Pelini. While superficially similiar, Stryker concludes that Devaney faced a more formidable task, an accessment which I'm inclined to agree with. Both coaches inherited some talented players from the previous regimes, but NU had really suffered some horrific seasons between the 1941 Rose Bowl season and the beginning of Devaney's tenure, just three winning seasons and one finishing at .500. Pelinie predessessor Bill Callahan had two losing seasons to go along with two bowl appearnces and a Big 12 North title. Pelini also has the unusual luxury of beginning his first season with five home dates in a row. However, Devaney did have some head coaching experience before taking the helm at NU.
Finding Earth's Twin
Nice article at MSNBC about the challenges and opportunities in discovering a habitable planet outside our solar system - an twin to our Earth.
""So far we've found Jupiters and Saturns, and now our technology is becoming good enough to detect planets smaller, more like the size of Uranus and Neptune, and even smaller," said one of the top planet hunters on this world, Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley.
Marcy, Boss and other scientists are optimistic that within the next five or so years headlines will be splashed with news of a near twin of Earth in another star system."
The article also discusses and explains the two techniques of planet discovery (the wobble and the transit methods) and the optimism pervailing the field as new space imaging obervatories bring new technology to the chase, such as the ESA's COROT satellite(already in orbit) and NASA's upcoming Feb. 2009 Kepler mission. Also on tap for the future will be the Webb telescope scheduled for a 2013 launch. Astronomers have discovered several planets at the edge of the habitable zone (where the planet's temperature would be within the bounds acceptable for life as we know it) of an alien star, but not yet one quite in the sweet spot, but researchers beleive it will just be a matter of time.
""So far we've found Jupiters and Saturns, and now our technology is becoming good enough to detect planets smaller, more like the size of Uranus and Neptune, and even smaller," said one of the top planet hunters on this world, Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley.
Marcy, Boss and other scientists are optimistic that within the next five or so years headlines will be splashed with news of a near twin of Earth in another star system."
The article also discusses and explains the two techniques of planet discovery (the wobble and the transit methods) and the optimism pervailing the field as new space imaging obervatories bring new technology to the chase, such as the ESA's COROT satellite(already in orbit) and NASA's upcoming Feb. 2009 Kepler mission. Also on tap for the future will be the Webb telescope scheduled for a 2013 launch. Astronomers have discovered several planets at the edge of the habitable zone (where the planet's temperature would be within the bounds acceptable for life as we know it) of an alien star, but not yet one quite in the sweet spot, but researchers beleive it will just be a matter of time.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: Certainly you'd want me by your side at this trial.
Kelly Nolan: I'm sure you're very sweet, but old men tend to die on me.
Denny: I'm Denny Crane. No bigger ass--asset! You want me at your table.
Kelly Nolan: I'm sure you're very sweet, but old men tend to die on me.
Denny: I'm Denny Crane. No bigger ass--asset! You want me at your table.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: I can see you're aroused. You might consider the last man to make love to her died while doing so.
[Denny looks over Kelly Nolan's body.]
Denny: I'll take my chances.
[Denny looks over Kelly Nolan's body.]
Denny: I'll take my chances.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Estonia - Free Market Paradise
Great article from yesterday on Estonia from the American Thinker's Nicholas Kaster. Estonia, one of the three Baltic Republics that suffered so much damage during World War 2 (invaded in succession by the Soviets, the Nazis, then the Soviets again) kick started their economy after the fall of European Communism by adopting the Milt Friedman approach, championed by Soviet dissident Mart Lar, Estonia's first Prime Minister after independence. First, the problems facing Lar:
"Laar, who became Estonia's first prime minister in 1992, inherited the bitter fruits of socialism - an economy in shambles and the citizenry dispirited. "In an era of socialism," Laar wrote, "people were not used to thinking for themselves, taking the initiative or assuming risks."
This was a problem common to Central and Eastern European countries. In a recent article for the American Spectator, Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum observed that "[i]n a very short time, between the late 1980s and mid-1990s, much that had been illegal in that part of the world became legal again." But the private, charitable, and social institutions that form the fabric of a civil society had not existed for many decades. Without civil society, Abblebaum wrote, citizens "lost of the habit of organizing anything, whether economic activity, entertainment, education, politics, or charity, for themselves."
Estonia was no exception. As Laar himself noted, citizens "had to be shaken free of the illusion-common in post-communist countries-that somehow someone else would solve their problems for them." Accordingly, "the government declared that it could only help those who were prepared to do something for themselves." "
Lar instituted a set of radical economic reforms that have been wildly succesful in growing the economy at an average of 6% a year since their implementation. First, he privatized state owned assets and established a strong system of private property rights, and ended state subsidies to failing enterprises. Secondly, the nation abolished all import tariffs and established a free trade zone. Thirdly, the government established a flat tax regime with an introductory rate of 26%, which was later reduced to 24% in 2005, 23% in 2006, and is scheduled to be reduced 1% a year to reach a rate of just 18% in 2010.
Estonia is now the 12th freest economy in the world today as calculated by the 2008 Index of economic freedom, ahead of such major economic powers as Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, an impressive achievement considering wherre the nation was just 15 years ago. In contrast, while former East bloc nations are embracing free market principles and slashing their tax rates, the US seems destined to follow outdated archaic tax and regulatory schemes, particularly if Barack Obama ends up winning the 2008 presidential campaign.
I may have to make a visit to Estonia someday.
"Laar, who became Estonia's first prime minister in 1992, inherited the bitter fruits of socialism - an economy in shambles and the citizenry dispirited. "In an era of socialism," Laar wrote, "people were not used to thinking for themselves, taking the initiative or assuming risks."
This was a problem common to Central and Eastern European countries. In a recent article for the American Spectator, Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum observed that "[i]n a very short time, between the late 1980s and mid-1990s, much that had been illegal in that part of the world became legal again." But the private, charitable, and social institutions that form the fabric of a civil society had not existed for many decades. Without civil society, Abblebaum wrote, citizens "lost of the habit of organizing anything, whether economic activity, entertainment, education, politics, or charity, for themselves."
Estonia was no exception. As Laar himself noted, citizens "had to be shaken free of the illusion-common in post-communist countries-that somehow someone else would solve their problems for them." Accordingly, "the government declared that it could only help those who were prepared to do something for themselves." "
Lar instituted a set of radical economic reforms that have been wildly succesful in growing the economy at an average of 6% a year since their implementation. First, he privatized state owned assets and established a strong system of private property rights, and ended state subsidies to failing enterprises. Secondly, the nation abolished all import tariffs and established a free trade zone. Thirdly, the government established a flat tax regime with an introductory rate of 26%, which was later reduced to 24% in 2005, 23% in 2006, and is scheduled to be reduced 1% a year to reach a rate of just 18% in 2010.
Estonia is now the 12th freest economy in the world today as calculated by the 2008 Index of economic freedom, ahead of such major economic powers as Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, an impressive achievement considering wherre the nation was just 15 years ago. In contrast, while former East bloc nations are embracing free market principles and slashing their tax rates, the US seems destined to follow outdated archaic tax and regulatory schemes, particularly if Barack Obama ends up winning the 2008 presidential campaign.
I may have to make a visit to Estonia someday.
Tennesee Senator Bob Corker
Very complimentary article from the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes on Tennesee's freshman Senator Bob Corker. Corker won a narrow victory over Harold Ford in the 2006 campaign. Corker's standing in the Senate has risen appreciably as he has concentrated on three key issues, fiscal matters, healthcare and energy, including cap and trade proposals to deal with 'climate change'. Towards that end, he has traveled to Europe to get first hand accounts of the European system, which has failed fairly miserably, and to Greenland to view melting glaciers, which he discounted after recalling that Greenland was settled by the Norse during a period in which potatoes and other crops were grown there - at that time, the name was in no way a misnomer.
"His goal became a policy hat trick: to deal with global warming while achieving energy security and continued economic growth. "There are some rubs" among the three goals, he concedes.
He argues that "our fossil fuels are a bridge to the future." Exploiting the oil and natural gas reserves offshore and underneath federal lands over the next several decades will provide time for alternative sources of energy to be developed--without harming the country in the meantime."
In the recent cap and trade debate in the Senate, Corker took a lead role. AS barnes puts it:
"On the cap and trade bill, he offered three amendments (which were never voted on as the bill died prematurely) and infuriated the legislation's chief proponent, Boxer, in the process.
One amendment required the billions from auctioning off carbon allowances to be rebated to taxpayers. Otherwise, the money would be handed out to special interests in "the mother of all earmarks," Corker said. Boxer took umbrage. "I resent the senator from Tennessee saying our bill is a slush fund," she said.
Another Corker amendment barred carbon allowances from being handed out "to entities that have nothing to do with reducing carbon emissions." His third amendment prohibited so-called "international offsets" as a way to comply with an American carbon cap.
Corker's mastery of cap and trade proved to be eye-catching. Lobbyists on all sides began to pay attention to his words. John Pemberton of the Southern Company, a utility, says it's clear Corker "knows how to dig into an issue and learn it." "
Anyone in the Senate that can frustrate California's most liberal Senator has got to be a person to pay attention to and possibly contribute. Hats off to Senator Corker for some excellent work.
"His goal became a policy hat trick: to deal with global warming while achieving energy security and continued economic growth. "There are some rubs" among the three goals, he concedes.
He argues that "our fossil fuels are a bridge to the future." Exploiting the oil and natural gas reserves offshore and underneath federal lands over the next several decades will provide time for alternative sources of energy to be developed--without harming the country in the meantime."
In the recent cap and trade debate in the Senate, Corker took a lead role. AS barnes puts it:
"On the cap and trade bill, he offered three amendments (which were never voted on as the bill died prematurely) and infuriated the legislation's chief proponent, Boxer, in the process.
One amendment required the billions from auctioning off carbon allowances to be rebated to taxpayers. Otherwise, the money would be handed out to special interests in "the mother of all earmarks," Corker said. Boxer took umbrage. "I resent the senator from Tennessee saying our bill is a slush fund," she said.
Another Corker amendment barred carbon allowances from being handed out "to entities that have nothing to do with reducing carbon emissions." His third amendment prohibited so-called "international offsets" as a way to comply with an American carbon cap.
Corker's mastery of cap and trade proved to be eye-catching. Lobbyists on all sides began to pay attention to his words. John Pemberton of the Southern Company, a utility, says it's clear Corker "knows how to dig into an issue and learn it." "
Anyone in the Senate that can frustrate California's most liberal Senator has got to be a person to pay attention to and possibly contribute. Hats off to Senator Corker for some excellent work.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: What the hell kinda charity is 'Children's Group'?
Shirley: We're teaching children to read.
Denise: No, we're buying them food.
Alan: I thought we were providing them with old people to play with.
Shirley: We're teaching children to read.
Denise: No, we're buying them food.
Alan: I thought we were providing them with old people to play with.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Fred Involved with McCain Camp
via Human Events, the return of the Fred! to the national media is part of the McCain team's campaign strategy. Thompson will apparently be heavily involved with the Supreme Court nomination and vetting process in any potential McCain administration.
"In a McCain campaign conference call with reporters yesterday on last week’s Supreme Court decision on terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Thompson -- without claiming such status -- played the role of a prominent McCain adviser."
Best news I've heard today, but I would really like to hear Fred having an even more prominent position, perhaps in the cabinet. Personally, I like the sound of Attorney General Thompson.
"In a McCain campaign conference call with reporters yesterday on last week’s Supreme Court decision on terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Thompson -- without claiming such status -- played the role of a prominent McCain adviser."
Best news I've heard today, but I would really like to hear Fred having an even more prominent position, perhaps in the cabinet. Personally, I like the sound of Attorney General Thompson.
Editorial Note
Light blogging over the last week has been due to a long overdue vacation to the Big Apple, my personal present to myself for finishing Grad school. I believed I had the usual daily Boston Legal post scheduled for each day during my absence but apparently something got screwed up (thank you, Blogger!). I think I have the damage repaired now, and will have some more substantial things to say later this week as I get caught up at work.
Thanks for reading and my apologies for leaving the site hanging during my trip.
Thanks for reading and my apologies for leaving the site hanging during my trip.
Boston Legal Quotes
Chelina: Hey! Pretty boy. How'd you like to go to Texas?
Alan: I'd love to. I haven't had my shots.
Alan: I'd love to. I haven't had my shots.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: I promise you. By the time I finish tomorrow, those judges - every last one of them - will rise up and say "Never mind executing Ezekiel Borns. Let's kill Alan Shore instead."
Friday, June 20, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Tara: Nymphomania?
Shirley: Anything you can find. And we'll need to line up an expert who can testify, possibly as soon as tomorrow.
Brad: It's not a real disease. It's an excuse offered up by sex perv sickos.
Shirley: Yes, Brad. Thank you for that.
Lori: It's also a sexist diagnosis, as well as bogus. If a man was running around trying to schtup everything he could, we wouldn't say that he had a disease. We would just call him…
Denny: [entering, uttering his signature line] Denny Crane.
Shirley: Exactly.
Shirley: Anything you can find. And we'll need to line up an expert who can testify, possibly as soon as tomorrow.
Brad: It's not a real disease. It's an excuse offered up by sex perv sickos.
Shirley: Yes, Brad. Thank you for that.
Lori: It's also a sexist diagnosis, as well as bogus. If a man was running around trying to schtup everything he could, we wouldn't say that he had a disease. We would just call him…
Denny: [entering, uttering his signature line] Denny Crane.
Shirley: Exactly.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Shirley: I know you recently retired. Is this...
Milton: And please do not proffer psychological counsel. I came in here in search of legal and intellectual acuity.
Shirley: And you sought out Denny?
Milton: And please do not proffer psychological counsel. I came in here in search of legal and intellectual acuity.
Shirley: And you sought out Denny?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''A woman once left me cause the way I grunted during sex reminded her of her potbellied pig...And when I fell asleep after? She said I snored like her pig too. You just can't win.''
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Lori: Wait, this firm is actually going to help Milton Bombay be put on ice?
Catherine: Oh, come now Lori. You of all people should know it's not so bad to go through life as a popsicle.
Catherine: Oh, come now Lori. You of all people should know it's not so bad to go through life as a popsicle.
Monday, June 16, 2008
10 Reasons Oil Prices are So High
William Tate over at The American Thinker examines 10 reasons to blame Congress about oil prices being so high, including the drilling restricitons placed on the ANWR and coastal plains, the push for alternative energy such as ethanol, environmental resistance to utilizing proven technologies such as nuclear power and coal liquification, the standstill in constructing new refineries, a private oil industry consolidation that occurred during the Clinton administration, the myth about global warming, rampant commodities speculation on energy resources, and the Democratic defeat of the Bush administration's 2001 Energy Plan, which had key proposals in the following areas:
-Promote new oil and gas drilling
-Build new nuclear plants
-Improve electricity grid and build new pipelines -$10bn in tax breaks to promote energy efficiency and alternative fuels
The one other key item regarding oil prices that Congress doesn't get the blame on is the fact the developing world's increased demand for oil. However, this would not be the significant problem it is today if the ten reasons above had been addressed in the past by Congress, regardless of which party is in power.
-Promote new oil and gas drilling
-Build new nuclear plants
-Improve electricity grid and build new pipelines -$10bn in tax breaks to promote energy efficiency and alternative fuels
The one other key item regarding oil prices that Congress doesn't get the blame on is the fact the developing world's increased demand for oil. However, this would not be the significant problem it is today if the ten reasons above had been addressed in the past by Congress, regardless of which party is in power.
Boston Legal Quotes
Lori: And what exactly is your defense?
Alan: Something like let him go even though he did it.
Lori: Jury nullification?
Alan: Best I can tell, though Shirley hasn't really filled me in.
Shirley: Talking about me?
Alan: Yes Shirley. If you so enjoy keeping me in the dark, you really should give me a try…in the dark.
Alan: Something like let him go even though he did it.
Lori: Jury nullification?
Alan: Best I can tell, though Shirley hasn't really filled me in.
Shirley: Talking about me?
Alan: Yes Shirley. If you so enjoy keeping me in the dark, you really should give me a try…in the dark.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Things aren't so Bad, Yet...
Greg Easterbrook at the WSJ takes an objective look at current events and finds that while things are actually pretty good, our attitudes towards current events are pretty negative, often egged on by the media.
"At a time when there exists a sense of crisis over the economy, fuel prices and many other issues, this reinforces the odd, two realities of life in the United States today: The way we are, and the way we think we are. The way we are could use some work, but overall, is pretty good. The way we think we are is terrible, horrible, awful. Possibly worse."
As he puts it, unemployment is historically low, incomes are rising slightly ahead of inflation, the vast majority of American homeowners are not threatened with foreclosure and their home is worth around a third more than 2000, living standards are the highest ever recorded, pollution is much reduced, and crime and major life threatening diseases are in decline. So why the pessimism? Part stems from the fact the nation is at war, part from the constant barrage of the 24/7 newscycle, where the only news worth reporting is bad news.
As Easterbrook puts it, when a auto plant closes it's news. When one opens, it isn't - much like our recent successes in the Middle East. We've been conditioned to believe (and continue to be) that things are much worse than they really are - Democrats blame Republicans for ruining domestic policy while Republicans blame Democrats for ruining foreign policy. While people report their own lives are pretty good, they worry about the population as a whole. By any objective measure, things aren't really as bad as reported, but you'd never know unless you dig inside the data.
Public impressions, however misguided or incorrect, are often the deciding criteria of elections. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see how things play out as the fall campaign heats up.
"At a time when there exists a sense of crisis over the economy, fuel prices and many other issues, this reinforces the odd, two realities of life in the United States today: The way we are, and the way we think we are. The way we are could use some work, but overall, is pretty good. The way we think we are is terrible, horrible, awful. Possibly worse."
As he puts it, unemployment is historically low, incomes are rising slightly ahead of inflation, the vast majority of American homeowners are not threatened with foreclosure and their home is worth around a third more than 2000, living standards are the highest ever recorded, pollution is much reduced, and crime and major life threatening diseases are in decline. So why the pessimism? Part stems from the fact the nation is at war, part from the constant barrage of the 24/7 newscycle, where the only news worth reporting is bad news.
As Easterbrook puts it, when a auto plant closes it's news. When one opens, it isn't - much like our recent successes in the Middle East. We've been conditioned to believe (and continue to be) that things are much worse than they really are - Democrats blame Republicans for ruining domestic policy while Republicans blame Democrats for ruining foreign policy. While people report their own lives are pretty good, they worry about the population as a whole. By any objective measure, things aren't really as bad as reported, but you'd never know unless you dig inside the data.
Public impressions, however misguided or incorrect, are often the deciding criteria of elections. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see how things play out as the fall campaign heats up.
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: When a man turns 40, he begins to take measure of himself. I must admit I don't like what I see.
Tara: You're turning 43.
Alan: If you don't mind, I'm trying to appear vulnerable to facilitate my snorkeling up your thighbone later.
Tara: Alan? You boyfriend. Me girlfriend. You have a season's pass.
Alan: You're ruining the conquest part, which is all it's really about for me.
Tara: You're turning 43.
Alan: If you don't mind, I'm trying to appear vulnerable to facilitate my snorkeling up your thighbone later.
Tara: Alan? You boyfriend. Me girlfriend. You have a season's pass.
Alan: You're ruining the conquest part, which is all it's really about for me.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: First of all, the idea of giving representation to that thug…
Denny: Alan, c'mon, we hate all our clients. It's good to hate, allows us to overcharge and still sleep at night.
Denny: Alan, c'mon, we hate all our clients. It's good to hate, allows us to overcharge and still sleep at night.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Marketing and Brands
Interesting article at Livescience regarding trademarks and brand marketing. The first modern registered trademark was for British brewery Bass Ale, which trademarked their red triangle brand logo in 1777.
"Brand names, we assume, are a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. As goods started to roll off the factory line in large numbers, manufactures had to find a way to reassure customers that their cookie-cutter products were just as good, if not better, than hand-crafted items.
And so we got the "science" of marketing. Stamp those goods with a simple symbol — the British Bass Ale red triangle was the first registered trademark in 1777 — and then flash that symbol all over town until it's imprinted on everyone's brain. The idea is that familiarity breeds trust, and that people quickly associate a familiar trademark with value."
However, branding goes back much further in time, to almost the beginnnings of civilization. The jars sent throughout the world of classical Mediterranean civilization were often sealed with a bit of wax or other substance marked with a notweworthy design - a brand, which denoted the producers, the grade or contents. Containers so sealed extend back to 70000 BC in Mesopotamia.
Pretty interesting stuff.
"Brand names, we assume, are a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. As goods started to roll off the factory line in large numbers, manufactures had to find a way to reassure customers that their cookie-cutter products were just as good, if not better, than hand-crafted items.
And so we got the "science" of marketing. Stamp those goods with a simple symbol — the British Bass Ale red triangle was the first registered trademark in 1777 — and then flash that symbol all over town until it's imprinted on everyone's brain. The idea is that familiarity breeds trust, and that people quickly associate a familiar trademark with value."
However, branding goes back much further in time, to almost the beginnnings of civilization. The jars sent throughout the world of classical Mediterranean civilization were often sealed with a bit of wax or other substance marked with a notweworthy design - a brand, which denoted the producers, the grade or contents. Containers so sealed extend back to 70000 BC in Mesopotamia.
Pretty interesting stuff.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: Lock and load. Where is everybody?
Paul: This is an administrative meeting, Denny.
Denny: Oh! Then what the hell am I doing here?
Shirley: Remember the good ole days when you liked to know what was going on? When you could go from your office to the elevator without a roadmap?
Denny: Didn't need a roadmap to find my way around your body, did I, Shirley?
Shirley: I wouldn't know. I was usually asleep.
Denny: I once had her...and Streisand...at the same time. Remember that?
Shirley: Hahhh, I do Denny. Ha ha. And not to burst your bubble, but that was a male impersonator. Perhaps the penis might have been your cue.
Paul: This is an administrative meeting, Denny.
Denny: Oh! Then what the hell am I doing here?
Shirley: Remember the good ole days when you liked to know what was going on? When you could go from your office to the elevator without a roadmap?
Denny: Didn't need a roadmap to find my way around your body, did I, Shirley?
Shirley: I wouldn't know. I was usually asleep.
Denny: I once had her...and Streisand...at the same time. Remember that?
Shirley: Hahhh, I do Denny. Ha ha. And not to burst your bubble, but that was a male impersonator. Perhaps the penis might have been your cue.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Smallest Planet Discovered
via National Geographic, the smallest exoplanet yet found orbitting a star has been discovered by a team using the relatively novel gravitational lensing technique. Gravitational lensing utilzies the bending of light around large gravitational objects to focus on distant objects. The planet, called MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb, is only three earth masses and orbits what is thought to be a brown dwarf.
"The planet is 3,000 light-years from Earth and has a close-in orbit similar to Venus's. But because the newfound body's parent is so much cooler than our sun, MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb is most likely to be even colder than Pluto. Even so—and despite almost no solar heating—there's a slim chance that the planet could maintain a habitable temperature if the atmosphere is as thick with molecular hydrogen as researchers think it could be, according to study leader David Bennett."
The fact we've discovered such a small mass planet orbiting a rather small failed star leads researchers to believe there are many more such objects in the cosmos. The new planet is only the seventh such exoplanet discovered by the gravitational lensing technique.
"The planet is 3,000 light-years from Earth and has a close-in orbit similar to Venus's. But because the newfound body's parent is so much cooler than our sun, MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb is most likely to be even colder than Pluto. Even so—and despite almost no solar heating—there's a slim chance that the planet could maintain a habitable temperature if the atmosphere is as thick with molecular hydrogen as researchers think it could be, according to study leader David Bennett."
The fact we've discovered such a small mass planet orbiting a rather small failed star leads researchers to believe there are many more such objects in the cosmos. The new planet is only the seventh such exoplanet discovered by the gravitational lensing technique.
Sir Isaac Newton
The latest in the Livescience series on world influencing events examines the life and works of 17th century mathemetician and scientist Sir Isaac Newton.
"Newton's wide range of discoveries, from his theories of optics to his groundbreaking work on the laws of motion and gravity, formed the basis for modern physics. The true genius of his work, experts think, is how he ultimately took those theories and applied them to the universe at large, explaining the motions of the Sun and planets in a way that had never been done before."
In addition to his Laws of Motion, Newton also discovered the concept of the light spectrum using a crystal prism to separate white light into its colored components. and also developed the concept of infinite series calculus, still used by engineers and statisticians today. Late in his life, Newton also developed the theory of gravity in his masterwork, Principia.
"Newton's wide range of discoveries, from his theories of optics to his groundbreaking work on the laws of motion and gravity, formed the basis for modern physics. The true genius of his work, experts think, is how he ultimately took those theories and applied them to the universe at large, explaining the motions of the Sun and planets in a way that had never been done before."
In addition to his Laws of Motion, Newton also discovered the concept of the light spectrum using a crystal prism to separate white light into its colored components. and also developed the concept of infinite series calculus, still used by engineers and statisticians today. Late in his life, Newton also developed the theory of gravity in his masterwork, Principia.
Boston Legal Quotes
Judge Brown: I don't like this. Your office gets behind, so you just let criminals walk?
Alan: It's reassuring to see that you haven't formed any conclusions about my client's guilt or innocence.
Judge Brown: You know what my mother says? “If it smells funny, I'm not eating it.”
Alan: Exact opposite of my motto.
Alan: It's reassuring to see that you haven't formed any conclusions about my client's guilt or innocence.
Judge Brown: You know what my mother says? “If it smells funny, I'm not eating it.”
Alan: Exact opposite of my motto.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Warming Debate in Senate
Marc Sheppard at The American Thinker takes a look at the "Great Debate" over climate change and actually goes so far as to examine the evidence, which is a lot more than our Congresscritters have apparently done. While the vote went against the socialist greens, the arguments against the climate bill were couched not in scientific terms, but economic. Sheppard I think argues it should have been both.
"Don't get me wrong -- the fiscal arguments against the bill's draconian business regulations were inexorable -- its massive consequent spike in energy costs would be nothing short of ruinous to the nation. An April EPA analysis of the bill estimated a 53 cents per gallon increase in the price of gasoline and a 44% jump in electricity costs by 2030 should it become law. Even those figures precariously assumed a 150% increase in nuclear and "significant use of biomass" for electricity generation; otherwise costs will be "significantly higher." Add a projected net loss of almost a trillion dollars in GDP by that very same year and this blatantly socialistic power-grab attempt deserved the pauper's funeral it received on financial grounds alone. That's without even considering that there's no proof whatsoever that the actions of mankind can influence global temperatures even one degree Celsius in either direction."
Sheppard also points out that even Kyoto treaty signatories such as the UK, Japan, Russia, Italy and France haven't even come close to making their targeted reductions. The US increased its carbon emissions only 6.57%, while France, which generates a majority of its energy from carbon friendly nuclear power, just barely beat that figure with an increase of 6.21%. The global average increase was just over 18%, with Russia and Itlay over 15%, and Japan over 10%.
Despite the failure of Kyoto and the increase in global carbon emissions, the predicted planetary catastrophe just isn't happening, in fact, the world average temperature is cooling, not warming, and has been since 2002. In fact the temperature reductions from the last 5 years alone have countered all of the recorded warming from the last 100 years. Further, the JPL is predicting that a shift in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation will bring a colling trend for the next 20-30 years.
You'd like to think the new data would ahve an impact, but the hysteria continues.
"Don't get me wrong -- the fiscal arguments against the bill's draconian business regulations were inexorable -- its massive consequent spike in energy costs would be nothing short of ruinous to the nation. An April EPA analysis of the bill estimated a 53 cents per gallon increase in the price of gasoline and a 44% jump in electricity costs by 2030 should it become law. Even those figures precariously assumed a 150% increase in nuclear and "significant use of biomass" for electricity generation; otherwise costs will be "significantly higher." Add a projected net loss of almost a trillion dollars in GDP by that very same year and this blatantly socialistic power-grab attempt deserved the pauper's funeral it received on financial grounds alone. That's without even considering that there's no proof whatsoever that the actions of mankind can influence global temperatures even one degree Celsius in either direction."
Sheppard also points out that even Kyoto treaty signatories such as the UK, Japan, Russia, Italy and France haven't even come close to making their targeted reductions. The US increased its carbon emissions only 6.57%, while France, which generates a majority of its energy from carbon friendly nuclear power, just barely beat that figure with an increase of 6.21%. The global average increase was just over 18%, with Russia and Itlay over 15%, and Japan over 10%.
Despite the failure of Kyoto and the increase in global carbon emissions, the predicted planetary catastrophe just isn't happening, in fact, the world average temperature is cooling, not warming, and has been since 2002. In fact the temperature reductions from the last 5 years alone have countered all of the recorded warming from the last 100 years. Further, the JPL is predicting that a shift in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation will bring a colling trend for the next 20-30 years.
You'd like to think the new data would ahve an impact, but the hysteria continues.
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: Feels good, doesn't it?
Roberta: What feels good?
Alan: Having sex with the candidate. What if he wins? I bet the orgasms are even better if he wins. [sighs] I'm jealous.
Roberta: What feels good?
Alan: Having sex with the candidate. What if he wins? I bet the orgasms are even better if he wins. [sighs] I'm jealous.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: Hell, if I had a nickel for every woman I'd promise to marry in exchange for sex...actually, I do.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Will on Oil Prices
While not one of my favorite columnists, George Will is pretty popular as conservative writers go. In his latest effort, he points out the hypocritical nature of Senators such as Charles Schumer of New York (D) demanding the Saudis pump 1 million more barrels of oil to lower prices when our idiot Congress has put most of the Outer Continental shelf, the Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and 85% of all Federal land onshore off limits from even being explored for oil.
"One million barrels is what might today be flowing from ANWR if in 1995 President Clinton had not vetoed legislation to permit drilling there. One million barrels produce 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel. Seventy-two of today's senators -- including Schumer, of course, and 38 other Democrats, including Barack Obama, and 33 Republicans, including John McCain -- have voted to keep ANWR's estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil off the market.
So Schumer, according to Schumer, is complicit in taking $10 away from every American who buys 20 gallons of gasoline. "Democracy," said H.L. Mencken, "is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." The common people of New York want Schumer to be their senator, so they should pipe down about gasoline prices, which are a predictable consequence of their political choice.
Also disqualified from complaining are all voters who sent to Washington senators and representatives who have voted to keep ANWR's oil in the ground, and who voted to put 85 percent of America's offshore territory off-limits to drilling. The U.S. Minerals Management Service says that restricted area contains perhaps 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- 10 times the oil and 20 times the natural gas Americans use in a year. Drilling is under way 60 miles off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are."
He also points out the ANWR consists of a land area larger than five states and the proposed oil drilling area consists of a 1000 acre area the size of a small airport, and that there have been no major oil spills from produciton facilities in the country since 1969. Lousinana, with 3200 off shore oil rigs, is also home to a thriving commercial fishing industry that depends on part on the artificial reefs created by the very same platforms.
Pretty amazing, isn't it?
"One million barrels is what might today be flowing from ANWR if in 1995 President Clinton had not vetoed legislation to permit drilling there. One million barrels produce 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel. Seventy-two of today's senators -- including Schumer, of course, and 38 other Democrats, including Barack Obama, and 33 Republicans, including John McCain -- have voted to keep ANWR's estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil off the market.
So Schumer, according to Schumer, is complicit in taking $10 away from every American who buys 20 gallons of gasoline. "Democracy," said H.L. Mencken, "is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." The common people of New York want Schumer to be their senator, so they should pipe down about gasoline prices, which are a predictable consequence of their political choice.
Also disqualified from complaining are all voters who sent to Washington senators and representatives who have voted to keep ANWR's oil in the ground, and who voted to put 85 percent of America's offshore territory off-limits to drilling. The U.S. Minerals Management Service says that restricted area contains perhaps 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- 10 times the oil and 20 times the natural gas Americans use in a year. Drilling is under way 60 miles off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are."
He also points out the ANWR consists of a land area larger than five states and the proposed oil drilling area consists of a 1000 acre area the size of a small airport, and that there have been no major oil spills from produciton facilities in the country since 1969. Lousinana, with 3200 off shore oil rigs, is also home to a thriving commercial fishing industry that depends on part on the artificial reefs created by the very same platforms.
Pretty amazing, isn't it?
Boston Legal Quotes
Judge Lang: This is highly unusual, Mr. Shore. Seeking to discipline a judge for imposing a sentence your client agreed to.
Alan: I suspect we'd all agree to a good beating in order to avoid a prison sentence, but Your Honors, we are not in Singapore.
Alan: I suspect we'd all agree to a good beating in order to avoid a prison sentence, but Your Honors, we are not in Singapore.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Stonehenge Started as Cemetary
National Geographic reports on new discoveries at Stonehenge, the megalithic rock formation from British prehistory, that appear to indicate it was not only a astronomical calendar but a cemetary for at least some of the elites of the Stone Age culture of ancient Britain.
"New analysis of ancient human remains show that people were buried at the southern England site from about 3000 B.C. until after the first large stones were raised around 2500 B.C. "This is really exciting, because it shows that Stonehenge, from its beginning to its zenith, is being used as a place to physically put the remains of the dead," said Mike Parker Pearson of England's University of Sheffield. "It's something that we just didn't appreciate until now."
Ndew radiocarbon datings from remains found in the 1950s has expanded the burial dates 500 years further back into time, even before the raising of the stone blocks at the site at around 2500 BC. A circular ditch and raised earthen platform were the intial human developments at the site. The latest burial dates to around the same period of the stone raising. It is estimated there may be as many as 240 burials at the site.
"New analysis of ancient human remains show that people were buried at the southern England site from about 3000 B.C. until after the first large stones were raised around 2500 B.C. "This is really exciting, because it shows that Stonehenge, from its beginning to its zenith, is being used as a place to physically put the remains of the dead," said Mike Parker Pearson of England's University of Sheffield. "It's something that we just didn't appreciate until now."
Ndew radiocarbon datings from remains found in the 1950s has expanded the burial dates 500 years further back into time, even before the raising of the stone blocks at the site at around 2500 BC. A circular ditch and raised earthen platform were the intial human developments at the site. The latest burial dates to around the same period of the stone raising. It is estimated there may be as many as 240 burials at the site.
Boston Legal Quotes
Catherine: Alan! Hello!
Alan: Mrs. Piper?
Catherine: You remember! Ha, ha. Oh, I always say, "Shake a man's hand with dog poop on your glove, he'll remember you for life."
Alan: Mrs. Piper?
Catherine: You remember! Ha, ha. Oh, I always say, "Shake a man's hand with dog poop on your glove, he'll remember you for life."
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Shuttle Arrives at ISS
via OWH, the space shuttle Discovery has docked at the ISS with the latest expansion to the orbital platform, a Japanese designed laboratory module. The first spacewalk is scheduled for today to begin the installation of the new component.
"During a scheduled 6 1/2 hour spacewalk, astronauts Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan Jr. will prep the $1 billion lab, named Kibo - Japanese for hope - for installation by removing power and heating cables and various restraints that connect it to the shuttle. Later in the day, astronauts working from inside will use the space station's robot arm to lift the bus-size lab from the shuttle and anchor it to the station. "We're looking forward to a great day, an exciting day to install the Japanese Kibo module," Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who will help move the lab, said Tuesday as astronauts examined spacesuits and made other preparations for the spacewalk. Kibo, at 37 feet long, is bigger than the U.S. and European labs already attached to the space station."
Also planned today is the another look at the mechanical issue surrounding the joint preventing one set of the station's solar arrays from rotating to stay in step with the sun. The astronauts will also relocate a 50 ft laser equipped boom from the station to the shuttle. The boom is used to inspect the shuttle for damage from lift off and normally carried by the shuttle but it was left behind at the ISS by the previous shuttle mission to the station as the new station module took up the entire shuttle cargo bay.
Busy day in space.
"During a scheduled 6 1/2 hour spacewalk, astronauts Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan Jr. will prep the $1 billion lab, named Kibo - Japanese for hope - for installation by removing power and heating cables and various restraints that connect it to the shuttle. Later in the day, astronauts working from inside will use the space station's robot arm to lift the bus-size lab from the shuttle and anchor it to the station. "We're looking forward to a great day, an exciting day to install the Japanese Kibo module," Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who will help move the lab, said Tuesday as astronauts examined spacesuits and made other preparations for the spacewalk. Kibo, at 37 feet long, is bigger than the U.S. and European labs already attached to the space station."
Also planned today is the another look at the mechanical issue surrounding the joint preventing one set of the station's solar arrays from rotating to stay in step with the sun. The astronauts will also relocate a 50 ft laser equipped boom from the station to the shuttle. The boom is used to inspect the shuttle for damage from lift off and normally carried by the shuttle but it was left behind at the ISS by the previous shuttle mission to the station as the new station module took up the entire shuttle cargo bay.
Busy day in space.
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: So, shall we?
Tara: We shall. Do you have Morgan's address?
Alan: I do, but what I meant is, shall we continue where we left off last night?
Tara: In front of my building with you peeing in the planter?
Alan: I was about to burst. You should've let me come up.
Tara: That plant needed watering.
Tara: We shall. Do you have Morgan's address?
Alan: I do, but what I meant is, shall we continue where we left off last night?
Tara: In front of my building with you peeing in the planter?
Alan: I was about to burst. You should've let me come up.
Tara: That plant needed watering.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: One last proposal that's entirely possible. I'm kidding by the way, depending upon your reaction-300,000 sealed, we kick back fifty to you under the table.
Attorney: Mr. Shore, I guarantee you I am not that kind of attorney.
Alan: Really? Gosh, I am.
Attorney: I should report you directly to the bar, if not the district attorney.
Alan: Well, if that's how you feel, then I was kidding.
Attorney: Mr. Shore, I guarantee you I am not that kind of attorney.
Alan: Really? Gosh, I am.
Attorney: I should report you directly to the bar, if not the district attorney.
Alan: Well, if that's how you feel, then I was kidding.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Gutenberg & His Printing Press
Livescience looks at the remarkable impact that German inventor Johannes Gutenberg has had on the world with the invention of his printing press. Using Asian typsetting methods, an oil based ink recipe,, his own metal letter molds and s press design based on European grape and olive presses, he revolutionized the written word for the world, allowing literacy to flourish across first Europe and then the globe.
"He didn't invent printing. He didn't even invent movable type. He often ran into legal trouble and, when he died in 1468, he did so with little money or glory. And yet today Johannes Gutenberg is one of the most celebrated inventors in history, chiefly because his chef d'oeuvre – the printing press – allowed his story, as well as the stories of thousands of others, to be set down on paper. Gutenberg's printing press spread literature to the masses for the first time in an efficient, durable way, shoving Europe headlong into the original information age – the Renaissance."
The Guttenberg Bible is widely credited with the assisting the spread of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. Guttenberg's press design was so successful that it wasn't replaced until the 19th century, when steam powered presses began to be designed.
"He didn't invent printing. He didn't even invent movable type. He often ran into legal trouble and, when he died in 1468, he did so with little money or glory. And yet today Johannes Gutenberg is one of the most celebrated inventors in history, chiefly because his chef d'oeuvre – the printing press – allowed his story, as well as the stories of thousands of others, to be set down on paper. Gutenberg's printing press spread literature to the masses for the first time in an efficient, durable way, shoving Europe headlong into the original information age – the Renaissance."
The Guttenberg Bible is widely credited with the assisting the spread of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. Guttenberg's press design was so successful that it wasn't replaced until the 19th century, when steam powered presses began to be designed.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
VP Candidates
Michael Medved (via RCP) has a good column on the prospects of the various VP candidates for Republican nominee John McCain. While I've been assidiously avoiding political subjects lately due to a renewed sense of frustration with the entire process, it seemed like a good time to review the subject. McCain had a meeting over the weekend with three possiblities, former nomination opponent Gov. Mitt Romney, and Governors Charlie Christ of Florida and Bobby Jindal of Lousiana.
Romney brings some obvious strengths to the table, including a solid business and economic acumen, strong social conservative credentials, and the possibility of turning some blue states (like Michigan, where his father was governor a generation ago) red. Weaknesses include his history of mutating his stance on specific issues and the disaster that is Massachussets' healthcare plan. His Mormon faith could also an issue with voters in some regions (both postive and negative) of the nation as well.
Gov. Christ is a popular youthful (52) executive in a swing state, could also assist truning the column in Pennsylvania (where he was raised) and has a strong history on criminal issues as Florida Attorney General. His negatives include a less than enthusiastic embrace of social conservative issues, and issues surrounding his personal life - he divorced in 1980 and has been linked to several glamorous female companions.
Gov. Jindal is the even younger (36), brilliant (Rhodes scholar), extremely popular in his home state, has Congressional and other governmental experience, and has a compelling life story, being the son of immigrants and converting to Catholicism in high school. He also holds a lifetime American Conservative Rating score of 98%, and would be the first Asian-American on a ticket from either party, counteracting some of the Obama effect. His major negative is his age and his short stint so far as governor, but given his experience in government (for more than Obama, for example), this could be counter-productive for opponents to emphasize.
Other possibilites examined in some detail include Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, former Penn. Gov. and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, and former Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma.
Then there are the women candidates, which is a disntinct possibility, as Medved explains:
"The claims by Hillary Clinton supporters that their favorite suffered from “sexism” provides a juicy opportunity for the GOP to place a female on the ticket and to benefit from this disgruntlement. If Obama fails to select Hillary (and he seems determined to avoid her if he possibly can) he probably can’t choose another woman (like Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas) because any such selection would less qualified, less logical, than Senator Clinton herself.
In any event, if the GOP could turn to a strongly qualified female, it might create a good deal of excitement and media enthusiasm for the ticket. The problem is that there’s no obvious female contender and the leading names display serious shortcomings."
Medved takes a quick look at Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, North Carolina Senator Libby Dole, and then Medved throws out a surprise possibility I hadn't even heard of, much less considered: Gov. Jodi Rell of Conneticut.
"It’s amazing that this phenomenally popular Governor of Connecticut hasn’t received more attention. In her re-election bid (2006), she received the most votes for governor of any candidate in state history, crushing her Democratic opponent 63% to 36%, in a heavily Democratic state in a nightmarishly tough year for Republicans. Her recent approval ratings approach a stratospheric 80%."
At 62, Rell has a great deal of experience in government, is strong on social con issues, is the wife of a Navy pilot and a breast cancer survivor. Her only negative could be a positive - despite attending three different colleges, she never graduated, and would be the first person on a ticket since Truman without a parchment.
Since he does it so well, I'll let Medved sum it up -
"Bobby Jindal offers the GOP the best chance in many years for reshaping the party's tarnished, tired image without in any way abandoning timeless conservative principles. McCain should select the Louisiana governor several weeks before the convention, to get maximum benefit from his candidacy....If McCain for some reason misses this obvious choice, Mary Jodi Rell of Connecticut offers another ground-breaking possibility which Democrats will find tough to smear.....One of the main needs for the entire party in facing down the energized Democrats in what looks like a tough year for the GOP is a jolt of electricity, of freshness, to send a message that this isn't just your grandfather's GOP -- it's a new, dynamic, determined party ready to lead the country in a bold new conservative direction. Republicans can't win merely by scaring people about Obama. The American people truly do crave change and with his selection of a running mate McCain should signal that they can get the right kind of change -- more freedom, less government and more world leadership, less America-bashing -- by electing Republicans. The choice of the right ticket-mate is particularly important this year not just because of Senator McCain's advanced age, but because of the Republican Party's desperate and obvious need to improve its image."
I have to admit I am intrigued by the different possibilities, and have to agree that a real change of direction is needed. You have to wonder if McCain will go with the usual establishment white guy with a regional impact or make the more dramatic move. Jindal would be an awfully inspiring choice, Rell almost as much so, but you have to wonder if either would really want the job. Whatever the decision, the opposing candidate and their team will be incredibly formidable, and I expect another tough campaign with a razor sharp finish.
Romney brings some obvious strengths to the table, including a solid business and economic acumen, strong social conservative credentials, and the possibility of turning some blue states (like Michigan, where his father was governor a generation ago) red. Weaknesses include his history of mutating his stance on specific issues and the disaster that is Massachussets' healthcare plan. His Mormon faith could also an issue with voters in some regions (both postive and negative) of the nation as well.
Gov. Christ is a popular youthful (52) executive in a swing state, could also assist truning the column in Pennsylvania (where he was raised) and has a strong history on criminal issues as Florida Attorney General. His negatives include a less than enthusiastic embrace of social conservative issues, and issues surrounding his personal life - he divorced in 1980 and has been linked to several glamorous female companions.
Gov. Jindal is the even younger (36), brilliant (Rhodes scholar), extremely popular in his home state, has Congressional and other governmental experience, and has a compelling life story, being the son of immigrants and converting to Catholicism in high school. He also holds a lifetime American Conservative Rating score of 98%, and would be the first Asian-American on a ticket from either party, counteracting some of the Obama effect. His major negative is his age and his short stint so far as governor, but given his experience in government (for more than Obama, for example), this could be counter-productive for opponents to emphasize.
Other possibilites examined in some detail include Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, former Penn. Gov. and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, and former Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma.
Then there are the women candidates, which is a disntinct possibility, as Medved explains:
"The claims by Hillary Clinton supporters that their favorite suffered from “sexism” provides a juicy opportunity for the GOP to place a female on the ticket and to benefit from this disgruntlement. If Obama fails to select Hillary (and he seems determined to avoid her if he possibly can) he probably can’t choose another woman (like Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas) because any such selection would less qualified, less logical, than Senator Clinton herself.
In any event, if the GOP could turn to a strongly qualified female, it might create a good deal of excitement and media enthusiasm for the ticket. The problem is that there’s no obvious female contender and the leading names display serious shortcomings."
Medved takes a quick look at Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, North Carolina Senator Libby Dole, and then Medved throws out a surprise possibility I hadn't even heard of, much less considered: Gov. Jodi Rell of Conneticut.
"It’s amazing that this phenomenally popular Governor of Connecticut hasn’t received more attention. In her re-election bid (2006), she received the most votes for governor of any candidate in state history, crushing her Democratic opponent 63% to 36%, in a heavily Democratic state in a nightmarishly tough year for Republicans. Her recent approval ratings approach a stratospheric 80%."
At 62, Rell has a great deal of experience in government, is strong on social con issues, is the wife of a Navy pilot and a breast cancer survivor. Her only negative could be a positive - despite attending three different colleges, she never graduated, and would be the first person on a ticket since Truman without a parchment.
Since he does it so well, I'll let Medved sum it up -
"Bobby Jindal offers the GOP the best chance in many years for reshaping the party's tarnished, tired image without in any way abandoning timeless conservative principles. McCain should select the Louisiana governor several weeks before the convention, to get maximum benefit from his candidacy....If McCain for some reason misses this obvious choice, Mary Jodi Rell of Connecticut offers another ground-breaking possibility which Democrats will find tough to smear.....One of the main needs for the entire party in facing down the energized Democrats in what looks like a tough year for the GOP is a jolt of electricity, of freshness, to send a message that this isn't just your grandfather's GOP -- it's a new, dynamic, determined party ready to lead the country in a bold new conservative direction. Republicans can't win merely by scaring people about Obama. The American people truly do crave change and with his selection of a running mate McCain should signal that they can get the right kind of change -- more freedom, less government and more world leadership, less America-bashing -- by electing Republicans. The choice of the right ticket-mate is particularly important this year not just because of Senator McCain's advanced age, but because of the Republican Party's desperate and obvious need to improve its image."
I have to admit I am intrigued by the different possibilities, and have to agree that a real change of direction is needed. You have to wonder if McCain will go with the usual establishment white guy with a regional impact or make the more dramatic move. Jindal would be an awfully inspiring choice, Rell almost as much so, but you have to wonder if either would really want the job. Whatever the decision, the opposing candidate and their team will be incredibly formidable, and I expect another tough campaign with a razor sharp finish.
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: [to Brad] I have trouble talking that fast. I don't believe in being straight up, but I'm a big fan of your Aqua Velva commercials.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan [leaving bathroom stall] Shirley.
Shirley: Alan.
Alan: You're in the men's room again.
Shirley: I need a favor.
Alan: Certainly, My stall or yours?
Shirley: Alan.
Alan: You're in the men's room again.
Shirley: I need a favor.
Alan: Certainly, My stall or yours?
Friday, May 23, 2008
NASA Announces Hubble Mission Schedule
via Space.com, NASA has announced the scheduled launch of the shuttle Atlantis on Oct. 8 for the fifth and last Hubble Space Telescope maitenance mission. The mission is expected to last 11 days and has five spacewalks planned.
"shuttle astronauts will install two new science instruments plus a set of gyroscopes to help stabilize the telescope, as well as batteries and thermal blankets to keep the observatory operating until at least 2013.
Astronauts will also install a soft capture mechanism that will allow a future unmanned spacecraft to dock with Hubble in about 2020 and de-orbit it for a controlled plunge and disposal in the ocean."
The mission is also expected to attempt the repair of two failed instruments that have not previously been attempted in orbit. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which failed a year ago this month, have both been instrumental in confirming a number of scientific discoveries.
"STIS separates incoming light into its constituent colors, giving astronomers a chemical map of distant objects. Since its deployment, STIS has been critical in the confirmation of black holes at the centers of galaxies, made the first discovery of an atmosphere around an exoplanet and helped confirm the age of the universe."
The mission is also adding two instruments to the observatory, the Wide Field Camera 3, a "panchromatic" camera, and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), which will examine the 'cosmic web' of dark matter strands connecting various galaxies throughout the universe.
"shuttle astronauts will install two new science instruments plus a set of gyroscopes to help stabilize the telescope, as well as batteries and thermal blankets to keep the observatory operating until at least 2013.
Astronauts will also install a soft capture mechanism that will allow a future unmanned spacecraft to dock with Hubble in about 2020 and de-orbit it for a controlled plunge and disposal in the ocean."
The mission is also expected to attempt the repair of two failed instruments that have not previously been attempted in orbit. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which failed a year ago this month, have both been instrumental in confirming a number of scientific discoveries.
"STIS separates incoming light into its constituent colors, giving astronomers a chemical map of distant objects. Since its deployment, STIS has been critical in the confirmation of black holes at the centers of galaxies, made the first discovery of an atmosphere around an exoplanet and helped confirm the age of the universe."
The mission is also adding two instruments to the observatory, the Wide Field Camera 3, a "panchromatic" camera, and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), which will examine the 'cosmic web' of dark matter strands connecting various galaxies throughout the universe.
Boston Legal Quotes
Alan: Why does Shirley get to skip the staff meeting?
Paul: She's got a trial in New York later this week so she has a busy day.
Brad: Some of us have trials today, so if you don't mind, and like to cut out.
Laurie: What's your case about, Brad?
Alan: What is it about?
Brad: It involves interference with contractual relations.
Alan: You mean lesbians?
Paul: Where are you?
Brad: Today they're calling Tracy to testify that her ex-lover-
Alan: Lesbian ex-lover.
Brad: to testify that her ex-lover was scamming her for money. Tracy was not an actual bonafide -
Alan: Lesbian?
Brad: You like saying it.
Alan: I do.
Brad: Say it again.
Alan: Lesbian. Lesbian, lesbian -
Brad: Keep going.
Alan: Lesbian, lesbian, lesbian. All together now!
Entire staff: Lesbian.
Alan: I also like to watch. How many people -
Paul: That's enough, this is a staff meeting, I'll ask you all to conduct yourselves appropriately and professionally.
Paul: She's got a trial in New York later this week so she has a busy day.
Brad: Some of us have trials today, so if you don't mind, and like to cut out.
Laurie: What's your case about, Brad?
Alan: What is it about?
Brad: It involves interference with contractual relations.
Alan: You mean lesbians?
Paul: Where are you?
Brad: Today they're calling Tracy to testify that her ex-lover-
Alan: Lesbian ex-lover.
Brad: to testify that her ex-lover was scamming her for money. Tracy was not an actual bonafide -
Alan: Lesbian?
Brad: You like saying it.
Alan: I do.
Brad: Say it again.
Alan: Lesbian. Lesbian, lesbian -
Brad: Keep going.
Alan: Lesbian, lesbian, lesbian. All together now!
Entire staff: Lesbian.
Alan: I also like to watch. How many people -
Paul: That's enough, this is a staff meeting, I'll ask you all to conduct yourselves appropriately and professionally.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Exoplanet Totals Nearing 300
The Universe Today examines one of the newest members of astronomic exoplanet discovery community, the COROT (Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) spacetelescope, which has discovered two new 'hot Jupiter' type planets, and another very interesting anomolous object believed to be an extremely small brown dwarf, only 20 Jupiter masses. If it is a star, it would be the smallest ever detected. There are also some indications it may have a small planet, perhaps just 1.7 Earth masses.
"COROT launched in December 2006, with operations beginning in February of 2007. So far the mission has found four exoplanets. The mission started observations of its sixth star field at the beginning of May this year. During this observation phase, which will last 5 months, the spacecraft will simultaneously observe 12,000 stars."
The current confirmed number of exoplanets today is 287.
"COROT launched in December 2006, with operations beginning in February of 2007. So far the mission has found four exoplanets. The mission started observations of its sixth star field at the beginning of May this year. During this observation phase, which will last 5 months, the spacecraft will simultaneously observe 12,000 stars."
The current confirmed number of exoplanets today is 287.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''Who would you rather have as your attorney? Me? Or Hacky McGuilty Verdict here?''
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''She is the sexiest woman on earth. Unless of course you go for preggos, in which case, it's Angelina.''
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''Well, you know, Brian, given our relationship, I feel entitled to be honest, the way friends are during difficult times. Can I be honest with you, Brian? You're a bastard, and a greedy one at that... This is about ambition, not morality, you greedy, sniveling, little wop.''
Monday, May 19, 2008
How Coffee Changed the World
The latest from Livescience on items/events that changed the world examines the role and history of the little bean that changed the world, coffee. I've always said the productivity of the American economy is probably more dependent on drinking coffee than any other piece of technology or substance. Coffee is the second most important commodity worldwide (oil is the first) and employes nearly 500 million people worldwide. Coffee was discoverd almost one thousand years ago in Ethiopia by a farmer whose goats kept him up all night after eating a quantity of the beans. A monastary then began to brew it into a hot drink, aiding the monks to stay awake during long prayer vigils, then the drink crossed the Red Sea into Yemen, where it spread like wildfire throughout the Islamic world, and then on to Europe.
"Romantic exaggeration or not, by A.D. 1000 the bean with a buzz was a favorite among those needing a boost in East Africa as well as across the Red Sea in Yemen, where the crop had migrated over with slaves.
If Ethiopia was the birthplace of coffee, Yemen was where it grew up. The brew first took hold among clerics there too, but spillover into the secular crowd didn't take long and skyrocketing demand soon led to the world's first cultivated coffee fields there in the 1300s. The entire Arabian peninsula became a hotbed of coffeehouse culture, with cafés – called kaveh kanes – on every corner.
By the 15th-century, Mecca resembled a medieval incarnation of Seattle, men sipping steaming mugs over games of chess and political conversations. Coffee houses were such an important place to gather and discuss that they were often called Schools of the Wise. Coffee had much the same effect in Europe when it was introduced there in the 1600s. Cafés were the center of social life, where people with similar interests could gather and talk. The British insurance company, Lloyd's of London, began as a café popular with sailors who often discussed insurance matters."
The Muslim world had careful export restrictions for hundreds of years preventing the the export of mature beans until an intrepid pilgrim to Mecca arrived from India and smuggled some out of the country back home, leading to an agricultural revolution on the subcontinent. The Dutch later managed to acquire a plant, from which they cultivated crops in their colonies in Southeastern Asia islands like Java and Sumatra. Beans followed European conquests worldwide, entering areas such as Brazil, Central America, Jamaica, and Hawaii. There are as many as 25 million small farmers world wide raising coffee today.
"Romantic exaggeration or not, by A.D. 1000 the bean with a buzz was a favorite among those needing a boost in East Africa as well as across the Red Sea in Yemen, where the crop had migrated over with slaves.
If Ethiopia was the birthplace of coffee, Yemen was where it grew up. The brew first took hold among clerics there too, but spillover into the secular crowd didn't take long and skyrocketing demand soon led to the world's first cultivated coffee fields there in the 1300s. The entire Arabian peninsula became a hotbed of coffeehouse culture, with cafés – called kaveh kanes – on every corner.
By the 15th-century, Mecca resembled a medieval incarnation of Seattle, men sipping steaming mugs over games of chess and political conversations. Coffee houses were such an important place to gather and discuss that they were often called Schools of the Wise. Coffee had much the same effect in Europe when it was introduced there in the 1600s. Cafés were the center of social life, where people with similar interests could gather and talk. The British insurance company, Lloyd's of London, began as a café popular with sailors who often discussed insurance matters."
The Muslim world had careful export restrictions for hundreds of years preventing the the export of mature beans until an intrepid pilgrim to Mecca arrived from India and smuggled some out of the country back home, leading to an agricultural revolution on the subcontinent. The Dutch later managed to acquire a plant, from which they cultivated crops in their colonies in Southeastern Asia islands like Java and Sumatra. Beans followed European conquests worldwide, entering areas such as Brazil, Central America, Jamaica, and Hawaii. There are as many as 25 million small farmers world wide raising coffee today.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''Waive reading Judge. And ask that these ridiculous charges be dismissed on the grounds of ridiculousness.''
Friday, May 16, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''Canada. Japan. England. Any number of those pinko countries, I'd be in jail for shooting somebody''
Thursday, May 15, 2008
So Weird I Had to Post on It
Unbeknownst to most of us up to today there has not been a strict medical definition of that most embarassing and distressing of male dysfunctions (for both parties), we commonly call premature ejaculation. Apparently the good physicians involved have decided if you can't hold off for at least 60 seconds you should be diagnosed with the condition.
The snazzy edition of new definition:
"A male sexual dysfunction characterized by ejaculation which always or nearly always occurs prior to or within about one minute of vaginal penetration; and, inability to delay ejaculation on all or nearly all vaginal penetrations; and, negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration and/or the avoidance of sexual intimacy."
Thank goodness we finally have that settled. World peace is almost sure to break out now.
The snazzy edition of new definition:
"A male sexual dysfunction characterized by ejaculation which always or nearly always occurs prior to or within about one minute of vaginal penetration; and, inability to delay ejaculation on all or nearly all vaginal penetrations; and, negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration and/or the avoidance of sexual intimacy."
Thank goodness we finally have that settled. World peace is almost sure to break out now.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny:''My friend, I can't tell you how good it is to see you. I gotta be honest with you, I thought you were dead.''
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
New Chips Could End Age of Silicon
vis ScienceDaily, news of a potentially paradigm shifting invention for the semiconductor industy. Weixiao Huang, working towards his doctorate at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has created a new type of semiconductor made from the material gallium nitride. Gallium has long been noted for its superior conductive properties, but its use in computing has been limited to the world of high-end supercomputing, primarily in systems built by Cray Systems using extermely expensive gallium arsenide as the material for processing chips. This new material shows promise as a much cheaper alternative that could potentially replace the silicon used in current computing systems.
"The new GaN transistor could reduce the power consumption and improve the efficiency of power electronics systems in everything from motor drives and hybrid vehicles to house appliances and defense equipment.
"Silicon has been the workhorse in the semiconductor industry for last two decades," Huang said. "But as power electronics get more sophisticated and require higher performing transistors, engineers have been seeking an alternative like gallium nitride-based transistors that can perform better than silicon and in extreme conditions."
The new chips have already posted record setting performance characteristics and have also shown to be highly durable, able to withstand harsh high temperature environments and even high radiation levels. In addition, it appears the material allows the integration of several functions onto a single chip, as well as running with a higher energy conversion efficiency.
While probably as far away as ten years or better from the marketplace, this new invention appears quite likely to revolutionize (once again) the computing industry. Start buying your stock now.
"The new GaN transistor could reduce the power consumption and improve the efficiency of power electronics systems in everything from motor drives and hybrid vehicles to house appliances and defense equipment.
"Silicon has been the workhorse in the semiconductor industry for last two decades," Huang said. "But as power electronics get more sophisticated and require higher performing transistors, engineers have been seeking an alternative like gallium nitride-based transistors that can perform better than silicon and in extreme conditions."
The new chips have already posted record setting performance characteristics and have also shown to be highly durable, able to withstand harsh high temperature environments and even high radiation levels. In addition, it appears the material allows the integration of several functions onto a single chip, as well as running with a higher energy conversion efficiency.
While probably as far away as ten years or better from the marketplace, this new invention appears quite likely to revolutionize (once again) the computing industry. Start buying your stock now.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''She said she wanted to fulfill every single one of my fantasies. I made a list. Had to type it myself. My assistant threatened to quit.''
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
How the Medici Changed the World
Latest from Livescience on events that changed the world examines the role of the Florentine Medici family. The fabulously wealthy merchant and banking family played a leading role in the Medieval Renaissance, sponsoring numerous building projects and patronizing influential artists like de Vinci and Michaelangelo.
"Like a medieval ATM, one family bankrolled the cultural movement that dragged Europe out of the Dark Ages and into modernity. With their love for art, science and culture, the Medici of Florence catalyzed the Renaissance that began in the 14th century, making household names of da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo in the process. The revival of learning, rationality and the arts patronized by the Medici in Italy spread throughout Europe, sped along by the invention of the printing press, and forever transformed the Western world."
"Like a medieval ATM, one family bankrolled the cultural movement that dragged Europe out of the Dark Ages and into modernity. With their love for art, science and culture, the Medici of Florence catalyzed the Renaissance that began in the 14th century, making household names of da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo in the process. The revival of learning, rationality and the arts patronized by the Medici in Italy spread throughout Europe, sped along by the invention of the printing press, and forever transformed the Western world."
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''Here's what you need to know about the practice of law, son. It all comes down to money. I've got it. He doesn't. I'll win. Denny Crane.''
Monday, May 12, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''You would agree, Mr. Mayor, that by and large, vegetarians are communists?''
Friday, May 09, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''Thing is, I like you. Actually, I love you. That's a difficult thing for Denny Crane to say. Unless it's part of foreplay.''
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Probe Planned for Solar Study
NASA, John Hopkins University Advanced PHysics Lab are planning an ambitious new solar probe that will travel closer to the Sun than any other manmade device ever. The probe will be used to study the charged particles of the solar wind directly from the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, where the wind is generated. The probe, costing an estimated $750 million, will likley launch in 2015. The expedition to the sun has been planned for almost 30 years, the time it has taken to overcome the serious technical obstacles in approaching so close to our parent star.
"At closest approach Solar Probe would zip past the sun at 125 miles per second, protected by a carbon-composite heat shield that must withstand up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and survive blasts of radiation and energized dust at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft."
There are an impressive list of goals for the craft, including:
"Solar Probe will employ a combination of in-place and remote measurements to achieve the mission’s primary scientific goals: determine the structure and dynamics of the magnetic fields at the sources of solar wind; trace the flow of energy that heats the corona and accelerates the solar wind; determine what mechanisms accelerate and transport energetic particles; and explore dusty plasma near the sun and its influence on solar wind and energetic particle formation.
The probe will weigh in at around 1000 pounds, have a nine foot carbon heat shield, and have two external solar arrays to provide power. Seven flybys of the planet Venus will allow the probe to shrink its orbit to just over 4 million miles from the Sun, over eight times closer than any previous spacecraft has come.
"At closest approach Solar Probe would zip past the sun at 125 miles per second, protected by a carbon-composite heat shield that must withstand up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and survive blasts of radiation and energized dust at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft."
There are an impressive list of goals for the craft, including:
"Solar Probe will employ a combination of in-place and remote measurements to achieve the mission’s primary scientific goals: determine the structure and dynamics of the magnetic fields at the sources of solar wind; trace the flow of energy that heats the corona and accelerates the solar wind; determine what mechanisms accelerate and transport energetic particles; and explore dusty plasma near the sun and its influence on solar wind and energetic particle formation.
The probe will weigh in at around 1000 pounds, have a nine foot carbon heat shield, and have two external solar arrays to provide power. Seven flybys of the planet Venus will allow the probe to shrink its orbit to just over 4 million miles from the Sun, over eight times closer than any previous spacecraft has come.
Boston Legal Quotes
''Alan, I have trouble with this sort of subject matter...It's my father. Sometimes he wore dresses. He called it a kilt and sang all those Scottish songs, but we knew.''
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Remaining Shuttle Missions
with the shuttle on the launch pad for STS-124, the Universe Today showcases the planned remaining 11 shuttle missions, with the last scheduled for July 2010 before the shuttle's retirement that year.
STS-124, the current mission, is slated to delivery the Japanese Kibo laboratroy module to the ISS.
STS-125, slated for October this year, is the fifth and last Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, which should allow the telescope to operate safely until 2013.
STS-126 is scheduled just a month later and is a supply and crew exchange mission to the ISS.
STS-119 is an ISS construciton misison scheduled for February 2009 and will deliver a fourth truss segment and set of solar arrays for the ISS.
STS-127 is another ISS misison scheduled for March 2009 and will deliver the last component of the Japanese lab module, the 'storage closet' called the Exposed Facility.
STS-128 will deliver supplies and equipment to the ISS later in the spring of 2009 allowing the ISS crew to be expanded going forward from the current 3 members to 6.
STS-129 will deliver the first two of four planned ExPRESS Logistics carriers in July 2009 that will allow ISS experiments to be conducted 'outside' the station.
STS-130 scheduled for fall 2009 (could slip to Jan. 2010) may be Endeavor's last flight and is scheduled to be another resupply mission.
STS-131 scheduled for Feb. 2010, will definitely be the last flight of Atlantis, and will deliver a Docking Port module and the last two ExPRESS carriers to the ISS.
STS-132 is scheduled for April 2010, will be the last flight of Discovery and will deliver a the Node 3 components, including a robotic workstation and advanced life support equipment.
STS-133 is a contingency mission which would be flown by Endeavor only if needed to complete ISS construction and which could possibly deliver a fifth ExPRESS carrier should station managers decide it is needed.
With the completion of the ISS and the retirement of the shuttle fleet, an amazing and significant period in the history of human space exploration will come to a close.
STS-124, the current mission, is slated to delivery the Japanese Kibo laboratroy module to the ISS.
STS-125, slated for October this year, is the fifth and last Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, which should allow the telescope to operate safely until 2013.
STS-126 is scheduled just a month later and is a supply and crew exchange mission to the ISS.
STS-119 is an ISS construciton misison scheduled for February 2009 and will deliver a fourth truss segment and set of solar arrays for the ISS.
STS-127 is another ISS misison scheduled for March 2009 and will deliver the last component of the Japanese lab module, the 'storage closet' called the Exposed Facility.
STS-128 will deliver supplies and equipment to the ISS later in the spring of 2009 allowing the ISS crew to be expanded going forward from the current 3 members to 6.
STS-129 will deliver the first two of four planned ExPRESS Logistics carriers in July 2009 that will allow ISS experiments to be conducted 'outside' the station.
STS-130 scheduled for fall 2009 (could slip to Jan. 2010) may be Endeavor's last flight and is scheduled to be another resupply mission.
STS-131 scheduled for Feb. 2010, will definitely be the last flight of Atlantis, and will deliver a Docking Port module and the last two ExPRESS carriers to the ISS.
STS-132 is scheduled for April 2010, will be the last flight of Discovery and will deliver a the Node 3 components, including a robotic workstation and advanced life support equipment.
STS-133 is a contingency mission which would be flown by Endeavor only if needed to complete ISS construction and which could possibly deliver a fifth ExPRESS carrier should station managers decide it is needed.
With the completion of the ISS and the retirement of the shuttle fleet, an amazing and significant period in the history of human space exploration will come to a close.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''There's a difference in being an ass and being effective. When you win, they say you're effective. When you lose, which I never do, they call you an ass.''
Monday, May 05, 2008
How the Black Death Changed the World
Missed this last week from Livescience, from its "World Chainging Events" series. The plague killed as much as 1/3 of Europe, and an estimated 75 million died as a result of the disease. One theory holds the impact of the disease was magnified by the medieval "Little Ice Age", where global temperature levels dropped by as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Both people and the rats carrying the disease huddled for warmth indoors, greatly aiding the spread of the plague.
"Following very precisely the medieval trade routes from China, through Central Asia and Turkey, the plague finally reached Italy in 1347 aboard a merchant ship whose crew had all already died or been infected by the time it reached port. Densely populated Europe, which had seen a recent growth in the population of its cities, was a tinderbox for the disease.
The Black Death ravaged the continent for three years before it continued on into Russia, killing one-third to one-half of the entire population in ghastly fashion.
The plague killed indiscriminately – young and old, rich and poor – but especially in the cities and among groups who had close contact with the sick. Entire monasteries filled with friars were wiped out and Europe lost most of its doctors. In the countryside, whole villages were abandoned. The disease reached even the isolated outposts of Greenland and Iceland, leaving only wild cattle roaming free without any farmers, according to chroniclers who visited years later."
The impact of the disease included better working conditions for peasants due to labor shortages, an increase in skepticism of the Catholic Church, and the scapegoating of European Jews, with a number of upleasant incidents, to say the least. Many Jews fled into Eastern Europe from other areas. World population levels took centuries to recover.
"Following very precisely the medieval trade routes from China, through Central Asia and Turkey, the plague finally reached Italy in 1347 aboard a merchant ship whose crew had all already died or been infected by the time it reached port. Densely populated Europe, which had seen a recent growth in the population of its cities, was a tinderbox for the disease.
The Black Death ravaged the continent for three years before it continued on into Russia, killing one-third to one-half of the entire population in ghastly fashion.
The plague killed indiscriminately – young and old, rich and poor – but especially in the cities and among groups who had close contact with the sick. Entire monasteries filled with friars were wiped out and Europe lost most of its doctors. In the countryside, whole villages were abandoned. The disease reached even the isolated outposts of Greenland and Iceland, leaving only wild cattle roaming free without any farmers, according to chroniclers who visited years later."
The impact of the disease included better working conditions for peasants due to labor shortages, an increase in skepticism of the Catholic Church, and the scapegoating of European Jews, with a number of upleasant incidents, to say the least. Many Jews fled into Eastern Europe from other areas. World population levels took centuries to recover.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: "It's got everything. Sex. Politics. Everything but one key ingredient. Denny Crane. I'm in."
Friday, May 02, 2008
Earth's Gooey Internal Structure
Livescience editor Rob Roy Britt examines some of the new findings & new ideas on the Earth's internal composition, being releases in Science magazine. The old core, mantle and crust structure theory has been shown to be a tad simplistic.
The crust extends from the surface to a depth of about 25 miles surrounding the mantle, an area of hot silicate rock, now divided into the upper and lower mantles, extending to a depth of around 1800 miles. Deeper yet is the nickel-iron core, which can also be further discriminated into an outer and inner core region. Some of the new analysis shows the mantle is composed of slightly different material than initially believed, with two large 'blobs' of chemically distinct materials on each side of the planet, one under the Pacific and the other under the Atlantic and Africa. An ASU researcher describes it this way:
"Imagine a pot of water boiling," explains researcher Allen McNamara of Arizona State University. "That would be all one kind of composition. Now dump a jar of honey into that pot of water. The honey would be convecting on its own inside the water and that's a much more complicated system."
The new theories regarding the Earth's interior composition help explain the quite curious way seismic waves travel through the Earth when an event occurs, with the waves making unexplained speed changes as they travel throught the planet.
The crust extends from the surface to a depth of about 25 miles surrounding the mantle, an area of hot silicate rock, now divided into the upper and lower mantles, extending to a depth of around 1800 miles. Deeper yet is the nickel-iron core, which can also be further discriminated into an outer and inner core region. Some of the new analysis shows the mantle is composed of slightly different material than initially believed, with two large 'blobs' of chemically distinct materials on each side of the planet, one under the Pacific and the other under the Atlantic and Africa. An ASU researcher describes it this way:
"Imagine a pot of water boiling," explains researcher Allen McNamara of Arizona State University. "That would be all one kind of composition. Now dump a jar of honey into that pot of water. The honey would be convecting on its own inside the water and that's a much more complicated system."
The new theories regarding the Earth's interior composition help explain the quite curious way seismic waves travel through the Earth when an event occurs, with the waves making unexplained speed changes as they travel throught the planet.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: "We're talking juries. It always comes down to simple. And, I mean, there's nobody simpler than me."
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Another McCain Veep Possibility
John Gizzi throws out another name for the McCain Veepstakes, Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Ryan serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and appears to have some very strong economic credentials, which are probably one of Mac's weaker issues.
"On the lower tax front, Ryan is a strong booster of McCain’s proposal to drop the gasoline tax for the summer and, on behalf of the Republican Study Committee, has introduced the Tax Fair Choice Act. As he told us, “it which has an alternative tax system you can choose to have if you want to. Right now, you have to fill out two codes. AMT and the 1040 code. Under our bill, you can pick and then go. You can use the current system, or the new system, which has a top rate of 25%."
Ryan is apparently very popular with his colleagues, young (38) and favors private accounts as a way of achieving Social Security reform. He also has been a strong proponent of the 2nd Amendment, pro-life legislation and tough on illegal immigration.
Sounds like he could be a serious contender if Mac is looking for some regional and generational balance for the ticket.
"On the lower tax front, Ryan is a strong booster of McCain’s proposal to drop the gasoline tax for the summer and, on behalf of the Republican Study Committee, has introduced the Tax Fair Choice Act. As he told us, “it which has an alternative tax system you can choose to have if you want to. Right now, you have to fill out two codes. AMT and the 1040 code. Under our bill, you can pick and then go. You can use the current system, or the new system, which has a top rate of 25%."
Ryan is apparently very popular with his colleagues, young (38) and favors private accounts as a way of achieving Social Security reform. He also has been a strong proponent of the 2nd Amendment, pro-life legislation and tough on illegal immigration.
Sounds like he could be a serious contender if Mac is looking for some regional and generational balance for the ticket.
Boston Legal Quotes
Denny: ''As God-like as I seem to you and other people, there's a mortal inside this God-like shell.''
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